Chapter 25: Two Men in the Wilderness

Gnolls.

This hyena-like species had protruding snouts and black spots on their brown bodies. They had rough tempers and were obsessive over power structures, so they fought frequently amongst themselves, but the overall opinion of the players of The Lost World was that they were still worthy of consideration despite all these shortcomings. Their physical ability and intelligence were both high on average, so they were known to be a good species to have at the start of the game regardless of what the player’s Small Area was.

But these facts about the game had no bearing on Owen and the unknown man next to Owen.

The man said to Owen, “What are you gonna do? As far as I know, Gnolls and Lizardmen aren’t really on good terms right now.”

“That’s right.”

Owen looked down with a bored face.

“There’s still time until they reach the top of the hill, so let’s think about what to do. It also doesn’t seem like they’ve noticed us yet. Do you think they are Salkait’s men?”

Salkait was the tribal chief of the Gnoll tribe, Ears Cut Tribe, which were hostile towards the Black-Scaled Lizardmen. The Black-Scaled Lizardmen from the south and the Ears Cut Tribe from the northeast were the two largest tribes of the wilderness, so all the other smaller tribes had great interest in the two.

Salkait and Lakrak believed in different gods. Therefore, it was inevitable for both tribal chiefs to be hostile towards each other.

The man next to Owen took great interest in whether the two tribes were going to fight, and if they did, who would win. No human tribe, at least within this specific wilderness, would be comparable to these two powerful tribes.

“I’m not sure…”

That was what the man said, but he decided to reply with a bit of sincerity as his opponent was Owen, the storyteller. The man took a closer look at the Gnoll group coming up the hill and came to a conclusion.

“To be honest, I don’t think they’re Salkait’s men.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Well, first of all, it’s strange that they would come to this area. If they were Salkait’s men and part of the Ears Cut Tribe, Lakrak would definitely know of them coming this way, and they wouldn’t be wandering around here so fearlessly. What if they were to encounter Lakrak’s scouting party?”

“The Gnolls always travel in groups, and they are always full of confidence. They might be thinking they could defeat the scouting party.”

“Oh, I guess that is true… They’re coming towards the bone tower that is visible from the bottom of the hill. What if they’re unlucky and encounter Owen the storyteller, who happened to be inscribing writing on the tombstone? In my opinion, those Gnolls don’t have anything in mind.”

Owen shrugged and said, “Then who do you think they are?”

“I think they used to be part of Salkait’s tribe, but were driven out because of infighting. That kind of situation is common for Gnolls. They might look armed, but if you look closely, it’s clearly a sham. That one doesn’t even have a knife. He’s just holding a wooden club.”

Owen laughed.

“I agree. But I think it's because they aren’t cautious of their surroundings at all. If they were Slakait’s scouting party, they would search the mountain ridge first and wouldn’t take that smooth path. They look tired and exhausted, so they are vagrants.”

The man looked at Owen with interest.

‘I guess the rumors of Owen being wise isn’t a false reputation after all. Then I wonder how great Lakrak, the one that Owen follows, would be.’

The man then asked, “So what are you gonna do?”

“Kick them out.”

“Even if they’re not part of the Ears Cut Tribe?”

“If they were a scouting party of the Ears Cut Tribe, they would actually be friendly. They would know that getting into such a trivial battle is meaningless, and both scouting parties would rather have a meal together and try to get information from each other.”

“Oh, I see.”

“On the contrary…these Gnolls are just hungry looters.”

The man agreed. He wanted to say something, and hesitated, but eventually ended up saying it.

“You would think differently if they were Lizardmen vagrants or human vagrants, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course. I trust Lizardmen and humans. But not Gnolls.”

The man understood what Owen meant and nodded.

Owen took out his weapon and said, “You can stay here.”

“Will you be okay? Alone?”

Owen shook his hand without answering and slowly walked down the hill.

The man thought this was good.

‘Maybe I’ll see a rare sight.”

From the top of the hill, the man saw Owen reach for the bow that was around his shoulder. The man recognized the bow right away.

‘It’s the Black-Scaled Lizardmen’s composite bow.’

The composite bow was made from the large water buffaloes that the Black-Scaled Lizardmen were raising, and it was one of the bows that could shoot the farthest out of all the other bows in the wilderness. The Black-Scaled Lizardmen only produced a specific number of the bows to arm each of their warriors, and they wouldn’t ever trade them for anything, so the composite bows of the Black-Scaled Lizardmen that others had were either extremely expensive or counterfeits.

‘But why is he taking out his bow already? It’s still too far…’

As if rebutting the man’s thoughts, Owen took out an arrow from the quiver around his waist and shot it. Owen did move a little down the hill, but the distance between him and the Gnolls was still over a hundred steps.

The Gnoll’s were marching with their heads down so they hadn’t spotted Owen. As Owen let go of the bowstring, the man thought Owen had missed, but then he saw one of the Gnolls fall to the ground.

‘Did he kill him right away? No, I guess not.’

The man had good vision.

The arrow hit the shield that the Gnoll at the very front had tied around their arm. But the arrow shot was so strong that it knocked the Gnoll over.

“I-It’s an enemy attack!”

The Gnolls panicked and barely spotted Owen. Once they saw that it was only one person, they ran towards Owen. There were a few Gnoll’s that had bows, but they were made of wood, and Owen was higher up on the hill than they were, so their arrows didn’t even reach Owen’s feet.

“Lizardman! You stinky Lizardman! What are you doing!”

Owen shot a few more arrows without replying. All hit places that wouldn’t wound the Gnolls, but with enough force to make the Gnolls lose balance. All the Gnolls ended up rolling down the hill as a result of either getting hit or trying to avoid the arrows.

The man was impressed.

‘Huh, it would be easier to shoot and kill them now.’

However, three Gnoll’s successfully got to Owen. They pulled out their bronze swords and charged at him.

“You damn Lizardman!”

Owen easily dodged all three sword attacks, took out three arrows from his quiver at the same time, and intentionally aimed at the Gnolls’ feet. The three arrows hadn’t pierced through their feet, but through their shoes and buried into the ground. In an instant, the three Gnolls were pinned down.

Owen huffed and said, “You stinky feet don’t deserve to step into this holy place.”

Rrrrrr…

The three Gnolls, the Gnolls that rolled down the hill, and the man at the top of the hill all felt chills rush through their bodies, making their hairs stand.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

One of the Gnolls then remembered the famous legend among the Black-Scaled Lizardmen.

The Gnoll gasped and said, “The chosen one?”

Boom!

The Gnolls closed their eyes at the loud noise, but their eyelids didn’t completely shield them from the intense light. They got knocked off their feet by the great force and barely stood up again.

Owen said while laughing, “Oh no, did I miss?”

Only the man who was far away, saw exactly what happened. A powerful thunderbolt had shot out of Owen’s empty hand and left trails on the ground, where the Gnolls had been.

‘Crazy.’

The three Gnolls yanked out the arrows that had pierced through their shoes and helped the other Gnolls get up and run away.

Owen then went to where the Gnolls had run away from and collected his arrows, which hadn’t been broken, before walking back to the man.

“Oh my. It’s been a while since I used my power…”

Owen took out a long stick from his silk coat. The end of the stick was round and empty. Owen opened up a small pouch, took out some dry grass, put the grass into the empty hole, and pressed it in with his finger. He then lightly flicked his finger and created a spark. As the dry grass caught fire, Owen took a deep breath. And as he breathed out, a white smoke billowed out from his mouth.

The man knew what the stick was.

‘It’s a smoking pipe and tobacco. The ritual tool that the chosen Black-Scaled Lizardmen use. Do they need to smoke that herb after they use their power?’

The man waited for Owen to finish the tobacco.

Owen noticed the man’s silence and said, “You can ask me things if you want to”

“Umm… Why do you go around alone when you have that much power?”

“I don’t understand. How would I go around alone if I didn’t have this power?”

The man couldn’t find fault in his logic.

“I’ll make my question clearer. Owen, why do you follow someone when you’re this powerful? There would be others who follow you within the Black-Scaled Lizardmen Tribe, and even if there isn’t, you would be able to find other Lizardmen somewhere out there and live a comfortable life. From what I know, the storyteller Owen always goes around alone, like a vagrant. Lonely and dangerous.”

Owen laughed as if he just heard a funny story.

“I have my reasons. I have a lot of sins.”

“You’re a sinner? But I’ve seen so many Lizardmen that respect you.”

“No, I…I am a sinner, but it is also true that I have been forgiven by many of those in our tribe. It’s more of a personal atonement issue though.”

“Atonement?”

“It means that I can’t forgive myself.”

“Now I get what you mean.”

Owen then said as the man nodded, “But there was a way I could be forgiven, and this was it. I go around telling stories of the Blue Insect God and Lakrak, the tribal chief, through storytelling and writing. Well, also sometimes giving fear.”

Owen looked at the bottom of the hill to see if the Gnolls were coming back. They were spotted in a distance still running away from the hill. Owen counted how many there were and assumed they wouldn’t return today. If he had killed one or two of them, they would have run away and come back for revenge.

‘Then the dragonflies would have been a bit fierce today.’

Owen said while tucking away his smoking pipe, “Come to think of it…your…”

“Oh, they call me Hwee.”

“Hwee? Hm. Where are you heading, Hwee? You said I was a vagrant, but you seem like one too.”

“Me?”

Hwee scratched his beard and continued to say, “To be honest, I’m not a vagrant. I came from Automation.”

Automation was an isolated valley located at the southwest end of the wilderness. A human tribe had settled down where the springs flowed, and at the entrance of the valley was a fortress made from soil. It was called a fortress, but it actually wasn’t built by humans. It was named Automation because, through an ancient Mystery, there existed ancient mud soldiers reaching a human’s waist in height that continuously restored the fortress when it broke down. And because of this, the human tribe that succeeded in occupying the place were able to protect themselves from the other large tribes. Automation was also a place that the Ears Cut Gnolls and Black-Scaled Lizardmen were keeping an eye on.

“I see. Are you an errand boy from Automation?” asked Owen.

“That’s right. I’m on my way to the Black-Scaled Lizardmen to deliver the words of the lord of Automation.”

“Oh, my bad. I didn’t recognize a guest. Well, that’s good.”

“What do you mean by good?”

“I was also on my way to see Lakrak. I’ll take you to the Black-Scaled Lizardmen,” replied Owen.

“Oh, will you do that for me?”

“Of course. But it’s pretty late today, so what do you think of leaving early at dawn tomorrow?”

“Dawn? Not morning?”

“I’m thinking of following the stars.”

“Okay then, let’s do that.”

“You’re a guest, so I should also treat you generously.”

Owen whistled, and Hwee turned towards the grass. There was a harsh looking chicken which was about 2.5 meters tall.

Hwee took out his sword.

“Cockatrice?”

“No, but you were halfway there. It’s a Cuorca, not a Cockatrice.”

The man then realized what it was.

‘This is that famous Cockatrice and chicken…crossbreed. I’m not sure how the Lizardmen even made it possible…’

The Cuorcas were a creature that only a small portion of the Lizardmen warriors could ride. Overall, it had the appearance of a Cockatrice, but it was smaller and more gentle. The Black-Scaled Lizardmen weren’t able to tame Cockatrices, but they did succeed in crossbreeding Cuorca. Alongside the chosen ones, these Cuorca warriors were one of the main reasons the Black-Scaled Lizardmen had a both prestige and evil reputation.

‘The Black-Scaled Lizardmen ride Cuorcas, which can run several times faster than people, and shoot their composite bows hundreds of steps away from their targets. These Cuorcas don’t even become scared when approached. The Black-Scaled Lizardmen warriors actually wish for them to fight back when that happens… I don’t think they would become scared though.’

The two men ate dinner together, and afterwards, they talked about the difference between humans, Lizardmen, and Gnolls. They also talked about the grasshopper outbreak down south of the wilderness, and about the Blue Insect God that Owen always wanted to talk about, late into the night.

***

At dawn the next day, they rode the Cuorca and went on their way. To not only Hwee’s but also Owen’s surprise, the Black-Scaled Lizardmen Tribe weren’t far away. Owen had expected them to have moved further along.

The herd of water buffaloes was seen in the distance, and as they headed towards the huts that had been built, they heard wailing.

Hwee carefully asked, “Is there…a funeral?”

Owen nodded. Owen had an idea what kind of funeral it was by the looks of it, as the Black-Scaled Lizardmen held different funerals for individuals of different statuses.

“I think one of the chosen ones has died.”