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Eating together and sharing food brought friendship between the two parties and reduced hostility.
Ma Lin felt quite happy, having finally found someone to talk to, and the dog-people could sense it.
Ma Lin was filled with curiosity.
The dog-people were about one meter forty tall but had sturdy bodies, wide shoulders, and round waists, along with sharp teeth and strong biting force, suitable for fighting.
The village consisted of about a dozen households, with a total population of over fifty.
One could still tell the males from the females based on their attire.
The surrounding wall was five meters high and nearly two meters wide, all made of stone blocks held together by some unknown binder, certainly very solid, capable of defending against the kind of monster that attacked Ma Lin's home.
It seemed they lived quite well.
The translator said that about two or three miles to the west, there was some land suitable for growing crops, with a river for irrigation, enough to be well-fed.
The villagers raised some livestock, including pigs, sheep, and cows, with barns located to the northwest.
With cow's milk and sheep's milk available to drink, the dog-people's living conditions seemed to be quite good.
Ma Lin asked when they had started living here. The translator replied that about twenty years ago, they had escaped from a demon lord's fortress and ran to the southeast for more than half a year, crossing many mountains and forests before they arrived here.
"Are there other dog-people?"
"Yes. I myself have seen over ten thousand dog-people. We are good at farming, raising livestock, and manual labor, and are often captured by demon lords to be slaves. Whenever we get the chance, we think of escaping.
"Are you satisfied with life here?"
"Very satisfied. There are no demon lords nearby, nor any wealth, so nothing to attract trouble. We live our own lives without issues."
The natural lifespan of a dog-person is over a hundred years, but if one becomes a slave, the average lifespan is just over thirty years. Living here by themselves, they could live much longer.
The translator indicated that in the past ten years, the villagers had encountered two vagrant dog-people whom they had taken in, hoping the population would increase a bit more in the future.
"With more people, our fighting capability gets stronger, and we won't be easily bullied. Some demon creatures are too formidable, one alone could slaughter our entire village, so we still lack a sense of security."
Ma Lin agreed with this.
"Would you like to live here for a while?" The dog-person holding the magic wand, who was the village chief, asked Ma Lin through the translator.
Ma Lin agreed.
He had come here precisely because he was bored at home.
The village was called Great Bone Village, and for the dog-people, big bones represented good fortune and prosperity.
A long, long time ago, the ancestors of the dog-people were very evil and brutal, for in the demon world, the law of the jungle was the law of survival.
Later, the demon world was influenced by civilized species, and some weaker demon creatures realized that improving sociality and productive capacity could improve their living conditions. Thus, their nature began to change gradually, and new races were born. Although they were still demon creatures, their malevolence decreased significantly in order to better adapt to their society and way of production, and they became somewhat crazy and eccentric but were skilled in production and division of labor.
Thus the race of dog-people came into existence.
Ma Lin was happy that he could communicate and live with the dog-people, and with their considerable numbers, his loneliness was greatly reduced.
The dog-people were all very interested in Old Hu the big orange tiger.
They were still very concerned about their safety, and if the big orange tiger could help protect the village and hunt, their lives would be easier.
So that afternoon, Ma Lin went hunting with them to demonstrate his value, gain the dog-people's attention, and win their friendship.
They walked five or six miles westward to a forest, comprising six dog-people, Ma Lin, and Old Hu the big orange tiger.
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The dog-people's noses were truly sensitive, quickly detecting a wild boar weighing six to seven hundred pounds.
Their plan was to first shoot it with bows and arrows, hurl javelins at it, and then try to drive it into a trap as much as possible.
There could be dangers involved in the hunting process.
Ma Lin said there was no need for such trouble, for with Big Orange and him executing a sneak attack, they could easily capture the wild boar.
In fact, among the dog-people there were experts, such as the one holding a shield who was estimated to be able to engage the boar in combat for many rounds, but they were very curious to see what abilities Big Orange and Ma Lin truly had.
Then came Ma Lin and Big Orange, each sneaking up from different directions, with Big Orange appearing first, driving the boar towards Ma Lin's direction.
Ma Lin suddenly leaped out of the bushes, stabbing the boar in the belly with his bone spear, and then hopping away. The boar ran forward, Ma Lin chased after it, and thrust another spear.
After that, the boar couldn't really run anymore.
Everyone followed it slowly and after running less than a hundred meters, it fell down.
What followed was cutting the wild boar into several pieces and carrying it back to the village.
A dog-person described to the others how Ma Lin and Old Hu had hunted the boar, and they were all pleased, hoping Ma Lin could settle down in the village.
Ma Lin mentioned that Old Hu had a huge appetite, to which the dog-people said, "No matter, twenty li to the northwest there are plenty of wild oxen. With you and Old Hu being so formidable, you can catch them and will never run out of food."
Ma Lin intended to stay here for a while.
The village chief showed him his house, and asked about the kind of place Old Hu would like to stay. Ma Lin said Old Hu could live in the same house as long as he had a blanket.
Old Hu was very clean, knowing to bathe in the river regularly. Plus, Ma Lin could make soap for him.
Half of the wild boar was for Ma Lin and Old Hu, and the other half belonged to the entire village, as the mountain forest was considered the territory of Big Bone Village.
The house was about thirty square meters, a bit low, with a fence around it, located near the west gate of Big Bone Village.
The west gate was also built very sturdy, specifically to fend off demon attacks.
Anyway, the kind of monster that attacked Ma Lin's home would not be able to break through these fences and gates.
There were many villagers skilled at using bows and javelins, and even the female dog-people were strong, capable of throwing javelins impressively.
Ma Lin toured their village, observing their daily lives.
It was vastly different from his hometown. The lives of the dog-people were still somewhat hard, but they had good constitutions. If they could remain undisturbed by the outside world, their average lifespan could approach a hundred years, which was rather decent.
He also got to know many kinds of food.
There were several types of dairy products from cows and sheep, and the dog-people knew how to enjoy them.
He tried to get to know these dog-people, attempted to understand their work, and offered help where possible. The dog-people took turns inviting him over.
There was an excellent archer in the village, a genuine "split the willow leaf" marksman. Ma Lin followed him to learn archery.
Ma Lin didn't aim to master incredible archery skills, just wanted it to provide some convenience and security for himself.
He also checked out the dog-people's cropland. There were less than two hundred acres, planted with some kind of grain that was thriving. The dog-people knew some spells for farming, so the harvest was fairly good. The village chief was an expert in this field.
Ma Lin's main tasks were to help with hunting and patrolling the mountains, both of which were easy for him.
He had plenty of spare time and trained in combat with some dog-people warriors.
The strength of the guard captain was close to that of Ma Lin. Once properly equipped with a shield and axe, he could go fifty-fifty against Big Orange.
The guard captain's prowess had been honed while enslaved by a demon lord, so it wasn't strange that he was a bit formidable.