Chapter 203: The Western Continent (1/2)

The Dark Tidal Coast, Western Continent.

The presence of magical beasts and unnatural marine creatures made the oceans in this world far dangerous than the oceans of Earth. That was why despite their richness, there weren’t many who made their living dependent on the ocean.

That certainly begs the question: would the fattened nobles of this world give up on the marine delicacies that were rarer than it was on Earth?

The answer was naturally no.

In fact, it was exactly because marine delicacies were rarer here than Earth that the nobles coveted it even more. After all, more than the taste, they would enjoy looking important for having things others didn’t have.

No trade means no hunting, although the opposite holds true as well.

When something is rare enough that people would pay enough for peasants to go months without worrying, brave people would naturally appear no matter how dangerous the hunt would be.

And Laybit was one of them.

But it just won’t be quite right to call him brave.

***

Laybit’s tribe used to dwell near the Vierlin hills. However, his kind was not exactly physically fit and Bellphon—God King of Beasts never showed mercy to his tribe, which meant there had never been a warrior who hailed from the plains of Vierlin.

Therefore, when the other races became jealous of the profits his tribe gained by gathering mountain delicacies and various rare herbs, it only made sense that they were chased away from their former home.

The Leos’ Grayclaw tribe would have upheld justice in their stead, but it had all changed when Swordtail Grayclaw became tribe leader.

That scrawny, sinister Leo who completely wrapped himself in a black cloak and did not look at all like your typical bold and fearsome Leo. He even began to strengthen ties with Hyena-men and Graywolf-folk, bullying weaker tribes of other races without restraint and often forcing them to pay tributes.

It was the same for Laybit’s tribe.

With all their savings drained dry, their tribe were then chased away from their own homelands and forced to live at the dangerous, barren reaches of the Dark Tidal Coast.

Now, they could only survive on gathering seaweed—but there is no way that they could survive with just that.

Once any child in their settlement gets sick, they would wither away if there was no money paid to the shamans to treat them. In the end, they would die in despair!

It meant nothing even if one of the shamans would suddenly grow a conscience and would treat the child without a fee. Even if they had the list of medicine needed, they would still need money for the medicine!

That was precisely why the chief of Laybit’s tribe steeled himself and made the decision after suffering for so long: the tribe must take to the seas and gather whatever sea foot the tides wash to the shore of the Dark Tidal Coast, extract shells latching on to reefs and trade it with humans for gold!

On Earth, this would be a leisurely way of making manner and even a good pastime, but immeasurably dangerous in this world: oceanic reptiles and magical beasts lurked in waters even in water that was just a meter deep and attack anyone on the shore.

There were sea scorpions and man-eating king crabs as well, lurking beneath the sand and basically taking out a human with each strike.

Couple that factor with how the Laybit’s people were quite frail and not made to fight, three were lost to the sea in less than a month—Laybit himself even witnessed his cousin being whisked away by some unusual prawn-like beast with its massive pincers, and there was no chance that he would survive.