The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 274: A wounded sheep

The path toward the very heart of the West Way was a winding trail of rough earth and tall, yellow grass. We moved with a new kind of tension now. The sun was beating down, and the air felt heavy with the scent of dust and distant woodsmoke.

I kept my eyes on the horizon, thinking about everything I heard from the rebellious group that tried to attack their king. Seriously, who does that?

This world was supposed to be my dream, a place of wonder, but hearing the word ’enslave’ had soured the air. It didn’t matter if it was a primitive world of beastmen or my old world of concrete and civilization; greed always found a way to ruin things.

Fenric suddenly stopped, his nose twitching. He didn’t drop into a combat stance, but his body went rigid.

"Something’s in the bush," he muttered, his hand going to the rough stone knife at his belt.

A moment later, the grass parted, and a figure stumbled out. He didn’t look like a warrior. He looked like a heap of white fluff that had been dragged through the dirt. He tripped over a tree root and fell hard, letting out a high, panicked bleat.

Wait, bleat?

He was a sheep beastman, and he was outright terrified, trembling like he was about to meet his maker.

He scrambled backward on his elbows, his eyes wide and wet with tears. He was clutching a blood-soaked knee.

"Please!" he sobbed, his voice thin and trembling. "I have nothing left! Don’t take me back! I don’t want to be a resource!"

I felt horrible goosebumps crawl over my skin, seeing him beg.

He stared at Noah and Fenric—two massive predators—and his face went pale. To him, they were just death in a different shape.

"Please..." he whimpered, and they both exchanged gaze.

It was a known fact that the west way was home to many races of beasts, so seeing a hurdle like ours made the injured sheep immediately conclude that we were part of the people who were likely chasing him. Poor sheep. He could very much die of a heart attack at this point. What do we do?

Noah stood frozen. I could see the pain in his eyes. He was regarded as the ’Silver Wolf,’ a protector, but to this beastman, he was just another wolf trying to gnaw at his weakness. Noah stayed back, keeping his hands visible but distant, knowing his presence alone was a threat.

But my heart just broke for the poor guy, so I decided to step forward. I believe I was the less threatening looking beast in our midst.

With my basket of cubs in hand, I approached him.

"Hey, stay calm," I said.

I kept my voice low and soft, the way I would sometimes talk to the cubs when they were startled.

"Look at me. We aren’t with the ones who are trying to hurt you."

The man stopped scrambling, but didn’t stop trembling. His eyes caught my tiger ears, and then he looked at my cubs skittering in their basket. Seeing the cute cubs, he calmed down a bit, but then, he looked at my husbands, each of them. It was as if he was looking for a specific beast, and when he did not find them, his shivering, which was so hard, his teeth clicked–stopped.

"You... you’re not with the hyenas?" he whispered.

So technically, it’s mostly the hyenas that are carrying out Garrow’s dirty job. Point taken.

"No," I said, kneeling a few feet away so I wouldn’t crowd him. "I’m Arinya. And we’re going to help you."

I know it looks strange that I’m assuring a complete stranger that I’ll help them but come on. The sheep’s hurt, and if we let him be and go on our way, they’ll definitely catch him. And once that happens... I bit my lip, not even wanting to think about it. I know I’ve done and seen worse, but... He’s just an innocent sheep.

I decided to be queen to tackle this issue, so I’ll just take him as my first case.

I looked at his bleeding knee and turned to Damar.

"Damar, can I have some of those herbs?" I was referring to that minty one with the miracle effect.

Damar looked like he’d rather let the sheep die than give it up, since he had it saved for me, but looking at the determination in his eyes, he knew i wouldnt want that, so he took it out.

"Alright, right now your knee is a mess so, let me look at it."

He hesitated, but the sheer exhaustion in his limbs won out. He slumped against a tree, his breath coming in ragged hitches.

As I moved closer to clean the wound, I couldn’t help but notice the wool on his head and back. It was pure white and incredibly thick, tracing down to his small, fluffy tail. When my hand brushed against his shoulder to steady him, I almost gasped as I grazed the wool. It was softer than anything I’d ever felt—softer than the mountain goats, softer than the furs in Tita’s hut. It was like touching a warm, living cloud.

I was fascinated, but I kept my focus on his injury. He was hurt, and the last thing he needed was me petting him like a curiosity. Hed think I was interested in his wool and would try to rip it off his skin. Brr. I can’t even imagine it. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"I’m just going to clean this," I murmured, dabbing at the rough scrape with a piece of moss first and foremost. "It’s a shallow cut, but it needs to stay clean."

I focused on cleaning his wound, but the silence was becoming a bit uncomfortable. He was especially conscious of the males behind me.

So, to lift the silence, I asked. "What happened?"

He finally tore his gaze from behind me and looked at the dirt.

"They... they came for our village," the sheep man whispered, looking at the ground. "Hyenas with rough-hewn clubs and spears. They said the Wolf King was gone for good and that the new laws of the Council meant we were just... livestock. I ran, but my brother... he couldn’t."

I felt a surge of cold, sharp anger. I looked back at Noah. He was kneeling now, his head bowed, looking like he wanted to apologize to every blade of grass for what his people had done in his absence.

"The King isn’t gone," I said. "He’s kneeling right over there, and he’s not very happy about those ’new laws.’"

The sheep man’s eyes went wide. He looked at Noah, then he suddenly noticed the wolf head mark on my wrist.

"The King?"

"Yes. He went on a little vacation, and those troublemakers started acting up. But worry no more, for he is back," I said, offering him my hand to help him up. "And he’s brought some ’trouble’ with him to fight the current trouble." I glanced back at Noah. "Isnt that right?"

Noah nodded.

I felt the softness of the sheep’s hand in mine—he was so delicate compared to the predators I lived with. It made me want to shield him from the whole damn world.

Noah finally got up and stepped forward slowly, his expression solemn.

"I am sorry, friend. Tell us where they took your people. I have a debt to settle with Garrow’s hounds."