Chapter 267 – Who Was It?
Wales knew that being a chieftain wouldn’t be easy. The herculean bulls had been chased out, so they must be lacking in food and clothing right now. Being the chieftain under such circumstances, and having to shoulder the hatred towards the fighting bulls on top of that, Wales could tell the difficulty of the tasks he had to face.
However, he neither wanted to back away, nor did he have a means to. He was a prince of the herculean bulls. His race was his roots. If his race prospered, he too would gain respect. If their face fell, then he too would be nothing.
Zhao Hai nodded, “I think this is a good opportunity as well, but you will surely come across a lot of tough issues, and there’s nothing much I can help you with. How about this? Laura, Meg, Nier, give me your pouches. Big brother, Mr. Yale and 6th brother, give me yours as well.”
Wales and the other 2 knew what Zhao Hai was going to do, and they gave him their pouches. Zhao Hai didn’t say anything as he simply filled all 6 pouches with grains.
After filling the pouches, Zhao Hai gave them to Wales, “Take these first, big brother. Give them to your tribesmen as soon as you find them, and then have your blood hawks come to me for grains. We have to improve this situation first.”
Wales didn’t hold back and just took the pouches. He patted Zhao Hai’s shoulder and said, “Brother, I will not say much. We’ll rest here for the day and leave tomorrow. If anything happens, we’ll contact each other using blood hawks.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “Just tell me whatever supplies you need. I can have blood hawks bring the pouches to my fief and back. It’s now the tribe’s most difficult time, and a lot of things are required. You must persist. Oh, once you return, help me prepare a map. I don’t want to go looking for West Wonder King all over the place.”
Wales smiled, “Relax, brother, I’ll take care of it.” He then glanced at Bogue and his company, “Don’t just sob on the ground. Stand up. We herculean bulls haven’t gone extinct yet. Remember that as long as we’re not gone, we are the ruling race of the bull-headed races, and we always will be.”
Bogue and the others stood up, bearing murderous expressions because of Wales’ words. Wales nodded, having been filled with fighting spirit. It was because of Zhao Hai’s support, whose grains had become his life-saving herbs.
As long as one had grains on Beastmen Prairie, one could do a lot of things. Just as Zhao Hai had said, it was the most difficult time for the Herculean Bull Tribe. Their own main camp had been lost, and 2 of their high elders had been killed or injured. Zhao Hai had to assist Wales properly as a blood-sworn brother under these circumstances.
It was then that Zhao Hai suddenly thought of something. He took out 2 things from the space immediately. He had them stored in bottles before giving them to Wales.
Wales looked at the 2 bottles in his hand with confusion. One of them seemed to contain water, and the other held a pink liquid, which he knew nothing about.
Zhao Hai explained to Wales, “Big brother, in these 2 bottles, one of them is the Liquid Of Life, which Mr. Yale had given me. I don’t have a use for it, but the flask that he gave me was very beautiful, so I kept it. Another bottle is a type of medicine that can treat injuries. Bogue just said that your high elder was injured, so I hope these 2 things can help him. Without the high elder’s support, it won’t be easy for you to deal with the fighting bulls.” Actually, the ‘medicine’ which Zhao Hai mentioned was magic peach juice. Greene had used 1 last time, and there had been 1 left, which Zhao Hai was now giving to Wales.
Wales looked at Zhao Hai without knowing what to say. Zhao Hai had been too great of a help to him, and now, he even brought out the Liquid Of Life. Now he felt that no matter what he would do, he would never be able to repay Zhao Hai’s kindness.
Wales took the 2 bottles in silence and put them away carefully. He patted Zhao Hai’s shoulder and turned to command his people in setting up camp.
Zhao Hai said nothing and went to set up camp as well. At this point, words would be excessive. He had to give Wales and his people time, in order to let him plan things out properly.
Zhao Hai and the others sat inside the tent quietly after it was set up. Laura poured a cup of coya for Zhao Hai, then frowned, “Hai-bro, it’s not a good thing for us right now when the Herculean Bull Tribe is in such trouble. What are we going to do next?”
Zhao Hai closed his eyes and said after thinking, “I keep feeling that something’s not right. What Mendez said after Gasol started his coup was that Gasol and the human merchants were being too secretive in their contact. Now, when the fighting bulls attacked the Herculean Bull Tribe, humans showed up again. Don’t you think that human activity has been too frequent on Beastmen Prairie as of late?”
Laura concurred in her thoughts. How many times was it that they had heard about humans meddling in beastmen affairs? This was too strange.
Meg frowned and spoke, “What does this mean, young master? Can it be that there’s a human force seeking to take control of beastmen?”
Zhao Hai shook his head, “It can’t be. Humans can’t possibly control beastmen. There has to be a reason for beastmen and humans to be locked in conflict for so many years. Do not presume that humans look like they’re controlling the beastmen using food. That’s because they have no other option. If they don’t give them enough food, they’ll start wars, and the food will be taken anyway, so it’s impossible for humans to use this method to control beastmen. But as for why human activity has been so frequent lately, I still can’t get a good idea.”
Laura frowned, “I can’t get a good grasp of it either. Don’t they fear beastmen retaliation? Even though the fighting bulls have taken over the herculean bulls’ main camp, their strength shouldn’t be too great. The ones who are really in charge of the prairie are the major battle races, and the cooperation between the fighting bulls and humans will greatly incite them. Do the fighting bulls think that they have the ability to withstand the pressure from the battle races?
Zhao Hai’s frown continued, “I don’t have a good idea why they’re doing this. Their methods are very likely going to make them the public enemies of all the beastmen, so why? Is it only just for the sake of being called the ruling race?”
Laura and the others were at a loss as to why the fighting bulls were doing what they were. It would be discernable if the fighting bulls were cooperating with common humans. However, a strange picture had been painted when the humans they cooperated with had a level 9 powerhouse.
Since when had it become the time for level 9 human powerhouses to come and mess around on Beastmen Prairie? When the battle races got the news, they would surely react. It wasn’t known how the fighting bulls would respond to that.
Zhao Hai spoke out after a while of sitting, “No matter how much we guess right now, it’s useless. Just reaching the fighting bulls’ turf and prodding around will do. I just feel that this matter isn’t so simple.”
Laura looked at Zhao Hai with incomprehension, “How so? Can it be something related to us?”
Zhao Hai shook his head, “It shouldn’t be. If this matter is really related to us, then it can only be our enemies who are trying to deal with us on the prairie. Our current main enemies are the Magidell family, the Church Of Light, and Southern King. The Church Of Light will not have any grip on the prairie, and there’s no direct profit-&-loss relationship between Southern King and beastmen. Magidell family is a business family, and there are a lot of business opportunities on the prairie. It’s impossible for them to just watch other people do business here, but I think that even they wouldn’t have the guts to send a level 9 powerhouse to hunt us down on the prairie, right?”
Laura nodded. She knew clearly what Magidell family was like. All they cared about was profit. Now that Zhao Hai and the others had left Fansile duchy, there had been no way for Magidell family to obtain profits from Zhao Hai. They wouldn’t pay a large price to hire a level 9 powerhouse to deal with Zhao Hai under these circumstances, since it wouldn’t fit their principles of merchants seeking profit.
But why did she keep feeling that these matters were happening so close to them? Before they had entered the prairie, it seemed that such a thing had never happened before. But the moment they had entered, all of this had happened. This was too contrived, wasn’t it?
Meg asked, “Young master, do you think that someone is trying to act upon the Herculean Bull Tribe, like how someone acted upon the Black Bear Tribe, and that’s why all of this happened?”
Zhao Hai shook his head, “It can’t be. The Herculean Bull Tribe’s strength doesn’t seem to be as great as the Black Bear-…… Wait a minute. There IS a possibility.”
Zhao Hai turned to look at Laura, and Laura looked at Zhao Hai in confusion. Zhao Hai said, “Beastmen have gotten it badly from humans in recent years. Can it be that beastmen are setting their sights on humans again, yet the humans received word about it and sent people to stir things up beforehand, in order to mess up the waters here so that the beastmen don’t have time to mobilize against humans?”
Laura frowned, “Not too likely, right? Trades between humans and beastmen have been going along smoothly, and there haven’t been great disasters on the prairie. They shouldn’t have any reason to mobilize against humans. Besides, humans wouldn’t mess things up by sending a level 9 powerhouse. That’s basically a declaration of war against beastmen.”
Zhao Hai nodded and sighed, “Forget it. I’m done guessing. We might not guess things right anyway. What we have to do right now is help big brother get information. If we take care of the fighting bulls, we’ll be closer to figuring out which human force is cooperating with them.”
Laura nodded, but she believed that it would be very difficult. The Herculean Bull Tribe was greatly crippled right now, and the fighting bulls were now on a roll. Exterminate the Fighting Bull Tribe? Difficult!