Chapter 51: Chapter 51: The Truth and Forgiveness

When Yuchi left and returned, besides Jaxon and Randy, there was also Jaxon’s mate, Zephyr. He held a bowl of glass noodles in his hands, topped with a chicken egg the beastman group had picked up while hunting.

Mie refused Zephyr’s bowl of noodles, his eyes looking agonizingly at Jaxon, wishing he could tell Jaxon everything immediately. Jaxon coaxed:

"Eat first. Wait until you finish eating, then we will talk."

Zephyr brought the bowl over, skillfully using chopsticks to feed the noodles to Mie. Since Mie was sick, he couldn’t eat much; after only half a bowl, he couldn’t eat anymore. Zephyr set the noodles aside and handed Mie a cup of water.

Looking at the beautiful, shiny cup in his hands, Mie’s tears uncontrollably welled up.

"I am sorry, it is all my fault. If I hadn’t played along with Rylan’s misdeeds, Walter and Kaelen wouldn’t have had to die..."

Randy was surprised. He pulled up a wooden chair, sat down, and softly consoled: "Mie, the two of them unfortunately met with an accident. It is not your fault, don’t blame yourself like that."

Mie shook his head and sniffled: "No, Elder Randy, it really is my fault. Valerius once slipped up and told our group of Sub-Beasts that Kaelen was afraid of snakes, so Rylan planned to mix Skag grass to lure snakes into the mosquito-repellent grass pouch gifted to Kaelen.

I know what we did was wrong, but the truth is far more horrifying than I thought. Rylan secretly told some beastmen of the Gray Wolf clan to scatter Banshee grass powder along the path Walter often strolled. Then, he hid it from us and stuffed a few blades of Banshee grass into the pile of Skag grass.

We didn’t know, so we just mixed them in with the mosquito-repellent grass, and then... and then Walter and Kaelen... I am sorry, I was wrong..."

Mie choked on his sobs. The adults in the tent all looked at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief. Jaxon rubbed his face, pacing back and forth in the tent. After a while, he asked, his voice somewhat heavy:

"That’s not right! I mean, Banshee grass was gathered and burned to the roots a long time ago. You might not even find any searching across this entire Southern Continent, so how could Rylan have them?!"

"It was his Papa! Chief, Elder Moharm is the Cipher tribe’s Priest’s first disciple! The day Brother Theron was taken away from the tribe, I kept thinking about it, constantly feeling that his sudden transformation into a feral beast was due to drinking the water I gave him.

I remembered that when boiling the saltwater, only Rylan and Orion were there, so that night I went to ask Orion. Orion said he didn’t do it, and we both thought the only person capable of doing this was Rylan. So, Orion and I went to find Rylan to get to the bottom of it.

Unexpectedly... Beast God, everything was terrifying. Orion and I hid outside Rylan’s cave and overheard the conversation between the father and son. Rylan got the Banshee grass from the Fourth Elder. He also put poison that dissipates a beastman’s power into my pot of saltwater.

When we arrived, Moharm was scolding Rylan for acting too convolutedly. He said he had sent people to chase after Brother Theron to silence him, and even wanted to make a move on Orion and me."

Randy and Zephyr covered their mouths, stopping themselves from making a sound that would alarm the tribesmen outside. Mie trembled, the water in his cup splashing and spilling out:

"We also heard Moharm say that he needed to accelerate the progress of taking over the tribe and the warrior training methods. That way, when the Cipher tribe arrives, he can attain the position of the Cipher tribe’s high priest."

Mie and Orion were stunned to hear this. Orion accidentally knocked over a walking stick outside the cave entrance. Moharm immediately shouted: "Who is it?!" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Startled, the two of them hurriedly ran for their lives, wanting to go report to Jaxon. However, they hadn’t gone very far before two beastmen of the Gray Wolf clan jumped out to block their path. They covered their mouths and dragged them out of the tribe, wanting to silence them immediately. On the way, they met a few beastmen on guard duty and wanted to cry for help, but those beastmen pretended not to see them; they even made way for the Gray Wolf clan beastmen to drag them away.

Orion belonged to the Antelope clan, his physical strength slightly greater than a normal Sub-Beast’s. While those beastmen were slightly distracted because they were two Sub-Beasts, Orion quietly forced himself to undergo beastification. He pushed down the beastman holding him captive, then used his horns to butt away the beastman holding Mie.

He pushed Mie to run into the forest, while he tried to hold those two back.

"He told me to run quickly, I could only run into the black forest. I kept running and running, until I met Brother Theron who was severely injured. Perhaps the group sent by Moharm to assassinate him thought Theron was already dead, so they just left him in the middle of the forest."

Mie rubbed his fingers against the water cup, mustered all his courage, looked up, and asked: "Chief, Orion... he...?"

The adults in the tent all shook their heads. Mie understood as well, lowering his head. Tears fell into the water cup, emitting pattering sounds. Randy looked at Jaxon, saying:

"If this is Cipher’s plot, then they..."

Jaxon knew who the "they" in Randy’s mouth were; it was the tribesmen who had chased them out of the tribe. He paced back and forth in the tent for a while, then lifted the tent flap, wanting to go outside.

Zephyr, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up: "Jaxon, if you go back there, we will no longer be mates."

Jaxon paused slightly. After about half a minute, he said: "You are overthinking it, I just want to tell everyone about Theron’s situation, so everyone can be more at ease." Saying so, he walked away.

Zephyr lowered his eyelashes, not knowing what he was thinking. Randy looked at Zephyr, then looked at Mie, and said:

"Mie, just rest well. We are going to handle some matters."

He helped Mie lie down, but Mie shook his head: "Lying down too much hurts my back, I want to sit for a while. Don’t worry, Elder, there is a backrest pillow, I am not uncomfortable."

Randy sighed, rubbed Mie’s head, and said: "Don’t think too much about it, Walter and Kaelen might not have met with a mishap. We will stay here and wait for them to return."

Mie nodded slightly. Randy and Zephyr went outside together, taking the half-eaten bowl of glass noodles with them. After all, sitting for so long, the noodles had absorbed water and turned pale white; even a normal person would find it unappetizing, let alone a sick person.

Mie sat in a daze on the bed for a while, propped himself up slowly, and walked outside while holding onto the tree trunks.

Everyone had gone somewhere, leaving only a few beastmen standing guard outside. Mie said he wanted to go take care of personal needs. The beastmen instructed him not to go too far and to call them immediately if there was any problem.

Mie nodded, walking away slowly. In reality, the direction he went was getting further and further away from everyone’s living area. He felt he did not deserve to stay in this place, eating everyone’s food and drinking everyone’s water anymore.

"Where are you planning to go?"

Jaxon’s voice rang out from behind. Mie trembled and slowly turned around. Behind him, besides Jaxon, there were also several people from the tribe; it seemed they had all gone to look for him together. The Fifth Elder’s face darkened, and he scolded:

"Are you running away? What do you think we are going to do to you? Kill you or chase you away? Are we that cruel?"

Mie lowered his head and did not answer, only biting his lip to hold back his cries. Theron limped over to Mie’s feet, gently patted Mie’s calf with his paw pads, and purred softly in his throat. This was telling Mie to go back.

Jax and Zephyr stepped forward together, each supporting one side of Mie, carefully holding Mie. Zephyr said softly:

"Mie, don’t you want to hear everyone’s opinion for a bit? Let’s go back first, okay?"

Mie was injured, walking slowly so he hadn’t gone too far from where everyone was resting. Guided by the two people, it only took a moment for them to return to the campfire.

"He’s back, he’s back. Oh, this child, heavily injured yet running around for what!"

"Come, come, let him sit down here, be a little careful."

"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere? Really, why take things so hard?"

Each person chimed in, expressing their concern for Mie. The little Sub-Beast was loved but fearful, his voice trembling as he asked: "Everyone... everyone doesn’t blame me? I violated a strict rule of the tribe..."

A Sub-Beast of the Lynx clan scolded: "The tribe is already falling apart, what damn rules! It’s not your fault anyway, it’s those treacherous bastards’ fault!"

"That’s right."

The old beastman of the Curved-Horn Goat clan stroked his white beard, saying kindly: "It’s true that you were wrong for accidentally aiding the bad guys, but who among us hasn’t made mistakes? Am I right, Mossi?"

Mossi, who was using a tree branch to carve the shape of a Sloth on a small clump of dirt, was suddenly called out. He bared his teeth and glared, saying: "Why drag me into this, you old geezer? If you are too free with nothing to do, go boil water to shave that mess of fur on your body, don’t just pick fights with others at the drop of a hat!"

The Curved-Horn Goat clan beastman immediately retorted, and the two of them started bickering back and forth noisily, livening up the somewhat somber atmosphere in this place. Mie watched the tribesmen happily laughing and talking, not knowing exactly how he felt in his heart. His right cheek was licked once, the rough sensation pulling his thoughts back. Mie turned to look and met Theron’s worried gaze. He sniffled, smiled, and said:

"Hey, my face is very dirty. Don’t you feel the sand and grit when you lick it?"

Theron licked his lips twice, then reared up, placing his forelegs on the armrest of the chair as a pivot point, and stuck out his tongue to lick dry the tears on Mie’s face. Mie pouted, hugged Theron’s neck, and buried his head into his short fur. After just a moment, Theron felt the fur on his neck become slightly damp. He nuzzled his head slightly into Mie’s hair, silently comforting Mie.

Seeing this scene, everyone smiled affectionately.

A child who acknowledges their mistakes and turns back will have sweet fruits to eat.