CHAPTER 10: THE PROBLEM WITH THE CHICKEN TRIBE

In accordance with their traditions, the Chicken tribe held festive celebrations in our honor once the repairs and other similar matters were done. To perform that, the Eagle tribe had to ‘airlift’ several tons of food from Navaren, which—fortunately—Chief Gislaine was willing to provide.

However, if one would ask me, these celebrations were grossly unnecessary. I mean, we still got the unsolved problems about the food supply…and yet these chickens had the gall to celebrate.

“…”

Well, not that I could stop it anymore. These folks had just gone through a hard time, and I guess their spirits could be lifted with some festivities. Might as well enjoy it…

“I’m really concerned about the noise we’re making…” Ursura confided to me as the singing and dancing went on, “Don’t you think we’re too loud for the harpies to get attracted?”

“Ah, you need not worry about that, bear-woman!” it was Ruja who answered, “The harpies don’t mind the noise; it’s the smell of meat and blood that they are after!”

Hmm…so maybe that’s why most of the food that the Eagles brought to this village are fruits; the rest are grains.

“…”

Looking back, I guess it’s a good call for me to sell those fishes to Chief Gislaine, or we’ll be attracting an entire battalion of harpies on our journey here.

While the rest were in an elated mood, I silently excused myself from the revelry and went to the wooden palisades of the Chicken tribe village. I surveyed the entire place once again, searching for something. A few distances away, I could see the nearby hills, as well as some flocks of harpies flying around their nests.

I took out a stick and began writing on the ground before me.

“Hey!”

“!!!” I almost ruined the word I was writing. Turning around, I saw Ursura looking over my notes; she had a gleeful smile on her face.

“I surprised ’ya!”

“Yeah, and you almost ruined my notes.”

“Notes? Is this some human invention again?”

“Well, you could say that. Basically, what I have here are my notes regarding the harpies. I’m collecting information about those monsters.”

“Sounds like boring stuff.”

“But it could save this village.”

“How?”

“Well, you see, I’m observing the harpies’ movement and behavior. Even before we got here, I’ve been making notes in my mind about these creatures. And I’m listing them down right now.”

“Oooh…so what have you got there?”

“Ah, right, you can’t read these letters, no?”

“It’s not needed for hunting, see?”

“Heh, okay then. So far, I’ve noticed that the harpies are extremely territorial. I mean, look at those harpies over there. Even though they know we’re here, they just stay in that nest of theirs.”

“Eh? Then what will you call the harpies we killed when we first arrive here?”

“I’d say, those harpies must be looking for their food. You know, something like foraging, or hunting?”

“Oh…”

“Second, their pattern of fighting usually comprised flying up in the air and then diving at high speed to catch their prey. From that, we could form a way to counter their diving attacks.”

“Hmm…interesting.”

“And also, I heard Ruja say earlier that they are attracted to the smell of meat and blood. That’s another important piece of information.”

“I’d say, these notes of yours are helpful, especially to the Chicken tribesmen.”

“Indeed. That’s why I’m writing it down so that I can remember. We have no writing instruments around, so I had to improvise. I’ll copy it later.”

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There were six tribes under the Avinus: the Eagle, the Falcon, the Owl, the Pheasant, the Raven, and the Chickens. They were a warlike-people in the past, that formerly inhabited the land of what was now ‘The Enclave’. According to their oral history—narrated by the tribe’s elder, the humans and the Avinus fought two bloody wars for the control of the old Avinus lands.

Of course, it’s already a given who won those conflicts.

And so, being the defeated, the Avinus agreed with the humans to never wage a war against them ever again, and they (the Avinus) would give their lands to their conquerors. The ‘Enclave’ was a rich, beautiful land, and so it was an easy decision that it was the target of the first humans to come to Cherwind.

As for the Avinus, once evicted from their territory, they went around wandering for a while until they found these islands on the northwestern side of Cherwind.

Life was hard, and monster attacks were plenty. However, the Eagles established a foothold on the first island and from then on, they expanded throughout the entire archipelago, setting the migration of the rest of the Avinus tribes to this place.

For such feats, the Eagles were held to be the strongest among the tribes of the Avinus. As the one who helped the former, the fastest went to the Falcons, while the Owls were deemed intelligent. Also, just to complete the descriptions, the people of the Pheasant tribe were reputed to be the most beautiful among the Avinus, and the Ravens were a tribe most concerned about trade and commerce. In fact, they were the ones who operated the caravans before the Eagles were forced to close it down because of the harpies.

The Chickens? Well, they got the short end of the stick. The only thing they could ‘boast’, was their resiliency as a tribe. And for such primitive societies like these, ‘resiliency’ was not an exceptional trait; I mean, every tribe who wanted to survive to the next era should be resilient, anyway.

“…”

And yeah, I could confirm that they really were like chickens. For example, when I introduced to them the ‘demon weapon’ or matchlock pistol that I had…

“This weapon could end a harpy’s life in one hit,” I showed the gun to the curious Chicken tribesmen, “All you need to do, is to aim this at the harpy’s head, and pull this trigger over here.”

“Ooooh!” they clapped their hands in unison.

“To use this, you need to have the ends of the slow match lit,” I explained, “Put in the demon powder and this ball called ‘bullet’, ram it further inside the barrel, and…” I pulled the trigger, creating a loud explosion and generating a generous amount of smoke.

“!!!” At once, the Chicken tribesmen sprang up and ran away from me, with some of them even shouting in panic.

“What the fuck…?” was all that I could say. I didn’t know what to do. Fortunately, Minahaba came soon thereafter and calmed the villagers down.

“We’re sorry, human chief!” one of them told me, “But that weapon is scary!”

Well, alright. I guess a gun wouldn’t work with these people.

----------

So the next thing I did was to try teaching them how to fight using a sword. I had some dummy weapons made just for this purpose. And to raise the efficiency of the training, I also had my orphans take part.

However…

“Hup!”

“Hii!!!” the Chicken tribesman that I partnered with Luka for a practice sparring never had second thoughts. He dropped his dummy sword and scurried away, cowering behind the door of someone else’s house.

“What? I have done nothing yet!” Luka cried out as he turned to me, bewildered.

“Yep, I saw that. You’re all fine,” I told him. Indeed, the dog-boy had just put up his guard when the tribesman gave up and ran away. When I thought it was only a separate case…

“Aaaaahhh! She’ll eat me!”

Teviki’s sparring partner just ran past Luka and me. Turning to the little tiger-girl, she said to us, “But Teviki just yawned! Teviki doesn’t want to bite him!”

Ugh…this is becoming a headache.

----------

Also, there this another incident…

“Nooo! I don’t want to go!”

“!!!”

I was going around the village when I saw a Chicken tribesman creating a commotion. He was being pulled by a member of the Eagle tribe, and Gero and Taro were watching them.

“What happened?” I asked the two rabbit-boys.

“Ah, Chief!” Gero explained, “We’re just about to fetch water from the hill on the other side, and we asked some Chicken tribesmen to come along with us.”

“Yes, Chief! Just for additional help!” Taro added, “The other Eagles are busy manning the palisades, so we volunteered to help. But the Chicken tribesmen are afraid to come with us.”

Knowing that it was pointless to force the villagers to go, I intervened and asked the Eagle tribeswoman to let go of the other Avinus.

“But Chief Lawrence, all we’re requesting was an additional hand to carry more buckets of water,” the Eagle protested.

“Don’t you know how dangerous it is outside?” the Chicken tribesman cried out, “We Chickens can only fly low, unlike the rest of you!”

“We’re only asking for help. We’ll carry you with us so that you won’t have to go through the harpy territories.”

“We know you look down on the Chickens because we’re weak! But that is too much!”

“…”

The Eagle tribeswoman and I exchanged exasperated looks as the chicken-man ranted about him experiencing the various ‘horrors’ and ‘dangers’ encountering a harpy. I mean, I could understand his fears, but weren’t we all experiencing the same dangers too?

Not wishing to escalate this further, I took over, “Alright, since I’m free anyway, it’s me who’ll go with you and fetch water. Gero, Taro, please call the other orphans who are not busy.”

The rabbit-boys nodded and went on their way.

“It’s not like we’re not doing this for these Chickens…” the Eagle tribeswoman muttered.

“Ah, just let it go for now,” I could only give her a pat on the back, “I’ll do something about it in the future.

----------

Well, not all was bleak and hopeless.

As for the other improvements, I taught the Chickens, they accepted those well. Personal hygiene was the first since this place had no proper lavatory of sorts. So I proposed one was built.

Soon, we had a public lavatory up and running. The only problem was water, which was being supplied by the Eagle tribesmen who were with us. They would fly to that neighboring hill where the Chicken tribe sources their water and come back carrying buckets.

However, I noticed it was just a temporary and dangerous solution because the area around the other hill was infested with harpy nests. So I suggested we build water tanks so that the Eagle tribesmen won’t have to make that dangerous travel as often as they should. And the Chickens duly complied with my request. The next thing we knew, we had five working water tanks installed around the village.

Also, someone from among the Chickens added their own version of a faucet to those tanks. I was surprised when I saw their ‘faucets’; it made our trips to get water much easier.

“…”

I’d say, though they are reputed to be weak, these guys are quick-learners and good craftsmen and craftswomen.

The next improvement we built was a ‘hospital’.

You see, the Chicken tribe was the same as any Beastman tribe out there: once they’re in ‘heat’, they’d mate at any place, any situation, and any time. So, it’s not rocket science that the Chickens’ population grew, especially the number of their eggs. We set up ‘nurseries/hatcheries’ for their children to have a safe place to hatch, and trained people to serve as ‘nurses’, too.

“…”

And the doctor? Of course, Rishnu was the one I put in charge of that place. Though not as competent as my old world’s doctor, she’s really great at medical matters, see?

In a short time, the village of the Chicken tribe experienced a period of peace. Everyone was happy, and the population grew at a steady pace…

Speaking of population, the Chicken tribe’s food supply was stable…for now. The Eagles would send food to the village from time to time, since I asked Chief Gislaine for it, in exchange for learning how to fish. However, I’m quite concerned with the rate of our food being consumed.

There were now a greater number of children in the village than it was when we first arrived. Plus, the Eagles’ tribal army was affecting our food as well. We couldn’t let them go just yet, for they were providing the village its security from the occasional harpy attacks from the nearby nests.

If we don’t find a stable food source soon, I’m afraid the time will come that we will be back to square one.

----------

Because of the urgency of the matter about our food supply, I asked for an audience with the Chicken tribe elder, in his hut. I arrived just in time to see the Eagle tribesmen were about to leave back to their town. The Chief Habu was with them, watching the Eagles fly off.

“Err…you’ll let them go?” I asked Chief Habu.

“Ah, human chief! It’s good timing for you to be here. I asked the Eagles to return to their village for now, since the village is already safe.”

“Huh? Safe? What about the occasional harpy attacks?”

The Chicken tribe elder then pulled me aside and whispered, “Uh…I don’t think our food supplies could provide for all of us. So, even if I don’t like it, I have to send these folks away.”

“Ugh…I understand. Well, that’s why I requested to see you…”

“Chief Lawrence!” the captain of the Eagles came to me and bowed, “On behalf of my tribe, we really are in deep gratitude for teaching us how to fish!”

“Ah, it’s fine! You also helped us in saving this village, so I guess we’re even!”

“Even so!” he reiterated, “If you ever need our help, please don’t be afraid to come to us! The Eagle tribe will surely come to the aid of their friends.”

“Thank you! I appreciate that!” I waved my hand to say goodbye, “Take care on your way!”

The Eagle captain bowed once more and took flight, circling once—their way of saying farewell—before joining his comrades up high in the air, where the harpies won’t reach them.

“I’m really impressed…” it was Chief Habu, “You sure did make a good impact on the Eagles for them to do that kind of farewell.”

“Hm? That ‘circling around’ thing?”

The chicken elder nodded, “For us Avinus, it was a sign of extreme respect.”

“Oh…”

“Well, anyway, so much for the Eagles,” Chief Habu then gestured for me to come in his hut, “Let’s get to the point of this meeting, human chief! Though…is my sweet bear-woman around?”

“I’m sorry…” I could only smile.

“Damn…it’s a pity then.”

----------

In contrast to that Insetus-woman, Konka, Chief Habu was more ‘open-minded’ than her. He listened intently as we talked over my proposals to improve the village, as well as the lives of the Chicken tribe. I really enjoyed talking about the illustrations I did for the proposals (which I drew before I went to his place).

“While I do understand that the Eagle tribe may have their own problems thus stopping the trade,” Chief Habu began, “what happened to my tribe is good proof that we need to stand on our own. I wanted the Chicken tribe to be self-sufficient in their food and other needs.”

“That’s a good idea, Chief Habu!” I told him while presenting my illustrations drawn on parchments, “And I kind of expected this, so I prepared these to show you what should be done.”

The chicken-elder picked up one of the parchments, “This is?”

“That’s a plan for building a terrace farm.”

“Terrace farm?”

“Yes. Because this place was on a hilltop, there was little to no supply of water, and the slopes are unsuitable for crops,” I began to explain the points in the diagram, “So, the solution is to build terrace farms. The plan is basically, we’ll cut out flat areas on the slopes so that we can plant there.”

“Ah, it really looks like a terrace,” Yatoi commented.

“However, even if we made the flat areas, we still have problems with water supply,” I pointed that out. “I’m afraid our water tanks will not be enough to provide water for your village, and to your crops.”

“Yes,” Ruja reiterated, “And we’ll be back to crossing valleys and evading harpies just to get our water from the other hill nearby.”

“Well, for that, we have this,” I pulled another scroll and presented it before everyone, “This is an aqueduct. It’s a structure designed to bring in huge amounts of water from its source to this village.”

“Whoa! Really?”

“Yep! Once we built the aqueduct, we can also construct irrigation canals throughout this hill, solving the farming problems of this community,” I brought out a third parchment scroll, the one for the canals. “And, another good thing with this system is that the water comes in without someone operating it. Of course, you know what that means: less time going out is less exposure to danger, more specifically, the harpy flocks.”

“That’s great if we could do it!” Ruja exclaimed.

“Our food supply problems would be solved if we construct these!” Yatoi happily quipped.

“Hmm…” it was Chief Habu, slowly massaging his head, “I get it that those are great inventions, human chief! However, how do we build it?”

“For the aqueduct, if we wanted it to be sturdy, we’ll have to construct it using stones. The terrace farms, likewise, require stones for the terrace walls,” I explained the illustrations, “So we really need a quarry for these plans to work.”

“We got stone quarries if that’s your concern. And my kin knows how to dig through the earth,” the chicken-elder answered, “But then, we still have another problem…”

“Which is?”

Chief Habu, Yatoi, and Ruja cast doubtful stares at one another. Then, they all sighed, as if exasperated, and the chief told his son, “Ruja, can you show the human chief our tools?”

----------

The son of the chief of the Chicken tribe then showed me around the village—or what was left of it, starting with their ‘tool shed’.

“Here’s the state of our tools…if you can call those tools.”

The hut that they called their ‘tool shed’ was a dilapidated mess. The roof was gone, termites had been eating out the foundations and walls, and the contents—or what was left of it—were all rusty and broken.

“Those are actually iron tools we acquired from trade,” Yatoi continued the explanation of her brother, “When the trade caravans stopped coming, we had no other ways to use these, so we left it there.”

“Isn’t it you’re trading coal?”

“Yes, Chief Kuro. We used to trade coal until the mines were shut down because no one would barter with us.”

“Huh? So that’s the only item you sell? Is that even possible?”

“Well, as I said before, our lives depended on commerce. The humans would trade food, iron tools, and weapons to the Eagle tribesmen, who would send the raw resources to them. The Eagles would get those resources from us—like the coal, and we receive food and tools for the mines.”

“Can’t you just make your own tools and weapons?”

“We would like to, but, we lost the knowledge of metallurgy long ago. The Chicken tribe is the weakest among the six Avinus tribes, thus we don’t need to fight,” Chief Habu explained, “Our Avinus brothers were the ones protecting us, and we focused our lives in mining for them.”

Ruja added, “Also, the wooden tools and weapons we tried to make are not sturdy enough to be reliable.”

Ugh…this was the problem of an economy with a single income source. While it may be profitable in a short while, in the long run, it wasn’t viable. Just like this, what if the trade stopped? How would one community find an alternative source of income or supplies for themselves?

Well, it’s not like their woes would be solved by another item to trade. I mean, the economic activity between this land and the ‘Enclave’ virtually halted. I guess, not only should we tackle their problems about an economy with a single income source, but we should also help these people to be self-sufficient.

The terrace farming was one step. However, without proper tools, the Chickens could only dream. And since they lost the knowledge about metallurgy, it’d take time to teach them about that…

Nevertheless, it has to be done.

“Alright then, Chief Habu,” I clapped my hands, “Since we’re talking about it, how about I teach you about smelting and smithing iron?”

The chicken chief’s eyes were round in surprise, “Oh yes! You’re a human, and your people know how to turn iron ores into iron bars, right?”

“Yes!” Well, I’m not an expert blacksmith, but I did watch videos about smelting and smithing on Yo*tube when I was really interested in those topics. Hopefully, I could apply that knowledge here successfully.

“Well…I don’t know about that, but you see, we can’t do it!”

“Huh? Why not?”

“While we know how and where to get the iron ores, the mines were closed because of the harpies plaguing the path to those places. We can’t fight because we have no weapons to wield.”

“Alright, I’ll teach you to make weapons out of wood. Then we can try to clear the roads leading to the mines.”

“Wood? But isn’t that brittle against the harpies?”

“We can top it off with rocks, just to make it more lethal, you know, like a stone club?”

“The stones you’re talking about, human chief, are hard to find! And like wood, it’ll break after a few hits.”

“…” I took a deep breath. Somehow, I’m getting pissed with all the reasons being thrown at me. “Okay, if that’s the case, then we’ll make a lot of stone clubs. Your kin could bring several of those in battle, and my group will help you as well!”

“But the villagers are still weak from—”

“For goodness’ sake, do you want to do something about your tribe’s situation, or not?” I couldn’t help myself from keeping my voice down. “Because if you only plan and never try to do it, then it’s all worthless! If you’re content on watching your tribe die out, then you’re not even qualified as their chief!”

The elder of the chicken tribe and his children were taken aback by my reaction. A few awkward moments passed before Ruja could say something.

“Chief Kuro, I believe you’re stepping out of your limits! What can my father do? Our tribe is weak!”

“Says who?” I snapped at him, “Who’s the idiot who said that you’re a weak tribe? Tell me!”

Ruja fell silent.

“It was this way when we are born, Chief Kuro,” Yatoi answered for her brother, “The Eagles will always be the strongest, and the Chickens will always be the weakest.”

“And you’re content with that?” Goodness, I didn’t expect that this tribe’s problem is worse than I initially thought!

“Human chief…” the chicken elder then entered the talk, “…we cannot go against what the heavens decreed. Or we’ll earn the wrath of our Saint!”

“And isn’t it following that same Saint almost led to your tribe being wiped out?”

“What do you want us to do then, defy the heavens?”

I was taken aback when they raised the issue about ‘defying the heavens’. As I was raised in a deeply religious culture, I could somehow understand their fear of being punished for going against the mandate of their deity.

However, I don’t think the High King of the Gods intended for a people to suffer. And, really, what kind of a god will decree that one should live their entire life as a weakling and never improve? That’s bullshit!

“…”

Wait, Gaius was the former god of this land. If so, then did Gauis mean for it to be that way?

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***The Wessen Mountain Ranges, to the east of Cherwind***

After the disastrous battle for the refugee camps, Konka and her small retinue of Beastmen guards reached the new place where the refugees who escaped the human armies set another settlement. Unlike the first camp, this one was located high up the mountain passes, which could be easily defended by a small blocking force.

And it was here that the Insetus woman decided to rebuild her armies.

“Your Holiness…” it was the bear-man, Banu, who came before her with a proposal in front of her new tribal council, “…since we are in the Wessen Mountains, we could negotiate with my tribe living further up and join forces with them.”

“Ah yes, Banu, please do that,” Konka nodded, “We need every help we could get so that we could continue the struggle against Ruro.”

“That’s right, Your Holiness!” the elder of the tiger tribe, Chief Giyama, agreed. “We all know that the Ursus tribes are among the strongest Beastmen in this land!”

“Yes!” the other chiefs echoed Chief Giyama’s sentiments, “The Ursus, though divided, is second only to the Serpentinus! They’ll be a great addition to our forces!”

“It’s no doubt that Captain Banu will convince them! He’s an East Ursus like them!”

“Banu, please secure an alliance with them,” Konka instructed him, “Can you do it?”

“Yes…Your Holiness…” there was sadness in the bear-man’s voice.

“Banu? Is there anything wrong?”

“Your Holiness!” he began, “Is there no other way to fix our relationship with the Lord Kuro? His knowledge is a great addition to our armies—”

“Cease that talk, Banu!” Chief Giyama snapped, “Like all humans, that man can’t be trusted! He even dared to replace our Lady Konka as the leader of the faithful Beastmen!”

“Are you stupid, Giyama?” another tribe elder dissented, “You sure talk big, but where are your tigers when we’re being killed by the human armies? Only the Lord Kuro and his orphans helped us escape!”

“Those are just his ploy to get your trust, Chief Teru!” the tiger-chief reiterated, “And where is my army? Well, let me proudly say that we’re fighting side by side with the Lady Konka against the human armies and that accursed saint, Ruro!”

“Enough of this!” Konka finally entered the debate. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about humans, they are treacherous down to their bones! That Kuro is like his people, thus, we can’t trust him!”

“B-But—” Banu tried to air his protest, but…

“I would hear no more of that talk!” Konka demanded, “From henceforth, we faithful Beastmen would determine our future, far from the interference of the human scum! We’ll drive all of them away from this land, and kill those who’d remain!”

“There’s only one thing we should do with the humans!” Chief Giyama backed her up, “And that’s destroying every one of them!”

The tribal council erupted in an uproar. Though some were dissenting about what Chief Giyama had said, a great number of tribal elders supporting him drowned those who were against his suggestion.

“…”

The bear-man fell silent. Deep inside, he wished that no harm would come to his human friend.