Chapter 45. Hot Spring With A Merman

Chapter 45: 45. Hot Spring With A Merman

Lyra’s scolding died in her throat.

There was simply no way to refute that statement.

She looked around the kitchen.

The neatly arranged cabinets, sturdy tables, beautifully crafted pottery, and orderly clay stove made the place look bright and inviting.

It was thousands of times better than the crude kitchens used by the rest of the tribe.

How could she not take a few of these useful things back to the tribe? That would be far too unfilial.

Lyra glanced around before casually hinting, "This pottery is nice. It looks perfect for storing things."

After finishing salting the pork, Sora was poking holes in the meat with bamboo skewers. Hearing that, she pretended not to notice and continued working.

Want her pottery for free? Not happening.

She had worked hard to make it. Why should she give it away?

Lyra waited for a while, but Sora never responded. Her lips twitched.

How could she forget that the person in front of her was such an ungrateful girl? It was impossible to expect her to give anything away.

Still, Lyra couldn’t bring herself to ask outright. She prided herself on being elegant and refined, and directly asking for something was beneath her. Besides, with Sora deliberately pretending not to hear, who knew what unpleasant words she might throw back?

This wasn’t urgent, Lyra thought. She’ll find a way to make Kaelira hand them over willingly.

After poking holes in all the meat, Sora tied each piece with vines. Once everything was ready, she could hang them up to dry.

But with Lyra still standing there watching, she didn’t want her staring at the meat any longer.

"Is there anything else?" Sora asked.

Lyra was irritated by the dismissive tone.

If Serena hadn’t asked her to come—warning that Kaelira might steal her beast husband—she wouldn’t have bothered coming at all.

"You shouldn’t stay out so late at night," Lyra said. "It’s dangerous for a female to be outside after dark."

Sora paused.

Since when did Lyra care about me? Hasn’t she always looked down on me?

"I wasn’t alone. I went with my beast husbands," Sora replied indifferently.

"Even then, you should still be careful."

Lyra felt awkward saying those words.

After all, Kaelira’s beast husbands were exceptionally talented, already at the fifth rank despite their young age. If Kaelira hadn’t interfered, they might have belonged to Serena by now.

How could someone as ugly as Kaelira deserve such handsome and outstanding beast husbands?

Thinking that, Lyra looked at Sora again and suddenly realized she had slimmed down considerably. The thick layer of fat around her waist had noticeably shrunk.

Even so, in Lyra’s opinion, she still couldn’t compare with Serena in the slightest.

After listening for a long time, Sora still couldn’t figure out what Lyra actually wanted.

Whatever it was, it certainly couldn’t be anything good.

She glanced at Lyra and asked, "Anything else, Mother? I need to go relieve myself."

Lyra’s face immediately darkened.

"How can a female say something so crude?"

She turned to leave, but not before giving Sora’s outfit one last disdainful look.

"And look at what you’re wearing. A perfectly good skirt twisted into a knot. How uncouth."

With that, Lyra walked away in disgust.

The moment she left, Sora burst into a grin.

She hadn’t needed the bathroom at all.

She had simply wanted to gross Lyra out.

Besides, what was wrong with her skirt?

It wasn’t exposing her hips or thighs.

Still, Lyra had reminded her of something.

Now that she had lost some weight, she really needed a few properly fitted skirts. She couldn’t keep wearing this oversized one forever.

Putting that aside, Sora picked up several pieces of meat from the banana leaves and hung them from a well-ventilated tree branch to make air-dried cured meat.

For the remaining pieces, she gathered pine and tea tree branches, lit a fire, and slowly smoked the meat over it.

Smoking required patience so the fragrant wood smoke could fully infuse the meat.

After a while, she built a small ring of stones around the fire, extinguished the flames, and left only smoldering smoke so the meat wouldn’t accidentally burn.

Only then did she leave the kitchen.

After tending the smoky fire, she felt filthy and wanted a proper bath.

She also hadn’t tested her newly upgraded abilities yet, so bathing seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The deep pool nearby was usually crowded, making it inconvenient.

Using her newly upgraded water ability, she searched the surrounding waterways.

Her Level 3 water ability now allowed her to sense every nearby body of water.

Before long, she discovered a hot spring to the east.

A hot bath was an unimaginable luxury in the beast world.

Sora had always bathed in cold water, so finding a natural hot spring filled her with excitement.

She happily headed there.

After removing her leafy bra, animal-skin skirt, and leopard-print underwear, Sora slipped into the steaming spring.

Once settled, she spread crushed Black Phoenix fruit leaves over her face and activated the cleansing function of her Level 3 water ability, giving herself a luxurious whitening treatment.

As the medicinal leaves were absorbed, her skin would gradually become fairer.

While happily imagining the results, she opened the system guide to learn about her newly unlocked elemental abilities.

Just as she became absorbed in reading, a loud splash echoed across the spring.

Startled, Sora immediately closed the system interface before she could see what had happened.

She looked up.

A silver-blue fish tail broke through the water’s surface.

Moments later, Ryan’s cold, handsome face emerged.

Seriously?

Why do I always run into him whenever I’m bathing?

And this time it’s a hot spring.

A mermaid soaking in a hot spring... isn’t he worried about turning into boiled fish?

This time, however, she hadn’t done anything wrong.

She had arrived first.

Squinting at him, she pointed toward the clothes lying on the shore.

"This time it isn’t my fault," Sora said. "I was here first."

Ryan was just as confused.

He couldn’t understand why he had once again encountered Sora in another secluded bathing spot.

His expression darkened as he turned to swim ashore.

Then he suddenly felt something sticky against his fish tail.

Looking down, he discovered a streak of blood clinging to his silver-blue scales, carrying a faint metallic scent.

His gaze slowly lifted toward Sora.

The source of the blood... was her.