Chapter 21: Blue Daybreak

Lakrak had been thinking he should slowly begin practicing with moving targets. He thought of the trick Owen had taught him before.

‘Before releasing the bowstring, hold your breath and look directly at the target.’

It was hard for Lakrak to understand at first, and he thought it was a fake trick.

It only took a moment to let go of the bowstring, and in Lakrak’s opinion, the advantage of the bow was that it could be quickly pulled and released, thus allowing a fast shot.

However, this trick that Owen taught him applied when aiming at moving targets far away.

Lakrak let go of the bowstring. The arrow released from the bow passed through both of Shunen’s ankles, and Shunen fell to the ground in an unsightly manner.

“Aak!”

The grayish-brown Lizardmen who were waving their bloody wooden clubs around in search for a target to take revenge on heard Shunen’s scream.

“There’s Shunen!”

“Take his skin off while he’s alive!”

“Take his intestines out!”

“Keep him alive until we take his brain out!”

Shunen soon went through everything the Lizardmen had threatened to do to him.

As Lakrak watched everything happen, he snapped the bow in half with his knee and threw it on the ground.

“Why break the bow…?”

“I’m sorry I broke your gift, Owen.”

“That’s not what I meant. I just asked because it was a good bow that could be used for a long time.”

Lakrak shook his head.

“We can always make another bow. Until we find a better way to make bows than they did, we’re going to use the back tendons of the Frogmen to make bows in the meantime.”

“Lakrak… There's no need for that. There are plenty of bows already made by them…”

“No. You taught me a trick to shoot well, Owen, so let me repay you.”

Lakrak reached out his hand to Owen, who was lying on the ground. Owen hesitated to grab Lakrak’s hand several times.

“What’s the matter?”

“...I have too many sins.”

“Owen, hold my hand now, when you have the chance to make things right.”

Owen’s cold heart filled with warmth. He now knew that the world could indeed change and decided to kill the trickster inside of him that day.

‘I will live the rest of my days with my forgiven sins.’

Behind the burning Frogmen village, a blue dawn broke.

***

Many Frogmen had died, but there were more Frogmen who had run away, and Lakrak guessed there were about more than one thousand of them. There was a limit to how many Frogmen the thirty warriors and grayish-brown Lizardmen could kill in one night.

Lakrak kept in mind the possibility of Frogmen wandering around the area and gathering to make a comeback. So Zaol suggested an idea.

“Even if it’ll take some time, it’ll be best to destroy all the huts. We should also have our warriors routinely scout around the lake so that the Frogmen can’t come near.”

Zaol’s words worried Lakrak.

“The lake is wider than we thought. There are warriors among those who ran away, and our warriors will get tired if we do as you said.”

Zaol was about to agree with Lakrak when Owen suddenly said, “No, they won’t wander around the area for too long. If we destroy the huts, many of the Frogmen will leave the lake before your warriors start to feel tired.”

“Why?”

“If the Frogmen stay out of water for a long period of time, they start to lose their shiny skin and become dry. They’ll have no other choice but to be satisfied with the little streams or puddles for now, but the only place to soak their whole bodies around here is the lake. Since they can’t take the risks and come to the lake every time, they will eventually leave to find another place with water.”

Lakrak checked to see if what Owen said was right. And some Frogmen did frequently appear for a few days, but as the Lizardmen warriors wandered around scouting the area, and the Frogmen huts were completely destroyed, most of them left as they no longer wished to stay. There were of course some Frogmen that stayed around the lake in small units avoiding the Lizardmen warriors. They either stayed because they couldn't afford to leave, or they were still attached to the village or harbored resentment towards the Lizardmen.

Lakrak thought it would be okay to leave them there, but Owen questioned it.

“Why don’t you chase them all away?”

“They are now hardly a threat. They don’t even attack us often. And on the other hand, we need them to make our bows. At least for now.”

Owen was terrified that Lakrak now thought of the Frogmen as nothing but bow making material, but there was another thing he had been wondering about.

“You should capture them and enslave them. It’ll be easier to make bows that way,” said Owen.

“I won’t do that.”

“Why not?”

Lakrak looked at Owen in disbelief. Then Owen took some time to think about it and answered his own question.

“Is it because the Frogmen have ultimately been defeated?”

“Yes. We stuck to our way of doing things and they stuck to theirs, and in the end, we won. It would be nice and convenient if we enslaved them. That might even be our justifiable right since we fought and won. However, we’ve already seen them become weak once, so we can’t do that again.”

“Alright.”

Owen realized it wasn’t simply because the god Lakrak believed in was strong.

‘Lakrak was still going to fight the Two-Headed Fiend even if his god wasn’t there to help him. He would have fought even if there was no Miracle, and he would have done so even if he wasn’t the tribal chief or a warrior. The courage he has to fight may be the reason why he is who he is today.’

Lakrak not only tried to cautiously approach the Frogmen, but he did the same with the grayish-brown Lizardmen. To Lakrak, it seemed that the grayish-brown Lizardmen had also been ruled by another tribe. Even though they had warmed up to the other Lizardmen, they still were a bit wary toward Lakrak’s tribe as a whole once their desires for revenge had calmed down.

‘Is it because they’ve experienced the horror of being controlled by a bigger group?’

To Sung-Woon, it seemed that Lakrak wanted to protect the grayish-brown Lizardmen and were welcoming them into their fold.

‘But this is different from what happened with Beauer. It’s their first time seeing this tribe. They also have about two hundred Lizardmen, which is quite a lot. Not to mention their culture is very different. And in addition to that, they have an experience of being tricked by simple courtesy. Then what method can be used to take them in?’

Lakrak also seemed deeply troubled about how to go about it, but surprisingly, the answer came from the grayish-brown Lizardmen themselves.

While he was leading a scouting party, Lakrak passed by the grayish-brown Lizardmen who began to settle down into their new homes and saw a young Lizardman come running towards him. It was likely that the child had also been trapped on the island. However, Lakrak, who didn’t know how to handle children, became nervous when all of a sudden the child handed Lakrak a wooden statue from behind his back without saying a word and left.

“That young fellow. How rude to the tribal chief… Should I go get him?” asked a warrior, ashamed as Lakrak stared at the wooden statue.

“It’s beautiful.”

“What?”

“It’s a carved statue of our guardian.”

“Oh.”

The wooden statue was Sratis. It was carved with a chisel made out of metal, so it was very detailed.

“By the looks of it, whoever made it must have practiced many times. I’m not sure if that child made it or if someone else did, but there should be more wooden statues somewhere around this village…”

“Should I get someone to look for them?”

“Yes. If someone wants to exchange them for something, use my share of wealth to pay and exchange them. It’s okay to take a partial loss. I wish to have more of these objects.”

“I’ll tell them so.”

The wooden statue of Sratis became expensive just as Lakrak wished. Even those of Lakrak’s Clan who thought it was beautiful had to pay the full price to get a hold of one.

***

While the grayish-brown Lizardmen were getting help from Lakrak’s Clan, the ones who were tired from rebuilding the village began to do more deeds of goodwill as they started to have a decent amount of food.

Sung-Woon understood what was happening.

‘Of course. The grayish-brown Lizardmen have become more relaxed with Lakrak’s Clan due to the profit they’re making from selling wooden statues to them. But that doesn’t mean Lakrak is at a loss.’

This was because the wooden statues of Sratis that were being made had become a source of Faith points and Divinity XP for Sung-Woon. As the value of the wooden statues went up among Lakrak’s Clan, making them and praying to them became a way for the Lizardmen to cultivate their faith in their Blue Insect God.

[Your Divinity level has increased!]

[4 → 5]

[Your Faith Points have increased!]

[492/500 → 730/2000]

‘In terms of progress, things are going pretty fast.’

The Lizardmen quickly got along with each other thanks to the wooden statues of Sratis. Small families more frequently invited other families to their homes, and other interactions took place as well. Lakrak’s warriors would teach the younger Lizardmen how to hunt, and the grayish-brown Lizardmen who were familiar with the surrounding forests in return told them about the places where medicinal herbs grew.

***

Soon after, a big festival was held. It was to celebrate the complete destruction of the Frogmen’s village and the restoration of the grayish-brown scaled Lizardmen’s village by the lake.

At the festival, Lakrak’s Clan prepared the meat of the Two-Headed Fiend, and the grayish-brown scaled Lizardmen prepared fermented fruit liquor. The smoked serpent meat was cooked with various spices from the forest to get rid of the bloody smell, and those who tried fermented liquor for the first time were surprised at the sour taste and soon became drunk.

The Lizardmen praised the Blue Insect God and talked about the viciousness of its guardian. They also talked about the weakness and cowardice of the Frogmen. The conversations turned into songs, and the Lizardmen who started out as mere acquaintances hugged each other and raised their voices singing to a repeated rhythm.

Lots of lovers were made that day.

***

Lakrak shot the head of a Frogmen that was tied up and rotting. He had used it as a target for a long time.

Then he stayed still for a while. Zaol, who was watching from behind him, asked, “Is there something bothering you?”

“I was just wondering if this is the best we could do.”

“Well, it at least shoots as far as the bows the Frogmen used.”

“We’re stronger, and we can also pull the bows harder, but we can’t risk breaking them.”

“I understand. But the bows the Frogmen made were the best that can be made within this forest.”

“Hm. That’s true,” Lakrak said as he nodded. “Then I guess we can’t just stay in this forest.”

“...That’s not only to make a better bow, right?”

“Yes.”

Lakrak had learned from the star catcher that this mountain area would become very cold once winter came. The Lizardmen would become physically weaker, but they could endure the winter by making fires and wearing leather. However, the buffaloes that Lakrak’s Clan had were the problem. Lakrak knew water buffaloes of the wilderness would go to warmer places to avoid the winters, where there would still be grass.

‘Then a few of us will have to leave to raise the water buffaloes.’

The water buffaloes had already given birth once and were adjusting well. As time passed, the herd would get large and become a long-term food source for the Lizardmen, just as Yur had initially envisioned.

Lakrak was thinking about something when he suddenly came to an idea to make better bows.

“Lakrak.”

Broken out of his reverie, Lakrak turned to the voice that called him. It was a Lizardman with a Frogman skull on their head, but Lakrak knew who it was just by their voice.

“Owen.”

There had been no warriors among the grayish-brown scaled Lizardmen, but there definitely were some who had the qualities to become one. Lakrak tested and selected them himself, and Owen was one of the Lizardmen who became a warrior after going through several tests. Owen’s scale began to turn black and shiny faster than the others, as if he was meant to become a warrior.

These new warriors insisted on using Frogmen skulls rather than buffalo skulls, and Lakrak gladly allowed it.

“What is it?”

“Not long ago, a small Frogmen group was seen wandering around here, and you ordered us to track them down, didn’t you?”

“Yes, and?”

“We were tracking them and found the cave they were hiding in. It takes about half a day to get there from the lake. We killed all of them without much trouble, but the cave was a bit strange.”

Lakrak showed interest.

“Strange in what way?”

“As we went into the cave, we noticed there was another entrance that seemed to have been carved out. I’m not sure how they carved the hard rock…”

“I’ll have to check it out myself. Did you go into the entrance?”

“No. I thought it was something we should tell the tribal chief about first.”

“Good.”

Lakrak took Owen and Zaol and went down to the village. Lakrak thought it was something worth checking out, but Sung-Woon already knew what it was.

‘It’s an ancient ruin. Is it okay to go in already?’