Chapter 185 (1/2)
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.