Chapter 16 Conditions

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The black-and-white kobold in front of him didn't look ferocious. From a distance, it resembled a standing husky, looking rather silly and cute.

In fact, when the entire kobold tribe didn't bare their teeth and glare menacingly, they all looked quite docile. Most of them resembled golden retrievers, while a few oddly-shaped and muscular ones were a bit like pit bulls.

After all, they were kobolds, not ferocious species such as ogres or gnolls.

Looking at the black-and-white kobold in front of him, Leo thought for a moment, smiled, and firmly said, "No way!"

The black-and-white kobold - let's call it the Husky Kobold for now - immediately showed a fierce look in its eyes, bared its fangs, and let out a threatening growl.

The Golden Retriever Kobolds and Pit Bull Kobolds behind it also began barking.

Leo quickly said, "Don't need food. We don't want your home. We're a peaceful race!"

The Husky Kobold was stunned. It composed itself and grunted, "We don't believe it. Your smile is sly. Humans are sly. Your Common Tongue is bad."

Leo quickly regained his serious expression and said earnestly, "Trust us. We're a peace-loving race. We can trade. Exchange your iron for our food. Your home is still yours."

The Husky Kobold hesitated. It turned around and looked at its tribesmen. A group of Golden Retriever Kobolds also stood there, undecided.

On the contrary, a few Pit Bull Kobolds with obvious battle-crazy traits still bared their teeth and growled softly, ready to fight at any moment.

Leo wasn't to be outdone. He leaned his neck forward a bit and slapped his hand on the major artery in his neck.

A few Pit Bull Kobolds stared at his neck, then their gazes shifted to the flail hanging on his waist. They all let out "whimpers" and retreated back into the group.

Obviously, they couldn't defeat this peace-loving human.

Seeing that he couldn't convince them, Leo turned to the militiamen and said, "Hand over all your provisions!"

Because they didn't know the distance to the kobold lair before setting out, Ulyan had distributed two days' worth of dry provisions to each militiaman in case of emergencies.

The provisions for fifty people for two days, piled together, were no small amount.

Leo threw the collected provisions into the pile of acorns. As the hard bread scattered everywhere, there was immediately a series of swallowing sounds from the kobold group.

Leo pointed at the provisions and said, "We'll exchange food for your iron. We can coexist peacefully."

"You can also see that we came here just to farm and don't want any fights."

"You farm, we get iron." The Husky Kobold grunted softly and fell silent.

When it looked up and was about to agree to this harmless proposal, Leo added, "However, I have a small condition."

"Arf?"

"You have to send at least twenty cubs to our settlement camp to learn our language. Only by keeping communication can we keep the peace."

The Husky Kobold bared its teeth again. "Humans are sly. We'll leave. Kobolds will never be slaves! Arf!"

"Accommodation and meals are provided. Adult kobolds can also go, and there's no limit on the number. You can come and go as you please." Leo played his trump card.

As he said this, the kobolds' eyes immediately lit up, like a group of golden retrievers spotting food.

"If you can't accept my conditions, then we'll have to ask you to leave here."

Finally, after some whispering among the Husky-like Kobolds and Golden Retriever-like Kobolds, they eventually agreed to Leo's demands.

Kobolds have extremely strong reproductive capabilities. On average, a litter gives birth to four or five cubs. As long as there is enough food and nutrition, kobolds can reproduce all over the place.

Moreover, kobolds grow extremely fast. It only takes three years for a kobold cub to grow from birth to adulthood.

This small kobold tribe in front of them has lived for generations at the source of the Anzerno River's upper reaches, surviving by hunting small prey, fishing and gathering.

Their main sources of food, apart from the rats in the mine caves, are the acorns in the oak forest on the south bank of the Anzerno River and the pine nuts in the red pine forest on the north bank.

Don't expect these small ethnic groups, whose intelligence is lower than that of primitive people, to have any sense of crisis.

During the summer and autumn when food is abundant, they carefreely dig mines and forge iron. When food is scarce in winter, they can only hide in the caves, endure hunger, and watch as one cub after another starves to death.

When they discovered that these humans had entered that sacred gathering area, a conflict naturally arose.

Now, as the defeated party, the kobolds were mentally prepared to be ripped off. Come to think of it, sending twenty cubs out as hostages doesn't seem like a bad idea after all.

If they don't agree to the conditions and choose to migrate in this winter, most of the cubs will probably starve to death on the way.

Moreover, in the future, they can exchange iron ore for food and no longer have to go out every day to look for food. Everyone can happily dig mines!

The conditions Leo offered were simply too tempting. Many Golden Retriever-like Kobolds didn't want to leave their homeland.

Hundreds of years ago, the kobolds in the Northern Region were a vassal race of the Orc Race. North of the Anzerno River, their figures could be seen everywhere. There were countless kobold settlements in the Wolf-Driving Plain (a plain name in the story). They had a mature clan culture, shamanic teachings, and spell inheritances. They even built a kobold city.

However, after the human clans on the south bank of the Anzerno River joined the Atlantis Empire, bringing with them the powerful imperial cataphracts and heavily - armored elite infantry, and driving the Orc Race into the northern snowfield, the kobold culture also disappeared into thin air.

Most of the kobolds died or were enslaved during the war. The remaining ones, like other vassal races, scattered as they fled into the vast primeval forest, and settled at the southeastern foot of the Grand Barrier (a geographical feature in the story).

Hundreds of years have passed, and these small tribes have degenerated to the primitive people stage, living a life like that of savages.

All along the southeastern foot of the Grand Barrier lie these small alien tribes, cautiously eking out a living in the hidden corners on the fringes of human society.

Only when the tribe grows so large that it can no longer support the increasing population will they launch assaults on nearby human villages.

Ulyan (a person's name) was stationed at the Western Watchtower back then. Nominally, it was to maintain a millennium - long vigil for guarding against dragon attacks, but in reality, the main enemies were these small alien races.

To some extent, the kobolds have always hoped to return to hundreds of years ago and become a vassal of some powerful race, obtaining a little living space. It would be best if they could freely dig mines and forge iron.

Here's a joke: Kobolds will never be slaves!

But unfortunately, humans simply don't take them seriously. The first thing that comes to their mind when they see kobolds is how to exterminate them, drive them away, or capture and sell them for money.

Even those adventure groups newly entering the wilderness like to pick on kobolds to train their combat abilities.

The Husky Kobold, along with nine golden-furred kobolds and twenty furry kobold cubs, followed Leo onto the mountain path leading to the River Bend Settlement Camp.

The kobolds aren't lacking in language talent. Half of them can speak a few words of the Imperial language. However, even so, they don't have enough courage to go to the human settlement camp. So, they can only be led there personally by their new chief, the Husky Kobold.

Twenty vigorous young villagers each carried ten baskets of iron ingots and ten baskets of selected iron ores on their backs.

Although they're called iron ingots, they can actually still only be considered a pile of scrap iron. These are pieces of spongy iron obtained by kobold blacksmiths through the primitive method of smelting iron in underground caves. They look like dirty and deformed black sponges.

The roughly processed spongy iron has a rough texture and is full of impurities, but it's soft enough and very suitable for forging.

The Husky Kobold explained that one piece of such spongy iron can be forged and processed by a kobold blacksmith over ten days to make an iron spearhead or an iron pickaxe.

Every adult kobold is given a small iron pickaxe so that they can happily mine for minerals and search for the shiny things in their hearts.

Every kobold warrior gets a hunting iron spear, which is the javelin the militiamen are using at this moment.

These iron tools made with the most primitive iron-smelting technology are still formidable weapons in the wilderness and the magic weapon for the kobolds' survival. They enable the kobolds to hunt prey of similar size, cut down trees, mine ores, drive away wolves, and defend their homes.

Looking at the baskets of spongy iron and iron ores, as well as the bags of dried fruits earlier, Leo couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"Where did you get your baskets and linen bags?"