Chapter 248

Watching his own prince appear out of thin air, enough to form a new tribe's elder heavenly group, the Sharp Fang Tribe's envoy was so shocked he almost dropped his cup.

After all, there's no need for them to introduce themselves; being able to field this many humans at once can only be that terrifying Pioneer group from the dungeon.

Sweeping scale armor, seizing the dragon god, challenging mercenaries, forcibly halting the great powers' struggles……This bunch of tough guys, any one of their experiences is absolute hard bone.

So the envoy didn't dare to shout at this infamous bunch, and could only hurriedly seek help from the banquet's host.

"This……Chief Ages, isn't this improper?"

Ages held a new liquor called whiskey and laughed heartily.

"Friend, what's improper about it? Our ancestors taught that having reliable family is a fortune; it seems your Highness's blessing is truly not small."

"Ah……"

Damn it, who said the bull-headed chief was honest and straightforward? Opening that big mouth is nothing but pure farting, isn't it?

Originally intending to shout a bit, to give the little prince a show of force on behalf of the priest, the envoy immediately lost his footing.

Could only lower his head and look to Ashli for help.

"Your Highness, may I ask what you think……"

But since the Pioneers could enter today's gathering, they naturally had already been in touch with the Iron Hoof Tribe and even Ashli herself.

And the veteran guard chosen by the Bat King as a rearguard, responsible for giving the little prince advice, certainly wouldn't be a mediocrity.

But precisely because he is smart enough, he knows that now they, having left the Tribe to reside outside, have in fact already lost their right to choose.

Having come to this, obstinate defiance brings no benefit; even if one wishes to launch proper action, one must await the right moment.

Thus they tacitly allowed the Pioneers to use Ashli's princely identity as a tiger's skin, forcibly extending their hand into the Sharpfang Tribe's chaotic, tense situation—an overreach.

Therefore the host allowed it, the master allowed it, and even if the envoy didn't allow it he had to, so he could only repeatedly bow, acknowledging this group of humans' senior status.

"That's how it is; we're clearly all one family—why fight and kill?"

The leading few players raised their cups to signal, and after another round of liquor went down their bellies, they spoke again.

"Right, you're not in a hurry to send Ashli home, are you? Why don't we see him off?"

But just moments ago, the envoy who had urgently and firmly demanded the little prince return home suddenly fell silent.

As long as the little prince exists, the first heir to the position of Sharpfang Tribe chief—or Bat King—will always be him, not some foreign priest.

This is also the fundamental reason why Bolina searches everywhere for Ashli, even dispatching an envoy to actively request the prince's return.

Since the plan to use the Bat King's lack of heirs to seize power in the chaos has failed, the best choice is to hurriedly bring the little prince back and install him as a puppet to slowly scheme.

But although their idea was good, the Pioneers' hand speed was absurdly fast, preemptively binding Ashli to their own chariot.

——Want to bully a kid, like the Dong Zhuo Grand Tutor story, right? Let's see if the Eighteen Towns United Army agrees!

Wait, Dong Zhuo hasn't even captured the Emperor Xian yet; the Emperor Xian is clearly in the players' hands, so they should be……

A certain widow who had just painfully killed her lover:!!!

"Actually, it's not that urgent, sir; we can rest a bit first!"

"Sir, to ensure the little prince Ashli's safety, we've really endured great hardship on this journey; we need to rest!"

"Oh dear, you see I'm really careless—I twisted my ankle, I need to take it easy, I really need to take it easy!"

Thus in an instant the offensive and defensive situation reversed; in order to wait for his messenger sent to deliver the priest's command to return, the envoy began constantly delaying.

But you Cao traitors, treacherous villains, evil rebels, rebellious scoundrels—your fists are clenched so tight you couldn't care about this little thought; you're practically dragging the envoy forcefully toward the Sharpfang Tribe.

"Ah……my fate is exhausted."

Those in the know said it was the little prince's family seeing him off in tears; those unaware thought they were preparing to launch an attack on the Sharpfang Tribe.

Actually there's not much difference……

"This kid brother's life isn't easy, folks; those who can should still see him off a bit further."

"Yeah, anyway we've already seen him off ten-some kilometers; seeing him off another ten-some kilometers is fine."

"Ah, looking at it, we've already gone halfway; might as well see it through and send him all the way home—then we elders can rest easy."

The Pioneers' and Ashli's heartfelt affection moved heaven and earth; whether the wrinkled-faced envoy group cried or not is unknown, but Bolina truly burst into tears from fright.

The highest-status Bat King died, the most powerful general died, and not a single heir eligible for succession remained……

Although it deviated somewhat from her original plan, her successful seizure of power in the Sharpfang Tribe remained unchanged.

After all, the affairs of state lie in sacrifice and war; now the only one who can stabilize the Tribe's situation is she, the priest who usually tends to ancestral rites and hosts grand gatherings.

Therefore, after sending subordinates to control the Tribe's major strongholds, Bolina summoned the Tribe's high-ranking members together under the pretense of an emergency meeting.

And after gaining the support of all the elders, she immediately produced her pre-prepared crisis solution—mercenaries.

Although the Deep Forest nobles' purpose in forming mercenary bands was plunder, indiscriminate plunder would only push everyone onto the opposing side.

In fact, over the long course of their colonial livelihood, the mountain mercenaries had already worked out a set of their own "lying flat" strategy.

Personally going out to seize people, though simple and convenient, easily provokes local collective retaliation, causing unnecessary turmoil—it's not a good plan.

But if you let the locals do the seizing for you, not only can you lie back and earn money; once the natives stir up trouble, you just need to tear off that black glove.

Ah! We can do it cleanly again, pull out another glove and keep eating!

And the Sharpfang Tribe's strength is neither too great nor too small—it happens to be just the spare glove in their plan.

Therefore, unlike other small tribes, the Bat people who haven't been bullied and have even been favored still have a decent impression of mercenaries.

Upon hearing Bolina's plan, there were only doubts about whether it could succeed, with no other objections.

But behind all this, it's actually a conspiracy between Bolina and Sheldon; how could the mercenaries possibly not act?

In fact, they had already prepared a batch of food, just waiting for this opportunity to fiercely boost the Sharpfang Tribe's favorability.

However, on the surface it was still Bolina who proactively dispatched a delegation to the mercenaries' camp for negotiations.

After receiving the mercenaries' extremely enthusiastic hospitality and their selfless goodwill, this group of Bat people, with music and celebration, happily brought the food back to the Tribe.

To the Tribe members unaware of the circumstances, this was nothing short of a timely aid in the snow—an immense favor.

For the clan members who were unaware, this was nothing short of a great kindness and virtue akin to giving charcoal in the snow.

Therefore, the mercenaries who are usually despised by people have received VIP-level treatment; if it weren't too abrupt, they could probably be promoted several generations and become godfathers to many small bat people.

With this connection, no one would oppose whatever cooperation Bolina wanted to reach with the mountain mercenaries.

Even if someone finds it abrupt, someone thinks they'll suffer a loss, but having eaten others' grain, they can only lower their heads and stay silent.

But just as Bolina and the mercenary leader escorting the grain were holding a closed-door discussion on how to divide the tribe's interests, the messenger sent by the envoy returned to the tribe.

"No good! No good! Report to the Priest, Prince Ashley has been detained by the Pioneers!"

"Ah!"

The first to cry out in alarm wasn't Bo Li Na, whose fun had been ruined, but the mercenary leader stuffing his face with meat.

Actually, the fact that the Pioneers were capturing mercenaries had already quietly spread throughout the camp.

But since no one has yet managed to escape back successfully, nobody knows why they abducted the mercenaries.

And among this bunch of rough fellows, most of them usually like to brag and make up vulgar jokes to amuse the prostitutes.

Now that this has happened, rumors naturally spread everywhere, with countless possibilities fabricated…

Under these circumstances, the mercenary leader took a few henchmen out to raid, but he barely escaped capture by the Pioneers, thanks only to his good luck.

After finally regaining the courage to leave the camp, he was thinking of carrying out the easy task Captain An De Lu had assigned him to enjoy himself, only to run into this!

But it's all right; he's just jumpy. According to the messenger, the Pioneers are still wrangling in the Iron Hoof Tribe, so they can't come for now…

Oh no! Oh no!

To prevent any mishap, using the bat people's high mobility, Bo Li Na placed scouts far from the Tribe.

Thus, before that messenger had flown far with his orders, another bat person came flying back in panic.

Report, Priestess, there are several hundred… no, several thousand! Several thousand Pioneers have kidnapped the envoy group and are coming with weapons!

The Sharp Tooth Tribe isn't lacking qualified scouts, but this group of the general's direct lineage at least won't be trusted by Bo Li Na now.

So the bat person she sent out is just an ordinary laborer from the rites department, utterly incapable of making a rough headcount or scouting the situation.

Just seeing from afar a large group of humans heading this way, among them several bat people with worried faces, frightened him so much he didn't dare take a second look and hurried back.

Before he could finish speaking, the bald, big-bearded man jumped up in fright.

Damn, they really came!

I heard they especially like strong, burly mercenaries; I absolutely can't stay here, or else… I'm done for!

His teeth chattering, he covered his rear, and in a flurry he tried to leave.

Seeing this, even Bo Li Na, who was still using her advantage to sustain a fever, looked dazed; she hadn't expected that the mercenary leader, who had just been strutting proudly, would be frightened into this state.

He was about to guarantee the other's safety and emphasize the Sharp Tooth Tribe's self-defense capability as an ally, but he saw the other party already leaving without looking back.

And although his few mercenary subordinates weren't in the secret room, they were also busy enjoying themselves, eating well and drinking spicy food in the Tribe, living it up.

If it weren't for the bat people's rodent-like heads being genuinely scary, they'd be ready to cause trouble and experience some exotic foreign charm.

Therefore, upon seeing the mercenary leader burst in, the first thing he said was.

Boss, why do we have to leave? Everything's fine!

In return, he got a hard elbow from the big guy.

The big one's coming! The big one's coming! Don't waste time, hurry up and run with me!

Yet the players could still swagger over, knowing the Sharp Tooth Tribe had scouts outside, naturally because they'd made full preparations.

The mercenary squad's clever escape plan played right into their hands; they hadn't gone far before being caught on the spot by the Iron Bow Wolf Riders who had been deployed ahead of time.

Watching the iron-clad, towering man with a giant bow approach him after he'd been shot down, the mercenary leader burst into tears, weakly clutching his fists.

Sir, could you be gentler?

Big sweat:???

All that can be said is that although the Iron Bow Wolf Riders are newly formed, their tough behavior of fighting mercenaries above and pillaging below has already made their name known far and wide.

Facing this bunch of mercenaries scared witless, they had quite the effect of a tiger's roar shaking a thousand miles, like the jade-eyed dream of Jiang Dong that startles.

They didn't need any violence at all, just spilled the information they knew like pouring out beans.

It might not be complete, there's no direct evidence that the Sharp Tooth Tribe's priestess participated in the rebellion, but her earlier collusion with mountain mercenaries is solid.

Looking at the reports and inferences submitted by the Pioneers, A Shi Li asked doubtfully.

Guard grandfather, how could the priestess aunt be like this? She isn't the gentlest woman in the Tribe?

The old guard could only let out a long sigh.

Power corrupts the heart……

Besides the evidence, this intelligence haul also gave the players a perfect pretext to raise troops and demand accountability.

Thus they nonstop, directly surrounded the Sharp Tooth Tribe, which had rock walls on two sides—though easy to defend and hard to attack, there was no escape.

Bo Li Na originally still wanted to hold out, waiting for the mercenaries to return to camp with reinforcements, giving herself a chance to turn things around.

But seeing the bald, big-bearded man and his few henchmen timidly shoved to the front by the Pioneers, she felt she might faint.

But even so, she still displayed the madness of a power-seeker.

Before the Pioneers could speak, she raised the symbol of the priestess's authority, hysterical, loudly stirring up.

Look, they've ambushed our friends, and now they want to take our food.

However, the players had already figured this out; even A Shi Li, who had stepped out of the ranks, was preemptively given a voice-amplifying spell by them.

She's lying!

Tribespeople, I am Prince A Shi Li; please hear me out before deciding how to act!

Even if the general and the priestess try to weaken the bat king's influence openly and covertly, as his sole heir, the tribespeople still prefer to listen to him.

And with the old guard's help, A Shi Li, who had long been drafting his speech in his chest, smoothly displayed his most important talent as a noble—oration.

He laid out facts and reasoned, and although he didn't directly point his spear at Bo Li Na, every word implied her betrayal.

Bo Li Na's occasional rebuttals he perfectly caught, kneading them into shells and firing them back.

Then the bat people fell silent, but people's loyalties had already begun to shift.

The players stared at each other, thinking, "This kid really is a damn talent!"

And just like in every internet argument, the ending is often one side breaking down.

Unfortunately, Polina's clown ending was especially amusing, because she accidentally stepped into Ashley's language trap.

"I couldn't possibly be the murderer of the bat king; I was outside personally listening to him give his last words—how could it be me!!"

Ashley: "Ah? Didn't you say that when you arrived you just happened to see my father the king killed by the general?"

"I..."

Polina (breaking down): "Ah!!!!!"