CHAPTER 545: CHAPTER 545 - A BIG MEET UP WITH POTENTIAL PARTNERS (PART 2)

As the time for waiting has ended. I officially started the meeting once all of the attendees are seated. There was a growing tension inside the room though none of them has spoken to each other so far. It doesn’t help that I haven’t spoken from the start as well, giving just a nod in greeting for each one of them as they came in.

I looked around to make a final note in my head as to how many people are in the meeting hall, the tribes they belong to and their physical characteristics. When my eyes landed on Payton that has changed so much, I made a mental note that this one is a "No Go" since he is obviously underaged even if his physical characteristics have matured quickly in just a matter of months.

I made a heavy sigh as I realized once again that there were actually 12 mystiques inside this room. I could not help but massage my temples as I feel like another headache is about to come in. I don’t really get sick anymore with this sturdy body of mine so I have confirmed that the headaches I am having is more of the mental stress that I feel when I am overwhelmed or confused, no part of my body is really sick or anything just psychological pain I guess.

I made a heavy sigh again and dropped my first question, "I know that the elders have talked to all of you before you came here but just to be sure, did everyone come here knowing what this meeting is for and also with their own free will? I want each and everyone of you to answer with your own mouths."

Artak, being the first one to arrive at the meeting, volunteered to go first as he coughed once to get everyone’s attention. He then spoke with a loud voice and said, "My name is Artak, a leopard beastman and I came here with full knowledge of what this meeting for and willingness."

Following Artak’s lead, everyone who were seated around the table said a similar statement to what Artak said but all in all, it has the same idea. It simply tells me and everyone else in the room that the person is here to stay and that they won’t change their mind about being with me. Even the youngest one in the group spoke with a loud voice and a strong conviction using his now deeper sounding voice.

Well, that is all I need to hear from all of them so we’re all good I guess. It is not that I like that this meeting have so many wiling participants but what else can I do. I honestly expected that only the first 5 people will attend because we had talked about this before. I thought nobody else will arrive. Well, so much for my expectations...

I closed my eyes tight for a few seconds and when I opened them again, my composure is back and my mind was clear. I then gave my first instruction to everyone that since I want to be fair to all my people, the 12 of them can bring their immediate family members and live in one of the four villas that I have allotted near my villa in the northern part of the sanctuary.

As you have noticed, I had no choice but to increase the allotment of villas to 4 from the previous 3 due to the sudden increase in participants in this meeting. I also gave them the freedom to choose who they want to have as their housemates.

There would be three men per villa together with their immediate family members. As for bringing their family in, it actually depends on the person if they want to do that or not. I have already accepted the fact that not all families are harmonious and some may want to live independently once they come of age.

As for Payton, he immediately thanked me as he said that he will bring his two brothers with him and that they finally have a proper house. Most of the omnivores and herbivores also verbally expressed that they will do the same, except Voss (fox). As for the carnivores, they said that they wish to live in the villa on their own like the independent beastmen they have always been after they came of age.

I simply nodded on their responses and let them do what they need to do make a decision regarding who is going to live with who. After all the murmurs, negotiations and conversations were over, I called for everyone’s attention to talk about another essential topics about what will be happening from now on since they have made up their minds to be connected to me.

Before going further to the heavier topics, I looked towards Payton and asked a question that has been bugging me since earlier, "Payton, I believe that you have not yet come of age, right? I am quite sure you have not based on how you looked like the last time I saw you. Though it seemed like you have grown quite quickly recently, your age won’t change as quickly as that.."

Payton’s shoulders jumped at being suddenly addressed directly in a meeting with several people. He is a deer alright. You can’t just change their natural reaction and meekness.

He stuttered as he answered and looked at me with his innocent deer eyes as he said, "I will never lie about that or anything... I just... I want to... be included. You might never ask us again so I came here. I am willing to wait before I can be with you. It won’t be long anyways since I am already 12 anyways."

My eyes widened at the information he just said. Him? Only 12? He looked way older than that! I would even have believed him if he said he was 18!

Then, I suddenly remembered that beastmen reach maturity the earliest compared to all the other beings in this world. What was their coming of age year again...

Ugh... It was 14, wasn’t it? So, he only needs to wait 2 years before he can be married off to anyone.

Since Payton has repeatedly confirmed to me that he is sure about being in this meeting and is even willing to wait for two years to be ready and eligible, I dropped the subject at that. There is nothing more that I can say against his strong conviction.

I did not ask the others about their age since it is quite obvious that they looked like grown ups already even during the first time I met them. It is just the deer boy that was an exception. Without being asked, the others still voluntarily told me about their age one by one as if wanting to assure me that they are all of the right age to decide and get a wife for themselves.

I just listened to the information they were willing to provide. I was still surprised with some of the ages of the mystiques in the room. The oldest one seemed to be in his late 30s though they all look like teenagers to me, honestly.

I moved to the next topic and started asking a random question which is about their chosen method as to how they want to have a child with me in the future. When I asked the question directly, everyone in the room looked at me with wide eyes as their faces started to turn red one after the other. Eventually, everyone looked away and did not answer my inquiry,

Why are they looking at me like I said something weird? Isn’t the goal of this meeting to discuss future plans of having children?

Well, I got an indirect answer as to what seems to be the problem as Artak asked me as politely as he could, "Excuse me but, was there actually another way to have a child other than... Uh.. Doing that? Do you mean like if we are willing to do it in a specific place or a specific position or..."

Oh. I totally forgot that the other options I was pertaining to only applies to my family but not the others. I ended up chuckling suddenly since I found it funny that I went straight to the question without explaining where I am coming from thus creating this awkward misunderstanding.

It was indeed a miss on my part since I just want to get over this meeting or something while skipping this whole part that was actually very much needed in this discussion. After that, I had to carefully explain about the existence of other options based on my abilities.

They looked perplexed at the existence of such options and could not help but look at each other for confirmation. I left my questions hanging and gave them time to think about which option to take. I advised them to start moving their things to the villas at first while telling them which individuals to take which villa.