Chapter 323: Cannibals new home.

Zyra had everyone teleport home first. She had barely stepped into beast valley when she heard the system chime.

[Emergency mission issued; Save the captured half-life beasts from the evil beast master who is not a beast master. Bonus points if you make him pay a heavy price for hurting them.]

Beauty puffed out her tiny cheeks. The snake avatar began waving her tiny hands frantically as the reward list scrolled down like a mega-sale billboard:

[Rewards include;5 beast Evolution Pills!

A high-level Resonance Lake will materialize inside your Beast Dominion!

One free Permanent Beast Shelter Building!

A whole month of unlimited free access to the System Shop.]

Zyra’s jaw slowly dropped. "Wait, did you just say one month of free shop access? Unlimited?" She didn’t think she was reading the word free correctly. For a whole month at that! Was Beauty drunk? Could systems get drunk?

[YES!] Beauty yelled, flashing a scheming, mischievous grin. [And that’s just to entice you! More gifts will be given to you once you rescue those poor, adorable beasts! So, Host, what do you say?]

Zyra paused and pretended to think about it. She tapped a finger against her chin, letting the dramatic silence stretch just long enough to make the air feel heavy.

"Hmmm..."

[Oh, come on, Zyra! Just take it! I will give you a blank cheque!]

The voice of the System echoed directly inside her head, practically screeching in desperation.

Zyra’s brows lifted in pure, unadulterated greed. "Give me two, and it’s a deal."

[Done! Agreed! You are so greedy!] The System accepted immediately, as if terrified she might double her price to three if it waited another second.

Zyra smirked, feeling quite pleased with her negotiation skills. She was about to rub her victory in the face of the system when a familiar shadow fell over her. She turned just in time to see Hunter walking up. Without a word of warning, he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips.

Zyra blinked, regaining her composure, and gave him a playful once-over. "Looks like your mission went well."

Hunter smacked his lips, placed his hands on his waist, and looked her up and down with a wry grin. "It seems like yours went way better than mine."

"Not quite," Zyra muttered, her good mood deflating like a popped balloon.

Hunter’s dark brows narrowed instantly. The playful grin vanished, replaced by a sudden edge of protectiveness. "What happened? Did that bastard Kidman give you trouble? Did he send his hunters after you?"

Zyra let out a heavy sigh, feeling a headache coming on. "I didn’t see him. Tell me about the cannibals first. What did you do with them?"

Hunter winced. He raised a hand and scratched his forehead with his thumb, looking deeply embarrassed. "Ah. Well, the old acquaintance where I originally planned to drop them off with flat-out rejected them. Wouldn’t even hear me out."

Zyra folded her arms across her chest, her stare icy. "I would probably make the same decision as him if I knew what they were. Nobody wants to live within walking vicinity of humans that eat other humans when the forests are filled with food. They should have been hunting and trading. Hunter, I really do not want those cannibals staying at Rosewater. I don’t care if they swore to change their diet to cabbages. People here will lose their minds if they find out the truth. Nobody will be able to sleep with both eyes closed. You have to get rid of them."

"I know, I know! I don’t like having them so close either." Hunter agreed hastily. "That’s why I am going to drag them all the way over to Twigs Blue Crossing."

Zyra’s eyes snapped wide, her forehead instantly creasing into a tight frown. "Twigs Blue Crossing?! Hunter, are you insane? That’s the exact town those cannibals were raiding and attacking! If the townspeople realize who they are, they’ll chop them into pieces and feed them to wild animals." She threw her hands in the air. "Or they will stew them alive to give them a taste of their own medicine."

"Hey, I worried about that too!" Hunter raised his hands defensively. "But I have just spoken to Lucian who is somehow the town leader now. Don’t ask. He has promised to keep them safe. Lucian is the only one who actually knows their true identities. To everyone else, they’re just people looking for shelter. For the sake of the supplies, I have promised to send, he has volunteered to ensure they are vegetarians for the next five years. Tessi is already delivering them." Hunter paused, letting out a sigh so heavy it sounded like he was trying to blow away a mountain.

"What now?" Zyra asked, suspicious of that sigh.

Hunter looked at her with a expression that was half-amused and half-pitying. "Well, Lucian took the opportunity to ask if Twigs Blue Crossing could officially become part of your territory."

"Absolutely not," Zyra said instantly.

"You are not going to like what I say next even more," Hunter added, a sly grin tugging at his lips. "The townspeople there_ they built an altar under banyan tree. It has a giant wooden statue carved in your image. They pray to it every morning and leave fruit and dead beasts as offerings."

"They what?" Zyra nearly choked on her own spit.

Even if she had the title of Divine Maiden slapped onto her by the locals, she would never, ever want people treating her like a literal goddess! She wasn’t Trinity, the current fake angel of mercy and goodness who probably bathed in incense smoke and ego.

Zyra shook her head wildly, scrubbing her face with both hands. "No! No, no, no! The more this ridiculous rumor spreads, the bigger the mess I’m in! Trinity is going to hear about a rival Divine maiden in the region, and she’ll come down here with an army of ten thousand soldiers to turn me into ash." She grabbed Hunter’s sleeve, desperate. "I want nothing to do with Twigs Blue Crossing or its people. Tell Lucian we’re not taking them in. The absolute most we can do is drop off a cart of necessary free supplies once a month, so they live like humans. Nothing extravagant. If they want mid and high-grade stuff, they have to pay for it."

Hunter’s smile softened into a genuine, relieved look. He nodded vigorously. He thoroughly enjoyed that answer, mostly because she had shut down Lucian’s pushy request without a second thought.

Zyra took a deep breath, dropping her hands. Her comical panic vanished, replaced by a deadly serious expression.

"Hunter," she said, her voice dropping an octave. "Beauty just gave me a new mission. I took it, but it’s insanely risky."

Hunter’s lazy posture vanished. He locked eyes with her and nodded solemnly. "Tell me everything."