Chapter 173: When will I be free of this built-up exhaustion?

I had Fenric spread our blanket over the clovers and then placed our things carefully at the corner, taking out what I needed. A fresh and clean set of clothes to change into.We went to the lake to take our bath, and I made sure to scrub every part of my body, getting rid of the smell of sex completely.

Since I didn’t have soap, I used berries.

I squashed the berries to use them like a cleanser, even used them on my hair too because that side carried the scent as thick as my clothes did.

"Arinya, I really don’t get it," Fenric said as he helped to spread the squashed berries over my back, rubbing smoothly.

"You don’t need to, Fenric," I said.

I couldn’t tell him I was using the berries to get rid of their scent on me. It would make them feel betrayed so I kept it to myself.

"It changed Arinya’s scent," Damar said as he focused on my arm.

His long slender fingers ran through my hand with the berries sticking to his skin.

It was smooth and relaxing, almost like a spa treatment.

"Oh come on, it’ll only change my scent for a while. After I wash it off, it’ll come off and what will be left is my scent." I said and Fenric frowned.

"I smell something fishy." He said and I flinched.

Did he realize it?

I cleared my throat, giving him no chance to dwell on it.

"Ahem, I just want to feel a lot more refreshed. Don’t think too much about it."

And that was how I closed the matter.

Once we were done with the bath, I stepped out feeling more refreshed than I had ever felt.

The berries worked like magic. I didn’t feel ’clean’ clean, but I did feel extra clean with the addition of the berries.

I changed into something else, the top I had sewn with my own hand along with the skirt.

I wanted to look at myself in the mirror, but there was no mirror. The only way I would be able to see a full view of my reflection was in the crystal Grotto, and we all know what went on in there, ahem, so I intend to avoid there until I leave the territory.

The place still smelled of mixed bodies, fluids, and heat... There’s no way I’d stay sane if I went there now just to look at my reflection.

’I won’t dwell on it,’ I thought, nodding with my eyes closed. ’I look pretty in this. I can already tell,’ I opened one eye to peek at the two who were staring at me with beating hearts and blushing faces. ’Yeah, that’s all I need to confirm it.’

I planned to sew more clothes but when exactly was I going to have time to sew again?

I feel tired and want to sleep, so I can’t sew tonight. And we don’t have materials anymore.

I think I’d like to use something other than squirrel pelt.

I didn’t dwell on it any longer and returned to the tribe with Fenric and Damar, sleeping as soon as my head touched down.

When will I be free of this built-up exhaustion? Sigh.

The next morning, the ’clear sky’ Gram had talked about regarding my changed personality was replaced by my own frustration.

We were gathered at the exit of the village, on the path that would lead us East. The six rabbit traders were ready, but they looked like they were heading for a funeral.

They were huddled together, clutching massive bundles of cabbage, lettuce, and dried roots in their arms. They had no bags, no packs—just armfuls of produce that they’d have to carry for miles.

It seriously irked me knowing that this wasn’t a pre-preparation, but the finished preparation itself.

"Stop. Just... stop," I groaned, rubbing my temples.

Fenric looked at me, puzzled.

"What’s wrong, Ari?"

Is he really asking me that?

Even his tribe used something to carry the rock salt over to our tribe. How could one think of trading while using such a crude method for transporting the goods?

"They’re going to drop half the goods before the sun is high enough in the sky. I just know it!" I pointed at a rabbit who was already struggling to keep a head of lettuce from slipping.

"What’s the matter, savior?" Gram asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

"The problem is the way your traders work, Gram," I said. "How can they carry their goods like that? There are bound to be losses."

"But we do not have any other method to move the goods," he said and I grimaced.

They had such skilled carpenters who made a house so good from scratch with crude materials and yet they could not make carriers?

"Gram! Summon the workers who built the house. I think we’ll need to work on a method because I don’t think I can stay sane if we move like this and I see precious vegetables fall one by one!"

Not to mention how the rabbits would easily tire out.

It’s time to bless this village with my knowledge.

After the workers were gathered, I spent the next four hours in a state of creative agony. I had been an art student—I knew how things looked, but the actual physics of a wheel and how it moved? That was a different story.

"No, no! The wood has to be round! Truly round!" I shouted, waving a piece of charcoal over a flat stone.

The rabbit woodworkers stared at me in reverence. I was sitting in the dirt with them, my hands getting stained with sap and dust as I tried to explain the concept of an axle, something they had never worked on in their life.

A perfect circle... Who knew it was so hard to make one out of plywood?

And even when the circle wheels were created, there were other problems.

"It’s like... a stick that doesn’t move while the circle spins around it," I explained, my voice growing hoarse. "Damar, hold this steady. Fenric, don’t break the wood, just shave the edges!"