Chapter 297 – Mastiff Chieftain
The Mastiffs had also noted Zhao Hai’s presence. When they looked at Zhao Hai, Wales quickly explained to them that Zhao Hai was his Beheading Blood Oath brother.
It was very clear that to the beastmen, the Beheading Blood Oath was a sacred pledge which all beastmen respect. No matter which race you are, as long as you have undergone the Beheading Blood Oath, to the beastmen, you are already one of them.
Because of this, none of the Mastiffs treated Zhao Hai any differently. On the contrary, the became more enthusiastic towards him, this is because other than being Wales’ brother, they also noted the presence of two beastman friends.h.i.+p flags on his carriage.
Friends.h.i.+p flags were also equally important to the beastmen. Thus, when the Mastiffs saw that Zhao Hai was Wales’ blood oath brother and also had two friends.h.i.+p flags, they naturally wouldn’t treat him as any ordinary human merchant.
At noon the next day, they finally reached the main camp of the Mastiffs. This camp was more impressive than West Wonder King’s. It was placed on top of a hill, below it was a small river with an adequate volume of water that was quickly flowing. In this manner, they could use the river as a natural barrier as well as a source of water, this made it a very convenient resource.
On the river, the Mastiffs have built a wooden bridge. The bridge looked very st.u.r.dy, it was also wide, enough for 10 carriages to pa.s.s side by side. Moreover, not far from the hill was gentle flowing water, this let people bathe in it, the area was an absolutely good area to settle in.
The hill wasn’t that tall, but you can see the visible height. Saying that, the camp was really big. It looked like it can accommodate more than a million people.
These one million people were not gathered together, beastmen cannot clump up close to each other, this so that they could not damage the gra.s.slands too much. Therefore, they were scattered all around, looking at the distance, it looked like the tents have almost covered the plains completely.
Just as Wales were to see the Mastiff clansmen, a team of cavalry came out of the main camp. The team was not large, there were only over 100 riders. These 100 riders were very fast, additionally, they didn’t emit any sound. Zhao Hai paid attention to their mounts, their mounts looked very special as they were very large mastiffs, there was no need to ask, these were the Mastiff’s beast cousins.[1]
The team of cavalry quickly reached their group, the one at the lead looked at Wales then laughed and said, “Wales, you fellow, you finally came to see me.”
Zhao Hai looked at the Mastiff, he looked young and with a strong stature. He was not bad compared to the Herculean Bulls. Compared to other Mastiffs, this one had a heavy beard on his face, making him look very like a Lion. He wore a cotton robe and although the weather isn’t warm, there was an opening on his bosom, revealing his chest which was full of black fur. He gave off a natural, primal aura.
A person’s personality and his appearance almost always doesn’t have anything to do with each other. Although beastmen have huge bodies, Zhao Hai didn’t judge them by how they look.
The Mastiff standing in front of Zhao Hai gave him a feeling of being unconventional. He looked like a courageous and upright man willing to go through dangers and perils with his friend.
The Mastiff also noticed Zhao Hai, he turned to Wales and said, “Wales, is this human your beheading blood oath brother? Why did you perform your Beheading Blood Oath ritual with a human?”
Wales looked at the Mastiff and said, “Buffon, don’t spout nonsense, my brother Zhao Hai is a good and honest person, don’t go off scaring him. Little Hai, this is Brother Buffon, the Mastiff’s fifth Prince.”
Zhao Hai immediately gave a salute to Buffon, but inside he felt like laughing because he remembered that there was a star player back on earth named Buffon. He didn’t expect to meet a person here with the name Buffon.
Buffon stared at Zhao Hai, sizing him up, then he laughed and said, “Since you are Wales’ blood oath brother, then you are also my fellow brother. Brother, the Mastiffs welcome you.”
Zhao Hai smiled, “Thank you, Brother Buffon.”
Wales then followed up, “Buffon, you can’t expect us to continue speaking here, can you? Quickly invite us in, I’ve brought a lot of gifts for uncle.”
Buffon glanced behind the carriage, he noticed a lot of leather bags, it looked like they contained some sort of liquid. This made him stare, he turned his head to Wales and said, “Wales, you’re not really giving my father milk wine are you? Are you kidding me?”
Wales stared at him and said, “Well, if you don’t like it then don’t drink. Right, do you have any cooked mutton? I’m famished.”
Buffon obviously didn’t get offended, he led the convoy to the camp. As the entered the camp, they immediately headed towards the hill. Up on the hill, Zhao Hai saw a flag, it was clear that this was the Mastiff race’s royal flag, a big golden tent was erected there.
Sure enough, after a while, they came upon the golden tent. Although the tent looked impressive, there were no fences nor patrols here. Except for the golden facade, it looked like any ordinary tent, but this one had two guards at the entrance.
The convoy stopped, Wales took Zhao Hai, Yale and several other escorts towards the big tent. Currently, Wales put away the silly face he wore just moments before when him and Buffon were cracking jokes, his face was now very stern.
Zhao Hai also followed right by Wales’ side. Under the leaders.h.i.+p of Buffon, the two followed towards the tent, upon which they entered. Zhao Hai stared for a moment, the tent’s magnificent exterior was vastly different to its interior, which looked very simple. Like West Wonder King’s tent, it had a huge brazier, a lamp hanging from the ceiling, and a writing desk. Behind the desk was an old Mastiff, on both sides of the desk were a row of chairs, it looked like a conference room. Aside from these, the ornaments inside were very simple, which was good.
As soon as Wales entered the tent, he quickly took two steps forwards then kneeled towards the old Mastiff, “Wales has seen Uncle Buzeer.”
Zhao Hai also hastily knelt to greet. Buzeer chuckled the said softly, “Good, little seven, get up, you don’t need to be polite with me, I heard you brought many gifts? You bringing these gifts, now is a difficult time.”
Wales smiled and stood up, “Uncle, I brought human specialty products, we can spare as much, we also want to show respects to you.”
Buzeer faintly smiled, “Very well, you have a good heart. Right, this is your Beheading Blood Oath brother?”
Zhao Hai didn’t want to slight Buzeer, he immediately knelt down and greeted, “Zhao Hai has met Uncle.”
Buzeer nodded his head and smiled, “Get up, since you’re a brother of Wales, you can also be considered as my nephew, you don’t need to be too polite, come sit.”
Zhao Hai expressed his grat.i.tude, then retreated towards Wales. Wales went forward and waved his arm towards his guards which then handed him a silver pot containing wine. Wales handed the pot to Buzeer and said, “Uncle, this milk wine is made by little Hai, I thought it tasted good so I brought you some, have a taste.”
Buzeer looked at Wales, he didn’t have any negative expression, he smiled and replied, “Good, Milk Wine is a good thing, we beastmen cannot live without it. I’ll taste this milk wine made by your brother, let’s see how it compares to our milk wine.”
Wales smiled and walked towards Buzeer, he poured over some wine right onto Buzeer’s gla.s.s. Just as Buzeer said, beastmen cannot be separated with their milk wine, it has become an important factor in their lives, thus, there’s a wine gla.s.s already placed on Buzeer’s table.
When Wales poured the wine, Buzeer was stunned. He had drank milk wine all his life but had not seen a wine as clear as this one, this had surprised him.
Also, he didn’t suspect Wales of playing a trick on him, because he can clearly notice the distinct smell of milk wine. One should know that a Mastiff’s nose was more sensitive than most beastmen.
After Wales finished pouring the wine, Buzeer immediately grabbed it and took a sip. Unlike Wales who immediately downed his wine, Buzeer did not drink too much. Feeling the small amount of wine in his mouth, Buzeer couldn’t help but be intoxicated on the wine’s taste.
Beastmen love their liquor, no matter if they were ordinary citizens or members of a royal family. Thus, Buzeer also loved drinking, and he could swear that he hadn’t drunk such tasty liquor before.
He couldn’t help but close his eyes, slowly enjoying the taste of wine. After a moment, he opened his eyes and turned to Wales, and then he looked at Zhao Hai and smiled, “People have always said that Humans are smarter that Beastmen, I, like most people, didn’t believe it. But now I knew I was wrong, looking at how the beastmen weren’t able to improve the taste of milk wine after thousands of years. Young man, you surely are quite talented. This old man wants to thank you for making me taste such fine wine.”
It was clear that he was addressing Zhao Hai, Zhao Hai bowed and replied, “Uncle is too polite, it was because the materials I used are good quality, I’m glad Uncle liked it.”
Buzeer smiled, “Good, Wales, you don’t need to accompany this old man. Little five, go lead Wales to drink. Remember to send me a few pieces of mutton, I’m inviting a few elders in, so also give us some wine. This wine is really fragrant, we old guys want to enjoy a few cups.”
Buffon complied, he lead Wales and then turned away.
1. just a remainder, small letters for beasts, big letters for beastmen