Chapter 183: The Golden Lion Tribe

Aaron forced a smile, changing the subject:

"I was busy thinking about many things just now, forgetting to introduce myself. I am Aaron, the vice-captain of the Crimson merchant caravan, this is Evan - my mate. That unconscious Sub-Beast being carried on the back over there is the healer Draven. The remaining people are all my team members, I will let them introduce themselves to you later."

When Aaron introduced Evan, he emphasized the word ’mate’, because he saw the Lion clan Sub-Beast’s eyes were about to be glued strictly onto Evan’s body.

Leon and the people of the Golden Lion tribe could not help but glance back forth between Aaron and Evan a few times. There was curiosity, there was surprise but there was no disgust. The young Sub-Beast sighed wearily, muttering: "I am heartbroken again..."

The Sub-Beast carrying Draven heard that, grinning, turning around to tease:

"You are so beautiful, why worry about being heartbroken?"

The Lion clan Sub-Beast was praised by people for being beautiful, could not help but blush in embarrassment. A Lion beastman walking closely beside them pouted, muttering: "His mouth can scold a dead person into rising from the grave, who would dare to pay attention to him."

The Lion clan Sub-Beast narrowed his eyes: "Are you tired of living?"

This beastman immediately straightened his back, tucked his buttocks in, stepping quickly forward. Friendly laughter immediately rang out among the group of people. This side story helped the awkward atmosphere between both sides ease down a bit. Aaron felt he could try to trust these people for once.

Leon saw Aaron’s face seemed to have relaxed a bit, starting to speak more comfortably:

"Is your tribe named Crimson? I have never heard of it before, you guys must be from the downstream area of the Rust River. But I truly admire you all, a merchant caravan of a little over one hundred people, moreover all of you are just Beginner Martial Artists, yet you actually dared to venture into the Illusion Forest."

Aaron was dumbfounded, the Crimson warriors also blanked out. Rust River? Martial Artists? Illusion Forest? What were those things?

Even though he did not understand anything at all, his expression did not change, Aaron said: "We are young, wanting to go out to explore for a bit. We lost contact with the Captain and his mate, we were wandering around looking for them when we accidentally wandered into that place."

Leon sighed with emotion: "It is true that young people should experience more things. As for us Martial Artists, having a high realm is not enough, we still must have real combat experience to reach the peak. Where did you lose each other, we can help search."

Aaron was embarrassed: "This is our first time going out, we did not know the way getting lost. That is right, we grew up in the tribe our whole lives, we just came out without having time to understand the outside situation, I wonder if you could tell me about the specific situation? Perhaps I might find some clues about the captain’s location."

Leon generously nodded: "Of course I can, but since you have come to our tribe, everyone should rest to eat first, after that I will tell you..."

"LEON!!!"

Leon had not finished speaking, a roar rang out shaking a corner of the sky, followed by a whooshing sound of wind tearing as something flew past. The Crimson people had not yet had time seeing the situation clearly, Leon had flown backward for dozens of meters, smashing his back into an ancient tree by the road.

The tree fell down with a crash splitting into pieces, yet Leon still scrambled up giggling, his whole body did not have a single scratch.

Aaron and the Crimson warriors simultaneously gasped, their hearts were intensely shocked. They did not feel the slightest fluctuation of Beast Energy at all, yet a huge guy like Leon was kicked flying in such a brutal manner. Even so, that beastman was completely fine, he even giggled running up to please the other person.

"Oh, my great Priest, who angered you again?"

Leon clenched his two fists, massaging the shoulders for the Lion clan Sub-Beast who had just kicked Leon flying. The Sub-Beast snorted coldly, opening his mouth to scold:

"You still dare to ask me? You want to piss me off to death, right?! You look, you look, you open your eyes wide looking carefully for me. Why is the tribe’s expenditure this month in a deficit of thirty thousand primordial stones! HUH?!"

Leon awkwardly scratched his nose: "Well... our Martial weapons are all worn out this time, so... I brought them to the White Lion clan to be reinforced..."

Leon’s voice became smaller steadily under the Sub-Beast’s death glare. The Sub-Beast smirked, snorting coldly:

"If the Martial weapons are worn out why do you guys not pay out of your own pockets instead spending the tribe’s money? I do not care, Leon. If you do not cough up thirty thousand primordial stones here within ten days, then..." The Sub-Beast cracked his hands loudly: "I will let you know why flowers are red!"

The beastmen in the Golden Lion tribe subconsciously shrank their necks back. The Sub-Beast’s line of sight swept around, suddenly catching sight of unfamiliar faces. He blanked out for a moment, after that his eyes bumped into Evan’s tall magnificent body. The Sub-Beast who was standing with his legs wide apart unconsciously closed his legs, bent one leg down making a shy posture tucking his side hair, lowering his voice’s volume by three pitches:

"Leon~ Who are these people?"

The people of the Golden Lion tribe, regardless of whether they were beastmen or Sub-Beasts, all shivered jumping far away, their faces were terrified as if they had met a ghost. The people of the Crimson tribe stared blankly, simultaneously turning to look at Evan, then looking back at their own captain.

Aaron’s face darkened like the bottom of a pot. He impatiently pulled Evan’s collar down, dominantly planting a fierce kiss on Evan’s lips, after that he arrogantly raised his chin looking at that Sub-Beast.

Do you see clearly? This is my mate, stop peeking.

That Priest Sub-Beast clearly froze for a second, after that his shy appearance slowly cracked apart. Damn it, he finally met someone to his taste, who would have expected the person did not like Sub-Beasts!

The Golden Lion tribe’s young Priest looked at Aaron from top to bottom, after that he stared intently at Aaron’s face... One minute, two minutes... about five minutes later, the young Priest finally moved his gaze away.

Damn it, what is the point of a beastman being so beautiful?

His voice’s volume recovered to normal again: "Leon, who are they?"

Leon breathed a sigh of relief, answering: "They are the adventure team of the Crimson tribe, accidentally getting lost in the Illusion Forest. They encountered magical beasts’ attacks, suffering quite a lot of casualties so I brought them back here." He whispered into the young Priest’s ear: "On their backs are their teammates’ ashes. In such a desperate situation they still did not leave their teammates’ corpses behind, I feel they are very worthy of making friends with."

The sharpness deep in the young Priest’s eyes softened a bit, he nodded saying: "Since they have already arrived they are guests, you can arrange a place to stay for them. Anyone who is injured can come to my place for healing."

After saying that the young Priest turned his head walking into the tribe, everyone also followed behind him. Leon giggled speaking to Aaron: "The Sub-Beasts in our tribe have straightforward personalities, if they like someone they will immediately show it on the outside. Your mate also has an appearance suiting the public’s taste, so such situations are unavoidable.

But you can rest assured, after knowing he only likes beastmen, they will not approach anymore."

Aaron raised an eyebrow: "What if I were a Sub-Beast?"

Leon raised an eyebrow: "How isolated does your tribe live anyway, not even knowing about the mate-selection challenge common in our Eastern Continent? If a Sub-Beast fancies a beastman, he will step up challenging the mate or the pursuing Sub-Beasts of that beastman, whoever wins the beastman will follow that person."

The Crimson people: "..." How domineering! It seemed in this place Sub-Beasts were the masters.

Aaron paid attention to the phrase ’Eastern Continent’ instead. He had always known the Beastman Continent was divided into East – West – South - North, but the paths to the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent had all been blocked by black fog, no one had ever found a way to go to these two halves of the continent.

Who would have expected just from one incident, they were directly teleported to the Eastern Continent!

Aaron was a bit worried. If there was a path to the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent, then would they and the great Chief’s family fall into the same place?

Leon saw Aaron’s expression was a bit ugly, he thought this young beastman going out for the first time was scared by this system where Sub-Beasts were revered, cautiously asking:

"How do you choose a mate in your tribe?"

A team member tilted his head answering instead of Aaron, his expression was a bit subtle: "Our tribe takes fidelity as the foundation, regardless of whether it is a beastman or a Sub-Beast there is only one mate. For anyone who interferes in someone else’s family, the light penalty is a warning, the severe penalty is three years in prison. Beastmen and Sub-Beasts who already have a mate but have an affair with others will be forced to cancel their contract, immediately going to squat in prison for three years."

Another person nodded: "If they repeat the offense for a second time after being punished, they will be stripped of their residency, getting kicked out of the tribe."

The people of the Golden Lion tribe dropped their jaws, not expecting there was a tribe establishing such strict marriage laws. Draven lying on his team member’s back had already woken up since Leon was kicked flying by the great Priest, his spirit was also a bit better. He doubtfully asked a beastman of the Golden Lion clan:

"You guys just need to like someone, then just challenge their mate or lover like that? Does no one ask whether that beastman or Sub-Beast is willing or not?"

The questioned beastman blankly shook his head. The Sub-Beast carrying Draven continued the conversation: "Is marriage not about mutual respect and love between both sides? How can a mate be treated as a spoil of war being kicked back forth like that?"

The people of the Golden Lion tribe were questioned until they became blank. No one had ever asked them such questions before, they themselves had never wondered if it was reasonable or not. The mate-selection mechanism in the Eastern Continent had always been like this, no one had ever told them to pay attention to the feelings of the chosen person.

The atmosphere was frozen for a long time, a very long time later not a single person said another word.