Chapter 56: The Price of Kindness

The young warrior thought he heard Tatar wrong.

“...Help them and make them a temporary place to stay. And we’ll have to bring the remaining food from the village.”

The authority of the executives came from the king, Lakrak. The warriors followed Tatar’s order without complaining.

The Astacidea leader thanked Tatar. With the help of the Lizardmen warriors, the Astacidea’s residence was quickly completed. And as the Lizardmen warriors distributed food, the Astacideas were relieved and showed goodwill.

The Astacidea leader introduced himself as Lubo and said to Tatar, “You said your name was Tatar, right? Thank you very much.”

“Of course, no problem.”

“It’s no problem? Something like this isn’t common for us. When shipwrecked victims are spotted, people take away everything they have and kick them out. There are also many who die.”

“That’s not the case in our country.”

“Oh…”

Lubo seemed touched. Lubo continued to ask Tatar everything he was curious about, and Tatar provided answers to the non-sensitive questions.

“How big is this island?”

“This isn’t an island. If you go north, you need to walk over one hundred days to reach the end of the land, and if you walk west from there, you won’t see the edge even after walking one hundred days.”

“Ohh.”

Lubo slightly touched Tatar’s sleeve with his small claw.

“The clothing you’re wearing is smooth. I have never seen anything like it. What is it made of?”

“This is called silk.”

“Silk?”

“Silkworms create cocoons before they become moths, and the threads pulled from the cocoon are what make silk. We raise silkworms on this land. If you go to the north, there is a village that raises silkworms and threads them. The village sells silk for money or goods.”

“Ohh.”

In addition, Lubo asked what money was, what writing was, what a king was, and also how many other species lived in the Lizardmen land. Tatar sincerely answered the questions to the best of his abilities.

After a few days, when Lubo was leaving, he received lots of help from Tatar again.

“We just need to look at the sky when we’re lost?”

“That’s right.”

Tatar had faithfully learned how to look at the stars from the star catcher, so he was talented enough to teach others. Lubo combined the skill he learned from Tatar with his skills in sailing along the wind and realized that he could go home.

The day Lubo left, he said, “Thank you, Mr. Tatar. We won’t ever forget your kindness.”

However, Tatar, the warriors, and the other Lizardmen in the village who had helped the Asatcideas took that as nothing but simple pleasantry. Everyone knew that kindness was not always repaid with kindness.

Therefore, the young warrior who had been by Tatar’s side the first day the Astacideas came to shore asked, “Why did you help them?”

“Hm.”

“If it were me, I would have kicked them out and told Lakrak we defeated a group that invaded the coast.”

“Mmm.”

“But you didn’t kick them out and instead helped them, which reduced our village’s assets. Wouldn’t the king get mad if he hears about this?”

“...Mmm”

Tatar scratched his chin while listening to the young warrior.

“So are you complaining?”

“...No. Just curious.”

“About what?”

“I knew you as a great warrior. A warrior who isn’t shy to draw blood when it’s necessary. But in this case, it seems you were afraid of a fight. Were you perhaps worried about all of us because of your position as an executive?”

Tatar shook his head.

“There’s something you misunderstood about me. Let me tell you a story.”

Tatar slowly began to recall the conversation he had with Lakrak a long time ago.

***

Tatar met a group of vagrants while passing through the wilderness following Lakrak’s orders. People who did not know well about this anecdote of Tatar thought that the vagrant group were Lizardmen, but that was not true. They were a group of Halflings running for their lives while avoiding the Black-Scaled Tribe’s territory. They were being chased by Troll thieves, and Tatar had run into them just in time. Tatar could have avoided the fight, but he chose to intervene. Tatar killed all ten Troll thieves and lost his left eye in the process. After that, he went back to Lakrak.

Tatar said as he entered Lakrak’s tent, “I’m sorry, Lakrak.”

“What for?”

“Because of my own will, I hurt the body which I should have cherished as a warrior of God, and also as your warrior.”

To warriors, especially Lizardmen, losing an eye was lethal. Unlike short-headed species, long-headed species with long snouts like the Lizardmen had eyes on the sides of their heads. As a result, they had a poor depth perception, but wide viewing angles. Losing one eye, though, would mean the loss of the particular advantage.

Lakrak shook his head.

“No, Tatar. You are still an excellent warrior. I heard you lost your eye in a fight. There aren’t many out of our warriors who would be confident enough to fight ten Trolls with one eye and win.”

“But I have lost an eye and…”

“You have me and the other warriors, don’t you? We’ll all become your left eye for you, so what are you so afraid of?”

At Lakrak’s suggestion to put his trust in others, Tatar silently nodded.

“Tatar, don’t you rather regret it?”

“Regret what?”

“You’re not part of their tribe. You lost your eye protecting those who weren’t even Lizardmen. And because of that, your daily life would be uncomfortable. You have lost what was supposed to be a part of you and didn’t gain anything.”

Tatar looked at the burning bonfire.

“I heard about the time you discovered the first Miracle. At that time, your tribe was wandering in the wilderness, starving and wounded. I heard that the Blue Insect God guided you with beetles. And according to that story, the Blue Insect God hadn’t wanted anything in return.”

Lakrak raised his voice and said, “You dare say that you have done the same as God?”

“Yes.”

Lakrak stayed silent for a moment and replied, “You are right.”

Lakrak threw a piece of wood into the bonfire to heat up the tent.

“Continue to act like you have now going into the future. Even if someone says you are wrong, remember our conversation today and tell them about it. Tell them that Lakrak also agrees with you.”

Tatar, the warrior with a square personality, did exactly as Lakrak said and never lost his stubbornness.

***

As Tatar finished telling his story, the young warrior lowered his head, embarrassed.

“I didn’t realize you were fulfilling God’s will…”

“It’s okay.”

Tatar tapped the young warrior on the shoulder and walked past him.

“You might be right. But it was me who had the authority and responsibility to make decisions. I’m not afraid to fight them like you said, so don’t worry.”

Even though Tatar said that, he was worried this time. It was the first time Lizardmen had met the species Astacidea, and even though it was a baseless guess, it was possible that the Astacideas were liars. Everything could have been a trick to catch the Lizardmen off guard. For those reasons, Tatar chose someone from the village to be vigilant of the coastline, keeping an eye out for incoming ships everyday.

Not too long after, Astacideas reappeared. Again, it was Lubo, who had gotten here due to a shipwreck last time.

“Shipwrecked again?”

“No way!”

“Then?”

“I have come this time because I wanted to buy silk and the thing called iron.”

Tatar was relieved. However, there was something he could nott understand.

“Silk and iron are fairly expensive to us too, so do you really need them? Besides, don’t you guys go underwater? The silk would become wet, and the iron would quickly rust.”

The leader of the Astacideas, Lubo, shook his antennae. It was equivalent to a species with neck shaking their head.

“We could just change our lifestyle if they become wet and rusty. Isn’t there also a way of drying and oiling them? The silk is beautiful, so if we use that to make clothes and wear them, we would stand out among the other Astacideas. And if we use weapons made of hard material like iron, we could defeat our enemies more easily.”

“Enemies?”

“Yes, we are in the middle of a battle.”

Lubo opened and closed his large claws.

Tatar sold all the remaining silk that was in the village. What he received in exchange were mainly food such as seaweed, fish, and shellfish, bones of rare marine animals, and a jewel called pearl. Tatar did not value the pearl as much because there was no way he could know its value, and Lubo also set the price low because it was something commonplace to them. Since he was no merchant, Tatar thought there was not much he could do even if the trade was a rather disappointing one.

As Tatar seemed disappointed with the items he received for the silk, Lubo also seemed anxious.

After giving it much thought, Tartar said, “Come to think of it, it would be good if we had a ship like yours.”

“Hm… Ships are very hard to make. It takes a long time, and craftsmen only share their techniques among themselves.”

“I’m not a merchant, so I don’t know about that stuff. Let's just make this our last trade and…”

“Ummm…no. We won’t have enough time to build a ship before the next trade, but I think we will be able to steal one from our enemies. With a promise that we’ll bring an empty ship next time, would you give us the silk and iron?”

“Alright.”

And like that, a few more trades were made.

***

Lakrak was slowly getting used to life at Orazen. But living indoors was still restricting and stuffy for him. The castle, which was at a scale he was somewhat satisfied with, was still in the making, so Lakrak was more often on the hill looking down Orazen than in his house or castle. Therefore, the tent Lakrak used in his nomadic days was set up on the hill as an office.

Lakrak spent a lot of time personally listening to errand boys from different parts of his country, or read reports written on silk with charcoal and answered them. But Lakrak liked having conversations, so it was not so boring to him. Especially recently, there had been interesting news.

“So how many ships are there now?”

“Four ships.”

The errand boy standing in front of Lakrak came from a far away place, Maganen. At Maganen, an unusual species called Astacideas kept appearing, and Tatar, the executive, continued to trade with them.

At first, Lakrak did not expect much when Tatar received miscellaneous items, pearls, and ships. This was because the pearls that the errand boy brought him seemed useless to Lakrak. And the only ship Lakrak knew about were rafts, so he could not understand why Tatar accepted them in trades when they could just tie wood together and quickly make their own.

However, the value of these things were different from what Lakrak had expected. Not long ago, Hwee-Kyung, who came from Automation for a meeting, saw the pearl and expressed admiration.

“Does that thing have any value?” Lakrak asked.

“Whether it does or not, I’ve never seen something so round and shiny. There are lots of people in the middle of the continent who like accessories, so things like this will sell at high prices. How many of these do you have?”

“About three pouches full.”

“...What?”

When Hwee-Kyung told him how much they could be sold for, Lakrak judged that Tatar had benefited ten or even twenty times more from a single trade.

The ship was also completely different from what Lakrak had imagined. Lakrak wanted to see the ships himself, so he ordered one to be brought to Orazen. Tatar thus asked an Astacidea sailor and warriors who had learned how to sail to take the boat along the coastline. Even though they were traveling along the coastline, it was the Lizardmen’s first voyage, and there were dangers such as rocks they might run into. Fortunately, the ship safely made its way to Orazen. And after seeing the ship, Lakrak had to adjust his mental calculation of how much Tatar had benefited from the trade.

‘He benefited one hundred times more.’

Lakrak had always lived on land, but ever since he learned of the existence of the sea, he had longed to go out there. At the end of the land was the sea. And all land came into contact with the sea.

‘This ship even seems comfortable to ride up the river.’

Sailing ships were faster than walking, and they could carry and transport much more luggage than Cockatoos or horses. Lakrak judged that the ships had great value and immediately tried to build the same ship on the coast of Orazen.

Then, another errand boy of Maganen came to Lakrak. Lakrak was curious about what trade Tatar had made this time, but it turned out not to be a trade, but a strange request.

“Those crawfish asked us to stamp the silk?”