Chapter 13: The Encounter with the Frogmen

“I am Shunen, son of the great tribe leader Auloi. Lizardmen, we have no intention of fighting you.”

“Lakrak. I am the chief of the clan. We also have no intention of raising our weapons.”

As the two leaders spoke to each other, both tribes that were standing guard returned to a resting position.

Lakrak took a look at the Frogman that identified himself as Shunen.

Shunen was one of the bigger Frogmen among his tribe, and he had a fancy string that was dyed red around his neck.

‘It seems they have shown courtesy by sending the tribal leader’s son.’

It would have been better if the tribal leader had come himself, but Lakrak didn’t expect that much.

“What brings you here?”

“We have come to let you know that your tribe has invaded our territory.”

It was just as Lakrak had expected. There was no need to accept Shunen’s words as an attack. After all, only by stating that their opponent was in the wrong could one press for an advantage.

“Is that so? I wouldn’t say the whole land is your territory. There was no sign suggesting that this land had an owner already. We didn’t know, but I apologize for not noticing you were here first.”

“Hm.”

Shunen didn’t say anything for a moment after Lakrak made a clear apology. Lakrak had gotten one over on him.

“Apart from this being your territory, we have come from a place very far away. I’m not sure if we’ll settle down long-term, but we need to stay here for now as we have no other place to go.”

“Well, that’s…”

“Shunen, son of the great tribal leader Auloi, it is my first time seeing Frogmen, but you seem like a warrior capable of making decisions. Don’t you have the authority to show us mercy?”

Shunen couldn’t come up with anything contrarian and ended up agreeing with Lakrak.

“That is right. I will be the one to lead our tribe one day after my father. Determining whether we should yield a part of our territory to you and your clan is something I can decide on my own.”

Lakrak noticed the big warrior standing beside Shunen glancing at him. It was a look of dissatisfaction.

‘The tribal chief probably assigned that warrior to his son because he doesn’t trust him.?

But that Lizardman is still suspicious

. I should find out more about him.’

“Instead of talking here, you should come to our village to be welcomed since both tribes have come to an agreement without much conflict,” said Lakrak.

“Oh, then…”

When Shunen was about to go along with what Lakrak had suggested, the big warrior whispered something into Shunen’s ear. Shunen’s attitude suddenly changed.

“...That’s a bit much. We don’t have a lot to thank each other for, and I don’t think we have that much mutual trust built yet.”

“Really? Us Lizardmen can’t just send you off after being indebted to you for what you have done for us. What about sharing the food we have here?”

Shunen turned to the big warrior, and the warrior nodded.

“That seems fine. We also have food, so we’ll share that as well. Just in case there is a misunderstanding, we like Lizardmen very much. Isn’t that right, Owen?”

“Of course.”

Answered the grayish-brown scaled Lizardmen, who Lakrak was carefully keeping an eye on.

Lakrak decided not to overreact.

‘If I want to find out what the relationship between them is and what their intentions were in coming together, I can’t let them know that I’m curious. If they realize I want to know more, they’ll use it to their advantage.’

Lakrak ordered his warriors to make a fire and prepare food while he started a casual conversation with Shunen.

“I may accept that the land around here is your territory, but I want to know on what grounds you’re saying this.”

“Hm, alright. Do you see these decorative feathers hanging on this string?”

Shunen pointed at the red string hanging from his neck with something like pride. There were only a few feathers on the string, but they were so big that they covered large parts of Shunen’s chest. Lakrak also thought they were very impressive.

“These are the feathers of the Cockatrice that lives in a forest nearby. “

“Cockatrice?”

“It’s a huge bird that runs on two legs. It is…about as tall as the second branch on that tree over there.”

That was approximately over 3 meters tall. It was likely to be a very dangerous creature.

“Can I take a closer look at the feathers?”

“Of course.”

Lakrak closely studied the feathers. Even if Shunen had exaggerated a little, it was likely that a bird with such big feathers would be that tall. Lakrak was also aware that his warriors had found big feathers, just not as big as these ones.

‘Then these red feathers are likely part of the decorative plumes or fancy part of the Cockatrice. Information about the Cockatrice seems to be reliable at least.’

Shunen continued to say, “Not only is the Cockatrices big, but it also has poison. It’s a dangerous creature. We never manage to kill it in our many encounters, but only barely chasing it away. It’s very fast and has a wide home range, so we come all the way to this area when we scout.”

“Then it would be thanks to you guys that we haven’t encountered it yet. Thank you, but how do you deal with a Cockatrice?”

“Even if you have a long spear, it’ll be hard to face it up close because it’s so tall. Throwing a javelin wouldn’t work either as it’s too fast, and even if you throw rocks, it’s protected by its feathers. Usually a bow and arrow would work by aiming at the part where its skin is exposed.

“Bow and arrow?” Lakrak took interest in the weapon he hadn’t heard of. “Is it that thing by any chance?”

“Is this your first time seeing a bow?”

“Hm, I have seen something similar.”

Lakrak was talking about the bow-shaped bellow that the iron craftsman had. Similar looking objects had been used before the inception of bows making use of tension. However, a properly made bow differed in appearances and purposes. The Lizardmen hadn’t seen a bow before since they grew up in places where there weren’t many species of trees and thus were short on wood supplies

“What kind of weapon is it? It doesn’t seem like something that you throw rocks with, like a slingshot.”

Shunen preened in response to Lakrak’s curiosity.

“I should show you how it’s used. Let’s see…Owen.”

“You call?”

“Let me ask you a favor as the others are busy. I’m going to practice some archery, so would you set up an appropriately-sized wooden board over there?”

“I’ll do that.”

Lakrak noticed a strange power relation between Shunen, the tribal leader’s son, and the Lizardman Owen.

‘He acts like he’s asking a favor…but it seems to me that Owen is an errand boy. However, anyone compared to the son of the tribal chief would seem like an errand boy.’

Without saying much, Lakrak observed Owen do his work and watched Shunen’s archery practice. The wooden bow that Shunen had was not very long given a Frogman’s stature. The wood was strong enough to arch and create tension, and the bowstring, which was made of unknown material, was tightly tied so it wouldn’t come undone.

The arrow Shunen shot flew with a whoosh and struck the middle of the target.

?

“Wow. That was great.”

As Lakrak admired Shunen’s skills, he was also picturing in his head how to respond if they were to fight the Frogmen.

‘At the moment our warrior’s javelins are stronger. However, this bow can shoot several arrows, and it seems more accurate than a javelin. It can also be shot faster if intended. It’s a weapon we need.’

“We learn archery from when we are young. I am one of the best archers in our tribe,” Shunen said.

“I see. Can I try it?”

“Of course, though it will be hard since it’s your first time.”

Shunen was right. Strength wasn’t an issue. He knew what a beginner would face, so he and the other warriors put some distance between them and Lakrak.

Everytime Lakrak bounced an arrow sideways or dropped an arrow on the ground, Shunen gave appropriate advice, and after Lakrak shot a few arrows, he was finally able to shoot toward the target.

“It’s always hard the first time.”

Lakrak huffed and went to collect the arrows.

As he was doing so, Shunen said to Owen, “What are you doing not collecting the arrows?”

Owen ran, but Lakrak replied, “No, I shot them, so I’ll go collect them.”

Lakrak picked up an arrow from the ground. Shunen shrugged and shifted his gaze to where the meal was being prepared. Lakrak picked up another arrow and approached Owen.

‘Finally the two of us can have a conversation.’

Walking up to the target, Lakrak said, “Owen is your name?”

“What? Oh, yes.”

Owen panicked like he didn’t know how he should behave in front of Lakrak.

‘Why is he panicking? That’s a strange reaction.’

Lakrak tried to interrogate Owen and asked, “Why is a Lizardman with the Frogmen?”

“That’s because Lizardmen and Frogmen are living together. We are different species living together.”

Lakrak was thrown off as he never imagined such a thing would be possible. If different species lived together, their differing lifestyles would inevitably lead to conflicts. Lakrak didn’t think of Frogmen this way, but some other species would be disgusted by the physiological aspect of Frogmen. Even if a friendly relationship was maintained, it was normal for communities to divide.

“Why is that?”

“Because both species are of help to each other.”

“Helpful? How so in specifics?” Lakrak asked out of pure curiosity.

Owen replied as if he had rehearsed what to say.

“Lizardmen are protected by the Frogmen, and in return, Lizardmen do tasks that are inconvenient for the Frogmen, as Frogmen can’t live outside of water for too long. Lizardmen are also better than Frogmen at climbing trees or picking fruits, and Lizardmen in return can eat the fish in the water.”

It sounded like they were helping each other, but something was strange to Lakrak.

“Sharing food is good, but Lizardmen don’t need protection. Lizardmen have the ability to defend themselves.”

Owen shook his head, but seemed surprised.

“No, you heard of the Cockatrice, didn't you? This forest is dangerous. Auloi’s Frogmen are a big tribe. It will be hard for us Lizardmen to survive without the Frogmen.”

Lakrak wanted to ask more, but he was starting to feel the weight of Shunen’s gaze.

“Let’s go back. Forget the conversation we just had. I only asked about how to be good at archery.”

“What…? …Okay.”

“So tell me any tips you may have.”

“...I don’t know how to shoot arrows.”

Lakrak looked at Owen with suspicious eyes.

“Then you aren’t a warrior. Why is a non-warrior with a group of warriors?”

Owen dropped his head and didn’t answer. He instead replied with an archery tip.

“...H..however, I have heard things. Before letting go of the bowstring, you need to hold your breath and look exactly at the target.”

“...I see. Thank you.”

To avoid being caught about interrogating Owen, Lakrak complimented Shunen’s archery skills and persistently asked about bows, arrows, and archery. Shunen, who became proud, was talking about what kinds of woods were used to make bows until he eventually got stopped by the large warrior keeping an eye on him.

“I think that is enough, Shunen.”

“Oh, Oboi. Isn’t it okay? It’s not like you can quickly make a bow just because you know how to. Our bowmakers have trained for a long time, but trial and error is what is needed to make a good bow.”

“Still, we have done enough for them.”

The Frogmen warrior named Oboi had the fanciest decorations after Shunen. Lakrak assumed he was likely a henchman of the tribal leader, Auloi.

‘Oboi is the most important one to keep an eye on.’