Elizabeth turned her head slightly toward the horned girl and asked in a low, muted voice, trying not to draw any attention from the bustling crowd:
“Is the tribe truly facing such a severe daily food shortage?”
“Mmm, it’s extreme. We’re barely scraping by,” Valeria nodded gravely. Her ruby eyes were fixed on the bleeding carcasses of the hunted beasts with almost fanatical reverence, already imagining her own triumphant return as a full-fledged, widely admired Totem Warrior.
“Are you genuinely that eager to go on these hunts deep into the forest yourself?” Elizabeth easily caught the raw, unbridled yearning burning in the horned girl's gaze.
“Of course I am! It’s not just a matter of basic survival - the hunt is the ultimate symbol of our Tribe's absolute strength and eternal glory!” Valeria lifted her chin proudly, puffing out her small chest against her tight leather tunic.
“I see… Could you explain the general situation of the tribe to me in simple terms?” Elizabeth instinctively rubbed her flat stomach, which had begun to rumble unpleasantly, serving as a harsh reminder that amidst all this chaos, she hadn't eaten a single bite all day.
“The truth is, our Tribe is critically short on food. Almost the entirety of the hunted meat goes straight to the Totem Warriors to ensure they have the stamina to keep fighting and hunting. Only a meager portion is rationed out to Warrior Recruits and the young children,” Valeria explained, her brow knitting into a troubled frown. She paused briefly before continuing matter-of-factly:
“Ordinary women and Elders only occasionally get scraps of meat after a massive haul. On a daily basis, their primary duty is foraging for wild berries and edible fruits.”
“How many days will the meat the hunters just brought in actually last?” Elizabeth looked toward the heavily burdened hunting party trudging closer.
“The clan won't consume it all at once. Only about half of it will be eaten over the next few days. The rest will be carefully sliced into strips, smoked thoroughly to make jerky, and stored safely in the reserves for the lean days when game is scarce,” Valeria shook her head slightly, outlining the basics of the tribe's economy.
“And how many of these berries and wild fruits can the women realistically gather in a day?” Elizabeth pressed further, trying to build a mental picture of the village's logistics.
“Very little, honestly. For safety reasons, they can only forage in the immediate, well-guarded vicinity of the camp. Going too deep into the woods is a death sentence because of the beasts and enemy tribes, so the women simply cannot venture out without an armed escort,” Valeria patiently answered every question, laying bare the harsh, unforgiving realities of their existence.
Having pieced together a rather grim overview of the Blood Fire Tribe's food sources and diet, Elizabeth furrowed her brow and asked with genuine, modern bewilderment:
“Do you not know how to cultivate the land for steady crops? Do you raise any livestock in pens?”
“What in the world is 'cultivating the land'? And why would we ever waste time raising animals when we barely have enough food to keep ourselves from starving?” Valeria fixed the blonde with a completely dumbfounded stare, brimming with sheer disbelief, as if Elizabeth had just asked the most absurd, nonsensical question under the sun.
“Haaa…” Elizabeth was struck speechless for a long moment, completely at a loss on how to explain the fundamental concepts of agriculture and animal domestication. At the same time, the horned girl’s shocked, almost reproachful glare was deeply amusing.
How am I supposed to logically explain this to her at their current stage of civilization?
Do I need to personally catch a wild boar in the woods, fence it in, and raise it from a piglet just so she can see how it works?
Knowing these starving people, they'd probably sneak in during the dead of night, bash its head in with a rock, and devour it raw long before it ever had the chance to grow…
Thud, thud, thud…
Heavy, muffled footfalls pounding against the packed dirt shattered Elizabeth's internal monologue.
An overpowering, sharp, fishy stench mixed with the copper tang of old blood suddenly assaulted their senses as a colossal, impossibly muscular figure stepped out of the crowd right in front of them.
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose and looked up, taking in the thick layer of grime and coagulated blood that nearly obscured the towering man's facial features.
However, what instantly drew her attention and held it captive was the pair of deep, luminous violet eyes set beneath a heavy brow ridge.
The man stood at least 1.9 meters tall, with shoulders as broad as a bear's. Several massive, vibrantly green ducks with unnaturally long, limp necks dangled lifelessly from his thick belt. Judging by the unnatural twist of their necks, someone had clearly snapped their heads clean off with bare hands and sheer brute strength.
Boom!
The giant unceremoniously dropped a massive beast carcass onto the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust. With a spark of curiosity in his violet eyes, he asked in a deep, booming voice:
“Valeria, who exactly is she? Is this delicate little beauty that new wife you brought into the clan?”
Wife?!
Me and Valeria, married?!
Elizabeth froze completely, her jaw practically hitting the floor as she stared at the giant like he was some anomaly from another dimension, her mind spiraling into absolute conceptual chaos:
Wait a second… in this brutal, hyper-primitive society governed by the law of the jungle, fully accepted, official same-sex unions and marriages exist?!
What in the hell is going on here?!
This wasn't even universally accepted back in my world…
“By the Ancestors, of course not!” Valeria’s face erupted into a bright, furious crimson in a fraction of a second. Stomping her foot in sheer fury and embarrassment, she shouted: “Uncle Riven, stop spouting your idiotic nonsense in front of outsiders!”
“Oh? She really isn't your chosen mate?”
Riven blinked his violet eyes in genuine surprise, scratching his bushy beard. He was intimately familiar with his young niece's difficult and explosive temperament.
Valeria was certainly not easygoing or accommodating. Every single boy and girl her age in the camp was terrified of catching a brutal beating from her during training; out of fear for their ribs, they usually didn't even dare stand too close, let alone stroll leisurely side-by-side with her.
“This woman’s name is Elizabeth, and she is our newly chosen, official Successor to the great Sharu!” Valeria rolled her red eyes in extreme irritation and clarified the situation forcefully to kill any further speculation.
Hearing those words, Riven’s violet eyes went wide with boundless delight. He threw his head back and bellowed so loudly his voice echoed off the hills:
“Praise the heavens! After so many days of despair, we've finally found a true Successor!”
“Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Elizabeth offered a calm, reserved nod in greeting, trying to rein in her bewilderment.
“Your body is far too weak, too pale, and too skinny! You need to start eating a lot more fresh, bloody meat right now to build some strength!” Riven boomed. With one swift motion of his massive hand, he untied a large, plump animal from his belt and, without asking, shoved it with full force straight into the slender arms of the completely blindsided Elizabeth.
“Uhh… thanks…” Elizabeth instinctively caught the heavy, still-warm carcass with considerable effort, feeling the sticky sweat and blood coat her palms.
But before she could squeeze out a coherent word of thanks or decline the offer, the rest of the Hunting Party surged forward from all sides, practically trampling each other just to shove their way to the deity's new chosen one.
“Where is the new Sharu Successor?! Let me through, let me see him with my own eyes!”
“Hey, fatass, stop throwing your elbows around so shamelessly! I want to pay my respects and see our new savior too!”
“…”
Several more powerfully built faces, caked in dirt and blood, turned toward Elizabeth. In a split second, Riven was ruthlessly shoved to the absolute back of the pack by his overzealous brothers-in-arms.
Before Elizabeth could even process what was happening, a massive, thick-furred, unknown horned rabbit was dropped into her arms right beside the duck, swiftly followed by three more plump forest critters, turning her embrace into a veritable, crushing pyramid of raw meat.
“If that’s not enough for dinner to start with, just come straight to my fire for more! The entire future and protection of our Tribe depends entirely on your health now!”
“Hey, Successor! I will personally make sure the women bring the finest, most tender cuts of roast straight to your tent the moment these great Wild Beasts are skinned and processed at the stones!”
“Where are you staying right now anyway? Why don't you come straight to my shelter tonight so we can share the freshest roast meat and chat?!”
“…”
The warriors were overwhelmingly enthusiastic, to the point of being suffocatingly hospitable. If they hadn't managed to pile raw meat on her all the way up to her chin, they probably would have started dragging her to their own fires just to feed her.
Had Elizabeth not begun frantically and repeatedly declining their offers with a polite smile, these wild, straightforward men likely would have hoisted her into the air, meat pile and all, and carried her triumphantly straight to the main pavilion with a song on their lips.
Thud, thud, thud…
The heavy footfalls of the hunters finally began to recede toward the center of the camp.
Heaving their colossal, primary catches off the ground, the hunting squad headed toward the designated camp sector functioning as a crude meat processing yard. Smiling women and elders instantly rushed forward with stone knives in hand, ready to efficiently assist in gutting and quartering the carcasses.
“Phew…” Elizabeth let out a long, quiet sigh of boundless relief, feeling her arms trembling from the unexpected weight.
She turned her head slightly, shooting a sideways glare at the horned girl beside her, who had been watching the entire spectacle unfold with undisguised, malicious amusement. Furrowing her brow, Elizabeth asked:
“Is everyone in this clan always this overwhelmingly enthusiastic toward every outsider?”
“You're just overthinking things,” Valeria instantly wiped the mocking smirk from her face, replacing it with a mask of cool indifference. With her innate strength, she reached out a slender hand and effortlessly lifted the two heaviest rabbits from Elizabeth's trembling arms to ease her burden.
“Let’s head back to the center of camp.”
Elizabeth turned on her heel and started walking at a slow pace toward her temporary shelter, suddenly feeling an immense, almost physical weight and pressure settling over her shoulders from the sheer gravity of her new position.