Chapter 31: The Wildfolk Tribe

Leaving the River Bend Peninsula behind, the three travelers followed the upstream course of the river on foot. Freya, who had spent all of yesterday digging irrigation ditches and conscripting a hundred strong laborers, showed not the slightest sign of fatigue. At one moment, she would leap into the icy pool, sending the small fish hidden within flying onto the bank, swallowing them whole as snacks. At another, she would embrace a tree and shake it violently, hoping to see if any squirrels or foxes would fall from above.

Watching Leo, who was carrying a wooden chest at the front of the group, Freya suddenly felt jealous of the box and deliberately threw herself to the ground. "Oh no, I tripped!" she cried, raising her stout forepaws toward Leo, "It hurts! I need a hug!" When Leo didn’t even turn his head, she grudgingly stood up and continued to follow.

Frissa watched Freya darting east and west, left and right, and envied her massive frame. With such size, strength, and thick fur, one could surely live fearlessly in the wild, even alone. Why, she wondered, had fate favored Freya over herself when both were huskies?

They walked all the way to the giant boulder where they had previously encountered the wild hunter. Leo set down the wooden chest and stopped. "Why aren’t we moving?" someone asked.

"We’ll wait here," Leo replied, sitting and scanning the forest for signs of the wild folk.

Soon, the three heard a sharp whistle from the distance. All around the riverbank, several whistles responded in kind. Leo recognized the wild folk exchanging information, likely confirming whether any "bandit-suppressing" soldiers had followed them.

According to imperial law and custom, wild folk held the same status as other races—lower than slaves, with no rights to speak of. Killing a wild folk or a non-human was no different from slaying a beast; it was not a crime under imperial law. Slave-hunting parties who captured wild folk and non-humans, selling them into slavery, had a legitimate profession in the Empire. Many frontier knights, backed by family arms, gained an easy foothold in their territories by clearing out and driving away wild folk, seizing their villages and fields, and capturing their population—skipping the hardships of early settlement.

Given all this, the exposure of a wild folk village was a tremendous risk; their exclusivity and conservatism were inevitable.

The next moment, a wild hunter appeared atop the giant boulder upstream, his wolfish, icy gaze surveying the three below. Leo recognized that this wasn’t the hunter they’d met last time, but he was equally wild and murderous, causing Leo to quickly drop any hint of levity.

Better to surrender first!

Seeing Leo raise his hands, the wild hunter lowered his longbow and asked coldly, "Are you alone?" His Imperial speech was awkward, but better than the kobold’s; Leo understood most of it.

Leo glanced at the kobold and marmot beside him, both mimicking his raised hands, and nodded, "Just me!"

The wild hunter jumped from the boulder and stared at Leo for ten seconds before bowing to Freya with respect, "Master!"

"Master?" Leo looked at Freya, puzzled.

Freya thumped her chest proudly. "Druid Master! That’s me!"

To Leo’s surprise, the wild hunter didn’t ask his purpose, but simply gestured for them to follow him upstream. The hunter remained silent throughout, speaking only once during a brief rest, "The people in the village miss you," he said to Freya.

"I miss them too," Freya replied bashfully.

The journey was grueling, the steep mountain paths seemingly endless. They leapt over ravines, crossed ridges, passed through gorges—at least twenty miles of mountain terrain. In truth, there was no path at all. Guided by the hunter familiar with the land, they took the easiest route through the forest. Without such guidance, outsiders would quickly be blocked by cliffs and deep gorges, or lost in dead-end canyons.

In the final gorge, Leo saw the stone wall across the stream riddled with hollows, each filled with the skulls of beasts and non-humans. The entire wall was honeycombed, resembling the set of a horror film or the holy place of some strange religion. Leo recognized that half the skulls belonged to boar-men, judging by their size and huge tusks—likely boar-warriors. The weathering of some skulls told him that the struggle between wild folk and boar-men had a long history.

After passing through the gorge, they finally reached a road showing signs of human work. Following the mountain path up a low peak, the scene ahead opened wide.

From atop the low peak, they saw a vast lake, at whose end tumbled a great waterfall from a towering cliff. The source of the Anzeno River, usually seen hanging in the sky from afar, now appeared before Leo after twenty or thirty miles of arduous trekking.

At his feet and on both sides, four low peaks encircled the waterfall like a crown, forming a basin that captured the surging river and pooled it between the peaks and the grand barrier into a massive lake. The lake’s surface was at least a thousand meters higher than the River Bend Peninsula and Wolf-Driven Plain, suspended like a pearl in the heavens.

The overflowing lake poured through the valleys between the peaks, forming several more waterfalls that plunged further down—some into the Anzeno River, others spilling elsewhere.

From the peak, Leo could easily see the panorama of the River Bend Peninsula; in the distance, villagers in the camp moved like ants. Leo was secretly startled. Though prepared, he hadn’t expected the entire camp to be so thoroughly exposed to the wild folk’s gaze.

He felt as if he were a fish in a small pond, thinking himself well-hidden, while those on the bank could see everything clearly.

Frissa’s assessment of the wild folk tribe proved apt—they were a kind tribe. At least they hadn’t launched a raid on the camp before it was secure, stealing their food and people.

Many frontier settlements failed to become self-sufficient after five or ten years, or were abandoned entirely, for one chief reason: too many bandits nearby!

Within the basin formed by the four peaks and the grand barrier, besides the massive lake, nestled a small village by the water. The lakeshore was lined with willow trees and narrow patches of farmland. Wooden huts near the lake had porches and walkways extending into the water, with small fishing boats moored beneath.

In short, this was a wild folk tribe with limited farmland, relying mainly on fishing and hunting. It was a paradise that had existed only in Leo’s imagination.

Leo gazed at the lakeside village below and listened to the distant roar of the waterfall, full of envy.

Surely the people living here must be prone to rheumatism?