Chapter 96: Pampering= Heart fluttering
[Duration: 5 Hours!]
[Reward: +1,000 heart coins!]
[Punishment: Egg runs off into the deep forest]
[Good luck, Host! Your time starts now!]
Sunnie stared through the ingredients. She blinked, wondering how the hell she was supposed to gather all of these in the short time given.
"It moved again. What’s wrong with it?" Little Black inquired.
"It’s hungry," Sunnie explained.
"Ah..." Little Black nodded.
"But we tried feeding it... it didn’t seem hungry, though," Luka pointed out.
"It’s craving some Sea Soup," Sunnie explained.
"Ah..." They all nodded.
"As expected of a mother. She knows everything about the child," a woman said as they all smiled.
Azure stared at her. "Sea Soup... I know that. It’s a native meal in our tribe."
Sunnie stared at him. "Is that so?" That made it easy. At least he’d know how to prepare it or something. "Then you can prepare it?"
Azure blinked and then shook his head.
Sunnie’s smile faded. "Ah... I see. No problem, then." She guessed her system would assist her when she got the ingredients since she didn’t know anything about that, especially from the presented ingredients. She wasn’t a seafood person, after all.
"Then help me take care of the egg. I’ll go and gather the ingredients from outside. There’s not much time left," she explained.
Little Black rushed to her side. "I’ll help you. I know everywhere around here."
"No," Azure said as he refused to take the egg off her hands.
"Huh?"
Azure smiled as he said, "You’ve been through a lot giving birth to our cub, so you should get some rest."
Sunnie blinked. "But I have to collect the ingredients for the meal..."
Azure smiled as he brought his hand to her hair, patting Sunnie’s rabbit ears. "You should go in and rest with the egg. I’ll go and get the ingredients as fast as possible."
Sunnie blinked. "But..."
"I might not know how to prepare it, but I know the ingredients best. So don’t worry."
Sunnie guessed he had a point. "But..."
Azure placed his fingers between her lips, stopping her from speaking. "I don’t want you to do any work at all. Let me do all the hard work." He smiled. "Just take a break and rest well enough for our cub. I’ll do all the work and get the ingredients for you. Just tell me what to do."
Sunnie blinked. She couldn’t help her heart from fluttering. It was beating so hard that she feared it would fall off.
She couldn’t help but wonder if this was what falling for someone looked like.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! Your Mer Husband has taken the initiative to pamper you after birth!]
[You’re winning him over real good!]
[Bonus: +1,000 heart coins!]
Sunnie blinked. She guessed the system’s trick of giving her husbands cubs to tame them worked. And it worked a bit too well because now she was also getting her heart fluttering.
Karl rolled his eyes. "Is this even the time to get all lovey-dovey?"
Eris smiled. "You’re just jealous."
The women on the side couldn’t help but smile and giggle at the scene, which made their hearts flutter.
Sunnie couldn’t help it. She simply nodded with a smile. "Okay. Sure. I’ll leave it to you." She turned to Little Black. "You can help him around."
Little Black frowned. "I don’t want to go with him!"
"Listen to me. Okay? Do it for your little nephew or niece coming," Sunnie convinced.
Little Black let out a pout before he slowly nodded in agreement.
Sunnie presented him with the ingredients the system had given her.
"These shouldn’t be hard. I know where to go looking for them," Little Black said. "Although the animals around there might not be too nice to share... but we can do something, I guess."
Azure said firmly, "Don’t worry. It’ll be fine." He turned to the other beast husbands. "They’ll be coming with me, so we’ll be fine."
They stared at Azure.
"Huh? Who’s coming with you?" Karl asked.
Eris blinked. "I heard that the animals around won’t be too nice." Luka nodded in agreement.
"Are you guys scared?" Azure asked.
"No. I’m never scared," Karl folded his arms.
Azure smiled. "So that settles it. You all are coming with me to get the ingredients for the egg’s soup."
Little Black blinked and then stared at Sunnie. "I don’t want to go with all of them!"
Zukka smiled as he said to Little Black, "Don’t worry, I’ll be coming with you as well. So you can feel at ease."
Little Black’s expression got worse. "I don’t want to go!"
---
The preparation was briefly made. Sunnie told them the list of what to get. Azure had great memory, so he could recall it all with ease.
And with that, they set off to gather all that was required for the meal. They would get it in larger quantity since they’d all use that as their dinner tonight as well.
Sunnie stayed behind with her egg and the other women. They took their time engaging in various discussions about childbirth and motherhood.
They all shared their experiences while Sunnie simply sat down with her egg and listened. Her egg was the calmest it could be, sitting beside its mother without being chaotic and mischievous as it previously was.
Sunnie guessed she had a lot to learn from all they talked about. It sounded overwhelming and like a lot. But they assured her that she’d do well.
"You’re already doing well," one woman said.
And so they all sat there, talking, laughing, and bonding over women-related talks while the men were out tracking down the ingredients Sunnie had requested for the Sea Soup.
---
The five beast husbands, Little Black, Zukka, and Atan were out in the woods.
Little Black led the way as they searched for the place where they’d gather the required ingredients for the meal, as it needed to be a water body that could provide it all.
Little Black knew his way around, so he led them to the perfect spot where they could find everything.
Also, one of the most dangerous places to be in the evil forest.
The Cold Underground Sea.