Free Web NovelChapter 139: Chapter 139: When a Taboo is No Longer a Taboo
Early the next morning, while Kaelen was still half-asleep, he was woken up by the noise outside.
He rubbed his eyes and looked into the bamboo nest, seeing the three little ones still sleeping soundly. He gently picked up the nest and placed it into the crib, then walked outside with his eyes half-closed. He grabbed a Sub-Beast running past his gate and asked:
"What happened?"
The Sub-Beast frowned, speaking through slightly gritted teeth: "It’s the Black Panther beastman that Aaron vouched for. I don’t know what happened, but he got into a fight with some people from Squad 3 early this morning."
"This guy really doesn’t know his place." Another beastman who happened to pass by chimed in upon hearing this: "If he hadn’t been vouched for by Captain Aaron, he would still be outside the tribe working as a hired hand right now. Who gave him the guts to hit the beastmen in the tribe!"
Kaelen said sternly: "Evan is already a member of our tribe!"
The two of them awkwardly scratched their heads. It wasn’t that they didn’t know this, but they still held some prejudice against this beastman who came in through the back door. Kaelen didn’t want to say too much either. He swept his gaze and immediately saw Urion peeking outside the gate across the street. He waved his hand and said to the boy:
"Urion, can you help me look after the little ones?"
Urion immediately ran over: "Yes, Brother Kaelen. You go ahead and handle their business first."
Kaelen hurriedly ran off. When he arrived, the fight had already been stopped. Barton, with a dark expression, was shouting at the beastmen from Squad 3 to interrogate them for the reason, while Evan was being held back by Aaron. Both sides had many bruises on their faces, proving that they had only used their fists to settle the issue.
Kaelen asked coldly: "What happened? Did you invite each other for morning exercises?"
Everyone could tell from his voice that the High Priest was angry. They hurriedly separated themselves from the troublemakers to avoid being implicated. Barton placed a hand over his left chest, bowing to Kaelen, and then said helplessly:
"I have been pressing for answers this whole time, but these guys all say they were just sparring with each other. As for that Black Panther, he just stands there silently, saying nothing at all."
Kaelen narrowed his eyes, standing in front of the group of beastmen, and asked: "Really? If it was martial arts sparring, why didn’t you go to the military camp? Why did you insist on sparring right in the grand plaza in front of the Temple?"
The group of beastmen bowed their heads like quails, not daring to breathe heavily. Aaron was shaking Evan at this moment, saying urgently: "Say something! Why did you suddenly get into a fight? Is it like what they said?"
Evan lowered his eyelids, neither looking at Aaron nor answering Aaron’s questions. Aaron stomped his feet in anger. He hated Evan’s habit of keeping everything completely bottled up the most.
"Not going to tell the truth, right? Then starting from today, all of you, including Evan, are suspended from work for a month, stripped of all supplies, and moved to the dormitories outside the tribe to live."
The group of beastmen anxiously nudged one another, looking at each other with deep hesitation. Being suspended and stripped of supplies was almost the same as being kicked out of the tribe for a month. Aside from being able to work in place of others to earn a little food and have a place to stay, it wasn’t much different from being someone without residential status.
However, they looked at Aaron and didn’t dare utter a word. If suspended, at least they would still be breathing. They could still return to work after a month, which was far better than telling the truth. Offending Captain Aaron meant that their front foot might have just stepped out of the tribe, and their back foot would have already returned to the Beast God without anyone knowing.
Seeing that they weren’t going to tell the truth, Kaelen didn’t bother to say any more and waved his hand for Barton to carry out the punishment. At this moment, a Sub-Beast from Sorin’s squad stepped forward and bowed to Kaelen.
"High Priest, I know the reason."
Kaelen stopped his footsteps and said: "Oh, why didn’t you step forward earlier? Could it be that you thought I was punishing this group too heavily and wanted to ask for a lighter sentence for them?"
The Sub-Beast smirked and said: "No, High Priest. I think you are punishing them too lightly. Evan doesn’t deserve to be punished like that."
Saying that, the Sub-Beast recounted the entire story in detail. Originally, he hadn’t wanted to speak up because he felt that those people from Squad Three deserved the beating, but seeing that the High Priest also wanted to punish Evan, the Sub-Beast stepped forward to testify.
The initial cause stemmed from this group of people returning from their shift, just as they saw Evan passing by carrying a food box. They started making disparaging remarks, full of sarcasm about how Evan had made no contributions yet was granted special exception to become a Crimson citizen.
If they had only badmouthed Evan, nothing would have happened. After all, Evan had never paid attention to such gossip. It was just that these bastards, perhaps having fallen into a cesspit and gotten waterlogged brains, started dragging Aaron into the conversation. Countless indecent words just poured out.
"They are proper beastmen, yet they could spout such filthy words." The Sub-Beast frowned in disgust: "They even said, they wondered what it would feel like to pin Captain Aaron beneath their bodies and do it, it must feel amazing..."
The gazes of everyone present shifted from astonishment to piercing cold. They didn’t dare to comment on Aaron’s private life, but Aaron’s contributions to the tribe alone were enough to make him an inviolable existence within the tribe. Yet these guys actually dared to speak so frivolously about Aaron.
Aaron’s eyes grew even colder, faintly harboring a bit of killing intent.
After hearing the root cause, Kaelen also felt that his punishment was still too light. He said coldly:
"In this world, beastmen are many and Sub-Beasts are few. It is not uncommon for a beastman and a beastman to be together and form a family. Even among the Demigods of ancient times, there were many who chose beastmen as their mates.
You might not be able to accept it, and I can understand that. But that is not a reason for you to use filthy language to judge others, especially your own clan members, let alone a clan member who is a beastman with great contributions to the tribe!
Barton, confiscate their identification tags. From today onwards, they are no longer people of Crimson. The tribe will not hunt you down to the bitter end. You can still work as hired hands in exchange for supplies like the neighboring tribes, but starting today, you are not allowed to stay in the tribe anymore."
The group of beastmen collapsed to their knees in panic, crying and begging:
"High Priest, we were wrong, we won’t dare to do it again. Captain Aaron, we know our mistake, we won’t dare to speak nonsense in the future, please forgive us."
Kaelen waved his hand. Barton took the lead and dragged them away; their begging voices could still be heard from afar. Chapman had just run to the scene. Having heard the whole story clearly, he didn’t open his mouth to plead for his squad members anymore. He only bowed his head to Aaron and said sincerely:
"Aaron, it is my fault for not managing the squad strictly, allowing them to insult you. I bow my head here to apologize to you, only hoping you will spare their lives. After all, they are still too young."
Aaron’s anger had not yet subsided, but Evan tugged at Aaron’s sleeve and shook his head. Aaron took a deep breath and said to Chapman in frustration:
"Fine, out of respect for you, I won’t do anything to them. But in the future, even if they manage to return to the tribe, don’t expect me to show any face. Every time I see them, I will beat them."
Kaelen raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected that this Black Panther beastman could actually restrain Aaron’s vengeful temper. Moreover, based on Aaron’s words, if that group reformed well, Aaron wouldn’t stop them from returning to the tribe.
He smiled subtly and said: "Evan, although those guys spouted nothing but crap from their mouths, your taking it upon yourself to fight them is still against the tribe’s regulations. The one-month work suspension penalty will still be enforced."
Aaron became a bit impatient. Just as he opened his mouth to argue, Kaelen raised an eyebrow and let out an ’hmm’: "Do you have an opinion?"
Aaron immediately deflated: "No, High Priest. I just wanted to say that the root of the incident was because of me, can you suspend me as well?"
Everyone present turned their backs, not daring to look directly. Evan hurriedly waved his hands at Aaron: [Don’t be so impulsive, you are the head of a department!]
Kaelen burst out laughing and said: "Want to use this as an excuse to be lazy? Don’t even dream about it!"
Then he turned his back and walked straight away, leaving Aaron to stomp his feet in anger.
Around nine o’clock that morning, a new clause in the marriage law was passed: The tribe allowed marriage between two beastmen or two Sub-Beasts who were single or widowed. Any couple wishing to mate could go to the administrative area to register, followed by a mating ceremony hosted by the Temple.
When the new law was announced, the tribe instantly became as uproarious as a drop of water falling into a pan of boiling oil. A few hilariously absurd situations also began to occur within the tribe. For example, there was a beastman chasing after another beastman, constantly proposing marriage. The beastman being chased had his face flush red to his ears, running while yelling for the other guy to get lost.
There were also a few beastmen who, upon hearing the law, turned their heads to look at their companions with profound gazes, scaring the other person so much that their hair stood on end.
There were also a few older Sub-Beasts, whose mates had passed away, quietly leading each other to the administrative area to register as mates.
This news spread to the slave area, creating an incredibly fascinating scene as well.
The Cipher beastmen were always a bunch without any moral integrity. Recently, work had lessened, and the little brothers between their legs started getting restless again. With no Sub-Beasts to vent their frustrations on, they always felt stifled in their bodies. Just right as this new law was rolled out, they found another solution for themselves.
A Gray Wolf clan beastman smirked mischievously, throwing his arm over his close friend’s shoulder, and asked: "Want to mate?"
His friend didn’t mind at all and nodded: "Let’s go register first, and then we’ll use our fists to decide who tops and who bottoms."
"Who the fuck needs to decide? Mine is bigger than yours, I’ll top."
That friend immediately lifted up his friend’s animal skin skirt, comparing the sizes of both. Seeing that it was indeed slightly larger than his own, the friend didn’t haggle anymore and said bluntly: "Alright, but if you don’t make me feel good, we have to switch."
"Deal!"
The Crimson people: "..."
The other Cipher people: "..."
That works too?
