I was too busy running for my life to give thought to the whole thing that happened a little while ago. After calming down and thinking about it, I finally realized that the man who started to threaten me might just pretend to hit me — he may not actually have the intention to kill me.
Otherwise, even a typical woman like me can escape from his speed and accuracy, how could those people hunt the agile animals for a living... Apart from that, I barely did any exercise before the transmigration even though I like to camp and hike on my holidays — my fitness level is rather average, or not to put it too nicely, subpar — I can't run at a high speed.
It is no doubt that I couldn't outrun so far from those athletic aboriginal males. However, they haven't caught up with me in the back and kept chasing me for a long time.
Therefore, they should just want to drive me out of their domain, by threatening to kill me and following me all the way.
Aren't we all human beings?
And aren't they the very first ones who invited me to their tribe?
What ritual did the priest do before she decided to throw me out?
Those aboriginal people really confused me.
Gazing at my puzzled looking face, Kruger hesitated aside and opened his mouth several times without saying anything. At long last, he finally put forward his own speculation:
"Humans can't smell or sense each others' special pheromone, they can only estimate your sex from your appearance. I guess those humans may think you are a beast-man because you look different from them."
Kruger paused and looked me from top to feet, then kept speaking:
"Just so you know, some females will leave their tribes and then live separately with their mates after accepting beasts' pursuit and successfully making a contract with them. In this case, some tribes will worry that they might contain fewer and fewer people — which is bad for humans to survive in the jungle, so they don't welcome beasts showing up around their domain."
"When those people detect we beasts, they will drive us away."
...
So...
Kruger is telling me that I might be got expelled from humanity?
Just because they have darker skin tones, and my appearance is different from theirs — I am Asian and they look like African.
No way!
You people will be considered racists back in my world!
No wonder when we first met, those aboriginal males seemed shocked and kept staring at me, scanning me up and down — it turns out that they were not sure if I am humanity!
Although I do look quite different from the Australian Aboriginal people who prefer the Negro race, you can't say that I am the same as Kruger who looks European, can you?
I bent my head lower and looked down at my breasts: they are not particularly huge but also curvy, I once thought people can obviously know I am a female... There are only males among beasts, is my gender so hard to identify?!
In some way, the fact really hurts me...
When I was a little depressed and sighed at that time, Kruger seemed to know why I was unhappy. He put his head over on my shoulder and then rubbed my neck and ears, raising his hand and patting me the way I did to comfort him:
"LuLu, you are a beautiful and outstanding female, don't low your self-esteem! I believe it's only because most humans know nothing about beasts, and even males like me can have a pouch, so they are not able to determine your sex simply by your appearance."
"Don't be sad, you are the best!" Kruger held me in a warm embrace, trying to cheer me up.
What he said somehow does make sense and makes me feel better...
After a short rest, I decided to go back. Now it is assured that the seaside is not far away from where I camp, which means seafood like shells and crabs are reachable, so there should be no shortage of food for the time being. Meanwhile, I have passed by a stream before — the water resources are relatively stable.
It might not be so hard for me to survive here.
However, my problem at the moment is... I AM LOST!
I was too panicky to pay any attention to remember the road I passed, and I just randomly chose a direction to rush — who knows where I am now since it is impossible for me to identify the direction to the way back without any marks. So I gave Kruger an appealing look, hoping he can help me:
"Kruger, do you know how to return to the campsite?"
"Of course! The scent of LuLu in that place is very strong, it is easy for me to follow the smell." He grinned confidently.
Wow, thylacines are worthy of being famous for their keen sense of smell. What a great nose!
"It might be a long distance, hurry up." I pushed Kruger's back to let him lead the way back, "If we don't speed up, it would be dark before we arrive."
Kruger didn't move, instead, he turned around and looked at me. Redness started to appear from the bottom of his ears, and his whole face began to blush, after a shy little wriggle, Kruger asked:
"Do you mind riding me, LuLu?"
"...What?" I couldn't believe what I heard.
"I mean, you know... I can change to the beast form, and you can sit on my back, and then I will bring you back while you could have a rest on my back."
Kruger looked at me and wiped the sweat on my head:
"LuLu, you just ran a long way, and I guess you might already be very tired at present? Here on my back, you can take a break. You don't need to walk again or worry about anything, I will definitely take you back safely!"
Thinking of his fluffy and giant beast shape — how fun it would be to sit on his fur! I nodded, "Sure! Thank you, Kruger."
"Ho ho ho, it's my pleasure! LuLu, you can ride me all the time, whenever you want!"
After the familiar white light, Kruger became a furry thylacine again, he lay down the front to let me straddle his back.
As soon as I sat down, he roared loudly with excitement, and then immediately stood up and began to run.
WAIT!
NO!!
HELP!!!
Kruger, you big idiot!
I haven't put my arms around your neck yet!
While the enormous wolf leapt high, under the inertial effect, I was thrown into the air by Kruger!