Chapter 72: Chapter 72: The Little Sub-Beasts on the Prairie

The dark clouds appeared and then dissipated strangely; everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Mie picked up the spindle, his heart still restless. He reached out his hand to the left, intending to pull the familiar leopard head into his arms for comfort, but only grasped thin air. At this moment, Mie remembered Theron saying last night that Theron had to leave early this morning for some business, and might return very late.

Mie withdrew his hand in disappointment and continued working, but an empty patch lingered in his heart. He was used to having Theron by his side anytime and anywhere; now suddenly having to be away from Theron, Mie felt a bit unaccustomed.

"Everyone, I am going to catch water-beasts (fish). Is anyone coming?"

Susan slung a bamboo basket over his shoulder, holding a fishing net in his hand. Mie thought of how much Theron loved eating crispy fried water-beasts, and hurriedly put down the spindle in his hand:

"I will, wait for me." After all, he had already finished two days’ worth of work; taking half a day off was not impossible.

"Wait for me, I am going too." Several Sub-Beasts who had exceeded their quotas also organized the work in their hands and went together to report to the supervisor. Seeing that the Sub-Beasts had completed their assigned workload, with some even surpassing the production targets, the supervisor agreed to let them take half a day off.

It was said that the new valley over there had plenty of shrimp and fish, but they were not yet allowed to set foot in that place, so everyone went to the stream bank near the outskirts of the tribe. Winter fish were not very plump, but once marinated in salt and fried crisp, even the bones could be eaten, offering a different flavor compared to sweet and sour fish soup.

"This spot should be fine. You two go to the opposite bank; Mie and I will stay on this side. Phoble, Karin, you two go up ahead and splash the water."

"Alright."

After assigning the tasks, Susan started to unfold the net. This fishing net was shared by the whole tribe, woven by Kaelen’s own hands. The wing of the net tied with heavy stones would be the bottom part, while the section attached with spongy plant pith would be the top surface. After the net was unfolded and arranged in the correct orientation, the two Sub-Beasts assigned to the opposite bank held one end of the net in their direction and jumped across to the other side of the stream.

Phoble also held a long pole and jumped to the opposite bank. He and Karin took one side each, holding their long poles and running upstream.

"Alright, let’s start pulling!"

Once the net was evenly stretched to cover the entire streambed, Susan gave the signal. Four people held the net to pull, while two people used poles to splash the water, driving the fish towards the net.

"Brother Cameron, what are the older brothers doing?" In the grassy bushes not far away, three unfamiliar little Sub-Beasts were standing tucked behind a tree, looking in this direction. The oldest child had a snow-white Fox cub stuffed inside his chest. The Fox cub poked its head out of the oldest child’s shirt, curiously watching the group of adults working in the distance, its cute little tongue sticking out to lick its nose.

The oldest child, named Cameron, observed for a moment and replied: "It looks like they are catching the many-boned beasts in the water."

Hearing this, the child who just asked immediately recalled the taste of the many-boned beasts, his tiny nose wrinkling into a ball. Eww, why would the people of the Crimson tribe eat something so fishy, foul-smelling, and mouth-pricking? If they joined Crimson in the future, would they also have to eat that awful stuff?

The youngest little Sub-Beast tugged at the hem of the oldest child’s dress, whimpering: "I don’t... eat... bones... prick mouth... hurt..."

The oldest child rubbed the heads of the two little ones, then patted the head of the fox cub in his chest, whispering: "But we are very hungry. These past few days, the beastmen uncles couldn’t hunt any prey, and our food is almost gone. The adults said they would go to Crimson to work as hired labor; they will probably pay us with this stuff. Even if you don’t want to eat, you have to."

The youngest child said again: "Caleb... stole food... hate..."

The guarding beastman of the Crimson tribe, hiding in the distance, heard this and his expression turned a bit cold. This group of little Sub-Beasts dug around the edge of the prairie to find some wild fruits and vegetables, but Caleb snatched the food away without a word, leaving the three children with no choice but to take their Silver Fox younger brother further away to search.

Sane said they needed to pay attention to all of Caleb’s movements; therefore, their goodwill towards this Rabbit clan Sub-Beast had dried up like a lake in the sunny season. Not knowing when they would no longer have to stare at that hateful Sub-Beast, the beastmen felt as if their eyes were about to grow a few more styes.

"Alright, pull in the net!"

Feeling that the net was so heavy it could not be pulled any further, Susan immediately ordered to haul it in. Phoble instantly dropped the pole, ran over to grab the end of the net to help the two Tiger clan Sub-Beasts, and jumped across to Susan’s side while holding the net’s end. The group of Sub-Beasts started to combine their strength; two people dipped their hands into the water to close the bottom wing of the net, while the four people on top used all their might to drag the net ashore.

Splash! Splash!

The fish in the net thrashed their tails vigorously, splashing up waves of white foam. Karin, sitting near the water’s surface, was slapped soaking wet, but his spirit was bright, and he cheered happily:

"Wow, so many big water-beasts. This time, bringing them back will exchange for quite a lot of things."

The Tiger clan Sub-Beast opposite him, who was similarly splashed soaking wet, said: "I am not exchanging anything. My beastman and cubs all love to eat water-beasts; bringing these back to fry crispy for them to eat, it might not even be enough."

Karin replied: "Who told you to be so good at giving birth? You have only been mated for a few years but have already birthed exactly five beast cubs. Haha!"

The Tiger clan Sub-Beast glared at Karin: "Are you mocking me? Who doesn’t know how much I want a little Sub-Beast. Unfortunately, I only gave birth to a bunch of useless tiger cubs; apart from opening their mouths to demand food, they are good for nothing."

Although the Tiger clan Sub-Beast scolded his children, he could not hide the pampering tone in his words. In these times, children were the treasures of the tribe; giving birth to so many children was an extremely proud achievement. Even if his children were a bunch of fools, they were still a piece of flesh dropped from his own body, not to mention that the children of this Sub-Beast did not merely know how to open their mouths to demand food as he claimed. They already knew how to follow their Daddy to reclaim wasteland or hunt beasts.

Except for that Tiger clan Sub-Beast, this group of Sub-Beasts either did not have a mate yet or had a mate but no children, so they all showed immense admiration. Mie lowered his eyes slightly, hiding a faint sadness. Theron had lost all of his origin energy and turned into a wild beast. Between Theron and him, they were now of different species; they could never have children.

The net was pulled completely ashore, quite a distance from the stream bank. Karin untied the net bag, and the group on top turned the wing of the net upside down; the fish, shrimp, and various types of moss inside immediately poured out.

The fish and shrimp hopped about, the crabs crawled around clumsily, and occasionally a few water snakes caught in the net also quickly escaped. The group of Sub-Beasts paid no attention to the crabs and snakes, putting all their effort into grabbing the large fish and throwing them into the baskets. Those brightly colored many-legged creatures had already been verified by Kaelen; they were poisonous and could not be eaten.

Right at this moment, a whooshing sound swept past the group catching fish and flew towards the grassy bushes, pinning straight into the large tree behind the little ones. The guarding beastman recovered his wits and looked back, only to see a floral snake tightly pinned to the tree trunk by a sharp arrowhead, its tail still wriggling. He immediately broke into a cold sweat.

Just now, he was entirely focused on the group of Sub-Beasts catching fish and forgot about the little ones from the tribe on the prairie; he did not expect that in just that brief moment, the little ones were almost bitten by the floral snake. This brightly colored floral snake was highly venomous; just one bite from it could send a healthy beastman to meet the Beast God after a few breaths.

The group of Sub-Beasts were also attracted by the arrow flying past; they all stopped their actions and raised their heads to look. The little Sub-Beasts, terrified by the snake, let out a scream and dashed out of the grassy bushes.

"Oh, whose children are these? Why are they in the forest like this?!"

The Tiger clan Sub-Beast exclaimed in astonishment, dropped the fish in his hands, and immediately ran over. However, someone was still one step faster than him.

Walter held a bow in his hand, carrying a basket full of belongings on his back, and stood shielding the little ones. The little ones, out of their minds with fear, saw Walter and instantly ran over to hug Walter’s legs:

"Brother Walter, Brother Walter!"

"Big brother... hug hug..."

Walter kept a cold face and yelled: "Who allowed you to leave the prairie area?! Do you know how dangerous it is?!"

The group of children was not frightened by this yell, but instead clung to Walter’s legs even tighter. They all knew very well that this big brother with snow-white wings looked fierce but was actually very gentle; moreover, the big brother was very skilled, able to hunt beasts and also fight magical beasts.

The little Silver Fox sniffed its nose, caught a familiar scent, and immediately waved its claws to climb out, wanting to dive into Walter’s chest. Walter reached out one hand to catch the little Fox, while using the other hand to carry the youngest Sub-Beast.

The youngest Sub-Beast pouted, a soft voice sounding a bit aggrieved: "Hungry... find... find food..."

Walter frowned, feeling a bit displeased in his heart with the group of people on the prairie. The oldest child tilted his head up; seeing Walter furrowing his brows unhappily, the child instantly said:

"We sneaked away, the adults don’t know, please don’t blame them. We only intended to look for food around the prairie, but Caleb stole it all, so we went deeper inside."

Walter’s heart softened, and his disgust for Caleb increased by another level. He felt fortunate that he had just received a new weapon today and intended to wander around to practice a bit, which was how he managed to save the children from the snake’s mouth just in time.

Walter turned his head and spoke to the person in the woods: "Tell them that I am taking the little ones back to Crimson to play, and I will bring them back tonight."

A rustling sound echoed in the woods instead of an answer. Walter nodded to the group of Sub-Beasts and was about to take the children away. Mie suddenly hugged his basket and approached:

"Walter, we caught a lot of water-beasts. Do you want a few?"

"No need." Walter glanced at him indifferently and said coldly. Mie gripped his fish basket tightly, awkwardly lowering his head. Phoble hurriedly spoke up to intervene:

"Walter, the little ones probably have never eaten water-beasts before. Why don’t you take a few back and fry them for the kids to eat?"

Walter looked down at the little ones surrounding him, thought for a moment, nodded, and said:

"I will use purple cluster fruits to exchange with you."

The purple cluster fruits Walter mentioned were actually wild grapes; their sweet and sour taste was delicious to eat. Phoble’s mouth involuntarily secreted saliva, but he forcefully restrained himself and said:

"No need to exchange, we are giving them to the little ones. You hurry and take them back."

Despite him saying that, Walter still left behind two bunches of grapes, then used leaves to wrap four large fish, placing them inside his basket. When the silhouettes of Walter and the children disappeared from sight, Phoble turned back to comfort Mie:

"Don’t be sad, he will probably forgive you eventually."

The other Sub-Beasts were all from the old Crimson and were unclear about the past grudges between Mie and Walter, so they also chimed in with a few words of comfort for Mie.

Mie nodded silently, his eyelashes lowering slightly, hiding the sadness in the depths of his eyes.

While with Kaelen, he had only unintentionally led to severe consequences, with Walter it was different. He still had not forgotten that he, Orion, and Rylan were the leaders of the group that bullied Walter back when they were in Obsidian.

Plucking the feathers from Walter’s wings, locking Walter in a dark cellar, or forcing Walter to jump down from a tall tree to see if his wings could fly...

Which of those was actually worthy of being forgiven...