Chapter 230: The Dragon And The Fox

"Don’t you already have Stone Mortars in your hands? You can’t help her anyway, so why are you refusing? It seems you’re the ones trying to exhaust Kaelira."

Previously, for Sora’s sake, Drake had chosen not to argue with these overbearing Beast Husbands. But now that he was helping Sora with actual work, why were they still trying to stop him?

Drake said nothing. He simply looked intently at Sora, waiting for her to make the final decision.

"Who’s exhausting her?" Ace immediately retorted angrily. "Kaelira said she’s fine and that doing a little work is good for her."

"She says she isn’t tired, and you actually believe her?" Drake finally replied. "You call yourselves her Beast Husbands, yet you can’t even handle something this simple properly."

"Kaelira is carrying a little cub right now. What if she gets hurt?" Nick Wilde glanced at the Beast Husbands with obvious disapproval. "You’re mistreating her."

His words instantly made the atmosphere even more heated.

Refusing this and refusing that—wasn’t it obvious that these men were simply being petty because they were afraid he would get closer to Sora?

They didn’t even consider that Sora was carrying a little cub, yet they were still allowing her to do physical work.

If word of this spread throughout the Beast World, the Beast Husbands of the entire continent would probably laugh at them.

Their Female Master was already pregnant, yet her Beast Husbands were still making her work.

The more Nick Wilde thought about it, the angrier he became.

How could they not cherish her body?

Meanwhile, Ace, Xavier, and Lucas became even more furious after hearing his accusations.

What was this damn Red Fox talking about?

What did he mean by saying they were mistreating their Female Master?

When had they ever mistreated her?

From the very beginning, they had told Sora to rest. It was Sora herself who had insisted that they were making too much of a fuss and that pregnant Females should remain active so that the birth would be easier later.

Seeing how determined she was, they had no choice but to agree.

Even then, they had only given her the lightest work.

Had Nick Wilde even bothered to look properly?

Of the seven Stone Mortars, Sora’s had the least Rice Paddy inside. The others were practically filled to the brim.

Ace’s short temper immediately exploded.

"You damn fox, what are you talking about? Did you even look inside Kaelira’s Stone Mortar? You’re making accusations without knowing anything!"

Lucas snorted coldly.

"Don’t think we don’t know what you’re really trying to do. You’re pretending to care about Kaelira so you can get closer to her. Don’t make yourself sound so noble. Your intentions aren’t exactly pure either."

Acting self-righteous while secretly plotting to win Sora’s affection—who was he trying to fool?

Xavier glanced at Nick Wilde and mercilessly added, "Some creatures may look like Red Fox, but inside, they’re nothing more than filthy rats."

Nick Wilde’s expression darkened.

"No matter how much you argue, I want to help Kaelira work right now. The only reason you’re interfering is because you’re petty and don’t want me anywhere near her."

"Is it us being petty," Ace sneered, "or are you the one with ulterior motives?"

"Petty!"

"Vile beast!"

"Petty!"

The argument immediately descended into chaos.

The four men bickered endlessly, each convinced that he was right and refusing to give an inch.

Sora stood between them, her head beginning to throb.

It felt as though several extremely annoying bees were buzzing around her ears.

Worse, they weren’t merely arguing.

They were pulling at her hands from opposite directions.

One tugged her left hand.

Another grabbed her right.

Another was trying to pull her backward.

Sora’s patience finally snapped.

Her brows furrowed as she opened her mouth, ready to make them all stop.

Before she could say anything, however, someone suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him.

Her body immediately felt lighter.

Then a cold voice sounded from in front of her.

"Leader, you rest. I’ll handle this."

Only then did Sora realize that Drake had already taken the wooden pole from her hands.

He stood there calmly, looking as though he intended to continue the work himself.

Sora had thought the situation had finally quieted down.

Instead, somehow, it had become even worse.

Sure enough, the men immediately shifted their hostility toward Drake.

"You aren’t allowed to either," Xavier said coldly. "This is none of your Tribe’s business. We don’t need your help."

Drake calmly met his arrogant gaze.

"Why not? She is my Leader. What is wrong with me helping her?"

Nick Wilde, who had been too busy arguing with Lucas and the others, finally noticed the man standing beside him.

His eyes narrowed.

So there was another competitor.

He studied Drake for a moment before asking, "You’re that Priest?"

The man certainly looked like a difficult opponent.

Nick Wilde glanced at the wooden pole in Drake’s hand.

"I came first."

"So what?" Drake replied without emotion. "The wooden pole is in my hand now."

The atmosphere instantly became dangerous.

Nick Wilde narrowed his eyes.

Across from him, Lucas, Xavier, and Ace also stared at the wooden pole.

Their expressions were remarkably similar.

They looked as though they might attack at any second.

Seeing the three sides confronting one another, Ryan frowned.

"They aren’t actually going to fight, are they?"

Beside him, Damien’s eyes gleamed with amusement.

"It’s possible."

He paused, watching Drake with interest.

"It would be a good opportunity to see just how strong that Priest really is."

Damien truly loved watching chaos unfold.

The situation was already on the verge of exploding, yet instead of stopping them, he was actually interested in seeing what would happen.

Ryan looked toward Lukan.

Lukan simply shook his head, silently signaling him not to interfere.

This was something Sora needed to deal with herself.

He had a feeling that situations like this would happen again and again in the future.

If Sora didn’t learn how to handle them now, the same problem would only become more troublesome later.

Besides, Lukan knew very well that Sora hated unnecessary trouble.

If she experienced enough of this kind of chaos, perhaps she would become more cautious about accepting additional Beast Husbands.

From his perspective, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

No one wanted new rivals appearing around Sora.

However, directly preventing others from approaching her wasn’t a reliable solution.

The real issue was Sora’s heart.

If they wanted to stop more people from entering her life, they had to make sure she didn’t want them there.

Damien raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lukan.

He shook his head slightly.

This man wasn’t simple either.

He was far more calculating than he appeared.

Meanwhile, the confrontation in front of Sora was becoming increasingly intense.

Seeing that they were about to fight at any moment, Sora finally shouted,

"What are you all doing? Stop!"

Her angry voice immediately caused the men to restrain themselves.

Even so, Xavier clearly wasn’t prepared to let the matter end so easily.

No matter how he looked at it, today’s chaos had started because of Sora.

She needed to give them an explanation.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at her.

"Then you tell us. What should we do?"

Eight pairs of eyes simultaneously turned toward Sora.

The sheer intensity of their gazes made her temples throb.

Sora let out a cold laugh.

"What should you do?"

She looked at all of them.

"Obviously, the more you do, the better."

Her gaze landed on Nick Wilde and Drake.

"Since you’re all so eager to work, there’s no need to be polite."

She pointed toward the Stone Mortar beside her.

"You two make one for yourselves as well."

Nick Wilde and Drake were both stunned.

"That way, there will be nothing left to argue about."

Sora gestured toward the nearby field.

"There’s plenty of Rice Paddy around here. Go and get it yourselves."

Who was going to play this ridiculous game of choosing between two men?

Since they were all so enthusiastic about working, she would simply give them more work.

It was free labor, after all.

Why would she waste it?

If these men were willing to work themselves to exhaustion just to prove who cared about her more, then she certainly wasn’t going to stop them.

Sora crossed her arms and watched them.

"Go on. Make your own Stone Mortars."

For a moment, everyone was silent.

Then Ace suddenly grinned.

"That’s a great idea!"

Lucas immediately understood what Sora was doing and laughed under his breath.

Xavier also relaxed.

As for Nick Wilde and Drake, the two exchanged a brief look.

Neither was willing to back down.

Nick Wilde tightened his grip around the wooden pole.

"Fine. I’ll make one."

Drake calmly nodded.

"Then I’ll make one as well."

Sora finally sighed in relief.

At least they weren’t fighting anymore.

She turned around and walked toward the pile of rice, leaving the men to their competition.

Behind her, the sound of stone being struck soon rang through the clearing.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Sora glanced back.

Two men were already working on their Stone Mortars with completely different expressions.

Nick Wilde was working with the determination of someone trying to prove himself.

Drake, on the other hand, remained calm and methodical, his movements precise and efficient.

And, of course, the other Beast Husbands weren’t about to lose.

Soon, the backyard became even livelier.

Stone struck stone.

Wood struck grain.

Men competed against one another.

And Sora, standing in the middle of it all, suddenly felt a headache coming back.

She had only wanted to remove the husks from some rice.

How had a simple task somehow turned into another battle between her Beast Husbands?

She rubbed her forehead helplessly.

Perhaps she really had created a little too much trouble for herself.

But at least there was one benefit.

With so many strong people working together, she wouldn’t have to worry about making enough Stone Mortars anymore.

Free labor was still free labor.

And since they were all so eager to compete for her attention...

She might as well make good use of them.