Chapter 71: They Would Seem a Bit Ungrateful If They Said Anything More

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: They Would Seem a Bit Ungrateful If They Said Anything More

The other clan members echoed their agreement; driving them away was something all the males unanimously agreed upon.

Ophelia raised an eyebrow and asked, "Who said the prey the Snow Wolf Clan has been eating belongs to our tribe?"

"No matter how you try to justify it, the facts are facts, and everyone knows them. Do you dare say the prey they’ve been eating wasn’t given to them by Laxus?" The Great Elder had never liked Ophelia to begin with, so he naturally spoke without any politeness. "Besides, as an elder of the tribe, I have the right to decide who stays and who goes."

The Great Elder made it clear he wanted to drive the Snow Wolf Clan males away.

"Leon, do you think these males should be allowed to stay in the tribe?"

Everyone’s gaze gathered on Clan Leader Leon. After a long while, he pondered and finally spoke, "You all should hear what Ophelia has to say about this matter first."

The Great Elder grew anxious. "Clan Leader, you can’t just show favoritism because she’s your daughter."

Ophelia scoffed coldly. Her gaze swept over the crowd, her tone calm but laced with a hint of sarcasm. "Great Elder and fellow clan members, you seem to have forgotten that if I hadn’t brought out the medicine to treat the fever, none of you would even be standing here talking to me today.

"Which is more precious, the herbal medicine or the prey? You all know exactly how severe this illness was."

"You... you are also a member of the Golden Dragon Clan! Are you really going to nickel and dime us over this?" The Great Elder choked on his words, unable to refute her, but he quickly turned the tables to imply that Ophelia was being stingy.

Ophelia smiled. "The Great Elder is right. I grew up in the Golden Dragon Clan, so it’s only right that I make some contributions to the tribe.

"But do you really have no idea whose prey you’ve been eating all these days?"

A Golden Dragon Clan male standing nearby whispered, "Before the rainy season, the Young Clan Leader did instruct us to hoard more prey. I hunted quite a bit, but it still wasn’t enough. These past few days, we’ve entirely relied on the smoked meat distributed by the Young Clan Leader to avoid starving to death."

"The smoked meat Laxus distributed naturally came from the tribe’s stored prey," the Great Elder insisted, stubbornly sticking his neck out despite the suspicions forming in his mind.

The corners of Ophelia’s mouth curled up slightly. "Does the Great Elder really not know how much prey the tribe had stored?

"The prey my brother has brought out these past few days numbered at least five or six hundred, if not a thousand. Does our tribe truly have that much in reserve?"

Ophelia felt a chill in her heart. She had previously handed over all the prey she traded for to the tribe. Even if the ordinary clan members didn’t know, the elders certainly did. She had contributed so much prey, yet the Great Elder intended to turn a blind eye and gloss over it.

She certainly wasn’t going to let him get his way!

A few Golden Dragon Clan males also realized the implication. "What does Ophelia mean by that? Is the prey we’re eating right now actually hers?"

"What does this have to do with you? Even if it is, it was brought by your brother, and your brother doesn’t represent you," the Great Elder argued, planning to deny it to the bitter end.

Ophelia’s eyes narrowed. "Great Elder, if you force me to lay everything out in the open, I’m afraid you’re the one who will lose face.

"Everyone here should have a good idea of how much prey our tribe has managed to store in past years. Think about it—is the tribe’s stored prey really enough to feed everyone for this many days?"

The Golden Dragon Clan members began to calculate in their heads. The tribe could indeed store about a thousand heads of prey in a year. But that was the total for an entire year. Only a few months had passed this year; it was simply impossible to have that much prey right now.

"You say you provided it, so we’re just supposed to believe you? What proof do you have?"

Ophelia rubbed her forehead. Back then, to avoid arousing suspicion, she had indeed transported the prey back to the tribe under the cover of night, so very few people knew about it.

But it wasn’t as if she lacked proof.

Just then, Laxus walked over with the Clan Witch and declared, "I have proof!"

"You’re her brother, so naturally, you’d speak up for her. We can’t trust your words," a detractor scoffed.

"What about me, then?" the Clan Witch interjected. "I can prove that the smoked meat the clan members have been eating all these days belongs to Ophelia. After all, I was the one who cured it. Who could possibly know its source better than I do?"

The Clan Witch had always stayed out of worldly affairs, focusing solely on immersing himself in his research. Since he spoke the truth, the Golden Dragon Clan members naturally believed him.

So, the prey they had been eating these past few days really had been provided by Ophelia. And those from the Snow Wolf Clan were indeed being supported by her. She didn’t owe the Golden Dragon Clan a single thing; in fact, the Golden Dragon Clan owed her.

"Impossible." Hearing this news, some of the more chauvinistic males were still unwilling to believe it. "How could Ophelia possibly have so much prey all by herself? You’re lying!"

"Exactly! She’s just a little female who doesn’t even know how to hunt. How could she have gotten her hands on so much prey before the rainy season? I wouldn’t believe it even if the sky fell down."

Their minds had been clouded because of their closeness to the Great Elder, but the other clan members were not fools. They knew that Ophelia had traded rice for a considerable amount of prey at the trading market, so she was entirely capable of pulling this off. They just hadn’t expected her to have this much.

"I don’t care! The prey we ate belongs to the Golden Dragon Clan. On what grounds can you claim it’s yours? We can’t just take the Clan Witch’s word for it alone!"

"It’s the truth, and we can prove it to everyone." Several other males stepped forward.

"Every time Ophelia traded for prey, we were the ones who carried it to the Clan Witch. This prey really does belong to Ophelia."

"That’s right. Admitting that the prey we’ve been eating is Ophelia’s is nothing to be ashamed of."

If it weren’t for Ophelia, they likely would have either starved to death or died from illness. These males wouldn’t even have the strength to stand here and give a little female a hard time.

Seeing their petty thoughts exposed, the males who had just been questioning Ophelia suddenly felt so ashamed they wanted the ground to swallow them whole, their faces flushing red.

Now, even the Great Elder was left speechless and stopped clamoring to drive the Snow Wolf Clan males away.

"Ophelia, you are the pride of your father’s heart." Leon’s eyes glistened with tears.

He could have stepped forward to vouch for his daughter, but the clan members wouldn’t have believed him. Some things only carried weight when spoken by others. He felt incredibly proud of Ophelia. The little female cub who only knew how to act spoiled had now grown into a capable young female who could hold her own.

Leon now felt much more at ease about Ophelia’s plan to go out and establish a new tribe.

"We’re sorry, Ophelia. We shouldn’t have doubted you," the clan members stepped forward to apologize.

Their dissatisfaction with Ophelia supposedly lowering her status to become partners with Loki, a Wolf Beast, also largely dissipated.

"Then what about the Snow Wolf Clan males?" someone asked cautiously.

Leon’s expression turned serious. "In a little while, Ophelia will leave to establish a new tribe. Since these people from the Snow Wolf Clan are being fed by her prey, they naturally belong to her."

The Golden Dragon Clan members were even more shocked. Ophelia, a little female, was actually going to go out and establish a tribe all on her own!!!

"Then where do we live?" the people of the Snow Wolf Clan scratched their heads and asked shyly.

"After the Golden Dragon Clan members move back to our territory, and before Ophelia’s new tribe is fully established, you all can continue to temporarily reside in the stone houses on the mountain," Leon proposed.

"Consider this a token of gratitude for Ophelia’s contributions to the tribe."

The Golden Dragon Clan members raised no objections to Leon’s arrangement. After all, Ophelia’s contributions were there for all to see. Saying anything more would make them look horribly ungrateful.