[System 316: New quest available! Cold weather is quickly approaching and food is scarce during the cold seasons.]
[Host, please obtain sufficient food before the snow begins to fall!]
Upon awakening, Iris is immediately met with a new quest notification.
'Now you're even nagging me first thing in the morning? Jesus, we're working on the food situation as fast as we can. It isn't like we want to starve either.’
Iris couldn't help but feel the urge to roll her eyes. The cellar was already beginning to fill up with the smoked & dried meat of various prey. There was a lot of room left as Caspian would likely catch a lot more prey before the cold season started. After all, male beasts needed quite a lot of meat to feel full.
Iris was also hopeful that she'd eventually find some sort of grains, vegetables, or fruits to stock up on as well. Thus far she only had a small variety of herbs good for teas and seasonings.
Well, that and a few pounds worth of bearberries that Caspian had eagerly gathered after finding out that Iris liked them. The only problem is that eating bearberries had to be done in moderation or else they could lead to intestinal cramping and vomiting.
"Good morning my cute little mate. Are you ready to go to the city?"
Iris looked up at Caspian who was holding a small bowl of soup out to her. As he often awoke much earlier than her, he usually prepared a small pot of soup for their breakfast or had a few freshly picked fruits for Iris.
"I'm very much looking forward to it! I'd like to freshen up a bit before we go, though."
Iris had been hard at work sewing animal hides into clothes for herself over the week she'd been here. Something simple like a tube style dress would be easy and quick to make but the weather was much too cold for such clothing.
Thus, Iris put in the time to get the hides tanned and cut out before sewing them together into fashionable and warm clothing. She made a layered skirt, tank top with straps to tie around her neck, underwear, boots, and a nice hooded cloak.
Iris could finally get rid of her modern-day clothes that looked rather suspicious in the beast world. While it was a shame to give up such well-made clothing for roughly made clothing entirely made of animal hides, it was much safer. On the bright side, with boots to protect her feet, Iris could walk around freely instead of being carried around everywhere by Caspian.
Caspian brought in some bath water with clean animal hides so that Iris could bathe. While cleaning herself, Iris noticed she now had a tattoo matching Caspian's on her left shoulder near her collarbone. Feeling quite surprised by this new addition, she questioned,
"How come I have a tattoo that matches yours now?"
Caspian was a bit confused about his mate not knowing what was common sense in this world, but didn't bother to question it.
"We officially became mates last night. When you become mates, the males' celestial beast tattoos will show up on the female. The mark will even change over time to reflect the correct number of stars from the males' tattoos. This helps warn away weaker males from pursuing females. The closer the mark is to her heart, the more important the male beast is in the female's heart."
Iris was embarrassed and pouted as she explained
"I'm sure if we'd had more time before mating that your mark would be on my heart. It's my fault for rushing things."
Caspian couldn't help but feel lucky to have a female who cared about his feelings. Usually, it was thought that it was the male's responsibility to ensure he did enough to earn their female’s love.
Even just getting to mate with as beautiful of a female as Iris already made him feel quite lucky. Besides, in beast families, the first mate held the most authority over the others so he was already considered lucky.
"Don't worry Iris, as long as I continue to get your love and affection, it doesn't matter where my mate mark is."
With that, the topic was dropped and Iris finished getting dressed in her new clothes. Caspian felt these new clothes his mate made looked both better than her old clothes and better than what he'd seen others wear. He felt proud to have such a resourceful and crafty mate.
"Here, please get rid of these."
Iris handed her old clothes to Caspian. He quickly took them but hesitated a bit confused.
"Are you sure you want to get rid of them? I've never seen clothes like these before. It's unlikely I'll be able to replace them."
Iris smiled, happy to be cared for.
"Yes, I prefer my new clothes, they are much nicer. Besides, those clothes are from my previous life and my life is with you now, so they don't matter."
Iris's words made Caspian feel sweet, so he no longer felt the need to question it. He headed out to dispose of the clothes, leaving Iris to finish getting ready alone.
Iris put on the belt holding her dimensional space animal hide bag on. Now that she didn't have to worry about how to transport items as much, her life would be much easier. She could also keep her animal hide book in this bag and it would be harder for others to find out that she had such troublesome things.
Caspian came back holding a small animal hide pouch which he promptly handed to Iris. The pouch made a jangling sound as it moved which piqued Iris's interest.
"What is this?"
Caspian puffed his chest out, looking proud as he stated,
"These are all the crystals I've collected over the years. Since we are mates now, these are yours. As the female you are the head of the family and you get to control our assets."
Iris couldn't help but feel awkward and tried to hand them back, but Caspian wouldn't take them. Thus she relented and accepted them.
"Alright, I'll hold onto them, but if you ever need them back just let me know. I'll be sure to help us grow our assets in the future and contribute too."
Caspian just shrugged, feeling indifferent. Even if his mate didn't contribute, as she seemed to wish to, he was confident he could do everything himself.
"We should head on out now. Once we get down the mountain, I'll transform into my beast form and you can climb onto my back. I can run much faster that way and we can get to the closest beast city by afternoon."
While a wolf would not usually be large enough to accommodate a grown woman riding on its back, the beasts in the beast world were larger than those found on Earth. As such, while there wasn't a ton of extra room, Iris could comfortably drape herself across Caspian's back with her arms wrapped around his neck as he ran.
Luckily Caspian's beautiful white fur was also super soft as it made the hours-long trip quite comfortable. As Caspian ran quickly and took a very precise path through the forest, there was no time for Iris to take in a detailed look at the scenery.
Soon they came across a river in the forest which they then followed for quite some time. When they came to their destination, Iris was surprised by the sight in front of her.
The river led to a huge lake with a large island in the middle of it. On the island was a large wall twice as tall as your average beast and made entirely from stones. Stones had been layered together with mud which once dried left a rather nice wall surrounding the beast city.
The entrance to the city had a break in this wall with a stone slab sunken into the river to form a bridge. Guards patrolled at both the entrance of the city and around the lake, keeping an eye out for intruders.
As they approached the stone bridge, Caspian came to a stop. Iris climbed off of the top of him and nearly tripped and fell due to the disorientation of riding on a wolf for so long. Caspian was quick to grab her and steady her after transforming.
"Are you alright?"
Iris, still lightheaded, grabbed onto Caspian's arm. She felt touched by Caspian's care but needed a second to settle herself before answering.
"I can bring you to a witch doctor, if you need?"
Iris gave a light chuckle, finally starting to feel a bit normal.
"No, no. I'm alright, just not used to traveling like this. I'll feel better in a minute."
Caspian still felt concerned but decided to drop the issue. Iris pulled an animal hide skirt out of her bag and handed it to Caspian who promptly put it on. They then walked hand in hand towards the city.
A guard quickly greeted them while stopping them at the bridge.
"Welcome to Blue Lake City. As this is one of the smaller beast cities, I must confirm that all male beasts are one-star celestial beasts or higher. All females are permitted free entry into beast cities."
Caspian raised his skirt to show his celestial beast tattoo. As Caspian was a three-star celestial beast he was easily allowed entry.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
This series is now complete on Patreon!
- 5 PDF copies of completed volumes
- 3 side stories
- End of chapter shout-out
- Exclusive Discord role
A special thanks to the following Patreon subscribers:
Discontinued: Ann, Argon, Austin J., Byloderus, Care, Catherine W., Cheyenne O., Chong Y., Christen F., Cindy S., Clara, CooCoo C., Courtney H., Dagoon320, David Z., Denise G., Doc., Dreamer, Emma B., Fictional F., GeminiDragon, Gracie, InjaP., Izzzy B., Jasmine H., Jenn L., Juha, Kayla N., Kelly, Killer K., Lisa C., Martina I., Merveille L., Michelle S., Michelle W., Miranda M., Myungjun R., Nick T., Nova H., Nyrobi J., Nyxie N., Parul N., Quince, Red, Reyanne B., Rochelle N., Ryanna B., Satya P., Sboss678, ScorpioPerk, Shaunna H., Shawna B., Steven B., Travis S., 10Please respect copyright.PENANAKVqC5zUlXd
10Please respect copyright.PENANAg4C3p8pj5C
Her Beasts: Alison S., Becca S., Isabel P., Ja’sonsra P., Kaleaha C., Keiber A., Miranda S., Ren, Sha C.,
Patreon Link:https://www.patreon.com/AutumnPlunkett
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Don't forget to check out the Discord! I’ve got several channels set up for story discussion, useful story information, and even chapter alerts so you can get notified right away when a new chapter is released!
Discord Link:https://discord.gg/2x6cfYfB9d
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
10Please respect copyright.PENANA8NbKI24Qzn