Chapter 279: Thank You
They were still wrapped in a warm embrace as Zayn smiled while he said, "Are you crying?" He teased as Karl pulled away from the hug.
He ran a hand over his face to make sure he wasn’t as he defended, "No... I’m not crying."
But Zayn raised an eyebrow with a smile. "Is that so? I’m sure I saw a tear drop." He teased. "Certainly the soft-headed eagle is back again."
"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Karl denied as the rest shook their heads, smiling.
"It’s probably going to continue being like this," Eris sighed. "Zayn is used to teasing this side of Karl. And he’s probably going to have fun doing so for a long time."
Luka smiled. "It’s been a while since I’ve seen that happen. So I suppose it’s going to be an interesting one." He chuckled.
Sunnie shook her head as she took Karl’s hand in her own and stared through it. She gently caressed the injury marks on his hand while also staring at the ones on Zayn’s.
"You two should get yourselves treated," she stared at them as she offered. "Don’t worry, I’ll do a good job making sure it doesn’t hurt."
Karl nodded in agreement as Luka said, "So are we heading back now or...?"
Eris added, "For them to get treated, don’t we need to head back?"
Sunnie looked around as she sighed. "We can’t head back now at all. It’s probably late. So I think we should settle down here in this tribe for today. Then tomorrow, we can set off back," she explained.
Karl and Zayn nodded in agreement. They were okay with whatever Sunnie suggested.
Azure thought as she looked around. "But is it safe for us to stay here and spend the night? What if...?"
Zayn shook his head as he assured them, "Don’t worry. It’ll be safe. We’ve already taken down the issue that we might face—the tribe lords. The others have basically been under him for ages that they can’t operate without his instructions."
Karl nodded as he added, "True. So if we can have them under our control and instructions, then they’ll probably work for us. And they won’t try anything funny."
Eris nodded too. "Makes sense. And if they do want to try it... then I guess we’ll have to find a way to take them all down then." He smiled. "Besides, we can keep guard all night to protect Sunnie."
Luka nodded. "Agreed."
While they discussed that, Sunnie turned as she stared at Zayn and Karl. "So let’s head back and get you treated. I’ll give a list of required ingredients to them, and they’ll help get the requirements for the medication. That shouldn’t be much of an issue."
Zayn and Karl nodded in agreement at the same time.
"But..." Zukka stared at them as he asked, "Where do we stay?"
Eris looked around. "We’ll probably occupy the spaces of the two tribe lords we took down. So that should do."
Luka nodded. "Yes, that’ll work."
Zukka nodded with a smile as he stared down at Little Black. "Okay, then. As long as I get to stay with Little Black, I’m okay."
Little Black folded his arms. "Humph, whatever."
But Sunnie smiled as she shook her head. "Still playing the cold role for someone who left everything to come and save you, I see."
Little Black pouted. "I’m not playing cold."
Sunnie smiled as she said, "Okay, so what do you say to someone who did that for you? Eh?"
Little Black hesitated as he turned to stare up at Zukka, who was smiling. He looked down as he said, "Thank you."
Zukka smiled as he patted him on the hair. "No need for that at all. As long as you’re okay... that’s fine." He smiled, patting him on the hair.
While others smiled over the scene, Sunnie turned and said, "Let’s get going. We don’t have much time before it’s late," she explained as they all set off, heading to the tribe residence.
---
That evening, the atmosphere in the tribe was calm and collective. Everyone went about their daily lives in the tribe as though nothing really happened.
Their tribe leaders were dead, and now they were left without any leader to even tell them what to do. But they were partially okay.
Most tribe members didn’t like their dictator rulers. So with them gone, they guessed they’d be okay and just live their lives casually, especially since Sunnie and her squad had promised not to harm them if they didn’t try anything funny.
And so they continued their daily lives—women working while supporting their little ones, finding food and eating while living peacefully.
That night, they moved casually around the atmosphere while Eris sat down around a campfire with Luka, Zukka, Azure, and Little Black.
They sat around, watching the fire burn while frying their meat for the night.
"Are you sure you can make the meat?" Eris asked Luka, who was in charge of frying the meat.
Luka had his attention fixed on the grilled meat, running it up and down the fire while he replied, "I know what I’m doing... I’ve made this a couple of times already as practice, so I’m good at this."
Little Black stared at the grilling meat while he said, "The last time you tried making it, you burnt down the meat and even everything around." He stared at him. "Is that what you want to do again this time?"
"....."
Luka glared at him. "I know what I’m doing, so shut up. Sunnie taught me how to prepare it well, so now I’m a pro," he said confidently while he kept grilling the meat.
Azure smiled as he sniffed. "Hmm, compared to the previous meat you’ve made and ruined, this is not so bad. So maybe it can actually be edible."
Eris smiled while shaking his head. "Maybe, I guess. Hopefully we don’t get poisoned from eating this." He said as they laughed.
They continued watching him prepare the meat while they moved to discuss other things. They talked about the plan Sunnie executed and how it had worked out so well.
"I was scared it wouldn’t work out, but I guess the female’s plan is always smart and works out well," Zukka smiled.
"Yes," Little Black nodded. "I always trust the female’s plans."
Luka smiled as he added, "I wonder what powers the female also used to keep us from the eyes of the beastmen while we operated."
As part of Sunnie’s plan, she had summoned her system to help. The system had given her methods to work out her plan. Part of the help the system provided was a shield/dimension space, and they had hidden in that space.
It was a transparent dimension for them. They could see what was happening outside through it, but to everyone outside, it was thin air. They could move through the dimension and do everything without being seen at all.
Eris and the rest had hidden in that dimension. In there, they did all the tasks the female had recommended—from sabotaging the meals to make it seem like the other party was taking it, to leaving traces and messages through which Sunnie would work.
With that, the plan was more effective.
"...I also think the female used some sort of special skills. And that’s why it was like that... because I felt like we were in another world or something," Luka agreed.
Zukka added, "The female really is a goddess for being able to pull that."
Little Black asked curiously, "So how did the world feel? Did you see anything interesting?"
He asked while Zukka explained everything to him. Little Black simply nodded as he said, "Oh, I have to ask the female to also take me to this world. I’m curious to see what it’s like too!"
Zukka smiled. "That will probably be later because you can’t disturb the female right now," he explained.
Little Black stared into the distance. Though they couldn’t see the lair where Sunnie and the two beast husbands were, they knew that they were in the lair. Sunnie was healing them.
"Why is that? Why can’t I go to the female right now?" Little Black asked, innocent.
Zukka patted him on the ears while he said, "She’s probably busy, so you’ll be disturbing them if you went there. So let her be."
Little Black blinked, still confused. "Huh? Busy? How is she busy? She’s healing them, so I can certainly go there and stay with them. Sister Sunnie won’t mind at all."
"..."
The beast husbands stared at him as Zukka smiled, tapping him on the hair and he said, "No, it doesn’t work like that, silly boy. You can’t disturb them at all," he insisted.
"Why?" Little Black was still confused as Zukka shook his head with a smile.
He turned and continued staring at the grill while the other beast husbands simply smiled it off while they continued waiting for their grilled meat and leaving Little Black in confusion.