Everyone looked at one another, and quite a few of them became tempted again.
If they pooled their resources together, maybe they could actually manage it.
Not long after Hayoon announced this, the tribe chief, Baek, personally came over.
In the beast world, beastmen who lived without illness or disaster generally survived well past one hundred and fifty years old.
Baek was already one hundred and forty years old this year.
His hair had turned white, his body was hunched, and he needed a walking stick to move around.
Beom, who had visited Minho's cave previously, was his son.
Because Baek's health had declined greatly, many tribal matters were now handled by Beom instead.
Besides the two of them, the vice chief Immo also came.
She was the leader of the tribe's sub-beastmen.
Minho treated the elderly chief with great respect.
He personally cleaned the grass shelter and even poured him a bowl of water.
Baek raised a hand, signaling for everyone to sit down and talk.
Although he was old, his eyes remained sharp and spirited. Looking directly at Hayoon, he seriously confirmed, "Are you truly willing to trade the weaving method to the people of the tribe?"
Beom and Immo sat on either side of Baek, both staring at Hayoon with equal parts shock and suspicion.
Compared to them, Minho seemed to understand something and appeared much calmer.
Since Haeun was still young, Hayoon did not let him participate in this discussion.
Hayoon nodded. "Yes. I already mentioned it to Minho before. Just relying on Haeun and me to weave cloth is far from enough. So I think it would be better to trade the method to the tribe and let weaving become more useful."
Baek and Immo exchanged a glance before their expressions grew even more serious.
"What do you want the tribe to trade you in exchange?" Baek asked.
The two of them were both very perceptive.
They could already tell that cloth was an incredibly useful item.
If the tribe could master weaving, it would definitely strengthen the Ur-Shet Tribe.
The problem was whether the tribe could actually afford what Hayoon wanted in return.
Hopefully it would be within an acceptable range.
If the price was too high... then they would have to think of another solution.
The few of them had already prepared themselves for the worst, yet Hayoon calmly said, "I want to choose a sturdy piece of land and obtain some of the tribe's red clay to build a house."
The Ur-Shet Tribe possessed several deposits of clay soil.
Among them, the pottery made from red clay was the highest quality.
However, the tribe's supply of red clay was limited, so private use was strictly forbidden.
The tribe even assigned beastmen specifically to patrol the area.
Only when the tribe traded pottery with other tribes each year would they gather large amounts of clay.
Since Hayoon wanted red clay, there was no way around negotiating with the tribe.
In fact, she had already been thinking about this long before weaving cloth.
Baek had seen "houses" in other tribes before.
He knew they were structures built above ground with walls and roofs.
However, he did not understand how red clay could be used to build a house.
Did she mean firing the clay into pottery first? Wouldn't that be incredibly troublesome?
And pottery was so fragile.
Could a house built from it even be livable?
Quietly, he waited for Hayoon to continue, perhaps asking for additional supplies or requesting labor from the tribe.
Instead, the grass shelter fell completely silent.
Baek: "?"
Hayoon blinked in confusion as well. "?"
Baek asked in disbelief, "That's all?"
Hayoon nodded. "That's all."
Even the old chief, who had experienced countless storms in life, could no longer remain calm.
He only wanted this little?
Beom said in surprise, "The tribe has plenty of land. You can build a house wherever you want. You don't even need the tribe's permission. And as for the red clay, are you planning to take all of it?"
If she intended to take all of it, then that would indeed count as a massive amount of resources, and they would need to reconsider whether the weaving method was truly worth the trade.
Hayoon shook her head. "I won't need that much. Probably... about half of the amount the tribe gathers each year."
That amount was not small, but compared to the value of the weaving method, it absolutely could not be considered excessive.
The visitors exchanged several glances, already making their decision internally.
Baek looked kindly at Hayoon and spoke honestly.
"Child, I heard the three of you managed to weave three pieces of cloth in only a few days. Trading it like this means you're actually the one at a loss. The tribe won't take advantage of a young person. You can ask for more."
Beom and Immo also nodded kindly, their gazes encouraging.
Hayoon had originally thought that obtaining the red clay alone would already be fortunate enough.
She had never expected them to willingly offer her additional compensation.
Compared to ordinary weaving, using a backstrap loom was indeed much faster and less labor-intensive.
However, Hayoon had seen the efficiency of modern machinery before, and to her, backstrap loom weaving still felt far too slow and cumbersome.
Meanwhile, red clay was one of the tribe's rare, nonrenewable resources.
In her eyes, this trade was not unfair at all.
Because of that, their actions deeply moved her.
Hayoon had always been someone with a simple social circle who spent most of her time surrounded by crops and farmland.
Her personality was naturally gentle and kind.
And because she was socially awkward, she especially disliked owing favors to others.
Whenever someone treated her well, she instinctively wanted to treat them even better in return.
So she quickly made up her mind and firmly shook her head.
"No, this is already enough."
"After my father and mother passed away, it was the tribe that kept helping Haeun and me. You shared food with us and gave us a place to live. Without all of you, we would have died long ago."