God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 1084: Premonitions of Better Times (3).

Cain shrugged, "She’ll be alright. And she is not my bride."

Anathe seemed suspicious, "She isn’t? The two of you certainly seem... close."

Cain paused for a moment, ’Close, huh... I guess you could say we have gotten closer.’

Compared to previously, they certainly had spoken to each other more than any other time since the first day he had met her.

He also believed he had finally gotten a grasp of her character.

At least, he hoped so. The fickle nature of women was still something elusive to his mind.

Cain sighed, "In any case, you can rest easy."

Anathe’s eyes seemed to say something else as she nodded,

"I see."

Completely oblivious to this, Cain rose to his feet and stretched,

He stretched out his arm and casually evoked his authority as a Beastmaster.

A creature about, about three feet tall appeared in his grip. He casually threw the furry thing to the ground.

Anathe glanced at it curiously,

"What is this?"

Cain cackled, "This thing will be very important to us moving forward."

Blatt slowly rose to his hind feet,

"I regret it. I regret it all!"

Anathe seemed confused so he explained,

"I believe this beast right here is special. As for why I think this way, I’m not willing to go into the details. However, I’d like for him to be in your care from now on."

Anathe was silent for a while,

"I see. Then, I will respect your wishes."

Cain nodded then turned to Blatt,

"And you... You are disgustingly weak. However, you do have heart. So for the time being, just do whatever you want. Start a new family? Learn magic? Or..."

A strange expression appeared on Cain’s face,

"I could be your benefactor."

Anathe glanced between the man and the rodent,

’Something troubling is going on here.’

Unfortunately, she had no idea what it was so she could do nothing but watch.

Blatt was also confused as well,

"Master Cain. Your words are taxing on this one’s mind. Please, could you speak directly."

Cain’s face fell as he grabbed the rat and shook it violently,

"What an idiot."

Then he cleared his throat and explained,

"Right now, the current state of things means there is will be a great shift soon. Predatory beasts are more hungry than ever before and their prey will only get more and more cautious. The disadvantage of this, is that the local ecosystem is disturbed. Unless a new path of expansion is opened up, this place is destined to eat itself alive until nothing is left."

Anathe’s eyes narrowed. With Cain’s words earlier, she had already recognize this as a pressing issue. That was why she realized she couldn’t afford to be stubborn any more. What she had initially believed was a minor issue turned out to be more pressing than she had imagined.

The cycle of balance that had initially existed had been broken. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, it was as a direct result of the rules the goddess had enforced.

Even she has no idea why those Divine rules had existed. While they could freely hunt beings that had not accepted the goddess, the hunters were strictly restricted from eating those that were. This has greatly disturbed the delicate balance of life and had led to a rather large population explosion amongst prey while the number and strength of predators that couldn’t hunt sufficiently with these new enforcements had been brought down significantly."

Blatt grimaced and pointed at his nose,

"But... What does that have to do with me?"

Cain shook him again,

"I’m not going to be on this island forever. I need someone that can work together with Anathe and create the balance that needs to be maintained here. And I see potential in you for this role."

Cain put the disoriented rat on the is chitinous floor,

"To put it simply— I need someone reliable to handle the logistics of this... endeavor. A beast that understands the heart of the common er... beastfolk. With you managing the {Spatial Gate} and the resources going in and out, I believe we can make things work. Your mind is your greatest weapon, Blatt the Wretched. I want to see you—"

"Hold up!"

Cain raised a brow. The damned rat had cut him off.

Blatt immediately pointed an accusatory finger at him,

"You! You just want to dump all the work on me, right?!"

Cain rubbed his nose and looked away,

"That... is an unfounded accusation. Take that back." He said, pulling at the rodent’s cheeks.

Blatt slapped his hand away with surprising force.

Then he folded his arms and turned away from him. Seeing the little guy’s show of defiance, Cain couldn’t help but chuckle.

Eventually, Blatt sighed.

Then he turned to face Anathe and bowed deeply,

"My Queen. Please allow this humble one to serve you. I vow to do my very best to help as much as I can."

Cain turned to Anathe, a mischievous smile playing on his face.

Anathe chuckled and turned to face Blatt,

"Is that so? Well, if you have been selected by Cain, perhaps there is something special about you. I hope you live up to his expectations."

Blatt nodded furiously, "Of course. Of course, My Queen!"

Then he turned back to Cain, a sinister glow in the depths of his eyes,

"Where do we start, Master Cain!"

Cain snickered,

"Well, you could start by making a detailed list of all the species of creatures recognized by the goddess within the Colony, as we all as their numbers, features, traits, and signature magical abilities or whatnot."

Blatt’s expression fell immediately,

"That..."

Cain raised a brow, "Hm? Could it be that I was wrong?"

Blatt furiously shook his head,

"No! I’m in it right away!"

With that, the little rat scuttled right away, leaving just Anathe and Cain.

Cain sighed,

’Sometimes, the best way to move forward, is to do so separately...’ Cain thought to himself.

While it had seemed like the entire ordeal had been a whole lot of nothing, it turned out he had learned much more than he initially thought.

That thought brought him a bit of relief.