Transmigrated Into a Tribal World: My Alien Husbands Spoil Me Too Much

Chapter 74: A Safer Place (1)

Axan’s question made Maeve stop and think. If she could bring the water outside, wouldn’t that mean she had finally solved the tribe’s water crisis?

[That would be impossible, Host.] Pinky chimed in. [The water can only exist inside this magical space. Besides... do you really want everyone in the Azuryn Tribe to spend the whole day scratching themselves?]

Maeve let out a disappointed sigh before looking back at Axan. "This water isn’t suitable for living," she explained gently. "That’s why we can’t take it outside."

Axan lowered his head and sighed. "I see..." He looked genuinely disappointed. "I’m sorry for asking such a dumb question."

Maeve immediately frowned. "Stupid? What are you talking about?" she said, giving his hands a gentle squeeze. "That was actually a very thoughtful question."

She smiled warmly at him. "We may not be able to bring this water into the outside world, but we can still enjoy it ourselves. Think of it as our own little place to relax."

Axan looked around the shower room again. The warm steam, the glowing walls, and the gentle rain falling from above left him speechless.

"Did you always bathe in a place like this back in your world?" he asked with wide, curious eyes.

’Oh, I wish.’ Maeve almost laughed.

Her old bathroom had been so small that she could barely stretch her arms. It didn’t even have a water heater, so she had to boil water herself whenever she wanted a warm bath.

"Not at all!" Maeve replied with a grin. "That’s why the Sky Mother gave me this as a gift."

She had used the Sky Mother’s name so many times that she was starting to wonder if the Black Market really was the Sky Mother.

Axan nodded slowly, his expression full of gratitude. "The Sky Mother is truly generous."

Maeve forced herself to keep a straight face. "Y-Yeah... she can be."

Axan reached out carefully and let the warm water run through his fingers. His eyes lit up with childlike wonder. "It’s warm."

He lifted both hands under the gentle stream as if he couldn’t believe what he was feeling. "It isn’t hot enough to burn, but it isn’t cold either."

Maeve smiled. "That’s why it’s so relaxing."

After making sure nothing dangerous happened, Axan stepped farther inside. The warm water soaked his hair almost instantly, and he let out a soft sigh. "This feels amazing."

Maeve couldn’t help smiling at his reaction. "So you like it?"

He nodded without hesitation. "I’ve never experienced anything like this before."

They ended up spending almost two hours inside the shower capsule. They washed each other’s backs, helped rinse each other’s hair, and occasionally laughed whenever the ticklish bubbles made one of them flinch.

There were even moments when they ended up grinding against each other again, so no wonder it took them so long to finally finish their bath.

"That was so refreshing!" Maeve said, her eyes sparkling as she stepped out of the shower capsule.

Axan picked up a clean cloth and gently helped dry her hair and shoulders. But the moment the cloth brushed against her skin, Maeve shivered and burst into laughter.

"No, no, stop!" she said between giggles, trying to push his hand away. "T-The water makes our skin extra ticklish for an hour, so... let’s not touch each other for a while."

Axan immediately froze and lowered the cloth. "I-I’m sorry," he said, looking genuinely guilty. "I didn’t know."

Maeve smiled and shook her head. "It’s alright. You shouldn’t touch your own skin too much either. We can just sit here for a while."

She had expected the silence to feel awkward. After all, they were sitting alone in the same room without talking. But to her surprise, being quiet with Axan felt incredibly comfortable. Neither of them felt the need to fill the silence with meaningless words.

By the time the afternoon was slowly turning into evening, Ikarus and Cerus finally arrived at her hut. The moment they stepped inside, their eyes landed on Axan. Seeing that he had been there for hours, both of them immediately looked at him suspiciously.

"Did something happen?" Cerus asked, narrowing his eyes. "I swear, I’ll return every single scolding you gave me if you—"

"I just gave her a massage," Axan answered without thinking much about it. "That’s all."

Maeve nodded right away. "He’s telling the truth. He just gave me a massage to help me feel better."

Ikarus looked from Maeve to Axan, then back again. His sharp eyes noticed that both of them looked unusually relaxed. Maeve’s cheeks still had a faint pink color, while Axan seemed calmer than he had been all day.

At last, Ikarus let out a small sigh. "If Maeve says she’s alright, then I won’t ask any more questions."

"Besides, there’s something more important I need to tell you," Ikarus said, his expression suddenly turning serious.

The change in his tone made Maeve sit up straight. A strange feeling settled in her chest, as if she already knew she wasn’t about to hear good news.

"Our baby has started to grow bigger inside you, and because of that, it has begun to release Aether Energy," Ikarus explained. "The other tribes from distant lands may not be suffering from the baby crisis as badly as we are. But some of them still kidnap pregnant women and their unborn children."

Oh, damn...

The moment those words left his mouth, Maeve could clearly picture the worst possible future.

"A-Are they going to come after me too?" she asked, her voice tense. She quickly stood up, and Axan rose to his feet beside her. "What should we do?"

’What if I’m kidnapped by a cruel tribe? What if they torture me every day?’

After all, in an apocalyptic world, if people discovered that a woman had a one hundred percent fertility rate, they would do everything they could to force her to have children.

"It’s alright," Ikarus said gently as he walked over and cupped her face with both hands. "Don’t panic."

His calm voice helped ease the fear in her eyes. "We won’t let anyone take you away. That’s why we’re going to move you to a safer place."

===

At first, Maeve thought they were taking her somewhere outside the Azuryn Tribe. But to her surprise, they led her underground.

What shocked her even more was that it wasn’t just an ordinary tunnel, but it was more like a massive fortress hidden beneath the ground!

She even had the feeling that the underground fortress was just as large as the settlement above, maybe even larger.

"I... I had no idea you could build something like this," Maeve murmured in amazement.

Her eyes wandered from side to side as she took in everything around her. The walls were covered with the same colorful powder she had seen inside the Tomb of Heart, giving the underground passage a soft, glowing light.

The walls weren’t made of dirt alone. They were reinforced with huge stone blocks that looked incredibly strong, and even the ceiling seemed carefully built to keep the entire place safe and secure.

"My ancestors were the ones who built this place. It was made especially to protect pregnant women," Ikarus explained.

As they walked, he kept hold of Maeve’s hand, making sure she wouldn’t trip on the uneven ground.

"These aren’t ordinary stones," he continued. "Our ancestors infused them with Aether Energy. The people who did it had the same barrier ability as Axan, so these walls are much stronger than they look."

His expression gradually turned serious. "Back then, tribes fought endlessly over territory and power. The battles across this continent were far worse than they are now." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Many of our women were kidnapped, and their babies were taken from them by force."

Maeve felt a lump form in her throat. Even though Ikarus spared her the details, she could still imagine how terrifying those days must have been. The thought alone was enough to make her heart ache.

Not far from them, Axan was carefully inspecting the walls to make sure the structure was still strong enough.

Without taking his eyes off the stone, he said, "Our ancestors also made sure this place could hide the Aether Energy given off by unborn babies. As long as you’re here, you’ll be safe."

Maeve fell silent for a moment before asking, "But can other people really sense a baby’s Aether Energy that easily?"

Axan gave a small nod. "Normally, no. But there are people with special abilities who can detect it, especially if the child has a large amount of Aether Energy. That’s why pregnant women were often targeted."

Ikarus chimed in, "Since the baby’s placenta is what we need to restore our territory, your pregnancy and the birth period are very important. That’s why..." He paused for a moment. "You may have to stay here until the babies are born."

Maeve looked at Ikarus with her eyebrows raised. "Not even for an hour or two?"