Neighbors

Chapter 225 Neighbors

The lizard people do not have the same etiquette of "politely declining" as in human society.

In their view, refusing a gift is often seen as an insult or hostility; while accepting a gift necessitates maintaining the relationship with an equal or at least no less generous return gift.

The old shaman carefully put down his steel sword, his gaze lingering on the wooden boxes, a hint of worry on his face.

He couldn't find a suitable return gift for a while.

The other party was so generous, providing everything from weapons to salt to luxury goods. What did my tribe have to match such a generous gift?

A few high-quality crocodile skins?

Several bags of dried fish?

Or is it a bone ornament passed down from ancestors that is almost worn out?

None of these things seem too meager compared to this pile of steel and spices.

Fortunately, the return gift only needs to be prepared before the guest leaves, so he still has time to consider it.

He gestured for several strong male hunters to lift the wooden crate, then turned to the side, extended his paw forward, and said warmly, "Please, Lord Ye Wei'an. Let us entertain our friend from afar with fire and roasted fish."

The group walked along the rammed earth road in the village.

Upon closer inspection, the scene inside the village is even more vivid than when viewed from afar:

Strings of dried fish and some kind of purplish-black swamp berries were drying in front of several houses, and the air was filled with a unique smell of fish, decaying vegetation and burning firewood.

Some young lizard-man cubs peeked out from the window cracks, their large amber eyes curiously observing these "hairless giant monkeys," before being quickly pushed back in by their mothers.

"Lord Ye Weian," the old shaman said casually as he walked beside Ye Weian, "I heard from the ancestral spirits that you humans live by growing plants in the soil. Now that it's autumn, how are the plants growing in your territory?"

"Thanks to the elders," Ye Wei'an said with a smile, "the first batch of buckwheat has already sprouted and is growing well."

We also had a spellcaster bless the fields. If all goes well, we should have a good harvest in a little over two months.

"Bless the land—" The old shaman savored the words, a hint of surprise flashing in his vertical pupils. "Your way of life is remarkable; you don't need to fight desperately, you can support yourself simply by farming."

"Besides farming, your metallurgical technology is also remarkable," he paused, then continued, "The quality of the weapons you sent far exceeds my expectations. I'm not afraid to admit it, but in the Swiftspear tribe, even the best hunters might only possess one or two pieces of ironware, most of which are obtained from caravans or—other channels—you've sent so many at once, aren't you afraid we'll use them against you?"

"Of course I'm not afraid," Ye Wei'an replied immediately.

"These weapons are tools for hunting and building in the hands of friends; only in the hands of enemies are they weapons of destruction."

At this point, he subtly offered a compliment, "Moreover, your tribe occupies this strategically important location surrounded by mountains and water. Every adult hunter here is a warrior who has survived by fighting alone in the wilderness. If I truly harbored ill intentions towards such a powerful neighbor as you, how could I dare to swagger into your village with only such a small group of people?"

Of course, Ye Wei'an's praise contained many exaggerations.

At least, the gap between the Swiftspear tribe's military strength and that of the Thun territory is not that small.

But if we don't pretend to be weaker and exaggerate the strength of the Swiftspear tribe, how can we get these lizardmen to put in more effort when we join forces?

At least the old shaman chuckled hoarsely, clearly pleased with the compliment.

"No, no, the Swift Spear tribe is not as strong as you say. If we were really that strong, our ancestors wouldn't have mentioned this," the old shaman suddenly sighed, as if lost in some kind of memory.

"What are you talking about?" Ye Wei'an asked curiously.

"My ancestors told me that two hundred years ago, you humans also set foot here. At that time, the banners of the Purple Dragon Kingdom swept in from the north and occupied this land."

He turned his head and glanced at Ye Wei'an.

In Ye Wei'an's eyes, he was not an old man at this moment, but a ghost that had walked out of that period of history.

"Back then, you humans weren't as friendly as you are. They called us 'swamp pests' and 'uncivilized lizards.' Forests were cut down, hills were leveled, and our hunting grounds were swallowed up inch by inch by your farms and mines. At that time, several tribes tried to rebel—"

The old shaman's voice turned cold: "And then? The Purple Dragon Knights plowed through the wetlands like iron plows. Battle mages' fire descended from the sky, and many tribes vanished, the survivors driven into the heart of the swamp. From then on, you humans, here, are no different from butchers."

Ye Wei'an listened quietly, without rushing to defend herself.

Only after he finished speaking did he continue, saying, "That's why I want to be a different kind of neighbor. I'm not here to plow through the swamp and drive away the indigenous people. My territory is on the edge of the swamp, and what I want is to coexist with you."

The old shaman walked a few steps in silence, then suddenly changed the subject, as if the heavy past he had just mentioned was just a casual remark.

He raised his paw and pointed downstream, then suddenly asked, "Speaking of which, those bastards in Sword Valley used to be the most troublesome neighbors in this swamp. Stealing fish, catching shrimp, digging up traps, and taking our fishing spears—they were always sneaking around, it was incredibly annoying."

Annoying. But this month, they haven't appeared in front of us at all, only occasionally showing up near Sword Valley—"

As he spoke, he looked at the kobold Nas behind him: "I'm curious, did so many kobolds disappear? Did they migrate, or—are they coexisting with you?"

"They were incorporated into our forces." Ye Wei'an did not hide anything. "They were once hostile to my territory. After their defeat, I did not exterminate them, but gave them a way to live."

"Defeat? Survival?" The old shaman's vertical pupils contracted slightly.

"Let them work for me—mining, collecting, building roads, and transporting goods," Ye Wei'an paused, then added, "but not as slaves. They earn their food, wealth, shelter, and medical care through their labor. They now have shelter, food, and wages to exchange for salt and cloth. Since they can fill their stomachs through honest labor, they naturally have no need to steal or cheat outside."

The old shaman stopped in his tracks.

He turned around, his face showing surprise for the first time.

He looked at Ye Weian, then at Nas riding on a ponies, and for the first time looked directly at the little guy.

"Using—food and wealth—to make kobolds willingly mine for you?" the old shaman exclaimed incredulously. "Not chains, not whips, not slavery?"

"no."

The old shaman remained silent for a long time, so long that even Suan Chi next to him shifted his paws uncomfortably.

Finally, the old shaman sighed, "Lord Yeweian—you are truly different from the humans I have ever met."

"Oh? What kind of human lords did the elder meet?" Ye Wei'an pressed.

The old shaman started walking again, but his pace slowed considerably.

"Arrogance. It's arrogance etched into their very bones." He gestured with his claws. "In their eyes, there are only two kinds of beings in this world: humans, and things that aren't human." Kobolds are monsters, lizardmen are enemies, goblins are pests. They occupy the most fertile lands, build high walls and castles, and then treat the races outside those walls as beasts."

At this point, the old shaman's tone carried a hint of resentment.

They believed that other races were only fit to be expelled, enslaved, or assimilated—that is, forced to abandon their ancestral spirits.

Abandon Samueliana and kneel before your gods. This was the attitude of the pioneering lords a century ago, and it remains true for most of the adventurers and merchants who occasionally venture into the swamps. They never believe that a creature with scales or fangs can speak to them as an equal.

At this point, the old shaman looked at Ye Weian again, his eyes filled with expectation: "But you—you are willing to give the kobolds wealth, to call us neighbors," and even to personally come to the village instead of sending a troop of cavalry to deliver the order. This surprised me greatly."

Ye Wei'an met his gaze with a solemn expression.

He glanced around at the lizardman villagers who were eavesdropping, and answered loudly, as if declaring to the entire tribe: "Elder, in my view, the measure of a life's value is never scales or skin, not sharp teeth or flat teeth, but whether he is willing to create with his own hands, whether he keeps his promises, and whether he respects the right to life of other beings."

As he spoke, he pointed to Nas in the group.

"In my territory, whether human, kobold, lizardman, or any other intelligent race in this swamp, as long as they are willing to work hard, abide by the law, and live in peace, there is no difference in their personality and dignity; they are all equal beings."

These words resonated powerfully, echoing through the village road.

Upon hearing this, Nass involuntarily straightened his chest.

The old shaman stared at him blankly, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"What a fine line—'There is no distinction between superior and inferior.'"

He lowered his head and bowed slightly to Ye Wei'an.

"If you had been born a hundred years earlier, perhaps half the blood flowing on the Thun Plains would have been saved."

As they spoke, the group arrived at the center of the village.

This is a wide open square, where a bonfire burns year-round. Beside the bonfire stands a rough yet majestic totem pole, engraved with the battle markings of the lizardmen ancestors and the sacred emblem of Samuanya.

Just as Ye Weian was about to move on to the next topic, the old shaman suddenly seemed to remember something and asked abruptly.

"Lord Yeweian, I've heard that you have a druid master in your party?"

Sure enough, the urgent message that Suan Chi sent back to the tribe was about this matter.

Ye Wei'an nodded: "Exactly."

He gestured to the owl-bear behind him: "This is Master Lucia Elm, a druid from the Moon Society of the Fairy Wilderness. My territory is blessed by nature and my crops are blessed with abundance, all thanks to her grace."

Upon hearing this, the old shaman's expression changed.

He suddenly straightened his hunched back, straightened his colorful feather cloak, and adjusted the heavy antler crown on his head.

Having done all this, he bowed deeply, almost lowering his head to Lucia's claws: "Master Lucia!" His voice trembled with emotion, "Children of the wilderness, descendants of Samueliana, offer you their highest respect!"

Lucia, who had been lying on the ground, fiddling with a rounded pebble with her paws, was startled by this sudden gift.

I felt a shiver run through my body.

She jumped to her feet, waving her paws helplessly, as if trying to return the greeting, or perhaps frantically waving her hands. "No, no need to be so polite! I just—I just helped Wei An with planting and digging irrigation ditches—I'm not some kind of master—"

However, her refusal was to no avail.

The surrounding lizardman villagers, upon hearing the word "druid," reacted as if they had heard something incredible.

There was a moment of deathly silence, and then the crowd surged forward like a tide.

Several elderly lizardwomen, trembling, took out food carefully served in large green leaves from their bosoms or bamboo baskets:

The charred, silvery-scaled fish, the plump, dark purple swamp berries, and the tuber with its snow-white flesh revealed after peeling—

They held the food high above their heads, knelt before Lucia, and respectfully placed the leaf trays down with the utmost devotion, muttering indistinct prayers.

More women and children followed the old woman, kneeling down in imitation. The young lizardman cub, though not understanding what was happening, was also pressed down on his head by his mother and kowtowed in Lucia's direction.

Even some hunters who had been hiding on the rooftops leaned out, pressed their fists to their chests, and bowed their heads in respect.

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Lucia stood frozen in place, filled with fear and helplessness.

She instinctively looked at Ye Weian and whispered, "Ye Weian! Why...why are they all kneeling down? What should I do?"

Ye Wei'an didn't know what to do either, so he could only stand aside and watch the lizardmen kneeling in devout worship, and watch Lucia being worshipped as a god.

He realized that even after witnessing Acid Tooth's attitude towards Lucia, he had still underestimated the influence of a druid.

Just then, a young female lizardman—judging from her size and the color of her scales, she should be a young woman—squeezed out from the crowd.

She clutched a swaddled baby wrapped in hay and soft leather tightly in her arms. Her face was pale, her vertical pupils were full of tears, her knees buckled, and she knelt heavily on the ground. Then she raised the swaddled baby high above her head and presented it to Lucia's nose.

Inside the swaddling clothes, a lizard-man baby was fast asleep.

It was only half the size of a human baby, covered with soft, almost transparent pale green scales, and its little tail drooped limply outside the swaddling clothes.

But what is most shocking is its pale complexion with a sickly grayness, its breathing so weak that the rise and fall of its chest is barely visible, and its small nostrils twitch occasionally, as if it will stop breathing completely at any moment.

The young mother choked up, speaking rapidly, her voice full of pleading.

To the enormous owl-bear, the baby in front of it was far too small to even fill a tooth gap.

But the bear was terrified and almost incoherent: "Ye Wei'an! Ye Wei'an!! They—they're going to offer this child to me as a sacrifice?! I don't eat children! Half-goat people don't eat children! Druids don't eat children either! Tell them, I really won't eat them!"

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