Chapter 70: Workaholic
Sunnie had spent over an hour working, felling trees and cutting them down into pieces for construction.
Everyone stood there, forgetting they had work to do while they watched. And soon, before they knew it, it was already afternoon.
"Don’t you think we should stop her?" Luka asked Azure. "I mean, she has a baby..."
Azure blinked. "Well, I’d like to... She doesn’t look like she’ll stop."
Eris sighed, folding his arms. "If you can’t do the job and stop her, I’ll do it for you." He sighed as he moved forward.
Eris bravely approached Sunnie to stop her. He stretched out his hands to grab her by the hand and stop her from working.
But Sunnie was too caught up in her work. She wasn’t even looking as she raised her hand backwards to swing it so as to push down the tree.
But immediately, her hand slammed against Eris’s face.
Pang!
Eris stood, dizzy from the punch as he saw stars roaming his head. He staggered backwards as everyone stared in shock, their jaws dropped.
"Oh..." Luka blinked, covering his mouth with a hand. "That must hurt..."
Little Black nodded. "Big time..."
Immediately, Eris fell backwards and went unconscious on the spot.
Sunnie was too busy with work that she didn’t even notice she had slammed into someone. She continued as Azure and Luka gathered Eris to check on him.
And after a while, Sunnie suddenly stopped. She immediately felt dizzy as she placed a hand over her stomach, and then she fell down, unconscious.
With her down, Azure, who was already carrying Eris up with Luka, immediately left Eris and rushed to Sunnie.
Luka couldn’t hold Eris up. He was only holding his shoulder, but as Azure left, Eris fell down altogether with a loud thud.
Luka stared down at him. "That must hurt... Again..."
Azure, Little Black, Zuna, Zukka, and the mice people gathered around Sunnie, who was now unconscious, as they stared. Luka had also abandoned Eris to come take a look.
"Do you think she’s sleeping again?" Little Black asked.
"I don’t know. But let’s take her in," Zuna suggested.
Azure volunteered without being told. He carried her from the ground into his arms as he left for the cave to lay her down again.
---
Work continued as Sunnie was taken in to sleep. They were almost done with the clearing when evening came, and so they retired for the day.
"What do we eat tonight?" Little Black asked Zuna, who was sitting by the empty pot. They had eaten the remaining chicken soup that morning, and none was left.
"I think we should prepare something for everyone..." one of the mice women suggested. They stared at each other.
They knew some delicacy from their land, so they wished to prepare it for everyone to eat. But the women searched through the ingredients, and there was nothing for the preparation.
"I don’t know what to make from the available ingredients..." one of them expressed.
They sat out there, staring at the empty pot while wondering what to eat.
Soon, the little baby in the quiet mice woman’s arms started crying out loud. The little one was hungry and needed to eat.
"It’s okay... Shh... Calm down..." The mother tried to calm the child down but to no avail. The cry filled the atmosphere as they wondered what to feed on—they were too occupied with working to please Sunnie when she woke up that they forgot about food.
"I miss Sunnie’s food," Luka gave a soft pout. "Both the long yellowish one and the chicken soup one... I want to taste them again." His stomach grumbled as he said.
They stared amongst themselves, thinking of what to do. The mice man suggested going out to search for something to cook. Zukka and Atan agreed to come along.
"The forest is dangerous at night..." Zuna told Zukka. "Are you sure about it?"
"Don’t worry. I’ll be fine," Zukka assured.
Little Black also wanted to come along, but Zukka refused. "You’re too young to go out tonight," he explained.
"You’re young too!" Little Black insisted, but he wouldn’t listen.
---
When Sunnie woke up in the cave, she saw the system panel hovering around her.
[Ding!]
[Sub Task alert!]
[The inhabitants are hungry. Host should make haste to feed them!]
[Reward: 1,000 heart coins!]
[Note: Host should make sure those who consume this meal are satisfied by it, as the reward can only be achieved if they are!]
[Failure to achieve this: Miscarriage!]
Sunnie was shocked. That was no way to wake someone up from their random sleep!
She hesitated as she slowly got up from where she lay, looked around, and then began making her way out. She needed to prepare something for everyone to avoid losing this cub!
She couldn’t risk losing the mer husband’s affection percentage and circling back to square one!
---
Outside the cave, while the others deliberated, they suddenly heard a loud yawn.
They all turned to see Sunnie yawning and stretching herself out as she came out. "What happened?" She said in between yawns as she looked around.
"It’s already night...?" She wondered if her pregnancy stuff was the reason for random dozing off or if the days just ran without warning.
Little Black lit up with a smile as he quickly rushed to Sunnie’s legs and hugged them. "I’m hungry! Make food for me, please!"
Sunnie smiled at him, patting his head. "Oh, is that so?"
Azure approached them and pulled Little Black away. "No, she’s having my heir. She can’t be allowed to do such harsh work," he insisted.
[Ding!]
[The mer husband’s attention and care for you has increased since you have his heir!]
[Congratulations! The effect is that the cub in your stomach is working!]
[Mer husband affection Percentage = 70%]
[Bonus: +1,000 coins!]
Sunnie smiled at the system tab. At least something was going well. Taming the mer husband was working!
She looked up at Azure. "Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. I’m actually hungry... like really hungry..." Her stomach sang a loud song—one that filled the silent atmosphere.
Everyone paused and stared at her.
She smiled. "Well, that means I would like to cook."
Azure shook his head, staring at her stomach. "But it would be a lot of stress for you... I don’t want that. So instead, let me do the cooking."
Luka burst into loud laughter—one that filled the silence as everyone stared at him. When he was done laughing, he stared at Azure and said, "You? Cook?" He laughed. "Impossible. The last time you tried providing something to eat, I almost lost my taste buds!"
Azure had a cold expression on his face as he raised an eyebrow.
Luka closed his mouth and blinked. "In summary, please don’t let him go near foodstuffs."
Little Black rushed and grabbed Sunnie by the leg as he said, "I want your food! Not his."
Azure flashed Little Black a cold glare, but he looked away and stared at Sunnie with pouty eyes.
Sunnie smiled. "Don’t worry. I feel energized again, so..."
The words "feel energized" had everyone stepping backwards. Both Azure and Little Black instantly distanced themselves, moving further away.
The memory of her cutting down trees and kicking them down, along with Eris’s takedown, was still fresh in their minds!
All were alert. No one wanted to take the risk.
"...." Sunnie looked around. "What?"
Little Black said, "I think it’s not so good when you’re energized."
Sunnie recalled what happened and simply smiled. "Don’t worry. I won’t take down anything, I promise. I just want to cook."
"Then prepare the yellow stuff for us again! The long one!"
The four beast husbands glared down at Little Black. The sharp memory of what it did to Azure still haunted them, and Sunnie could see the tension in their eyes.
Little Black blinked at them. "What? You can always skip it if you don’t want to. I want it!" He insisted.
Sunnie smiled as she patted him on his long ears. She stared at them and said, "Okay. I’ll make the noodles for everyone again."
Karl stared at her. "Do you also wish to poison someone again? Who’s next this time?"
Sunnie cast him a cold glare. "You can always not eat if you don’t want to." Her tone was brutal—a sudden shift of mood.
Karl noticed and kept quiet. Sunnie’s new mood swings were one way to make him keep calm and simply observe.
Sunnie smiled again as she stared at Azure. "Don’t worry, I noticed what the reason for the outbreak last time was. This time, I’ll make sure you’re able to enjoy it fully."
Of course she had to. It was a task she had to accomplish tonight unless she lost her cub and his trust!
Azure nodded. "Okay..."
One of the mice women said, "But how are you going to prepare a meal tonight? I don’t think there are necessarily ingredients for a proper meal here now... There are still some things missing that we couldn’t get during the day," she explained, worried.