Praising Max made Eric happier than being praised himself. He smiled and said:
"Before, it wasn’t convenient for us to intervene in the kingdom’s civil war, and at that time the Hadu tribe was taking in people, we couldn’t even take care of ourselves. Now that it’s much more stable, we can spare some time to come here and take a look, to find relatives for Leo."
Clitus’s envious gaze shifted to Gray:
"Sigh, no matter how many times I see this magic beast, I still feel you guys are very impressive. Flying magic beasts are the hardest to tame; being able to fly in the sky is just too cool."
The group walked towards the capital while talking. The beastmen guarding the city gate saw Clitus leading people over and opened the large gate.
Beastman architecture was different from humans’; the city walls were built of yellow earth and stone, several meters thick and tens of meters high.
The gate looked like a product of the Dwarves; who knew how much effort it took to make such a giant iron gate? Even with beastman strength, it couldn’t be broken.
The houses inside were all earthen or stone houses. Although much wealthier than other beastman tribes, compared to the neat brick houses and small two-story buildings of the Hadu tribe now, this place still looked gray and old.
It could be seen that many houses were empty, especially the small-sized houses which were almost all desolate, with weeds growing wildly in front and behind—a scene of dilapidation.
Those must be the homes of the small beastmen whom the kingdom treated as slaves. These beastmen had originally joined the kingdom with the hope of changing their lives, unexpectedly ending up so miserably.
A thought that had sprouted deep in his heart many years ago took root and sprouted once again after seeing these ownerless houses.
Arthur had descended from the sky, following behind Eric without looking around.
He and Evan, after that forbidden magic collision, although suffering backlash, unexpectedly gained a new skill: they could completely disguise themselves as humans, including their aura.
It had no effect on other dragons and the Elf tribe, but it was incredibly useful for the two of them. After so many years, the other beastmen of the Hadu tribe still hadn’t discovered it.
Except for those mysterious Moon Wolf elders.
Clitus was used to different races appearing in the Hadu tribe, and he was considered familiar with this high-strength "human," so he didn’t feel it was strange.
To have a human lifespan yet live so long with appearance unchanged proved this person had extraordinary strength.
"Little Patriarch, is this person a Great Swordsman or a Sword Saint? Being able to come here with you, his strength is definitely not low. I’ve been curious for a long time, can you tell me?" Clitus leaned close to Eric and asked.
"Um, well, I think it’s close enough, I guess he counts as a Sword Saint..." Eric said awkwardly.
Max didn’t like hearing Eric discuss Arthur with others, so he reached out to hug Eric’s waist, leading him a few steps forward.
Leaving Clitus behind scratching his messy hair in bewilderment, muttering: "I just leaned a little closer, and he got angry already? Their relationship is really good."
Any beastman who had interacted with the Hadu tribe understood this point very well, so Clitus wasn’t surprised, just a bit depressed.
...
"Who did you say? His mother is who?"
Sunflower hadn’t even swallowed his mouthful of wine before spraying it out, asking in horror.
Eric was also helpless. Clitus had brought them to Sunflower; he couldn’t really ask the other party to help Leo find his mother among countless female beastmen—this wasn’t a cartoon about a tadpole finding its mom.
It was just that, even though Leo’s mother was the female Great General of the Golden Lion tribe, the current leader, it shouldn’t make Sunflower this agitated.
He turned his head to look, only to see Clitus also stunned, mouth open wide enough to swallow a chicken egg; it seemed he was even more surprised than Sunflower.
"What’s wrong, my mother, she..." Leo asked hesitantly.
Sunflower shook his head: "She’s fine, it’s just that I can’t imagine she would have a cub..."
This was truly strange. Leo’s mother, the Great General Hilda, if she gave birth, surely had a mate. Although beastmen pregnancies didn’t show as clearly as humans, it couldn’t be without any signs at all.
Eric couldn’t help but ask: "Why do you say that?"
"I don’t doubt your words, it’s just that Hilda has no mate, and I’ve never heard her say she had a cub, so that’s why I’m so surprised."
Sunflower shook his head, casually wiping the wine off himself.
Clitus wooshed in front of Leo, looking him up and down:
"Oh my god, Hilda, that fierce and formidable person with a scheming heart, could actually have a cub?"
He carefully observed Leo for a long time: "Looking closely, there is some resemblance, especially the nose..."
Connecting a cub with Hilda really terrified the tiger.
Especially Leo; this child sitting next to Eric looked incredibly well-behaved. No matter how you looked at it, he didn’t match Hilda’s aura.
After the surprise, Sunflower thought for a moment and said: "How about this, you guys rest for a while first. The news of Snow Wolves arriving will surely reach Hilda’s ears soon; I’ll take you over there later."
Whether in the original novel or the time after transmigrating, Eric had long heard of Hilda’s reputation and had imagined what she looked like.
Was she an agile, neat female beastman like Grass, or a charming but formidable female beastman like Sahra of the Black Wolf tribe? He had been curious for a long time.
But when they actually met, Eric discovered his imagination was still too poor.
The entire capital carried the rough style of beastmen, and the royal palace was no exception. In the large hall, above was a large high chair covered with a layer of premium animal skin. On the chair sat a tall female beastman, her whole body honey-colored, with a scar running down her face, looking like someone who didn’t smile or talk much.
How to put it... why did she look familiar? Thinking for a moment, Eric finally realized where the familiarity came from: why did this scene look like those bandit chiefs in TV shows!
From the time they were summoned until now, more than ten minutes had passed, yet Hilda up there still hadn’t spoken, eyes lowered, thinking about something unknown. Sunflower and Clitus stood beside her; there were no other beastmen.
Since she didn’t speak, Eric and the others just stood there waiting. After all, flesh and blood finding their way back was not a small matter no matter how you looked at it; the impact was likely not small, so not reacting immediately was normal.
Taking advantage of Hilda’s distraction, Eric carefully observed her appearance. Leo and his mother actually looked quite alike, except Hilda had experienced countless battles, plus the scar on her face, making her look even colder and more mature.
He turned to look at Leo’s expression. For so many years, although Leo lived with plenty of food and warm clothes, he was always concerned about news of his biological parents in his heart; he just didn’t want to say it, worrying it would add to Eric’s troubles.
Although Leo stood there looking very calm now, his trembling eyelashes and slightly rapid breathing had long betrayed the tension in his heart. Eric sighed softly, reaching out to hold his younger brother’s hand.
Leo held back that warm and powerful hand tightly, and the anxiety in his heart gradually settled down.