Chapter 56: Another Beastman Husband?

The beastmen stared in amazement at the large collection of pottery strapped to Lucas’s back. One of them stepped forward and asked curiously,

"Lucas, what do you need such a huge basin for?"

Lucas carefully lowered everything onto the ground, shrugged, and looked toward Sora.

"I don’t know," he replied. "You’ll have to ask her."

Everyone immediately turned their attention to Sora.

She smiled and explained, "It’s a water storage jar. Once we fill it, we won’t have to keep making trips to the deep pond every time we need water."

As soon as they heard her explanation, the surrounding beastmen became excited.

A large water jar would save them countless trips back and forth to fetch water. It would save time and effort, and every family could benefit from having one.

Several of them immediately began wishing they had their own.

Just then, Lyra and Martin walked over from outside the gathering.

The moment Lyra noticed the newly fired pottery, she frowned.

"Kaelira," she said sharply, "you left without informing anyone and stayed away for an entire night. Didn’t I tell you before that, as a female, you should value yourself and stop acting so recklessly?"

She had been upset ever since Sora failed to give her a single piece of pottery.

Now that Martin was present, Lyra immediately seized the opportunity to criticize her. Once Sora admitted she was wrong, Lyra intended to ask for several pottery pieces in front of everyone. After all, a daughter was expected to honor her parents. Refusing in public would only damage Sora’s reputation.

Martin’s expression also became stern.

"The most important thing for a female is to respect herself," he said. "Kaelira, you should listen to your mother’s advice."

Sora had expected Lyra to cause trouble the moment she saw the opportunity, especially after failing to gain any advantage the last time.

Fortunately, she had already prepared her response.

Pointing toward an enormous pottery vat beside her, she calmly said,

"I didn’t stay away for fun. I made this large pot specifically for purifying salt."

Martin’s eyes immediately brightened.

"A large pot is exactly what’s needed for salt purification."

He nodded with obvious satisfaction.

"You’ve done well."

Lyra had been ready to continue scolding her, but Martin’s sudden praise left her speechless.

Her face darkened with frustration.

Ever since witnessing Sora’s method for refining salt, Martin had begun viewing her in a much more favorable light.

Now that he learned she had deliberately made a larger vessel to improve the process, he was even more pleased.

After a moment of thought, he said,

"The pottery you’ve made is excellent. Later, you should teach everyone in the tribe how to make it so every household can use pottery."

Many tribe members had been interested in learning for quite some time.

However, because of Sora’s previous reputation, none of them had dared approach her.

Now that the tribe leader had spoken, they looked delighted.

Sora had no intention of refusing.

"I brought Clare and Zainabu with me this time," she replied. "They’ve already learned the process, so they can teach everyone else."

She still had too many projects of her own to spend days teaching each person individually.

Martin nodded approvingly.

"That’s fine. Clare and Zainabu can handle the instruction."

With everything settled, Sora prepared to leave.

Just then, Serena approached from the distance wearing her usual gentle smile.

The moment Sora saw that smile, her eyebrows twitched.

Something told her trouble was coming.

Sure enough, Serena stopped in front of her and smiled sweetly.

"Kaelira," she said, "someone is outside looking for you."

"He claims to be your beast husband."

Sora froze.

Another beast husband?

Wasn’t the system supposed to assign her only five beast husbands?

Lucas, Xavier, Ace, Lukan, and Ryan, who had just finished packing their belongings, immediately turned toward Serena.

The expressions on all five men’s faces became guarded, their eyes filled with scrutiny as they waited to see who this unexpected visitor could possibly be.

Sora frowned.

Why was everyone looking at her?

She didn’t even know who this person was.

Completely bewildered, she immediately called out to the system.

"System? Didn’t you tell me there were only five targets? Why has another beast husband suddenly appeared?"

Normally, the system responded instantly.

This time, however, it remained silent.

Several long seconds passed.

Just as Sora was beginning to wonder whether it had malfunctioned, the familiar mechanical voice finally sounded.

"Apologies, Host. The system is currently undergoing an upgrade and cannot operate normally. Services will resume once the update is complete."

Sora nearly laughed in disbelief.

Seriously?

An upgrade?

And it just happened to start at the exact moment I needed an explanation?

She seriously suspected the system was doing this on purpose.

The timing was simply too perfect to be a coincidence.

Unfortunately, no matter how suspicious she felt, there was nothing she could do about it.

It wasn’t as though she could punch the system.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Sora resigned herself to solving the problem on her own.

Before she could decide what to do, Serena spoke again, her voice as gentle and innocent as ever.

"Kaelira, aren’t you going to meet him?"

She smiled sweetly.

"He seems deeply devoted to you. He keeps saying he’s been thinking about you."

Thinking about me?

Sora almost rolled her eyes.

She refused to believe that any normal beast husband would suddenly become infatuated with someone who still looked like she did.

Serena’s words were so obviously insincere that they were almost laughable.

She wasn’t even afraid of being struck by lightning for telling such a blatant lie.

Seeing Kaelira remain silent, Serena secretly felt delighted.

This was exactly the reaction she had been hoping for.

The black bear beastman waiting outside was no ordinary person.

In her eyes, he was a perfect match for Kaelira.

Hadn’t Kaelira already become entangled with those five beast husbands?

Serena couldn’t wait to see how those five would react when another man appeared claiming to be Kaelira’s beast husband.

Would they finally begin to despise her for being so fickle?

The thought of Kaelira once again becoming the tribe’s most ridiculed female filled Serena with satisfaction.

The corners of her lips almost curled into a smile.

Fortunately, she managed to restrain herself.

If she looked too pleased, everyone would realize she was enjoying the situation far more than she should.