Afterwards, the two groups ate while having small talk, during which Shunen introduced the Lizardnman Owen and mentioned the fact that the Frogmen and Lizardmen were living together, helping each other out and getting along fine.
The other Frogmen cheerfully went along with what Shunen had said and acted close with the Lizardmen warriors, so if Lakrak hadn’t interrogated Owen first, he would have believed everything word out of Shunen’s mouth. Like Owen, however, Shunen also seemed to have a speech prepared, which raised Lakrak’s suspicion even more.
‘I need to find out for sure what these Frogmen are up to and how the Frogmen and Lizardmen are living together. They are definitely hiding something.’
As Lakrak finished his meal, he offered for the two tribes to meet again. Such events were mainly for tribes to exchange or share food to make them closer.
Shunen gladly accepted the offer.
“But your tribe must have just settled down at your new home. Do you have things to exchange?”
“We have water buffaloes.”
Shunen stuck out his tongue a little, which was a way for Frogmen to express that they were greatly surprised.
“What? Water buffaloes? I had water buffalo meat once… It was very old, but it still tasted good.”
“The water buffaloes we have are alive. If you want, we can trade you a water buffalo for a few bows.”
“Huh…the water buffaloes are alive? If that’s true…”
Lakrak noticed Shunen’s mouth watering at the thought of eating buffalo meat, and at that moment, Lakrak knew another meeting wouldn’t be that far off. Judging from Oboi’s facial expressions, though, it would seem there was no chance they would trade even a single bow. 𝘪𝘦.𝘤𝑜
“Then we’ll meet you somewhere a bit closer to your tribe next time.”
“Oh, then…”
Standing next to Shunen, Oboi once again interrupted before he could accept Lakrak’s offer.
“Why don’t we meet again here, Shunen? It’s wide, there’s nothing to block our vision, and it’s a good place for both tribes to keep an eye on each other.”
“I-Is it? Then let’s just meet here again.”
“Hm, here it is then.”
The two tribes decided when to meet and went their separate ways. Lakrak saw Owen glancing back at him a few times through the group of Frogmen returning home.
‘There is definitely something going on.’
***
A few hours later, along the lake where Auloi’s Frogmen settled down and made home.
Owen, the Lizardman, collapsed on a small sandy beach.
“You, what did you talk about with the chief of the Lizardmen?”
The warrior Oboi kicked Owen’s jaw as Auloi’s son, Shunen, watched.
Owen tumbled on the ground with a grunt and waved his hands as he said, “We…we didn’t talk about much. He asked about how to shoot an arrow well. He praised the bow saying it was a good weapon.”
“So?”
“And then he kept asking how a bow is made as he didn’t think the Frogmen would tell him.”
“Hm, and then?”
“So I said I couldn’t tell him because I was in great debt to the Frogmen. Then he asked to at least tell him how to shoot an arrow well. “
Oboi then said to Owen while lightly kicking his jaw, “You don’t even know how to shoot an arrow, do you?”
“Y-Yes. So I firmly responded that I couldn’t tell him how to shoot well, and that learning archery was worth paying a price for. I then told him I would teach him if he gave me a pouch of fruit, but he said regretfully that he didn’t have any with him at the moment.”
“You shrewd Lizardman.” Shunen laughed at Owen. “I think that would be enough, Oboi.”
“Yes, Shunen. I think so too.”
As Owen got to his feet and shook dust off himself, Shunen said, “Owen.”
“Yes, master.”
“You must know that your role in this is big, right?
“O-Of course.”
Shunen was talking with his head turned towards the lake. Owen followed his gaze. There was a small island in the middle of the lake, on which were a few huts obscured by bushes. The Frogmen warriors took turns surveilling the area closely. Young Lizardmen were trapped inside of the huts, and among them was Owen’s child.
“Don’t you think you’re lucky, Owen?” asked Shunen.
“Pardon?”
Shunen licked around his mouth and said, “In the near future, our Two-Headed Fiend will request for a young sacrifice, at which point we would sacrifice you Lizardmen. You would have needed a new offering to keep your child safe. And what do you know, now there’s so many new Lizardmen to sacrifice instead.”
Owen looked down and nodded.
“Y-Yes…luck or not, I’ll trick them in any way possible.”
Shunen placed his hand on Owen’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Owen. We haven’t figured out how big of a tribe they are or how strong they are yet, and they don’t look too strong, but we will suffer unnecessary casualties if we fight them head-on. As long as you trick them and make them fall into our trap, our warriors will do the rest.”
“Of course, I believe you, master.”
Owen clenched his teeth while saying so.
The Frogmen tribe currently had 1500 Frogmen, and 200 grayish-brown Lizardmen were enslaved by them. Aside from the difference in numbers, the Lizardmen children and their caregivers were all held hostage on the island, so the other Lizardmen never tried to make a stand against the Frogmen.
‘And they even have a god.’
***
These grayish-brown Lizardmen hadn’t started out here. They hadn’t come from the wilderness, but had been looking for a home as they had been attacked by several forces in the south. It was then Auloi’s Frogmen took the exhausted Lizardmen in and warmly welcomed them.
‘Outside of our different skin color, they welcomed us even though we are of another species.’
But of course it was all trickery. The Frogmen invested time to grant them favors and kindly accepted the grayish-brown Lizardmen into their tribe. The Lizardmen began to live a somewhat pleasant life alongside and under the influence of the Frogmen. Then came the day the two tribes decided to hold a ‘Brotherly Ritual’, and everything changed.
The grayish-brown Lizardmen went kayaking with the Frogmen warriors to enjoy a banquet held in the middle of the island. The Lizardmen suspected nothing and had gotten completely drunk on the alcohol Auloi gave them. The moment they passed out, they were all captured by the Frogmen warriors.
The Frogmen had a god, and that god demanded living sacrifices. The god didn’t want the sacrifice to be animals, but instead wanted people, more specifically, beings that had a conscience and walked on two legs. And so, the tribal chief and warriors of the Lizardmen were offered. The other grayish-brown Lizardmen could clearly see what was happening on the island from across the lake.
Several Frogmen surrounded the sacrificed Lizardmen, praised the Two-Headed Fiend, and soon after, the god revealed itself from the water. The monster chewed on and ate the tribal chief and warriors one by one, spitting out parts that tasted bad. Even as the Lizardmen bore witness to the horrifying sight of their fellow men getting eaten alive, they couldn’t do anything out of fear.
Owen had also been among the Lizardmen watching.
*** .
Owen was shrewd just like Shunen had said. He knew what kind of attitude he had to have in order to survive and protect his family. Owen knew that it would be more advantageous to approach the son, Shunen, instead of the old and large Auloi. Owen wasn’t a warrior, but he would’ve been regarded as the wise one among his tribe, and he learned to be obedient at the present time. But still, reality hadn’t changed.
The Two-Headed Fiend liked soft flesh. If old Lizardmen were sacrificed, it would only kill them, and then it would demand the next sacrifice to be offered right away. Sometimes it would even secretly go after and swallow Frogmen saying that the Lizardmen’s flesh was too thick, and on those days, the Frogmen would hit the Lizardmen and hurriedly sacrifice the children.
‘The Two-Headed Fiend rules over the Frogmen, and the Frogmen rule over us. This won’t change.’
In Owen’s opinion, things couldn’t be changed if they weren’t meant to be changed. The number of grayish-brown Lizardmen had been rapidly decreasing ever since they were subjugated by the Frogmen. They were either sacrificed, or beaten to death. And if some managed to run away, the same number of Lizardmen would then be sacrificed. It was inevitable that Owen’s child would be claimed someday.
‘But the opportunity has come.’
It was worth enduring everything until now. Even though the size of the new Lizardmen tribe was still unknown, their population didn’t seem small.
‘Though I don’t think they have enough to fight against the Frogmen.’
According to the Frogmen warriors, there were about 600 Lizardmen. Owen had considered inciting a fight between the Frogmen and the Lizardmen, but he thought the 600 Lizardmen would just be outnumbered, and it would be impossible for them to defeat the Two-Headed Fiend.
‘We can live a lot longer if they are all sacrificed first.’
The black scaled Lizardmen wouldn’t stand a chance should a battle break out. They were a barbaric tribe from a distant land and didn’t even know what a bow and arrow was. In addition to that, the Frogmen had a secret weapon.
‘Even if our grayish-brown scaled Lizardman tribal chief and warriors had fought the Frogmen, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. Everything is already set in stone.’
Owen whispered and said to Shunen, “Now that I think of it, Mr. Shunen.”
“What is it?”
“How is Mr. Auloi these days?”
“Hm, I think his itching is getting a little worse, but he is still alive and kicking.”
“Why don’t you try this?”
Shunen took the pouch Owen handed him.
“What is this?”
“It’s medicine that works well for itchiness, which was brought by a collector.”
Shunen was suspicious of it at first, but smiled after seeing the contents. Inside the pouch was a handful of a five-pronged medicinal herb that Shunen knew treated itchiness well. Owen had likely annoyed a collector into giving him the medicine, or stolen it.
“You are great, Owen. I’ll hear less of my father’s tantrums for a while.”
“Thank you.”
Then Obo said from beside Shunen, “Would you mind sharing some with me? It seems that the itching illness has also gotten my back.”
“Hm, my father would need enough to spread over his whole body…”
At those words, Owen took out another handful of medicinal herbs from a basket made of tree trunks.
“Mr. Oboi, this should be enough for the early stages of the itching…”
“Fellow, it seems you’re well prepared. I’ll use it well,” Oboi said and took the basket, hanging it on his arm.
Owen simply chuckled. He had learned to give up after learning to be obedient.
Owen’s world wasn’t ever going to change.
***
“How is it this time?”
“It flies about half as far as they shoot.”
“Not even close.”
Lakrak disapprovingly chewed on some root plants. He and Zaol were together on the outskirts of the village. A bow and arrow the village had produced was in front of Zaol.
“I can’t seem to figure out what exact material was used to make the bowstring. It seemed like the tendons of a creature were torn and weaved back together when I saw it last time.”
“We also did that using a water buffalo.”
“We only used one buffalo for practice. It’ll be better if we kill and use a few more buffaloes.”
“We can’t. We used too many for the exchanges.”
“Then there’s nothing more we can do. This is the limit for now. If they happened to use the tendons of a Cockatrice, wouldn’t it be too difficult for us to also get a hold of some?”
Lakrak gulped down the plant and nodded.
It had been several days since their first encounter with the Frogmen. Since then, Lakrak’s Clan and the Frogmen had met four more times, and Lakrak’s Clan was able to exchange quite a few items that they liked. Lakrak’s Clan had offered the Frogmen two buffaloes until now, and Lakrak judged that they benefited four or even six times more from the crafts and food they received in return.
‘However, they never offered even a single bow. Those greedy Frogmen.’
?When they were exchanging items, the Lizardmen that were smart and had good vision would sneak a look at the bows and pretend to borrow and use it to take a closer look, but this approach had its limits.
‘We’re going to find out this time.’
Today, the fifth meeting was arranged. They weren’t thinking of bringing with them any buffaloes this time, but a piece of the large monster’s shell. They realized that this piece of shell could only be damaged by Lakrak when God assumed control over his body; not even iron or other tools could leave a single scratch. This mysterious shell was valuable on its own, but apart from that, it could be used to boast that they had killed such a monster.
‘They might not believe it, but they’ll likely become cautious at the least.’
The bow was in fact a secondary issue to Lakrak. While it would definitely become a useful tool if they learned how to use it, the large Frogmen tribe was the main problem. Even though the two tribes had gotten quite close, the Frogmen had never shown them their village. Their reason was that Lakrak’s Clan hadn’t welcomed the Frogmen into their village either. However, in Lakrak’s opinion, he thought that because the Frogmen tribe was larger, they should be the ones to show their village first.
‘They acted the same as Owen. There’s no mistake that they’re trying to play a dirty trick. The problem is we don’t know how they’re going to play it.’
Even though exchanges with the Frogmen were underway, Lakrak always made sure to stay alert. It wasn’t easy for the Frogmen to scout around Lakrak’s Clan.
“Alright. We must make some progress today. Did you check if our people have collected a lot of the medicine that apparently treats itchiness well?”
“Yes. The herbalist apparently knew of a place where the medicinal herb abundantly grew.”
“That’s good.”
As Lakrak heard, the Frogmen tribe was currently suffering from an itching illness, but fortunately, no one in Lakrak’s Clan had contracted it.
‘Hm, this might also be by the grace of the Nameless Beetle God.’
𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮