Savi had not been showing up in the patrol team recently, causing him to miss the opportunity to taste the meat soup and fried fish fillet.
But he had no time to regret it, as he was truly preoccupied.
Just last night, a severely injured Moon Wolf stopped him and entrusted her six just-weaned cubs to Savi.
The Moon Wolf is a type of magical beast that combines beauty and power. Their fur is a bit longer than the ordinary wolf-like magical beasts, and the color is a beautiful silver. When they run, they look like flowing moonlight, hence the name Moon Wolf.
Now, there is a row of little black wolf cubs sitting at Savi's feet. Their little black faces seem to be smeared with coal, and their fur is disheveled like it has been blown up by fireworks. Some of them even have leaves stuck on their butts. They are not calm but full of energy, looking around, and when they see a jumping insect, they quietly follow it. They drop out of the group anywhere and anytime and are caught back by Savi anywhere and anytime.
Newborn wolf cubs are indeed black. They will molt several times as they grow up, the color becomes lighter and lighter and finally turns into a brilliant silver-gray.
Elves often receive help from magical beasts. They will not actively stop the fights between the magical beasts, but they will help bandage when they encounter injured magical beasts. Situations like this Moon Wolf entrusting her children to them are not happening for the first time. But for Savi, a young elf with not much experience, taking care of six lively wolf cubs at once is a bit chaotic.
Not only does he have to ensure the safety of the wolf cubs, he also has to teach them some hunting skills in place of their mother, so that they can live independently when they grow up a bit.
Now Savi is teaching them to find water sources, which is simple. The activity range of the Moon Wolves will not exceed the Silverleaf Forest. As long as he takes them to a few lakes and streams often, these little guys will remember the location of the water sources.
Savi is like a weary shepherd, herding a group of little black-faced lambs who are oblivious to the world.
Ina and Elvys were fishing by the lake. The lake was as calm as a mirror. The sunlight penetrated through the tall trees by the lake and reflected countless dazzling spots on the lake's surface. The lake was not particularly large, but the water was deep. Even though it was exceptionally clear, the two couldn't see the bottom of the lake.
In theory, there should be fish here, and there should be big fish. But Ina and Elvys, the two clumsy fishermen, worked for a long time and only caught a small fish that was no longer than the palm of a hand.
"Who was it that said you were good at everything?" Ina jokingly looked at Elvys' empty fish basket.
They had originally planned to fish by the lake and then set up a bonfire to eat grilled fish. They wanted to experience the joy of outdoor cooking in the exceptionally beautiful Silverleaf Forest.
Elvys looked at the pile of miscellaneous items Ina had fished up: balls of water plants, rotten tree branches, tree bark, and even a bird's nest that had somehow fallen into the lake. While he was de-scaling this mini fish in his hand, he said, "I'm good at everything except fishing, just like some people can fish anything except fish."
Ina glanced at him, and Elvys immediately corrected himself, "Not some people, some cats. Go and see what Coal is fishing for, be careful not to fall into the lake."
On this outing, Ina not only brought Elvys but also the black cat, Coal. Coal had grown braver now, no longer afraid of the insects jumping out of the bushes. But its intelligence was still lacking. It had just been having fun with a snake, and now it was squatting by the lake, extending its paws into the water and fishing. It wasn't clear whether it had realized that there was no fish to eat with Ina and Elvys, and it had started to fend for itself.
Ina grabbed Coal and saw a few strands of water grass tangled around its paw. She pressed it down by the lake to wash its foot.
Coal didn't understand why Ina, who had always been gentle, had suddenly changed her temper and treated a kitten so cruelly. It kicked its hind legs to break free, but under the absolute power difference, it remained motionless and had to send a distress signal to Elvys on the shore. Elvys used a small knife to cut open the fish belly, took out the internal organs, and ignored Coal's call for help.
Ina was holding the clean Coal and came back. She no longer expected to catch fish to grill, so she took out the prepared duck, ready to start a fire to roast the duck.
Just then, several black puppies emerged from the bushes and stumbled towards Ina's feet - where Coal was licking its paws.
Coal was initially frightened, but when it found that these puppies were small and thin and not rivals to its fat self, it relaxed. It stretched out its paws, initially trying to push the approaching puppies away, then found that it could dry its wet feet with their fur, so it started to step on the puppies.
Ina watched all this and found that these were not a bunch of black puppies, but a bunch of wolf cubs. But their teeth hadn't grown much, and they seemed to have just been weaned, so there was really no need to worry about Coal getting hurt.
But the ungrateful Coal that used the wolf cubs as a mop got its retribution. More and more wolf cubs kept coming out from the bushes, surrounding Coal, who was unaware of the danger, and finally flipped Coal over with a push of their heads, revealing its black belly.
Coal's front legs were raised helplessly in the air, and its round eyes were full of shock.
The wolf cubs were scrambling for a favorable position, only to find that this was a male mother with no milk.
A bunch of little animals with almost no difference in their fur color rolled into a ball, making it hard for Ina to tell who was who. Just when a wolf cub stretched its mouth to Coal's belly, pushing and pushing, and was about to approach a dangerous part, Coal suddenly jumped up, climbed up Elvys' pants leg all the way to his shoulder, finally escaping from these terrible wolf cubs.
Finally, Savi walked out embarrassed. He had seen early on that the person by the lake was the strange owner of Dragonflame Restaurant. Seeing her intimate attitude toward the man next to her, he guessed that they were a couple. He didn't want to disturb them at first, but who knew that these eyeless wolf cubs would get excited and rush out?
Not everything that looks like you is your mother, your mother is clearly silver!
Savi awkwardly explained to Ina that the cubs had lost their mother and had just been weaned. The wolf cubs wagged their tails at Savvy's feet as if echoing what he was saying, looking up at the tall humans with their small heads and black, moist eyes.
Ina lovingly touched their little heads and gave them a piece of beef jerky.
The wolf cubs happily crowded around, gnawing at the hard beef jerky with their little teeth that hadn't grown much. The strongest one got the jerky first, it got the jerky all wet, and finally tasted a bit of meat. The sour-mouthed wolf cub regretfully gave up on the jerky, passing it to the next strong brother.
The only piece of beef jerky finally softened under the relay of the wolf cubs, and the weakest cub that could not grab the jerky jumped over its tired brothers in surprise and ate the most meat.
Elvys knew what bad idea Ina was playing when she took out the beef jerky. So many little wolves that just grew their teeth, sharing a piece of meat, and it was hard jerky.
Owing to Savi's presence, he could only communicate with Ina through his eyes: You even play with such small wolf cubs.
Ina also boldly looked back: Now you know how good I am to you.
Savi saw the duck that Ina put on the grill but didn't see them picking up firewood. Savi, who didn't know that the two could use fire magic to roast the duck, kindly suggested: "On my way here, I saw a wild cherry tree that had been dead for a long time from being struck by lightning. If you haven't found firewood yet, I can take you to break some dry branches."
Ina, who originally planned to just roast the duck with magic, happily agreed. Roasting duck with cherry wood sounds just right, and maybe it could bring some different flavors to the roasted duck.
Savi and Ina set off immediately, leaving a bunch of cubs to Elvys. Elvys looked at these running little black balls, and his expression was actually a bit helpless: "Am I watching them?"
Ina's leaving figure was very chic, she didn't look back and said: "Of course it's you, both of us have serious things to do.