Chapter 195: Planning and..
And so the plan commenced as soon as possible. The next day, they worked toward gathering the crops that would work for it—those that weren’t necessarily that good for consumption, or those that were manageable for consumption. They brought them to Sunnie, who took her time cooking and processing them.
She didn’t make them magically edible, but at least she made them appealing enough for the wild beasts to want to take a bite out of curiosity. It was edible for them.
Sunnie worked on their food, and her beast husbands set off to place it at the designated spots.
They set it there and left without waiting around. On the first day of doing so, they returned the next day to find that the meal was gone.
"It worked," Luka smiled while they reported back to Sunnie. "We got there, and all of it was eaten up."
"We also saw some marks on the floor belonging to the wild beasts, so we’re certain they’re the ones who consumed them. Just as you predicted."
Sunnie smiled at the progress as she nodded. "That’s good. At least it means they’ve taken the bait. Now it’s about working toward retaining them and gaining their loyalty."
"Do we eventually need to meet them face-to-face for it?" Eris asked.
Sunnie hesitated and then shook her head. "Not necessarily." She smiled as she said, "Don’t worry, when the time comes, you’ll understand how it works."
---
They continued in that way, placing food for the wild beasts from time to time while they came and consumed it. It had become a habit for both parties.
Sunnie and her crew kept something for them, and the wild beasts always knew when to come and take it.
They enjoyed the meal and never missed a day. This had been happening for a few weeks now.
Sunnie continued in this way while waiting for the designated time to come. It was a pity she couldn’t predict when the outsiders would come, but she had a feeling it was closer. Because Sunnie could now see more marks of these humans penetrating into the land and surveying the area.
She could tell that they were moving from one space to another while looking for where they would attack from. They were studying the place more. Sunnie could tell that sooner or later, they would come.
And just as she thought, they did come.
---
It was a hot afternoon. Sunnie had taken the three little ones to the stream for a cold bath. She sat there at the corner, watching as the three of them had fun in the water.
Maren splashed water on Ronan and Mii while chasing them all through the water. She was faster with her blue glimmering tail out, splashing through the water like the mermaid she was.
Ronan and Mii ran as fast as they could, laughing excitedly from the ultimate fun they were having.
"Take it easy..." Sunnie smiled. "Don’t hurt yourself." She urged them while they continued having their fun.
Sunnie smiled as she shook her head. "These kids."
While she watched them with smiles on their faces, Zuna, Elza, and some other women rushed to where she was. Sunnie could see the panic on their faces while they panted from running.
"What is it?" Sunnie asked as she slowly got to her feet. The kids were still playing in the water without caring about what was happening around.
Zuna sighed as she said, "They’re here..." She explained. "They’re... out there."
Sunnie didn’t need any further explanations about what she was talking about. She simply understood that she was talking about the enemies they had been expecting for a long time—those for whom they had been setting up all the preparations.
She stood as she stared at them. She thought for a while and then turned to look at the kids. "Please look after them. Watch the kids. I’ll be off."
"Are you sure you should be there?" Elza asked. "Is it safe?"
Sunnie nodded with a smile as she said, "Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing." She assured them as she turned and left.
While she left, the women stood behind to look after the kids, who were still splashing water around playfully.
"I hope she’ll be okay," Elza expressed.
Zuna smiled. "Don’t worry, she’ll be more than okay." She said confidently while they watched Sunnie leave into the distance until she was out of sight.
---
The hyenas had arrived in a gang—a massive one. There were a lot of them, over fifty to a hundred, all surrounding the area of their land.
They had gotten closer to Sunnie’s farmland, surrounding it from different spaces—some from the left, some from the right, and everywhere else.
Sunnie’s beast husbands were standing in front before them. Little Black and Zukka stood behind along with the chipmunks. They all hid behind Sunnie’s husbands, staring at the large number of hyenas surrounding them.
They came from different places, so many that they wondered how many there were. They laughed at the top of their voices while staring at them. They were outnumbered and overpowered from their view, so it was clear to these hyenas that they could take them down and take what was theirs.
Sunnie soon arrived at the scene, standing in front of her beast husbands while she stared at the hyenas surrounding them. She scoffed as she said, "And I had a feeling that it would be these jerky hyenas again. I guess my speculations were right—it’s you guys after all."
The tribe leader of the hyenas stood in front with a smirk. He had both hands behind him as he slowly came forward to stare at them. The hunter from earlier stood behind him, also smiling toward them.
"How do you like our little surprise?" the tribe leader asked, spreading his hands to show how much they had come prepared.
But Sunnie smiled as she said, "You call this a surprise? What a joke indeed. It was the most predictable thing that has happened all year long."