Chapter 296 – Semi-Warring Clan
On the yellow and withered plains, an enormous convoy was moving forward. The convoy consists of about 2000 carriages, about a thousand were large carriages used by the beastmen, while the remaining thousand were human carriages.
Escorting the convoy was a team of ten thousand Herculean Bull cavalry. At the front was a human carriage, inserted on both sides of the carriage were two friends.h.i.+p flags, one from the Big bellied Pig tribe, while the other is from the Giant horned Bull tribe.
Around the carriage was a group of Herculean Bulls, the cotton robes worn by these bulls were not ordinary showing their exceptional status.
Zhao Hai was sitting inside the carriage, he looked towards Wales and said, “Big Brother, can you drink moderately? If you drink all the wine, we won’t have any left to gift.”
At the moment, Wales was holding a leather pouch in his hand while having a mouthful of wine on his mouth. Watching this made Zhao Hai helpless, since the time he gave Wales some milk wine up until now, Wales almost never stopped drinking. He was always carrying a leather pouch filled with the wine around, Zhao Hai was helpless.
Wales glared at Zhao Hai and said, “You had such good wine but you never let me drink? hmpf, and you still want to gift it to others, I haven’t drunk enough yet.”
Wales laughed, Laura laughed and Yale who was riding his mount also laughed. They knew that Wales was just joking, but Zhao Hai’s wine was really good, it even made Yale who was not an alcoholic a bit greedy for this wine.
Zhao Hai shook his head and said to Wales, “Brother, is it fine that there’s only sixth brother to manage the camp?”
Wales showed a faint smile, “It’s fine, Sixth brother is very good at logistics, don’t worry, he’ll be fine.”
Zhao Hai nodded and then he said, “Also, we’re moving at wintertime, it would be better to prepare liquor. Winter is too cold no matter if you are a person or a magic beast. Before battle, it would be best to drink liquor to avoid being cold.”
The light on Wales’ eyes changed, “Don’t worry, I have arranged this as well. These are desperate times for our tribe, I had all argali killed and be turned to rations, I also made a prohibition on alcohol consumption, controlling the amount of Milk Wine being drank. We only wait for the start of the battle. If this time we cannot claim our camp back, then the Herculean Bulls might as well vanish from the prairie.”
Wale’s words held a trace of resolution, just as he said, the Herculean Bulls are preparing to go all out this time. Right now that their tribes’ strength is dwindling, moreover they had lost their home in this war. if they cannot reclaim their territory back, then the Herculean Bulls will not have any more chances to rise back.
Zhao Hai thought that Wales had gone a bit mad, but this madness was what the Herculean Bulls need right now, he sighed, “Aside from second and third sister, how’s the situation with eldest sister and fourth sister?”
Wales nodded and said, “Dead, they said the Fighting Bull chieftain ordered their execution. Not only them, the Fighting Bulls also executed all their servants. The old and weak were captured and turned into slaves. This time I will make sure to have all Fighting Bull clansmen killed.”
Zhao Hai didn’t say anything, he knew that for the beastmen, killing was very common. He replied, “Brother, when dealing with West Wonder King, is it really necessary to do so?”
Wales froze for a moment, then he nodded, “West Wonder King’s people can be spared, but West Wonder King himself must die. Little Hai, you must promise me that you will turn all the dead Fighting Bulls into undead, make them slaves.”
Zhao Hai forcefully smiled, “Big Brother, that is several hundred thousand people, do you really want to do it?”
Wales nodded, and fiercely said, “If we don’t do that, it’ll be difficult to quell the hatred in my heart. Brother, you must promise me.”
Zhao Hai was helpless, he said, “Brother, wouldn’t I profit much from this? After giving me all those people, my combat strength would increase, of course I’d be happy to help.”
Wales didn’t say anything, he thought that Zhao Hai was just comforting him. He had some basic understanding of Black Mages, he knows that if a Black Mage controls too many undead, they’d have some difficulties. A common Black Mage that can command several hundred undead is already a very good feat. For him to request Zhao Hai to control several hundred thousand undead is actually a little excessive.
What he didn’t know was that Zhao Hai was not a true Black Mage. For Zhao Hai, controlling that much undead isn’t much of a trouble, it was just like what Zhao Hai said, the additional undead would be a great help for increasing his strength.
Wales has now completely regarded Zhao Hai like his own biological brother, even more than his own brother. In any case, his biological brother didn’t achieve such high contributions such as Zhao Hai.
Wales had an idea, if they won against the Fighting Bulls this time, in addition to turning the Fighting Bulls as slaves for Zhao Hai, he is also prepared to give Zhao Hai several hundred thousand argali.
However, he didn’t say it out loud, it was only an idea. But he believed that Yale and Mendez wouldn’t disagree, because without Zhao Hai, there would be no longer any Herculean Bulls today.
This time, they were planning to give some gifts to the Mastiffs. Zhao Hai initially didn’t want to come, but Wales forced him to go because he felt that it would be advantageous for Zhao Hao to be acquainted with the Mastiffs. The two could also do trades with each other, which would not only benefit Zhao Hai, but it would also benefit the Mastiffs.
The convoy slowly progressed, the Mastiff’s main camp isn’t too far away. The Mastiffs set a certain area close-by for the Herculean Bulls to live in, as well as to protect them. This made Wales very touched.
For the Herculean Bulls, the people that helped them in their present situation were true friends. This time’s disaster could be said to be a test. You could find who your real friends were during this time, differentiate friends from wolves.
It would take two days to travel from the Herculean Bull’s camp to the Mastiff’s camp. Wales didn’t hurry but proceeded slowly.
Before Zhao Hai arrived, Wales already informed the Mastiffs about the matter with the Radiant Church and the Fighting Bulls. Among the beastmen, the Mastiffs held a higher status than the Herculean Bulls, so when Wales told the news to the Mastiffs, the Mastiffs would pa.s.s the news on to the Lion and Tiger tribes, for a war clan to know about this matter, it would mean that there would be a huge purge that will happen in the prairie.
It could be said that for the beastmen, the most loathsome human organization would be the Radiant Church. They always suppress the beastmen, they talk to the beastmen as though they are inferior, and they also had many wars with the beastmen due to repeatedly provoking the inhabitants of the prairie.
What’s most important was that they had tried to control beastmen tribes before, thus making tribes experience internal strife. This made all the beastmen full of hatred for the Radiant Church.
When Wales received the news from Zhao Hai, that the Fighting Bulls were working with the Radiant Church, he knew that as long as the information becomes known, the Fighting Bulls would be finished.
Wales believed that when the Lion and Tiger tribes received the message from the Mastiffs, they would act and thus will help Wales reclaim their place.
However, Wales didn’t want to rely on the powers of the Warring clans to retrieve his position as the Royal Family. Because if that happens, the prestige of the Cow-headed race would plummet, which would make his rule on the entire race difficult in the future.
At night they pitched their tent in the plains. Wales did not make a huge fuss, he just ate some food and took a rest, he wants to save his energy, so all enjoyment would be put on hold.
Wales, for the sake of the war preparations, put strict measures on everything. Even on this trip, he only brought basic foods, there were no argali brought. Wales wanted the argali to be turned to war rations.
The next day after they woke up, they can already see the foraging teams of the Mastiffs. Beastmen foraging can be seen everywhere on the prairie. They need to prepare for winter, thus you can see them foraging for gra.s.s everywhere, not just clansmen, but there were also many slaves working.
You can say that this was the busiest time of the year for the prairie. The Mastiffs can also spot Wales’ group, one can see the fondness of the Mastiffs of the Bulls, many Mastiffs ran over to greet Wales.
This was also the first time that Zhao Hai saw the Mastiffs. The Mastiff clansmen were big, about 2.5 meters tall maximum. Although they were short compared to the Herculean Bulls, they weren’t that short in general, their bodies were st.u.r.dy, with a giant Mastiff head. On their faces and necks was a layer of fur, this made them look like mighty lions.
Their voices were deep, but it had an remarkable power of penetration that made people feel the strength on their voices, very domineering.
In fact, on the entire prairie, the Mastiff tribe is very well known. Even the large Wolf, Tiger, Bear, and Lion tribes wouldn’t carelessly provoke the Mastiffs. They are very strong, a number Mastiffs could hold wind against the same number of Lions, if against the Tigers, they would be slightly disadvantaged, if against the Wolves, they’d certainly win, of against the Bears, the Bears would also be defeated. Such prowess made the Mastiffs quite famous in the prairie.
However, the Mastiffs had so many clans in their race, and their strengths were not well, therefore the Mastiff can only rank a bit lower as a tribe. For the people in the beastmen prairie, the Mastiffs can be considered as a warring clan, but they can only hold onto half of this claim because of their unique situation, thus they could only be cla.s.sified as a Semi-Warring clan, and only the Mastiffs hold this cla.s.sification.[1]
1. I think this refers to dogs having numerous breeds. So, in a way, the weak breeds sort of dilute the overall power of the race.