Transmigrated Into a Tribal World: My Alien Husbands Spoil Me Too Much Chapter 12: The Heart of the Dying Forest

"Of course children are important!" Elder Vax replied imdiately, a little too passionately. "This world may be dying, but if we can still have more children, then this forest can survive!"

Maeve blinked at him in confusion, unable to understand how those two things were connected at all.

"That’s why, you must—"

"That’s enough, Elder Vax," Ikarus interrupted calmly. "You should go ho now."

Elder Vax frowned, clearly offended by the dismissal. "But—"

"Go ho," Ikarus repeated, his voice colder this ti. "Now."

Elder Vax clicked his tongue in annoyance before finally standing up. "As you wish, Leader."

The mont he left the hut, Ikarus imdiately asked Maeve, "Do you feel better now?"

Maeve nodded without saying anything, so Ikarus asked again, "Can you walk?"

I can," she answered right away. "Why?"

"I want to show you sothing," Ikarus said. He then looked toward his brothers. "Take care of the tribe for ."

Axan and Cerus nodded at the sa ti. Neither of them even asked where he was taking Maeve, as if they already knew.

anwhile, Maeve felt even more nervous. ’Wait... are they planning to sacrifice instead because I don’t want to have children?!’

[You haven’t even rejected them yet, Host,] Pinky corrected her imdiately.

[And honestly, with how obsessed they are with you right now, sacrificing you would probably make them cry for the next fifty years,] Pinky added.

That did not make Maeve feel any better. ’Why does that sohow sound even scarier?!’

She slowly climbed out of the bed while keeping a suspicious eye on Ikarus, who stood near the entrance of the hut.

"The place I want to show you is quite far," Ikarus said. "Do you want to carry you?"

Maeve imdiately shook her head. "No need. I can walk by myself."

Back on Earth, she had gone through intense police training, so walking long distances was nothing difficult for her.

At least... that was what she thought at first. Well, yeah, walking itself wasn’t a problem, but trying to keep up with Ikarus was incredibly difficult.

He was only walking at a normal pace, but Maeve already had to speed up her steps just to stay beside him. Before long, she was almost jogging while Ikarus still looked completely relaxed.

Maeve stared at him in disbelief. Was this guy secretly competing in an Olympic race or sothing?!

[No, Host, he just has long legs,] Pinky said.

"Can you..." She stopped speaking for a mont to catch her breath first. "Can you walk slower?"

Ikarus imdiately stopped walking and turned to look at her.

"Am I walking too fast?" he asked.

Maeve could only stare at him in disbelief. Too fast? This man was practically gliding through the forest like so kind of elegant deer!

"Yes!" she complained while trying to breathe normally again. "You have ridiculously long legs! Of course you’re walking too fast!"

For a mont, Ikarus stayed silent. Then, to Maeve’s shock, he lowered his head and looked at her legs.

"They are shorter," he admitted honestly.

Maeve gasped dramatically. "Why do you sound so serious while insulting ?!"

Ikarus then looked into her eyes again and said, "It would be easier if I carried you."

Maeve was about to reject the idea, but then she realized her heart would probably burst if she kept trying to keep up with Ikarus. Besides, it would probably be too difficult for him to walk any slower.

"Right! Right! Just carry , alright?" Maeve said quickly. "But don’t walk too fast! It’s... it’s kind of scary looking down from up there."

Ikarus nodded calmly. "I will try."

And he really did try. Unfortunately, for soone with such long legs, walking slowly was almost impossible. In the end, Maeve still had to cling tightly to him even though Ikarus had already told her several tis that he would never let her fall.

"Here we are," Ikarus said softly as he carefully put her down on the ground.

Maeve imdiately shook her head, trying to get rid of the dizziness spinning inside it. After taking a mont to steady herself, she slowly lifted her gaze.

Monts later, she lifted her head, and the first thing she saw was a vast stretch of dry land.

She held her breath upon seeing the sight in front of her.

This place looked completely different from the part of the forest where the Azuryn Tribe lived. Every tree around them was dead. So of the trunks had already cracked apart and collapsed onto the ground long ago. The dry earth beneath her feet was filled with deep cracks, almost like the land itself had broken apart from thirst.

Just looking at it made her feel uncomfortable, and it was obvious this place had been dying for far longer than the area near the Azuryn Tribe.

"Where... is this?" Maeve asked Ikarus hesitantly.

Ikarus didn’t answer right away. Instead, he walked a few more steps forward while still holding her hand, almost as if he was worried she might disappear the mont he let go.

"This place used to be the heart of the Lumivale Forest," he finally said. As he spoke, his golden eyes lowered toward the cracked ground beneath them.

"Why was it called that?" Maeve asked without thinking.

Ikarus finally turned toward her. "In this world, every tribe has a role in protecting the ecosystem of their holand, and the Azuryn Tribe’s duty is to protect the Lumivale Forest."

[Pinky Dictionary to the rescue: Lumivale Forest is the largest forest on the Eryndra Continent. Its size can reach approximately ±5.5 million square kiloters.]

Maeve’s eyes widened in shock. ’That’s basically as big as the Amazon rainforest!’

No wonder moving to another forest wasn’t easy at all. If the nearest forest was located sowhere near the edge of the continent, the journey would probably take an unbelievably long ti.

Suddenly, the reason why they had no choice but to leave the sick behind started making much more sense to her.

anwhile, Ikarus continued speaking. "Every tribe has its own thod of protecting its territory," he explained calmly. "But to preserve nature, we use baby placentas."

The mont she heard those words, Maeve was instantly shocked and even started thinking that Ikarus was so kind of quack.

"Baby... placentas?" she repeated slowly, staring at him in complete disbelief.