Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 131: Episode : What is Money?

Roxy felt like a baby in Zarek’s arms.

Was there any day she didn’t feel like that in his arms? It always reminded her of their meeting and how he had almost killed her.

An iconic beginning, Roxy would dub it. That’s why no matter how many mates she gets, Zarek would always be the only one who occupied the largest part of her heart.

Zarek had wrapped Roxy in her heavy fur cloak, but the steam rising from her skin was still visible in the frigid morning air. She felt clean. She felt thoroughly claimed. And thanks to the Dragon King’s... thoroughness... she felt a renewed sense of clarity.

The pregnancy hormones were still going haywire, but it was better now; she felt satisfied even though she wished he could keep going.

But for now, she was calm and felt rosy.

"I feel good," Roxy announced as he dropped her steadily onto the porch. "Like I could fight a bear. Or do taxes. Whichever comes first."

"Please do not fight a bear," Zarek rumbled, opening the heavy oak door for her. "I just cleaned you."

Not like he could complain, because if she were to fight a bear, he would kill it before it touched her.

Roxy stepped inside, expecting the warm, quiet sanctuary of her home.

Instead, she walked into chaos again. What was she expecting exactly?

"MINE! NO! MINE!"

In the center of the living room, a battle was unfolding. Axel had his teeth clamped firmly onto the left leg of a stuffed rabbit. Iris had her hands gripped tight around the rabbit’s ears.

They were playing tug-of-war. And they were violent.

Axel was growling, his little paws scrabbling for traction on the rug. Iris was red-faced, screaming at a pitch that could shatter glass, leaning back with all her weight.

"Give! Give!" Iris shrieked.

"Grrrrr!" Axel retorted.

And sitting on the sofa, watching the carnage with a bowl of berries in his lap, was Kaelen.

The Wolf King was chewing slowly, looking like he was watching a gladiator match. He even pointed a berry at Axel. "Plant your feet, boy! Use your center of gravity!"

Roxy stood in the doorway, the peace of the hot spring evaporating instantly. Can’t she have a moment of peace!

"Kaelen!" she barked.

Kaelen jumped, tossing a berry into the air. He caught it, looking guilty. "Roxy! You’re back. I was just... supervising."

"Supervising?" Roxy marched over. "They are ripping Mr. Floppy in half! Separate them!"

"But they need to learn how to resolve conflicts on their own," Kaelen argued weakly.

"They are toddlers!" Roxy snapped.

She stepped between the combatants. She bent down to their eye level, took a deep breath, and puffed her cheeks out until she looked like a bloated pufferfish. She crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out sideways, wiggling her fingers by her ears.

Bleh-bleh-bleh!

Axel froze mid-growl. He dropped the rabbit leg, staring at his mother in confusion.

Iris stopped screaming, her mouth hanging open. The sheer absurdity of their mother making a monster face short-circuited their tiny brains.

The anger vanished. Iris let out a giggle. Axel wagged his tail, laughing happily.

"See? Solved," Roxy sighed, relaxing her face.

She reached down and scooped Iris up. The little girl immediately wrapped her arms around Roxy’s neck, burying her face in the fur cloak. She smelled like milk and baby powder.

"You little terror," Roxy murmured, kissing Iris’s forehead. "You can’t just steal Axel’s toys. We share in this pack."

Iris looked innocent. "Share," she agreed, though she was still holding the rabbit.

Roxy turned to Zarek, who was watching with a small, amused smile.

"Z," she said, her tone shifting from motherly to authoritative. "Get the others. We need to talk. All of us." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"A family meeting?" Zarek asked.

"A business meeting," Roxy corrected.

Zarek nodded. He went to the sunroom to help Syris, who was mobile but slow, and kicked the door to the guest room to wake Torian.

While she waited, Roxy sat in the rocking chair by the fire, bouncing Iris on her knee. Her eyes wandered around the room until they landed in the corner.

There, stacked against the far wall, were Torian’s chests. The massive iron-bound trunks he had brought from the Golden Citadel.

He had still not told her about how the civilization came to be in the tiger territory, shutting out the other species.

But that was not the most important.

Roxy stared at them. She needed the Mansion. The System had been clear: 50 million LP.

She checked her current balance.

[Current LP: 28,450,000]

It was a lot. The mating season marathon with Syris, his child, and the... activities... with Torian and Zarek had topped it up. But she was still only halfway there. And she couldn’t just keep having sex to earn points.

She would die of exhaustion, and frankly, her hips needed a break. She needed a passive income. She needed a big score.

[I thought you were enjoying it.]

Even a succubus needs to rest.

How do I get 22 million points without opening my legs for a week? she wondered.

[SassyGoddess shrugs, Well, you could start an OnlyFans for the Beast World, but I think Zarek would burn the servers down. Or... you could capitalize on your assets.]

[GodofPlot smiles. The user possesses significant raw resources. Gold. Gems. Labor. But the economy is stagnant. It is barter-based.]

Roxy frowned. Barter-based.

That was true. When she bought things in the village, she traded meat for furs, or herbs for wood. There was no standard. A chicken was worth two baskets of apples today, but three tomorrow. It was inefficient, and that was nothing close to being civilized.

Torian had gold. Lots of it. But gold was just a shiny metal here. It was used for jewelry and decoration. It wasn’t... currency.

An idea sparked in Roxy’s brain. It started small, then flared brighter than Zarek’s fire breath.

If she could introduce a standardized currency... if she could turn that gold into money... She could control the trade. She could tax the trade. She could build an empire, not just a harem.

And building an empire awarded a massive amount of LP.

[System Notification: Empire Building Path Detected.]

[Potential LP Reward: Unlimited.]

"That’s it," Roxy snapped her fingers loudly.

The sharp sound echoed in the quiet room. Iris, who had been dozing on Roxy’s shoulder, jolted awake. The sudden noise terrified her.

"WAAAAAAH!" Iris wailed, bursting into tears instantly.

Roxy flinched. "Oh no! No, no, baby, I’m sorry!"

She rocked the little girl frantically. "Mama didn’t mean to scare you! Shh, shh, it’s okay. Don’t cry."

Iris sobbed, clutching Roxy’s hair. Roxy cooed, rubbing her back. "I’m sorry. Look at the fire. Look at the pretty fire."

By the time the men gathered in the living room, Iris had reduced her wailing to quiet sniffles.

Kaelen sat on the floor, leaning against the wooden bench that was heavy with fur. Torian emerged from the bedroom, wearing a fresh silk robe, looking well-rested and smug after his night of claiming.

Syris limped out of the sunroom in his human form, leaning on Zarek for support. He looked pale. Zarek helped him to the armchair and stood behind him, crossing his huge arms.

They all looked at Roxy. She was sitting in the rocker, still holding Iris, but she was smiling so wide that it scared them. Whenever Roxy smiled like that, it meant she was cooking up something.

Most of the time, it didn’t work in their favor, and the rest they enjoyed.

But they didn’t know which it was now.

She walked over to Torian’s stack of chests. She opened them one by one, revealing mountains of gold in it.

Gold bars, raw nuggets, gold chains, jeweled goblets. It was enough wealth to buy a small country in her old world. Here, it was just Torian’s shiny collection.

The triplets, Axel and Onyx, waddled over, mesmerized by the sparkles.

"Shiny," Onyx whispered, reaching out.

"Don’t eat it," Kaelen warned lazily.

Roxy turned to Zarek. She held out Iris.

"Hold her," Roxy said.

Zarek looked at the toddler. He looked at his massive, clawed hands. Then, with infinite gentleness, he reached out and took the little girl.

Iris looked up at the Dragon King. He was huge. But he was her favorite. Iris beamed. She reached up and grabbed a lock of his black hair. "Dada!"

Zarek’s stoic face softened. He awkwardly patted her head with one finger. "Hello, small one."

Freed from the baby, Roxy reached in and picked up a heavy gold bar. She weighed it in her hand. It was cold, dense, and useless in its current form.

She turned to face her mates. She held the bar up like a talisman. "We are going to create money."

The room was silent.

Kaelen scratched his ear. Torian looked at his gold bar with confusion. Zarek looked intrigued.

Syris furrowed his brow. He tilted his head, his neon green eyes narrowing as he tried to parse the word she had used.

"Money?" Syris asked slowly, the concept completely foreign to his brain. "What’s money?"