Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Deceptive Froglins
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The two groups chatted idly over their meal afterward.
Among the topics of conversation was Shunen introducing the Lizardman Owen, mentioning that the Froglins and Lizardmen were actually helping each other out and getting along well.
The other Froglins chimed in enthusiastically, and the Lizardman warriors showed signs of familiarity, so Rakrak nearly took Owen's words at face value if he hadn't questioned him first.
But just as Owen had with Rakrak, Shunen spouted what seemed like a prepared line, fueling Rakrak's suspicions even more.
'I need to find out for sure. What are the Froglins' true intentions? How are the Froglins and Lizardmen really getting along? They're hiding something.'
Rakrak finished his meal and proposed another meeting.
As was customary for gatherings between tribes, they would bring items or food to exchange and build rapport.
Shunen readily agreed.
"But your tribe has already settled into your territory, so do you even have anything worth trading?"
"We have water buffalo."
It was such an unexpected statement that Shunen stuck out his tongue slightly—a sign of great surprise among Froglins.
"What? Water buffalo? I've tried water buffalo meat once before... It was old, but it tasted good."
"Ours are live water buffalo. If you want, we could trade a few bows for them."
"Heh... Live water buffalo? If that's true..."
Rakrak noticed Shunen swallowing hard and realized the next meeting wouldn't be difficult. Oboi looked like he couldn't spare even a single bow, though.
"Then next time, we'll come a bit closer to you."
"Ah, in that case..."
Just as Shunen was about to accept gladly, Oboi interrupted again from the side.
"Let's do it here, Shunen. It's spacious, with good visibility, and suitable for keeping watch on each other."
"I-is that so? Then we'll meet back here."
"Hm. Alright, we'll go with that."
The two tribes set a date and parted ways.
Rakrak spotted Owen glancing back at him several times amid the departing Froglins.
'Something's up.'
A few hours later, by the lake where Aulroy's Froglins had set up camp.
The Lizardman Owen collapsed onto the small sandy beach.
"What did you talk about with that Lizardman chieftain?"
With Shunen, Aulroy's son, watching, the warrior Oboi kicked Owen in the jaw.
Owen, who had let out a choking gasp and fallen flat, waved his hands as he spoke.
"N-nothing much. He asked how to shoot a bow well. He praised it as a truly amazing weapon."
"And?"
"Then he pestered me about how to make bows. He said the Froglins probably wouldn't share that info."
"Hm. What else?"
"I told him I owed the Froglins too much to share that carelessly. Then he asked me to at least teach him how to shoot well."
Oboi nudged Owen with his foot.
"But you don't even know how to shoot a bow."
"Th-that's right. So I flat-out refused to teach him that too. I said learning the bow was worth a price. If he gave me even a pouch of fruit, I'd teach him a trick to improve quickly, but he said he didn't have anything on him and looked disappointed."
"Cunning bastard."
Shunen laughed heartily at Owen.
"That should be enough, Oboi."
"Yes, Shunen. I think so too."
Shunen addressed Owen, who was brushing sand off himself and standing up.
"Owen."
"...Yes, Master."
"You know your role was crucial in this, right?"
"O-of course."
Shunen turned his head toward the lake and spoke.
Owen's gaze followed.
There was a small island in the middle of the lake.
Though hidden by foliage, it had several huts, guarded strictly by Froglin warriors in shifts. Inside those huts were young Lizardmen imprisoned.
And among those young Lizardmen was Owen's own child.
Shunen said,
"Don't you think you're lucky, Owen?"
"Pardon?"
Shunen licked his lips with his tongue.
"Soon, our 'Two-Headed Abomination' will demand young sacrifices. We'll offer your Lizardmen kin then. To keep your child out of the count, we'd need new sacrifices, but now we have so many fresh ones."
At those words, Owen bowed his head and slowly nodded.
"Y-yes... How fortunate. I'll deceive them somehow."
Shunen placed a hand on Owen's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Owen. They haven't figured out how big their group is or how strong they are yet. They don't look that tough, but a head-on fight would cost us more than we can afford. If you can lure them into a proper trap, our warriors will handle the rest."
"Of course, I trust you, Master."
As he answered, Owen ground his teeth tightly.
The Froglin tribe currently numbered 1,500.
And there were 200 grayish-brown Lizardmen enslaved by the Froglins.
Regardless of the numbers, with the Lizardmen children and their caretakers held hostage on the island, the Lizardmen hadn't mounted any real resistance.
'And they have a god.'
The grayish-brown Lizardmen hadn't originally lived in this area either.
They hadn't come from the wasteland, but from the south, pushed by various forces in search of a new home.
And it was Aulroy's Froglins who had warmly welcomed the weary grayish-brown Lizardmen.
'They welcomed us despite our different skin color—different species, even.'
Of course, it was all a complete deception.
They took their time showing kindness, warmly integrating the grayish-brown Lizardmen.
The Lizardmen, moved by this, lived happily alongside them over time.
The incident happened on the day they decided to perform the 'rite of brotherhood' to stay together forever.
The grayish-brown Lizardman chieftain and warriors rode kayaks with the Froglins to the island's center for a feast.
They drank the alcohol Aulroy offered without suspicion, got completely drunk, and were captured by Froglin warriors the moment they passed out.
The Froglins had a god, and the god demanded living sacrifices.
And those living sacrifices had to be sentient beings that walked on two legs—not animals.
Thus, the chieftain and warriors were offered up.
The other grayish-brown Lizardmen watched from across the lake, witnessing everything on the island clearly.
Crowds of Froglins surrounded them, praising the 'Two-Headed Abomination,' and soon the god emerged from the water.
The monster chewed through the grayish-brown Lizardman chieftain and warriors one by one, spitting out the distasteful or unappetizing parts.
Even seeing their chieftain and warriors in such gruesome states, the Lizardmen could do nothing out of sheer terror.
Owen was among them.
Owen was as cunning as Shunen had said.
He knew exactly what attitude to show to survive, to protect his family.
Owen knew approaching Shunen, Aulroy's son, would be more advantageous than the old, massive Aulroy.
Though not a warrior, Owen—once called wise in his tribe—learned submission.
Yet reality didn't change.
The Two-Headed Abomination preferred tender flesh.
Offering old Lizardmen only led to it killing them in rage, demanding fresh ones immediately, and sometimes secretly devouring Froglins, claiming their hides were too thick.
On such days, the Froglins would beat the Lizardmen and hastily offer up children as sacrifices.
'The Two-Headed Abomination rules the Froglins, and the Froglins rule us. This won't change.'
In Owen's mind, what wouldn't change couldn't be changed.
Since being subjugated by the Froglins, the grayish-brown Lizardmen numbers had plummeted rapidly.
Sacrificed or beaten to death.
If some escaped, that many more were offered as sacrifices.
Eventually, even Owen's own child would be offered.
'But opportunity has come.'
There was reward for enduring this long.
The new Lizardman tribe seemed substantial, though their exact numbers weren't clear.
'Of course, not enough to stand against the Froglins.'
According to the Froglin warriors' intel, at most around 600.
Owen had considered inciting a fight between the Froglins and the new black-scaled Lizardmen, but with those numbers, they'd be outnumbered in warriors and couldn't handle the Two-Headed Abomination.
'If they're all sacrificed first, we can survive much longer.'
A fight offered no chance of victory.
A barbaric tribe from some distant land that didn't even know bows and arrows.
Besides, the Froglins had even more secret weapons.
'Even if our chieftain and warriors had fought properly, we couldn't have won. It's all predetermined.'
Owen flattered Shunen.
"Come to think of it, Shunen."
"What?"
"How has Aulroy been lately?"
"Hm, his itching seems a bit worse, but his vigor is still strong."
"Try this."
Shunen handed over a pouch.
"What's this?"
"A remedy for itching that one of the gatherers brought. It works well."
Shunen eyed it suspiciously but smiled upon seeing the contents.
It was a handful of the five-pronged herb he knew worked great for itching.
Owen must have hounded the gatherers or stolen it.
"Excellent, Owen. At least Father won't rage at me for a while."
"Thank you."
Oboi, standing nearby, spoke to Shunen.
"If it's alright, could you share some with me? My back's itching too."
"Hm, Father needs it smeared all over his body..."
At that, Owen pulled another handful from a basket woven of twigs.
"Oboi, for early-stage itching, this should suffice..."
"You came prepared, huh. I'll make good use of it."
Oboi snatched the entire basket and slung it over his arm.
Owen just laughed it off.
After learning submission, Owen had also learned resignation.
Owen's world wouldn't change.
"How is it this time?"
"About half of their arrows are flying true."
"Not even close."
Rakrak chewed discontentedly on a root vegetable.
Rakrak and Jaol were together on the outskirts of the village.
In front of Jaol lay bows and arrows made by the villagers themselves.
"I don't know the exact material used for the bowstrings. Last time, it looked like they tore beast sinew and rewove it."
"We used water buffalo too."
"That was one for practice. Catch a few more, and it'll improve."
"Can't. We've traded too many already."
"Then nothing we can do. This is our limit for now. If they used cockatrice sinew or something, it'd be hard for us to get."
Rakrak swallowed the vegetable and nodded.
Dozens of days had passed since their first encounter with the Froglins.
In that time, Rakrak's group had met the Froglins four more times, exchanging plenty of satisfactory goods.
Rakrak's tribe had handed over two male water buffalo, but in his view, they'd gained four to six times the value in crafts and food.
'But they didn't give up the bows. Stingy bastards.'
The smart, sharp-eyed ones had inspected and borrowed bows during trades to mimic them, but there was a clear limit.
'This time, I need to figure it out.'
And today was their fifth meeting.
He didn't plan to bring water buffalo, but instead, a piece of the giant monster's shell.
Rakrak had discovered that only when Seong-un possessed him could it be scratched; no amount of iron or other tools could dent it.
This mystical shell had value in itself, but more importantly, it let him boast of slaying such a beast.
'They might not believe it, but it'll at least make them wary.'
Truthfully, bows were only Rakrak's second concern.
Bows would be useful to learn, but the real issue was the massive Froglin tribe.
They'd grown close enough, yet the Froglins hadn't shown their village.
Because Rakrak's group hadn't opened theirs first.
But in Rakrak's view, since the Froglin tribe was larger, they should concede first.
'Same as Owen's attitude. They're definitely plotting something dirty. The problem is not knowing how it'll play out.'
Though trading with the Froglins, Rakrak always kept maximum vigilance.
The Froglins couldn't scout Rakrak's group freely.
"Good. Today, we need results. Did you get plenty of that anti-itch remedy?"
"Yes. One herbalist knew a spot where it grows abundantly."
"Perfect."
From what Rakrak heard, the Froglin tribe was currently plagued by itching disease. Fortunately, no one in Rakrak's group had it.
'Hm, perhaps another blessing from the Nameless Beetle God.'