In the chief's hut, Var Agus was gritting his teeth in fury.
"Another ghost ship?" The patrol ships he had sent thus far had all been turned into ghost ships. The ships were full of holes and without any corpses. They hadn't even found a single drop of blood aboard those ships in fact!
The culprit behind these ghost ship incidents was obvious, Var Agus had apparently underestimated the severity of the matter.
"We… " Var Agus now had to make a difficult decision, it was a decision that could cause great controversy.
"We should retreat back into the caverns" There was no other real option they could take here. Unfortunately, the tribes were not under Var Agus' control, he couldn't throw every lizardman at the monster.
Of course, that they weren't under Var's control didn't mean that they wouldn't cooperate, it was just… unlikely to matter. Even if all the tribes agreed to throw away their lives nothing would come of it.
No matter in what order or how well they worked together they would still face defeat. The multiple tribes were as united as they ever would be, they had recently fought a harsh battle together after all. But as Var mentioned nothing mattered!
The lack of any blood in the ships suggested that they were handing the creature a feast.The patrolling lizardmen weren't even injuring the beast, just feeding it. There was a chance he was wrong but Var knew that a leader should always prepare for the worst.
"Retreat to the cave…?" The temporary assistant exclaimed with puzzled surprise. They hadn't considered this option at all! But for good reason, they just got out of there. Why would they want to go back?
"I… I don't think the other tribes will like that…" Var had a good reason to suggest this option but not everyone would share his same opinion.
"It's the only way to ward against it" Currently, the blood gauntlet beast was using the murky swamp water as cover. How did Var deduce this?
Well, the ships were usually punctured from beneath. Not just that, but these ghost ships were not usually found in shallow waters. That meant the creature could only hide its bloody tentacles in the darkness of the deep.
These two factors alone were enough for Var Agus to conclude that returning to the mushroom caverns was the wiser choice. The swamp land might have many shallow areas but even there he couldn't guarantee he and his lizardmen would see the beast coming.
"Just inform the tribal leaders, those that don't want to come… We'll have to entice them somehow" Var Agus told the assistant who nodded and dashed off after confirming he was no longer needed.
"What can I offer?" The most enticing thing he could offer right off the top of Var's head was the chance for the other tribes to create a divine blood warrior.
Having a divine blood warrior in the tribe would be the surefire way to boost not just the strength of the tribe, but their prestige. Who didn't want to flaunt that they received blood from a god?
Var couldn't offer this willy-nilly. Putting aside that strengthening the other tribes went against his personal interest, the final call was on their mushroom god.
"Your divinity… Please get here soon…" Var muttered.
But this wasn't enough, Var who was sitting on a throne-like chair suddenly dropped to his knees. He suddenly felt like uttering a prayer.
Var was overcome with piousness.
A prayer to their mushroom god! No, to their great god! For from what Var could tell it had many shapes and talents.
***
Back in Sanctuary, A was just about ready to set off for the marshlands. He was now just waiting at Sanctuary's eastern gate for the other lizardmen to ready themselves.
"Come to think of it… " A didn't know why this didn't occur to him earlier
'Ed, I'm about to set off. Should I ask some orcs to accompany me?' If the situation was truly dire he ought to take some orcs, no?
After a minute or so of idling, A received a response.
'Good call' Ed transmitted from within the system space. He was still working on grinding his skills when he was interrupted by A.
Fortunately for Ed, A then entered a pensive state; He had no time to interrupt him anymore. But… who should he take with him?
The situation was dangerous so ideally, he should take no one important but at the same time… you needed powerful individuals for handling crises, and as it turned out, important individuals tended to be powerful.
This was a classic dilemma that Ed often came face to face with due to his tendency to grow fond of others. He couldn't say if it was a flaw or not but A knew he couldn't keep being so softhearted.
He would choose someone.
'So who should I ask to join me…?' Looking back on the characteristics of the blood gauntlet beast A felt that mages would be the most helpful.
The likes of Sharog could be of great help-
'Hm? Actually isn't Dakgu a great candidate?' Dakgu was practically perfect for the water-filled environment. Not to mention that the enemy was fluid so lightning might be able to cause significant damage.
While he wasn't necessarily a full-fledged mage, he definitely fit A's requirements. Then again… there was room for friendly fire.
'Well, let's do it anyway' It was impossible for Dakgu to still be as reckless as when he last saw him fight.
'...huh, I haven't seen him fight seriously in a good while actually' A really needed to give his subordinates more chances to distinguish themselves. He couldn't make random assertions about their characters and skills during emergencies.
With that in mind, A decided to solicit the help of Dakgu for dealing with this matter after all. Whether he'd enlist anybody else… he was not yet certain.
"Dakgu, Ed needs your help with something" A approached and told Dakgu who was currently preoccupied.
"Huh? Ed?" Where A and Dakgu were situated was the elite team's training grounds.
Currently, Dakgu was doing some simple exercises alongside tough and burly orcs. These were the aforementioned elite team all armored and lined up.
From his stay with Kimani in Sanctuary as a regular individual, both A and the lizardman Yoashk came to learn about the habits of many important Sanctuary figures.
For example, Dakgu's team's routine was doing some exercises and then sparring and placing bets on the winner. It was possibly a good idea to dismantle such a routine but he also couldn't remove the orcs' avenues of entertainment, even if a bit unhealthy.
"Yes, you'll need to accompany the lizardmen back to their home" A continued. The moment Dakgu heard this his eyes shone.
"Really? I'll go!" Dakgu was still aiming to become a strong leader that his parental figure, Dargush, could be proud of.
If the weathered orc was still around he would definitely say he was proud of Dakgu as things stood but Dakgu wanted to go above and beyond those expectations. So that whenever Dargush looked down at him from the afterlife he could be doubly or triply proud.
A, unaware of Dakgu's thoughts, was overjoyed by his simple and direct agreement.
"Great! Please wrap and wait at the western gate, you can bring a few elites with you if you want as well" A didn't want to create too many potential casualties so he only allowed a few. That said, he also didn't want the orcs to only stay in the plains. Maybe they'd like the swamp and migrate there?
While that was unlikely, A didn't at all mind creating any sort of opportunity for tourism to form.
'Speaking of tourism… Commerce!' He needed the marshlands to develop some form of commerce. The easiest method was to change the orc coins to Sanctuary coins and have the lizardmen adopt it.
'...I need to talk to Guts' This goblin had surprisingly enough taken off as a businessman. From what A learned, he owned at least 5 shops in the immediate vicinity of the plaza. That took some skills.
Well, some shops actually belong to his children but Guts had nonetheless become a formidable merchant. The same couldn't be said for Prild who was now acting like a grandpa for Guts and his children, and their children.
'A goblin is the best when it comes to money' A remembered how goblins were usually depicted as greedy and cheap gold lovers. Maybe some of that manifested in Guts?
Whatever the situation, A just had to go find out in what shop Guts was in and have a talk with him.
'Hopefully, he is just as stupid as before' Owning multiple businesses and becoming a family head meant lots of responsibilities. If A was unlucky Guts would have matured and it'd be much harder to fool him.
As to why he would need to fool him… Only an idiot would willingly walk into severe danger for a little profit.
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