Inviting the Feathered Beastman to Stay (Bonus Chapter) Summer from the Forest...
Upon hearing the winged beastman's self-introduction, Jiang Yunlan's eyes lit up instantly.
She had heard Hati mention the Salt Clan, a clan that came to the grasslands every fruit season to sell "salt." She never imagined they were orcs living in the mountains.
Jiang Yunlan pondered, thinking that if she could go to their habitat, she could detect whether there were any minerals in the mountains there.
"Welcome, friends from the other side of the mountain. I am Jiang Yunlan, the patriarch of the Xia clan." She smiled sincerely, looking up at the winged beastmen at the front.
These adult winged beastmen, clad in animal clothing and possessing elegant postures, appear to be only a head taller than adult squirrel beastmen, making them unusually small beastmen.
The leading winged beastman lowered his eyes and met Jiang Yunlan's gaze, his voice calm: "Green-dwelling winged crow."
This wasn't the orc language spoken in the forests and grasslands; Jiang Yunlan almost thought it was an orc word she hadn't learned. But seeing the equally confused expressions on the faces of her tribesmen around her, she realized that the language used by the winged orcs was different from theirs.
Is this the language unique to the Feathered Beastmen race, or the common language beyond the mountains? She was curious, looking at the Green-Winged Crow with a smile, without asking her question.
“Our clan trades salt for food and animal hides with other clans. I heard from your people that you come from that forest over there.” The purple-haired, blue-eyed Green-feathered Crow pointed towards the forest where the Xia clan originally lived.
The forest is not close to the Xia clan's habitat; it would take a leopard beastman five days and nights of non-stop running to reach the edge of the forest.
Green-feathered Crow withdrew its hand, its emotionless eyes meeting Jiang Yunlan's, and continued, "You come from the forest, and are more familiar with salt fruit. Salt stone and salt fruit serve the same purpose."
He spoke the language of the forest and grasslands, and Jiang Yunlan understood him without much effort, marveling at his knowledge of the forest. She suspected that the Salt Clan would go to the forest during the fruit season to trade with the clans there.
Like the orc merchants in the Beast World, except that the only commodity they can trade is rock salt.
“I don’t have much food to trade here, but I have a lot of animal hides and clothing. Please come with me, and I’ll show you those clothes.” Jiang Yunlan said, turning her head to instruct her tribesmen beside her to take good care of the injured gathering team of beastmen.
She noticed that two orcs were missing from the team. She didn't ask anything, silently suppressing her emotions, and calmly arranged for the exhausted orcs to rest.
Jiang Yunlan gave a few more instructions to Hui Xiaoxi, the temporary leader of the gathering team, before turning around and leading several winged beastmen toward the drying area.
The tanned hides from before have long been stored away and used by Qiuguo to make clothing. The hides hanging in the drying area now are the last batch for the tribe. The next time hides are tanned will be when they hunt new game.
The winged beastmen, carrying salt stones wrapped in animal hides, followed behind Jiang Yunlan, subtly forming a small group and keeping a watchful eye on the Xia clan beastmen around them. When they encountered the gathering team, they had guessed that the Xia clan was different from other clans, but seeing the various beastmen coming and going around them still made them uneasy.
The Xia clan had so many types of beastmen that they were reminded of the bear-beastmen that had once appeared on the grasslands.
They are among the weaker carnivorous orcs. Small in size and weak in attack, they cannot defeat other orcs, nor can they hunt large animals; sometimes they are even bullied by medium-sized animals. They only dare to venture out to trade for supplies because they can fly and have maxed out their escape skills.
The winged beastmen appeared calm on the surface, but in reality, they suppressed their urge to escape and nervously made their way to the drying area.
The animal hides hanging to dry emitted a faint fragrance of soap beans under the sunlight, giving people a strangely pleasant feeling even without a breeze.
The bristling winged beastmen unconsciously relaxed a little, approaching the half-dry animal hides with a mixture of curiosity and restraint. They didn't touch the fluffy hides, but they could sense that they would make soft and warm clothing, perfect for keeping their cubs warm during the snowy season.
want to.
A similar longing flickered in the eyes of all the winged beastmen. They blinked, feigning composure as they walked back to Jiang Yunlan's side.
The Green-Hooped Crows, who had never seen the gathering team use salt, were unaware that their clan's most precious commodity was not a difficult-to-obtain valuable item in the eyes of the Xia Clan.
He lowered his head, looked at the tiny squirrel-like beastman cub, and opened his mouth.
How much salt do you need?
Mo Rong, who was about to take the cubs to cook lunch, stared at Gray Stream squatting in front of him and asked the same question.
"We only need to add a little more salt to our pot than the others," Gray Creek said with a grin, using two fingers to indicate the amount of salt she wanted to add.
She and her teammates had traveled too far this time, and for the next few days they ate grass roots and leaves that they had gathered from the surrounding area. Their mouths tasted very bland, and they just wanted to eat something with some flavor.
Seeing that Mo Rong nodded in agreement, she strolled off with a blade of grass in her mouth, in high spirits, to tell her injured teammate who was resting in bed.
"Captain." Cotton came out of the house and bumped into Gray Creek. She greeted him after a slow pause.
Grey Creek spat out the grass in her mouth and replied with a grin, "Oh, you've come to visit Ah Bai and the others too. I just secretly told Mo Rong that our team's food is cooked in the same pot with salt!"
He blinked, nodded listlessly, and watched the captain go inside. He wasn't particularly concerned about the saltiness of the food, but the thought of his teammates drooling over the sight of the winged beastmen cooking with salt a few days ago made him wonder if adding more salt to this meal would be a good thing.
Cotton stood there for a while, then lifted his foot to look for Lan, completely ignoring the changes happening in the clan. Even when he saw a figure that looked like one of his own, he didn't spare a single second of attention.
When he came back, he was busy carrying the injured Ah Bai into the house to rest, and hadn't asked Lan what he was going to do next.
"cotton?"
Hearing an orc calling him, he slowed down, stopped, and turned to look behind him.
Mian Gaoya, with his dark skin and gray hair, looked surprised and suddenly stepped forward to stop him by the shoulder. He looked him over carefully for a while, then patted him on the shoulder with relief. "I didn't expect it to really be you, Mianhua. When you had a fever, we thought... we were just glad you survived."
"Chief Mother." Cotton uttered this title, then suddenly remembered that the squirrel beastmen and leopard beastmen in the tribe had changed their address for Chief Mother to "Zhang Mother".
Yan Duoyu and Huimi are no longer the clan leaders, so they should be addressed as Chief Mother. But his clansmen haven't become Lan's people, so should he continue to call her Chief Mother? Cotton wondered, deciding to skip the question for now.
He explained his experiences to Mian Gaoya. Feng Hong and the others rescued him from the riverbank, and he and his tribe found Lan, following her as they migrated to the grasslands.
“Our chieftain, Lan, is a very, very good orc,” he said, smiling at Mian Gaoya.
Seeing the light in his eyes when he mentioned Lan, and the smile on his lips when he spoke of his clansmen, Mian Gaoya knew he was doing well here. The Xia clan was a very, very good clan.
“That’s wonderful,” Mian Gaoya said with a smile, looking at the once silent cub, or rather, the semi-adult beastman. “You said you were going to find the chieftain, go ahead. I have to get busy too.”
The cubs he thought would die in the heat of summer have survived and will soon be adults.
He made his decision. He would tell Ling Xiaocao that the Xia clan was a trustworthy clan, and that he would bring all his clansmen here to work.
The cotton plant walked away as he watched it go.
After asking around among her people and searching all the way, Cotton found Lan, who was staying with the winged beastmen, at Qiuguo's place.
He glanced at the winged beastmen who were frowning and seemingly troubled about something, then silently stood behind Lan. Lan was still dealing with something; he would wait until Lan was finished before disturbing her.
Upon seeing him appear, Jiang Yunlan asked, "What's wrong?"
"Lan, what should I do next?" Mianhua asked.
"Does the cotton still want to go outside?"
“I don’t know,” he paused for a moment, then said, “but Ah Bai doesn’t like going out to gather.”
Orcs are very pure; for them, what they want to do is what they like, and what they don't want to do is what they dislike.
“Lan, Ah Bai and I are both willing to continue going out. Because Lan needs us to go out.” He smiled, his expression showing no reluctance. He just wanted to know what he would do when he wasn’t going out. He had entrusted the tasks of firing ceramics and bricks to Yan Shi before going out, and now there were no tasks for him to do.
Jiang Yunlan remained silent, then tiptoed and gently rubbed his drooping head. "Give me a little more time to think. I'll tell you about the task you need to do once I've figured it out."
When she was selecting members for her gathering and hunting teams, every adult orc was enthusiastic and willing to go out. She assumed they all enjoyed missions, but this "willingness" didn't mean they liked it. It was because they felt needed that they were willing.
Cotton said nothing more and stood quietly behind her.
Nearby, the Green-Winged Crow was still debating whether to accept Jiang Yunlan's suggestion. He hesitated for a while and spoke with his tribesmen in their native language, almost getting into an argument.
The Xia clan chief said that the Xia clan had no shortage of salt and had even traded it with wolf-beastmen and sheep-beastmen.
Although there were other clans, the horse-beastmen were lackeys of the wolf-beastmen and there was no need to trade with them. The earth-beastmen were even weaker than them, and each harvest season they traded vegetarian food for salt. The forest clans near the plains had migrated away, and the remaining trading clans couldn't obtain enough goods for their needs.
It seems that the only way to get enough food and warm animal clothing is to trade with the Xia clan.
Damn it, those blockheads, think of something! What else does the tribe have besides salt stones that they can offer? They really don't want to bring any strange orcs back to the clan, even just one or two.
“If we can’t reach an agreement now, how about we stay in my clan for a while? My people will show you that the Xia clan is a friendly clan. We don’t need salt, but we are still very willing to exchange goods with you. I believe your clan must have other items that we can exchange with you,” Jiang Yunlan said gently.
She knew that the winged beastmen wouldn't give up the trade, which is why she suggested so early on that her people go to their clan to see the items.
The winged beastmen weren't oblivious to the friendliness of the Xia clan beastmen, but they still resisted the Xia clan beastmen approaching their habitat. Seeing their silent reaction, Green-Winged Crow sighed and stepped forward, saying, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Chief Xia."
She smiled and said in a light tone, "Welcome to stay with the Xia clan. I believe our two clans will become friends."
Her target was never the Salt Clan, but the mountain range where the Salt Clan resided. Victory would be achieved if she could persuade the Feathered Beastmen to let her people go to the other side of the mountain; her people could choose not to join the Feathered Beastmen's clan.
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Author's Note: Special event discovered! The winged beastmen who have come to the Xia clan are hesitating about whether to accept Lan's offer to stay. Please choose a skill and help Lan recruit a new beastman.
"SiSi" threw a charm grenade x1, and the charm skill was a great success! The winged beastman decided to stay in the Xia clan.
"The Wise EW" casts a Persuasion Potion x1, targeting "Cotton Cliff" and "Antelope Grass". Persuasion Potion successfully used! Antelope Grass's persuasion progress +1.
"I Want to Be Quiet" throws out 1 potion, applied to an injured Xia Clan orc. The wounded are healing faster.
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