"Ugh," I groaned as I was lifted in the air, someone's arms under my knees and back, "Hmm...no...sleep."
"Have you ever seen someone so fucked out?" Madam's voice sounded from above me.
"She can't even keep her eyes open," Moyu replied.
Baron chuckled, "I told you, she's the best at sleeping."
My head lolled to the side, my cheek hitting the soft fabric of the person carrying me. I nuzzled into it, inhaling the familiar scent of Madam's clothes.
"Whoever is grooming her, I'm turning them into a skin rug," Madam said, her hands adjusting my head so it wouldn't flop around.
"Nobody is grooming her, but you. We let her do whatever she wants while you make her wear a chastity belt," Baron said.
My body was pushed against another body in response to his words.
"See?" Baron continued to retort.
My chastity belt clicked back on. It cleaned and dried my lower parts, making me feel all tingly again. I didn't know how it did it, but it felt nice and warm.
Madam was quiet for a moment, "Are you using her to spite me?"
"Yes," they said at the same time.
She let out an annoyed sigh, "She is still inexperienced. Changes are bound to happen once she matures, gets back her confidence, and has more power to make her own decisions. Don't get attached to the current her, she won't stay the same."
I wasn't a cub anymore. A sheep's lifespan was around twenty-five years. One could only prolong it with the help of beast marks or mythical cores, both were extremely hard to get a hold of.
I had reached adulthood at age six. My body stopped growing after that. I was as I was now, but with more muscles and strength. At the age of fifteen I was already considered middle aged.
My body had lost the muscles and strength it had over the years and became weak. Soft and weak. The only thing I grew in the last sixteen years was my hair.
I was pretty much at the end of my life. No changes were going to happen to me anymore. I could fall asleep and never wake up at any moment, so Madam's words felt funny to me.
I wanted to laugh, but I fell asleep instead. Was I dying already? I wondered before the darkness took me.
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The sky was dark, and the moon was high up when I opened my eyes. Half-lid, I continued to stare at it, the night breeze cooling my cheeks.
Maybe I should explain my tiredness to the owners better. The beastmen from their world and mine were so different, but also looked the same that sometimes I forgot we were not the same.
Different species had different lifespans and speed of growth. Scorpion beastmen' lifespan was around fifteen years. Michael said he was on his prime at fifty, which meant that he must have extended his lifespan somehow.
A beastman could get fifty years of life out of a single beast mark. A ten marked beastman could live up to five hundred years. Mythical cores came from mining and were extremely rare to come across. They could grant an extra three years of life to a beastman.
There were also Beast Cores, that allowed one to tap into a defeated beastman's power. One could get one by killing a beastman who had a core.
Moon Cores could help a beastman heal from any injury as long as they had enough of them. They could be found inside Moon Beasts, who were only active during a full moon.
Cores of any kind were valuable and expensive. That's when I realized that Vick might have given me a core, which I later sold for 98 coins…
I shot up in panic, almost making Baron drop me.
"Did I sell a core? Did I sell a Core?" I asked, looking around, "Is...did I..."
"What is she talking about?" Moyu asked, "What core?"
"The rock..." I opened my palm, recalling how Vick had put it in my hand before closing it into a fist, "I...I sold it...It was so shiny...I didn't know...I sold it. I didn't..."
Baron's hand grabbed my wrist, pulling my hand down, "Calm down. It's fine."
I blinked, looking up at him, "Which one? Beast core? Or..."
"Miracle Core," Baron words made me gasp.
Miracle Cores were the rarest ones. They were living things, not just rocks. They functioned like a beastman's shifting ability, and could store items many times their size inside them.
My dead expression must have given away my thoughts about selling it for 98 coins. I would have kept it if I knew, I would have guarded it with my life.
I was going to cry. I sold a Miracle Core for 98 coins. And nobody told me. I had to figure it out myself.
"Don't cry, Little Miss. We will get you another one," Baron tried to cheer me up.
I wiped my eyes, still upset with myself.
"The village is ahead," Moyu warned, pointing in the direction of the mountain. There were lights in the distance, marking the village's location.
Growls and screams sounded from the other side of the river, and I saw shadows of beastmen's silhouettes as they ran through the forest, escaping from the beasts that chased them.
Tiger beastmen fighting with deer and boar beastmen, their cries and screams echoing around us, mixing with the roars of the beasts.
Baron pressed my head to his chest, "Our scent is coming further away from the village."
We continued to walk through the forest, nobody trying to stop us. We reached a tree that had been stripped of its bark, and the owners stopped.
They used the owner's scent to hide whatever was behind the tree.
Madam removed a few branches that hid the entrance to a tree house, which was more like a large burrow in the ground, covered in branches and leaves.
Once the entrance was cleared, they stepped inside. I couldn't see anything in the darkness. Baron still held me, and I felt him crouch down to walk through the narrow tunnel.
The sound of a lantern being turned on made me blink as my eyes adjusted to the light.
Dozens of deer cubs were sitting on the floor in the wide room, their eyes turning to us. The youngest ones had their hands covering their mouths, while the older ones tried to keep them quiet. The cubs were all males.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
I think I should change the title of the novel to something more clickable. What do you think about: Beastmen, please wait, I'm not a snack! Actually, I am!
Is it better than my current title? And should I change [GL, BL] to [Bisexual]? Any opinions would help. Thank you!
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