Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Seventy-five

*Short chapter. Longer ones are coming. BTW I built ducky an enclosure. It took my entire birthday weekend and my birthday money. She can almost fly now and I will be getting her a friend.

Henry had been living in the Tiger King's territory since the king was replaced. Like many, he hadn't been able to go back to his own den in Camel Hump Village. After the large flood during the rainy season and then the frequent downpours during this drizzle season, his house remained completely waterlogged and the ground too wet to support repairs. But even among the other leopards, he was outcast. They ignored him and pretended he was invisible most of the time. When he tried to have his voice heard, his sister would get her males to shut him up. His sister Eudora had pretty much ruined all of his chances with the females of the leopard clan. So, when the Ape King proposed a deal, information for mating rights with the next purchased female, he had jumped on it.

The Ape King kept close tabs on the females in his city, so it was no surprise that Henry had been picked out of all males associated with the ones in Tiger King's territory. Not only was he strong with two stripes, but he was also willing to betray those females for his own gain. Henry didn't mind. The reward was worth it.

He hoped the Ape King would be happy with the information he brought this day. While almost everyone knew the Tiger Queen had gone into estrus the day it happened, not many knew her snake mate had left the city. Being an outcast had its perks, because while he was hunting out past the city walls, he had seen the green feral in the woods. The male hadn't stopped for the wild boar in his path and simply kept going, leading Henry to believe the snake would be gone for some time if food was not his objective and he wasn't by his mate despite her being in heat.

He had previously told the Ape King about the fox bringing someone back from the dead, but the ape hadn't seemed very interested. He'd acted like it was old news. But now he was sure, this information would be something he'd want. No one else knew yet and the Ape King would need to know if the strongest males of their city were absent.

He arrived at the Ape King's castle and though the guard sneered at him, he was promptly let in and led to a windowless room where he waited for the Ape King to arrive. He waited over an hour but it didn't matter. He didn't care how he was treated so long as the Ape King held up his side of the bargain.

As he predicted, when the Ape King showed up and was given this information, he praised Henry for being so astute and sent him back with promises of allowing the leopard mating rights with the prettiest female the Leopard King brought back.

Wilbert had thought to watch the comings and goings of the Tiger King's territory since he'd discovered how favored Bailey was by the Beast God. With such a female in his city, it was inevitable great or terrible things would occur. But instead of news of miracles or disasters, he was given news that would prove advantageous. He just needed to figure out the best way to use it.

With the Leopard King gone with the caravan, Oscar and Bart exiled, and now the fox's snake temporarily out of the picture, there was no better time than now to solidify his power base. With a little help, he may even be able to remove the last three tetra marked males in the city. It was a good thing the original albeit inadvertent spy he'd planted was still responding to his summons. That shadow of a male had also provided Wilbert with some interesting tidbits that could prove useful. A plan was forming and now all he had to do was let a little bird pass on the message. Hopefully the snake would be gone long enough for a response. If not, it wasn't like anyone would be able to tie him to anything. He could always just blame everything on the already disliked leopard.

Wilbert smiled to himself and headed up the castle tower where a few of the eagle beastmen had quarters. One messenger would be enough.