Chapter 54: Curious Snake.
"What’s wrong?" Ayra asked, staring down at Vale. "Is something wrong with my leg? Why are you staring at it like that?"
Lord Vale was quiet for a while, still staring at her ankle and feeling it with his hand. It took a while before he said, "It’s soft."
"..."
"..."
Ayra blinked. "Huh?"
He didn’t look up at her but said, "Your leg... it’s soft." He then looked up to meet her shocked and confused gaze. "I guess that’s how females’ feet are... interesting."
The silver snake who clearly hadn’t had much contact with females at all was clearly fascinated by her feet and how soft they had grown.
Ayra was strangely glad that her beauty stat also improved the softness and elegance of her body even though it wasn’t perfect yet. Because she couldn’t imagine him feeling her leg and commenting on how hard as rock it was!
That would be embarrassing because she clearly wasn’t a caveman nor competing with these wild men on who has the strongest leg! The original host clearly didn’t care.
And the crowd were shocked at this scene. They didn’t think the snake would be this interested in Ayra.
"Well, are you going to continue feeling my legs till forever or..?" Ayra asked. The silver snake said nothing, he continued feeling her soft legs while massaging it. She felt a bit better with the massage at least.
"Why don’t we get you some medications?" The cheetah suggested immediately as his peers agreed. "You treated me so I should also repay you by finding the best herbs to treat you!"
"Yes! We’re more than happy to do that!" The others agreed, willing to go and track down the best herbs for Ayra.
But Ash said, "No need. You can run along and play. We’ll take care of her."
Rai and the others nodded as they stared at each other. "Okay..."
Before Ayra could even tell what was happening, the silver snake swept her off her feet and carried her over his right shoulder like a bag of rice!
"Hey!" She snapped, struggling to get down.
But to no avail. He held her firmly as he moved. "Stay put or you’ll harm yourself more," he instructed as he left.
Ash smiled as he turned and followed behind. And Commander Lynn also left with them while the rest of the crowd stood there and stared in disbelief.
Weren’t those the tribe leaders who were against her staying? Why were they suddenly pampering her like that??
---
Ayra didn’t complain much about being carried after she realized they were taking her to their lair. She guessed it was a good thing since she could use the opportunity to try and convince them per her task.
At least with the new knowledge she had learned through the system and the healing a while back, she was certain she’d be able to convince them or so.
They arrived at the lair as the silver snake carried her into the hall. Ash and Lynn followed behind while they made their way in to meet Lord Zark.
Zark was busy discussing some matter with some guard when they walked in. He couldn’t help but pause as he stared up at the scene, shocked.
He couldn’t believe Vale was carrying the female and right into their hall. He kept mute as he watched him bring her to his seat and gently sat Ayra there.
Ayra sat down on the high seat which was beside Zark. She slowly turned to Zark who had his cold red eyes on him as she slowly smiled. "Hello..."
For a minute, Zark couldn’t look away from Ayra. He couldn’t stop himself from taking a minute to actually stare at her face because she was somewhat different.
He didn’t know what happened but he felt like she had gotten even more... pretty? Ayra was different from how he recalled the last time he saw her. Her skin had gotten even better and her face was more aligned now. He couldn’t help but find her rather pretty now... strangely. And he hated that he did.
Zark snapped out of it as he turned and waved off the guards who left them alone in the hall as he turned to Ash and Vale. "And what’s she doing here?"
Ayra rolled her eyes at his attitude. This ungrateful jerk. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had seen his face. He was rarely out. And it wasn’t like she cared to see his face though, he was always grumpy and Ayra simply prayed the system wouldn’t give her any task to improve his affection level at all!
Ash smiled. "She was hurt so we brought her here to help her recover." He smiled as he stared at Ayra. "So, how are you doing?"
Ayra smiled with a nod. "Fine."
Zark simply had no words.
Ash walked up to Ayra and slowly went down on his knees. He stared at Ayra’s stomach, gently leaning in to place his ears over her stomach to feel it. Ayra paused, leaning backwards as Ash felt the little one moving in her stomach.
He smiled as he said, "It’s developing so fast.. I can’t believe that soon I’ll have an heir." He smiled as he stared up at Ayra. "You should take care of yourself. Don’t get into too much trouble and stay away from danger at all.. you have to protect yourself and the cub too, okay?"
Ayra blinked. She was impressed at how much this supposed sly fox had warmed up to her. From his eyes and face, she could tell that this cub was excited to have a cub!
But it wasn’t much of a surprise. These wild beastmen had already accepted the sad reality that no female could bear their cub and that they couldn’t have heirs at all. So they had lived with that sad reality along with the fact that they also couldn’t be soothed. So Ayra understood how happy he must be knowing that not only could someone soothe him, but also the fact that he was having an heir soon.
Ayra didn’t wish to comprehend their initial hostility towards her. I mean, they finally have a female who could soothe them, why didn’t they accept her immediately?!
But now she guessed she understood. These beastmen were rejected by the world and treated as monsters with such hostility. They had grown to view the world around them with hostility and believe that everyone was against them and everything was a plan against them.
So meeting a female who could soothe them and even bear their cub was too good to be true. They didn’t think they were worth it at all and that something as good as that could happen to them. So that explained their initial suspicion and hostility towards her, coupled with the fact that she had a terrible reputation for treating them badly! Who would accept her immediately?
And Ayra guessed it was why this dragon was still being grumpy. He sure was a hard nut to crack.
But watching the fox smile at her stomach while rubbing his hands against it, Ayra was happy that hopefully they’d be able to find happiness and also accept a new reality that something good could actually come to them.