After lunch and with the dishes already washed and in their place inside the closets in the kitchen, Craydon was seated on the porch behind the house, looking at the Bone Boars, who were walking along the trenches, making sure the water was flowing. From time to time, they would lower their enormous heads, grab a fish, and eat it in a single bite, returning to their work right after.
After some time, the noise of voices coming from the front of the house called his attention, and Meryda came with the group of kids he saw when they arrived in the City.
They all had dumbfounded looks on their faces as if they did not believe what they were seeing.
Pof Grinun, the Demi-Dog boy, slapped Meryda's head, and he almost shouted, "You brought more? Unbelievable! How can you be so stupid? What if they start to get hungry, and you are the nearest source of food?"
While rubbing her head, Meryda complained, "Hey! Stop doing that! They brought an enormous herd of Fur Cows, so they have plenty of food if they want! They can also go hunt in the forest and just look at that! They even like to eat fish! So why would they try to eat me? Tell me! Dumbass!"
Pof Grinun raised his fist, and noticing that Meryda closed her eyes, he stopped mid-air and asked, "Guys… It is my impression, or Meryda is strange? I noticed yesterday, but I guess I was too angry to realise how strange she was! No way our Meryda would bend over like she did yesterday and let us slap her buttocks! And even if we forced her to bend over, after we hit her, she wouldn't rest before she rubbed the floor with us! Now I just hit her head, and she didn't punch me! What happened to you in that cave, Meryda? You are strangely calm for my taste!"
"I… am not sure what you mean. I guess… seeing my life flashing in front of my eyes made me realise I should calm down and not dive head-first into things… or react before thinking...
"Yeah… that could be it… But then again, you never once showed any traces of being a Monster Tamer! How come you are one now? And being able to tame so many Bone Boars is impossible! I mean, I am not sure what the powers of a Monster Tamer are, but all this… it is too weird!"
With an awkward smile, Meryda asked, "So, if I tell you I also tamed all the Fur Cows, it will be stranger, no?"
"That… you mean… how many Fur Cows are we talking about?"
"A bunch… By the way, does anyone know how to cut the fur of those cows? They are full of entangled fur, and they seem to be struggling with this heat."
The Demi-Centaur siblings raised their hands, and the boy said, "We know. Our parents raise Fur Cows, remember? We often sell balls of fur on the market. We can take care of that if you control them. It is kind of difficult to make those cows stand still while we cut their fur. Normally, our parents tie the cow's legs, and then we cut the fur. It is safer that way because they tend to kick a lot. We just need a couple of sharp knives, and we can do it. As long as we get paid, of course. Like a percentage of the sales of all the balls of fur."
With a smile, Meryda said, "We have a deal! Follow me, and I will show you guys where the cows are."
The group of kids followed her, with Pof Grinun taking one last look at the Bone Boars and complaining, "Really, who in their right mind has so many Bone Boars around? Stupid kid, stupid, stupid kid…"
He then rushed to follow his friends, with Craydon still seated on the porch, mumbling, "He does have a point. This really seems to be a terrible idea."
Near the wired fence where the Fur Cows were, Meryda's friends were too dumbfounded to speak. There were quite a few Bone Boars standing guard around the fence, but the size of the Fur Cow herd was enough to make them gasp.
The Demi-Centaur boy tapped his sister's shoulder and asked, "Shilna… We don't have so many at home, right?"
"Hazer Cemim, sometimes you are as dumb as a doorknob! Just look at how many there are! If we have half, we already have a lot! Meryda, what the heck is this? And their fur is so long! I am sure no one ever cut their fur, considering how thick and long it is! We need everyone's help! If it will be only me and you, we will be working all night long, and I am not even sure if we will be finished when the two suns rise!"
Meryda was rubbing the massive snout of the Bone Boar next to her and said, "I suppose if you tell me what to do, I can help. I have a few sharp knives in the stable, and I think I can ask the boars to keep the cows still."
"You talk with the boars, Meryda, and we take care of the fur. Yes, even you, Tetil, you lazy Demi-Lamia!" said Pof Grinun while pulling up his sleeves.
"Hey! I never said I wouldn't help, and I was never lazy to begin with! Meryda, after talking with the boars, go fetch a bunch of sharp knives! Considering how thick their fur is, we might damage the sharpness of a lot of knives, so bring a sharpener as well. As soon as a knife starts to cut badly, we can sharpen it!" said Tetil Stog while opening the gate that led to the Fur Cows.
The others followed her, while Meryda was calling the Bone Boars that were around the fence.
She then went to the stable and returned with a bucket full of knives and a sharpener made of rock. It was a long utensil that a person could grab with one hand, put the tip against the ground, and sharpen knives or swords in a continuous upward and downward movement.
Craydon Crawler came to them with the Salamander and the Slime next to him. He was getting used to having those two Monsters following him around, but the Bone Boars were not so easy for him to deal with. Their frightening eyes and their enormous size were enough to make him shiver every time he was near one, and after the fence, there was now a Bone Boar in front of a Fur Cow, snorting and looking at the cow as if warning her to remain completely still while the kids were cutting the fur as fast as they could.
When there was a need to cut the fur on top of the cow's head or on top of their backs, Meryda would call for a boar to bend down so that one of her friends could climb on top to reach the cow.
Craydon did the best he could to endure his nervousness, but seeing that group of kids happily cutting fur without seeming bothered that such massive and scary boars were right next to them made him gather his courage to do the same as they were doing, but faster because he was stronger and taller.
After a while and even with his help, it was almost time to make dinner, so Craydon left, dripping sweat all over, to start with the preparations in the kitchen, leaving behind that excited group of youngsters that even after so much work seemed to have the best time of their lives, judging from the smiles and happy shouts, together with some teasing between them every time one of them had some trouble with the fur or a cow moved.
In the kitchen, waiting for no one, the Salamander jumped to the opening in the stove as soon as Craydon opened it to put wood inside. To his surprise, the Salamander spat a few small fireballs at the wood, starting the fire, and laying next to the burning wood, looking extremely comfortable.
On the floor and next to the kitchen's counter, the Slime was bouncing up and down, as if trying to call Craydon's attention. He went to the pantry and returned with manioc and meat that looked like chicken meat, and as he laid the ingredients on the counter, he looked down at the Slime and asked, "What? I don't know what you can do to help. Do you think you can peel the skin off this manioc? Let me show you…"
Craydon quickly grabbed a knife from a drawer, and while kneeling on the ground in front of the Slime, he started to peel the skin of a small piece of manioc. Or, what it looked like was manioc, because as soon as he peeled the brownish skin, Craydon realised that instead of having a white interior, that manioc was orange.
While looking at all that orange, he complained, "Again, a weird difference. Let me taste this… Yes, it is manioc, alright. But orange? Why does everything around here have a strange colour or is enormous? These are the smallest maniocs I could find in the pantry because some were nearly one metre long and half a metre thick! See, little gelatin, what am I doing? Do you think you can absorb just the skin and leave the rest? Try with this small bit and let's see if you can do it."
The Slime happily jumped to the piece of manioc that Craydon put on the floor, and she started to absorb it. She then jumped back, and Craydon frowned as he said, "Let's try again, but this time, try to eat only the skin because you ate half of the orange stuff."
The jumping Slime absorbed a new piece that Craydon gave her, and after jumping back, he smiled and happily poked the round gelatinous form. "That's it! Now do the same to all these, and put the peeled manioc on this plate while I go take care of the meat! Don't eat the orange thing inside, only the brown skin!"
With the Salamander and the Slime's help, in mere minutes, the food was over the hot stove being cooked, so Craydon went to see how the kids were doing.
There was a lot of fur already piled up on a corner, with a Bone Boar pushing balls of fur to the stable with his enormous head, but there were still a lot of cows waiting to get their fur cut. The cows that lost their fur seemed happy because they were not breathing heavily and were munching leaves and bushes while walking from one pile of leaves to the next instead of lying around and eating, barely moving with all that heat like they were doing before.
Craydon waited for Meryda to finish the cow she was working on to tell her that dinner was almost ready and to tell her friends that when they finished the cow they were taking care of, to go wash their hands and faces and to come to the kitchen, because he had made enough food for them, and it would probably be enough for them to take home for their parents to eat as well.
The kids were ecstatic, and they all said there was no need to take food home, but Craydon insisted because it was the least he could do to pay for their work.
With a big smile, Pof Grinun said as he was going to the well next to the house to get a bucket full of water, "Meryda already said she will give us a share of all this fur when we sell it at the market! But considering the amount of fur, we will need to find a merchant from another City and sell him a bunch! I doubt we can sell all this in just our City! We are going to make a lot of money from this! And since Fur Cows don't take too much time to grow fur long enough to be cut, we are looking at a big money mine here! And when that field is ready to harvest, call us, because we don't mind helping and getting a share of all that profit! Mister Craydon, you may need to quit that cook job at the Guild, because, with such a profitable farm here, you won't have enough time to be at the Guild all day! There is always something to do on a farm, and one with so much stuff like this is also a lot of work!"
"Yes, I am starting to think the same. Everyone, go wash and come to the kitchen! I am going to check our food, and I hope everyone likes what I made up!"
With a big smile, Tetil Stog, the big Demi-Lamia with a muscular snake lower body, said, "We all love your food, Mister Craydon! Thanks for inviting us to have dinner! And I won't say no if I can also take some food home! My parents also love your cooking! My father is often at the Guild whenever he returns from a Quest, and he keeps complimenting your food to my mother! She is jealous of your cooking, but she already admitted she can't compete with you!"
With a smile, Craydon was about to answer when a cheerful voice from behind him said, "We would also love to try your food! Fae don't actually need to eat normal food, but we can eat occasionally!"
Surprised, Craydon looked back and rubbed his eyes a few times, trying to figure out if he was dreaming or not.
Right in front of him was the most impossible being to exist. It was Meryda's height, and it also looked young. It was a green humanoid being, without a sex, but with light green skin and dark green long hair that reached its waist. Strangely, it didn't have a belly button. It was barefoot and completely naked, and it was smiling at the now puzzled Craydon, who mumbled, "What… or who are you?"
"We are Fae. Pleasure to meet you."