NO! Not a fart. Not right now. She would never be able to recover from this.
[This is some peak déjà vu, host.] System laughed. Mira swore under her breath, sometimes, it seemed like system was against her. She sucked her fart in then cleared her throat. Her fingers found each other and she began to claw her palm with anxiety. "Hi." Mira said. Not a single soul answered, they all bore stern faces like they were brought here against their will. Mira swallowed. The timer over her head beeping red was more than enough confidence boost to keep her going. "Today, I want to introduce you to something called farming." Mira stated. "You acquire seeds of fruits or crops that fit the taste buds of the animals you hunt and grow them. This way, you lure your meal into habituating till they make the farmland their home." Mira said.
The air was dead silent. Not a single soul reacted.
She swallowed. Back on earth, she got severe stage fright staring at people when she gave speeches but even then, at least they applauded. Over here, all she had were angry eyes staring her way. It was unnerving.
"I will teach you to plant." Mira added.
"And how exactly?" Blasted through the air from the far back of the crowd. People’s heads redirected backwards to trace the voice to the owner. Like a Red Sea parting, the crowd made way to let the speaker walk through to the front, right before Mira. It was Yu Xuan. Of course she would be the first one to oppose her even though she already knew what was going to happen with the farming. Mira tried to keep her cool but her hands clenched into a fist. Yu Xuan sent a woman into her home to seduce her husband and now she had the guts to speak up knowing her status as a council leader would influence the crowd significantly.
Mira had Ming Tao backing her but in this clan, it seemed like that was not enough. The people may obey their ruler but their hearts were way too hardened to stand for Mira. This alone was scary. The beast people had done it before and Mira feared if they could do it again, kill her that is. Hye Yang was still breathing and one thing passed onto the current Mira from the old owner of this body’s memories was that Hye Yang always found her way back to frame her. Now, it seemed like she was looking at so many Hye Yangs just this time, from a different species of animals.
"You come into our land, and we welcome you of course, but you see that we are definitely carnivores and you talk to us about seeds." Yu Xuan stated. She looked at the members in the crowd as she spoke, an attempt to get them to understand her point and agree with her. "Where exactly do you expect us to get these seeds? And even if there was a way, how fast would we acquire them? And if we do acquire them, we would need so many to do this thing you call farming. And as far as nature is concerned, growth takes a long time. We may run out of strength and die before we even get to enjoy the fruit of our labour and what will you be doing in the time we would be working so hard to get YOUR idea done?!" Yu Xuan looked back at Mira now. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes narrowed. She had a smirk on her face as she challenged Mira’s words. "Why do we have to put in the work on something we do not even know?" Yu Xuan continued. "And how sure are we that we can trust you enough to know that you are not setting us up for a trap? After all, this could just be a scheme to make us spread out and have us harmed in the process at our weakest."
Hearing this made Mira’s blood boil. She was doing this for them. She did not need meat or any of this. In fact, she had more than enough system points to purchase food that will last her for centuries but she understood here Yu Xuan came from. The only thing she hated was why Yu Xuan waited until now, in front of the coalition, to speak her mind. She could have done so before at the council meeting and Mira would have cleared her mind on any doubts but this woman’s vile intent was obvious from the very beginning. She wanted Mira to fail.
And it made no sense to Mira because the clan depended on this to rescue them from starvation during this season.
"So come on. Enlighten us. How do we trust you to not do anything evil? It is all that we have seen you do." Yu Xuan pressed after Mira’s long silence. Murmur began to rise as the beast people began to communicate with each other, debating Yu Xuan’s words. Yu Xuan got to them and just as she wanted. This demon of the forest would be out of their clan soon enough and as the council meeting concluded, that depended heavily on the success of this farming.
"Quiet!"
The thunderous voice of Ming Tao trailed from behind Mira. It made her skin crawl with goosebumps. She had never heard him speak that way before and it was quite frightening to hear. The murmuring ended in a heart beat and Mira noticed Yu Xuan’s once bold smirk waver into something else. Fear. Yu Xuan looked scared. She backed away in two long strides into the crowd with everyone else but still stayed in front.
"I am right here. And right in front of me, you dare question my wife? Is that a challenge to me, Yu Xuan?" Ming Tao asked. His tone was harsh and left no room for a speech much less of an argument. He did not want Yu Xuan to defend herself and it was obvious in his fateful voice.
Yu Xuan quivered in her spot. This was pathetic and thrilling for Mira to see. So the cat was only good when it came to addressing her yet became a shadow when it was her king? It was understandable yet laughable.
Mira felt Ming Tao’s body directly behind hers so she turned to face him. She rested a hand on his bare chest. Ming Tao lowered his head to face her. He did not flinch from her touch. His face was serious but the moment he laid his eyes on her, he softened his gaze. This made Mira’s legs weaken.
Her skinny cat was only tame with her. If not for the current situation, she would have patted him and called him a good boy.
"Please, be gentle." Mira worded. Her voice was soft yet loud enough for the others to hear. She needed them to hold their tongue and give her the respect she wanted even if they hated her. "And pleas allow me to prove myself to them." This time, her voice was much lower so only he could hear her.
Ming Tao let out a scoff. He did not like this one bit but decided to listen to her. He turned his gaze back to the crowd and immediately, his facial expression changed. It did not carry the same softness it held when he stared at his wife. "Do not make me intervene again." Ming Tao said. Now she stepped back again, letting Mira be the center of attention.
Mira’s nerves eased. She looked at Yu Xuan and this time, it was her turn to smirk and have a smug facial expression. Beat that, bitch! Mira yelled in her mind.
"I will work with you all. I may not have been the best person to be with in the past but I want to prove to all of you who I have hurt in the past that I can change. I want to make things right and it would be an honour to begin with solving a major problem in the clan. I hear your suffering and I will labour along with you to get through this moment." She said. None of them had a change in expression. They looked girl as rocks.
Geez. What can a girl do to make people hate her less or not be concrete walls around her? Mira questioned in her mind. "I will take care of gathering the seeds and farm tools. I will also check the best land for farming those seeds and will hunt for the livestock that we will introduce into the farm. Please do not worry and depend on me. I aim to do as much as I can to keep the load off you all. All I would need is your support with learning to farm." Mira stated. She needed them to learn as quickly as she could because she only had a few hours left to live and she did not want to die again. Call her a simpleton but she had not tasted the cheetah’s dick yet and she had three more husbands she wanted to get between her legs too so till then, there was no way on the beast world that she would let herself die.
Mira returned her focus to the cheetahs. "Let us save our young from starvation together." And keep me alive too!