"What's this?" Sethric paused, eyes falling on the bowl of rabbit meat.

  Tina took the rabbits from his hands, placing them to the side while smiling as she explained how Ayla had just brought the meat over.

  "They insisted on waiting for you to come back so we could eat together," she said, pointing to the two children nearby, pride shining in her eyes.

  Looking at the kids, Sethric suddenly felt a lump in his throat. He walked over, picked up a piece of the now slightly cooled meat, crouched down, and fed each child a bite.

  The four of them sat around the fire, slowly finishing off the bowl of rabbit meat. The flickering firelight illuminated their faces, and the soft chewing sounds from the children gave the simple scene a rare sense of warmth.

  Sethric licked the oil from his fingers and felt even hungrier. He looked up at Tina and said,"Butcher those rabbits—we're letting the kids eat to their heart's content tonight."

  "Alright!" Tina replied immediately, and the two kids, having overheard, began hopping after her in excitement.

  Sethric sat back down, resting his elbows on his knees, and his gaze fell on the pot of bone broth simmering nearby. He squinted and smiled, a thought forming in his mind.

  Maybe… they really could live a better life.

  And if they wanted that, they'd have to fight for it—there was no other way. If life still wasn't good enough, they needed to ask themselves: had they worked hard enough?

  At the same time, Draven stood on the other side of the village. He was sternly lecturing a row of female slaves, frowning like a seasoned commander, voice low and serious.

  Then he turned to the Eyebrow-Patterned King Serpent coiled on the ground and urged it to spit out its catch.

  Something was clearly off with the creature today. Although it was already a high-intermediate magical beast and usually communicated smoothly with Viola's team—not to mention having the support of the druid Liliana—it was acting clueless, with dull eyes and a clamped-shut mouth like a child who'd just been caught misbehaving.

  Draven scowled and turned to run toward Village No. 2. When he heard the serpent was acting up, he didn't hesitate—he walked right up and smacked it hard across the head.

  The Eyebrow-Patterned King Serpent tilted its head and immediately became docile. Draven grabbed it by the neck and dragged it in front of the pens, laying down the law in front of a crowd of female slaves.

  Finally, the serpent reluctantly began to spit out its prey, one by one—though clearly, it wasn't happy about it.

  The village's operations were finally starting to show some progress. The one hundred kobold female slaves and one hundred black werewolf females previously sent to the Rhinoceros Men's territory had been a huge help to Viola.

  Now, aside from the group of over a hundred led by Titus, and the elderly, sick, and children, there were still more than 300 female slaves left in the village.

  They had clear divisions of labor—some repaired roads, some gathered resources, some were in charge of feeding and animal husbandry. It was just enough to keep basic operations running.

  Every time the Eyebrow-Patterned King Serpent spat out a batch of prey, the female slaves would quickly sort them by species. Those unconscious were immediately carried into different enclosures.

  The canyon didn't have many animal species—mainly rabbits, with occasional goats or wild deer. There were no wild bulls at all. Even so, this was a massive supplement to Viola's livestock plans.

  Viola stood in front of the pens, instructing the slaves to wipe the mucus off the animals and prepare feed for when they woke up. Everything was being done to ensure a smooth transition once the animals regained consciousness.

  Draven stood beside Liliana.

  Once the animals woke, he'd need to use calming skills to stabilize them and even offer a piece of worn clothing to act as a guide. Even wild rabbits still retained some wild instincts—they couldn't simply be penned up without resistance.

  Selene was also beginning to understand this.

  After returning from Black Flag Territory, she immediately summoned Lydia. Inspired by what she had seen, she too wanted to start farming and animal husbandry. Cassava, fish, rabbits, goats, wild deer—she wanted them all.

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  She made it clear:"If Black Flag Territory can have it, then I must have it too. And anything they don't have, I'll create myself."

  Faced with her enthusiasm, Lydia tried to ignore her headache and tossed her a scroll of animal hide."You want to play this game? Fine. But you'd better study this first."

  Selene rolled her eyes but still accepted the scroll. She knew that the moment she became the Demon Lord's successor, her life was never going to be easy.

  She had indeed learned the seductive techniques passed down from the succubi—but Lydia's side hadn't managed to do anything useful.

  Selene now stood by the pond, staring at the belly-up fish floating in the water, silent. The cassava field nearby was a mess, overrun with weeds, without a single decent crop in sight.

  "Those wild beasts aren't working either. Too restless," Lydia said, frowning.

  "The rabbits are dying in batches too," she added, rubbing her forehead, clearly sleep-deprived for several nights.

  "What about the fruit trees?" Selene asked stubbornly.

  Lydia pointed off into the distance."Go see for yourself."

  Following her gaze, Selene saw the fruit trees—sturdy but drooping under the weight of their branches, the ground beneath them littered with fallen, unripe fruit.

  She stood there, as if doused in cold water.

  "So what exactly went wrong?"

  Lydia didn't answer, only sighed quietly in relief.

  Thankfully, they had chosen a random test site outside the city this time.

  If they really followed Selene's plan to the letter, this whole venture could turn into a complete disaster.

  "Selene, the human way of doing things may not suit us," Lydia said with a frown, her tone carrying a subtle warning.

  She didn't press the matter, instead shifting the conversation to the merchant guild. Ever since Freya's downfall, control of the guild had finally fallen into Lydia's hands.

  With the rainy season nearly over, caravan deployment needed to be arranged quickly. She had wanted to sit down and properly discuss next steps with Selene.

  But Selene had no interest in such things right now.

  Her face was icy cold, consumed by a single thought: Draven must be hiding something from her—something he deliberately didn't teach her. Clenching her teeth, she waved her aunt away and stormed back into the city in a huff.

  As soon as she entered the room, her eyes landed on the clothes rack in the corner. A few small, delicate garments were hanging there—underwear, women's camisoles.

  Her cheeks flushed red, and her gaze lingered with a mix of emotions before she suddenly spat and snapped,"Throw those away."

  Anne froze, not moving, and turned to exchange a glance with Valeria. Both of them caught the same doubt in each other's eyes—didn't Selene used to like these things quite a lot?

  Selene ignored their reaction, walked to the chair, sat down, and pulled out the confidential report Linda had previously delivered from the drawer.

  Fish ponds, orchards, animal pens…

  She reviewed it carefully—everything seemed to be in order, at least on paper.

  But the moment she saw mentions of"staying up all night" and"indulgence in women," her brows tightened, and a strange discomfort stirred in her chest.

  Why the hell would they report this kind of garbage? She snorted coldly and slapped the report down on the table.

  She stood up, intending to make another trip to the Black Flag Territory. But after taking just one step, she stopped.

  She was a lord, for heaven's sake. Was she really going to run over there herself for a few dead fish and rabbits? How would that look?

  Her gaze swept the room and landed on Valeria, who was standing quietly to the side, hands clasped respectfully.

  "You. Go to the Black Flag Territory and find out what's going on with the fish ponds."

  Valeria bowed slightly and responded softly. After the recent re-education, she had shed her old sultry southern succubus ways. Now she was composed, efficient—almost unrecognizable from her former self.

  Just as she turned to leave, Selene suddenly called her back.

  Valeria paused and looked over her shoulder. Selene's eyes lingered on her full, rosy lips for a second—then she hesitated.

  But the next moment, her expression shifted coldly again, and she scoffed under her breath. Like hell. I'm not sending that bastard black werewolf a woman.

  She turned away and muttered,"Damn that black werewolf…"

  ...

  Meanwhile, back in the Black Flag Territory, Draven sneezed and rubbed his nose. He was standing beside the livestock pens, where the air was thick with the stench of animals.

  Although the female slaves were doing their best to clean, the smell was still overpowering.

  Acorn Oak and the other treants had gone to Village No. 1 to oversee the orchard there, leaving the management here in the hands of the slaves. As more and more animals were brought in, waste management was becoming a serious issue.

  Draven didn't think too much about it. He grabbed a shovel, took Liliana with him, and dug a new latrine pit outside the pens—bigger than the last one. In exchange, he agreed to carry Liliana back on his back.

  With one hand supporting her thighs, he hoisted her up and began walking back slowly. Viola trailed beside them, making the trio look almost like a small family.

  Especially Liliana, who was gleefully strangling the Eyebrow-Patterned King Serpent like a toy, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

  Draven glanced down at the snake and couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.

  The damn thing was disgusting. Even while being choked, its tongue lolled out, and its expression looked… oddly pleased. It didn't seem like it was suffering at all.

  Once they returned to the village, the Eyebrow-Patterned King Serpent first spat out ordinary animals, then reluctantly began vomiting up magical beasts.

  Titus and the troll Ade stood by, inspecting each one as it came out.

  This time, though the number of magical beasts wasn't impressive, at least there was something. Most were low-tier, with no particularly special species.

  But two of them caught Draven's attention—one was a wind-element magic wolf, and the other a jet-black, fierce-eyed magic hawk.

  Both were upper-tier low-level magical beasts—not especially strong, but with considerable potential. Draven thought for a moment and decided they'd be perfect for Rurik and Bran.

  Unfortunately, he didn't have any contract scrolls on hand.

  Frowning, he hesitated, wondering if he should make an early trip to Selene City.