Chapter 4: I'm the Only Boy
Ten children were standing there. Mirroring them, another ten children stood on the opposite side.
All of them glared fiercely at the opposing group, and the atmosphere was so tense that one could believe it was a battlefield.
Two children, who seemed to be the leaders of each group, closed the distance between them. For children, they were well-developed, and these two, on the verge of leaving girlhood behind, were the oldest in their groups.
One had a thoroughly sullen expression, while the other looked at her with a cold, mocking smile.
On one side, a girl already stood at 150 cm tall an overwhelming height for a ten-year-old.
On the other, though shorter, the girl was still an impressive 140 cm, standing her ground against the taller girl.
The 150 cm girl spoke first.
"Hey! How many times have I told you! But you keep ignoring me! You want to go at it, huh?"
Her menacing horns pointed forward, and she seemed so worked up that she might charge at the smaller girl at any moment.
The 140 cm girl, though her horns and stature were smaller, did not back down and confronted her just as fiercely.
"Look who's talking! You're the one ignoring me! Let's see how far this goes today!"
She too showed her sturdy horns and growled. The fierce standoff continued for a while. If either let their guard down, those pairs of horns could deal a fatal blow to the other's abdomen.
But the girls' fight ended anticlimactically and quickly. A boy's still-immature voice, not yet fully grown, rang out and struck the ears of the two girls about to clash.
"Stop it already!"
"Gasp!"
"Gasp!"
The two girls and, in fact, all the girls gathered in the clearing were startled by the voice and instantly dropped their hostility, adopting docile expressions like cows lying in a field, all eyes turning to one spot.
Two short but sturdy-looking horns, a healthy furry tail swaying behind, and, though he tried to hide it, the unmistakable presence of a boy's dangling member between his legs.
Yet, despite that imposing feature, the boy approaching them had a youthful face, which he scrunched up in an exaggeratedly cute way, making his already adorable face even cuter.
This was Milk, the boy assigned to carry on the next generation of the Holstaurus tribe. Now six years old, he often wandered around alone, meeting villagers and broadening his horizons.
Though still young and treated as a child by adults, his polite, cheerful, and cute demeanor had long since disarmed the entire Holstaurus tribe.
Everything in this tribe flowed in his favor, and it would be a lie to say he wasn't happy. Still, Milk had one worry.
He had no male peers. All his playmates were girls.
One boy and twenty girls of the same age, or more precisely, twenty girls from his age up to five years older.
It wasn't the abundance of girls that was the problem, but rather that the girls, who were starting to notice the opposite sex, were becoming an issue.
Whether he was the next chief or not was irrelevant to these young girls, but with so many girls and so few boys, competition was fierce.
Thus, power struggles often broke out over who would monopolize the boy, and this was exactly such a situation.
The strongest girl would gather others around her, and the winner of the power struggle would get to monopolize the young boy. That girl would have the most authority, and the others could only talk to or interact with the boy during the time allotted by the winner.
In other tribes, young Holstaurus girls often got hurt in such fights. But that was only in other tribes.
At least in Milk's tribe, or more precisely among his peers, such things didn't happen.
Unlike other young boys, Milk's mind was already mature, so this was only natural.
He stepped between the two girls about to fight, approached each one, and gave them a gentle flick on the forehead with his small fist.
"Ouch!"
"Ugh!"
Of course, it couldn't possibly hurt. They were ten-year-old girls, and he was a weak six-year-old boy.
But the girls scrunched their faces as if about to cry, pretending it hurt. Apparently, girls act weak in front of boys no matter what.
"I told you not to fight and to get along! Why are you fighting again? Hurry up and apologize and make up!"
"Ah... but Milk..."
"Ah... I really don't want to."
The two girls looked at each other, making it clear how much they disliked the idea. As if they were mortal enemies, they started glaring at each other again, prompting Milk to sigh and call each by name.
"Yuke!"
"Yeah!"
Yuke was the 150 cm girl, with a bob cut that suited her active, hot-tempered personality.
"Bel!"
"Yes, Milk."
The 140 cm girl, Bel, responded to Milk's call. She had long hair down to her waist, with one strand covering her left eye, giving her a calm appearance.
With both girls' attention on him, Milk put on a deliberately scary face and scolded them.
"If you don't make up right now, I won't ever see you again!"
"No, please!"
"We'll make up! Forgive us!"
It was always like this. No matter how well-developed their bodies or how fiercely they fought over the boy, they were still children. Even this much of a threat was enough to make them stop fighting in a hurry.
Grinding their teeth in humiliation, the girls brought their noses to each other's necks and sniffed. This was the Holstaurus greeting.
It's also used when making up sniffing each other's scent as a promise not to fight again.
'Ugh! Girls should wash more, they smell like sweat!'
Bel was thinking this.
'Ugh! My nose is going numb. How much herb did she put on herself?'
Yuke was thinking the same, both expressing their hostility only in their minds. They might fight again, but for now, they had to hold back.
"See? Isn't that better? Listen up, all of you! If anyone fights like this again, tell me. As long as I'm here, I won't allow any fighting. Got it?"
Yes, Milk!
Got it, Milk oppa!
Not a single child failed to answer Milk. As the next chief, and the future partner of all the girls here, they had grown up hearing about Milk's importance from their nannies and naturally internalized obedience to him.
Of course, they were still young and often acted immaturely, but when Milk stepped in, things were quickly resolved.
It was only possible because Milk was already much more mature than the girls. Otherwise, one of them might have been lying on the ground bleeding by now.
Feeling it was enough, Milk forgave the two girls. Yuke took his right arm, Bel his left, and the other girls gathered around them to form a circle.
Milk had to join in yet another boring game of house. But if he didn't do this, the girls would be hard to manage, so he had no choice but to step in and play along.
Bel and Yuke, the two main rivals, led a group of girls who were a constant headache for the adults.
Girls usually fight as they grow up, so adults let them be, thinking they'd eventually become friends as they matured. But Milk, worried someone might get seriously hurt, played mediator.
He hugged the two girls at his sides, and they immediately smiled happily, as if they'd never fought.
After spending the afternoon in the girls' company and becoming completely exhausted, Milk finally returned home, where Millie greeted him warmly. He ran straight into her soft embrace.
"Mom!"
"Oh my! Did you have fun playing, my boy?"
Milk proudly recounted his exploits.
"Yeah~ The girls were fighting again, so I stopped them! I did good, right, Mom?"
"Whose son could be so clever? When Milk becomes chief, he'll be a great one, no doubt!"
As usual, kids his age tended to exaggerate their deeds, and this was just called being spoiled.
Millie doted on him, patting his bottom and showering his cheeks with kisses, saying "Good job, good job."
"My boy must be hungry. Come in and eat."
'Ugh...'
Milk groaned inwardly, because eating was a torment for him now.
Why was eating so hard? The answer lay in the Holstaurus breastfeeding period.
Holstaurus are breastfed until age twelve. Until then, their mother's milk is better for them than other foods and causes no digestive trouble.
From age thirteen, their guts are strong enough to eat meat and vegetables, but before that, they have no choice but to drink their mother's milk.
Millie sat down in the room, removed the cow-patterned cloth covering her chest, and revealed her ample breasts. Milk, embarrassed but with no choice, approached her.
Her milk ducts were now closed, so milk didn't flow freely, but when he gently pressed her breast, a drop of milky fluid formed at the nipple.
After a moment's hesitation, Milk opened his mouth, latched onto her nipple, and began to suck. Millie hugged him closer, helping him nurse comfortably, and closed her eyes.
Standing in front of her, Milk was half-leaning into her chest, sucking eagerly.
He felt her milk fill his mouth and swallowed diligently, having another nutritious meal.
At that moment, Ru, who had been quiet all day, broke the silence in his mind.
[If you nurse today, your favorability with Millie will reach 100. She'll enter the affection state and become your first wife candidate.]
'You've been quiet today... What were you doing?'
[I was processing and organizing recent events to prepare more efficient support. An update, you could say.]
'You should have told me. I was worried something was wrong.'
[Sorry. I'll make sure to inform you next time. I usually process things while you sleep, but there was a lot of data today, so it took longer.]
'By the way, the girls are getting fiercer and fighting more. Isn't there a good solution?'
[The answer is to keep the top girls' favorability at the maximum. Once it reaches 100 and becomes affection, they won't be able to refuse you. Another method, using the Holstaurus' physical development, is to make them obey through sexual contact.]
'The latter is a bit tempting... ahem... but let's stick with raising favorability.'
Though his body was young, his mind was that of a man. After forty years without women, it was only natural. Still, he couldn't bring himself to touch a ten-year-old, so he chose the first option.
Besides, he wasn't interested in little girls' bodies anyway. Just look right in front of him, a stunning beauty was offering him her chest.
Though it was embarrassing to nurse, it was truly helpful for him. After all, physical pleasure is something one learns from one's mother.