Chapter 9
Porsogon felt like he was telling stories to two big kids. Both of their eyes twinkle like they were having fun.
"That's right Yilas" Neo excited said "I heard that the Snake clan is really scary. They have poison to kill even the strongest beast-man and they only capture females once in a while to bare their children. Some even said that the female's life is miserable there."
Neo looked at Yilas waiting for a reaction like he was telling ghost stories at a campfire.
But Yilas's expression disappointed him, she didn't even look close to being scared.
Yilas frowned, thinking if she were to be unlucky and got attacked by them instead, her life now would be very much different.
"If their lives are so horrible, why don't they just run away?" Yilas questioned.
"Legend said the Snake clan has a secret technique" Porsogon answered instead of Neo, he seemed much more knowledgable and experienced than Neo did.
"Once the snake has a spouse, it can inject a small dose of poison in her body. It is not a life-threatening poison but it needs constant antidote from the snake. So a lot of females can't escape them and usually threatened to stay by their side."
Yilas thought in her heart that this was indeed a scary technique. She also felt bad for the snake wives because that could be considered as blackmail in her time.
She also realized that Porsogon even though seemed young, he was very smart and knowledgable.
"Wow..!" Yilas let out a sound while she was admiring this young man "you know everything Porsogon!" Yilas might try to suck up to this man so he and his brother could leave peacefully later.
"You said you two are brother right? Which one is older?" Yilas was trying to get closer to them and had them let down their guards around her.
Neo jumped in to answer quickly this time.
"Porsogon is older but only by half a year. We don't have the same father but we grow up together."
Half a year? Different father but by the same mother? Yilas thought of what Neo said and thought that it would be impossible for a woman to get pregnant and gave birth that quickly. Yilas felt quite puzzled.
"Only half a year?" Yilas asked, couldn't hide a shocking impression on her face "How long does a female usually carry?"
Porsogon also looked back at Yilas dumbfounded. Neo lowered his head so he didn't show red in his face and ears. In fact, Neo didn't know himself. He never thought to ask his mother.
"Cough…" Porsogon put one hand on his mouth in a fist and pretended to cough. Who is she, asking males for pregnancy advice, Porsogon thought. But he answered her anyway.
"I sometimes notice our mother pregnant for a year, but sometimes only one moon cycle. So it has a lot to do with who the father is." Yilas thought one year and half a month are indeed drastic differences in pregnancy time.
The more Yilas learn about this world the more curious she got. Especially something that Viosus normally wouldn't let her know or he wouldn't know enough about himself.
Viosus had been gone for a while now but the two males hadn't raised any suspicion. Yilas needed to distract them, buying Viosus more time. Also she would sometimes glance around to look for any signs. This of course didn't get away so easily with Porsogon.
The conversation fell into an awkward silence. Yilas was thinking too long about the weird pregnancy length and Viosus, while the other two are too embarra.s.sed to continue this topic.
Neo still felt really bad about how Yilas was hurt by one of their men but he figured the longer he stayed with her, the easier for him to make it up.
And deep down inside him started to spark an urge to know more about her.
"Yilas... We have some medicine with us, it would be good to put on the scratches on your feet." Porsogon smelled blood lingering even though the wound has closed on its own so he must make a suggestion.
Yilas looked down on her feet. She noticed they were covered in dirt and dried blood.
"It's okay, you don't have to use your medicine on me. The bleeding has already stopped." Yilas politely declined, she didn't want to be indebted by them even just a little.
"But the medicine we have is really good Yilas." Neo jumped in to add "It help to close our deeper wound within hours, surely putting it on would leave no scar on your feet."
Neo was trying to push Yilas to accept their help but once he spoke of the word scar, he unknowingly looked at the scar on her face and once again felt sorry for her.
"No, no it is really fine, I don't mind a little scar" Yilas smiled, waving her hand in denial.
Yilas's response surprised Porsogon. Looks had always been something that all females highly pay attention to. Either it was their own beauty or the beauty of the males pursuing her.
And this little female right here has a big scar on her face, potentially ruined her chance at finding mates but she still said she didn't mind it. And she hasn't even blamed them for ruining her beautiful face.
It suddenly made Porsogon interested in her. He has always been focused on securing his footing in the clan so even though there were females around him, none of them made a lasting impression.
But something kicked Porsogon in the gut and
"You can use the medicine on your eyes." Porsogon stared at the sky to avoid being rude to Yilas "it will help it heal much faster."
For the past couple of days, Yilas also noticed that the recovery rate of her body was extremely fast. She wasn't sure if her previously bed-ridden body was too slow and too weak to recover, or the natural body of this world normally heal that quickly.
"The medicine must be precious for you right? It will help you men when you are hunting and in danger so you should keep it." Yilas was still not accepting their offer.
Neo was saddened because Yilas insisted on refusing them, he thought she must hate them.
Porsogon on the other hand thought that Yilas's word shows that she was very kind-hearted. Other females would have just taken their gift without any hesitation or thinking but Yilas actually worried for him and his beast-men. How considerate!
This made Porsogon so pleased that one of the corners of his mouth slightly moved up on his stone-cold face.
"Don't worry about us. Once we leave here we can be returned to our clan and take some more." Porsogon said calmly. Neo on the side nodded his head quickly like a chicken pecking for food.
Yilas couldn't think of any more reason to refuse without being obviously rude. She didn't like to take stuff for free but it would be troublesome if they start arguing over this trivial matter.
"Then I must thank you for the medicine. If you want anything just let me know, if it within reason, I will definitely supply." Yilas's face formed a smile, her eyes curled up like 2 little half-moons.
So she could smile this beautifully, Neo thought to himself, he really liked it when Yilas smile.
"The sun is about to set in a while, we should start making arrangement for cooking." Yilas clapped her hands together.
Neo looked at Yilas and then the silent, stone-faced Porsogon.
"We don't usually cook our food while we are out Yilas." Neo thought he shouldn't keep it a secret to Yilas "None of our members use Fire energy so we mostly eat our meat raw."
Yilas's excitement about cooking and eating was soon killed by Neo's honesty.
Yilas thought to herself, were these people really that ancient? They didn't even know how to start a fire with just wood? Even though she had never tried it before, she still understood the physics of how it's done through her readings.
"Don't worry, I can help to start the fire. If you can find me a bunch of dried leaves or hay and 2 blocks of dried wood. One small and straight like a finger, one big as the size of an arm."
Neo didn't really understand why she asked for those things but since he didn't understand much of energy cultivation anyway so he nodded and went to get them from outside the house.
Porsogon could use Earth energy but he didn't reveal it to Yilas. He had seen beast-men with fire energy so he understands why Yilas needed the wood, but he didn't know why she needed the other stuff and had such specific requirements of the wood.
Though he thought that, Porsogon didn't make himself ask Yilas for clarification. He thought if Yilas used her fire energy then they would soon find out why.
When there were just the two of them, the atmosphere became even more awkward.
Porsogon has always been a stone-cold face man, he didn't talk to others normally so he didn't feel much pressure from the situation. Yilas was quite anxious on the inside, she was worried that he would start to notice why Viosus hasn't returned.
Whenever Yilas was nervous, she would try to make small talk with this man.
"So are you a boar Porsogon?"
"Yes." Yilas didn't expect Porsogon to answer so bluntly, her attempt ended even faster than how it started.
"How old are you Porsogon?"
"19." Porsogon didn't like small talk but since Yilas was interested in him personally he didn't mind answering her.
"I don't remember how old I am but I feel like we are the same age." if Yilas was still in her world she would be turning 20 this year, but she had no clue how old this body actually was.
Porsogon looked at her, trying to judge how old she was but he guessed definitely a couple of years younger than him. But his eyes were swift to move away from her.
"Porsogon, what are something that you like?" Yilas meant to ask what food he liked to eat but since she realized they eat raw meat, it was a dumb question. Besides, looking at Porsogon trying to make up something so hard was enough to make her laugh out loud.
Porsogon cold, blank face was ruined by a hard frown. His eyes squinted even harder looking at the sky.
Yilas just let him think to himself while she had a good look.
Porsogon was young, his skin was pale but the color was much lovelier then Yilas. His body muscle was very proportionate anybody from the 21st-century would have said that he went to the gym every day. His lower body was covered by a black cloth, wrapping tight around his waist but it didn't make him looked feminine at all. In fact, the contrast of his muscular body and the wrap cloth was very funny looking.
Porsogon face was very calm at all times and didn't show much expression. His hair was really short, close to his head but he didn't need any hair to cover his beautiful feature.
His sharp, small blue eyes were the most beautiful in Yilas opinion. The color of his eyes was like the ocean's color, but if he were to stare or glare, it would turn into ice. At first Yilas thought this man was very intimidating, his 2 small tusks protruded out made him look scary like a delinquent.
However, as they talk, Yilas thought Porsogon was an earnest person. He was just very serious with everything he did so maybe it was hard for him to talk to people casually.
Porsogon was thinking so very deeply about what he liked, however, he didn't really know himself. He didn't really have any desire to possess anything or have a mate. His brothers were something that he cared about but not necessarily liked since most of them were annoying to him.
"I like to be strong and powerful." Porsogon finally answered after a long while of thinking.
Yilas was taken aback by his answer at first but she quickly changed it into a smile.
"Why would you like that Porsogon?"
"Being strong and powerful make others fear you, then the people I cared about will be safe."
Yilas never thought that this cold man with a face that could make children cry would have such a big heart. But she didn't dislike this person anymore because Yilas know she would do anything to protect the things she cared for too.
Yilas pointed two thumbs up at Porsogon and smiled brightly.
"That is indeed a good cause, I supported you wholeheartedly."
Porsogon was surprised by the action Yilas was making but seeing the smile on her face and how genuine she was, he suddenly felt a warm breeze was entering his heart.
In Porsogon's memory, females were usually arrogant and greedy, even his own mother was consumed by greed. Any females would only care about what she wanted and what her spouse can provide for her. He had never seen such a pure-hearted soul. Besides, Yilas said she would fully support him pursuing his own cause, this made flowers bloom in his stomach for the first time in 29 years of his life.
In just a small moment, both of them felt touched by each other kindness and righteousness.
Their little moment was quick to dissipate since Porsogon heard someone coming towards them.
It was Viosus and Berth, walking towards them from the back of the house.
Porsogon didn't sense any ill-intention from both of them so he didn't move from his seat.
Yilas finally heard them too, and quickly turned around and wave at them.
"Viosus, you came back. Berth, you too!" Yilas obviously recognized the black bear so Porsogon knew that it was one of her clan men.
Viosus and Berth quickly got behind Yilas and sat down. Both of them didn't say anything but Yilas a.s.sumed that Vio had explained the situation for Berthort.
Vio handed Yilas the bowl with water and put it to her mouth out of the habit of feeding her the past couple of days.
"I can drink it myself Vio." Yilas felt quite awkward if she got fed like that in front of the other two.
"Let me introduce this man to our Berthort." Yilas continued to look at Porsogon to see if he refuse and then Berthort.
"This is Porsogon, he is our guest for a short while Berthort. He also got a brother who is helping me fetch some wood, Neo, and two other members. But since they will be staying, we must show them our hospitality."
Berthort nodded in agreement but he didn't say anything to Porsogon.
Yilas drank her water while watching the three of them be silent. Oh how she wished the time fly by faster just for a bit.
After about 20 minutes, Neo returned. He carried so much dried leaves and 2 pieces of wood like how Yilas described earlier.
How efficient! Yilas thought to herself. Everything was a.s.sembled correctly in front of her.
As all eyes were on Yilas, questioning, she finally clapped her hands and explained.
"Time to start the fire!"