“Little one, head in that direction for half a day which will lead you to life.”

That’s all Hereon the black said towards my back before flying high up in the sky and heading towards the mountain range north from this forest. I did not understand the geography of my surrounding area but I knew for now the only thing that mattered was this huge forest which I had to control.

Heading in the before mentioned direction for half a day, I reach upon a small hill. From where I was standing I could see a small man made cave carved inside this cave. Must have been made for protection against sun and rain.

I headed towards the entrance of the cave.

“What is this……”

Upon entering, I saw 40 beast kin present inside the cave. There were a variety of beast kin present inside the cave ranging from wolf kins, dog kins, cat kins and a few lizard kins.

Five of them are still toddlers. 20 of them are between ages 8 – 10 years old, 5 of them were old beast kin and the remaining 10 were all heavily injured.

The injuries of the 10 injured ones looked like they were all infected and had reached a very bad condition. Their faces were listless as if they were half way between being alive and dead.

The children and the elder looked like mere sticks that would blow away even with the slightest wind. Most of them were lying down on the cold hard ground looking so still that I feared few of them might even be dead.

“What the hell is this? Why did the children become like this?”

Is this where Hereon wanted to lead me?

The only reason I could think for their current predicament was that they were struck with a famine. However, that wasn’t the only reason here, looking at the slash wounds on the injured beast kins I could conclude that they were made not by some beast but from weapons.

They must’ve been some beast kin who were escaping from the forces of humans. Slaves who’ve ran away but they must’ve paid even a heavier price than what was in front of me. Pity rose up inside of me.

They were in such a bad condition that they didn’t even reacted to my presence.

How have they been surviving like this? No one here can hunt or gather food and wood.

Just as I said that I felt a cold wind hitting my back.

‘This is bad, they are all already so weak, I need to cover them up with something and find them something to eat.’

I quickly rushed back outside and got some large leaves to cover them all up.

After that I needed to think about filling their stomachs. The only thing I knew was the location of the pond I found on my first day in this world that could help.

Holding on tightly the earthen bowl in my hand which I had taken from the cave, I run towards the pond.

Reaching the pond and quickly filling up the bowl, I rush back towards the cave while being careful not to spill the water.

Breathing heavily and finally reaching back to the cave, I knew I had to make a very inhumane choice. That choice was necessary for the greater good. Few lives would have to be forgone to save the majority important ones.

I had decided that saving the elderly and the severely injured who were close to death would not be an option here and they will have to be sacrificed to save the lives of the rest of the group. They were nothing but a burden right now.

Finally making up mind, I head inside the cave and give small gulps of water to the children and the few injured beast kin who were somewhat better compared to the others who were seriously close to dying.

I do not dislike children. Rather, I like them very much.

I can greatly sympathize with them who had been left by their parents since I also grew up in an orphanage. Therefore, I don’t have any problem with helping them and children are important for the next generation to continue.

All these things that I was thinking was actually me trying to convince myself. Even if I was a logical person but my previous world was peaceful. Doing something this cruel was naturally going to make me hesitate.

Just when I was thinking this, I recalled the words of the director of my orphanage back in my previous world. Even though he was a greedy piece of shit but I’ll never forget these words of his.

“If a starving puppy approached and clings, will you pick it up? After that, will you irresponsibly abandon them? Picking them up is akin to their live being in your hand. That’s how it is. Once you’ve made your mind you have to go through with it till the bitter end.”

I see.

I certainly was aware that this was a bad choice but I must go through with this till the end if I have decided to save them. I’ll have to make sure to save as many as possible even it my methods are cruel.

Although I had the capacity to help them, they will just starve if I don’t use that capacity.

This decision will weight down on my mind in the future but I can’t help it for now. If I find a way, I’ll help them later.

Even if I wanted to move them all towards the pond, I don’t have the strength in my body to survive that long in this hunger. I am not in any good condition either.

Most of the beast kin were so out of it that they couldn’t even drink the water. I had to open their mouths by force and give them water drop by drop so they could easily take it in and don’t choke on it. By now, I could sense some life in the eyes of these dying beasts unlike before.

Finishing the task, I realized that I too was thirsty myself but I couldn’t complain because the bowl in my hand was now empty. I didn’t felt much strength in my body. All the running on a starving stomach has made me even more weak.

Lazily getting up, I walk out of the cave to find something that could help in this situation.

As soon as I got out, I saw around a large group of beast kin surrounding outside the cave staring at me.

There were probably around 40 beast kins in front of me, both male and females with a variety of dog kin, wolf kin, rabbit kin and one of them was even a lion kin who also looked like the leader of this pack.

Around half of them looked around 14-17 years while the rest looked like past their twenties. They must have been the rest of the pack of the beast kin living in the cave. So that’s how the beast kin in the cave were surviving. The healthy ones were hunting for food and that was apparent from the animal bodies they were dragging along.

Even then they didn’t look in good shape with many of them looked very thin and a few were even wounded at some places.

Instantly killing intent from all around was focused on me. The leader-ish, lion kin stepped forward and practically roared to me.

“What is a human scum like you doing over here and what have you done to my people inside the cave!? I’ll rip you apart and eat your flesh you bastard!”

Uwaaaaah! This is scary. The dude literally looks scary with those big teeth and his lion like face full of fur and that tail behind his back.

Now that I thing about it, that’s how everyone around me look. They all looked like some kind of mix between animals and humans. They had a face of a beast with a body of a human along with a beast like tail of their respective beast kind.

This is really bad! The situation will get out of control at this rate and I’ll seriously get killed here.

First it was that stupid god of death, then it was that scary Dragon and now these flesh eating beast kins ready to rip me apart!! Why do I have such bad luck?

As soon as I thought that I see the lion kin moving towards me, I quickly raise both my hands in surrender and speak to him.

“Listen to what I have to say! I am not your enemy here. I am a friend of the Black Dragon that lives near here. I even have proof.”

“Do you take me for a fool! Don’t lie about being a friend of the Dragon. Dragons are supreme and strong. They’ll eat the weak and won’t definitely be friends with mere mortals like us especially a human.”

I quickly took out Hereon’s scale out of my pocket to show it to the leader lion kin.

Looking at the object in my hand the lion kin started to hesitate. Before I didn’t felt it but now even I could feel something like fear from the scale in front of me. Even without knowing it I can tell it’s the scale of Hereon the black. Was this the power of an ancient being that even a small scale of his would be this incredible.

The lion kin asked the rabbit kin standing next to him to go inside the cave to check it and then spoke to me.

“How can a human ever be a friend of the Dragon? No one has ever been one.” The lion kin asked me.

I could sense that now he was starting to cool down. This was good. Now we can have a real talk.

“Do I really look like a normal human to you? Have you even seen such hair and eyes before?” I replied while trying to make myself sound mysterious.

I know beast kins would obviously hate humans, the feud between them would only be solved by blood and so they won’t listen to me. The only way to overcome this was to prove myself different from the humans to reduce their hostility.

“That makes sense. I’ve never seen someone like you before.”

By the time the lion kin had said this, the rabbit kin came from the cave looking slightly happy as he reported.

“Nothing has changed in the cave and everyone is fine. Instead this person has it seems given the children and a few injured water and covered everyone up with leaves to warm them up.”

Listening to this, I could feel everyone’s killing intent vanish towards me to be replaced with a look of gratitude.

The lion kin immediately bowed his head a little and said.

“I am sorry for my rough treatment to a friend of the legendary Dragon. Surely you yourself won’t be someone ordinary. And you also took care of my brethren. I am thankful to you. Tell me what is it you wish from me?”

I was waiting for this exact moment.

“Make me the leader of your pack.”

That is all I said which immediately caused confusion among everyone.

The lion kin still maintaining his calm replied

“That is impossible. Even if you are someone different from the humans and the friend of a Dragon, I can’t make you the leader.”

If it’s something impossible then I must do it at all cost.

“What is it you require for me to prove myself? And tell me, the way you’re living right now is that the way you wish to survive forever? I promise you this that I’ll take care of everyone and I’ll make your current situation a lot better than before. If I fail, then you may have my body to feed the young of your tribe to keep them alive.”

I knew betting my life was the only way.

“The resolve in your eyes is good. But we beast kin only follow the strong. The law of the jungle is our law. The strong shall always lead the weak.”

“If that is so then let our fist do the talking. I will defeat you and take your position.”

Back from my orphanage days, there were a lot of times when us poor defenseless souls would become easy targets for the criminals and so I knew some self-defense methods. I knew right now this lion kin was in his weakest form. It wasn’t any better for me either but he was tired and hungry from the hunting. Now was the only chance I had to win.

Hearing my proclamation, the lion kin introduces himself and accepts my challenge.

“I am Leon the chief of this tribe. I have seen your resolve and accepted your challenge. Now prepare yourself!”

With that Leon rushed towards me.

Now this was something not Ordinary. The ordinary me wouldn’t even have imagine to challenge this beast kin who was in every way stronger compared to me. But that wouldn’t have been fun.

Its only fun when it’s the extraordinary or the impossible.

‘Let the fun begin’