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nChapter 244 – Re-evaluation

nWales learned from Yale since he was little, while after becoming Wales’ teacher, Yale became deeply imprinted. Yale felt that he must help Wales become the chieftain, so he educated very attentively.

nOther than being Wales’ teacher, the reason why Yale taught Wales with dedication was because of the Buffalo Tribe. Even though Buffalo Tribe had a very high standing among bull headed races due to many of their famous prophets, if Wales failed in this fight for succession, he would surely be oppressed by Gasol, and then Yale’s days would not be any better. The Buffalo Tribe which Yale hailed from would surely suffer.

nIt was exactly because of this that Yale must help Wales succeed the position. Only then would he be able to guarantee Buffalo Tribe’s benefits.

nBuffalo Tribe was the smartest of all the bull headed races. With Yale being of high age, he had seen a lot of such family fights for succession, so he spoke of such things to Wales since little. With Wales being this smart, as soon as Yale spoke about the strangeness of being attacked, Wales immediately knew what Yale meant.

nYales said nothing while he saw that Wales went speechless. He knew Wales never wanted to resort to full open hostility with Gasol. Even though Wales was young, his education made him understand that no matter who won between them, the greatest losers would be Herculean Bull Tribe, so he never wanted to fight against Gasol.

nYet it was because of Wales being too smart since little, that Gasol always treated him like an opponent and made things hard for him. For the sake of his own safety as well as Yale and those around him, Wales had no choice but to strike back. With this, the fighting between him and Gasol had started with none the wiser.

nGasol had long years of prestige and social connections, so he had an upper hand in the succession, but Wales had a stroke of genius since little, and with his father’s support, he wasn’t in the lower hand as well.

nThe fighting between the two had always in behind the scenes instead of out in the open, and their fighting was within the lines, and never too far. Things like threatening the life of one another were something they never did. The matter this time was somewhat strange.

nOnce Wales thought this, he frowned and spoke, “I feel that there’s something weird about today’s matter. You’re saying, teacher, that this was possibly caused by Gasol, but would he want my life at this point? He wouldn’t, right? Father is still alive and well. If tries to make a move against me, father won’t let him go, and that way, he’ll have no hope of becoming the chieftain. Even though 2nd brother isn’t suitable and neither is 5th brother, but 6th brother’s performance in these years is passable. Little 8th and 9th have yet to grow up, and it’s not like there’ll be no one to become the chieftain without the two of us. He won’t have any benefit in removing me at this time, will he?”

nYale also felt very confused after hearing what Wales said. He frowned and said, “If he (Gasol) is really behind this, then unless he can immediately become the chieftain after removing you, the chieftain will not let them go unpunished. But now that the chieftain’s still alive, it’s impossible for him (Gasol) to be the chieftain. He wouldn’t dare make a move against the chieftain, since the high elders will never agree to that. From the look of this, this whole thing is really not his handiwork. Can it be that other people want to deal with us?”

nWales was also frowning. The fishy parts of this matter were too many, so he couldn’t comprehend it all at the time. Suddenly, Wales thought of something and he asked, “Teacher, do you think that this matter is related to Zhao Hai?”

nYale thought for a bit and he shook his head, “No. Zhao Hai is a human. Humans cannot possibly command the Jackal Tribe. You saw it too that the jackals had indeed perished. If Zhao Hai were in cahoots with them, he wouldn’t have dealt such a lethal blow.”

nWales nodded, “Then who can it be? We’ve never heard of which race would make contact with Jackal Tribe. Their name is too foul on the prairie. If it’s discovered that someone is making contact with them, then that someone will also have a foul reputation. There is no one who would be so daring, is there?”

nYale nodded to the statement. The Jackal Tribe’s attack this time was too eerie. On the prairie, the Jackal Tribe was always known for taking advantages instead of shortcomings. They wouldn’t touch anything they found to be dicey. Yet this time they sent 2000 of their stronger ones to kill them (Wales and others), which made Yale and Wales reach no conclusions in their minds.

nAfter the 2 of them discussed for a while, which proved to be inconclusive in the end, Wales shifted the topic to Zhao Hai. Wales looked at Yale and asked, “Teacher, if Zhao Hai really has a lot of grains in his hands that can be sold to us at that price, should we go for it immediately?”

nYale thought for a bit and nodded, “We should, but it’s best that this matter doesn’t involve the tribe. Right now, Gasol has a greater power in the tribe, so I think we should let Buffalo Tribe and Fighting Bull Tribe make contact with Zhao Hai first. If Zhao Hai really has a lot of grains, then Buffalo Tribe and Fighting Bull Tribe’s grain problems will be solved. And because you are spearheading this matter, they will have gratitude towards you, and it will become a power in your hands. If Zhao Hai is a liar, then the only ones in loss will be Buffalo Tribe and Fighting Bull Tribe as well, and then you can solve the problem in their stead, and they won’t blame you. What do you think?”

nYale’s idea wasn’t bad. Because the Herculean Bull Tribe had Gasol, there would always be someone getting in Wales’ way, so Yale let Wales make the Buffalo and Fighting Bull tribes handle the matter.

nFighting Bull Tribe was also a branch of bull headed races with powerful fighting strength. With frequent contact between them and Herculean Bull Tribe, Wales’ 4 older sisters consequently married into the Fighting Bull Tribe in order to forge ties. For Wales, the benefit was large. If he got the Fighting Bull Tribe’s support, he would have great hope in becoming the chieftain of Herculean Bull Tribe.

nBuffalo Tribe had a special place among bull headed races. Their fighting power wasn’t bad, and with the reputation of being the smartest of all bull headed races, the Buffalo Tribe had a certain influence. If Wales got Buffalo Tribe’s support, then it would achieve a certain effect in his succession of the chieftain position.

nOn Beastmen Prairie, when any ruling tribe of a great race wanted to select its own chieftain, it wasn’t a matter of that tribe alone. It was a matter of all the branch tribes. The words of these branch tribes would sometimes influence the positioning of the chieftain.

nFor example, the Herculean Bull Tribe, which was the ruling tribe of all bull headed races. If they wanted to pick their own chieftain, then it wouldn’t be something that they alone could decide. They also needed the opinions of all the other bull headed branch tribes.

nThe reason why this sort of situation was present was due to the fact that, a ruling tribe of a great race couldn’t order the branch tribes around during normal occasions, but when fighting great wars, the ruling tribe could hold the great responsibility of commanding all of the branch tribes of the whole race.

nTo make an example, if the beastmen waged war against humans, the beastmen would naturally address the battle tribes as lords. They would normally pick a marshall to command all the beastmen. All the chieftains of the various great races would be the various generals, each in charge of their own race. All of the branch tribes would be the officers under the generals, who must listen to the chieftain during this time. That was why the position of chieftain of the ruling tribe was extremely important.

nRight now inside the Herculean Bull Tribe, Gasol’s fighting power was something deeply rooted in the minds. If Wales and Gasol kept fighting inside the tribe, then Wales would be the one to lose. Which was why Yale already planned to let Wales make more contact with other bull headed branch tribes. Zhao Hai’s appearance happened to give them a good opportunity.

nGrains was something all of the beastmen lacked. For beastmen, there was no such thing as too many grains, so Wales using grains to forge ties with Fighting Bull and Buffalo Tribes would be a right move.

nAfter thinking about this, Wales nodded, “I think I can do it. My sisters are in the Fighting Bull Tribe, so connections won’t be a problem. And you are part of the Buffalo Tribe, teacher, so there should also be no problems there. When we get out, I’ll discuss this with Zhao Hai.”

nYale nodded. He looked at the sky and said, “The outside should be ready by now, so let’s get out after a moment. Oh right, Zhao Hai let his people send some vegetables. Let’s go have a look.”

nWales nodded to that. For the beastmen on the prairie, fresh vegetables were definitely luxurious goods. Even the ruling tribe like Herculean Bull Tribe could not simply eat them. Wales assumed that what Zhao Hai gave them wouldn’t be more than things like magic radishes which could be easily stored, and thus paid them no mind.

nWales followed Yale out of the tent. It was now afternoon and the weather was fine. The 2 of them were dumbstruck the moment they came out of the tent, because they saw that more than a dozen of baskets were placed outside the tent. Each basket had a type of vegetable. The vegetables were rather common on the continent so Wales and Yale knew what they were. They wouldn’t be surprising. What surprised them was the fact that all of these vegetables were actually fresh. So fresh, it was like they were just plucked.

nThe 2 of them looked at each other and saw trembling in each other’s eyes. The reason why they came here was just as Meg guessed; They were here for a trial. This was something all the young higher ups of all beastmen had to experience. Wales was not an exception.

nGoing outside to roam wasn’t something others cared about, but there was a rule, which was one couldn’t bring more than 500 escorts. This was ordained in all of the beastmen tribes.

nThe reason why escorts were brought out during roaming was related to the situation on the prairie; Beastmen Prairie was simply too large and there were too many dangers. It would be very hard to survive on the prairie alone. In order ensure the safety of the young generation, they were allowed to bring escorts.

nYoung beastmen who came out to roam were often ones with prince-like identities. Those whose status was insufficient would usually have to get busy with their own tribes everyday with no time to spare. They started fighting battles with adults in the tribes since little. There was no need to take part in trials at all.

nIn other words, the ‘trial’ was actually something that allowed the next generation of the powerful people in the tribes to go out and see the world in order to shave off their noble attitudes.

nWales came to this place mainly to look at the human city in Iron Wall Fortress. Wales was still young and he didn’t participate in the previous war between humans and beastmen. Although there was Beast God City, there wasn’t a real stone-clad city, so Wales was always curious about the stone-clad cities of humans. He wanted to use the chance in his trial to look at a human city.

nAlthough Wales had never been to Iron Wall Fortress before, he still knew about the travel path. He knew well that from their current location, it would take several days of travel to get to Iron Wall Fortress, and that place couldn’t possibly produce these vegetables. In other words, Zhao Hai’s vegetables came from even further away.

nIt meant that these vegetables had made their way here for more than a few days at least. The fact that the vegetables could retain their freshness in these few days like they were just plucked was too surprising.

nYale looked at Wales but he said nothing. He turned to go back into the tent, and once inside, he spoke to Wales, “Wales, I think we will have to re-evaluate Zhao Hai’s strength.”

nWales nodded and then looked at Yale with incomprehension, “Why are those vegetables fresh, teacher? How did they keep them so fresh?”

nYale smiled slightly, “I’m guessing that he has a spatial equipment in his hands. Spatial equipments are things researched by human mages. This type of thing seals a subspace which can be used to store objects. Things stored inside the subspace can last much longer than outside. He probably has such a thing in his hands. I just never imagined that he actually used a spatial equipment to put vegetables.”

nWales too had heard of the scarcity of spatial equipments, but there were no such things in beastmen’s possession, so everything about them was simply told to him. He didn’t understand them enough.

nBut he thought that spatial equipments should be very precious as well. Otherwise, with so many of the human merchants travelling to the prairie, they wouldn’t have used wagons by now. Wouldn’t they rather use spatial equipments?

nWales’ eyes sparkled and spoke, “Teacher, doesn’t that mean Zhao Hai has a method that allows him to transport the grains from the human lands in a faster way? If that’s the case, I think it’s very likely that he has as many grains as he claimed.”

nYale nodded, “His strength seems impressive, but it’s still prudent for us to be careful. Although we’re not the most powerful tribe of all the beastmen races, our strength is up there. Even compared to battle tribes, us bull headed race can manage to stay in the competition. If it weren’t for some of the branch tribes dragging out feet, we would’ve already become a battle race. This strength would indeed make many people jealous. We can’t be certain we won’t be eyed by the human liars.”

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