Chapter 68: Chapter 68: A Combined Educational Method

When Sane finished his work and returned, Kaelen had also finished drawing and was organizing the stacks of paper.

"Have you eaten anything yet? I brought back some meat and golden grain porridge from the dining area."

Kaelen shook his head.

Only now did he notice that the light outside had grown dim; he hadn’t realized he had been sitting for so long. Sane helped Kaelen sit up and move his body to ease the stiffness. Sane frowned, unable to hold back a nag: "You really lose all awareness of your surroundings when you’re engrossed in something. That’s going to be terrible for your bones."

It had been nearly ten days since he last heard Sane nagging. Kaelen smiled to himself and teased Sane, [What’s this? Aren’t you busy working until midnight today?]

"Ahem!" Sane coughed with a flushed face, steering the conversation elsewhere: "Go wash your hands so we can eat dinner. Don’t you want to know about the hunting group? Go on, I’ll tell you about it while we eat."

With gossip to listen to, Kaelen naturally wouldn’t miss out. He quickly washed his hands, sat down at the table, stirred the porridge, and took a bite. Whether it was because his morning sickness had passed or the cooking team’s skills had improved, this bowl of porridge was incredibly fragrant and sweet.

As Sane cut the meat for Kaelen, he said: "The group from those three tribes doesn’t have any issues. At that time, Zale and Walter saw them desperately protecting their Sub-Beasts and cubs despite being in a hopeless situation, so they stepped in to help.

"The real problem is that Rabbit clan Sub-Beast named Caleb. Zale said that when they rescued Caleb, the Sub-Beast was being chased by a low-level magical beast. Caleb claimed that his clanmates were killed by magical beasts and only he managed to escape."

Kaelen frowned, feeling that this Sub-Beast was quite suspicious. Even if Caleb wasn’t a spy, they couldn’t let the kind of person who would abandon his clanmates and run away alone join the tribe.

Sane seemed to recall something interesting and smirked: "Initially, both Zale and Walter had agreed not to save that Sub-Beast, but in the end, Anthony jumped out to rescue Caleb and was almost attacked by the magical beast. If Walter hadn’t been sharp-eyed and shot the magical beast in the head, buying Anthony some time to escape, Anthony would have been severely injured. Do you know what happened after that?"

Kaelen leaned in curiously. Sane didn’t tease Kaelen, straightforwardly continuing: "Throughout the journey, that Sub-Beast constantly acted pitiful, softening the hearts of Anthony and Andrew’s group, and incessantly tried to sow discord in the relationship between Anthony, Walter, and Zale. Walter was injured because that Sub-Beast pushed Walter out of the protective circle, yet Anthony actually believed the Sub-Beast’s words and turned around to blame Walter instead."

Kaelen rolled his eyes, frustratingly stuffing a piece of meat into his mouth and chewing ferociously, as if he were eating tiger meat. Sane recounted a few more incidents, then concluded: "Anthony is good at everything, he’s just soft-hearted like Chief Jaxon, and on top of that, he is dense when it comes to romance. I think it will take Anthony a very long time to win Walter back."

Kaelen pouted and retorted, [Does Anthony think he can just win Walter back that easily? The tribe isn’t lacking in beastmen. Walter is more than capable of finding someone wholly devoted to him, why does it have to be Anthony!]

Seeing his mate get riled up, Sane quickly chimed in: "That’s right, Anthony really doesn’t deserve Walter. Eat slowly, or you’ll choke."

Kaelen sullenly finished his dinner, then brushed his teeth to prepare for bed. Throughout this whole process, he couldn’t stop thinking of ways to enlighten the fools in the tribe.

Since ancient times, the fastest way to propagate culture has been through movies and books. He could form a theater troupe, but the training time would be too long, and he couldn’t guarantee the actors’ safety. If, by chance, someone was passionately playing a villain and the audience below got too agitated and rushed up to beat the actor to a pulp, that would be terrible.

The other method was through books. However, right now those people wouldn’t even learn simple letters properly; if he told them to read books, the tribe would probably change leaders before they finished reading. Orthodox textbooks could never be as captivating as short stories or novels...

Wait! Short stories and novels?

Kaelen’s hand, which was brushing his teeth, suddenly stopped, his eyes flickering. What if propaganda and learning were combined with entertainment? In this era with no entertainment, where people just gathered in groups to gossip after eating and went home once the fire died out, there would be nothing more wonderful than listening to storytelling. Countless scripts had already appeared in Kaelen’s mind; he could tell stories for hundreds of years and still not run out.

As soon as the idea flashed, it had to be done immediately. Kaelen instantly pulled out paper and a pen to write and draw, leaving Sane, who had just intended to be intimate with his mate, utterly neglected on the side. Sane didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so he had to sit behind Kaelen, using his tall and large body to keep his mate warm. Gradually, his eyes were also drawn to the content written on the paper, following it attentively.

The night grew later and later, and the story Kaelen was writing finally came to an end. He rolled up the paper neatly. Sane, sitting behind Kaelen, suddenly asked: "So it ends there?"

Kaelen turned back to look at Sane, chuckling when he saw the beastman’s regretful expression. He hadn’t expected a cold person like Sane to be captivated by his knock-off fairy tale. He said, [There are still plenty more. I will write them down one by one.]

Knowing that he could follow other fascinating stories in the future, Sane nodded happily and helped Kaelen sit up. Having sat for too long today, Kaelen’s limbs were completely numb. Sane heartachingly placed his mate on the bed, helping to massage Kaelen’s muscles.

Being served so comfortably, Kaelen soon fell fast asleep. Sane still patiently massaged Kaelen’s limbs until the signs of stiffness gradually disappeared. Only then did Sane climb into bed, embracing his Sub-Beast. Lovingly placing a gentle kiss on Kaelen’s forehead, Sane lay down in contentment, rested his chin on Kaelen’s head, and closed his eyes...

A peaceful night passed, and the morning in the tribe was once again noisy and bustling. One beastman chased after another beastman, pleading to trade for a pinch of refined salt, only to be rejected: "The Priest has spoken, if the lice aren’t completely gone, we can’t use the white salt. I don’t want my contribution points deducted, so stop pestering me."

Or several Sub-Beasts walking together to the timekeeping spot, excitedly saying: "Last night, I took advantage of the early hour and wove two backbaskets. I exchanged them for a bolt of red cloth, and I plan to sew a new set of clothes for the Sub-Beast in my family."

"I traded for white salt. The beastman in my family has mobility issues, so he couldn’t trade for much salt."

"Oh my, I guess I’m the only one who traded for the bath foam, huh? Ever since we got that bath foam, my whole body is always fragrant and clean. My beastman really loves it."

Then the whole group giggled together. Today, Sane broke his usual routine and stayed in bed, holding Kaelen as they listened to the voices and laughter outside the tent. Kaelen rubbed his head against Sane’s chin and drew circles on the beastman’s chest: [Life will only get better in the future, right?]

"Yes, definitely." Sane took Kaelen’s hand, bringing it to his mouth to kiss it: "But our tribe still has too few people. For many tasks, we’ve exhausted all our manpower and it’s still not enough. I plan to speed up the expedition to the other side of the magical beast forest to look for people from smaller tribes."

Kaelen also agreed with this point of view. Compared to Cipher, their tribe was currently too small. He added, [Not just on the other side of the magical beast forest, we should also try searching on this side. After all, everyone has only searched around the outskirts of Obsidian before, and hasn’t ventured any further, right?]

Sane thought for a moment and nodded: "That’s true, there should be tribes on this side as well. Once the terracotta houses are built, I will send someone south to take a look."

The two of them whispered to each other for a while before getting out of bed. After washing up and eating breakfast, they said their goodbyes, and each went to do their own work. Kaelen brought the bow and arrow blueprints to ask Cassian to make them, then brought his knock-off fairy tale to the "primary school teachers" group, taking the opportunity to heal Walter’s injuries for the second time.

Walter’s injuries couldn’t be hidden from Nori. Last night while sleeping, Walter accidentally revealed the bandages under his clothes. Nori didn’t say anything; he just sat there and cried, leaving Walter so flustered that he didn’t know what to do. Walter could only swear to the Beast God that he wouldn’t let himself get injured ever again.

"Sigh, you have no idea. My Papa just kept crying, to the point I was afraid his already poor eyesight would go completely blind."

Walter leaned his head on Kaelen’s shoulder, looking miserable and unhappy. Kaelen smiled and patted Walter’s head to comfort him, taking out a box of pine nut candies from his leather bag and handing it to Walter to try. Walter really liked this sweet and nutty flavor, immediately eating three candies at once. If Kaelen hadn’t stopped him out of fear that Walter would get cavities, Walter definitely would have eaten the entire box.

The sight of Walter eating candies accidentally caught the eye of Anthony, who was still peeking from the outside. Anthony immediately memorized it, planning to ask Kaelen about it later. Draven brought the cotton bandages over and chased Anthony even further away than yesterday. Last night, Draven had heard about Walter’s situation from Wofu, and the more he looked at Anthony, the more of an eyesore the man became. How come they were all White Tigers, and Nordhal and Wofu were both smart and sharp, yet Anthony was so stupid? He deserved to be given the cold shoulder by Walter.

After bringing the cotton bandages inside, Draven stood guard at the door again, and Kaelen proceeded to treat Walter. Walter said: "You can just heal it completely. I’ll pretend I’m not fully recovered yet, because leaving it like this itches to death."

Kaelen chuckled and decided to intensify his power on the wound; the few jagged cuts on Walter’s waist closed up at a visibly rapid speed. Walter suddenly spoke up again: "Stop! This is good enough, leave this scar for me."

Seeing Kaelen looking at him in confusion, Walter unnaturally turned his face away and said: "Anyway, this is my first time entering the magical beast forest, so consider this a commemorative mark."

Kaelen instantly rolled his eyes so far back that only the whites showed. Commemorative mark my ass, you just want to use it to provoke Anthony!

Kaelen highly disapproved of Walter using his own body as a tool for revenge, but he couldn’t sway this Sub-Beast who was as stubborn as a mule, so Kaelen had to let Walter do whatever he wanted. Walter giggled to appease Kaelen, then added:

"Oh, I have this for you."

Walter reached for his animal skin bag and pulled out three chestnut-brown fruits the size of a fist. One of them was cracked, with a bit of the fruit’s flesh protruding outside.

"I couldn’t find the white flower in your drawing, but I found this fruit high up on a tree, and it also has white flesh. See if it’s usable?"

Kaelen held the brown fruit in his hand and split it in half. The flesh inside was white, feeling extremely similar to cotton but not as tough, and inside were many small seeds about the size of a pinky fingertip. He sniffed the fleshy layer. It had a slightly pungent smell, though not too overwhelming; perhaps it would just disappear once sun-dried. He took the cotton-like flesh and rubbed it on his hand, waiting a moment to find no signs of an allergic reaction.

Although Kaelen didn’t recognize what kind of fruit this was, a single fruit like this could yield a large handful of cotton. After removing the seeds and drying it, these three fruits could produce about four hundred grams of cotton.

[Is there a lot of this stuff?]

"I only saw one tree, but the tree is huge." Walter didn’t know how to describe it, so he could only spread his arms to estimate: "Hmm, it probably takes three people like me to wrap around it. Its fruits are very high up; if my eyes weren’t sharp, I wouldn’t have clearly seen that they had white flesh. There are still many fruits on the tree, and it’s not far either, about a two-day journey from our tribe."

Kaelen rubbed his chin and said, [What does it look like? Tomorrow I’ll tell Sane to send people to harvest it all. This stuff will be very warm if made into a blanket, even warmer than rabbit fur.]

"Really? Let me lead everyone there."

[You are injured.] Kaelen looked at Walter with eyes full of underlying meaning. Walter only then remembered, instantly rubbing his nose in embarrassment, and said:

"Hehe, completely forgot. That tree is easy to recognize. It’s the only one in the whole area that is the largest, and it only has fruits and young buds, without a single blade of leaf."

Hearing the description, Kaelen felt it was very familiar, but he temporarily couldn’t think of its name, so he decided to just brush it off. Whatever, as long as there was cotton to use, that was enough; the name wasn’t important.

Besides, even if he remembered the name, no one would pronounce it correctly anyway; eight or nine times out of ten, they would just call it the white-fleshed fruit...