Chapter 226: Little Tiger’s Roar in the Beast World – 15

In the Heaven Tribe, the beastmen had learned to store food, and with fewer beastmen returning to the embrace of the Beast God, the Spring Festival¹ became the most important event in the tribe.

Typically, male and female beastmen in the tribe had few opportunities to meet. The males were busy hunting, and on days they didn’t hunt, they patrolled the tribe.

The females were occupied with farming, preparing food for the small animals they raised, and weaving tools. During special seasons, they preserved the hunted game by curing it.

Each had their own tasks, working hard all year to survive the snowy days.

The significance of the Spring Festival, besides giving eligible males and females a chance to express their feelings, was to celebrate surviving the long winter.

On the day of the Spring Festival, the Priest stood on the highest platform, holding a staff made from tree roots. She placed the staff aside and bowed devoutly toward the sunset, chanting ancient spells.

The other beastmen followed the Priest’s lead and knelt down, except for Xue, who hesitated and crouched when no one was watching.

She didn’t believe in the existence of the Beast God and found the beastmen’s grand display foolish.

The Priest on the platform noticed this and her expression turned cold.

“Xue, why do you not kneel? With the Beast God above, may we not be punished for the foolishness of one beastman.”

Xue thought she was inconspicuous in the crowd, but when called out, she noticed the angry looks from others and reluctantly knelt.

This incident delayed the Spring Festival for a long time. The Priest made them continue bowing until the sky was completely dark before allowing the beastmen to rise.

Throughout, Xie Hui offered no objections.

Faith is a peculiar thing, sometimes more important than life itself.

Xue’s legs were numb from kneeling, and she looked displeased when she got up, especially upon learning that the Spring Festival would be shortened due to the delay. She felt a growing dislike for the Priest.

When the Spring Festival began, it was a world for young beastmen. Xie Hui sat talking with his friends about the tribe’s plans to build new houses.

Many roads in the tribe were also repaired by the older beastmen.

Over there, Sheng politely declined several flowers offered by female beastmen.

Beastmen were generally carefree and straightforward. If rejected, they didn’t persist or linger, able to let go easily.

Sheng’s attention drifted to another side, where his father and Uncle Luo were slicing meat. The large piece of venison still had traces of blood, making him swallow involuntarily.

Forget it, there will be another Spring Festival next year, but the meat will be gone once his father eats it!

As he was about to sneak over for a bite, he saw Xue walking toward him with a flower. Almost instinctively, he accepted the flower from the female in front of him.

After taking it, he stared at her, wide-eyed and bewildered, finding her unexpectedly cute.

Sheng was genuinely afraid of Xue. He often wondered what it would be like if they were together, as others constantly speculated.

When Xue stopped him to talk, he would involuntarily glance at his friends nearby. Frightened, he had no mood for flowers, wanting only to dunk his head in water to clear his mind of such strange thoughts!

Hearing that Sheng found a female he liked at the Spring Festival, Xie Hui was pleased. That night, he spent the night in a cave with his friends.

It wasn’t that he believed Sheng’s life would only be complete with a partner, but beastmen had short lifespans. Xie Hui worried that after he was gone, Sheng would be lonely.

Though Sheng always said he would continue living with his father even after finding a partner, and his partner had no objections, Xie Hui still insisted on preparing a new cave for them.

Living together for too long could lead to various conflicts, and Xie Hui didn’t want to be the cause of any discord between them.

Initially, Xie Hui planned to move to the new cave, but Sheng insisted he move in, or else no one would.

Reluctantly, Xie Hui agreed, helping them organize the cave for a long time until it was ready.

After the Spring Festival, Xue still hadn’t given up on Sheng. Occasionally, she would pretend to run into him and chat, but Sheng would always quickly transform into a tiger and run away.

His partner would tug on his ear if she caught him talking to Xue, which hurt.

His father also warned him repeatedly that if he continued to have any dealings with Xue after finding a partner, he would beat his tiger behind with a stick.

Though Sheng liked flowers, he certainly didn’t want to “blossom.”

Getting nowhere with Sheng, Xue turned her attention to Sheng’s partner, the female beastman Luo, whom she had seen before the Spring Festival.

At that time, Luo was weaving a basket, which the Priest would use to store dried herbs for easier transport and drying.

“Luo, I heard you and Sheng are together now?”

Luo, focused on weaving the basket, nodded at the question.

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think Sheng was too much, making you move out?”

After Xue’s comment, Luo’s weaving slowed, and she gently nodded.

“Yes, I also think he was a bit much.”

“So, Sheng only knows that his father left that huge cave for him to live in alone.”

Luo wholeheartedly agreed, feeling a bit angry as she brought it up.

“Exactly! Such a big cave, what’s the harm in adding me?”

“Huh?”

Xue was surprised by this turn of events, and while she was in a daze, Luo had already grabbed her arm.

“Everyone in the tribe says that the Tribe Leader is an emissary sent by the Beast God to our continent. I really want to be closer to the Tribe Leader. What do you think the Beast God is like? Would he be kind? Would he watch over us every day through the sun?”

“Don’t you feel this is unfair to you?”

Xue, unwilling to give up, voiced her thoughts. Luo, who had been lost in her own ideas, realized something was amiss and instinctively became wary.

“No, I don’t think so. And what does it have to do with you?”

After saying this, she picked up the materials she hadn’t finished weaving and moved to another spot to continue her work.

Xue remained where she was, stomping her foot in frustration.

Most beastmen had rugged appearances and didn’t groom themselves, looking no different from wild men. Sheng was different, though. He had decent looks, and thanks to a father who would kick him out if he got dirty, he was forced to stay clean.

After crossing into this world, Sheng was the only type Xue could barely accept.

Luo was too guarded, and Sheng didn’t like interacting with her, so Xue had no choice but to find another beastman in the tribe to be with.

Xie Hui was surprised when he heard this news. After understanding the reason, he learned that the beastman was one who almost became part of the female protagonist’s inner circle in the original storyline.

He almost did because he lacked ability and wasn’t particularly outstanding in appearance, leading to a gentle refusal from the female protagonist.

Since she had already found a beastman she fancied, Xie Hui no longer focused his attention on her.

During that year, Luo was diagnosed by the Priest as being pregnant. Sheng forced her to stay home, forbidding her from climbing mountains to gather herbs as before, allowing her only to do light weaving.

Every time he went hunting, Sheng would bring back some ripe wild fruits for her, the sweet and sour berries greatly alleviating Luo’s adverse reactions during pregnancy.

Most of these wild fruits grew in hard-to-reach places. Xue’s beastman wanted to help her pick them, but he simply didn’t have the ability.

If it were someone else, Sheng would have gladly helped, but because the female beastman was Xue, Sheng always pretended not to see and quickly avoided her.

His father once said that once you have a partner, loyalty is the most basic requirement.

If you can’t even manage that, his father would consider his upbringing a failure.

Luo gave birth to two cubs. Her beast form was also a tiger, and both male cubs were adorable.

Xie Hui visited, carrying an animal he had just caught outside, said to have tender meat, perfect for a female beastman to replenish energy after giving birth.

When he arrived, the two cubs lay on soft animal skins, their eyes still closed, their paws and noses a light pink, making cute little noises.

“Father.”

Sheng stepped aside to give Xie Hui a better view.

When Xie Hui extended a finger, one of the little tigers accidentally pawed at it, a wonderful sensation spreading from the point of contact.

In his mind, Xie Hui suddenly recalled Sheng from the client’s memory. Back then, he was even more beautiful than these two, opening his eyes on the second day after birth and crying out whenever he was hungry.

The two cubs were very healthy, but Luo’s body couldn’t handle it, so Xie Hui and Sheng went hunting together, hoping to catch a couple of goats like other beastmen in the tribe.

Winter was approaching, and this year’s food reserves were less than last year’s. Since the weather cooled, the number of prey had halved, and many of the tribe’s livestock had died.

The birth of the two new cubs eased the oppressive atmosphere in the tribe significantly.

After several days of hunting, they finally caught a goat that had recently given birth. Initially, it could still produce some milk, but later they had to cut fresh meat with a knife to feed the cubs.

Both cubs were quite greedy and loved to compete, even though there were two portions prepared for them, each thought the other’s bowl was tastier.

Whenever Xie Hui visited, it was either the older brother pinning down the younger or the younger stepping on the older’s head.

When separated, they would growl at each other in dissatisfaction.

One snowy day, Xie Hui took the two cubs to his cave, sitting on a stool.

A tiny tiger lay on his leg, resting its head on its paws, watching the heavy snowfall outside with its grandfather.

Suddenly, a leopard dashed in, shaking off the snow before transforming into a human and approaching the Tribe Leader.

“Tribe Leader, something’s happened. The Priest has requested your presence.”

Translator’s Notes