Mian Ya, the daughter of the Curly-Horns tribe's chief, looked no different from any other sheep-folk.
She had long blonde hair and wore a white dress, with a small leather bag slung over her hip. Her appearance was more adorable and sweet than beautiful.
If one had to describe it, it would be that there was a subtle sense of plumpness from a lamb's point of view. Moreover, the amount of hair they had was about the same as a human's, and a little less than a sheep-folk's. Sheep-Folk would periodically shed their hair, and the Curly-Horns tribe's clothes and fabrics were woven from the wool they had shed.
It was worth mentioning that in the natural world, only rams had horns, but the Horned Curly Horns tribe, regardless of gender, had horns on their heads (which was also the origin of their tribe's name). However, the male's horns were longer and sharper, while the female's horns were pocket-sized. They looked like hair accessories and were cuter.
"I'm sorry to trouble you."
The girl bowed to the two Long Ears after learning the specifics of the situation from her tribe. Her eyes were clear, and her pupils were a rare purple that shone as bright as the finest agate.
"It's fine. Let's get going instead of meaningless formalities." Rangka didn't know why Laybit would agree to bring the princess of the Curly-Horns along, but he couldn't go back on his word now that things had come to this. "We don't have much time, lazy rabbit," he said sulkily.
Sensing Rangka's impatience, the girl didn't say anything and quietly followed the pair on their return journey.
The atmosphere along the way was rather gloomy, until Rangka suddenly paused as if noticing something.
"What is it?" Laybit asked warily.
Rangka took out a strand of hair from his leather cap, which was wriggling like a living caterpillar.
"This is the Heart Tip Hair that your father gave me before we left. It's enchanted."
There were very few people in the Non-Human Tribe who could use magic. Apart from the Ancient Bloodline Awakened who had spell-like abilities, there were only Shamans who could use witchcraft.
Their witchcraft was somewhat similar to the theurgy of the Eastern Continent's churches. However, because the ancestral spirit was not a god and the 'ancestor' that each non-human tribe worshipped was not the same individual, the corresponding god could not be born and could only exist in the form of a sprout. This also caused the non-human tribe's theurgy system to be incomplete. In the end, it formed a special branch of witchcraft that did not require much power of faith. Instead, it needed to be activated according to certain conditions and mainly existed in the form of rituals or potions.
Swordtail Grayclaw's black sorcery and the Long Ears' sorcery and martial arts were both included in that category. It was precisely because every artist believed that sorcery was equivalent to magic in the Eastern Continent, and while Swordtail's black sorcery was a taboo, it was an ability unique to nonhumans. That was why the other nonhumans did not object much when Swordtail used black sorcery to rise to power.
The Long Ears' shaman was old and had died in the process of relocation. The new generation of shamans had yet to mature, and there were only a few shaman apprentices who could barely be considered shaman apprentices. That was why the old chief had to take on the role of shaman.
Though the Long Ears were weak, they were not stupid. Moreover, the Players did not hide it, which was why the Long Ears' chief soon realized that the Players had a long-distance communication method.
As someone who had suffered greatly in that aspect, the Long Ears' chief quickly asked the Players about it, only to be told regrettably that one must be a believer of the God of Games to use that ability, and a true believer who was above the level of a shallow believer.
Even Rangka, a Long Ears who had already pledged fealty to the God of Games, could not forget the reverence he had for his ancestors that he had accumulated over the years and shift his faith to a new target. That was why no Players had appeared among the Long Ears' tribe until now.
Since he could no longer use the Player forum, the Long Ears' chief took a step back and asked the Players if there was any other long-distance communication method.
One of the Players mentioned how the Players could communicate remotely before the Player forum went online.
At the time, since the Players would often die and leave dungeons, or revive far away from the event site due to events, they needed to communicate in time as well. That was why some of the Players simply agreed on the order in which their buffs would refresh, and after repeating it a few times, the other members of the party would generally know what was going on.
Naturally, that method could not be used on the Long Ears since they could not see their teammates' HP bars or status bars.
Still, the Long Ears' chief was inspired by that story, and eventually developed a very noob sorcery.
The effect of the sorcery was to cut the same hair from the heart into two, and then perform the same action.
"That's good news." Rangka's gloomy expression brightened at once. "A Player has returned to our tribe."
"That's great."
Babe breathed a sigh of relief as well.
After all, if only the Long Ears were around, they would not have been able to defend themselves against the ferocious nonhumans' abduction.
"What's a Player?"
Cotton Sprout, who was listening on the side, asked curiously. She guessed from the relieved expression on the two's faces: "Could it be some kind of magical beast that you have tamed?"
In this era, it was very troublesome to tame magical beasts. The Eastern Continent had a system of countries and churches, so it was fine, but the Western Continent was much more chaotic. Even the human territories were basically in a state of chaotic warfare. Just capturing powerful magical beasts was very difficult, and it was even more difficult to make magical beasts reproduce like livestock.
Even on the Eastern Continent, the most successful artificial breeding of magical beasts was the wyverns of the Church of Glory.
Even if a non-human tribe was lucky enough to catch a magical beast and tame it, they would release it into the wild when it was in heat. One reason was to see if it could bring its young back to the tribe after a period of time. The other reason was that magical beasts in heat were very aggressive and dangerous to the entire tribe.
That was why the girl mistook Rangka and Babe for some powerful magical beast when they saw the relaxed expressions on the faces of the Players.
"No, it's not … hmmm, if I have to say it …" Rangka denied it by reflex at first, but realized that it was true when he thought about it. The Players would often eat and drink at the Long Ears' place, help the Long Ears in any trouble, and occasionally help their tribe with manual labor. They would leave the tribe during banquets and return on their own after a while, and certainly resembled tamed magical beasts.
Be that as it may, Rangka would never dare to call the Players magical beasts. Still, he shuddered when he remembered how the Players had destroyed the Tigermen and the Night Stalkers along the way. "Yes," he said solemnly, "they're more terrible than most magical beasts, like a natural disaster."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
