Chapter 81: Thwarted, Reaping What One Sows

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Thwarted, Reaping What One Sows

Ophelia was quite surprised by Loki’s reaction. She felt as if he had actually grown a brain since becoming Clan Leader. To her astonishment, he didn’t immediately step up to defend Galen, but rather acted as a peacemaker instead?

"These are all the prey we hunted in this area. Pick whatever catches your eye, Ophelia." Loki had his males set the prey on the ground, generously letting her choose. "I see this Dragon Beast hasn’t caught much, but it’s fine. Seeing as we used to be mates, I’ll let you pick a few more as compensation for all these years."

Loki looked like a man of immense wealth and generosity. Today, he could finally hold his head high and exhale proudly in front of Ophelia.

Seeing the sheer amount of prey, Ophelia’s lips curled into a faint smile. "Did you hunt all of this prey right here?"

Loki flicked his hair. "Of course. I personally led the hunt for these. Don’t worry, since I’ve already given my word, I won’t go back on it. Take your time picking."

Ophelia pointed at all the prey on the ground and said slowly, "Then I’ll take all of it!"

Loki burst into laughter. "You must be joking. You’re being far too greedy, Ophelia."

"If I remember correctly, this isn’t the Snow Wolf Clan’s territory, is it?" Ophelia asked.

Loki’s smile froze. "S-so what if it isn’t? Aren’t you here hunting too? If you can come here, why can’t we?"

Guessing Ophelia’s intentions, Tyler said coldly, "The clans have a rule against hunting across borders. You’re violating the regulations."

Loki choked on his words but still forced himself to save face. "Even if there is a rule against border hunting, this is unclaimed land."

Ophelia sneered. "Just because it was unclaimed before doesn’t mean it still is. The City Lord of Ten Thousand Beasts City mandated that even if it’s unclaimed land, other clans cannot hunt across borders."

The ban on cross-border hunting was meant to prevent disputes over resource allocation between the clans. Therefore, even if someone had designs on the prey in an unclaimed area, they would do it stealthily. No one had ever been as brazen as Loki.

"The bold gorge themselves while the timid starve. Besides, this forest is huge and there’s plenty of prey. What does it matter if we hunt a few?" Loki dismissed her concern. "Worst comes to worst, I’ll just return a few heads of prey later."

This area was mostly flat terrain with sparse forest, so no one wanted to build a clan settlement here, leaving it vacant. He had long observed that prey was abundant in this region, which was why he brought his clansmen over the border to hunt.

"Are you going to pick or not? If not, we’re taking all of this back with us," he pressed. Since he had been caught hunting out of bounds, Loki felt somewhat guilty. He was starting to regret playing the generous benefactor by offering up the prey. Not only had he failed to show off, but he had also been mocked. His humiliation quickly morphed into anger.

"You’re not taking any of this prey with you today," Ophelia said, the smile fading from her face.

"On what grounds? Don’t be too..."

Before Loki could spit out the word "greedy," he watched Ophelia pull a black piece of iron from the beast skin bag at her waist. The token was engraved with intricate patterns.

"What does this look like to you, Loki?" Ophelia asked.

Loki’s eyes widened. Having just succeeded as Clan Leader, how could he not recognize that this piece of iron was a Clan Leader Token?

"H-how do you have a Clan Leader Token?" he stammered. "Did you really start your own clan? How is that even possible? How can a little female like you establish a clan?"

Loki couldn’t wrap his head around it. He had fought tooth and nail to climb to the position of Clan Leader, yet in the blink of an eye, the little female he had once dismissed with disdain had become a Clan Leader as well.

"The sheepskin scroll map clearly marks this land as the territory of my Fu Clan," Ophelia stated. "And you are currently standing on my territory, hunting my prey!"

Loki’s face was written with shock and disbelief. "H-how can this be?"

Ophelia didn’t argue further, her tone indifferent. "If you don’t believe me, you can go verify it with City Lord Mo Ye. As the City Lord of Ten Thousand Beasts City, he surely wouldn’t lie on behalf of a mere female like me."

Loki’s face turned grim. He hadn’t expected things to escalate to this point. This unclaimed land actually belonged to Ophelia, and to make matters worse, he had strutted right in front of the owner with her own prey, brazenly declaring that he had hunted it all on this very land.

Stupid. How could he be so stupid?

Loki clenched his fists, his heart bleeding as he looked at the prey on the ground. This was dinner for the entire clan. The sky was already growing dark, making it difficult to hunt anymore, and the forest at night was far more dangerous than during the day.

"Ophelia, for the sake of all our years together, just pretend you didn’t see anything this time. I promise I will never hunt on this land again," Loki shamelessly pleaded. "Please? I swear I’ll never bother you again either."

He had just become the Clan Leader, and to host his succession ceremony a few days ago, he had depleted the clan’s food stores. If he couldn’t bring this prey back today, his clansmen would go hungry and blame him for being an incompetent Clan Leader.

No, that absolutely could not happen!

Loki’s eyes turned red. If there hadn’t been other people around, he would have dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Ophelia right then and there.

"No," she replied firmly.

"Are you really going to be this heartless, Ophelia? Is your newly established clan truly going to make an enemy of our Snow Wolf Clan?"

"I advise you to quit while you’re ahead, Loki. I doubt this is the first day you’ve hunted in this area. Today, I’m only taking this batch of prey. If you dare cause trouble, I’ll make you cough up all the prey you’ve already eaten." Ophelia’s words carried a clear threat. "I’m sure the other nearby clans have seen you hunting around here to some extent."

"You..."

Loki knew he was utterly defeated. Dejected and disgraced, he had no choice but to lead his clansmen away in the dust.

"Hahaha, I didn’t expect such an extra windfall today." After holding it in for so long, Ophelia finally burst into laughter. She counted roughly twenty animals, all of them large.

"Well then, Princess, now we need to figure out how to transport all this back," Tyler said. He was happy too, but troubled by the logistics of carrying so much meat.

"What’s so hard about that?" Ophelia blinked. With a gentle wave of her hand, the pile of prey on the ground vanished instantly.

If not for the lingering scent of blood in the air and the stains on the ground, Tyler would have suspected it was all a dream.

Seeing Tyler’s dumbfounded expression, Ophelia wanted to laugh. She reached out and pinched his cheek. "Silly, did you forget I have a farm dimension?"

"Ah, right." Tyler finally came to his senses.

Ophelia absentmindedly checked her warehouse reserves. Klein and the others had taken all the grain with them when they left.

[Warehouse: Capacity 50,000 | Current Storage: 15,740]

(Prey: 20 | Peaches: 40 | Orah Mandarins: 50 | Bananas: 50 | Lychees: 200 | Watermelons: 100 | Baby Bok Choy: 20 | Green Peppers: 20 | Potatoes: 20 | Tomatoes: 20 | Bird’s Eye Chilies: 1,100 | Red Chilies: 1,100 | Sugarcane: 10,000 | Golden Pears: 3,000)