Chapter 354: Chapter 318 – Unpleasant Animals

“Honestly, as monster researchers, it often baffled us how often very heavily romanticized stories of rare creatures become popular amongst the populace. For example, stories of dragons were almost certain to have originated from Drake sightings, though unlike the popular interpretations, they neither hoard gold and jewels nor kidnap princesses. If anything, a Drake would more likely than not eat the princess on the spot instead.

 

Most baffling however are the tales and stories based on Vampyrs and Einhorns, both of which were vicious beasts that were highly loathed by any people who had ever encountered one of them. Yet the stories related to them portray them more as… fairy tale creatures that often become a tragic hero of the tale itself. Those were worrisome trends, as it engraved false ideas into impressionable youngsters, which might result in an ugly death should they encounter one of these beasts for real.” - Talan “Tal” Knizhnyycherv, Researcher of Therian Cultures at the Verozgrad University, circa 699 FP.

For once, Cal felt an urge to gloat as she saw Kyara’s people ooh and aah over Willa’s feat of strength. The hunt that the tribals had taken nearly half an hour, she had accomplished in half a minute instead. Most of the young hunters - other than Ashani who was used to it - crowded Willa and seemed to be praising her through gestures, and what seemed like invitations to mate for some.

 

Unlike most of the hunters though, Nerun looked more troubled as he eyed the two horned lizard corpses, so Cal approached him. The therian man turned her way just as she came close, his acute hearing likely having noticed her approach on the way.

 

“Worried about something?” Cal asked.

 

“Just unsure how we should pack all this meat,” said Nerun in reply. He then lifted his left hand, on which Cal noticed a ring on each finger, likely storage rings from the looks of it. “Usually these are enough to carry the choice parts with us, but with two of them… I don’t think they would fit.”

 

“I can help with that,” said Cal as she approached the corpses and took both into her own storage necklace. The massive mansion-sized room within easily accommodated both carcasses with plenty of room to spare. “Mine’s enchanted for stasis too so I can help your people keep them fresh if you can’t finish dismantling them in time.”

 

“Our gratitude,” said Nerun with a polite bow. His common was still heavily accented, but after the few days she spent in the tribe, Cal managed to discern his words better than when she first arrived. While most of Kyara’s tribe still fell under the throes of their instinct to kill and toy with their prey, Cal’s group had long made use of that instinct to make themselves be viewed as predators rather than prey, and thus faced no issues from the villagers.

 

After Cal packed up the carcasses, the group of hunters gathered their missed javelins and arrows, and the entire group headed back towards the village. Halfway through their journey, however, they heard animal cries from the woods, and pulled out their weapons in response.

 

Before long however they realized that the cries were not getting any closer, and seemed more like desperate cries of pain than anything. The villagers seemed to reach a realization when a different beastial cry - which sounded close to a horse’s neigh - came from the same direction.

 

“It’s a Jednoroz, probably a wandering one exiled by its herd,” said Nerun as he carefully and quietly stalked through the underbrush.

 

“A what?” asked Willa with some stupefaction on her features. Cal had never heard of the name either.

 

“Four legged beast, a bit like a horse I guess, though they have a long horn on their foreheads,” explained Nerun as they walked with a low voice.

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“Oh, an Einhorn? I’ve heard of those before,” replied Willa in understanding. “Noble creatures with a soft spot for pure maidens?”

 

“Miss Willa… I do not know where you heard that from, but that is the silliest description of those beasts I’ve ever heard,” answered Nerun with some bafflement on his features. “Well, I guess the bit about pure maidens does match a bit, kind of.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Those beasts do have a liking for… sexually immature prey. They do not exactly care about gender though,” explained Nerun with a shake of his head. “They’ll just push down their prey and rape them to death while they ate them alive. Their occasional presence in the vicinity is one reason we never let our young roam far from the village.”

 

Cal had almost laughed out loud when she saw the horrified look on Willa’s face. Even so, she walked closer to Nerun before she asked him another question of her own. “If they’re such horrible creatures why are we headed its way then?”

 

“Well, they’re nasty critters who are really good at running away, but they do tend to get engrossed when feeding…” said Nerun in reply. “Also, while their habits are nasty, they’ve got some of the best meat around the region, so if we find one in the midst of feeding…”

 

“You take it out, gotcha.”

 

When they found the beast, Cal and Willa saw that every bit of what Nerun had told them had not been exaggerated. The Jednoroz did look the part of the noble beast of the tales they had heard, as it appeared almost like a slender horse with pure white fur, long mane and a beard-like growth from its chin. A single, spiraling horn grew from its forehead.

 

All the images from the tales they heard were washed away when they saw the beast brutally violate the still-twitching corpse of what seemed like a young doe - it was a bit hard to tell since the carcass was partly eaten - while it tore off chunks of flesh with its predatory fangs however.

 

Nerun took the beast out with an accurate javelin through the heart, since it had not noticed their arrival, being too occupied with its own pleasure and food. The hunters brought the carcass with them, but left the dead doe alone.

Apparently nobody eats Jednoroz leftovers, as people tend to fall ill if they do so.

 

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