Chapter 34: Could Something Have Gone Wrong!

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Could Something Have Gone Wrong!

Ali responded, "Oh." She turned to Ophelia with a bright smile. "Ophelia, see you next time."

"Mhm, see you next time. Safe travels." Ophelia smiled warmly, like a gentle spring breeze, and gave a slight wave.

Reluctantly, Ali and Klein embarked on their journey home. She was still praising Ophelia, looking forward to their next meeting. Klein knew Ali liked Ophelia, so he listened in silence. He glanced back at the young female who was warmly greeting the male beastmen, also looking forward to their next encounter.

As soon as they left, the males waiting in line swarmed forward. They couldn’t wait to buy fruit to share with their families.

"Young lady, I want a watermelon."

"Me too."

"Ah, out of watermelons? Then I’ll take a tangerine and this dragon fruit."

Ophelia held fruit in one hand and collected animal skins and prey with the other. She was completely overwhelmed. After a few rounds of this, a fine layer of sweat appeared on her fair forehead, the droplets sliding down her delicate cheeks. Under the bright sunlight, her porcelain skin seemed to glow.

"Don’t rush. There will be more watermelons in a bit. These lychees are also delicious. One prey can be exchanged for ten lychees," Ophelia announced. Looking at the slow-selling lychees, she sighed and had no choice but to slash the price. After all, a new batch of lychees would ripen soon, and she couldn’t eat that many by herself.

"My little female seems to really like these. She tried them yesterday and said they were very sweet."

"Yeah, give me ten lychees."

The price reduction was somewhat effective; twenty to thirty lychees were quickly traded away. Ophelia was so busy she didn’t know which way was up. Holding five apples, she turned around and bumped right into the arm of a male reaching out to take his goods. The male’s arm muscles were so hard that her hand went numb, and the five apples tumbled toward the ground. Just as she was about to bend down and grab them, two large hands appeared, catching the five apples with the agility of a juggler.

"Tyler!" Ophelia exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

"Take a break. Let me handle this."

"Alright." Ophelia was more than happy to let him take over.

With Tyler’s help, their work efficiency improved dramatically.

By the time the sun reached its peak, the crowd in the trading market had thinned out. Ophelia brushed the dirt off her hands. "Let’s pack up and go home!"

Tyler quietly packed up the stall beside her, gathering all the remaining fruit together. Of the 523 pieces of fruit, the apples, watermelons, and dragon fruits were completely sold out. Thirty bananas—sold by the bunch—thirty tangerines, and thirty peaches had been sold. The lychees were entirely cleared out as well, half sold and half given away. (Thirty apples, seventy-three watermelons, thirty dragon fruits, thirty bunches of bananas, thirty peaches, thirty tangerines, and one hundred sixty lychees equaled three hundred eighty-three items sold). In total, they had raked in two hundred animal carcasses and two hundred pelts. The inventory in her storage was down to just forty peaches, fifty tangerines, and fifty bunches of bananas.

Ophelia felt entirely relieved.

"Let’s take the leftover fruit back to the cave."

"Mhm." Tyler nodded, gathering the fruit sacks and hauling them over his shoulder.

Just like before, she hired several males to help transport the prey, paying them one carcass each for their labor. Brushing aside the thick canopy of leaves to reveal the narrow cave entrance, Tyler led the males inside to deposit the prey. After the males dropped off the meat and left, Tyler returned to the Golden Dragon Clan to find more helpers.

Ophelia found a rock to sit on, slowly closed her eyes, and sent her consciousness into her spatial farm. She decided to keep the two hundred carcasses to take back for smoking and storing. As for her pelts, she converted three hundred of them directly into 30,000 points. However, thirty thousand points were no longer enough to upgrade the space. She still had plenty of seed packs and didn’t plan on buying more right now. She would wait and see what she needed later.

Since Tyler hadn’t returned yet, Ophelia leaned against the cave wall to rest. Gentle breezes wafted through the cave entrance, brushing against her skin and dispelling much of the heat from her body. Her body and mind completely relaxed, and combined with her wild indulgences the night before, she began to feel drowsy.

"Ophelia." Tyler’s voice rang out from outside the cave.

Ophelia slowly opened her eyes, forcing herself to fully wake up for a few seconds. "Come on in."

Ten males entered the cave one after another, looking at the pile of prey scattered on the ground. Having done this kind of work often, they hoisted the carcasses onto their shoulders and headed out without needing any instructions. Upon arriving at the tribe, Ophelia had them drop the prey off at her front door.

"Thanks for your hard work today," Ophelia said, expressing her gratitude and handing over ten carcasses as payment.

A male had already run ahead to inform Laxus of Ophelia’s return.

"You brought back so much prey again today." Because Ophelia brought back so much meat so often, Laxus was no longer surprised by it.

"Yeah. The rainy season is coming. Just like before, let’s turn this prey into smoked meat."

With the dampness and scorching heat of the rainy season, it was difficult to store meat and grain. Making smoked meat was the only reliable way to preserve it. The prey was still incredibly fresh; some of the animals had just been caught and skinned before being handed over to Ophelia. Blood was still actively seeping from the meat. If they tried to keep it as is through the rainy season, it would likely rot on the very first day.

"Alright."

Laxus ordered the males nearby to deliver the prey to the Clan Witch, and seeing this, Tyler also stepped forward to help. Only then did Laxus rest his gaze on Tyler. Seeing the Mate Beast Mark on the man’s chest, he sighed with emotion. His sister’s stony heart had finally been warmed by Tyler. It was no easy feat—not easy at all. He inexplicably felt a sense of relief and gratification.

Noticing Laxus’s stare, Tyler’s ears turned red. Hauling the meat on his shoulder, he hurried off toward the Clan Witch’s home.

"Oh, by the way," Laxus added, "the clan members just delivered a batch of animal skins. They’ve already been sent to your stone house. You should go check on them." Since Ophelia had provided so much prey to be shared among the clan, the members were incredibly grateful. Knowing she liked pelts, they had brought over the tanned skins they had stored at home.

"Okay."

Ophelia returned to her stone house and locked the door behind her. Glancing at the pelts scattered on the floor, she nudged them with her foot. There was quite a pile—at least three hundred of them. She squatted down and, with a broad wave of her hand, collected all the pelts into her farm space. But before she even had time to enter the space herself, she heard a commotion outside. A young male beastman was standing outside her door.

"What is it?"

"Princess, someone is asking for you at the clan entrance. He said his name is Fei Luo from the Leopard Clan."

Ophelia repeated the name of the Leopard Clan in her mind, rapidly searching her memory for information about him. It took her a long moment to remember that he was the middle-aged male who had been selling pottery at the trading market. She had ordered a batch of water vats from him just a few days ago. Were they finished already? That shouldn’t be possible.

"Let’s go."

Ophelia opened the door to her stone house and headed out. Halfway there, she ran into Laxus, so the two of them walked to the clan entrance together.

Fei Luo was standing at the entrance. He fiddled nervously with his hands in front of him, feeling quite anxious. Seeing his deeply furrowed brows, Ophelia’s heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t help but wonder if something had gone wrong.