Chapter 1 The Prairie

This vast prairie, located in the northern part of the Kingdom of Holleta, has no name. The people of this world simply call it "The Prairie." The center of this expansive land is a desolate, unclaimed territory, while the surrounding areas mark the ambiguous borders of various nations. Due to some historical reasons, many parts of this prairie are in a state of limbo regarding ownership. The southern region of the prairie, bordering the Kingdom of Holleta, is nominally part of the kingdom, but in reality, there are no officials or garrisons stationed here. The town of Lumberg is the northernmost administrative unit of the kingdom. As for the prairie itself, its actual rulers are packs of wolves, wild beasts, and violent anomaly disasters.

The Wolf King once mentioned the legends of this place: an ancient magical civilization once waged a great war here. Beneath the lush green fields of the prairie lies the ancient battlefield. The powerful ancient warriors of the past still drive their potent magical energies underground, causing magical disasters such as hurricanes, thunderstorms, and even blizzards to appear out of nowhere on the prairie. It is precisely for this reason that the surrounding countries are unwilling to invest too much effort in this prairie, as it is simply not suitable for settling people.

However, the border areas of the prairie are relatively safer. Some sections have never even been affected by magical disasters. Several years ago, a group of mountain people from the western mountains established a small village in such a neutral zone. No one knows what agreement the mountain people reached with the Holletta royal family, but this village has been preserved as a border trade zone – despite being hundreds of kilometers away from the mountain people's actual settlements.

The small village has no name. The people of the kingdom generally call it "Western Village" or "Mountain People's Village." The strong and long-distance-trekking mountain people often travel between the small village and their old homes, transporting medicinal herbs and jade that can only be found in the far western mountains to exchange for alchemical items and other daily necessities from the Holletta people. At the same time, they quickly adapted to herding on the plains. The livestock leather and extremely hardy pack animals produced in the small village are also popular goods among the Holletta people. As a result, this small village now has a bit of a neutral trade zone feel to it.

Becky told everyone the above information as they slowly walked towards the small village. The mercenary girl felt that since Hao Ren and the others were "travelers from the Northern Empire," they probably didn't know much about these mountain people who only interacted with the Kingdom of Holletta, so she consciously acted as a guide, which saved Hao Ren and the others a lot of trouble.

The mountain people's village is not large. At a glance, it seems to have only a hundred or so households, scattered without much planning on a slightly higher, gently sloping hillside. The village has no walls, only a circle of seemingly sturdy wooden fences marking its boundaries. Next to the hillside where the small village is located, there is a gentle river that serves as the villagers' water source. On the other side of the river, you can see a square building made of white stone bricks, a house that is completely different in style from the village's houses. It looks like a common residential style in Lumberg, and no one knows what it is used for. The mountain people's own houses are cylindrical, built of wood, with leather covering the outer walls and reeds and mud filling the gaps, looking like taller yurts. This style seems vaguely familiar.

The group dismounted outside the village. Since there were no roads or gates here, they simply walked straight into this settlement. It was the time when the locals were starting to cook, and most people were at home. Only three or five idle men could be seen wandering around on the streets. As soon as Hao Ren saw these villagers, he knew why Izhaks was mistaken for a mountain person: the people here are unusually tall!

They wear clothes sewn from coarse cloth and animal skins. Although these clothes look rough, they are exquisitely made, giving a minority ethnic feel. Most people are around two meters tall, and the shortest one Hao Ren saw was probably a head taller than himself. The mountain people are strong and sturdy. Although not as exaggerated as Izhaks in his human form, it is still enough to make those who don't know the truth mistake the latter for a mountain person as well. Hao Ren saw that the men in the village also had horizontal and vertical lines drawn on their faces with some kind of white and yellow paint. He didn't know what it meant, but it was probably a mountain people's custom.

Anyway, a strong exotic atmosphere greeted them—and so did the aroma of food.

After running all this way, plus only having had some snacks for lunch, Hao Ren was really a little hungry. Lily was even more exaggerated. The girl's eyes were green when she looked at the grass on the ground... seriously, was she that hungry?

The villagers didn't react much to a group of outsiders coming to their village. They were probably used to dealing with the Holletta people, and they just smiled and waved hello when they saw strangers, appearing neither distant nor abrupt. Only when they saw the strange clothes on Hao Ren and the others did some people show a little curiosity. Becky was obviously a regular here. She walked in front of the group and greeted a few villagers loudly and familiarly, then asked someone if the village chief was in the village.

"The village chief just came back yesterday," a brown-haired man with two horizontal lines painted on his face with yellow paint pointed to a large house in the center of the village. "A lot of outsiders have been coming to the village recently, and some are staying overnight. The village chief just led people to town a few days ago to buy food."

"You must have made a lot of money lately," Becky said with a hearty laugh, looking like a tomboy. "Looks like you've even changed your necklace."

"Not bad, not bad, sold a few horses..."

While Becky was talking to her acquaintance, Hao Ren finally remembered where he had seen buildings similar in style to those in this village: on the night he first saw the Black Wolf King, the few nomadic huts he saw in the prairie were of this style!

So the nomads mentioned by the Black Wolf King who lived on the prairie for a while and then moved away were originally from this village. It really is a coincidence that knows no bounds.

Vivian, after observing the local housing style, poked Hao Ren's arm: "There are no Leta runes here."

"Probably only the Kingdom of Holletta has inherited a little knowledge related to runes," Hao Ren nodded. "You can tell from the name."

Izhaks stretched his body and let out a long breath: "Ha—I don't know why, but I feel relaxed here."

Hao Ren rolled his eyes: "Nonsense, everyone here is a little giant. You can finally look up when you talk to people. You're not nervous anymore, but I'm feeling awkward."

How could he not feel awkward? He was aiming at people's nostrils when talking to anyone. After a long time, his spirit might be able to handle it, but his cervical spine might not...

At this time, Becky had finished chatting with her acquaintance. She asked everyone to hand over their horses to the brown-haired man with two stripes on his face: "Hand the horses over to Zanaro. We'll stay at the village chief's house for one night, and get our energy back up, both people and horses. Tomorrow, we'll have to travel in the wilderness for two days straight."

The man named Zanaro gave Hao Ren and the others a friendly smile, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. Then, without taking the reins, he simply made a strange and loud shout in front of the horse team, and the horses lowered their heads and followed him away obediently. Becky smiled and introduced to Hao Ren: "The mountain people are too tall, and they usually can't ride any horses other than Kerzen horses, but they are very good at taming horses. They can tame any breed of horse. They say that their ancestors signed an agreement with the gods in the mountains, and as long as the descendants of the mountain people maintain their reverence for the mountains, they can communicate with all kinds of beasts. I don't know if it's true or not."

Listening to Becky's introduction of some interesting legends about the mountain people, the group came to the largest cylindrical house in the center of the village. An old man with white hair and beard was standing at the door. This old man, wearing a blue cloth robe and with three white stripes on his face, was the village chief. He had heard earlier that Becky had led a group of strangers, and he had been waiting at the door for a long time. After seeing the group, the old village chief greeted Becky with a voice as loud as a bell: "Little girl! Brought your friends?"

His voice was so loud that young people might not dare to compare. Hao Ren felt a little itchy in his ears even from a distance of ten meters.

"Old man!" Becky's face was full of smiles. "I'm here to bother you for a day! I'm going to Beinz Blood Lake too!"

"I knew you'd join in on the fun sooner or later," the old village chief seemed really familiar with Becky, and his face showed the kind of love that elders have for younger generations. Then, he waved to Hao Ren and the others, "All who come are guests, come in, come in, we're cooking at home."

The mountain people seemed to be very hospitable. Hao Ren led the group to greet the old village chief, who was obviously stunned when he saw Izhaks: "Hey, this aura looks like... are you also a mountain person? Which tribe are you from?"

Hao Ren quickly glossed over the question, only saying that Izhaks had grown up with the plains people in the north since he was a child due to family changes, so he didn't know much about it. The excuse that Izhaks was a mountain person worked well before, but now that they had encountered a real mountain people's village, he was really afraid that Becky would get excited and drag Izhaks around to find relatives everywhere (mountain people form societies based on tribes, and people of the same tribe or close tribes are "family" in their eyes). With that mercenary girl's liveliness, it wasn't impossible!

Fortunately, the old village chief didn't care much about the question, and just enthusiastically invited everyone into the house, not giving Hao Ren and the others a chance to be polite. It was just the right time for dinner, and before long, hot, characteristic meals were placed in front of everyone.

As soon as the old village chief sat down, Vivian asked, "Have you had a tall woman in white clothes come here in the past few days?"