Ch.33Wild Dogs (2)

That evening, after the wild dog attack incident.

As I drank the grain soup (porridge) that was served for dinner just like any other day, I carried my bowl toward a newly dug pit at the edge of the village.

“Slurp….”

A massive pit that had grown to over 2 meters deep thanks to my efforts with a borrowed shovel.

While briefly sipping my thin soup and observing the pit, I turned my gaze toward those glaring at me from inside.

“Grrrrr….”

“Woof! Woof woof!”

They were growling and barking wildly at me—five wild dogs in total, combining the three I had captured in the village earlier today and two others that hunters had somehow managed to catch.

The wild dogs of this world, generally formed through a mixture of various dog breeds and magical beast bloodlines…. If compared to Earth’s dog breeds, they closely resemble “Malinois” in appearance.

Their appearance is the very stereotype of a short-haired medium to large dog, and their facial features give off a fierce and ferocious impression rather than anything cute.

And although their vigor had diminished somewhat compared to during the day and afternoon, they still maintained enough energy to bark and growl at me.

Of course, this aggressive display couldn’t last very long.

“””—?!!”””

“Woof woof! Woof!”

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

When I deliberately turned my gaze toward them with widened eyes, the three dogs I had personally captured flinched in surprise, while the remaining two captured by hunters continued to bark aggressively and glare at me.

Therefore, to break their spirit, I drew upon the “Dark Demon” factor while releasing a minute amount of aura throughout my body to summon a certain energy known as “killing intent”….

“””””….(growl)(whimper).”””””

‘…Good, I’ve successfully established dominance.’

Having completely suppressed even the two I hadn’t personally captured, I then brought forward my “Animal Affinity” ability that I had kept dormant until now.

“Animal Affinity” is, simply put, an ability that allows communication with less intelligent beasts.

In reality, despite being called “affinity,” it merely enables basic communication without any actual coercive power—just the ability to convey meaning.

Of course, it’s a reasonably useful ability when coordinating with war horses, and occasionally it can be used to lure birds with grain to gather information…. It has its uses.

And now, the meaning I conveyed to these wild dogs through Animal Affinity was clear.

‘Obey.’ Consider me as the leader of your pack, respect me, and become members of my group.

There was no point in imposing complex conditions that dogs with their intelligence couldn’t possibly comprehend, so I simplified the terms to make them understandable.

Indeed, my approach seemed effective as these wild dogs looked at me with curious eyes, and through my Animal Affinity power, I could understand the meaning behind their gazes.

In the harsh wilderness of this medieval fantasy world, survival of the fittest isn’t a choice but a necessity. Because of this, they were prepared to follow my will, but separately, they seemed to have a request.

Specifically… they wanted permission to bring their pups to raise here.

The wild dogs of this world practice communal parenting within their packs, so they were likely making this request as part of their genuine desire to join the village as their new pack.

Things were progressing rather smoothly and quickly considering I had killed some of their companions, but considering the ecology of wild dogs, this wasn’t particularly strange.

The wild dogs of this world can form packs with species other than their own without much reservation, which is why it’s not uncommon to find wild dogs coexisting with goblins or serving as subordinates to higher magical beasts.

Of course, humans tend to use ordinary hunting dogs or military dogs instead of recruiting wild dogs, both because better alternatives exist and because controlling their wild nature is difficult….

But in our current situation where we urgently need every bit of strength and can’t afford the luxury of trained hunting or military dogs, these might not be bad as substitutes.

Additionally, feeding these tamed wild dogs, which might seem like the most urgent concern, isn’t actually that problematic.

While “wolves” are carnivores, “dogs” are omnivores. Though they need some meat, they can basically be fed things like cabbage or turnips as well….

Besides, since my method of training them was to make them part of the pack with me as their “leader,” if left to their own devices, they would likely hunt rabbits or field mice from the surroundings.

※ ※ ※

And so, after successfully completing the “training”…

“I’ve returned, sir.”

“…I’m sorry. I know you’re tired, but… please bear with it a little longer.”

“…Yes. Understood, Lord Alzar.”

Following the wild dogs’ request, I had them bring their pups under supervision, and then assigned Sir Corin Lanster and hunter Felix Jäger, experts in hunting dog training, to watch over them. Only after the dogs returned with their pups did I finally enter my personal tent.

Lying on the temporary bed inside, I thought about what had happened this morning, and after much consideration, I reached a conclusion.

‘We need a palisade…’

To prevent incidents like today, where villagers were suddenly attacked by wild animals appearing near the settlement, we needed at least a fence like those used for pastures, if not a proper palisade.

Of course, according to my memory, in real medieval territories, walls or palisades typically surrounded only small castles, while villages and other infrastructure remained exposed, vulnerable to looting and arson.

The labor and cost of building walls or raising palisades were so high and unmanageable that they focused only on defensive facilities of manageable scale.

But in this dangerous world, “walls,” including palisades, are essential defensive structures for safe human settlements.

Not only do they define territory and establish boundaries against wild animals, but they’re also absolutely necessary when hostile entities launch attacks.

In this world, most cities and villages are protected by defensive walls (known as outer walls) with sufficient defensive capabilities, with separate inner fortresses or lord’s residences inside.

Given that the danger level of the wilderness is dozens of times higher than on Earth, clearly separating and isolating human spaces from the outside is not optional but mandatory.

‘Come to think of it….’

Indeed, from what I remember, most villages I’ve seen on missions, despite being in Lord Alzar’s well-policed territory, have relatively high palisades and watchtowers as defensive structures.

Of course, they can’t effectively withstand determined goblin hordes or medium to large magical beasts, but conversely, this means they can adequately handle lesser threats.

A well-built palisade prevents entry by hostile creatures that lack the strength to break it down, and meanwhile, the combination of arrows shot by humans on watchtowers can easily silence mediocre beasts.

Additionally, since I’m planning to tame wild dogs for use as hunting or guard dogs, I suspect that even just a palisade—or more precisely, a livestock fence—would make the settlement much safer.

“…Hmm. Is it possible?”

The problem is that we currently lack the resources to build palisades or erect watchtowers.

We’re already extremely busy building houses and structures on this small foundation, and in this situation, to additionally gather lumber to build fences and watchtowers…

Moreover, even with watchtowers, they aren’t automatic turrets—they naturally require humans to keep watch from them….

In this situation where everyone is busy working without spare capacity, assigning separate people to work in watchtowers would be pointless for the current settlement.

Therefore, I could only reach one conclusion.

‘So this is the answer after all….’

For now, building defensive structures like watchtowers or palisades would be disadvantageous when we don’t know how large the pioneer settlement will grow, and with the current labor shortage, we’ll have to postpone it.

Instead, we’ll regularly patrol the surroundings with the hunter family and… the wild dog pack that will continue to join us, while periodically having Corin and myself check for hostile creatures until we have more resources.

It’s a makeshift and shortsighted choice, but… what else can we do?

In a situation where even basic infrastructure isn’t properly established, we can’t afford to redistribute the workforce currently assigned to construction.