Before setting out, Draven repeatedly urged Rurik, his heart full of worry. After all, there was no guarantee that Rurik would be able to meet Lord Selene smoothly.

  He gave detailed instructions: "Once you reach the city, the first thing is to go directly to see the lord. If the lord doesn't grant you an audience, then find the steward Lydia. If you still can't meet him, there's an eagleman messenger who can help deliver the message. No matter what it takes, make sure the information gets into Selene's hands without delay."

  Draven emphasized especially: "Remember, besides telling her that we've found Garruk's trail, you must warn her that there is a lord-level powerhouse stationed among the serpentkin!"

  In truth, he wasn't completely certain himself whether there really was a lord-level figure in the cave.

  But he thought it was better to take the threat seriously than to be careless. After all, the other side was bold enough to leave a bloodline weapon casually stuck in a tree—such courage and backing meant that, whether a lord or not, they were definitely no ordinary serpentkin.

  The Green Serpent's ease in placing such a precious weapon there indicated a powerful backing. If not a lord, then at least someone with an extraordinary status.

  Draven watched as Rurik rode Ragnar and sped south without looking back. He mentally calculated the time:

  A trip to Selene City and back to deliver the news would take at least ten days. As long as those ten days passed safely, the serpentkin tribe would no longer pose a threat to the Black Flag Territory.

  His heart was filled with both hope and anxiety, and Draven silently prayed that everything would go smoothly from here on.

  He knew that weakness was the greatest vulnerability; no matter how unwilling he felt, he could only grit his teeth and endure.

  Back in the village, Draven publicly commended the dog-headed slave Titus, praising him for his outstanding contribution to the Black Flag Territory. When Titus heard the praise, he knelt on the ground, his eyes burning with determination to become stronger.

  Though seemingly a small matter, this stirred a huge ripple among the slaves. People began whispering, guessing what kind of luck had brought Titus this recognition.

  Many slaves felt a spark of hope, yearning for the day they too might be acknowledged like Titus.

  Draven neither interfered too much nor encouraged unrealistic fantasies. With the Full Moon Festival approaching, he preferred to focus his energy on preparations for the ceremony.

  The giant python's corpse was enormous, and after butchering, it would yield a lot of dried meat. Draven actually felt reluctant to use it as a sacrifice because for the next ten days, the village's food supply would be nearly cut off due to defensive needs.

  This meant he had to hunt another magical beast to meet the required number of sacrifices.

  With the Eyebrow-Patterned King Serpent and Liliana guarding the village, Draven felt that as long as he didn't stray too far, he could still safely go out hunting.

  He tidied up the freshly dug foundation, then found Liliana, who was playing with the cubs, and seriously instructed her to guard the village well.

  To get Liliana's agreement to protect the village, Draven offered a generous feast of roasted meat in exchange. Eventually, Liliana nodded and promised to watch over their home carefully.

  The Eyebrow-Patterned King Serpent reluctantly spat out the thick, emerald green python's massive corpse.

  Viola and Bran's task was to process the python's body, including cutting the snake skin and curing the meat. These tasks would keep them extremely busy.

  The village grew busy once again, while Draven set out on his hunting journey.

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  Regarding sacrifices, the views among the demi-human tribes varied greatly. Many weaker tribes saw the sacrifice as a burden and tried to handle it as perfunctorily as possible.

  If it weren't for the intelligence gathered over the years in Selene City, Draven would have found it hard to truly understand the meaning of the sacrifices.

  It was a mysterious matter—in this world filled with magic and the unknown, Draven chose to believe in the power of the sacrifices and was willing to pay the price.

  On the premise that these sacrifices could indeed strengthen the Black Flag Territory's power.

  Because he limited his hunting range to the forest near the village, Draven didn't have to be overly cautious. He only needed to find traces of magical beasts quickly and prepare enough sacrifices before the full moon arrived.

  Fortunately, during his previous patrols in the forest, Draven had already discovered several signs of magical beasts. Based on experience, those beasts were low-level monsters without much strength.

  Originally, Draven had planned to leave this magical stag for Rurik and Bran to practice on — after all, the young hunters needed more real combat opportunities to hone their skills. But now it seemed this magical stag could serve a greater purpose.

  Drawing on years of hunting experience, Draven quickly discovered a fresh set of tracks.

  They were clearly left recently by a magical beast; the soil was soft and disturbed, and the edges of the footprints were still moist, obviously not old traces.

  Holding his breath, Draven slowly followed the footprints. His movements were light and swift, silent as a ghost in the forest.

  After a few minutes, he entered a dense patch of ferns and immediately spotted two sharp antlers.

  It was a deer-type magical beast, its antlers faintly glowing, with a weak magical aura emanating from its body. Draven's heartbeat quickened slightly, but he calmly put away his longbow.

  This time, he decided to capture the magical stag alive. After all, living sacrifices were far more valuable than dead ones. A live offering meant stronger magical power and better results.

  "How to capture a magical beast alive?" he asked himself.

  The simplest and most effective method was to knock it out first. Draven gently drew the bowstring and released an arrow with a sharp whistle. But this arrow was no ordinary one — it was specially enhanced with magic.

  The arrow struck the stag's neck precisely. The beast let out a piercing scream, its eyes rolling back as it fell on its back, unconscious.

  Draven stepped forward, took out a heavy long axe, and struck the stag's head hard with the axe's back. With a muffled thud, the blow was enough to prevent the beast from waking up easily, even if it recovered consciousness.

  After confirming the stag would stay unconscious for a while, Draven let out a long sigh of relief.

  This hunt had gone surprisingly smoothly. He saw no need to risk looking for more magical beasts. Shouldering the heavy magical stag, he steadily headed back toward the village.

  Relations with the serpentkin tribe were as tense as walking on thin ice; even the slightest disturbance could trigger conflict. Draven wanted to return quickly to prepare the message and the sacrifices, to protect his home.

  On the way back, he encountered a group of treants and Big Bear carrying stones in the forest.

  These massive creatures had originally gathered enough stone to build new homes for the village's young ones. Unfortunately, after Draven replanned the territory, all the stones were used to fill in the freshly dug foundations.

  As a result, besides the foundations, the village hadn't really built a single proper house.

  Just as he returned to the village, he heard clear, joyful shouts from afar: "Liliana is our queen!" "Liliana is our queen!"

  Draven set down the magical stag on his back and followed the voices to see Liliana leading a lively crowd of cubs.

  The bright red horn-shaped flag — snatched off by some mischievous child — was held high by the druid girl.

  She seemed to imagine herself as a queen, waving the flag excitedly while singing a folk song she had apparently learned from somewhere.

  She sang a line, and the cubs repeated it after her, making the whole scene extraordinarily joyful.

  Draven had intended to be annoyed, but seeing Liliana's victorious, triumphant look, he couldn't help but smile.

  "Liliana, you're their queen?" he asked.

  "Yes, yes!" Liliana answered proudly.

  "So they're all your subjects?" Draven continued.

  "Yes, yes!" Liliana answered confidently.

  "Then look at them — they haven't even built a proper house yet!" Draven frowned and cast a somewhat disdainful glance at the new "queen" of the cubs.

  Liliana wanted to argue but suddenly didn't know where to start.

  "Being a king isn't just about singing songs. You have to help them build their houses," Draven said, pointing to the treants still carrying stones in the distance, his tone serious and firm. "Only then can you be a real king."

  Liliana thought for a moment, her face showing sudden understanding. She then tossed the horn flag aside and happily ran over to help.

  Draven smiled, took back the flag, and re-planted it on the stone wall at the village entrance.

  He silently reflected that these fearless, rowdy kids really weren't the sharpest.

  Watching Liliana transform into a giant brown bear and clumsily follow the treants moving stones, Draven laughed with pride.

  "Don't be too hard on her. The cubs like her a lot. Liliana's helped quite a bit," Viola quietly came over and looked at him gently.

  Draven teased, "Oh really? So you want her to have so much energy she's roaring at the gate in the middle of the night?"

  Viola heard this and blushed as red as a ripe apple.