Chapter 29: A Lump of Rock Salt

“No, we do. Our chiefs cry as well. But Human chiefs would not cry in front of others. Because they have their reputations.”

“Reputation?”

“I mean…”

Hwee let out a little sigh. There were different values that different species held, which were hard for each other to understand.

‘It’s like this even when we speak the same language.’

Fortunately enough, Hwee did not have to explain what reputation meant. Owen had met lots of Humans as a vagrant.

“No, I know what reputation is. It is not too difficult to understand. If the tribal chief shows a weak side, the warriors will think the chief is a weak person, right? But don’t try to explain this to the other Lizardmen. They will not understand.”

“Why not?”

“There is something we consider more important than reputation.”

Owen and Hwee saw tears rolling down Lakrak’s face and dripping on the floor. When Hwee was about to ask what was more important, Lakrak turned around to face Owen and Hwee.

Lakrak gently wiped his tears with his thumb and said, “Oh, it’s Owen.”

“I’m late,” replied Owen.

“Mm, you are late…but not too late. You still have the chance to see the star catcher off.”

Owen and Hwee both went up to Lakrak.

“Your words have made me feel slightly better, chief.”

“Who is the Human friend next to you?”

“I met him on my way here. He is Hwee, an errand boy of Automation. He said he has come to deliver the words of the lord of Automation.”

Hwee bowed to Lakrak in courtesy.

“I am Hwee from Automation.”

Lakrak looked down at Hwee and beckoned Owen over. Lakrak and Owen had a couple whispered exchanges with each other, and Hwee, who had good vision and good hearing, tried to eavesdrop on what they were saying, but couldn’t hear anything.

‘...I don’t have a good feeling about this.’

Lakrak then said to Hwee, “You must have come a long way, but I’m sorry. We have to stay up all night today, so I wanna get right to the point. What do you think about that, Hwee?”

“I’m good with that.”

“Good. Follow me.”

Hwee was somewhat prepared for what might happen. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lizardmen warriors jumped out and attacked him from the tents, or if Lakrak drew his sword. However, no such thing happened. Hwee entered the biggest tent with Lakrak.

“So, what brought you here?”

Hwee respectfully took out a pouch from his pocket and handed it to Lakrak.

“First, please accept this gift.”

“Hm.”

Lakrak opened the pouch. There seemed to be a muted white piece of rock inside. As soon as Lakrak held it in his hand, he knew what it was right away.

“It’s rock salt.”

“Yes.”

“Is this a gift from the lord of Automation?”

“Yes.”

Lakrak knew it was not just a simple gift. Salt itself was a precious thing, while giving a lump of rock salt the size of a fist as a present was more of an insult. But Lakrak knew the lord of Automation didn’t intend to insult him with this. There were things that gave context to the gift.

Automation had a real rampart that could not be found in modern times. Some species that did Agriculture had put up wooden fences to defend their villages, but the fences weren’t too strong. And because earthen ramparts took too much labor to maintain, they weren’t good options, either. Until proper construction techniques and fortress architecture were developed, these types of ramparts were used to protect the species doing Agriculture, but they came with a lot of flaws.

On the other hand, Automation, which was an ancient fortress ruin, was over five meters tall and shrouded in mysteries. At the earthen rampart of Automation were mysterious mud soldiers with self-repairing function, which allowed them to automatically rebuild the castle in the event that the castle collapsed. The mud soldiers were slow and unintelligent, so they were not very useful in battle, but in emergencies, they could be used as troops to defend the castle.

Automation also had geographical advantages. There were two routes to get from the north to the northwest of the peninsula. One was to go through the wilderness, and the other was to pass through a rugged mountain valley below the Automation castle. The average vagrant would be hard pressed to pick one over the other, but those who knew both paths well usually preferred the mountain valley.

First, even though the path was rugged, it was easier to pass through and less dangerous than the wilderness, which was easy to get lost in. Second, the mountain valley was the shorter path. And last but not least, it was because Automation was there.

In the wilderness, once a vagrant ran out of water and food, they would have to pray for a spring to appear as a miracle, but Automation, on the other hand, at least gave water to vagrants.

‘That means…’

Automation could cut off the way to the inner region of the continent. Their castle itself did not completely block the middle of the mountain valley, but if Automation had enough troops, they could pressure those who passed by the castle.

Lakrak believed that even though the Black-Scaled Lizardmen and Automation had a neutral relationship, if the Humans of Automation believed they could benefit from even a single betrayal, they would do it.

‘I can’t be certain if we’ll eventually go out into the larger land…but the Blue Insect God is cautious about the continent and the northern region. Then there's a need to ensure safety when passing through the mountain valley.’

Past the mountain valley was a path leading to the north and northwest part of the continent.

‘And there’s another thing as important as the path.’

Automation wasn’t simply just an Ancient Ruin built in a remote place. Inside Automation was a salt mine.

‘Salt.’

The Humans inside Automation weren’t very strong, so the amount of salt they could mine wasn’t much, but it was still salt.

Salt was an important resource, especially in Livestock Farming. Carnivores and omnivores were able to maintain their sodium levels in their bodies by eating other animals, but that wasn’t the case for herbivores.

Herbivores wouldn’t be able to maintain sodium levels in their body just by eating plants. Therefore, herbivores would consume minerals by licking rocks that had salt on them and also swallowed soil. However, in cases where herbivores were artificially fed by Humans and continued to travel long distances, they would rarely, if ever, have the chance to consume the minerals they needed. Herbivores that lacked sodium in their bodies would vomit or have upset stomachs due to hyponatremia, and eventually die due to kidney failure. Salt was especially important to those that were pregnant.

Once the Black-Scaled Lizardmen got on track with Livestock Farming, they continuously required excessive amounts of salt. Salt was also used for things other than Livestock Farming. Not only was it used for seasoning food when cooking, it was also needed to preserve food; it’d become increasingly difficult to rely only on smoking as the Black-Scaled Lizardmen’s livestock herd got larger. Salt was also used for chemical treatments, such as dye or leather tanning, and it was used for washing things and when holding funerals. Other uses included fertilizer or even currency, but the Black-Scaled Lizardmen didn’t use salt for these purposes.

‘And I know that a lot of supply comes from Automation.’

Salt from the far coast was not affordable because it was too expensive to bring inland, and the supply from salt lakes was lacking as there weren’t too many salt lakes around. That made Automation the largest salt producer in the area.

‘The fact that a lump of rock salt was given from such a place means…’

“This is the first rock salt that the lord of Automation is giving you for nothing in return,” said Hwee.

“The first time means there would be a second and a third?”

“There will be even more after that.”

With his face partially concealed by his beard and the leather hood he wore, Hwee smiled and said, “Please accept it.”

Lakrak nodded and held the rock salt in his hand. He then clenched the fist holding the rock salt. It crumbled and fell through Larkak’s fingers.

Lakrak then said while shaking his hand, “Tell the lord that I have received it well.”

Hwee clenched his teeth.

“What have you done?”

”Oh, you would not know because you do not have a god. This is just…one of our rituals. If you sprinkle a small lump of rock salt on the ground…um, God is pleased. That’s all you really need to know.”

The Humans of Automation did not have a god, but Hwee knew that was a brazen lie.

“It was a gift from the lord of Automation.”

“It’s just a small lump of rock salt. And I used it well. Isn’t that enough?”

.

“You would know that’s not what the gift meant. Didn’t I also tell you that the lord of Automation said there would be a second and third time and even more? And the size would be bigger.”

“I did hear that the lord of Automation was wealthy, but him sending a person to give this amount of rock salt is a bit extravagant. You’re right though. I hope that next time you will bring a lot more to trade. It’s good that it’s not rainy season.”

Hwee almost yelled in anger. However, it was not that they weren’t seeing eye to eye because they were a different species. Lakrak completely crumbled the lump of rock salt that Hwee gave him. While Lakrak’s actions were rough, it was not rude per se as a way to complete the diplomatic procedure. In the end, Lakrak did receive the salt and use it. There was nothing the lord of Automation could say.

‘He seems like an experienced lizard.’

Hwee swallowed his anger.

“Let’s talk seriously. Why have you declined the gift? Don’t you need salt?”

Lakrak stayed seated with disinterest and looked out the tent. He seemed to be looking at the stars.

“Shouldn’t you head back home now?”

“I can’t just go back like this.”

Then Lakrak turned to Hwee and said, “...Okay, Hwee, Human that came from Automation. Let’s talk. To be honest with you, I don’t really enjoy…what do you call it…saving one’s face…and finding hidden meanings in words…”

“Are you talking about diplomacy?”

“Yes, that. I don’t really get that. Nor do I like it. I like direct conversations better.”

“...Okay, Lakrak. Let’s have a direct conversation. Why did you decline?”

With his arms crossed, Lakrak raised a finger.

“First of all, I don’t like accepting offers that others have rejected.”

“...What does that mean?”

“If someone else has turned it down, it means the offer wasn’t worth it. It might be a better offer for me, but it’s still something to reconsider.”

“...That’s not correct. The lord only made this offer to you…”

“No. Do you really think Owen coincidentally ran into you and brought you here because you were lucky?”

Hwee gritted his teeth.

Lakrak continued to say, “Owen told me that you came from the north, not the west. That means you came from the wilderness, not Automation. And across the wilderness is the Ears Cut Tribe. I bet you made the same offer to Salkait, but got rejected.”

“...You’re right.”

“He probably declined because of this second reason I’m gonna tell you.”

Hwee listened to Lakrak without saying anything.

Lakrak said, “Second of all, there’s no such thing as a gift without a price. I don’t believe that. I guess greedy Salkait can discern that much.”

“...That’s not it. The lord of Automation is trying to give you salt. For nothing in return.”

“No.”

Lakrak shook his head and continued to say, “If we accept your salt, we have to protect you. Am I wrong?”

“.....”

“Whenever you people are confined and surrounded in the Automation castle, we’ll worry about the safety of our salt. If we play along with your diplomacy and you get in trouble, we would have no choice but to pay attention to fights that have nothing to do with us.”

Hwee carefully said, “Lakrak, that’s what diplomacy is.”

“I know,” replied Lakrak.

“Okay. It’s not necessarily a gift for nothing in return, but we’re making a decent deal.”

“I know that too.”

“Then why are you declining our offer based on the second reason?”

Lakrak laughed and asked, “Do you really not know? I’m sure Salkait would have already told you.”

“.....”

Hwee silently listened to the same answer that he had gotten from the bad-tempered Gnoll chief.

“Why wouldn’t we just take over Automation? If we kick out the Humans, the salt mine and the Automation castle become ours. Isn’t that right?”