His gaze froze for a moment on her back, and he replied nonchalantly.
"I understand your point. No need to worry, I’m really a harmless person." His tone carried a hint of mockery.
"Hmm." Beatrice turned and stared at him with sharp eyes, making his body flinch for a moment and stop in place. In a calm voice devoid of hostility—or rather, any clear emotions—she ordered him. "Come closer and walk beside me. This is an educational tour, and you staying behind is really annoying."
Sollivan nodded and strictly followed her orders, quickening his steps and walking beside her, maintaining half a meter as a safe distance. Although their steps were equal, he didn’t look at her, or more precisely, he avoided looking in her direction, keeping his attention carefully on his left side.
He looked at the strange tents in the alleys around him and analyzed their shape and the materials they were made of.
When he finished, he looked at the passersby walking beside them, examining their clothes and physical build, trying to estimate their average age. ’Most of the passersby are elderly or children. It seems the youth and middle-aged are too busy to wander around aimlessly.’
When he saw the passersby more clearly, he noticed that their looks at him seemed ambiguous and very strange. ’There’s no hostility, and at the same time, there are no questions about my identity. Did the leader come up with some explanation for my presence and spread it to the public?’
’I would’ve done the same if I were in his place. The lack of answers would produce unwanted thoughts.’
While he was thinking silently, he caught sight of a very strange building’s roof. Although it was far from him and located in a different alley, its large size and strange wooden dome made it stand out among the tents.
And because of his observation, he felt a bit of curiosity. He turned to look at Beatrice and asked her politely while pointing at the building, "What’s that building? It seems different from the rest."
Beatrice followed his finger to land her gaze on the domed roof. At that moment, she showed a strange expression.
"That’s the House of Secrets, where the Wise Woman and the Blood Servants live." She showed a mysterious smile and mocked. "Don’t tell me you don’t know anything about the Wise Woman and the House of Secrets. That would be an obvious lie."
The questions stuck in Sollivan’s throat. He shook his head and said.
"I was just asking." He smiled with difficulty and tried to maintain his normal demeanor.
Both of them continued walking in silence for several minutes, passing through several alleys until they reached the edge of the tribe.
Only one alley separated them from the surrounding plains. Both of them stood in front of a very large tent that looked like a group of small tents with domed roofs merged into a very large tent in the center. From afar, Sollivan found it similar to circus tents where performances were held in his world, but upon closer inspection, it was very different.
"Let’s go in." Beatrice gestured for him to follow her. After passing through the large tent’s entrance, he found himself in a very large hall filled with women and strange tools, along with large piles of hides.
Some of the hides were fresh and emitted a strong, unpleasant smell, while the old hides that had been painted and treated were gathered in separate piles.
Achoo!
Suddenly, Sollivan jerked his head back and sneezed loudly due to the strong smell he had inhaled.
Achoo!
He sneezed three times before stopping. He rubbed his nose and lifted his head, which had lowered from the force of the sneezes, and looked around to find many women looking at him mockingly. Even Beatrice herself smiled with pity before saying.
"You’re unreasonably weak. That’s why humans are a race not worth paying attention to."
He wiped his nose and mocked internally. ’I don’t think you’d be able to say that if you saw the Arcane Lords from my world.’
Beatrice didn’t continue to bother him and began explaining.
"As you can see, this is the tribe’s tailoring workshop. In this large, divided tent, most of the skilled women specializing in sewing and hides gather to make clothes and furnishings, not to mention construction hides."
Sollivan looked around and inspected every corner of the large hall suspiciously, but he found it different from Beatrice’s description. The women in the hall were only isolating and cutting the hides.
Beatrice noticed this and answered his unasked questions. "This is the first hall. The place consists of four large tents in total, connected to each other, along with a large central area dedicated to dyeing hides."
"Follow me."
Both of them walked through the place filled with hides and large-bodied women, eventually reaching a large open door leading to a second large hall, similar to the first, also filled with women.
Most of the women sat on the ground, holding large sewing tools and sewing and shaping the hides according to their needs.
Sollivan noticed their unrefined manual work with curiosity. The hides they were dealing with weren’t ordinary; they were thick and hard as rock.
Seeing how simply they handled it made him understand the strength of their hands holding the needles. At that moment, he realized how truly weak he was and sighed in dissatisfaction.
’They’re all monsters.’
But despite that, he didn’t think much about it and continued to observe what they were working on.
’The warriors’ clothes are sewn by elderly women, while the ordinary clothes made of wool lined with ordinary hides are sewn by young girls. The division is clear, and I don’t know if it’s due to experience or strength.’ Most of the commoners’ clothes consisted of a single piece, usually a simple dress or robe covering most of the body.
He had seen this clearly while wandering around the tribe and realized it was due to the plains’ moderate climate, so they didn’t change their clothes much.
After passing through the sewing hall, they reached the hide dyeing area, filled with colored basins. After a brief explanation, they moved directly to the next hall, then the one after that, quickly ending their tour. After Sollivan finally exited the cluster of tents, he took a breath of fresh air to expel the bad smell of hides and asked Beatrice curiously.
"Why are all those clothes and hides stored? The quantity there is more than the tribe needs. The last tent was a storage area filled to the brim." This made Sollivan feel puzzled.
Beatrice walked calmly westward and answered. "The surplus products are exchanged for other goods with subordinate tribes or allied tribes." Her answer was simple, but at the same time, it made Sollivan realize some things.
’There’s a system of subordination among the tribes.’ Although the words he picked up were few, they fueled his curiosity and desire for knowledge. However, he didn’t ask due to the lack of tact.
He continued walking with Beatrice and noticed that they were getting closer to the huge wall. After some time, they reached a large empty space, or rather, a very large pen filled with hundreds of the strange animals he had seen before.
Around the large pen surrounded by a simple fence, several young men holding thin sticks and wearing leather hats to protect their heads from the sun were present. Immediately, Sollivan recognized them as herders.
He quickly scanned his surroundings and looked at the high wall nearby. At that moment, he noticed several very small gates designated for the animals to exit. But what caught his attention was several large rocks the size of the gates placed beside them. Politely, he asked. "Do you use those stones to lock the gates in case of an external invasion?"
Beatrice’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, and she answered.
"Yes, although the gates are made of reinforced metal and have three layers, they’re not enough for defense." After finishing her explanation, she mocked. "You’re a bit clever. It seems you’re not entirely useless."
Sollivan didn’t pay attention to her mockery and continued to inspect his surroundings carefully. At that moment, he heard Beatrice say to one of the herders. "Bring out the livestock."
Following her orders, all the herders began directing the herds of livestock outside. Dust flew due to the footsteps of thousands of hooves, and after the assigned warriors opened the multiple gates, the livestock quickly exited into the plains filled with nourishing plants.
"Let’s go outside." Beatrice gestured to the warriors around her and walked slowly outside while explaining. "As you’ve seen, the tribe’s main food source is meat. You might not know this, but the land in the vast plains isn’t suitable for farming, and only blue grass and some mutated trees grow here, with other plants rarely found."
Sollivan was surprised by this and stopped observing the livestock, directing all his focus to her and asking. "Really? What’s the reason?"
Beatrice answered indifferently. "No one knows. Although the ancestors brought various types of seeds and tried to reclaim the land, they failed. Even after trying every possible method, they got no results." Beatrice paused for a moment before saying.
"There are some arable lands, but they’re very few and controlled by some powerful tribes."
When they reached one of the small gates, Beatrice fell silent, giving him a chance to think and stare at the vast plain before him, scrutinizing it carefully. "The eternal blueness." Perhaps this momentary thought expressed his feeling upon seeing the endless plain filled with similar blue plants.
Inhale!
After taking a long breath, he refocused on Beatrice and asked while they walked slowly, "Even if the livestock you raise are numerous, it doesn’t seem enough to feed the entire tribe."
"These aren’t all the livestock we have. We raise buffaloes in pens on the other side, and some residents have their own animals. Still, we have to conduct large hunting expeditions every month to ease the pressure on local production."
"I underst..." Sollivan stopped mid-sentence due to a strange feeling he suddenly felt. He turned his head warily and looked around. ’This ominous sense of danger feels familiar.’ He thought silently, and after recalling his memories a bit, he remembered the source of the familiarity. ’It’s the same feeling I had when facing that beast.’
"What’s wrong?" Beatrice noticed the sudden change in him, making her stand firmly and look at him warily. The warriors around them did the same.
"Nothing, it’s just..." Sollivan wanted to calm them, but his sense of danger rose to a crazy level. Before he realized what was happening, he felt a strong rush and impact on his back. But he didn’t fall to the ground because of it; instead, he was lifted high into the air.
In shock, he saw Beatrice below him on the ground before she quickly disappeared from his sight.
The strong coldness brushed his face and made his hair fly. By the time he realized he was flying in the sky, he had already traveled a great distance. He turned his head and looked at the huge claws gripping his shoulders tightly. His face turned pale, and he felt extreme terror. His eyes widened, and he quickly lifted his head to look at the huge eagle holding him.
...
[On the ground]
Beatrice looked at the huge eagle that quickly flew away from them with eyes filled with shock, mockery, and deep fear.
Before she could sort out the chaos inside her, she saw a humanoid shadow emerge from the ground and run at a crazy speed, leaving a misty trail in the direction the eagle had flown.
Her eyes continued to stare at the empty horizon, and the shock refused to leave her. She hadn’t expected to see something as ridiculous as this, or rather, how could the Primordial Blood that grants its bearer incredible power be wasted so easily?
Her eyes sparkled with deep mockery, and she muttered with sorrow and at the same time relief. "How can a man carrying the ancestors’ power be kidnapped so easily?"
Her emotions danced silently, and in the end, she turned slowly and looked at the warrior Mina beside her. In a voice trembling with fear, she ordered, "Go quickly and inform my father." She regained some of her composure and exhaled deeply.
"The consequences won’t be simple. I’ll be held responsible for this matter."