[For now, focus on caring for her. Keep her comfortable, make sure she eats well, and don’t let her overwork herself. We will find a solution.]

Adrian nodded and walked over to Amika. The vomiting had stopped, and she was drinking some water from a bottle, thanks to Seraphine.

Seraphine? Yes. For some reason, she hadn’t reverted to Sera after the fight, and since Adrian was himself injured, he didn’t pay much attention to it. It was the same now. With Amika’s pregnancy, all his focus was on her.

Amika looked pale but managed a weak smile when she saw Adrian approaching.

"You should rest more from now on," he said, approaching her.

"Male... I feel better. I can work—"

"No working!" he cut her off before cupping her face. "You have..."

He wanted to say that she had another life in her now. But the mere thought of saying it out loud made his face turn red. He didn’t know how to tell her she was pregnant and looked around, hoping for some help from the elders.

However, as he did, he noticed Rixxa and Nixa huddled together. The two older women exchanged glances, then looked at Amika, then at Adrian, and back again.

Nixa leaned closer to Rixxa and whispered something. Rixxa nodded slowly, looking at Amika’s belly. Adrian didn’t know the origin of their tribe and why they called themselves the barren.

Adrian had assumed it was because they barely had any resources or skills.

But the women knew the truth, and that’s what had confused them. Mika, Amika, and Amiya did not know why, and were just worried for her.

The elder, on the other hand, knew there were only two reasons a woman would suddenly vomit like that. Either she had eaten something she shouldn’t have or... a seed had taken root inside her.

Since they had been eating the same food, the first case wasn’t possible. It left only one explanation that had Nixa and Rixxa confused.

The predictions of the wandering shaman had never been wrong. Nixa and Rixxa knew that because they once had husbands, but their union didn’t bear any fruit, and they were abandoned once the shaman branded them as barren.

Amika was branded as one as well. So how was she carrying a life?

The women’s gazes shifted towards Adrian, who was openly acting affectionate towards Amika. Like them, he also kept looking at her stomach while hesitating to touch it.

At that moment, they knew for sure that Adrian was aware of the seed and had somehow done the impossible again. Not only had he broken the curse that made their wombs empty, but he had planted his seed in Amika within days.

The women instinctively touched their own bellies and looked at Adrian. If they had offered themselves as his mate, would they also have a seed growing inside them?

***

Nixa took charge of things and instructed everyone not to make Amika do any heavy work. They naturally asked why, and being the tribe mother, she just blurted it out.

"Amika has to cultivate the seed growing inside her."

As soon as those words fell, it felt like a silent storm had hit everyone. They had the same question about being barren, but Nixa gave them a look as if to say she would explain it later and asked Adrian to take Amika inside.

After laying her on the bed and ensuring she was comfortable, Adrian leaned down and gently kissed Amika’s still-flat belly before getting up and kissing Amika’s forehead.

"Rest well," he whispered. "If you need anything, just call me or tell Huginn to fetch me."

"Caw!" Huginn agreed, sitting on the window to look over Amika.

Even Freki had changed his usual patrol route to be next to the window in case Amika needed anything.

Suddenly being showered with affection made Amika a bit restless, but she nodded and then propped herself on her elbows to kiss Adrian’s lips.

"Um... come back soon," she mumbled, looking at Adrian longingly.

Adrian nodded, patted her head, and walked outside.

He had wanted to get to the slime pit first, but the plans changed since the wolves broke the fence.

"Thanks to them, I can now expand it a bit to construct the pond here."

For it, he would need a lot of wooden stumps. He would make a section of the fence, then convert them into cards with the help of the crafting table.

He was planning it so that he would get multiple cards from it. That way, he wouldn’t have to build each and every stump for the fence, which would take an ungodly amount of time and effort.

"Before that, let’s check the wishing well and marketplace to see if anyone is selling axes."

With that thought, he sent Seraphine a message, only to see she was already at the marketplace.

"...what is she doing there?"

He didn’t have to wait long to learn that.

"You dumbass seller! Why won’t you sell me the sword!?" she yelled, pointing at a nonexistent person. "Did your mother not teach you to be kind to girls? Look at my master! He wants to fuck us all, but treats everyone with respect—"

As soon as she reached that part, Adrian clamped her mouth shut with his fingers. Seraphine looked at him and kept blabbering while pointing at the marketplace.

"What are you doing?" Adrian sighed, asking her.

Seraphine pointed at his hand on his mouth and mumbled something. Adrian let go, and she began ranting once again.

"Master~ That mean man was so cruel to me..." she whined, stepping closer and gently tugging on his arm. "He asked a poor girl like me to send him dirty pictures just for one rusty sword... I felt so scared and helpless."

Seraphine batted her long lashes at him, biting her lower lip innocently. She sounded so aggrieved, that if Adrian hadn’t heard her cursing the shit out of the man, he would have actually believed her.

Scared and you? Do you have the gall to say that after I saw you make a slushy of that wolf’s innards!?

Adrian wanted to say it out loud, but given Seraphine’s explosive nature, he didn’t want to trigger her. Not with Amika carrying his child.

However, something she said did catch Adrian’s attention.

"Pictures? You can take pictures here?" he asked.

"No, but that pervert has a small camera with him," she frowned. "He told me that he would send it to me and I can click pictures for him. Then he would barter the camera for that sword. Boohoo, is it a crime to be cute in this world?"

As she said that, Seraphine kept batting her eyes towards Adrian, trying to act all cutesy. She even swayed her hips slightly and hugged his arm tighter, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder like a spoiled kitten.

"First of all, step back and let go of my arm," Adrian frowned and scolded her.

He knew she wouldn’t be acting like that for no reason, and her next words confirmed his doubts.

"Master is so strong and brave! If Master went and taught him a lesson for bullying your cute little Seraphine... I would be so, so happy~"

As expected! This girl is just looking for an excuse to kill someone!

Adrian flicked her forehead and pointed at the broken fence in the distance.

"I have to repair that fence first," he said, using his authoritative voice. "Buy me an axe from the marketplace first. Once I’m done, we can go on a hunt."

As soon as Seraphine heard about the hunt, her cutesy demeanor dropped, replaced by her characteristic cold gaze and terrifying smile.

"Leave it to me, master!" she said, saluting him. "I’ll get you the best axe in the world!"