Master of Dungeon 014

(This is a bonus chapter from the Rebirth Online World first contest. This one is for Ian Wu)

Mina and Ryud lives in a small village near the snow mountain ridge. Their village consists of fifty families and the village chief is their grandfather. It’s almost two months after they met with Varn. Since that day, it always becomes their secret but they never forget about the meeting. As their village located at the snow mountain territory, they made their houses from ice block in a round shape. It was similar to igloo houses.

“Brother, why did grandfather asked us to gather today?”

“I don’t know Mina; there must be an important reason.”

They are walking towards the biggest igloo house at the center of the village. When they get inside of it, most of the villager was there already.

“Finally you guys are here.”

The voice that greeted them comes from a big man covered in wolf’s fur. His face is covered with white beard that show his old age. His eye is sharp and cold but his voice was warm. He is Mina and Ryud grandfather, the village chief.

“Grandfather, what is this meeting about?”

“Let’s wait for the others before we start talking.”

Not long after, the whole villager is there already.

“Now, let’s start the meeting. Grad, please explain the situation.”

“Yes chief! As everyone knows, our cold climate doesn’t allow us to plant for vegetables and crops, our village food resources is coming from the fish and the rabbit we hunt. There is no problem for fish that we caught however the number of rabbit we hunt for this week is zero. In another week, we may have problems with our ration. “

“Then, can’t we catch more fish?”

“It was possible but it will destroy the balance of the fish population. The number of fish will be reduced and the regeneration of their population won’t be able to catch up to the amount we need to consume. There must be a problem with the rabbit’s population so we have two solutions. First, we can try to resolve the rabbit population issue or secondly we can try to visit another village in the south to trade the fish for vegetables.”

“Now, we will take a vote. Those who agree with the first suggestion raise your hand. Now, those who agree with the second raise your hand. Alright, we already count the vote, it was 150 to 40. Now, we will choose someone to investigate about the rabbit’s issue. Does anyone have someone in mind?”

“I suggest we send Bolg, he is the strongest out of us.”

“I suggest we send Ryud, he is the smartest in our village.”

“I vote for Bolg.” “ I vote for Ryud.”

“Alright, we’ll take another vote. Those who vote for Bolg raise your hand. Those who vote for Ryud raise your hand. Well, we can see the result clearly, 90 to 110. Ryud will be the village representative to investigate the rabbit’s issue.”

Ryud who heard his name was chosen couldn’t help it but feel proud. He bowed a little to the crowd and said. “I will do my best and I won’t let you down.”

After that the meeting comes to a close.

“Brother, can I come with you?”

“Of course you can, but why do you want to come?”

“N-no particular reason.”

“Eh? Why you stutter a little bit? Is this perhaps because of that boy?”

Of course when Ryud said that boy, he refers to Varn. After all the area that they are going to investigate is near the ice palace where they met Varn. The day before, they also walked past his castle when they are trying to find the way back to the village after checking their rabbit’s trap.

“W-who’s that boy brother? I don’t know who you are talking about.”

“Oh? Are you trying to deny the fact? I can even see that your face is now as red as the tomato.”

“W-what?”

Mina then touches her cheek that is now burning hot.”Brother is such a meanie. How can you tease me like that.”

“it’s your fault for lying to me. I know you liked him. Since that day you often stare at the mountain with blank look on your face.”

“please stop it brother, you are embarra.s.sing me.”

“I don’t really care but at least you should wait ten more years until you are seventeen.”

“what do you mean brother?”

“Of course marriage.”

“m-m-marriage? What are you talking about brother? You should’ve hurry and pack up your things so we could leave immediately.”

“oh, my little sister couldn’t wait to see her beloved.”

“No! it wasn’t like that. We should hurry to resolve the village’s issue about the rabbit.”

“Oh right! I almost forgot about that. Come on Mina, let’s leave.”

“*sigh* Brother, you’re so helpless.”

———

It seemed that in a couple more days, Omega will give birth again. Alpha is now collecting some food and carried it back to the cave since Omega can’t move from her spot. Alpha and Omega children are now hunting around the area. Although they didn’t listen to Varn as obedient as Alpha and Omega but it was still a good thing. Since they know Varn from they are still small, they accepted his presence as the pack leader. Occasionally they don’t obey his order but most of the time they followed him.

Varn also expand his training regime from running inside the dungeon to running outside on the snowy terrain. It trains his lower body muscle and balance. It also increased his body resistance to cold. He started to hunt for rabbit with them to raise his awareness and hunting knowledge. He learned a lot of things from the wolves.

He learned how to examine his prey, waited with patience and strike at the right time. He was more and more similar to a wolf as each day pa.s.sed.