Chapter 78: The Pregnant Blanket And The Replacement Meeting!
Neve stared at the description on the system screen.
{Blanket more suitable for pregnant host}
Pregnant host? Him?
He read it twice to make sure he had not misunderstood. But the words were clear. The system had given him a blanket designed for someone who was pregnant.
He almost did not want to believe it.
But he could not stop himself from thinking about it either.
He took the blanket off and held it in his hands, turning it over like the material might tell him something different. It was soft and warm and clearly designed with extra space in the front section to accommodate a larger belly.
He touched his own stomach carefully.
He remembered that night with Cael. The wild, intense night just before the Winter Festival. Everything that happened that night. Everything they had done. Every position. Every touch. Every moment.
It was absolutely possible that those activities could result in pregnancy.
He stared at the system screen again.
"Am I... pregnant?" he asked out loud.
{I’m a system, not a physician}
Neve rolled his eyes at the unhelpful response.
He caressed his belly thoughtfully. Maybe the system was just preparing him for the future. Maybe it was giving him this blanket in advance because it knew pregnancy was inevitable for someone like him.
He hoped that was it.
He hoped he was not pregnant yet because he was not ready. He wanted to tell his mates first. He wanted them to understand that this was not normal. That men did not get pregnant in their world but they would in his case because of the system.
He knew that females in this world went through estrus only once a year. That was the only time when pregnancy could happen. It was a controlled, predictable cycle that made reproduction manageable.
But Neve was not from here.
His body was different. His cycle was different. His fertility worked differently. He was abnormally fertile according to his system stats, which meant he could get pregnant any time. Not just during a specific season.
He needed to tell them that before anything happened.
He pushed the thought aside and clicked on the next gift.
The last one.
His eyes widened.
A lighter.
A real, actual lighter. The kind he had used in his original world. The kind that created fire with just the press of a button or the flick of a switch.
The description stated that it never ran out of gas. That the fuel was infinite. That it would work forever.
Neve wished he had this in his real life. He would have used it constantly. He would have never had to pay for gas again. He would have made ramen whenever he wanted with a proper flame.
But here, in this world, it was equally valuable.
He held it in his hand and smiled. He did not have to go through the drama of friction methods or finding flint and steel anymore. Fire was just a click away.
He immediately marked it as his, the same way he had done with Purse. That way, if it ever got lost, the system would help him locate it.
He stood up and stretched his hands above his head.
The sky outside was still dark. No hint of morning yet. It was probably around three in the morning if he had to guess.
"Maybe I’ll be able to sleep again after downloading that memory," he said to himself.
He went back inside the cave and returned to the bed. He adjusted himself carefully, pulling the Winnie the Pooh blanket over himself from neck to toes. The oversized fabric made him look like he was wrapped in clouds.
He clicked on the download button for the building memory.
The system sent him a notification immediately.
{Forced unconsciousness...}
He was starting to get used to it by now. His eyes closed as he drifted off to sleep, the memory of houses and construction and architectural knowledge flooding into his brain while he slept.
.
.
The next morning, Neve woke to the smell of burnt soup.
His eyes snapped open and he immediately wondered if the cave was on fire. He rushed out of the bedroom without bothering to change out of the Winnie the Pooh blanket.
He made it to the kitchen area and stopped.
Aldric was standing there looking large and awkward and genuinely sorry about something. He was holding a wooden spoon and looking at a pot of soup that was definitely burnt. The smell was acrid and not at all appetizing.
"I’m sorry," Aldric said immediately, his voice small and apologetic. "Cael told me to warm up the soup for you but I forgot to ask how."
Neve looked at the burnt soup and then at Aldric’s face.
An "Aww" slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it.
The sound was automatic. The response was instinctive. Aldric looked so genuinely upset about burning the soup that Neve could not help but find it endearing.
He wished he could see Aldric in his bear form. He imagined he would be soft and cuddly and large. He imagined sinking his fingers into thick bear fur and hugging him close.
"Thanks Aldric," Neve said gently. "You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to cook for me."
"But," Aldric lowered his head, and his expression shifted to something sad. Like Neve had just rejected him. "I want to try."
"You’ll end up burning yourself," Neve said, moving closer to the bear. "You don’t know how to handle fire yet. I’ll teach you later. Okay?"
Aldric looked at him with those shy eyes.
"Thanks Neve," he said, rubbing his palms together nervously. "I’ll wait."
Neve smiled at him, remembering why Aldric was here in the first place. To learn how to treat scorpion stings. To gain medical knowledge. He really did have a lot on his plate.
But that could wait for a few days. Right now, he just wanted to understand where everyone was.
"Where are the others?" Neve asked, turning to meet Aldric’s eyes directly.
"Oh!" Aldric answered, looking even shyer than before. Maybe it was the massive Winnie the Pooh blanket hanging behind Neve like a cape. "They went for the meeting."
"What meeting?" Neve asked.
"I heard..." Aldric turned his head away, clearly struggling to remember. "He mentioned something about replacing him as chief."
Neve’s stomach dropped.
"Replacing who?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.
It had to be Ryker. Ryker had gone to the dungeon yesterday. Ryker had discarded his chief’s chain. Something must have happened.
"Fuck!" Neve cursed and rushed toward the cave entrance without even taking off the massive blanket.
His feet sank into the snow immediately but he did not stop or turn back.
"I hope they weren’t replacing Ryker because of him," he said, the words coming out as he ran through the snow toward wherever they were having their meeting.
.
.
Aldric watched Neve disappear into the snow, still wrapped in the oversized Winnie the Pooh blanket like it was a cape.
The bear looked at the burnt soup and sighed.
The poor bear had clearly only wanted to help.