Chapter 182: Time to See the Doc'
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Remember the time when riding on horseback across a verdant plain was relaxing? Honestly...it gets pretty tedious and boring after a while.
Becky's travel plan was to move along the roads from Lamberg into the great plains. It was green all throughout their journey, and the only things along the way were border towns or pit stops. It was not until some distance that they were required to take a detour around a mountain range. As such, it was nothing but greenery all day long, and frankly, Hao Ren was getting rather sick of it.
Lily on the other hand, was in her element. She was still strapped to the horse like an octopus. While her pose may not have been the most graceful of the lot, she was rather pleased with herself. At times she even went, "Awooooo." Her howls echoed throughout the plains. The horse neighed in shock, probably thinking that its rider had gone nuts.
"Why is she acting like this?" Becky finally asked after she witnessed Lily howling a few times. "Sounds like a werewolf."
"I am a werewolf!" Lily responded happily as she turned her head back. She was indeed happy, being able to proudly declare her heritage, that she was an unusual creature so freely. It was not possible back on Earth. She was a carefree soul to begin with, and the place gave her the freedom she always craved for.
"Whoa, she's a real one?" Becky gawked in awe. "Don't the werewolves live over the mountains to the east? Their tribes also seem very insular. You rarely see any one of them over in a human's domain much less being a wizard's apprentice."
"I was born and raised with humans!" Lily yelled back. She really, really loved this place, where she could talk about herself without any reservations. Becky was not unfamiliar with werewolves. No one in this world was anyway. So, what better place for an unusual creature to live than here? Truth be told, if it was not due of the lack of supermarkets, refrigerators, computers and a whole load of tasty food only available back on Earth, Lily would have moved here in a heartbeat.
Then again, Lily had not seen first hand, the dangers of The Plane of Dreams.
The mere joy of freedom had Lily really pumped up, and a poetic spark ignited in her. Clearing her throat, she went, "Awooooooo!!!"
Vivian slowed her horse to a canter to stay beside Hao Ren. "Doggie seems very happy... What are you looking for?"
Hao Ren was throwing his gaze towards the horizon as he spoke, "The wolfpack. We are clearly on the pack's territory. I remember it. Seems like they're not hunting here today. I promised to bring them dental treatment."
The group had left Lamberg for a couple of hours now. From the gist of things, they were almost half-way through the day's journey. They had been going through the flat edges of the steppe, which Becky purposedly planned to maximise the distance the horses could traverse. This led them right smack into the black wolves' territory. Hao Ren only agreed to go on the route because it passed right through the plains where the wolves lived. He still remembered his promise to the alpha wolf.
However, the plains were larger than expected. Not to mention, a wolf's territory was usually very vast, and their kind wandered about to hunt. Unless a predetermined point had been determined, or you ran into them by coincidence, it was practically impossible to look for the pack in just a single ride.
Vivian was also curious about the black wolf pack that Hao Ren had been talking about so frequently. She too realised that the moment they reach civilisation, they would not be seeing the pack for a good while. She pondered for a moment and called out to Lily. "Doggie! How loud can you howl?"
Lily had just stopped howling a moment ago, and was still caught up in the euphoria. "That depends on my mood. Lalala..."
"Hmm..." Vivian suddenly had an idea. "Then, howl as loud as you can. The farther it can be heard, the better. Go ahead, call yourself the king of the plains."
Lily was cautious all of a sudden. "Are you trying to screw with me?"
"What makes you say so?"
"You always complain about me being too noisy. Even when I'm on the rooftop trying to be all poetic, you'd come up from the basement just to get me to shut up," Lily retorted. The werehusky had a habit of howling when she was happy but, that grinded the gears of the vampire, who loved her peace and quiet. Well, it was not only Vivian, pretty much anyone else who did not know Lily would have been confused by what actually triggers her to howl. Furthermore, the moment she starts howling, the other strays in the suburb would start howling in succession, almost like a crescendo. It became the latest public nuisance there, so much so that Hao Ren had to remind her to pipe down from time to time.
When she was in human form however, Lily was pretty reserved, fearing that her identity would be exposed to her previous landlord, who worked in the same university she studied in. Now that she was living in a deserted area like the Southern Suburbs, and was being surround by her "kind", she started showing her true colours.
"If I'm letting you howl, just do it. I don't have all the time in a day to screw with you." Vivian shot back. "You just seemed bored out of your wits at home so now, you have the chance to scream as much as you want."
Lily tilted her head a bit and simply believed what Vivian said. She took a deep breath and went, "Awoooooooooooooooo!!!"
Hao Ren could almost feel the gaze of the wolfpack upon him. Wolves are very territorial creatures...
As expected, Lily continued howling along the way and simultaneously, another series of howls came in response. They had attracted the pack's attention.
From the horizon, Hao Ren saw a few darting shadows, and not long after, he felt some presence behind the party. He called out to Becky, "Stop, I have something to do."
Becky pulled the reigns of her horse, leading the party to a halt. The rest also trotted to a stop. Lily was the only one still hugging the horse, and going at full speed. Withing a blink of an eye, she was already hundreds of metres ahead of the party. Her pitiful voice echoed back, "I can't stop! How do I get it to stoooooooppp!!!"
The werehusky had no idea how to ride a horse. The boast about being able to pick it up on the fly before they departed was just that, a boast. Along the way, she simply used her strength to strap herself on the back of the horse like velcro, almost like another piece of luggage. Now...she can't get the horse to stop!
Hao Ren almost panicked at the scene, and was just about to dash forward to save the bumbling idiot before she deftly leapt off the back of the horse. With her innate agility, she managed to pull herself out of danger. She then sprinted to the front of the horse, and gave it an ear ringing slap...
A short while later, Lily was carrying the horse back. Yep, that's right. She was carrying the horse that she was riding moments earlier, on her back...
"...I've seen many novices who don't know how to ride a horse but, this takes the cake." Becky could only look on with a dumbfounded expression. "This is my first time seeing someone stop a horse like that... Who's riding who actually?"
Hao Ren could only let out an awkward laugh. He was really at lost. How was he going to explain that he was surrounded by oddballs? Lily placed the fainted horse on the ground and grumbled. "...I'm so pissed... I even had to carry this thing..."
"...Alright, alright... It's been carrying you for a good part of the journey," Hao Ren said as he ruffled Lily's hair. "Don't just go off by yourself. It's okay if you can't ride."
By then, the shadows had already converged upon the party. As expected, it was the same pack that Hao Ren was familiar with. The strongest of the pack was a Sun-Tzu reading, Shakespeare-quoting alpha wolf. Heck, it even learned how to paint like Da Vinci.
This time around, there only about 20 present. It seemed like a good half of the pack was missing. The almost toothless one appeared to be absent as well.
"It's really you." The alpha wolf was dumbstruck upon seeing Hao Ren. "You humans are so troublesome. Your kind keeps changing the clothes that you wear... If it wasn't for your unique scent, I wouldn't even know how to differentiate you lot."
Humans in the eyes of a wolf were probably the same as wolves in the eyes of a human. A common person would not be able to tell the gender of a wolf simply by looks alone. Thankfully, wolves can tell someone apart by scent.
"We heard an unknown howl earlier, and were wondering which bastard had come to invade our territory," one of the black wolves spoke as it nodded. "Your way of summoning us is pretty ingenious... Who was that? Good vocals I must say. Haven't heard a howl with such clarity in ages."
Lily quickly bounced forward. "It was me! Me! Say...are you guys the black wolves that Mr. Landlord was talking about?"
She then turned to Hao Ren with a dumb smile. "Hehehe, see? Told you I have talent in singing. It's just that you guys don't know how to appreciate it."
Hao Ren pushed Lily away. "Repeating the three syllables, 'woof' and 'awoo' does not make a song. And you of all people want to compare vocals in front of Wuyue? You sure got it coming."
He then stood before the alpha wolf. "I brought you the doctor."