novelraw Chapter 146
Chapter 146
Chapter 146
Around ten thousand members of the Dog Tribe arrived safely at the Johnson Territory.
They were utterly exhausted.
It must have been because they had pushed through an intense forced march.
They had reached here much faster than I expected.
‘Most of them are young… and there are so many children, too.’
Looking over the group, I noticed there weren’t many elders among them.
Most were young adults, and there were plenty of children.
I’d heard that their population had increased significantly after migrating to Vines.
Back then, their number was around two thousand.
That was about twenty years ago—so their population had multiplied several times in just one generation.
‘Even the children seem different.’
The Dog Tribe, somehow, had a remarkable sense of order.
Even the children moved with discipline—it was like watching a pack of well-trained hounds.
They felt completely different from the other beastman tribes, who were much more free-spirited.
They had their own distinct character.
‘Maybe that’s why such a long march was possible.’
There weren’t many elderly among them.
Even the children—the weakest among them—moved with perfect coordination.
That must have been one of the key reasons they were able to escape safely to this place.
And if there was another reason, it would be the presence of Elline.
Her efforts were said to have been essential.
“The Priestess of the Dog Tribe used shamanism.”
“Shamanism?”
“Yeah. It’s called ‘Vitality,’ a continuous spell that gradually restores stamina. We received its blessing when we escaped too.”
“Ah, that time?”
“Yeah, we were in a rush back then. Thanks to it, though, I did end up bedridden for a while.”
When Yuria had escaped to this place, she had collapsed unconscious in the carriage.
She’d apparently used some kind of great shamanism.
It was only after I prescribed her a Suppository Potion that she slowly recovered.
Perhaps Elline’s sudden collapse was also a side effect of that shamanism.
‘Why do they always pass out every time they use one of those spells?’
Yuria had only regained consciousness after I’d given her a Special Potion, and even then, it took a whole day.
I thought this might be the same situation again, but apparently it wasn’t that severe.
She had only fainted from sheer exhaustion and would wake up after a short rest.
“Is Elline a greater shaman than you? You both used the same spell…”
“Hmph, how rude of you to compare us like that! That Dog Tribe Priestess used a Sacred Relic, didn’t she?”
“Oh, really?”
“If I had one too, I wouldn’t have collapsed like that!”
“Well, fair enough. Anyway, she’ll be up soon, right?”
“She should be.”
So, a Sacred Relic was indeed important to a shaman.
It seemed that their abilities could differ drastically depending on whether or not they possessed one.
‘Maybe I should start learning a bit about shamanism myself…’
I hadn’t paid it much mind before, but it seemed far more useful than I thought.
That ‘Vitality’ spell alone could be applied in all sorts of ways.
I used to think shamanism wasn’t worth the trouble after seeing Yuria collapse from it, but apparently the drawbacks could be mitigated with a Sacred Relic.
“The problem is the Fox Tribe’s Sacred Relic…”
—Didn’t they say the Imperial bastards have it?
That was another thing we’d have to retrieve eventually.
It was worrying that the beastmen’s relics were scattered elsewhere.
Elline woke up several hours later.
She was still visibly exhausted, probably due to the long days of forced marching, but otherwise unharmed.
We had used rare potions generously, and this time, unlike before, a Priest had also been assigned to her treatment.
‘A Priest is still a Priest, after all.’
During her recovery, Brito, the Rabbit Tribe’s Priest-warrior, had been of great help.
He looked like a bald bodybuilder, but still, a Priest was a Priest.
I hadn’t needed a Priest’s help before, but after seeing him at work, I realized bringing him was the right decision.
‘He’ll probably be a great asset in the coming war, too.’
A Priest’s Divine Power always shone brightest in extreme situations.
“I hate to say this while you’re still tired, but… there’s going to be a war soon.”
“It’s fine. That’s why we came, isn’t it?”
“Thank you for understanding. Still, it won’t be immediate. We probably have two days.”
“That’s good. The warriors need rest.”
Given the situation, war was the first thing we had to discuss.
With the war so close at hand, we couldn’t afford to wait until the Dog Tribe fully adjusted to the territory.
It was unfortunate that the battle would begin before their settlement was decided, but delaying too long would only make things worse.
At the very least, I wanted to drive out those Imperial bastards before winter began.
“Just in case—can you contact Lord of Vines?”
“Mishel Vines? May I ask what this is about?”
“It’s nothing major, but it would be better if he knew.”
And one more thing.
I asked if she could reach out to Vines, and she said she could.
Unless they had discarded the Mana Communicator or refused to answer her call, she could try connecting.
‘That man will definitely answer.’
The Lord of Vines—Mishel Vines—was a powerful man, but more of a merchant than a noble.
He was the kind of person who sold the Empire’s weapons to other lords of Levelium, so it was unlikely he would have discarded his communicator with Elline.
The Dog Tribe had left Vines, but there had been no battle, no bloodshed.
They hadn’t become enemies, so depending on the situation, communication was still possible.
A man like that would never close off an opportunity. He probably wouldn’t refuse Elline’s call.
‘If Vines is bound to join in anyway, it’s better to bring him in early. That’ll make things easier for us. Besides, he’s still better than New Level.’
After hearing that she could indeed reach Vines, I explained how the upcoming battle would unfold—
what role the Dog Tribe would play, and what message she should send to Vines.
Elline nodded after listening to my explanation, saying it was entirely possible.
However, she also made a trade proposal, saying that since the Dog Tribe were mercenaries, they deserved proper compensation.
“For this mission, we’ll need enough supplies to survive through this winter.”
“Well, that was already the plan.”
“That’s a relief. And also…”
“And also?”
“I’d like for the Johnson Territory to keep employing the Dog Tribe in the future. If possible—permanently.”
“…“Lifetime?””
Elline wanted the entire Dog Tribe to be employed by the Johnson Territory.
But the word “lifetime” attached to it made me a bit puzzled.
‘It’s not like a lifetime job or anything.’
From the rough explanation I got, it sounded like the Johnson Territory would take responsibility for the Dog Tribe’s food, clothing, and shelter in exchange for the Dog Tribe faithfully carrying out the tasks we assigned.
I couldn’t tell how this was any different from the relationship between a lord and his residents.
Wasn’t it basically the same as becoming residents of the territory?
“Let’s talk about the details after the war.”
“All right. I’ll take it that way for now.”
After I learned that the Dog Tribe was very favorable to staying with us, I let Elline go.
The Dog Tribe was now resting in the temporary lodgings where the people from Hawrun Territory had stayed briefly, and they would rest there until the war began.
I wanted them to put all their effort into recovering their strength first, and to join at the time the war started.
Their operational area was different from mine, so I guessed I wouldn’t be able to see their feats in battle during the war.
I was curious how a tribe whose specialty was large-scale battles fought, so I felt a little disappointed.
“With the war supplies almost ready,”
the canned meat we had started making the moment we returned to the territory turned out far more than I had expected.
There were roughly thirty thousand cans of meat, each one a single serving.
“Single serving” meant one serving in meat alone.
Normally, a Cow Tribe member would eat it with flour porridge at home or with flour pancakes when going out; one can would feed about two people.
Add the jerky we had prepared in advance, and we had enough food for this war.
‘The West Tribe really pitched in.’
At first, only the West Tribe people from this area came running to make the goods, but as time passed, West Tribe folks from other regions rushed here too to make the canned meat.
Especially those who returned from the Cow Tribe’s territory after the harvest had done a great deal of work.
‘Thanks to that, the territory’s storeroom was more than half empty.’
Honestly, I hadn’t expected our territory’s stores to be depleted.
We had always kept slaughtering steadily.
When the storerooms began to empty, the residents increased slaughtering with renewed zeal, but they couldn’t keep up with the speed of the West Tribe’s work.
The West Tribe were certainly less numerous workers than the Rabbit Tribe, but they were as industrious as the Rabbit Tribe.
Their numbers were several times greater than the Rabbit Tribe.
When these West Tribe people decided to go all out, the volume of work was truly massive.
‘And these people—surprisingly, they worked well together.’
While the West Tribe worked like mad, the Rabbit Tribe also cooperated earnestly with territory work, and sometimes the Rabbit Tribe and the West Tribe joined forces.
But these two tribes fit together better than I’d thought.
Both of them seemed more used to being ordered than giving orders, so they had little complaint no matter what job they were given, and that held true even in joint work.
There was no conflict; they simply did their parts diligently.
And above all—
“-Ah, you mean this? This is a mana bomb.”
“-Ohhh, if you arrange mana like that…”
“-I only changed the assembly method a bit, but the explosive power—”
“-If you change it like this—”
“-Huh, you can adjust the activation timing of a mana bomb?”
“-This is a revolutionary discovery!”
The Rabbit Tribe’s suspicious love for mana bombs.
And the West Tribe, who handled mana and aura very delicately.
These two races had joined forces to improve the mana crystal bomb into a more advanced form.
The Rabbit Tribe were like this by nature, but I asked why the West Tribe had caused such a fuss, and they said it was because of past events.
Apparently, they had discovered a new way to influence the battlefield, even if only slightly.
They had their own grudges to settle, it seemed.
‘Not bad. Mana crystals are overflowing anyway.’
‘Still, it feels like they keep making weird things.’
The mana bombs the West and Rabbit Tribes developed together came in two types.
One with stronger explosive power, and one with adjustable detonation timing.
The latter was especially impressive.
It looked exactly like a time bomb.
A mana bomb induced explosion by destabilizing the mana arrangement in a mana crystal, but even I didn’t know how to gradually alter a mana array.
That had to be the West Tribe’s unique ability.
‘They really use mana well. If we taught magic, they’d be efficient students.’
Maybe we could train many alchemists out of them?
We had already found out that beastmen could learn alchemy through the Fox Tribe.
‘If that happened, we’d lose more workers from the territory—no, that can’t happen. They’re different from the Rabbit Tribe.’
At least the West Tribe’s numbers were so large that losing some to alchemy wouldn’t be a huge blow.
Once the beastmen formed an alliance, we’d need more alchemists, so this was something to consider after the war.
‘The Cat Tribe, the Ape Tribe, and the Lion Tribe did well too. Especially the Ape Tribe at the end, when work piled up.’
The Cat Tribe had procured the Metal Slimes, and the Lion Tribe and Ape Tribe, who made weapons the beastmen would use, had actively cooperated in preparing for war.
The Ape Tribe in particular had been busy right up to the end because they were making horn bows for the Horse Tribe using Minota horns from Hawrun Territory.
The Horse Tribe had to play a very important role in this war, but their weapons weren’t as good as expected.
Their range was different from our horn bows, so we had to strip supplies from them.
Anyway, Minota horns were items we kept importing from Haken, so it wasn’t a big problem.