"You already knew I was coming?" Big Grund asked.
Although he looked surprised, that was just on the surface; deep down, he already expected it. He was a Soul Adept and could therefore sense the presence of other beings nearby, as well as roughly gauge their strength. He didn't feel that this particular wolf was as strong as he; however, he was perplexed by the wolf's actions.
"Of course, I know you were coming here." The wolf answered.
"You know I'm coming and you're still eating so nonchalantly, should I say you're bold or should I say that you're stupid?" Big Grund asked again as he slowly approached the wolf.
"If there's anyone stupid here, then it is definitely you, big bear."
"Ehn!" Big Grund was once again surprised by what the wolf had said.
"You are very stupid, and I came to that conclusion due to so many obvious reasons. You know that I am a lone wolf, and you still brought a little human child to watch the battle between us." The wolf said.
"What!!" This time around, Big Grund jumped out of his skin. How did he know about Elwyn? It was impossible that he saw them first, right?
This is not good!
"What human child are you talking about?" Big Grund tried to cover up Elwyn by denying it; however, what the wolf said next made him give up the idea.
"Although I left my pack, I am still a wolf, okay. I left my pack because it was too weak for my liking. Do you get it? I left because they were weak and slowing me down. But I'm still a wolf that was raised in a pack. As a wolf, I still like working with information. I have animals on this mountain that work for me. They collect information for me, and the particular one up there, he nodded his head towards a tall tree nearby, is the one who told me about you, and the human cub you adopted. Although I still found it strange how a human child ended up here on this mountain, I am more impressed by how dumb you are."
Grund looked up and saw a raven in the tree. He wasn't surprised to see the raven, but he was surprised to know that the raven worked for the wolf. Ravens are usually born with powerful souls, which is why they can talk even when they haven't reached the Soul Adept level. It is very rare to see other wild beasts or plants that can talk without reaching the Soul Adept Level. And those who can are usually soul prodigies.
Being smarter than most beasts also means they're usually conceited and always look down on other beasts.
Grund didn't let all of these faze him much, though. He was still concerned about what the wolf was planning, so he said in a threatening voice.
"I don't care about all these. I'm certain I can still decimate you if it comes to it."
The wolf's expression turned serious, too. It slowly backed up a little while keeping its eye on the big bear.
"I know you're stronger than me," he said.
"But I also know that you're not faster than me. I've done extensive research about you, and I know that although you are very strong, compared to me, you're still a lot slower. Although if you give it your all, I'll still lose, but with the human cub behind you, I doubt that you'll let it escalate to that level."
Big Grund stared at him for a while before asking in a low tone,
"What do you want?"
The wolf secretly heaved a sigh of relief. The moment just now was very dangerous. It may have seemed like he had everything under control, but if the big bear decided to attack anyway, without care for the human child behind him, then even he could not say if he would be able to survive it.
However, his gamble paid off. He was betting on the fact that the big bear would not allow any harm to come to the little human. He was also a little surprised; this silly bear knows that I'm aiming for something and is just not trying to avoid a fight. Well, technically, what I actually want is to prevent a fight.
"If I say I don't want anything from you, would you believe me?"
Big Grund stared at him in silence.
"Okay, okay, I'll be clear about it. I have lived on this mountain for five years, and this mountain is normally not this cold or this snowy. It had become this way after something strange happened a few years ago. A stream of light fell on the northern side of this mountain and caused a huge commotion."
Big Grund was listening quietly, so quietly that the wolf almost started suspecting that he was plotting something. Meanwhile, the little Elwyn almost fell asleep looking at the two beasts that were supposed to be fighting.
Is this really the way fighting is done?
He couldn't help but wonder. Moreover, the strange feeling he had when they were approaching the fight has also disappeared. What exactly is going on? Elwyn thought!
After seeing the big bear nod his head, the wolf was reassured and so continued speaking.
"I was hoping that we could explore that place together. I have a feeling that something extraordinary is there. I also hope that between us, none should attack the other without provocation."
The wolf laid his thoughts bare at this moment.
Big Grund stood there for a few minutes without making a sound. During those moments, the wolf and the Raven held their breaths and awaited his reply.
"Brace"
Big Grund said.
"What!"
The wolf couldn't completely comprehend what he had heard before the big bear lunged at him with a terrifying ferocity. Luckily, he was indeed as fast as he claimed to be. He quickly moved away from the coming paw attack.
While they weren't standing very close to each other, there was a tree behind the wolf, which made dodging kind of tricky. Fortunately, the wolf was very experienced. He quickly used the tree as a support to jump over the incoming paw.
On the other hand, Elwyn's eyes lit up, and his heart rate sped up too. He quickly concentrated on the group of animals that was too far away from him.
Big Grund failed to get the wolf's neck that he had targeted. However, the wolf didn't completely go unscathed. Big Grund's paw had scratched his tail, almost splitting it in two. A stream of blood burst out from it.
The Raven quickly flew up and circled above when it saw things start to go unexpectedly. She waited for the signal from the wolf to carry out the contingency plan.
"What is the meaning of this?"
The wolf stared coldly at the big bear, who had stopped attacking from a safe distance.
He didn't understand what the bear was trying to do. Could it be that he was wrong about this bear?
Could it be that it didn't care about the human child at all?
He was still trying to figure out what the bear was thinking when he heard the bear say
"Nothing. I just want to make sure you understand the difference between us. Although you're older than me, I am still stronger than you."
Big Grund turned around and started walking back towards Elwyn, who had just witnessed his first fight and was still processing the information. It didn't take long for Grund to get to where Elwyn was standing. He gently scooped up Elwyn and started walking back home without saying anything to the bewildered wolf.
"Let's go home now. Scrat should be mad worried about our absence now."
Grund said to Elwyn with a big grin.
"Is that how a fight is done?"
"And why didn't the wolf die?"
"He was bleeding like those animals you bring back always."
Elwyn threw out a series of questions at once. Big Grund smiled at the little child's curiosity and answered him.
"This is not exactly how a fight happens. That was definitely not a proper fight."
"That wolf was trying to tell me something. He might become our Family, but I need to ask Scrat about it first."
"Family?" Elwyn raised his eyebrow.
"But you had just attacked him. Do we attack our family?" he asked again.
"Hahahahhaa," Grund laughed out loud.
"We don't attack our family, ok. He's not family yet, and he said unpleasant things to me. I was just teaching him a lesson."
Elwyn nodded.
"But why is he not family yet?" he asked.
"Because I have to tell Scrat first," Big Grund replied.
"Do you tell her before doing anything?" Elwyn asked again.
The big bear stopped moving and stood for some moment.
"You have talked more today than you have ever done since we brought you in, hhahahaha."
Big Grund turned around and started walking back towards the wolf and company.