Ep. 541 Mana Beasts Part 5 (Patreon)

The little lion still has his head buried in my elbow and is shivering in fear. So I use the excuse of dealing with the humans to move away from Brother Tiger. As soon as I do the little one starts to calm down, he definitely won't want to stay here.

Even though I am the one who saved them, the human women still act scared of me. So as gently as I can I inform them of the plan and they are quick to agree. In fact they grab as much as they carry and run out of the forest as if we are going to change our minds and eat them.

Considering some of Brother Tiger's children are eating the dead bandits I can't really blame them. Little do they realize they are completely safe in the forest now, once they leave they are on their own. There should be patrols out hunting the bandits, hopefully one of them will find the women.

It is out of my hands now, but at least the bandits won't ever hurt anyone ever again. Still carrying the cub with me I walk deeper into the forest to meet up with Ekard and Windy. When Ekard sees me he jumps from Windy's arms and runs over towards me.

When he spots the cub in my arms he stops and starts sniffing at it curiously. I carefully kneel down, bringing the cub and Ekard closer to each other slowly. By now the cub has also noticed Ekard and is sniffing at him in return.

Ekard says "Mama, who that?"

"He doesn't have a name yet, but treat him like your younger brother."

Ekard says "Brother?"

Seeing Ekard's confused look I start trying to explain family and siblings. While I am at it I tell him about his two older sisters that he will meet eventually. It makes me happy that when he learns that he has siblings he is excited instead of jealous.

The cub still seems nervous and I am not sure how much he understands language. To break the ice a little I decide it is time for some food, he probably hasn't been fed well. Ekard and Windy join in for the meal but Lizzy declines, which makes me suspicious.

She hardly ever rejects food, but I don't want to ask because I probably won't like the answer. If she ate a few humans, that's fine, but I don't need to know about it. Instead I pay attention to how much the cub is enjoying his food.

As he eats all signs of fear and nervousness disappear making him even cuter. After they are done eating the cub and Ekard start running around playing. From how calm the cub has become I am guessing that Brother Tiger left the area.

That doesn't surprise me, after all the job is finished, Brother Tiger probably went home. At least I assume he has a home, probably somewhere in the heart of the forest. It doesn't really matter, as long as the cub is calmer, it is a good thing.

Watching the two of them get along and play together is cute enough to melt hearts far harder than mine. Originally I was thinking about giving the cub to one of the girls or maybe Emmy. Now I am thinking I will have to keep him, the thought of splitting them up is too much.

Since I started off as a type of lion it seems fitting that I keep the lion cub as a companion. Besides, Ekard having someone to play with makes it a lot easier on the rest of us. Especially Windy, she seems a lot happier now she only has to watch as they play.

Once the two of them have worn themselves out we mount up and start heading south through the forest. Occasionally as we move one of the normal tigers will show itself to indicate the correct path. Following their guidance we come to a beautiful lake in the middle of the forest.

It isn't getting dark yet but I decide to camp here anyway just because it is a nice spot. The cub and Ekard immediately decide that it is time to go swimming when we start setting up camp. I inspect the lake but since I don't sense any danger I allow the two of them to go in.

Ekard takes to the water like a fish, he is swimming around like he was born in the water. The cub just paddles around happily, while Ekard literally swims circles around him. I leave Windy and Lizzy to keep an eye on them while I set up the camp.

Once the camp is ready I start pulling out food, which brings everyone running. In the morning, after breakfast, we continue towards the south, guided by the tigers. After a few hours of travel we come to a more swampy area, perfect for snakes.

Leaving the others behind I enter the swampy area alone on foot, following one of the tigers. It leads me to a depression in the swamp, in the middle of which is a two headed snake. That doesn't bother me, what does is the hundreds of snakes surrounding it.

The entire area is covered in snakes of all types and while they probably can't hurt me they still give me the creeps. The thought of walking through all those snakes sends chills down my spine. Normally, I don't mind snakes, but that many just triggers an instinctual fear.

Luckily, the two headed snake uncoils and starts moving towards me. Its body is about ten feet long and black, but its heads are different, one is brown the other is blue. As the snake approaches it is obviously paying more attention to the tiger than to me.

From that I am guessing that there is at least some kind of communication between the tigers and snakes. When the snake is close to us the tiger turns and looks at me, so the snake does as well. When I ask if it can understand me both heads nod, so I explain why I am here.

It can't seem to communicate, but it does seem to understand everything I am saying. It feels really weird to be talking to a snake, but it isn't the strangest thing I have done. Once I am done explaining I hold out my hand, the snake stares at me for a minute.

Then it moves its body around and places a coil onto my hand, looks like it has decided to trust me. Using a small amount of sacred power I send it into the snake's core to trigger the evolution. Once the evolution has started I pull back and just let it happen on its own.

As I sit and watch the evolution happen I am surprised to see the snake grow a third head. This one is entirely black like its body and it grows in between the other two heads. As soon as the eyes on the new head open they lock onto me, but they don't seem hostile.

The snake has successfully become a sacred creature, I can sense it, meaning my job is done. The snake still can't communicate verbally, but it does rub against me before moving back into the depression. If I had to guess I would say that is its way of saying thank you, but it is still creepy.