Chapter 185: Village of the Mountain People
The prairie or steppe in the northern part of the Kingdom of Holletta had no name. The people there just called it the “Prairie”. In the middle of this vast land, a desolate and uninhabited zone was surrounded by an indistinct border between the various countries. Due to certain historical reasons, the many plots of land in the prairie were in an unclear state of ownership. The southern part of the prairie bordering the Kingdom of Holletta was nominally the realm of the kingdom, but in fact, there were no officials or troops there. The Lamberg Town was the northernmost administrative unit of the Kingdom. And as far as the prairie was concerned, its actual rulers were wolves, brute beasts and violent anomalies.
The alpha wolf once mentioned the legend behind this place. The ancient magical civilization used to set off war here, and the ancient battlefield was buried beneath the prairie. The powerful, ancient fighters were still catalyzing their strong, magical powers underground, resulting in magical disasters such as hurricanes, thunderstorms and even snowstorms. They often occurred in the prairie out of nowhere. Therefore, the neighboring countries did not want to invest too much energy on this prairie as well. It was just not suitable for people.
However, the prairie’s border area was relatively safe. Some sectors had never even been subjected to any magical disaster. A few years prior, a group of mountain people left their homes, which were located west of the mountains and built a small village in this neutral zone. It is uncertain if the mountain folk and the Holletta Royal Family had reached an agreement. The village was preserved in the form of a border-like trade zone even though it was hundreds of kilometres away from the actual habitat of the mountain people.
The small village had no name. The people of the kingdom generally called it the “Western Village” or “Village of the Mountain People”. Mountain folk who were strong and accustomed to travelling long distances often traveled between the village and their own home. They transported medicinal herbs and jade, which could only be found in the forest, westernmost to this side. They used them to exchange alchemy items and other daily necessities with the Holletta people. At the same time, they also adapted to cattle grazing in the plains within a short period of time. The cattle, leather and pack animals of great endurance produced in the small village were also very popular among the Holletta people. Thus, the small village did look kind of like a neutral trade zone at this point.
All this information was given by Becky on their way to the small village. The mercenary felt that since Hao Ren and the rest were visitors from the Northern Empire, they were probably not familiar with these mountain people, who only interacted with the Kingdom of Holletta. So, she consciously acted as a guide, which saved them a lot of trouble.
The village was not very big. There were only over a hundred families scattered across the grounds, which was on a slightly higher slope. The village had no walls, just a circle of wooden fences that looked solid as a border on the periphery. Near the slope of the village, a gentle-flowing river acted as the source of drinking water. On the other side of the river, there was a boxy building built with white stone bricks. It was a house in a completely different style from the rest of the village houses. It looked like a common house in Lamberg Town, and they did not know what it was for. The houses of the mountain people were meanwhile, cylindrical in shape, and built with wood. The outer walls were wrapped in leather, and the gaps were filled with thatch and mortar. They looked like tall yurts. This style was kind of familiar.
Everybody dismounted outside the village. Because there were no roads, or a gate, they went straight into the neighbourhood. It was time for the locals to prepare dinner, and most of them were at home. There were only three or five men wandering around. When Hao Ren saw the villagers, he understood why Y’zaks was mistaken for a mountain man: People here were unusually tall!
They wore clothes made of course cloth and hide, which although looked rough, had fine workmanship. It gave them a feel of an ethnic minority. Most of the people there were taller than six feet. The shortest Hao Ren saw was probably still a head taller than him. Mountain people were sturdy and strong. Although they were not as tall as Y’zaks, it was still enough for outsiders to mistaken Y’zaks as one of the mountain people. Hao Ren noticed the faces of the men in the village were painted with horizontal and vertical lines in some kind of white and yellow paint. He did not know the meaning of it. Probably it was part of their custom.
Anyway, a rich, exotic and fond feeling came over them—along with the smell of rice.
During their long travel, they simply ate some snacks as lunch so, Hao Ren was already hungry. Lily’s hunger was even more over the top. The girl was beginning to look wistfully at the meadow… How hungry was she?
The villagers did not react much when they saw a group of outsiders coming to their village. They were probably accustomed to dealing with Holletta people. They just smiled, waved and greeted the visitors. They were neither estranged nor curt. It was only when they saw the group’s peculiar costumes that they felt a little curious. Becky was obviously a regular here. She walked in front of the team and greeted a number of villagers loudly. She then asked someone if the village head was in.
“The village head just came back yesterday.” A brown-haired man, whose face was painted with two yellow stripes pointed to a large house at the center of the village. “There have been a lot of outsiders coming to the village recently, and some of them stayed overnight. The village head led a few people to get some food in town two days ago.”
“You must’ve been making a lot of money recently.” Becky laughed. She looked like a tomboy, “Looks like you’ve got a new necklace.”
“I’m doing okay, just sold a few horses…”
The moment Becky chatted with her acquaintance, Hao Ren finally remembered when he had seen the same style of architecture as the village: the night he first met the black alpha wolf. The several nomadic huts he saw in the prairie had the same style.
It meant that the nomads who lived on the prairie for a while and moved away were the people of this village. Such a coincidence.
After observing the local houses, Vivian touched Hao Ren’s arm and said, “There are no Letta runes here.”
“Perhaps, only the Kingdom of Holletta inherited some of the rune-related knowledge,” Hao Ren nodded and replied, “You can see it from its name.”
Y’zaks stretched his body, exhaled and said, “Hey—I don’t know why but, there’s a sense of relaxation in this place.”
Hao Ren rolled his eyes and said, “Of course, people here are all small giants. You can finally raise your head when you talk to people. There’s no sense of tension for you in this place however, I’m not comfortable with it.”
How could it not have been awkward? Whoever Hao Ren spoke to, the first thing he focused on was their nostrils. After of speaking with this posture for quite some time, even if he could bear it, his neck could not necessarily do the same.
Becky and her acquaintances were finally done chatting. She allowed everyone to hand over their horse to the brown-haired man in front of them, and said, “Just give the horses to Zanaro. Let’s stay in the village head’s house for the night. Rest well. Starting from tomorrow, we’ll have to continue traveling in the wilderness for two days in a row.
The man who was called Zanaro smiled kindly at them, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. Without taking the reins, the man just yelled something strange before the horses, and they proceeded to lower their heads and follow him in a tame manner. Becky smiled and gave Hao Ren an introduction. “The mountain people are too tall, other than the Kerrzen breed, they usually can’t ride other kinds of horses. But, they are excellent in taming horses no matter what the breed. They say their ancestors signed an agreement with the Forest Deity. As long as the descendants of the mountain people maintain a reverence for the mountains, they can communicate with the all kinds of animals. Not sure if it’s true.”
As the group listened to Becky introduce some interesting legends about the mountain people, they came to the largest cylindrical house in the center of the village. An old man with white hair and a white beard was standing at the door. The old man who was also wearing a blue robe, and had three white stripes on his face was the village head. He had heard that Becky was leading a group of strangers to his house so, he was waiting at the door. Upon seeing them, the old village head greeted Becky loudly, “Little girl! You’ve come with friends?”
His voice was so striking that even a young person could not compete. Hao Ren’s ears were a little itchy even though he was more than 10 metres away.
“Don!” Becky’s face was full of smiles, and she said, “We’re staying here for a day! I’m going to the Beinz Blood Lake as well!”
“I knew you would go there sooner or later.” The old village head seemed to be really familiar with Becky, with the sort of kindness an elder had on his face. Then, he waved at the rest of them and said, “You’re all my guests, please come in, we’re preparing dinner.”
The mountain people also appeared to be very hospitable. Hao Ren and the rest greeted the old village head. When the village head saw Y’zaks, he obviously paused for a moment and asked, “Ah, this body… You’re also a mountain man, aren’t you? Which tribe are you from?”
Hao Ren hurriedly answered the question perfunctorily. He just told him that due to a family misfortune, Y’zaks grew up together with the people in the plains up north so, he was not very accustomed to this question. It was a useful excuse to play Y’zaks as a mountain man but now, when they were in the real mountain village, he was really afraid that Becky would take Y’zaks around to meet his “relatives” (the mountain people formed their society with the tribe as the unit, a man of the same tribe or a closer tribe was considered family to them). With mercenary girl’s lively attitude, she could have done it!
Fortunately, the old village head did not really care about this. He warmly invited them into the house, not giving them any chance to completely say anything. It was dinner time and soon, the dining table was full of special dishes.
Just as the old village head took his seat, Vivian asked, “Have you seen a tall woman in a white outfit two days ago?”
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