pertwk Page 58
Page 58
Chapter 89 LXXXIX. A Touch of Bright White
"By the way, didn't Lewis give you any names before?"
Just before the white-haired horse girl was about to show off her skills, Payne finally remembered this problem.
The hound girl shook her head and said, "No, he didn't even give us nicknames or any other names."
"When he needs to call us, he will only refer to us by our species and physical characteristics."
"For example, I'm called 'Black Dog'."
One person and four beasts: "..."
The white-haired pony seemed quite happy: "I'm called 'Fast Horse'!"
One person and four beasts: "…………"
It seems you are really fast.
“Well then,” Payne said, scratching his head, “numerical codes are too hard to remember, and naming a species with physical characteristics is too arbitrary. I’ll just give each of you a formal name.”
"Was this premeditated?" Ruby asked casually.
"No, it was just a sudden burst of inspiration..."
Seeing the expectant looks on the faces of the Black and White Duo, Payne paused for a moment, then turned to the Hound Girl first: "Then, you'll be called Alpha from now on."
"Understood." Alpha nodded immediately without any questions.
"alpha."
"Present!" Alpha stood at attention like a true soldier.
"Remember to get along well with Lacey."
"……Yes!"
Although she had some doubts, she immediately agreed.
Although it's a bit strange to call a female dog Alpha, he wanted to use this name simply because he thought of the handsome black Doberman Pinscher in the animated film "Flying Around the World".
Note: Not handsome.
He then turned to the white-haired horse: "From now on, you'll be called Stephen."
“Got it~” Stephen snorted happily. “Does the name mean something about speed?”
Pine was unaware that the name contained the meaning of "victor's laurel wreath." He named Stephen that simply because a white horse in a short video he had seen had that name.
It was actually quite casual...
The constant coming and going of beast girls is a burden, even for those who don't have trouble naming their pets.
Paine paused for a moment, lost in thought, and didn't answer her, but simply said, "Stephen, go for a run if you're not sick."
Stephen didn't understand the joke, but immediately replied, "No problem! I'm perfectly healthy!"
……
Soon, the man and his five beasts were sitting in the tent sheltering from the rain, drinking tea and eating snacks, watching Stephen, one of the beasts, running through the muddy ground while getting soaked in the rain.
Rounding to approximately equal to "off-road" is correct.
After a while, Payne belatedly said:
"Ah, speaking of which, the Marco orcs in the squad are either carrying loads or pulling cannons. When I occasionally ask them to deliver intelligence, I can't keep an eye on them all the time, so I don't know how good their stamina is when they're running..."
"You're so shameless." Ruby rolled her eyes at Payne.
Unlike the sharp-tongued little squirrel, Lacey, who unconditionally supports her owner, seemed to have gotten sleepy watching Stephen run. After yawning, she rested her head on Payne's lap and let him rub her ears.
“I just remembered…” Payne shrugged and turned to Alpha, “Can you provide some useful information?”
Alpha was meticulous: "Although only three or four Marco orcs from F Company have ever come, everyone says that Stephen is very fast and his intelligence is always delivered on time."
She seemed to want to say something more, but after glancing warily at Lacey in Payne's arms, she swallowed her words and a hint of confusion appeared in her eyes.
Payne didn't notice her gaze, but seeing her fidgeting with her lunchbox, he felt awkward taking the chestnuts himself, so he simply stuffed a few into her hand.
"Eat, you're welcome."
"Oh, thank you."
Alpha looked at Payne and then at the chestnuts in his hand, his eyes filled with even more confusion.
He really is as rumored to be, very kind to orcs, even tolerating Ruby's overstepping behavior just now.
But why?
Alpha couldn't figure it out for the time being, and now there were even more pressing questions:
What exactly did he give me? How am I supposed to eat it?
The hound girl looked down at the small, brownish ball in her hand with a puzzled expression and scratched it with her fingernail.
It feels quite hard. Is this a shell? Can I eat it directly?
After hesitating for a while, she decided not to bother her instructor with such a small matter, lest it lower her favorability, so she simply popped a piece into her mouth and started chewing.
Hmm, the outer layer is crispy, with only a slight salty taste, and it seems a bit tough to chew.
The inside is delicious, with a soft and chewy texture and a rich aroma.
Back in F Company, she basically ate Lewis's food. It wasn't that the food was terrible, but it certainly wasn't good either.
Because she had always eaten ready-made meals served directly from the kitchen cart and canned food that was ready to eat immediately, she had never even seen the cooking process, nor had she ever seen the state of various foods before they were processed.
However, since her genes still carry the imprint of her ancestors' survival in the jungle, her intuition tells her that this should be what food should originally look like.
The shell is inedible; spit it out and keep the pulp.
The thought process was completed subconsciously. Alpha nimbly moved its tongue, brought a few pieces of broken shell to its mouth, and spat them out with a "pui".
Although she had been secretly eating the French people's leftovers these past few days and hadn't gone hungry, the pure, natural aroma of the food still left her wanting more.
I feel like good things will happen if I stay near this human.
Let's just acknowledge him as our leader for now.
……
Stephen ran all the way to dinnertime, and didn't even break a sweat afterward.
Even though Payne didn't figure anything out, he had to admit that this white-haired horse girl had remarkable stamina.
Although still skeptical of her boastful achievements, Pine decided to take it seriously for now.
This is not only because he also lacks concrete evidence, but also because showing weakness in front of the beast girl is not a good idea. After all, many animals, including horses, have the underlying logic of "competing for the top spot".
Moreover, this girl is really energetic and a master at enlivening the team atmosphere. Exposing her flaws and letting her fall into depression will not do any good.
After enduring inhumane treatment from the officers training in the rear, and then being sent to the meat grinder-like front lines, it is truly rare for someone to maintain a cheerful personality under such circumstances, and it should be cherished.
When they went to the mess hall to get their food, Pine praised Stephen's abilities and achievements, which made the white-haired horse beam with joy. She immediately started running around the queue, running with great speed and energy.
Then, because the splashed mud water got all over B Company, Payne made him apologize to the whole company...
Fortunately, B Company was already used to the strange beast girls around Payne, so they were very tolerant of this future comrade-in-arms and the matter was over after a few jokes.
Or rather, on this gloomy, rainy day, it would be wonderful to have a bright white mare covered in mud to liven things up.
Chapter 90 XC. The future national champion is cleaning the sewers.
"Finally, the sun is shining... My tail is practically growing mushrooms..."
When Ruby pulled back the tent flap the next morning and saw a dazzling, enormous object finally appear in the sky, her gloomy expression gradually faded as the sunlight shone on her face.
"Really? Mushrooms have grown? Let me see!"
But as soon as she said that, the sullen expression on her face returned, and she skillfully flicked her tail to dodge the groping hand. "Instead of wasting your time, why don't you go see if the logistics department has delivered their new clothes yet?"
Animal girls wear different military uniforms than humans, and in principle, animal girls cannot wear human military uniforms.
Therefore, in places like F Company, which are not friendly to beast girls, the Black and White Duo didn't dare to take clothes from their allies and could only wear their own battle-damaged clothes.
"Sigh... Don't bring up such unpleasant things first thing in the morning..."
Payne rubbed his eyes as he came out of the tent, squinted at the sun for a moment, and asked as if to himself, "The rain has stopped, but do you know what's worse?"
"Sauna weather?"
"No, it's time to clear the trenches."
"..."
Even Ruby couldn't help but shudder at the thought of that hellish scene. "My tail is going to suffer again..."
Although Company B had a very tacit understanding and went to eat breakfast first, which took half an hour, no matter how unwilling they were, they still went back to work under the company commander's orders.
At this moment, the trench had completely turned into a sewer. The knee-deep water was murky and the same color as the soil. Floating on it were a bunch of debris such as helmets, cigarette butts, empty cans, clothes, and planks, and even a few bloated dead birds, emitting a nauseating stench.
"This...this is disgusting..." Stephen's eyelids twitched.
“You should be glad we already moved the bodies out.” Payne took a deep breath. “Go downstairs.”
Although the horse showed a momentary expression of resistance, she eventually tucked her tail into her pants, climbed the ladder, and slowly descended into the water, trying not to splash a single drop.
“Once we’re done with this, your new clothes should be delivered,” Payne continued.
“What use are new clothes to me…” Stephen said with a bitter face, picked up a floating helmet, and used it to scoop up water and splash it out of the trench.
"How long will this take...? Isn't there a more convenient and faster way?"
Payne rolled up his trousers and was the last to climb down the ladder. "Actually, there are water pumps, but those things are rare even on the front lines, let alone in a place like this..."
"And even if we're going to use a water pump, we need to clean up all this debris first. Watch out behind you, there's a dead bird floating by."
Stephen quickly turned around and, sure enough, saw a rotting, stinking bird slowly drifting towards her. She immediately turned her upper lip up in disgust, revealing a row of white teeth, and then tightly closed her mouth.
For the horse, this behavior is not only a sign of dislike, but also an instinctive reaction to transmit information about external irritating odors to the vomeronasal organ by exposing a special channel at the top of the mouth—a reaction known as the cleft lip olfaction response.
She probably opened her mouth unconsciously and gave her vomeronasal organ a really bad stench; it was truly awful.
After carefully placing the dead bird inside his helmet, Stephen didn't waste a second and threw the helmet and bird out together, shaking his hand with a bitter expression.