"Shouldn't we just take these two back? Why are we waiting?" Nibbles commented from her perch on top of the old wolf's head. Of course, the wolf just ignored her.

They had already been away from the farm for far too long, and the god told him to retrieve these two oxen. There was nothing he said about waiting for this donkey to finish training them.

In fact, if Nibbles had her way, they would have already taught the donkey a lesson about lying to them. She had never felt so embarrassed when the god looked at them like they were crazy for letting the donkey take the oxen.

Nibbles clenched her paws in anger as the shame was back at the forefront of her mind. She didn't even get to bask in the god's praise for finishing the tunnels to perfection. Instead, she was here, watching the lying donkey 'train' two baby oxen.

She sighed and fell back onto the old wolf's coarse fur—which made for a good bed, to her surprise. The stars were already out, staring at her, winking at her, mocking her for falling for the donkey's lies.

Nibbles puffed up in rage and jumped back to the wolf's head. "I can't take this anymore! Oldie, I'll deal with this insolent donkey—"

"Quiet," the old wolf's rumbling voice made her wobble on her perch. "Stop ignoring what the beast is accomplishing just because you're angry."

"Oh, you can talk!" Nibbles mocked, ignoring what he said.

"Yes, I can talk when you're about to do something stupid."

Her rage spiked as she stared down into the wolf's irritated eyes, before her shoulders slumped in defeat. She fell back onto the comfy fur and groused, "Well, if the donkey didn't want me angry, he shouldn't have made me look like a fool in front of the god."

Silence reigned for several seconds, the sound of the donkey's irritating braying laughter even more prominent in the background.

Nibbles watched as the donkey pushed, tricked, and used all sorts of odd ways to make the oxen use their mana. The more the oxen succeeded, the easier it became on their next try.

She could appreciate what was happening here. While her species were naturally born with the ability to use mana, she knew that other magical beasts were not the same. It was through a combination of luck, perseverance, and a spark of intelligence that allowed them to evolve into something more than just animals running on instinct.

The old wolf Nibbles used as a perch was one of those. In fact, it was the wolf who told her of this. He had been in a mood to complain about literally everything, and she had been the target of his complaints.

It was how she knew the oxen were growing more intelligent by the second and, because of that, it influenced how easily they could use mana. It was a self-feeding loop, not unlike how the god's land sustained her, which allowed her to help the god maintain his land.

Nibbles narrowed her eyes when she once again remembered how the god hadn't been able to praise her for the tunnels she built. And it was the donkey's fault.

"You still call Human Cal as god," the wolf grumbled.

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"And you still insult the god by using his name," Nibbles shot back, though with no vitriol. It was a common exchange between them, and she had long lost true annoyance at the old wolf.

Her father said that the older one gets, the more set in their ways they are. She forgave the old wolf after remembering her father's wisdom.

Nibbles stayed patient for several more hours, leaving the wolf to take a nap while she watched two oxen with a calculative gaze. She had heard the purpose of these oxen from one of the god's servants, and she was very much in favor of their arrival after that.

However, she wasn't sure how blowing up boulders into smithereens, uprooting trees, digging deep canals, and shattering the ground with heavy stomps could contribute to what the God intended.

MOOO! MOO! MOO!

Nibbles had to stop herself from slapping the ridiculous ox when it laughed in a way that was far too similar to the donkey. She ignored how another boulder shattered from the ox's laugh and hopped down from the wolf's head.

"I'm not going to hurt him," Nibbles assured when the wolf opened an eye to check on what she was doing. She made her way to the donkey with deliberate slowness to get his attention. "Why are you doing this?"

The donkey grinned, teeth far too white and perfect, and said, "Let me ask you a question of my own. Why are you asking now? Why not when you two found me a day ago?"

"Thank him," Nibbles pointed at the unconcerned wolf. "He saw what you were doing and figured we might as well get free labor."

The donkey gave the wolf a respectful nod, pissing Nibbles off. Shouldn't she get the same thing?

"You're an ox too? Are you the new boss? You feel stronger. But you're also so small."

Nibbles turned to give the ox that spoke an incredulous stare. She had never spoken to either ox, and now she was thankful for that. If the ox was this dumb now, she shuddered at how unintelligent it could have been before the donkey trained it.

"I'm not an ox," Nibbles replied, turning to get back to her conversation with the donkey.

"But you speak like me." The ox looked as confused as can be.

Nibbles gave the donkey a knowing glance as things clicked into place. The donkey tricked the oxen into thinking he was their new boss because they thought he was an ox just like them. If these oxen had only been around others of their own kind in the past, she could see how hearing other magical beasts speak could have confused them.

"Big. This is my boss, which means she's your boss's boss. Do you get that?" There was true patience in the donkey's voice.

The oxen stared at each other before the silent one spoke. "Nobody gets it."

Nibbles did everything in her power to keep herself from bursting into laughter. She was having a serious talk with the donkey, and laughing would undermine the seriousness. She ignored the oxen and shot another pointed question at the donkey. "No more distractions. Tell me why you're helping."

The donkey's ears twitched for several seconds before he said, "Your master didn't choose me, even though I made myself so cute. Since my cuteness doesn't move your master, I will show how handy I am."

Nibbles perked up at his willingness to be useful to the god and ignored the delusion of being cute. Even if she didn't like competition, she would dissuade no one who wanted to help.

The only thing she found strange was the donkey's willingness to put himself under someone more powerful when it didn't need to. Magical beasts were proud by nature and rarely sought to follow someone stronger when the option of just running away was present.

This was another thing she learned from the old wolf in one of his rants.

"I won't stop you, but if you have any bad intentions, you are done," Nibbles warned.

"I wouldn't be foolish enough to trick your master."

"It's not the god that you have to worry about, but me. I wouldn't do anything like hurting you… physically. You might not be a magical beast anymore if you cross the line." Nibbles returned to the wolf without waiting, or looking at the donkey's expression. She felt she was very, very threatening. If she were the donkey, she would be terrified at her fierceness.

There was a moment of stillness before the donkey snapped back to routine and ordered the oxen to return to their odd training. Several seconds later, the wolf asked, "Was that an over-exaggerated threat, or are you capable of that?"

"I'll find a way if I need to."

The wolf let out a rare chuckle before settling back down for a nap.

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