Free Web NovelChapter 146: Chapter 146: Oakstone Tribe
Throughout that entire day, Finnick and Oliver constantly crowded around Ryder, admiring his beautiful eyes. Finnick even continuously made all sorts of funny faces for Ryder to see, making the boy giggle non-stop.
Kaelen, who was planning to plant spiritual herbs, occasionally looked up at the children affectionately. Sane suddenly said:
"Kaelen, I want to adopt Ryder."
Kaelen looked at Sane in confusion; weren’t they already raising the boy right now?
Sane shook his head: "Not that kind of adoption. I want to take Ryder as an adopted son, so he can call us Papa and Daddy like our three kids."
Kaelen was slightly taken aback, put his pen down, and said seriously: "Are you sure, Sane? Taking Ryder as a disciple and taking him as an adopted son are two completely different concepts. If we adopt Ryder, we have to take responsibility for his life, and there absolutely cannot be any discrimination."
Although he really wanted to adopt Ryder, he clearly understood the habits of snakes.
Snakes would swallow the eggs of other snakes or eat the offspring of other species if they came across them; there was absolutely no such thing as adopting, like some furry species did. In nature, snakes usually left after giving birth, or if they had a conscience, they would only incubate the eggs until they hatched, and then leave them to fend for themselves.
Snake beastmen were slightly more humane; they might raise their own children, but they would absolutely not raise the children of others. Therefore, when Kaelen heard Sane say he wanted to adopt Ryder, he was so surprised.
Sane nodded firmly: "I really like this kid and feel it wouldn’t be bad to have him as our son. Furthermore, don’t you see that all our children love Ryder very much? Especially Edward, who almost treats Ryder as a younger brother and takes care of him."
Kaelen looked back at the children, then recalled the scenes of Sane interacting with Ryder. Whatever his two brats had, Ryder also had it. Whenever Sane took Finnick and Oliver anywhere, he would also carry Ryder along, even personally bathing him, cleaning his teeth, feeding him, and coaxing him to sleep...
Indeed, no matter how one looked at it, he embodied the image of an exemplary Daddy.
Kaelen said happily: "If you truly think so, then I have absolutely no objections. But we must ask for the boy’s and the kids’ opinions first."
The two of them immediately went in front of the three children. Sane said solemnly:
"Ryder, Oliver, Finnick. We have an important matter and need your opinions. Ryder, do you want to call me and Kaelen Daddy and Papa?"
Ryder was stunned, blankly looking at the two adults, then said with tears welling in his eyes: "I want to, I want to!"
Kaelen turned to ask his two children: "Do you agree to accept Ryder as your older brother?"
The two cubs immediately nodded profusely, and Oliver even clapped his hands loudly.
Sane immediately curled his lips, smiled, and said: "Then from now on, Ryder will be my and Kaelen’s adopted son. Based on the current situation, Edward is the eldest brother, Ryder will be the second brother, Finnick is the third brother, and Oliver is the youngest brother. Is that okay?"
"Yes!" Ryder sniffled. Finnick and Oliver had absolutely no objections.
Ryder transformed into his beast form, clung to Kaelen’s arm, climbed up to rub his head against Kaelen’s cheek, and called out loudly: "Papa!"
The boy then spread his two forelimbs towards Sane, his voice carrying a hint of anticipation: "Daddy~"
Sane smiled brightly, responded with a ’yes’, and reached out to pick the boy up. Ryder was incredibly joyful, occasionally jumping onto Kaelen’s lap calling ’Papa’, then climbing onto Sane calling ’Daddy’. Afterwards, he trotted in front of Finnick and Oliver, continuously calling them ’younger brothers’.
Then the family of five led each other to the Justice Department to register a birth certificate and residential status for Ryder. After completing all the procedures, Sane told Barton:
"Pass this news down, say that our family is hosting a meal today, everyone can eat and drink to their heart’s content!"
Kaelen stealthily squeezed the magic core pouch hanging at his waist, silently estimating a bit. Fortunately, although there wasn’t much left, it was still enough to treat everyone to a good meal. Sane caught a glimpse of his mate’s small movement and somewhat embarrassedly rubbed his nose.
*So embarrassing, I forgot our family is very poor right now...*
The news of the two leaders adopting Ryder quickly spread throughout the tribe; someone even thoughtfully ran to Weston’s place to inform him. Weston’s eyes welled with hot tears, feeling incredibly happy for Ryder. The boy was orphaned since birth; no matter how much Weston cared for him, he couldn’t give Ryder a complete home.
Now that the boy was adopted by the two leaders, it could be considered that he finally had a warm home.
The atmosphere in Crimson was filled with joy. On the other side of the demonic beast forest, Ian’s group had also approached the target of this trip.
The weather was favorable, so they arrived at Ian’s former tribe a month earlier than Kaelen had anticipated. The wheat grains hadn’t ripened yet, so they had to choose a location far away from that tribe to set up camp.
They only wanted to peacefully wait for the wheat to ripen to collect the seeds and bring them back; unfortunately, there were always those who wouldn’t let them be in peace.
Ian’s former tribe was named Oakstone, because there were many oak trees surrounding the tribe. Ian’s group had chosen an oak forest quite far from the outskirts of the Oakstone tribe, as far as a five-day journey away, but unexpectedly, they were still discovered.
The first to discover them was a Jaguar clan beastman. He had separated from the pack to look for oak mushrooms to bring back and prepare for his mating ceremony. From afar, he saw Ian’s group setting up camp in the oak forest and recognized Ian immediately.
He quietly returned to report the news. Subsequently, an army from the Oakstone tribe advanced and set up camp right near them. Ian was somewhat surprised because, according to his understanding of the Oakstone tribe, as soon as they discovered others stopping near their tribe, the first thing they would do was to drive them away. If they couldn’t drive them away, they would kill them; there was absolutely no such thing as sitting and guarding a corner like this. Ian decided to ask for clarification.
Colton immediately stopped him and said: "Ian, they don’t look very friendly, don’t go near them."
Ian brushed Colton’s hand away and said: "It’s nothing, I know their leader. Although he has a violent temper, he always acts straightforwardly, he wouldn’t sneak-attack others."
Colton was still very uneasy and immediately waved to the squad members, saying:
"We will go with you."
The entire squad immediately stood up, surrounding Ian. Ian was slightly touched and didn’t stop them anymore.
On the other side, seeing Ian’s squad walking in this direction, the people from the Oakstone tribe also stood up vigilantly. The beastman leading the Oakstone group was a Snow Wolf clan beastman. There was a scar cutting across his left eye, making him look even more ferocious.
However, Colton couldn’t help but look at that beastman twice. Honestly, this Snow Wolf’s appearance exactly suited his taste, especially those well-proportioned eight-pack abs; he wondered what it would feel like to touch them...
The Snow Wolf beastman sensed the gaze that seemed to want to swallow him whole, and his vigilance heightened even more. He looked at Ian and the group wearing bizarrely shaped wooden masks approaching, and said somewhat complicatedly:
"Long time no see, Ian."
Ian nodded, saying indifferently: "Long time no see, Damian. We are just setting up camp to rest here for a few days, then we will leave. You guys don’t need to be so defensive."
The Snow Wolf beastman named Damian shook his head and said: "It’s not that we are vigilant, it’s just that the Chief sent me to negotiate with you, wanting to ask if you are willing to return to the tribe. I planned to observe your situation first, then pop the question."
Ian’s eyes widened in disbelief, blurting out loudly: "He personally threw me into the fire to burn me alive, and now he wants me to return to the tribe. Is he crazy or are you guys crazy?!"
A beastman standing behind Damian immediately stepped forward and shouted loudly: "Ian! How can you speak so arrogantly?! Letting you return to the tribe is already the greatest favor the Chief has offered, don’t be ungrateful!"
Ian smirked disdainfully and scoffed: "You guys go and accept that trashy favor, I don’t give a damn. As if I need your tribe to bestow a favor upon me."
Saying that, he waved his hand to signal. The Crimson army immediately covered Ian to leave. Damian immediately spoke up:
"Ian, we know we didn’t treat you well before, but the tribe raised you anyway, you cannot hurl insults at the Chief like that! If you don’t return to the tribe now, do you plan to be a wandering beastman for the rest of your life?!"
The beastman who spoke earlier spat on the ground and said disdainfully: "Captain, why are you talking so much with this cursed thing? Not capturing them to be slaves is already very lenient!"
The word ’slave’ struck straight into Colton’s mind. He harbored extreme hatred for those who specialized in capturing people without residential status to be slaves.
Although Colton didn’t know what had happened between Ian and the Oakstone tribe, the beastmen of the Oakstone tribe spoke too harshly, and moreover, every word spoken was looking down from a height, trampling Ian’s dignity underfoot. He turned around, drew his bow, and shot an arrow at that beastman.
Damian’s pupils contracted, and he immediately pulled his companion to jump to the side to dodge. The arrow tore through the wind, grazed that beastman’s cheek, leaving a streak of blood before embedding deeply into the cliff wall behind them.
Colton said coldly:
"We are people with proper residential status, not wandering beastmen. Dare to use that tone to speak to my clan member again, and what gets pierced will be your throats!"
Ian coldly turned back to look at those considered his former clan members, pulled out the identification tag hanging around his neck, and said:
"Look closely, I already belong to a tribe. Don’t use those nauseating favors to morally coerce me. Even if you guys don’t feel disgusted saying it, I find it extremely nauseating."
The expressions of the Oakstone beastmen were not very good; some had already bared their fangs and claws, preparing to attack them. The Crimson group immediately released their pressure. In the escort squad this time, all members of squad seven led by Colton were present, in addition to eight people from squad one and twelve people from squad four. All of them were warrior beastmen and Divine Energy warriors.
Although the Divine Energy group hid their abilities and didn’t show them, just the oppressive aura of the warrior beastmen alone was enough to crush the Oakstone group.
Damian’s expression wasn’t very good, and he shouted at his companions: "You guys stop immediately. The Chief said to invite Ian back, not force him to return. Do you want to disobey orders?!"
That group had already been frightened by Crimson’s formation. At this moment, with their captain providing a step down, they smoothly took it.
"No need to entangle with them, let’s go." Ian said indifferently.
Oakstone nominally was a mid-level tribe, but those beastmen with high levels had all chosen to go to the Beast City to develop. The people left in the tribe were only a few absolutely loyal ones like Damian.
The average level of this group was level one or level two, and there were even ordinary beastmen. The highest was probably Damian, level four.
If it were in the past, Ian might have felt Damian was very strong. But now, after knowing a place like Crimson where warriors were more common than mustard greens in a field, Ian felt the Oakstone group was no different from a bunch of clowns in a play written by High Priest Kaelen.
The Crimson group walked a short distance away, and Colton leaned into Ian’s ear, asking softly:
"Hey, does that guy Damian have a mate or a lover yet?"
Ian looked at him in confusion and replied: "Probably not yet. The Sub-Beasts of the Oakstone tribe were all scared away by his ferocious appearance, so before I fled the tribe, he was still a single beastman. Why are you asking this?"
Colton smirked, his smile under the mask somewhat sleazy: "Tell me, if I kidnapped him to be my mate, what is the success rate?"
Ian: "..."
Damian, who was pricking his ears to eavesdrop: "..."
