Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Vertical Roller Press

Kaelen had just passed a few tents when a noisy commotion suddenly came from ahead. Everyone’s voice revealed a sense of anxiety.

Kaelen’s heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly quickened his pace. At this point, he could clearly hear what everyone was talking about.

"It is clearly still a month before the due date, why is he giving birth already?"

"I am not sure, but the two Priests have gone in to examine him. Hopefully, nothing happens."

"Oh my, why is evryone crowding around here! Have you boiled hot water? Are there clean animal skins? Right, has the newly woven soft cloth been brought over?"

"Here, here, we have everything!"

"Hot water coming through, hot water here, everyone make way!"

Kaelen finally understood. It turned out someone in the tribe was about to give birth, but he remembered the nearest due date should still be a month away. Feeling very worried, he pulled the arm of a Striped Tiger clan Sub-Beast to ask what was going on.

Seeing it was Kaelen, this Sub-Beast was startled and hurriedly said, "Oh my, you are pregnant, why are you squeezing into the crowd? Come, come over here, stand on this side. I don’t know if Nori ate something bad or fell and disturbed the fetus, but he is going into labor before his due date. You must be careful!"

Nori was a rare Snow Leopard clan Sub-Beast in the old Crimson tribe, and his partner was a Striped Tiger clan beastman named Joshua. The two had been mated for a long time but were only now having their first child, so Nori had always been very careful. It was just unknown why he was having a premature birth.

Kaelen obediently stood to the side, waiting with everyone else. Miserable screams continuously came from the tent, making him unable to stop shivering. Beast God, did giving birth hurt this much?

Kaelen subconsciously placed a hand on his stomach. Uncle Jaxon said that the Snake clan all laid eggs, and the eggs were as big as Uncle Jaxon’s hand. The partners of Snake clan and Avian clan beastmen all laid eggs, whether they gave birth to a little beastman or a little Sub-Beast. However, laying an egg still meant passing something very large, and Kaelen suddenly felt a slight twinge in his buttocks.

Not long after, a baby’s cry came from the tent. The crying was very loud, as if tearing everyone’s eardrums.

"Oh my, it’s a Sub-Beast, haha~"

"Listen to this crying, he will definitely be a strong Sub-Beast like his Papa in the future."

"I wonder how Nori is doing?"

Draven walked out at this moment and smiled, saying, "Rest assured, everyone, both the Sub-Beast and the child are healthy. This little one simply had too much nutrition and demanded to come out early; there is no problem at all."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and together congratulated Joshua, who was standing by the tent door wiping his tears. Kaelen also breathed a sigh of relief and quietly left the crowd to go to Cassian’s place.

There would be more and more children in the tribe, and he felt the pressure on his shoulders grow a bit heavier. Caressing his flat stomach, Kaelen softly muttered to himself: [Papa will definitely build the best living environment for you!]

"Kaelen, where are you going?"

Nearing the land reclamation area, Kaelen met Sane, who had just returned from the salt-making area. In Sane’s hands were two cleaned Wobble beasts, seemingly intended to be brought back and cooked for Kaelen to eat. The Wobble beast was a small animal that looked a bit like a bird but couldn’t fly. When running, its head usually wobbled from side to side, hence the name. The Wobble beast’s meat was very tender, mostly lean with little fat, and had no gamey smell, making it a favorite dish among Sub-Beasts. However, the Wobble beast ran very fast and was good at hiding, making it very difficult to catch.

Kaelen curled his lips into a smile, raised the stack of blueprints in his hand, and said: [I am going to Uncle Cassian’s place.]

Sane said, "Uncle Cassian has gone over to the new brick-making area. I will take you there."

The two of them bypassed the reclamation area and headed towards the new valley. As they walked, Sane talked about everyone’s arrangements this morning. Currently, the land reclamation work was gradually nearing completion, so Priest Collins had told Sane to reassign tasks for the clan members.

"I divided the reclamation group into three teams. One team continues the work of clearing weeds and preparing the soil; a skillful and strong team is sent to the brick-making place, and the third team I assigned to chop down those sweet-stalked grass seed plants you mentioned."

After saying this, Sane hesitated for a moment and voiced his speculation, "I feel like they are intending to groom me as a leader, gradually transferring to me the right to decide everyone’s work in the tribe."

Kaelen blinked at Sane. To be honest, except for being too young, Sane was very suitable for the role of the tribe’s leader. However, walking parallel with power was an equivalent responsibility; becoming the Chief would mean carrying many things on his shoulders.

He grabbed Sane’s hand and traced a sign: [Do you want it?]

Sane pursed his lips slightly, then firmly affirmed, "I do!"

Becoming the Chief was equivalent to having supreme power in the tribe, which would become a sharp weapon on his path of revenge. Kaelen clearly saw the ambition in Sane’s eyes, and his throat began to feel a bit itchy again. He stopped, turned his head to look straight into Sane’s eyes, and said: [I support you, but you must also promise me that no matter what happens, you must prioritize the tribe’s interests above personal interests.]

Sane nodded solemnly, held his small hands, and said gently, "Rest assured, I know what I must do. The tribe, my partner, and our children—I will not gamble with any of you."

Kaelen smiled, his two dimples clearly visible. Sane couldn’t help but raise a hand to poke one, and in return, he almost got a finger bitten by his Sub-Beast.

He affectionately picked up his partner and ran briskly across the mountain slope, saying as he walked, "Once this morning sickness month is over, can we mate? My Sub-Beast is both beautiful and capable, I am afraid you will be snatched away by someone."

Don’t think he didn’t know those brats in the tribe used thirsty and admiring eyes to look at his partner. If it weren’t for the fact that he hadn’t officially grasped power in his hands yet, he would definitely punch them flying straight across the magical beast forest and plant them headfirst into the snow to cool their brains.

Kaelen smiled softly and traced an [Okay] sign on Sane’s chest, immediately hearing the beastman’s joyful laughter. His earlobes flushed pink, and his heart felt as sweet as if filled with honey.

Arriving at the new valley, Cassian’s group was sitting by the fire roasting meat for lunch. Ever since there had been plenty of staple foods to fill their stomachs, the meals of all the Crimson clan members had changed from two meals a day to three meals.

Sane placed Kaelen down to sit a bit further from the wind’s direction to prevent Kaelen from feeling nauseous from the smell of roasted meat, and then he walked over to whisper to Cassian. He threw the two Wobble beasts to Oleck along with a small packet of refined salt, asking Oleck to help roast them. The remaining salt in the packet was considered payment.

The clan members present immediately looked at Oleck with eyes full of envy. Why didn’t Sane ask them to roast the meat? Their skills weren’t that bad either. Oleck smiled so wide his eyes crinkled, washing his hands clean before preparing to roast the meat. He hadn’t forgotten that Kaelen preferred cleanliness, especially regarding food and daily life.

Over on the other side, Kaelen and Cassian were discussing the tools in the blueprints with each other, while Sane leaned his head in to take a peek. Kaelen wanted to ask Cassian to make three things: one was a manual sugarcane press, vertical roller version; two was a waterwheel; and three—which was also the thing he desired the most—a continuous trip hammer using a wooden camshaft system.

"I am still a bit unclear on the first one, it needs more study. The second one can be made, and this last one... seems to be connected to the second one? You want to use the water power flowing from the waterfall to make it operate without needing a beastman?"

Kaelen gave Uncle Cassian a thumbs up, throwing another ten thousand likes in his heart. Whoever said primitive people had low intelligence, step out here, open your eyes wide and look closely. If this is low intelligence, then what are you lot? Are your brains stuffed with toilet paper?

"I will need some time. Which one do you need more?"

Kaelen thought for a moment and pointed at the vertical roller press. Currently, it was just the beginning of winter, and the sweet sorghum stalks were at their juiciest. If they missed this period, the resulting sugar yield would not be as desired.

The Wobble beast meat was cooked, and Oleck brought it over to hand to Sane. Kaelen was busy drawing tool details on the ground to explain to Cassian, so Sane washed his hands clean, tore off the meat, and fed it right to Kaelen’s mouth. Kaelen very naturally opened his mouth to eat, his hands still constantly writing and drawing.

The two of them were busy over at the new valley for almost an entire afternoon, only starting to head back when the sun nearly touched the highest mountain peak. Upon arriving home, Kaelen immediately pulled out the pot with the leftover shampoo and poked it a few times, seeing that it had hardened a bit compared to the morning.

He told Sane to boil water. Waiting until the water was moderately warm, he poured it into the pot, stirred until the soap completely dissolved, and then sat on a chair, bending down to let Sane help wash his hair. The scent of the mosquito-repellent grass was a bit strong, making him sneeze a few times, but for the cause of exterminating lice, he gritted his teeth and endured it.

"Wow, this thing of yours is really amazing, these little lice are already turning their white bellies up." Sane truly felt very surprised. Last night, he had thoroughly gone through Kaelen’s head and was certain that he had caught all the lice for Kaelen, but he didn’t expect to see a whole nest of them floating up today. No wonder Kaelen wanted to go crazy.

Kaelen was bending his head down so he couldn’t look at Sane, only raising a hand to point at himself, then giving a thumbs up: [Of course, it’s me we are talking about.]

Sane burst into laughter and focused on massaging his head. After Kaelen signaled that enough time had passed, Sane used warm water to rinse off the soap suds, then gently squeezed Kaelen’s hair to drain the excess water, and wrapped a grass-fiber cloth towel around his head to prevent water from dripping onto Kaelen’s body and causing a cold.

Kaelen was allowed to lift his head, looking at the bunch of lice floating on the water’s surface with nausea. He didn’t expect that with just a little negligence, these disgusting things had multiplied so much on his head.

While Sane was drying Kaelen’s hair, a guest arrived.

Mie gripped the animal skin items in his hands tightly, nervous and not knowing how to start. Theron used his paw pads to pat Mie’s calf, encouraging Mie to be brave. Mie bit his lip until it turned pale, then finally gathered his courage and said:

"Kae, Kaelen, I’m... I’m sorry. It was because of my mistake that you and Walter met with an accident, I... I..."

Mie didn’t know what else to say, continuously stuttering "I... I...", his legs almost dropping to his knees under Sane’s stare. Kaelen smiled softly, patted the arm of the beastman who was shooting out a chilling aura beside him, and signaled for the two to sit down and talk. Mie nervously placed the animal skin cloak on the stone table, his hands subconsciously rubbing against the hem of his skirt, wanting to wipe away the sweat on his palms.

He had wanted to come and apologize to Kaelen for a long time, but every time he saw Kaelen’s figure from afar, he would flinch and couldn’t step forward. Today, Uncle Randy assigned him to deliver the cloak to Kaelen, the purpose being to let him conveniently say his apology along the way. Mie was half-willing and half-reluctant, just hugging the cloak and pacing in circles from a distance. It wasn’t until Theron casually walked over and nudged his leg a few times that he dared to walk over.

Kaelen poured Mie a cup of sweet and sour fruit juice, waved his hand, and said: [I have already heard it from everyone, I do not blame you. I also feel very sorry for Orion; he is just like you, not a bad person.]

The two of them just chose the wrong friends, that’s all.

Mie pursed his lips, his hands clutching the hem of his animal skin skirt until his knuckles turned white, his eye sockets brimming with tears. Seeing that the little Sub-Beast was about to cry, Kaelen immediately shifted his focus to the leopard who was busy fawning beside Mie, and knocked on the tabletop.

Theron was immediately attracted and looked over. Kaelen pulled out a strand of corn silk placed in the basket next to the table, stretched it out slightly, and dangled it in front of Theron. Theron looked at him with an extremely speechless gaze.

Good heavens, he had only lost all his Beast Energy and reverted to his beast form; his mind was still very clear, thank you very much!

Kaelen rubbed his nose in embarrassment. He only wanted to test to what extent Theron’s regression had reached, but he didn’t expect to read the words "Are you crazy" in Theron’s eyes. His throat felt itchy again, and he subconsciously coughed dryly twice.

"What’s wrong? Did you catch a cold?"

Sane asked anxiously, immediately throwing more firewood into the fire. Theron was hit by the flying sparks, scorching a whisker, making him bare his teeth and glare in anger.

Intentional! This stinky snake was definitely taking revenge on him intentionally for glaring at Kaelen!