Chapter 53

"By the way, what does this child eat?"

If it were an ordinary dog, it would probably eat anything, but given that it’s not really clear whether it’s a dog or a wolf, when asked what this mysterious Vankuri, shrouded in mystery, eats to survive, the master shrugged.

"Well? It lives in the high mountains, so it’s unlikely to be a carnivore..."

That makes sense.

There aren’t many animals that live in such high mountains.

As the master said, in the natural world of survival of the fittest, Vankuri seems to belong to the category of strong predators.

The fact that they don’t live on the plains suggests that there’s something special in those high places.

Something that serves as their source of food.

"Considering it’s a high-altitude product, there probably aren’t many of them, right?"

"Rather, isn’t it possible that they eat the grass growing around here?"

Diego, you shouldn’t have said that.

The master is looking at you with a really cold stare, completely mocking you.

"Diego, if that were the case, they wouldn’t need to live in the highlands. They would come to the farmlands first."

When Michelle voiced her opinion, Diego fell silent, clearly realizing he had said something foolish.

Think before you speak, Diego.

"By the way, I asked the shopkeeper, and apparently, it didn’t eat any baby food. It drank milk, though."

"Is it still just a baby?"

"No, I don’t think so. With such impressive fangs, it should be able to eat solid food by now."

"Besides, if it’s not a carnivore, why would it need such fangs? Wouldn’t its teeth be flatter if it ate grass?"

Indeed.

It’s hard to imagine it’s not a carnivore with such developed canines.

"...I have one idea."

Lagnart spoke up.

"In high-altitude or cold places, there’s something that grows. It’s covered in a very hard shell, almost like rock. However, the inside is a highly nutritious grain-like seed—..."

At that moment, everyone except Diego realized what it was and slightly furrowed their brows.

"I see, that thing?"

"...That thing, yes."

"...The thing we haven’t wanted to eat for a long time..."

"Huh? Huh?"

Diego, you seem to be the only one who doesn’t understand, but everyone else got it right away.

Well, if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t understand...

"Diego, instead of specializing only in numbers, shouldn’t you broaden your knowledge a bit more?"

"Even so, I’m quite knowledgeable. Maybe it’s just a lot of useless knowledge."

Master, Diego is really hurt! Diego... be strong... be strong!

It’s just that these three are abnormal! You’re pretty amazing too!

While silently encouraging the dejected Diego, I hoped he would understand someday.

"To explain to Diego, who doesn’t understand, there’s a type of livestock feed that’s incredibly nutritious. Humans can eat it too, but it’s really, really bad."

Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit.

I feel super amazing for enduring it for a week. No, I don’t just feel amazing; my tongue was dead, for sure.

When the master’s gaze briefly turned to me, I glared back.

I’ll definitely make this guy eat it someday.

"Um... wasn’t it called Vakui?"

That’s it, that’s it!

The one you don’t even want to hear the name of, Diego.

"That thing, nowadays it can be produced, but in the past, it could only be found in some cold territories. It was so hard that it wasn’t even considered food... but there were people who ate it."

I truly admire the first person who ate it.

They must have been really determined to eat it.

"And the story goes that eating it allowed people to move around all day without feeling hungry. For some reason, they crossbred it with various plants to make it easier to eat, and that’s how it became that thing."

"If I may add, Vakui is not a grain but a seed. However, it looks like a grain, so it’s generally treated as livestock feed."

"Speaking of which, could Vakui be named after what Vankuri eats?"

"It’s possible."

Vankuri eats Vakui... isn’t that a bit too straightforward?

And couldn’t they have come up with a better name?

"Anyway, we’ll know once we feed it to him."

By the way, I want to wash this child.

It’s a bit dirty... but, is that a bad idea?

"It’s fine to get wet. It rains and snows in high altitudes too."

That’s true.

"But, Lady Reisha, you shouldn’t do it yourself. You have an injured hand."

In the end, we all moved to observe the child.

Since it’s apparently a large animal, we need to make sure it doesn’t harm the people around it.

According to the master, it can be quite dangerous if it gets serious, despite not looking that way.

The child looked so pitiful and cute while being washed by the maids.

It was obedient when I told it not to move.

When the dirt came off, its white fur was revealed.

Its natural fur color is gray, and this white color is apparently rare.

That might be why it wasn’t identified as a Vankuri.

Incidentally, it gobbled up the livestock feed.

I also put some milk next to it, but it ignored it.

It seems this is really its main food.

It stayed in the cage, and it seemed to be a bit hungry, as it was begging for more and eating more than its body size would suggest.

Seeing it eat so much, I became worried if it was okay.

For now, since it listens to what I say, I got permission to keep it in the same room.

However, as a precaution, I was told to put a collar and chain on it.

Reluctantly, I put a plain collar on it. At first, it tried to take it off, but eventually got used to it. The Vankuri child curled up and slept under the bed.

Looking at its peaceful sleeping face, I naturally felt sleepy and got into bed.

Since it was the first time I went out during the day in a while, I slept deeper than usual during my afternoon nap.

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