Chapter 34 - 34 – Mystery
I sat on the ground, squeezing my head. It was morning. My colonists were scattered on the ground, except for Manu, who was caught in a branch of a tree.
Fortunately, this mess didn't escalate any bigger. No one sets a big fire, injures oneself, or attacks another.
"What the fuck!" Manu's voice is heard from the tree. He almost fell from up there but luckily was able to hang from a branch. "Why am I even here!?"
Seb and Leva straightened up. With their eyes still half-open, they stared at the naked Kat, still asleep while burying Pif's head into her enormous chest.
I'm sure Pif isn't asleep. He passed out all night.
Manu comes down from the tree and joins in, staring at that strange sight. Instead of asking Kat, the three kept quiet, making the situation seem odd to me.
Slowly, Kat opened her eyes, immediately noticing Pif's head which was still in her arms. She froze for a moment when she saw that no clothes were covering her body, then quickly let go of Pif and inched as far as possible while covering her private parts.
And of course, even though her face was red, her expression was still like that. Blank
Pif woke up, straightened himself and wiped the blood from his nose. "Oh shit."
The boy turned to Kat, who immediately flinched.
"What happened?" Finally, Leva asked.
Pif was silent for a few seconds, then pointed to some of the mushrooms still surrounding the bonfire. "Those shit are the bearers of disaster."
***
Kat was forced to use a banana leaf bikini for hunting because there was no other material to make clothes. The existing leather has been used as a sack or sling bag. I find it ineffective to make those things for Kat's clothes. The replacements take a long time to make, and even then, Manu can only make them if Kat manages to bring in animals whose skins can be used, whereas those foods need a place to store them.
[Determination buff – All Kat's stats and physical abilities increased]
You're so desperate to get another decent outfit, huh? Banana leaves are not a good choice for clothing. Besides being easily torn and dry out later, the material is also not as flexible as leather. It didn't properly contain Kat's feminine assets.
Especially in a scene like this.
Kat was running as fast as she could after a doe that had four arrows on it. Two arrows hit the animal's left thigh with light brown fur, causing her to limp. Her run is now only as fast as an average human, so she is left behind by her pack.
The girl aimed with her bow again. Zap! The arrow hit the back of the doe's neck. The animal fell and immediately became unconscious.
Kat stopped running by the poor animal, bent over clutching her knees, panting and sweating profusely. Her breastplate and lower clothes had almost come off, but she didn't bother fixing them.
She was lucky enough. The day after she lost her clothes (again), the girl got a doe whose skin could be used for new clothes.
Well, I can only guess. Her expression was still unreadable.
When her breathing was much better, Kat crouched down to make sure the doe was dead. I just finished checking the animal's heartbeat. Kat's gaze shifted elsewhere.
The dog that Kat had met yesterday was standing in the distance, staring at the girl.
I looked around. Ah, this is indeed the spot the dog occupied yesterday.
This time, Kat cut off some of the thigh meat from the doe's corpse and threw it at the dog. She did that on her initiative, without any orders from me.
Seeing that the dog did not come to the meat, Kat chose to leave by dragging the corpse of the deer she had hunted.
After Kat was far enough away, the brown dog just sniffed and started eating the girl's gift.
Kat paused to observe, then continued on her way.
***
As soon as Kat returned to the settlement and put the animal's corpse in, all the colonists gathered.
"Wow, great results." Smiling, Seb crouched down and examined the deer. "You're amazing, Kat!"
"Thanks, Kat." Manu nodded. "I'll make you a dress with this right away."
As usual, Kat only responded in silence.
"Huh?" Leva slightly lifted one of the animal's legs. "Why is this part cut off? It's not claws or fangs."
The others also checked the spot pointed out by Leva, then simultaneously looked at Kat.
Well, it's not a big problem. However, I don't know if all of my colonists liked the idea of taming stray dogs or not. But at least I had to get Kat to come clean, so all the colonists can discuss it now. It was better than Kat suddenly bringing in a new pet and someone protesting.
"I ate it." Kat answered before I could give her any instructions.
What an answer.
Everyone who looked at her was silent. It was apparent they didn't believe Kat's words.
"You eat raw meat?" Pif asked, scratching his hair. "Isn't it tough?"
Leva stood up and folded her arms across her chest. "You're trying to tame an animal, right?"
Manu's brow furrowed. "Have you thought about the consequences of having a pet from a wild animal, Kat?"
Kat was silent.
I was about to ask Seb to prevent a fight, but Leva was quicker to answer. "Well, what animal do you want to tame? Is it a dog? If that's the case I understand because dogs are the best companions for hunters. If you want other animals too, I won't have any problems, anyway. I think that's your right."
Oh, thank you, Leva.
"But what you need to remember is, pets need to be cared for and fed, Kat." Manu joins in. "Don't let our food rations decrease just because of an animal."
"I'll hunt even harder to get more food." Kat answered. "So there's no need to worry."
Perhaps, it was one of the longest sentences this quiet girl had ever uttered.
"I can't wait to see what animal you're going to bring here." After I told him to lighten the mood, Seb said that sentence even though the tension wasn't that high.
I don't want my colonists to have conflicts among themselves.
Not responding, as usual, the girl left from there, put her sling bag and hunting equipment into the shelter, then walked towards the river to clean herself up. She did all that with the gazes of all the other colonists following her.
"Is she mad?" Pif asked.
Seb shrugged. "No one knows. That's Kat for you.. She's full of mystery."