The Western Volcano Tribe, face-to-face with us again.
They were as large as ever, and because of that, it felt as though Jakan's tent might burst.
Chieftain Jakan sat across from them without being cowed by their murderous presence.
I could see that Jakan's shoulders had stiffened slightly, but he did not back down.
“What does it mean that you are commissioning us?”
Burta, chieftain of the Western Volcano Tribe, asked.
The pressure exuded by his massive body, well over two meters tall, was truly immense.
'I heard the Western Volcano Tribe and the Northern Rock Tribe were originally similar in standing.'
Of course, that was before all the adults of the Northern Rock Tribe had died.
Yet Jakan lifted his chin and spoke.
“Exactly as it sounds. The Northern Rock Tribe commissions the Western Volcano Tribe.”
Burta looked down at Jakan without speaking.
It was the gaze of a beast that had survived countless battlefields, sizing up a young beast whose teeth had only just begun to grow in.
But Jakan met that gaze with unwavering eyes.
'Oh...... Not bad.'
Was this really the same kid who had been bristling with pride only thirty minutes ago?
“I do not understand.”
Burta tilted his head to one side.
“We buy the Western Volcano Tribe.”
“What? Heh heh...... Jakan. Have you gone mad?”
A hollow laugh escaped Burta's mouth.
The red-skinned warriors seated on either side of him laughed along.
The adults of a dying tribe had all perished, and now its young children were saying they would ‘buy’ them. It had to sound absurd.
As expected, the explanation seemed insufficient, did it not?
Their reaction was only natural, since they did not even have concepts such as hiring or contracts. But Jakan did not panic and continued as I had taught him.
“When the Red Moon rises, fight for us. Then we give potatoes.”
“What?”
“This is our commission. We need swords, and the Western Volcano Tribe needs potatoes. Am I wrong?”
Oh, that was clean.
I applauded him inwardly.
It was an explanation without unnecessary words.
The heart of this trade was simple. Exchange what you had for what I had. That was the foundation of trade.
But Burta had clearly not become chieftain for nothing. He was not such an easy opponent.
He erased his amusement and slowly stared at Jakan.
“Jakan. You are still a child.”
Burta's enormous shadow wavered in the torchlight.
“You have no adults to learn from. That is important.”
“......”
“How to grip a sword on the battlefield, how to read an enemy by the smell of the wind, and how to avoid the Red Moon. A barbarian learns from behind an adult's back. But all your adults are dead.”
Jakan clenched his fists.
It had struck at the core.
The Northern Rock Tribe's greatest Achilles' heel.
The absence of predecessors to pass on experience and wisdom.
Burta cleverly dug right into that weakness.
“If you do not know, you die. If you do not learn, you perish. You have what it takes to become a good warrior, Jakan. But you cannot protect the tribe alone.”
It was conciliation.
Unspoken pressure to accept our proposal, on the condition that we came under them.
Contrary to my prejudice, barbarians were not stupid.
Their ways of expression were merely harsh and rough, and our children simply had not had the chance to learn yet.
And mature adult barbarians like Burta were far smarter than I had thought.
'Crafty bastard.'
I clicked my tongue.
Inside that even larger, ignorant-looking body sat a seasoned fox.
Information was power.
The world where I had lived was a place where, with one search, you could learn even the laws of the universe if you had a question.
But what about this place?
How to farm, how to hunt, how to survive.
If no one taught you, you had to die without ever knowing.
Burta was shaking Jakan using his monopoly on that knowledge as a weapon.
- Press.
Seeing Jakan's eyes waver, I poked his back lightly with a finger.
'Snap out of it. Show him what we prepared.'
At my gesture, Jakan snapped back to his senses.
“Jakan. You do not have that ability.”
Just as Burta tried to drive in the final nail.
Without a word, Jakan raised a leather sack beside him upside down.
- Rattle.
Dozens of dirt-covered lumps spilled out with a heavy sound.
They rolled across the floor and stopped in front of Burta's instep.
Potatoes. And they were not ordinary potatoes, either.
Burta's thick brow twitched as he slowly picked up one of the potatoes at his feet.
A potato as thick as a barbarian's large fist.
[E-Grade Potato]
It was a crop blessed by fertile land, one that could never grow in the harsh wasteland that had already died.
Dozens of them lay scattered across the floor.
Burta's eyes widened.
He held the potato before the torch.
“......This.”
For the first time, greed crept into Burta's voice.
He deeply inhaled the potato's scent, then glared at Jakan with menacing eyes.
“The Northern Rock Tribe had something like this?”
“We are rich.”
Jakan said, lifting his chin.
“This is only part of it. Our storehouse has mountains of these piled inside.”
It was a lie, of course, but Burta had no way of knowing that.
The Western Volcano Tribe warriors wavered at Jakan's confident attitude.
I heard the sound of saliva being swallowed.
But Burta was the chieftain.
He suppressed his agitation and released an even more intimidating killing intent.
It was an instinctive contest of force, refusing to give up the upper hand in the negotiations.
“Why should our Western Volcano Tribe listen to you?”
As Burta put strength into his hand, the potato was crushed like tofu.
“We have strength. We have swords. If we want it, we can kill you and take it.”
“......!”
Jakan flinched and placed a hand on his sword hilt.
'Just as expected. Those Western Volcano bastards.'
The rule of this world. The weak were prey to the strong.
If the weak possessed treasure, it was not something to trade for. It was something to plunder.
Burta was asking this now. So? Did we have the strength to protect this treasure?
Jakan opened his mouth, then closed it again, unable to find a suitable answer.
Even if he said that we would fight, it was obvious that the answer would be that they would kill us and take it.
The atmosphere turned cold.
The Western Volcano Tribe warriors readjusted their weapons.
The situation was one spark away from exploding.
'This is as far as we can go.'
With a sigh, I stepped forward.
Jakan had done well.
But what came next was a realm that could not be resolved by a warrior's logic.
“Stop.”
When my voice broke the silence, Burta's gaze shifted from Jakan to me.
As that predator's gaze slid over my nape, instinctive fear ran down my spine.
I pretended to be calm and sat beside Jakan.
“Who are you?”
Burta growled.
“I am a shaman.”
“Lies. The Northern Rock Tribe has no shaman.”
“No. There is one now.”
I stared straight into Burta's eyes as I spoke. At times like this, Barbarian Mind was helpful.
“Like the chieftain, I am a shaman who has not yet fully grown.”
Burta snorted.
“Brats are playing at being chieftains. A shaman is the tribe's head. You do not smell of wisdom.”
“Shaman!”
Jakan bristled and tried to step forward, but I quickly raised a hand and stopped him.
Stay still.
Then I looked at Burta again.
To persuade this man, I had to show him profit, not strength.
I hoped my Mental Strength would hold out.
“Burta, chieftain of the Western Volcano Tribe. You are right. The Western Volcano Tribe has strength.”
I picked up a potato that had fallen to the floor.
“You can kill us right now and take these potatoes. You can take our tribe's children too.”
“If you know that, why are you being so reckless?”
“But that is a loss for you.”
“A loss?”
Burta's brow twitched once again.
“Why has the Western Volcano Tribe not killed us until now?”
Without avoiding his eyes, I continued.
“Because we have nothing to take? No. You were waiting for us to grow. You planned to raise us as warriors and take us with you. The Western Volcano Tribe needs to grow stronger now too.”
Good. So far, the words were coming smoothly, just as I had thought. My head did not even hurt.
Hold out a little longer, Mental Strength!
Burta's gaze sharpened.
It was the expression of someone struck at the heart of the matter.
In barbarian society, population was national power.
It was the same principle as having many children in ancient agricultural societies.
Especially under the threat of monsters, replenishing young blood was a necessity for survival.
“But what happens if you take us now?”
I looked at him with a grin, and his expression turned sour.
“We are still young. We are unskilled at hunting and combat. You cannot use us in war right away. Your food is scarce too, and forty more mouths will be added.”
“......”
“If you raid us, you gain potatoes. But those will be gone in a few days. Then what? Only forty hungry mouths and the Red Moon remain. Do you want that?”
Burta said nothing.
He was probably calculating furiously in his mind.
Taking in the weak while food was scarce was a very large risk.
'Good. I think he is almost convinced.'
Just as I opened my mouth to deliver the final counter.
Violent resistance surged inside my head.
[Barbarian Mind resists logical thought.]
[Warning! An immense amount of Mental Strength is being consumed.]
“Urgh......”
Once again, intense pain stabbed through my head as though it were being skewered, and the world flashed white before my eyes.
I gritted my teeth and endured, forcing out the next words.
“But it is different if you accept our commission.”
I reversed the situation.
“If you do not kill us and keep us as friends, you do not need to feed forty people. We feed ourselves.”
When I threw the potato in my hand to him, he caught it despite himself.
“Instead, you get more potatoes. When the Western Volcano Tribe needs them, we can trade them for animal hides.”
“......”
“When we need swords, you can help us and receive potatoes. You gain friends and potatoes. Now, which side benefits the Western Volcano Tribe more?”
Whirl.
Had I finally reached my limit?
The moment I uttered that final word.
My vision shook, and the tip of my nose stung.
Trickle. Bright red nosebleed dripped from my chin.
“Shaman! Blood!”
Jakan, horrified, tried to support me, but I raised a hand to stop him.
Then, drawing ragged breaths, I stared straight at Burta.
Burta looked down at me with a blank expression.
His gaze seemed to bore into the depths of my eyes.
Tension filled the air.
I swallowed dryly.
“Izak......! Once again, have you forced out the ancestral god's great wisdom for us, consuming your lifespan?”
'Huh? Is that what he thought?'
At Jakan's mistaken outcry, Burta's eyes shook as though an earthquake had struck.
“A shaman who sees the ancestral god's wisdom?”
What was he saying now?
Burta was looking down at me with a strange light in his eyes.
I had done everything I could. The choice was that monster's now.
If he shouted that he did not understand complicated things and would just kill us all, we were finished.
That was when it happened.
“Hahahahahaha!”
Burta threw back his head and let out a hearty laugh.
The sound was so loud it felt as though my ears would go deaf.
“Interesting. An interesting barbarian!”
Burta looked down at me with amusement in his eyes.
Thankfully, his killing intent had disappeared.
“It does not seem like a lie. You are still a child, yet you are a clever barbarian.”
He took a bite of the E-Grade Potato in his hand.
Crunch. He wore a satisfied expression.
“It tastes good, too.”
Burta smacked his lips.
DING—!
[Burta, chieftain of the Western Volcano Tribe, has eaten your potato and been impressed. Fame +1]
What was this? He ate a potato, and my Fame suddenly increased?
As I looked at the system window, he spoke.
“Good. Chieftain of the Northern Rock Tribe, and young shaman.”
His hand landed on my shoulder.
It hurt.
But I felt relieved because it was not an attack, but a sign of acknowledgment.
“For your sake, I will do so. This Red Moon, the warriors of the Western Volcano Tribe will become your swords.”
“......!”
Jakan's face brightened brilliantly.
I felt as though I might faint too, but we had succeeded!
We would live!
“However.”
Burta added with a grin.
“Prepare many potatoes. Our warriors eat a lot.”
“Understood.”
The potatoes were a little precious, but compared with the price of our lives, I had gotten off cheaply.
Potatoes could be grown again.
'But why are barbarians so crazy about potatoes?'
Burta held out his hand.
“The contract has been formed.”
Jakan clasped that hand.
The handshake of two tribal chieftains.
Watching it, I barely held back the tears that nearly came to my eyes.
Surviving day by day was really hard.......
.
.
.
On the Western Volcano Tribe's way back.
As he walked the rugged mountain path, Burta savored the taste of potato lingering in his mouth.
It was sweet and filling.
“Chieftain.”
One of the tribesmen asked cautiously.
“It is a loss for us. We should have simply killed them and taken everything.”
Burta kept walking and shook his head.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“The potatoes are excellent. But...... More excellent is that young shaman.”
Burta's eyes rose to the moon in the night sky.
The moon was still shining yellow.
“And.”
He turned around.
Far away, the Northern Rock Tribe's village lay submerged in darkness.
“We need to find out.”
“Find out what?”
Burta took a potato from inside his clothes and held it before the tribesman's eyes.
Under the moonlight, it was still smooth and enticing.
“Our land is cursed land where not even a blade of grass grows. But the Northern Rock Tribe said they had piled these up like a mountain.”
Burta's eyes flashed like a predator's.
“We need to find out where they came from.”
“Did they not steal them?”
“Those newborns?”
Burta clenched the potato tightly.
“They are hiding something.”
He was certain.
This was not food they had simply obtained through good fortune.
Moreover, the gaze of that exceptional young shaman had been unusual.
They had a secret of their own.
He had to discover it and make it his.
“Tribesman. When the Red Moon rises, deploy the warriors while keeping an eye on them.”
A cold smile appeared on Burta's lips.
“And what they possess, our Western Volcano Tribe will possess.”
The massive shadows disappeared into the darkness.