New Earth- The Dungeon of Madness 42 Barbarians

He continued to walk forward but at a much slower pace to allow the mysterious cloaked man to catch up. If he was not wrong, that person should have some motives behind saving him and he would eventually come again.

But to his surprise, even after 2 hours, he did not see the silhouette of that person again. 'Strange? I was certain he would come immediately!'

Five decided to wait for a moment in the surroundings in case the man would show himself. But as time went by, Five concluded that either something happened to the man or he simply would not come. And so, Five continued to walk in the direction opposite to Etora Town.

...

2 days later, Five suddenly halted as he saw a village in front of him. The events that happened last time he tried to get into Etora Town was still clear in his mind. The village was located just outside a forest, he could see that it was made up of about 200 houses. The village was different from Etora Town, it looked more rustic, built with clay, wood planks and thatch.

When he saw the village, Five immediately wanted to change direction but before he could, he heard the loud rumble of horses sprinting towards him.

Five tall tanned men quickly surrounded him and trapped him in a circle as they made their horses go around him. It was clearly an attempt to intimidate him.

"Who are you Townsman? Why have you come to our village?!" asked a burly man with a rough voice.

These men were completely different from those at the town. They were tall and muscular. They were wearing rough clothes made of animal fur and were holding massive axes in their huge hands. Their faces were square-like giving them a very intimidating look. Their eyes were sharp and their eyebrows looked like thick triangles making them look constantly angry. Around their neck, Five could see fangs of animals attached to a necklace.

"Sir! I was just lost and ended up here, I meant no harm! I will leave immediately!" said Five. The last thing he wanted was to anger these men; they looked savage and bloodthirsty, looking at him as if he was just a prey.

"You are violating the treaty with the Barbarians by stepping on the territory of the Black Iron Tribe! Leave at once!" shouted the burly man while swinging his ax.

But at that moment, another horse rider approached the group and shouted, "Don't be rash brother! I will take care of him for now!"

"Brother! We should quickly kick him out of the territory!"

"Return to the village! I will talk to him!" said the newcomer. He was not shouting anymore and looked calm but strangely, his words seemed to have more power than the man who wanted to kick Five away from the village. The burly men looked at Five before quietly leaving; they obeyed their leader's order but their eyes were still burning with fury.

Left alone with Five the man looked at him, "Greetings Townsman! I am Achi, the chieftain of the Black Iron Tribe! May I ask why you came here?"

Five was quite overwhelmed by the developments; he was first violently approached by these 5 barbarians and asked to leave the territory but now, their leader who had the same imposing appearance was having a normal chat with him as if nothing happened.

"As I said to your brother, I just got lost! I did not know this was a forbidden territory! I apologize for everything and will leave immediately!" politely said Five.

Achi silently looked at him for a moment, "The night is about to fall and the plains are not safe! How about spending the night in our village? You can leave tomorrow morning!"

Hearing that, Five hesitated. It would indeed help him a lot to be able to sleep at the village; when he slept in the wild, he needed to constantly use his DP to set up defensive formations just to sleep safely. He would be able to save a good amount of DP by sleeping there but at the same time; he was intimated by those barbarians.

After a few seconds of doubts, he finally decided to agree. He wanted to see some form of civilisation again and since he could not go to towns, he could try this village.

After having been chased out of Etora Town, Five decided to postpone his plan of revenge for now. It was clear that it would be difficult to find the persons he was looking for, especially if he could not even enter a town and so, he decided to found his dungeon for now.

'This village might be a good spot' thought Five.

He was quickly escorted by Achi on his horse. As he entered the village, Five saw several similar looking men butchering some wild boars at the central place of the village.

"The hunters just came back with those wild boars today! We will now take out the fur, teeth and bones before using the meat to make a good meal!" explained Achi on the side.

Five watched as the burly men were easily cutting through the boars like butter. They were wielding large knives that looked more like dirks and could lift an entire boar with just one hand. Women were also present, helping to collect the fur and cleaning it immediately.

Compared to the burly men, the women were different. They were not oversized and were quite pretty. Their tanned skin and the fact that they were wearing oddly color clothes gave them an exotic look. Five easily noticed how the older women were wearing long dresses, covering most of their bodies while the younger ones were exposing a lot more skin.

"Do you go hunting like that every day?" asked Five.

"Yes! We need to in order to feed the entire tribe! But as a result, we also have a lot more fur and teeth than we need. Our women are quite skilled and can turn the teeth and bones into beautiful accessories!" answered Achi.

Five immediately attracted the looks of the tribesmen; he easily stood out with his white skin and equipment. The men looked at him with hostility while most of the women wore curious looks.

"How long till the meal is ready?" shouted Achi.

"One hour! We just started the fire!" shouted an elderly woman on the side. Next to her, a group of young women was actively pouring water into a huge cooking pot.

At that moment, a group of children suddenly stormed over the place. The boy in the lead happily shouted, "I am first! I won!" Behind him, a group of at least 20 children was panting, completely exhausted by the sprint they just did.

The children quickly went to help their parents; most of them sat with their mother and helped to pour water while a few older ones learned how to properly butcher the animals.

A young girl, of about 8 years old rushed to Achi and jumped in his arms. "Daddy!"

"Hello Mira! How was your day?" asked Achi while kissing his cute daughter.

"Brrr," Mira trembled as the spiky beard touched her cheek but quickly answered, "It was great! We went to play near the river and we found a small cave there! We have not explored it yet but we'll do it tomorrow!"

"That's good! But be careful! Let your cousin take the lead, alright? He is strong enough to protect you in case of danger!" said Achi as he placed back his daughter on the ground.

"Yay!!" the carefree Mira happily shouted as she turned and towards the group of women and hugged one of them.

Achi turned back towards Five, "Sorry about that, she is my daughter!"

"Haha, don't worry! I understand perfectly!" answered Five while laughing.

"Since there's still a whole hour, let me show you where you'll sleep!" said Achi as he lead Five through the village.

...

That night, Five was peacefully resting in the small house allocated to him. It was very rustic and did not even have a bed. Instead, he was lying on a pile of fur which strangely, did not have any wild odors. He was very grateful to Achi for the warm meal and shelter he was given but was still wary that he might be attacked.

There was no reason for Achi to suddenly invite him to stay at the village; they were barbarians and did not look like hospitable hosts. He should definitely have some motives to provide this free shelter but Five doubted they wanted to kill him. After all, if they wanted to eliminate him, they would have already done so when he was encircled. And so, Five knew he could spend a peaceful night there without spending any DP for his safety.

At the same time, in another house which was much larger and better decorated. A torch was lighting a room as Achi was taking a direct sip from a bottle. In front of him, his brother, Toba who previously wanted to drive Five away, was also drinking from his own bottle.

"Brother! Why did you allow that townsman to stay at our village! Do you not remember how our ancestors were massacred?" angrily said the man. Under the influence of alcohol, he was shouting even louder than before.

"SHhh! Don't shout! Mira and Ly are trying to sleep!" said Achi. "Times are changing, I am simply listening to the Shaman's advice. We cannot rely only on hunting in our forest and trading with the other tribes! We need to open ourselves to some extent with the Townsmen and trade in some food."

"This winter will be harsh! I heard that a wildfire devastated some of the Blue Eagle Tribe's fields. We need to secure some food and the only way to do that is by trading! We have the teeth and bones necklace to trade as well as our excess fur but we need to attract the buyers first!"

"This man is definitely more important than he looks! A normal Townsman would never be able to travel alone and survive that long in the plains. He must have a powerful backing; it is better to make him have a good impression of us. Maybe he is from one of the merchant guilds and could refer our tribe to others. I don't know but we need to start allowing people in!"

"The wildfire might not be an isolated case! It is better to be safe! Just don't be impulsive as long as those Townsmen don't mean any harm!"

Toba completely emptied the bottle of wine, "Ahh, do whatever you want! I will just go out hunting and stay away from these guys! As long as they don't hurt the tribe in any way, you do what you think is good!"

Chapter end