Chapter 129: The Boar Tribe
Shocked, everyone turned to see what Luka had seen that made him scream and jump like that. Sunnie had expected to see some kind of monster or something.
But rather, she saw Maren.
Little Maren had jumped out of the bag and was now running toward Sunnie. "Mama!" she called with a bright smile as she rushed to hug Sunnie’s legs. "Mama, I miss you!"
Sunnie stared down at her, shocked. "You... what are you doing here...?" Sunnie bent down to meet her face, running her hand through her hair while staring at her face with a soft smile. "Why are you here?"
"Mama, I want to go with you," she said in her inconsistent tone and choice of words while staring at Sunnie with her big blue eyes.
Sunnie smiled as she stared at Luka, who was getting up to his feet. "Is that why you got in there?"
Maren nodded.
"How did you even think of that?" Sunnie smiled. "You mischievous little one." She slightly pinched her nose. "You know it’s dangerous. You can’t go with us."
"I want to go," she simply said, staring at Sunnie.
Azure smiled as he came to bend down close to her. "Do you really want to go?"
Maren nodded. "Mmm!"
Azure ran a hand through the little one’s hair. "We also want to bring you along, but it’s not safe for a little one like you."
"But Uncle Black is coming too," Maren explained.
"....."
Little Black was speechless as Zukka burst into laughter.
"You see, even the little one knows that you’re also a little one," Zukka smiled, pinching Little Black on his cheeks.
Little Black brushed his hands off. "Leave me!"
The others laughed as they moved their attention back to Maren.
Azure said, "Uncle Black is an elder now. You’re still a little one. So you can’t come with us, okay?"
Maren frowned as she held Azure by the fingers and blinked at him. She gave him the puppy eyes as she said, "Papa, please let me come along too. I want to... Papa... Please." She struggled to form some words, but for the first time, she said "Papa!"
It was the first time she was calling him her papa. This made Azure instantly smile. His heart fluttered at the feeling of his daughter finally calling him Papa.
He could feel his heart jumping and wanting to fly out of his chest. The thought of it had him instantly smiling; his heart was filled with joy.
"Papa... please... please..." She pleaded with her puppy eyes as Azure knelt there, smiling and nodding.
And immediately, he said, "Okay. Sure. You’re coming with us. Papa will protect you from any danger."
"....."
"...."
"...."
Sunnie stared at him. "Huh? For real? You’re suddenly changing your words?"
Azure nodded, smiling while staring at Maren. "Yes. She called me papa. I have to let her come with us." He continued smiling.
Sunnie smiled with a sigh. She was so done as she nodded. "I saw it coming, I guess. But what can we do? We can’t possibly send the kid back now. It’s already late. She’ll have to come with us."
Azure smiled as he said to Maren, "You hear that? You’ll be coming with us. Papa will let you come along. And Papa will protect you?" He was smiling from ear to ear.
"Yes! Papa!" Maren smiled as she hugged Azure, who was overjoyed by it all.
Sunnie stared at him, also smiling. She could tell that Azure was genuinely happy about this. The thought of it made her happy as well.
Luka still had a hand over his chest from the panic he felt. He stared down at Maren as he said, "I can’t believe... You little... how could you..."
He turned to the sack bag on the floor as he said, "No meal is left in the sack. Where is all the meal I came with? Little one, what did you do with the meal?" he inquired.
Maren turned and stared up at him. "I..." She stammered some words before she said, "I threw some away to get inside... and I ate some." Her stomach supported her words and sang the hymn of one who was satisfied after a meal.
"....."
Luka was speechless. He couldn’t believe his ears. This was what he had been relying on to eat when he got tired. Now he was tired and hungry, and there was nothing for him. He didn’t know whether to cry or smile. Or do both?
"Don’t bother the kid," Karl said. "We can still survive without the meal. As long as the kid ate something."
"We should get going if we want to arrive early," Azure explained as he got up with the kid in his hands. He carried her effortlessly while they set off.
Luka frowned, his stomach grumbling while they continued their journey to the boar tribe. He didn’t know how he was supposed to make it while already exhausted, but he had no choice.
Eris supported him by handing him some fruits he had saved for the trip. Luka smiled again, accepted the fruit, and they continued.
---
It took a long time, but they finally arrived at their destination. Maren was asleep on Azure’s back.
The boar tribe. Upon their arrival, they saw a crowd of people outside. None of them were from the boar tribe; not all of them were boars. Sunnie could easily tell that these people were also here for the contest.
They hesitated before approaching. As they drew closer, they could see better and confirm that these beastmen were here for the contest. They were waiting at the gate for the boar tribe people to verify them and let them in.
She guessed this was the vetting process.
Sunnie could see different tribes here. She could count at least five different tribes of beastmen, but that didn’t intrigue her much.
What intrigued her most was seeing some familiar beast tribe men—not familiar to her, but those who looked like one of her husbands—Luka.
They were from the bear tribe as well, the same tribe Luka had come from.
As soon as they saw them, they hesitated, turning to stare at Luka. At that moment, Luka forgot that he was hungry. He stood there almost lifeless while staring in the direction of the bear beast tribe—his people. There was no smile on his face.
One could easily tell that he was getting flashbacks—flashbacks of how his own people had treated him years back.
He hadn’t seen them in ages, but he recalled how they treated him like a monster and cast him out of their land to die after all they had done to him. Sunnie could tell that Luka was struggling to hide the fear on his face and the tear threatening to break free.
She instantly walked up to him and held his hand. She held Luka’s hands firmly as he stared at her. Sunnie smiled as she brought up his hand to pat his head. "Don’t worry, I’m here with you. Nothing will happen."
And Luka felt the comfort suddenly. He slowly nodded with a soft smile.
At that moment, they all saw them there.
"Oh! Who do we have here? Isn’t that our dear cursed bear man?" one of them questioned.
Everyone there turned and stared at them. Immediately, a loud murmur broke out as everyone laughed and murmured. They all began to step backwards as if they were some curse.
"He’s not the only one here. Look, they all came. The cursed beastmen of our time! What are these monsters even doing here?"
"I wonder too. Why are these evil monsters here with us? Are they supposed to be where normal people are?"
"I thought they were already dead in the evil forest. So why are they here?" one of the ram beastmen spoke.
"Step back before these monsters eat you!" They mocked them aloud, laughing and making faces.
"And look, which female do we have here?" another demanded as they stared at Sunnie. Immediately, they recognized her.
"Huh? Isn’t that the jinxed rabbit?" one of the deer beastwomen demanded.
"Oh! She’s the one," another laughed. "The one who brought such terrible luck to her tribe people and even brought death upon her husband!"
"The one that was married to these monster beastmen?"
"Exactly. They’re such a perfect match, don’t you see?" They all laughed.
"Perfect indeed. Monsters and monsters together really deserve each other!" They laughed.
"I heard she brings bad luck wherever she goes," one shook their head. "Such disturbing beings! They sure are perfect together!"
They all laughed while staring at them. Everyone had a lot to say, and they couldn’t stop talking down on Sunnie and her husbands.
It was clear that the whole beastmen tribe hated them and already tagged them as cursed and jinxed monsters of the land, expecting them to die in the evil forest.
Sunnie and her husbands saw that coming, so they weren’t surprised or bothered at all.