Chapter 192: Proud As A Peacock

Sora looked at the phoenix perched among the branches, displaying himself like a peacock, and suddenly felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

Hadn’t Ace dressed himself up just as flamboyantly the last time?

However, if she had to make a fair judgment, Sora thought Lucas’s aesthetic sense was slightly better.

At least the feathers covering his body actually matched him.

They were his natural colors.

Unlike Ace, whose outfit had looked as though someone had thrown every available color onto him and somehow decided the result was fashionable. The combination had been so colorful that Sora could only describe him as a seductive yet eye-searing turkey.

No wonder those two could get along so well.

In certain aspects, they really were birds of a feather.

For a phoenix who loved showing off and dressing himself up, Lucas’s current appearance suited him perfectly.

His entire body was covered in emerald-green feathers that gleamed brightly beneath the sunlight. They were so smooth and glossy that they almost seemed to have been polished.

Every time he moved, the light reflected off his feathers, making him look exceptionally striking.

Lucas was busy picking the bright red wild fruits from the tree.

When he noticed Sora watching him, a surge of pride immediately rose in his heart.

He had spent a very long time preparing himself today.

Everything had been done for the sole purpose of appearing before Sora looking his absolute best.

First, he had carefully washed his feathers in a Deep Pool until every feather was clean.

Then, he had found some oily fruit pulp and carefully applied it over his feathers to make them smooth and glossy.

After that, he had spent quite some time arranging the feathers on his head.

Only after he was completely satisfied with his appearance had he finally come to find Sora.

The entire process had been troublesome.

But now that he saw Sora staring at him, Lucas felt that every bit of effort had been worth it.

She was clearly captivated by his beautiful feathers.

At least, that was what he thought.

Sora was indeed attracted to Lucas’s appearance, but her attention wasn’t actually focused on his magnificent emerald feathers.

Instead, she was staring at the small tuft of plumes on top of his head.

There weren’t many of them, but somehow, they had been combed perfectly straight.

When the breeze blew through the forest, the little tuft swayed only slightly before immediately returning to its upright position.

It remained perfectly neat.

Not even the wind could ruin it.

Sora stared at it with curiosity.

This kind of stiffness would have required extremely strong hairspray in the Apocalypse.

How had Lucas managed to make it stand so firmly?

Was there some kind of natural hair product in the Beast World?

While Sora continued staring, Lucas straightened his posture even more.

Seeing her attention fixed on him, he became increasingly pleased with himself.

He wanted to show her every part of his appearance.

So, when he finished picking the fruits from the branch, Lucas deliberately swooped down from a tree that wasn’t even a meter tall.

He stretched his long, flowing tail feathers as he descended, making sure Sora had a perfect view of his magnificent appearance.

In his mind, the movement was incredibly elegant.

Majestic.

Powerful.

Handsome.

Unfortunately, reality wasn’t quite as cooperative.

The moment Lucas landed, his feet slipped slightly.

He nearly stumbled.

His carefully prepared pose was instantly ruined.

To avoid embarrassing himself completely, he hurriedly transformed into his human form and landed properly on the ground.

Sora blinked.

The most amusing part was that the little tuft of feathers on Lucas’s head hadn’t moved at all.

Even after he transformed into his human form, that ridiculous little tuft of plumes remained standing proudly upright.

It was as though it had a life of its own.

"Kaelira, here are the red fruits you wanted."

Lucas handed the fruits to her with an expression that tried very hard to appear calm and dignified.

Sora nodded and pointed toward the basket woven from vines nearby.

"Put them here."

Lucas immediately followed her instructions.

He placed the fruits carefully into the basket before straightening up.

When he looked at Sora again, he noticed that she was still staring at him.

A smug smile slowly appeared on his face.

He couldn’t help feeling pleased.

"Why are you looking at me for so long?" he asked, deliberately lifting his chin. "Don’t you think I look especially magnificent right now?"

Sora nodded honestly.

Lucas’s eyebrow rose.

He had already prepared what he wanted to say.

He was about to tell her that she didn’t need to stare for so long because tonight, he would be all hers.

But before he could speak, Sora suddenly reached out her hand.

Her fingers lightly touched the small plume sticking straight up from the top of his head.

"How did you do this part?"

She looked genuinely curious.

"It stays perfectly still up there. It’s quite cute."

Lucas froze.

Cute?

He had worked so hard on his appearance.

He had carefully washed his feathers.

He had spent time applying oily fruit pulp.

He had painstakingly styled every feather.

He had even practiced how to descend from the tree in the most magnificent manner possible.

And after all that effort...

Sora had called his most carefully styled feature—

Cute?

At that moment, Lucas felt as though the sky had collapsed on top of him.

His tail was long.

His feathers were bright.

His entire body was naturally magnificent.

Shouldn’t he look majestic?

Shouldn’t Sora be calling him handsome?

How could she look at him and call him cute?

Was that even how the word "cute" was supposed to be used?

Cute was something people said about little younglings.

He was a tall, strong, well-built Beastman.

He was a Phoenix.

He was supposed to be handsome and charming.

He absolutely had nothing to do with the word cute!

Lucas immediately retorted, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"It’s not cute. It’s handsome."

Sora had originally only found the little tuft amusing.

But seeing Lucas become so serious over it, she couldn’t hold herself back.

She burst out laughing.

"Fine, fine. If you say it’s handsome, then it’s handsome!"

She looked at the little plume again and deliberately nodded.

"This little tuft of plumes is quite handsome. It suits you perfectly."

Lucas’s expression darkened instantly.

How could Sora do this?

She was actually laughing at him!

His feathers were clearly handsome.

When he flew through the sky with his feathers spread wide, he looked incredibly majestic.

And this little tuft was part of that magnificence.

It was not funny!

Lucas couldn’t help reaching up and touching the plume on his head.

He carefully felt around it.

Nothing was wrong with it.

It was still standing upright.

It was still perfectly arranged.

So why was Sora laughing?

He glared at her.

"What are you laughing at? It looks great."

After finally controlling her laughter, Sora nodded seriously.

"Mhm. It really does look good."

She tilted her head.

"How did you style such good-looking hair?"

The moment Lucas heard her asking for advice, his mood immediately improved.

The previous irritation vanished.

A smug expression returned to his face.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Sora proudly.

"Naturally, I combed it with my claws."

He paused deliberately.

"What? Do you want to learn?"

Sora didn’t actually mean that she wanted to copy his hairstyle.

She was simply curious.

But Lucas looked so proud of himself today, and his proud expression was too amusing.

Since he clearly wanted to show off, Sora decided to indulge him.

"Mhm. I think it looks very nice. I want to learn."

Lucas immediately became even more pleased.

"You have to go somewhere with water and comb it slowly to make it stand up."

He paused, then looked at her critically.

"But for someone like you, you probably can’t style it like this."

Sora blinked.

"Why?"

Lucas answered without hesitation.

"First, you don’t have claws, so you can’t lift the hair properly."

He raised his chin.

"Second, you have too much fur on your head. If it stood up, it would look too ugly."

Sora fell silent.

"..."

He just had to say it.

And not only did he have to show off, he had to insult her in the process.

Besides, she didn’t have fur.

That was hair.

Hair!

Sora resisted the urge to argue with him.

After listening to this vain phoenix proudly explain his hairstyle for so long, she roughly understood that the reason the feathers on his head could stand upright and remain perfectly still was probably related to the physical structure of the phoenix.

She had initially wondered whether Lucas possessed some kind of natural hair gel.

If that were the case, she could perhaps get some and use it on her own hair.

That would certainly be useful.

After they finished picking the wild fruits, Sora pointed toward the basket.

"Carry these back to the Wild Kitchen."

Lucas glanced at her.

Then he grunted.

He lifted the basket and carried the fruits without requiring Sora to repeat herself.

After all, free labor shouldn’t be wasted.

Lucas was surprisingly cooperative whenever Sora gave him something to do.

Perhaps he simply wanted to remain close to her.

And since she was pregnant, he was even more careful about letting her carry heavy things herself.

It had to be said that the Beastmen of the Beast World generally had good character.

They were responsible and reliable.

Their biggest problem was probably that they sometimes became far too jealous.

Once they returned to the Wild Kitchen, Sora immediately gave Lucas another task.

"Wash these again."

Lucas looked at the fruits.

Then he looked at Sora.

But he didn’t complain.

He obediently began washing them.

Sora couldn’t help noticing that this phoenix had been following her like a shadow throughout the day.

If she didn’t give him something to do, his eyes would remain glued to her.

So, giving him some work was the best way to keep him occupied.

Besides, she needed help anyway.

Making fruit vinegar wasn’t particularly complicated.

After the wild fruits were thoroughly washed, they needed to be dried.

Then, she could find a pottery jar and place the fruits inside.

But the fruits couldn’t simply be dumped into the jar all at once.

The process required one layer of wild fruits followed by one layer of white sugar.

Then another layer of fruit.

Then another layer of sugar.

Rock sugar would have been better, but Sora didn’t have access to it.

Therefore, she could only use ordinary sugar.

Fortunately, she still had some of the sugar she had refined the last time she found sugarcane.

There wasn’t much remaining.

But there was enough for this.

Once the layers of fruit and sugar were carefully placed inside the pottery jar, the mouth needed to be covered.

Normally, cloth would have been ideal.

But there was no cloth available.

Sora could only use animal hide as a substitute.

She stretched the animal hide tightly over the mouth of the jar and secured it with vines.

After that, she placed a wooden board over the top.

Finally, she found a large stone and pressed it down firmly.

Everything was now sealed.

All that remained was to wait.

The fruit would slowly ferment inside the jar.

Sora looked at the finished jar with satisfaction.

Now she only needed to wait patiently for the fruit vinegar to develop.

Beside her, Lucas remained nearby, looking exceptionally pleased with himself.

After all, he had spent the entire day carefully preparing his appearance.

He had washed his feathers.

He had polished them.

He had styled his little tuft of plumes.

He had followed Sora into the forest.

He had picked fruits for her.

And he had even helped wash them.

Most importantly, he had made sure that Sora noticed how handsome he looked.

To spend a wonderful night with Sora tonight, he had specially dressed himself up and even prepared a surprise for her.