Eim[1] felt that he was probably already dead. He should have listened to his brother when he told him not to run so far away to hunt.
But their father had recently fallen sick and was unable to ingest meat. Since this year was exceptionally cold, the Crunchy Grass growing around their tribe had been picked bare. He knew this area had many Crunchy Grass, and so he sneaked out.
Following the trail of Crunchy Grass, he unknowingly reached an unexplored area.
Younger people had more guts. When Eim realised that he went to a place he shouldn’t have gone, his first reaction wasn’t to rush back, but to walk around to fulfil his curiosity.
It was rumoured that there was a cliff here, and opposite the cliff was a land shrouded in white all year round, which had many terrifying monsters lurking. There would even be terrifying roars sounding occasionally. It was only because of this cliff that the monsters could not come over and cause them harm.
Eim walked to the edge of the cliff. The other side was indeed white as the rumours said, and the surroundings of the cliff was incredibly cold. He then carefully looked down the cliff, only to realise that it was not bottomless as he had thought, but instead there was a river that had frozen over. The distance between the river and the top of the cliff wasn’t far, only approximately 10 meters high.
The frozen river seemed like a bridge, connecting the place he was standing on to the foggy white land on the opposite side.
Eim did not believe in the rumours of monsters on the other side of the cliff, those were words the adults would say to scare them as they did not want the younger generation to go near the cliff. He did not take these words to heart, wanting to go back later to share with his friends about his experiences in this place. After all, this was uncharted territory!
After picking enough crunchy grass to eat for days, Eim headed back. He wanted to get home before his brother did. But just at this time, a huge roar came from behind him, and the ground shook violently. Eim fell heavily on a pile of snow, and when he struggled to turn around, he noticed a couple of savage looking beasts exiting the white fog. They were huge, without fur, and with terrifying, dagger-sharp teeth. Those terrifying creatures roared as they made their way to his location.
Eim was terribly frightened, and he jumped up to run for his life. One of the strange creatures seemed to notice him, and started chasing after him. That creature opened his mouth wide, revealing countless sharp teeth. Eim felt warmth land on his face, that was the monster’s saliva!
When the monster was about to bite his right leg, the earth shook violently once again, and Eim fainted.
“Dad… Dad…” Eim murmured as he woke up. He felt really cold ← No shit! How could it not be cold if he was buried in the snow?
He shivered as he climbed up, and saw someone before him.
It was a very small child, whose mouth was bulging as he was eating something.
“Did…” you save me? Eim wanted to ask him, but he realised that his throat was too parched to say anything.
He climbed out of the pile of snow. Standing up gave him a better view of the surroundings, and what he saw made him shocked stiff.
The monster originally chasing after him had been disemboweled, its blood seeping through the snowy ground. That monster’s ferocious looking large head laid on the ground not too far from him, eyes wide open as if to show his unwillingness.
The little child dug his little hand in the stone mortar, grabbing a ball of bloody minced meat and stuffing it into his mouth, his chubby cheeks bulging again. Seeing Eim stand, the child showed no surprise, only pointing his finger at the corpse not far away.
“Eat?” Seeing Eim’s lack of response, the child tilted his head, “Or not?”
Eim sat back down.
Author has something to say:
They are starting to learn more about this world. Because the bear children fathers are too much of a country bumpkin, I’ve prepared a foolish guide for them.
Translator has something to say:
I realised that it might be confusing since I use the word “cub” a lot when translating, but cub does not just refer to the young of animals. It can be used to refer to children cutely. Same goes for paws and claws, those are referring to hands. I translate it in that way because I find that cuter ^^