Back at the camp, the giant beast following Leo immediately caused a stir.
Even the strongest snow bear on the North Ice River couldn't grow to be this big. This was obviously a magical beast.
Magical beasts in this world, just like large wild beasts on Earth, weren't as common as in literary works.
They were also a part of the biological chain. And because they were more powerful and had more extensive territories, they were even rarer.
But the main reason was still the existence of humans.
In the eyes of adventure groups, a magical beast was a treasure all over. The profit from hunting one magical beast far exceeded that of hunting ten large wild beasts.
Whenever news of a magical beast spread, countless adventure groups would swarm to the place immediately until all the magical beasts there were hunted to extinction.
By now, let alone magical beasts of ordinary ranks, even the legendary dragons could only hide in volcanoes, snow-capped mountains, or simply in the wilderness thousands of miles away from human countries.
As for ordinary people, when they had the chance to see a magical beast, it was usually right before getting eaten.
To everyone's surprise, the huge magical beast Leo brought back was even more timid than the villagers. It always huddled its huge body behind Leo, wishing it could stick its head under Leo's armpit before daring to look out.
The members of the militia and the young and strong men all picked up weapons and watched from afar, not daring to get closer. Only Little Mouse mustered up the courage to run towards Leo. She hugged Leo's thigh and curiously sized up the giant marmot.
The two mice, one big and one small, one in front and one behind, stared at each other stupidly across Leo, with looks of timidity and curiosity.
Seeing that the villagers didn't seem to want to start a fight, Freya felt relieved. Amid the exclamations of a bunch of people, she stood up on two legs like a human and walked into the camp with clumsy steps.
Led by Leo, Freya followed him to the bonfire in the center of the camp. When she saw several large cauldrons in the center of the camp, her eyes immediately lit up. She sat down obediently, acting like a good baby waiting to be served dinner.
Seeing Olivia looking scared and inquiring, Leo waved his hand and gave the order, "Extra food! Extra food! I'm treating my new friend to dinner!"
Olivia felt a bit more at ease. At least he didn't bring it back to eat her up. Looking at the size of the marmot, she then whispered, "How much extra?"
"Add a whole cauldron directly!"
"Okay." Olivia responded reluctantly but still did as she was told.
Sitting with Freya in front of the bonfire, Leo had to tilt his head all the way back to see her full face. He had no choice but to move to a farther position.
"Can't you transform back into an elf? Look, you've scared the kids."
Freya said pitifully, "I can't help it. My teacher hasn't taught me the spell to transform back yet."
Leo was left speechless: "Then where's your teacher? Where's your home?"
Freya pointed at the waterfall in the distance using her paw and replied in a dejected tone, "My home is on the cliff. I accidentally fell down and can't get back."
"That can't be. From such a high place, even King Kong would be deformed if he fell."
Freya puffed up her cheeks and said, "I can fly, you know!"
As she said that, she began to puff up her cheeks forcefully, then wiggled her waist proudly and showed Leo her back. "Look! I have wings!"
Sure enough, a pair of small furry wings emerged on her back, exactly like the wings of a little yellow duck.
Leo was dumbfounded. He walked over and nudged Freya's wings. These wings were so small that they couldn't be seen from the front at all.
"Can these things fly?"
Freya got angry. She stood up, flapped her wings hard, jumped forcefully, and then landed with a thud.
The marmot was beaming at Leo, waiting for his praise.
"Seems like it... flew?" Leo asked uncertainly.
"I landed!" Freya explained angrily. "The speed of landing slowed down, so I didn't get killed!"
"Alright, you can fly." Leo covered his face with both hands. "But in your current situation, you won't be able to go back for a while."
Unexpectedly, Freya wasn't worried at all. Instead, she said confidently, "Don't worry. My teacher will come looking for me."
"When he wakes up, he'll know I'm lost!"
"Then how long does your teacher usually sleep?"
"Teacher said that for high-level shape-shifting spells, one needs to thoroughly learn all the behaviors and habits of the transformed form. So he hibernates every year. When spring comes, he'll wake up!"
Leo wanted to ask more, but Freya's attention had already fallen on the food.
In the center of the settlement camp, there were usually three large pots. One was an ancestral earthenware pot, and two were large iron pots made by Ulyan at great expense.
These three pots weren't the semi - circular pots commonly used for banquets in rural areas of China. Instead, they were big-bellied flat pans like the inner liners of rice cookers. One pot could hold over a hundred liters of food, which was enough for about a hundred people.
But usually, not all three pots were filled with food for every meal. Often, one or two pots of thick soup were cooked, and then some black bread, cassava from antler trees, and other foods were served to barely fill the villagers' stomachs.
Since the kobolds exchanged the iron mine for food, the food in the settlement camp had become more abundant. Not only were the three pots cooked every meal, but the thick soup in the pots was also getting thicker.
Olivia even started making big pancakes with precious wheat flour to give extra meals to the young and strong laborers who were digging canals and cutting wood in the village.
This was something that couldn't even be imagined before. Eating big wheat pancakes every day and having dry food all the time? Even the wealthiest family wouldn't be so extravagant!
At this time, in addition to the original three large pots, the last spare pot was also set up. After various ingredients were thrown in and it started boiling, as the village women in charge of cooking continuously stirred it with pine sticks, the aroma began to spread in the settlement camp.
Freya united with a group of children in the settlement camp and they all tried their best to inhale the aroma of the food, not letting it float out of the settlement camp and go to waste.
And Leo wasn't to be outdone. He started slaughtering live fish, getting ready to show off his cooking skills in making grilled fish and steamed fish.
Finally, dinner was ready. Olivia scooped up a large earthenware bowl of thick soup and brought it in front of Freya, showing a kind smile.
Freya sat there reservedly, carefully picked up the earthenware bowl. The earthenware bowl, the size of a human head, seemed like a teacup in front of her huge head.
She tilted her head back and gulped it down in one go. Then, with a flick of her tongue, she wiped the residue at the bottom of the bowl clean.
She put down the earthenware bowl reservedly, stretched out one paw, and pushed the earthenware bowl towards Olivia, then sat there obediently.
"So delicious!"
Little Mouse came up to Freya's earthenware bowl. Looking at the bowl that was even cleaner than before it was filled with porridge, he was extremely envious.
Olivia stared in disbelief as Freya carried out her seamless actions, then hesitated and said, "How about... you just use the pot?"
"Then I won't be polite!" Freya happily wagged her head from side to side, and she even wished she could call Olivia mom just like the kobold cubs.
After gulping down a pot of boiling thick porridge, Freya comfortably stroked the soft short fur on her belly with her front paws, and her gaze fell on Leo.
Next, under Olivia's worried gaze and Leo's punches and kicks, Freya defiantly demonstrated some amazing feats, such as the identical way of eating steamed fish and grilled fish, how to devour a one - meter - long black bread in one bite, and chewing raw barley and cassava from antler trees.
She picked up a steamed fish over a foot long, held it high, tilted her head back and stuffed the whole fish into her mouth, then closed her mouth and gently pulled the fish head outwards.
All that was left of the whole fish was a fish head and a complete set of fishbone spines connected to it.
Amid the "wow" sounds of a group of kids, Freya proudly threw this perfectly structured fish skeleton into her mouth, chewed it a few times and swallowed it into her stomach.
Were the kids going "wow" because you ate a lot? They were going "wow" because you got to eat fish!
Unable to stop Freya's bandit - like behavior, Leo watched Freya's performance extremely reluctantly, feeling that his status among the kids was being challenged!