Gentle Beast

Ryan loosened his arms around Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and lifted the quilt to cover her ears. Then he went out to open the door.

Elder Berson saw Ryan and went straight to the point, “Chief, what I said yesterday, I hope you and your female can reconsider. . . “

Ryan walked out and closed the door with the back of his hand, “What are we reconsidering?”

After Ryan returned yesterday, he only heard about Berson hoping that Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu would teach the leopards how to make gunpowder.

Berson quickly laid out his thoughts, “It’s like this. . .”

He planned to pick a few intelligent males to have Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu teach.

If the research turned out successful, then the gunpowder could be used in the racial war.

With the power of gunpowder, there would be no need to worry about the wolves attacking in the future. In the entire Bornia continent, there would be no opponent for them.

“. . . You don’t need to have your female take too much time. Just half an hour or half the afternoon everyday until they learn to make it alone. If successful, this could change the history of the leopard race. . .”

Ryan slowly said, “Teach everyday how to use gunpowder?”

Berson thought Ryan considered it too frequent and quickly changed his tone, “If you think it’s inappropriate every day, then every two or three days.”

Ryan was silent, but not because of the time.

On contrary, he was seriously thinking about the Elder’s proposal.

His people had left Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu with too many bad impressions. The little one always considered herself an outsider, despite her abandonment of the idea to “go home”, and she hadn’t opened her heart to accept his race.

Could he take advantage of this opportunity to let her make contact with his people?

“Alright,” Ryan said, making a split-second decision, “In two days time, bring a list of the people to learn. . . The selected must have a spouse.”

Berson was pleasantly surprised and didn’t think much about the conditions Ryan set on it, “Great, I’ll go prepare!”

After Elder Berson left, Ryan returned to the house.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had already woken up and was wearing beige pajamas. Her dark hair was loose behind her, and she rubbed her eyes sleepily looking around the room. “Ryan, who were you talking to?” She had heard voices coming from the door.

Ryan brought her into his lap and palmed her hair, holding her chin to kiss her, “Berson.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s brain went a bit dull, “What did he want?”

Ryan laid out Berson’s proposal and asked her, “Do you agree?”

The spring morning was a little cold and leaving the quilt, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had subconsciously shrunk into Ryan’s arms, asking strangely, “Didn’t you say that I wasn’t allowed to use gunpowder in front of them?”

Yesterday she had refused Berson for those reasons.

Ryan enjoyed her weight and, holding her ass, dragged her even closer, “Did you?”

“. . .” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu buried her face guilty and defended herself, “The situation was urgent, I didn’t think too much about it.”

Ryan raised his eyebrows, “What did you think?”

“. . . Can’t tell you,” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu bit her lips and turned her eyes away. She didn’t want to let him know that she was thinking of him. “I’ll agree, on a few conditions.”

Ryan asked, “What conditions?”

“After it’s developed, it can only be used to defend against foreign attacks and not for offense. Nor can it be taught to the other races, and can’t be used to kill indiscriminately.” Those were what Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had thought long about. Her answer was quick to his question.

Ryan pondered it over, “Yes.”

Even without the gunpowder, the leopards could hold their own territory. Ryan just wanted to tie her down.

Moreover, if they used the gunpowder lightly, then more races would know about Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu. The less that knew about her, the better.

*

The next day, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu signed a contract with Elder Berson, containing all the conditions mentioned the day before.

Elder Berson was bitter. Originally, he wanted to use it to dominate the entire continent. Now that his hopes had been shattered, it was a bit uncomfortable. . . However, the leaders promised, and what else could he do as a mere elder?

But, on second thought, it was still good. At least, the leopards no longer had to fear attacks from other races in the future.

So, Berson picked four males that same day and went to Ryan’s house to “learn” from Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu.

The four had spouses and bright minds, in accordance with Ryan’s requirements.

Alongside Winter, the other three were called Walker, Joel, and Selwyn.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had no experience in teaching. The only time she had taught someone was when she taught some mathematics to children that had been living with some relatives.

Now, she had to teach four strong, burly beastmen chemical equations. . . it was a bit tricky.

Fortunately, the four were very smart. Though they were confused at first, they learned quickly after a few lessons.

Particularly the one called Joel. She would demonstrate it before them and the next time he came, Joel would have nearly completed it.

But, there were still many deficiencies in the details.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu patiently corrected them.

Sometimes, even Ryan was left behind.

Winter and the several beastmen watched their leader’s face darken day by day, and they became more careful and cautious.

“This ether can’t be placed like that, it’s very dangerous. . .” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu quickly stopped Walker’s movement.

Walker obediently put it back down in a safe place and looked up, seeing their leader standing at the door. Ryan’s shoulder was against the door frame, his arms crossed on his chest, and staring at him. With a shiver, Walker spilled everything in his hands.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu said anxiously, “Why did you pour all of the power into it? Didn’t I say just half. . .”

While listening to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu, Walker backed away and, keeping a safe distance from her, nodded, “Sorry, I’ll pay attention next time. . .”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu saw his sincerity and didn’t continue to scold him.

Since then, every time Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu taught them, they consciously kept a distance between them.

If they got too close, their chief’s eyes would sweep over, and it was no joke.

*

Half a month later, there was finally a small success.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu let several males to the back of the tribe to test the powder.

The results from Joel were most remarkable, and the gunpowder produced was enough to crush a stone half as tall as a person.

He was followed by Walker, then Selwyn.

There seemed to be something going on at Winter’s house and he hadn’t arrived yet.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took a record of their achievements and pointed out the advantages and disadvantages, then let them go back to practice.

Waiting for a while, she still saw no signs of Winter’s figure.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu prepared to teach them how to set up the gunpowder, “The arrangement is just as important as the production. If it isn’t well-arranged, it can be easily discovered and it’s very easy to pick up. . .”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu taught for an hour because the venue was too big and it wasn’t easy to explain. The three beastmen learned a little.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu touched her cheek and was a bit embarrassed. Suddenly, she remembered that she had once painted a “topographic map” for the gunpowder. When she was bored, she had designed it according to the terrain around Camuda Valley. It would be easier for them to understand if she could give it to them.

“Wait for me, I’ll go fetch something.” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu remembered she had put it in the closet, and she hesitated for a moment.

It wasn’t too far from Ryan’s house. Roughly thirty minutes back and forth, so Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu sped up and took ten minutes to get there.

She went straight to the cabin and stood in front of the cupboard, tip-toeing. Five minutes later, she couldn’t find it.

Strange, it wasn’t there?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu twisted her brows in thought. Could she have put it in the bedroom cabinet?

That wasn’t impossible. Every time she went to bed too late, Ryan would take away her flashlight and carry her to bed, ordering her to sleep. She would have no choice but to stick out her hand and put everything in the closet next to her.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu walked in the direction of the bedroom.

Ryan wasn’t home. He had taken a dozen people out to go hunting early in the morning. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu searched around for it and, indeed, found it on the second shelf of the cabinet. Surprised, she folded it up and put it in her pocket, ready to go out.

Walking to the entrance of the courtyard, she placed her hands on the door and was just about to pull it open when she heard a voice outside, “Chief!”

It was Winter.

Ryan responded, walking toward the door.

“Didn’t you take Dole with you to go hunting? Why’d you come back?” Winter asked curiously.

Ryan simply said: “The weather is bad.”

Winter looked up at the sky. There were dark clouds in the distance, looming over Camuda Valley and moving toward them.

“Rainy season is coming? Winter suddenly screamed. Animals were particularly sensitive to changes in the weather, “Oh, I’d better go tell Suzanna quickly to bring all the clothes in!”

Winter said and turned to rush back to his house.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stood behind the door and remembered that she should go back to the hill. But now they were standing there chatting and she couldn’t just open the door.

“Ah, chief,” Winter thought of something and stopped, “Your female has chosen to stay with the race. Why do you want to keep her this way?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s fingers subconsciously tightened.

Winter continued: “This kind of weather and still wanting to run about. Suzanna wouldn’t get angry with me!”*

*This sentence was butchered to heck. I reconstructed it the best I could.

Ryan was silent for a moment and seemed reluctant to discuss with Winter, “She and Suzanna aren’t the same.”

“Where are they different?” Winter asked, puzzled. “Aren’t all females the same? Needing to rely on a male to survive. If you don’t deliberately keep her, wouldn’t she be homeless? After all, I told her personally that Pat was dead.”

Ryan lifted his foot and was about to push in the courtyard. He saw it was opened a crack and his brow furrowed. He wanted to stop Winter.

Unfortunately, Winter continued:

“Unless she finds out we’re deceiving her, it’s impossible she’d want to leave.”

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