Chapter 495: Buren's Words

"Captain, the corn fruits we gathered are definitely the most, hehe... Thinking about the boar beast they gave us last time, I can't control my drool."

The male who was speaking jumped excitedly beside the small tribe chief, chattering noisily to express his excitement.

"We still don't know how many corn fruits the two gathering teams have found, so don't get too excited yet."

Although he said that, his face clearly showed a proud smile.

"The corn fruit trees around the tribe have been pretty much picked clean by us; if we hadn't found these hidden in the mountain hollow, we'd probably have nothing to harvest today."

The male firmly believed his gathering team's good luck, and the people of the surrounding gathering teams kept nodding.

Because today's gathering site was relatively far, by the time they returned to the tribe, the other two gathering teams and the hunting team had already come back.

Everyone sat together processing the corn fruits and game, chatting with each other.

And when the small tribe chief and his group walked into the tribe, everyone in the clearing fell silent for a moment, then burst into exclamations.

"Beast God, where on earth did they find so many corn fruits?"

"Could they have found another place with lots of corn fruits?"

"They will surely get a lot of meat today, enough to eat their fill."

Faced with the tribe's envy and praise, the gathering team led by the small tribe chief all lifted their heads high.

Hehe, it feels great to be stared at by so many people.

"A Gu, your gathering team was lucky this time; we hunted two large boar beasts, so today each of you can get enough meat to fill yourselves."

Even the hunting team members couldn't help but voice their congratulations.

The small tribe chief A Gu laughed heartily: "If we really get a share of the boar beast, I'll definitely leave a leg for you."

Upon hearing that, the gathering team members didn't say anything; the game was brought back by the hunting team, and even if it was distributed to the gathering team, everyone would still cut some for the hunting team.

"Today the shaman and the beastman warriors returned, and you brought back this much corn fruit; I wonder if the shaman will make some corn cakes to celebrate."

Laman looked enviously at the corn fruits held in the arms of the people behind A Gu, but when mentioning corn cakes he couldn't help but drool.

"Tribespeople!"

A clear voice, amplified by the shaman's power, reached every tribesperson's ears; everyone put down their tasks and looked toward the direction the sound came from.

At this moment, Wu Yue, Yuan Lang, and a few others had already walked out of the cave, standing at the cave entrance looking at the crowd.

"The gathering team led by A Gu managed to bring back this much food; I and the tribespeople are very happy."

After receiving praise from the shaman, the people in A Gu's gathering team behind him became excited, their faces flushing red.

"Before distributing the food, I have something to tell the tribespeople."

As her words fell, three gaunt figures walked out of the cave behind her; compared to the healthy Snow Moon Tribe members, these people could truly be said to be nothing but skin and bones.

At the very moment those three appeared, a male standing behind A Gu's face changed dramatically; he quietly shifted his steps, trying to hide behind the other tribespeople.

"Don't hide; if you did it, step forward."

Seeing the shaman's gaze directed at his own gathering team, A Gu turned around doubtfully to look at the people behind him.

At a glance he spotted the male trying to hide.

"It's him!"

He naturally knew this male, because the last time they won the corn fruit gathering contest, it was because he gave their gathering team a huge amount of corn fruits.

"Could it be..."

He also instantly had a bad premonition, and could only stare tensely at Wu Yue ahead.

"Do you know these three people behind me?"

That male staggered forward and knelt with a thud: "I know them; not long ago they gathered corn fruits to trade for food in the tribe, and I drove them away."

Wu Yue nodded: "Anything else?"

The male lowered his head further: "I... I let them leave the corn fruits, then drove them away, and gave those corn fruits to Captain A Gu, so that we... so that our gathering team could win, and everyone got meat to eat."

When the male's words fell, Laman's and Fu Er's gathering teams erupted.

Only then did they realize that their victory had been achieved this way; each looked at them with a somewhat strange gaze.

Wu Yue looked up at A Gu, who had been standing there with pursed lips and silent: "A Gu, what do you say? You surely wouldn't be unaware of this matter."

Having been called by name, A Gu glanced at the three wanderers behind Wu Yue and directly admitted his mistake: "I was wrong; those corn fruits weren't gathered by us, and that beast shouldn't have been given to us."

Wu Yue frowned at him: "And then?"

"And then?"

A Gu doubtfully looked up at the shaman standing at the cave entrance, then glanced at the male kneeling not far ahead, wondering if this guy had done something else to anger the shaman.

Wu Yue: I really just want to smack his head with a slap; they simply don't think it's wrong to snatch food from the weak, it's totally normal, right?

Having figured that out, she stopped asking further and instead scanned the tribe members: "You are now members of the Snow Tiger Tribe; since joining the tribe, have you ever gone without food?"

Although they didn't know why the shaman asked this, they still shook their heads: "No."

"We have food to eat every day, and we can even eat meat."

"Although it's not enough for everyone to have meat at every meal to their fill, the fact that we can eat meat daily already makes us far better off than the wanderers."

"Their daily food is a problem; they can't even get a wild vegetable dumpling for several days straight."

She said this while glancing at A Gu standing there: "You must remember, you are now members of the Snow Moon Tribe, of the great tribe; when facing some smaller tribes, as long as they don't threaten us and harbor no ill will toward us, do not plunder them."

Only then did the tribespeople understand why the shaman had brought up A Gu's gathering team's previous seizure of corn fruits from the wanderers.

"Now no one dares to seize your food or your tribespeople; you must also remember your past experiences."

Her gaze turned to A Gu: "How many corn fruits did you take last time? Separate that amount from today's hunt."

"Yes, shaman."

A Gu and the gathering team behind him had no objections; they all opened the leaf packets at their feet and took out corn fruit one by one.

"Shaman... this..."

The wanderer leader looked somewhat overwhelmed by favor at the Snow Moon Tribe members' actions, his heart full of gratitude.

"Go check if it's enough for what you brought last time."

The wanderer chief nodded repeatedly: "Enough, enough, there's even some extra!"

The fact that the corn fruit had been robbed remained a thorn in his heart; the food he had spent a whole day gathering was taken, causing the tribespeople to go hungry, making him feel deeply ashamed as chief.

So when A Gu and the others piled up the corn fruit, he could tell at a glance that compared to what they had brought last time, there would only be more, not less.

This matter had a great impact on all the people of the Snow Moon tribe; they had always known that this shaman of their tribe was very different from the ill-tempered shaman of legend, but they never expected her to actually sympathize with the wanderers.

"Shaman, thank you for your mercy."

The chief, Gan, and A You knelt on the ground; aside from the naive A You, the two adult males were filled with excitement and shock.

Wu Yue looked at them: "What are your plans from now on, or will you go back to living in the previous cave?"

The chief nodded repeatedly: "Yes, there is no place safer than being near your tribe."

"You've also heard today that our tribe was only recently established, so we need many people to join; are you willing to lead all the wanderers to join the Snow Moon tribe?"

After Wu Yue spoke, as if thinking of something, she spoke again: "Of course, to become ordinary tribe members."

Become ordinary members of the Snow Moon tribe!

The chief's mouth hung open; he could hardly believe his ears, that as wanderers they had actually been invited by a shaman, and to become ordinary tribe members rather than slaves.

Gan also knelt there, his whole body stiff, face dazed, unable to believe what he had heard.

Little A You didn't understand any of this; he was just happy that the corn fruit he had gathered at their gathering place was being returned.

The chief finally came to his senses from the shock, overjoyed and about to answer, when suddenly Bron's voice echoed from inside the cave: "Wu Yue, sir."

"Huh?"

Wu Yue, who had been waiting for the wanderer chief's reply, turned her head at the sound and saw Bron standing stern-faced at the cave entrance, looking at her.

"I have something to say to you; can you come out for a moment?"

Bron had always been carefree and goofy, so seeing his serious side was rare, and Wu Yue also became serious.

"You wait for me inside the cave first."

Having said that, she rose and walked toward the outside of the cave.

What she didn't see was that, as Brendon turned around while following behind her, his gaze toward the three wanderer leaders was extremely cold.

The wanderer chief and Gan watched the backs of the shaman and the half-beast warrior, their faces instantly turning deathly pale.

"He will surely tell the shaman about our affairs!"

Gan nervously clutched his grass skirt, his body also tensing from worry.

The wanderer chief, however, seemed to have had all his strength drained, and he gave a bitter smile: "It's nothing; although we cannot become members of the Snow Moon tribe, we can live in a place not far from the Snow Moon tribe."

"Shaman Yue is merciful; she will surely not drive us away."

Gan murmured softly: "Really, she won't drive us away?"

The waiting time was agonizing; the anticipation and excitement in their hearts gradually cooled, turning into anxiety and even fear.

At that moment, Wu Yue was sitting by the fire outside the cave, her bright eyes looking at Bron across from her: "Sit down and speak."

"Shaman Yue, I have come to you for two matters."

He said, glancing at the three wanderer chief still kneeling inside the cave: "There were no wanderers in the forest where you previously lived, right?"

Wu Yue heard this and shook her head: "Yes, we also have wanderers there, but they are all Beastfolk."

Wanderer Beastfolk!

Bron swallowed: "All... all of them are Beastman Warriors?"

Wu Yue frowned: "Not entirely; there are also some pure-human females, whom they capture from various tribes to bear offspring."

Bron: "..."

But thinking of what he wanted to say, he still suppressed his shock and continued: "Wanderers are people expelled from the forest by the various tribes; they are tribespeople who have committed grave offenses within their tribes."

Therefore, although we can have them work in exchange for food, we will not accept them as our own tribe members.

Those few wanderers, knowing you came from an outside forest and unaware of this, deliberately concealed the truth, hoping to take advantage and join.

Bron perfectly guessed the wanderer chief and Gan's thoughts, but he did not know that the Shaman Yue sitting before him actually didn't care about that; as long as one's character passed muster, she could accept them.

"I don't care about that."

Bron: "..."

"Have you been listening to what I'm saying? Acting like this will get you ostracized by all the tribes in the forest!"

"Anything else?"

Although she didn't say anything more about the wanderers, the firmness in her eyes let Bron know that the matter of these wanderers joining the Snow Moon tribe was settled.

He could only let out a deep sigh and then continue: "The opportunity is about to begin; you and your people should prepare, for we will set out in a few days, or else we'll miss it."

Wu Yue raised an eyebrow: "That fast?"

Bron gave a wry smile: "It's already slow enough; even so, we'll have to speed up our journey afterward."

After saying that, Bron returned to his and Ying Fei's house; Ying Fei had been quite mysterious these days, not going out to hunt, instead wandering around the Snow Moon tribe and occasionally chatting with tribe members.

Watching Bron's figure walk away, Wu Yue rose and returned to the cave.

"How have you been considering it?"

Her voice remained just as gentle, without a hint of disdain or coldness, and this instantly warmed the fearful hearts of the wanderer chief and Gan.

"You... you still willing to let us, who have been driven out, join?"

Wu Yue smiled and waved her hand: "I value your people; I don't care where you come from, as long as you wholeheartedly serve the tribe in the future, you are my people."

"We... we weep... we are willing!"

The wanderer chief almost wailed as he shouted those words; his thin hands tightly gripped the grass skirt beneath him, his dirty nails digging into his palms, sending a stinging pain spreading.

Yet it was precisely this pain that made him ecstatic, for it was true—they too now had a tribe.

Afterward, Wu Yue arranged for Ying Fei and Teng Qian to take the wanderer chief to seek out the wanderers who had left.

"Yue, come out and see how the newly built house is!"

The Beastfolk's low voice, tinged with a hint of boasting, echoed outside the cave; Wu Yue raised an eyebrow: "You went to build a house?"

Yuan Lang laughed: "I went out hunting, brought back a wild beast, traded with them for some prepared mud bricks; the construction is almost done, just lacking the roof, windows, and door."

-----Off-topic-----

Done! Little pals, good night everyone!