Chapter 227: Little Black’s Story.
August sighed as he brought his head down while he began to speak. "Actually... it was all our fault that everything had happened to them."
"Back then, the more powerful predator beastmen around our lands were greedy. We were only the minority in the beast world around there—feeble beastmen who couldn’t fight against the likes of lions and tigers. So we couldn’t even defend ourselves."
"Back then, the more powerful beastmen got greedy and wanted our meals and stuff. They wanted to take it from us after our hard work. But Cloudy’s father was heavily against it. He had even argued with the tribe leader, who wanted to willingly give it off to these people. He wanted to protect our hard work."
He sighed. "But our leader was a coward. He was submitting to the rule of the predator beastmen—which one could understand because they were more powerful, and going against them would mean death."
He shook his head. "But Cloudy’s father was still persistent. That was until the predator beastmen heard about what he was doing, and they planned to eliminate him and his family."
"But the tribe leader, even though he was a coward, wanted to protect Cloudy and his family. So he pleaded with the predator beastmen to let them go. And then told them that rather, he would punish them himself."
"And so the tribe leader fabricated an accusation for them and exiled them from our tribe down to the evil forest. It was his way of protecting them and sending them away while fooling the predator tribe leaders. The plan was simple—soon we would go and get them back."
"But we never thought that his parents would pass away that easily. We didn’t even know that his father was sick." August sighed in pain as he stared at Little Black. "We never meant to ruin them like that... and Cloudy never intended to come back anymore."
"From time to time, I visited him here at the evil forest... but he refused to come back with us. He rather stayed here. We could do nothing else but secretly send him something to eat in secret. That was until he found you guys, his family, and we were at peace."
There was silence after he was done speaking. And it was at that moment that Little Black had picked up some truth and realization.
They didn’t abandon his parents after accusing them as he thought. Rather, they were actually trying to protect them. And it was all the predator beastmen’s doing. Also, all that while when he was alone in this wild evil forest, all those miracle meals he had been finding and surviving on was the tribe secretly sending it to him through August.
He stood there quietly without saying anything. Zukka stood beside him, quietly staring at him.
Sunnie too was quiet as she stared at August. "I see... that’s what happened."
"Even though we don’t really have excuses for all that happened to Cloudy. We didn’t protect him properly, and it’s all our fault."
"So why are you here?" Sunnie asked. And immediately August went down on his knees.
"I know you might still be mad at us or anything. And we might seem shameless for appearing before you right now, but we simply have no choice. Right now, our tribe is in complete chaos. The predator beastmen are all tearing us apart."
Sunnie raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Why’s that?"
"Our harvest did fairly well this time around. And all the predator beastmen are aware of this. And so they all told us to hand it all over. But we told them that it wasn’t enough for us, so we didn’t have much to spare."
"They got furious, and now they’re destroying our lands and taking everything. They’re killing people and imposing their power. There’s nothing we can do and no one we can turn to for protection."
He looked up at Sunnie and Little Black. "We’re not here to ask for some food or for you to take us in. We’re simply begging for you to save us. Save us from them. We’ve heard of your powerful beast husbands and the wild beasts you have around here, so I’m here begging for you to use them and come save us... please."
Everyone stood there quietly, staring at them. They instantly took pity on them and what their land was going through.
Sunnie stared at Little Black, who stood there quietly without saying anything. Then she turned to the young man and said, "Okay. We’ve heard what you’ve said. And we’ll have to make our decision. Okay?"
August bowed again. "Thanks again for choosing to consider it! We shall wait for your good news!" He said as he got up to his feet. He stared at Little Black and slowly approached him. Zukka stepped in between them.
"You can leave now..." Zukka said, protective.
August sighed as he stared at Little Black with a smile. "I know you’re still mad at me. I won’t force you to forgive me at all. I’ll wait for you to forgive me willingly. And I’ll keep waiting no matter how long it takes. Even if it takes ages... I’ll wait. I’ll wait so when you finally forgive me, we can go back to how we used to be before. Okay?"
He smiled as he turned and walked off. They all stood there staring at him as he left, and soon he was out of sight.
Soon, everyone turned to stare at Little Black, who stood there quietly. Then he turned to walk off. Zukka wanted to follow him behind, but Sunnie stopped him by holding his hand back.
Sunnie smiled as she shook her head. "Leave him. He wants to be alone. Let him be alone for the meantime. Okay?"
Zukka didn’t argue at all. He simply sighed as he stared at Little Black leaving into the distance. Then he slowly nodded in agreement while he watched him leave.