Free Web NovelChapter 285: Forming A New Friendship
Carla stared at Roxanna in complete disbelief. For a second, she genuinely thought the pink fox had gone crazy.
"You... what?" she asked slowly, almost unsure if she had heard correctly. "What did you just say?"
Roxanna patiently repeated herself. "You and your people can stay here for now since your settlement is still destroyed."
[Was I not clear enough?] Roxanna wondered. [Or maybe a free offer like this sounds too suspicious?]
"B-But of course, it’s not completely free," Roxanna quickly added, trying to sound stricter than she actually was. "You and your people will need to work here in exchange for the food and shelter we provide."
Carla still didn’t answer, and somehow, that only made Roxanna even more nervous.
[Did I sound too harsh?] Roxanna thought worriedly. [Maybe I shouldn’t have said it like that.]
Nearby, Cyrus and the other husbands could only frown slightly because, honestly, Roxanna’s words still sounded far too gentle compared to how an actual beast tribe leader would normally speak.
When Carla continued staying silent, Roxanna opened her mouth again. "Do you—"
But before she could finish, Carla suddenly rushed toward her.
Roxanna thought the ox beastwoman was about to attack, so she instinctively tensed and prepared herself. However, instead of hitting her, Carla suddenly wrapped both arms around her in a tight hug.
The sudden hug completely caught Roxanna off guard. Her eyes widened while Carla buried her face against her shoulder, trembling slightly. The large ox beastwoman looked like she was trying very hard not to cry.
"Thank you..." Carla whispered hoarsely. "Thank you so much."
Roxanna froze for a moment before awkwardly patting her back. Honestly, she had been fully prepared to get punched instead.
"It’s fine," Roxanna said softly. "You don’t need to thank me that much."
But Carla quickly shook her head.
"No, you don’t understand." Her voice trembled slightly. "Most tribe leaders would never let outsiders stay inside their settlement, especially not after... we tried to take something precious from you."
Roxanna’s expression softened a little. Carla was definitely talking about Cyrus.
It reminded her of last night when she and Calen had wondered why Harlan kept appearing near the river close to their settlement. Now it was obvious that he had really been spying on Cyrus the entire time.
That suspicion only grew stronger after Roxanna learned that Carla was married to an eagle beastman.
"What exactly did he tell you?" Roxanna finally asked. "Did he say that Cyrus was dangerous and needed to be watched?"
Carla looked slightly taken aback by how blunt Roxanna was. But a moment later, she answered, "He told me that Cyrus could become a huge threat to my tribe. That’s why he asked me and Harlan to keep an eye on him."
"And your leader didn’t know about this?" Roxanna asked again.
Carla lowered her head before shaking it weakly.
"No. Back then, that bastard told me to keep everything secret from my leader until we found out the truth." Her voice became heavier with guilt. "But... I should’ve told him sooner before... everything became too late."
The leader of Carla’s tribe was none other than Harlan’s own father.
Honestly, it sounded a little strange that a golden fish beastman could rule over much stronger beastmen. But just like the Pink Fox tribe, who possessed something precious that made other tribes value them, Harlan’s family also held something extremely important.
They were able to enhance other people’s strength by sharing their aura. And the children born from mixing with gold fish beastkins could become twice as strong if the other parent was already powerful.
But going back to the previous topic, Carla’s father-in-law had unfortunately died because of this incident. From what Roxanna heard, he strongly refused to help the eagle beastmen attack the Vixeria Tribe without any reason.
As a result, they stoned him to death.
"You tried to take something precious from me while you were being influenced by someone else," Roxanna said softly. "It wasn’t right, and honestly, I didn’t like it either. But I can still understand your situation, so... why don’t we leave the past behind and start over?" She hesitated for a moment before adding, "Maybe we can become real friends?"
[I’m really nervous...] Roxanna admitted inwardly. [After Aelin, I’ve never openly asked someone to be friends with me like this before.]
Honestly, Aelin had been the first one to approach them and call them friends.
Azul had once told her that real friendships usually happened naturally. People normally didn’t ask each other, "Do you want to be my friend?" because that kind of relationship would slowly grow on its own.
But sadly, Roxanna had experienced too many painful misunderstandings before.
Sometimes, she thought she was close to someone, only to later realize that person had never seen her as a real friend at all. That was why Roxanna had developed a habit of putting labels on every relationship she had.
Carla stared at Roxanna silently for a few seconds, clearly caught off guard by her words.
Then, to Roxanna’s surprise, the large ox beastwoman suddenly laughed. It was not a mocking laugh, but a warm one filled with disbelief.
"You really are strange for a tribe leader," Carla said while wiping the corner of her eyes. "I’ve never met anyone who asked for friendship this seriously before."
Roxanna instantly felt embarrassed. [Ah... this is embarrassing.]
She suddenly wanted to take her words back. But before she could say anything else, Carla tightened her hug around her again.
"I’d like that," Carla said honestly. "If you’re willing to trust me after everything that happened... then I also want to become your friend for real."
Roxanna blinked in surprise before slowly smiling. For some reason, hearing those words made her chest feel warm.
Roxanna honestly never expected that someone who once stormed up to her in anger for "stealing" her husband would one day end up living in the Vixeria Tribe, and even become her friend.
After a while, they finally pulled away from the hug, and Roxanna awkwardly patted Carla’s muscular arms.
"A-Alright then," Roxanna said while turning toward the others. "Now it’s time for me to check everyone’s injuries!"
She immediately started examining the wounded people, beginning with those in the worst condition. Zeir and Cyrus followed closely beside her, helping decide whether Roxanna needed to use her blood to heal them or not.
"He’ll be fine after resting for one or two days," Zeir said.
Roxanna let out a soft hiss when she saw the man’s leg. It was bent at an uncomfortable angle, and there was a nasty wound along the skin.
"But... that looks really painful," she muttered.
Cyrus shook his head casually. "It’s not that serious. We just need to... straighten it a little."
He then grabbed the man’s ankle before saying with a smile, "Bear with it for a moment."
Before the poor man could even respond, Cyrus suddenly pulled on his leg and forced the crooked bone back into place.
CRACK!
"ARGHHH! MY LEG!" the man screamed in horror. "YOU BROKE MY LEG!"
Cyrus immediately frowned at him. "Broke it?" he repeated. "I fixed it. Look."
The injured man looked like he was on the verge of tears, but when he carefully glanced down at his leg again, he suddenly froze because the bend was gone.
"Huh?" He blinked several times before slowly moving his leg a little. "W-Wait... it actually feels better?"
"Of course it does," Cyrus replied calmly. "If I had really broken it, you would’ve fainted from the pain already."
Roxanna stared at Cyrus in complete disbelief. "You did that way too casually," she whispered.
Cyrus tilted his head slightly. "Should I have screamed while doing it?"
"That’s not the point!"
Meanwhile, several nearby beastmen instinctively took a small step away from Cyrus while quietly protecting their own legs.
Cyrus could only shake his head in disbelief after seeing everyone’s reactions. After that, they continued checking the injured people, and in the end, Roxanna only needed to use her blood twice.
At first, she felt a little guilty for not helping everyone directly. But her husbands kept reminding her that she had already done more than enough, so eventually, she stopped overthinking it.
By the time night finally came and all the problems inside the Vixeria Tribe had been handled, Roxanna was finally able to lie down on her soft mattress.
She was so exhausted that she didn’t even last two minutes before falling deep asleep.
The next morning, however, she was greeted by something unexpectedly adorable right in front of her hut.
"Leader, thank you for taking care of us!"
The people of Vixeria, including the former Sky Tribe members, had gathered right in front of Roxanna’s hut. Grandma Mia stood in the center with a warm smile on her face, holding several pieces of delicious-looking meat in her hands. Judging by the smell alone, it was most likely cooked by Cyrus. freёweɓnovel.com
Roxanna had only just woken up, so her sleepy brain needed a few seconds to process what was happening before she slowly walked down the stairs of her hut.
"Ah... what’s all this?" she asked in confusion. "You really didn’t have to go through so much trouble."
Grandma Mia chuckled softly. "You’ve been working so hard lately," she said gently. "We simply wanted to show how thankful we are."
"Leader, thank you for making our lives better!" one of the tribe members shouted loudly.
Carla also spoke up. "Thank you for letting us stay here with you."
Everyone continued thanking her one after another, and somehow, all those sincere words warmed Roxanna’s heart.
At that moment, she finally became truly certain that she had made the right choice when she decided to keep living in this world.
