CHAPTER 544: CHAPTER 544 - A BIG MEET UP WITH POTENTIAL PARTNERS (PART 1)

After the impromptu meeting with the elder representatives from each of the beastmen tribes in the sanctuary, I finally had a short moment of peace and quiet as I was left alone after everyone else went their way back to look for their respective tribe members whom should be receiving my instructions. I have repeatedly advised the elders to clearly explain for the reason of the meeting and that attending has to be in their own volition.

My short moment of rest ended fairly quickly when the first meeting attendee arrived in such a hurried manner that the door swished open loudly. I sighed heavily as I was actually hoping earlier that they will at least take a longer time to decide and that the earliest ones will come in at least after an hour.

The first one to arrive was actually Artak, the leopard beast man that I first met with Pelle inside that cave in Izvratya during the beastman rescue mission. I already kind of expected that he will come. I just did not expect for him to come here running to the meeting hall and now he is sweaty and currently panting from his run as he went through the door.

He sat on the nearest chair from me and looked at me with expectant eyes. I simply nodded at him in greeting but did not say anything. In my mind, I was confused as to how a skinny man from before would look this great just after a few months of enough food.

I sneaked a glance at him and noticed that he is now well built in a sense that he is lean but had the right amount of muscles. I also couldn’t help but notice his cute and fluffy ears above his head that were in the typical color of leopards which have the spots called rosettes in shades of light yellow, golden yellow, tawny brown until dark chocolate brown.

These beastmen attributes seemed to have not been present before during the rescue mission. Does the mana in Marahuyo perhaps helping them develop their characteristics and make them healthier?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts though it took every bit of my will power to not reach out and pinch those fluffy ears, I will not get over with my fondness for cute animals, not in my previous life and definitely not now that the fluffy ears come with a gorgeous face of a man.

Artak hasn’t rested that much when the other beastmen in the previous meeting arrived as well. At that time, there were five of them, 4 carnivores and 1 omnivore. I scanned my eyes on all of them and damn, they do all have ears that signify which race they are from. I am about to die of cuteness but my face remained looking cold and unbothered.

The ones that arrived were part of the outspoken bunch who was with Artak before which included Voss (fox beastman), Luan (lion beastman), Felan (wolf beastman) and Toran (tiger beastman). I guess none of them ever thought of taking back their decision even after the blunt rejection I have given them the last time we met in private.

They looked at each other with familiarity but compared to the silent agreement due to having the same goal during the first meeting, this time, I felt a little bit of tension in the air. As to why the feeling was different compared to last time, I do not have the slightest idea and I do not have any intention of asking about it. I ignored the weird feeling and simply told everybody that we will be waiting for another half an hour before officially starting the meeting in case there are other people who will attend.

The five men looked surprised upon hearing that we are still waiting for other possible attendees. They must have assumed that there were no other beastmen that will be brave enough to approach me or wanted to be part of my family after they get a wind of these five men staking their claims first. I guess they were banking on the fact that all herbivores and most omnivores are meek and shy so nobody will be brave enough to step forward.

Well, let’s just say that I have to give equal chances to the other tribes to avoid any possible conflict or complaints about me favoring one tribe over the other. So, here we are, waiting patiently for the designated time allowance I have provided earlier to the elders to pass inside this pin drop silent meeting hall. It is not that I am expecting that every single tribe will send a representative here since I never required them to have one. I was quite clear that the men have to go to this meeting out of their own free will with clear expectations in mind.

After a few minutes, a few more beastmen arrived and based on my memories, these are indeed part of the herbivore and omnivore groups. The first to enter the door was familiar face but I couldn’t exactly remember where and when I saw him. My confusion must have been shown clearly on my face as the man greeted me and introduced himself as Gyan, a cow beastman.

I searched my memory and it seems like he was one of the people that spoke during that meeting before we went to Izvratya for the rescue mission. At that time, he did not seem to want to have anything to do with me relationship-wise though so why now all of a sudden?

Behind him, four more beastmen followed closely and one of them also look fairly familiar to me. The first one was Oran, the smart and brave peacock beastman who led his whole tribe to Marahuyo despite the dangers. The second one was a sheep beastman based on his ears and he simply introduced himself shyly as Avis.

The third one looked adorable with white rabbit ears but his eyes were blood red. I must have stared to much as his cheeks started to redden and his ears started to droop. He introduced himself as Zak.

The last one looked tall and lean. He had animal ears but I couldn’t figure out what animal he was but then I noticed his gorgeous wavy hair. Just when I was about to guess, he chuckled and introduced himself as Corin, a horse beastman.

As I looked around the room, I did a quick count of the men inside and there are already 10 of them. I then checked on the remaining time and I still have 15 minutes before the officially start of meeting. I couldn’t help but wish that there would no longer be any additional men that will come through the door.

Well, I guess you can’t always have your wish since with just five minutes left in my timer, a burly man with dark brown hair and rounded ears came through the door. He just walked in and stood by my side as he greeted me formally, "Nice to finally meet you, Ms. Luna. My name is Orcis, a bear beastman, the brown type."

I looked at him and nodded at him in greeting. In my head though, I already wanted to lock the door and start the meeting but that is not possible since I myself told everyone that I want to be fair. Still, I hope nobody else comes in through that door since the headcount is now at 11 men. If we add the 3 merfolks, I already have 14 possible partners just for the beastman race alone.

I ended up counting seconds in my head as the last two minutes of the waiting time is about to end. The others have also chosen their seats and seated with straightened backs, preparing for the meeting or whatever it is that we will talking about in a bit.

As only one minute is remaining, I started preparing myself to open the meeting already but then I heard running footsteps right outside the meeting hall then the door swung open wide as a beastman ran inside.

I looked back and the one I saw was unexpected because of many factors. The beastman who ran in was a deer beastman based on the small antlers protruding from his head. I couldn’t remember having a grown deer beastman in the territory though so who is this?

He respectfully bowed to me and then rest of the people inside the room. He introduced himself and I couldn’t understand how in the world did he changed so much in just a few months.

It turns out that the deer beastman was actually Payton. He is the eldest from the three deer children that we rescued before. I almost did not recognize him since he looked like puberty done him wonderfully.

He no longer looked like a child as he now looked like a young man in his early to mid teens. It seems that he has grown taller as well in just a few months of staying in the sanctuary. What I do not understand though is the fact that this kid has not had his coming of age yet so why is he even here in this meeting?