My Kingdom Building Done Right!
Chapter 259: Food Served On A Silver Platter
After getting crushed for two consecutive days, the Darkmane Tribe decided not to attack on the third day.
Their warriors were exhausted, if not injured. For this reason, Troy had ordered them to go to the river to catch some fish, believing they needed to relax for a while to recover.
As expected, the anxious warriors felt relieved. At least none of them had to die today.
Meanwhile, Jafar and the tribe’s shamans were working on the dead at the rear of the camp.
With his special forces serving as guards, no one could approach them... or disturb whatever they were doing.
Troy had already given Jafar his blessing not to waste the resources, their fallen warriors, for they could still be used for this war.
But according to the shaman, it would still take him at least two days to incorporate his new warriors into his special forces.
Because of this, Troy decided to hold off all attacks for two days. With this, he focused on strategizing with his Elders and ordered his warriors to hunt for food to increase their food supply.
While this was happening, Yuni’s hawk, Rio, noticed movement several miles away from the Darkmane Tribe’s camp.
A group composed of over a dozen warriors, all riding on horseback, was observing the Darkmane Tribe from a distance using a telescope.
They had arrived a few hours ago. Yet, the only thing they had done so far was observe from a distance. After noticing that the war seemed to be on hold, these riders finally made their move and headed northwest.
Rio made sure to report these changes to Yuni, who then passed the message on to Leone.
"Can you guess which tribe those riders belong to?" Leone asked.
"No." Yuni shook her head. "They were all wearing robes that covered their bodies, so I couldn’t see their clothes."
Leone pondered for a bit. Since these riders came from the south, they must either belong to the middle-ranked tribes or the high-ranking tribes.
If they were from the middle-ranked tribes, they should know that their chieftains were currently in the Aslan Tribe.
Then again, their people should be on their way to evacuate to Eden because of the threat of the monster stampede.
Because of this, he could only assume that these unknown riders belonged to the high-ranking tribes.
But which tribe did they exactly belong to?
"Tell Rio to follow them," Leone ordered. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Yuni nodded and assured him that Rio would do its mission well.
After this discussion ended, Leone went to look for Hagen and Malik, who were currently relaxing on the balcony meant for gatherings outside their villa.
He shared the information with them, which made the two chieftains glance at each other.
"They headed northwest?" Hagen frowned. "The middle-ranked tribes are located there, right?"
"Indeed." Malik nodded. "Can you give us a clue about the clothes they are wearing? Maybe we can recognize their affiliation from that detail."
"They are wearing robes." Leone didn’t say that this information came from Yuni. Instead, he simply told them that Kael did some kind of divination and managed to see these things in his vision.
Of course, this made Hagen and Malik want Kael more and more. The more talented Kael was, the more precious he became in their eyes.
Anyway, since the young man couldn’t provide more information about the riders, there was really nothing that Hagen and Malik could do but make guesses.
Though after pondering for a bit, both chieftains eventually came to a conclusion.
"The Bonegnash Tribe," Malik said calmly. "They might be curious about how the war is progressing, so they sent their people to watch the battle from afar."
Leone had almost forgotten about the Bonegnash Tribe because they had been too low-key as of late.
He didn’t have any information about them, nor did he treat them as either friend or foe. They simply existed. Unlike the other tribes, they had made no move to reach out to the Aslan Tribe.
"Bonegnash Tribe..." Leone narrowed his eyes. "Understood. Thank you for this piece of information. I greatly appreciate it."
After bidding the two chieftains goodbye, Leone went to gather his vassals for a meeting.
"What do you all know about the Bonegnash Tribe?" Leone inquired.
His vassals glanced at each other before shaking their heads.
"We don’t really get a lot of chances to interact with the high-ranking tribes aside from the tribe gatherings in Eden," Kael replied. "If anything, we are more familiar with the middle-ranked tribes. Maybe Malcolm and Owen might know more about them since they once belonged to the Bloodtusk Tribe."
The Bloodtusk Tribe was a middle-ranked tribe.
They had dealings with the Darkmane Tribe. Since the Bonegnash Tribe was the neighbor of the Darkmane Tribe, it was very likely that the Bloodtusk Tribe had traded with them as well.
Malcolm was the first member of the Bloodtusk Tribe who sought shelter in the Aslan Tribe. After that, Owen, also known as the "Juggernaut", had led their people to the Aslan Tribe before the Darkmane Tribe absorbed the rest of the Bloodtusk Tribe.
A few minutes later, the two arrived and were briefed on the current situation.
"We had trades with the Bonegnash Tribe," Malcolm explained. "Their warriors are fierce, so it’s intimidating to interact with them."
"It’s even scarier when you hear the rumors about them. Apparently, they are cannibals," Owen commented from the side. "Of course, there’s no proof that they do practice such acts. However, even the Darkmane Tribe believes they carry out this practice in secret."
"Cannibals?" Leone didn’t like the sound of that. But since there was no proof that they actually did it, he was inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Malcolm and Owen shared what they knew about the Bonegnash Tribe and their chieftain.
"Actually, their chieftain, Osteon, is said to be a very wise and ruthless ruler," Malcolm stated. "He doesn’t hesitate to clash with the Darkmane Tribe, especially if the latter makes trouble within their domain.
"Although they are not enemies, I can very well tell you that they are certainly not allies. I believe that if the Darkmane Tribe showed even the smallest of openings, the Bonegnash Tribe would not hesitate to move to swallow them all."
Leone’s vassals glanced at their chieftain, prompting him to nod back in understanding.
Malcolm and Owen had no idea about what they had done to Darkmane City.
If the rumors were true, and the Chieftain of the Bonegnash Tribe Malcolm and Owen described was as wise and ruthless as they portrayed him to be, there was no way he would waste the opportunity Leone handed to him.
In simpler terms, now that the Darkmane Tribe had lost their home while their chieftain and warriors were in a campaign at a faraway land, the Bonegnash Tribe no longer had a reason to hold themselves back from eating the food Leone had served them on a silver platter.
The young chieftain pondered for a while after listening to Malcolm’s explanation, his fingers lightly tapping against the table in thought.
If his assumptions were correct, then the Darkmane Tribe might just find itself in a bigger mess than he had originally anticipated.
Should the Bonegnash Tribe decide to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Darkmane Tribe would find itself not only homeless but also facing another enemy waiting for them back home.
An enemy that wasn’t in any way weaker than them, who would have no trouble swallowing a weakened Darkmane Tribe that had lost the war against the Aslan Tribe.