Chapter 79: Trying to Persuade, But They Won’t Budge an Inch

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Trying to Persuade, But They Won’t Budge an Inch

"Where did you get so many Crystal Stones?" Moye’s gaze carried a hint of scrutiny.

Facing his stare, Ophelia didn’t even skip a breath.

"The White Tiger King pre-ordered a year’s worth of rice from me. These are the Crystal Stones he paid in advance."

One Orange Crystal Stone was equivalent to ten pounds of rice, so fifty pounds wasn’t exactly a massive amount.

Moye understood. That made sense; he had wondered how a young female from the Golden Dragon Clan could possess so many Crystal Stones.

"Alright, you can choose another territory of the same size."

The original territory was about a thousand square meters, so combined, she could select up to two thousand square meters.

"Okay." Ophelia was delighted. She grabbed Tyler, eager to begin picking out her land.

She remembered her mother’s instructions to choose a territory close to the Golden Dragon Clan. Thus, she first selected a plot bordering the Golden Dragon Clan to serve as her tribe’s settlement, and for the rest, she chose land close to water sources.

After a long while, Ophelia finalized her choices and pointed them out to Moye one by one.

Moye furrowed his brow slightly. "You’re still too young after all. The lands you’ve chosen are no good.

"This area is nicely contiguous, but there’s too much open space and barely any forest. Less forest means fewer prey," Moye warned kindly.

For a tribe to thrive, its people needed to be well-fed. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have the strength to expand.

"You might just end up starving to death, so don’t blame me for not warning you. Once a territory is finalized, it can’t be changed."

Although he liked this little female, he couldn’t break the rules for her.

"Thank you for your concern, City Lord, but I really want these lands. I know what I’m doing," Ophelia insisted.

"Fine. As long as you don’t regret it later, this place is yours." Seeing that she wouldn’t be swayed, Moye gave up trying to persuade her.

He used a charcoal pencil to circle Ophelia’s desired land on the Sheepskin Scroll. After confirming it, the next step was to stamp it with her exclusive City Lord Token.

"Smear your blood on the Token and stamp it onto the Sheepskin Scroll. Then, this land will be yours."

Moye took out a Bone Knife and handed it to Ophelia.

Ophelia suddenly understood. So the marks on the Sheepskin Scroll were made with blood. It was the equivalent of a modern ink pad for stamping seals.

"Okay."

Ophelia took the Bone Knife and was about to slice her palm. Just then, a large hand reached out and firmly grasped the blade.

"Tyler."

She looked up, seeing blood already flowing from Tyler’s palm.

"What are you doing!" Ophelia’s eyes instantly turned red.

This idiot had promised her he wouldn’t do anything to hurt himself again, yet here he was, acting tough and doing something like this without her consent.

Tyler’s gaze was deep, his voice incredibly gentle. "Don’t be angry, Princess, or my blood will have been shed for nothing."

His hand closed over Ophelia’s hand that was holding the Token. Her hand was stained with fresh blood, and the Token in her palm was soaked through.

"You idiot, you fool." Teardrops slid down Ophelia’s porcelain cheeks. She bit her lip, both angry and heartbroken.

Tyler merely smiled. Guiding their joined hands, he pressed the Token firmly onto the Sheepskin Scroll.

He then returned the Bone Knife to Moye, his expression completely unfazed, as if he wasn’t the one who had just been injured.

Looking at the wound on his palm, Ophelia opened her mouth to speak, but instead hurriedly tore off a strip of animal hide to bandage it. Then, she kicked him in the leg.

Tyler chuckled, using his uninjured hand to gently wipe away the tears on Ophelia’s cheeks. "I have to do something for my Princess, after all," he said dotingly.

Watching their interaction, Moye couldn’t help but shake his head. "Ah, the love of the youth. Always so impulsive."

Tsk, tsk. The sickeningly sweet stench of romance. It was enough to make a single male like him want to find a little female of his own.

Her cheeks flushed crimson, Ophelia shyly avoided Moye’s teasing gaze.

Tyler, his jawline tense, silently stepped in to block the City Lord’s line of sight.

"City Lord, we’ll be taking our leave now."

Two days later, they returned to the Golden Dragon Clan. Seeing her back, Laxus asked with a curious expression, "How did it go? Was your tribe application approved?"

Leon and Rebecca also looked at her with concern.

Ophelia deliberately put on a solemn face, making it look as though she had completely messed things up.

Rebecca said softly, "It’s okay, Ophelia. You’re still young. If it wasn’t approved this time, you can just wait for the next opportunity. Plus, you get to stay in the Golden Dragon Clan and keep me company a little longer, which is wonderful."

Over these past few days, Rebecca had recovered from the heartbreak of Amy’s departure, and her heart was filled with guilt toward her real daughter.

Laxus was scratching his head, struggling to find the right words to comfort her, when Ophelia pulled out the Token symbolizing her status as Clan Leader from her waist.

"Sister, are you serious?" Laxus asked in disbelief.

Leon took the Clan Leader Token and flipped it over a few times. "The Token is real."

"Congratulations, sister!" Laxus cheered.

"You’re amazing, Ophelia."

Leon cast her an approving look. "Where did you choose for your tribe’s territory?"

Ophelia took out the extra map Moye had drawn and spread it out for Leon and the others to see.

"These plots right here. I plan to use this one, the closest to the Golden Dragon Clan, as the tribe’s settlement."

The two tribal settlements would be separated only by a small grove of trees.

Rebecca was delighted as she looked at the spot Ophelia pointed to. "Not bad, it’s quite close. I can get there just by taking a short stroll."

While Rebecca, as a female, didn’t notice anything amiss, the father and son—being the Clan Leader and Young Clan Leader—immediately saw the problem.

"Why is there so much open space? There’s barely any forest, which means there probably won’t be much prey," Leon noted.

"He’s right, sister. Without enough forest, the tribesmen won’t be able to hunt enough prey. That won’t do," Laxus agreed.

Most prey hid deep in the forests; they were rarely seen in flatlands or sparse woods.

"Sister, were you scammed?"

Ophelia’s expression remained calm, as if she had already anticipated their worries.

Her lips curled into a faint smile. "Don’t worry, Father, Brother. No one scammed me. I chose these lands myself.

"I don’t plan on relying on hunting for a living. I’m going to grow rice and raise livestock on these lands, so the tribesmen won’t have to toil away hunting every day."

"Grow rice? Raise livestock?" Leon frowned deeply. "Since when do you know how to farm?"

"A friend of mine who farms taught me, and he helped me look at that land. The soil there is fertile and perfect for growing rice."

Even if it wasn’t fertile, with the fertilizer packs from her pocket dimension, it would be hard for it not to be.

"They’ve also researched methods for breeding prey, and I heard they’ve already seen results," she added.

That was right. She wanted her tribe to stop relying on hunting for survival and instead shift toward agriculture and animal husbandry. If necessary, she could even plant traditional medicinal herbs. She had medical recipes on hand anyway, so curing minor ailments wouldn’t be a problem.

Laxus felt his sister’s ideas were far too whimsical.

Beastmen had always relied on hunting to survive. Growing rice meant depending on the mercy of the weather, and the yield was unstable. The slightest mishap could result in a complete crop failure.

If things really got that bad, it would be too late to fix it.

Laxus looked at his father, signaling with his eyes for him to step in and talk her out of it.