Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 62: The 3rd Tribe

"There! Up ahead. You see?" Gravana said, pointing in front of them.

Alchemy and Nera both saw what was ahead of them but couldn’t determine what it was. The prior of the two squinting her eyes as if that’d change anything.

Ahead of them was a bizarre sight of numerous large hills that had been carved into. It was unclear if some animal made them or if Mother Nature somehow created them.

What was more curious was that behind those hills was a giant wall that stretched far above the trees. If not for the fact that it moved in place with a wave-like motion, it’d appear to be no different than colored glass.

"What... Exactly am I looking at?" Alchemy questioned.

"Oh! That’s the border. Are we heading into the second layer?" Sapphire chimed.

"Good eye! Indeed! Our training destination will be right inside the second layer! Now that I think about it, aren’t you from the Blanc Deer tribe?" Gravana answered with a smile, surprised that Sapphire knew what it was.

"I was... Before Master Alchemy came and picked me up." Sapphire painfully recounted her abandonment.

It didn’t help that Gravana’s wolves were the reason for that entire fiasco.

"Ah, so that’s what that was." Nera hummed.

"What do you mean, Nera?" Alchemy asked again.

"That wall thing. It was in the memories of my brothers and sisters. It seems they didn’t report it because it was far enough away not to be an immediate issue. They thought reporting potentially unnecessary information before we got our bearings would hurt more than help." Nera explained.

Alchemy raised an eyebrow as the cogs turned in her head.

"Is that where those bears live? Oh my, they weren’t joking about that?"

As Alchemy spoke, a system notification came up.

|<Notice: Another hour has passed. Draining Divine Power>|

Their running speed was on the lower end of what they could manage, thanks to Sapphire having a low Strength stat, but

When the Thornskirmishers reported that there were bears 50 kilometers out, Alchemy thought they were lying for whatever reason. Perhaps so she didn’t try interacting with them before she was strong enough, or some other reason, but she didn’t believe them for a moment.

"How did they manage to get so far out without getting eaten by that bird? How did they manage to..."

Alchemy looked at Nera, but the insect could only shrug.

{Their memories of that time are a blurry mess. Nothing concrete could be gathered.}

That was worrying. If even Nera didn’t know, then that could pose a serious problem.

’I’ll look into it at a later date.’ Alchemy sighed. They had things to do today.

"You’re well informed. Now that you mention it, actually. I don’t know what a kilometer is, but it’s a distance measurement, right?" Gravana finally took his turn to ask the question.

"Yeah, why?"

"These folks, the Ore Dwellers as they call themselves, are the same distance from your little area as my area is to yours. Same thing with those monkeys. All 3 of us are surrounding you in a symmetrical crescent."

’Really, system? Is this also a bug?’ Alchemy mocked the system.

|<This is news to us as well. This entire forest might be a bug.>|

’Might? Could you at least be a LITTLE reassuring?’

"Why am I not surprised," Alchemy sighed.

"Anyway, let’s discuss the general plan before we reach our destination," Gravana said, to which the rest nodded.

"I’ve had a deal with the Ore Dwellers since their current matriarch gained her position. Since they rest on the border of the first and second layers, there are quite a number of mindless monsters who attack them. Unfortunately, they don’t have much fighting strength, so I come down to help clear out whatever dangers appear. As a reward, they gave me the strong rocks that I gave you."

’Hmm? Gravana had the same idea as me.’

Alchemy had also thought about creating an amicable relationship with the Ore Dwellers, but she wasn’t sure what to offer them. Protective services wasn’t something she thought of, but if Gravana wasn’t already doing it, she’d certainly monopolize.

With how quickly she could produce, she could create entire armies to protect them.

"First, we’re going to greet them. After that, they’ll most likely give us an area to look around or patrol. Anything that could pose a danger to them will need to be eliminated. Last, we’ll come back and negotiate our reward. For now, we’ll do a 60-40 split in my favor. Does that sound good?" Gravana continued to talk.

’Huh. It’s like a quest... Are you going to be outdone by a bunch of bears, system?’ Alchemy hummed.

The system remained silent, causing her to chuckle inwardly.

She wasn’t about to argue with Gravana over a cut. She was still terrified of him, as cool and goofy as he was.

"Any questions?"

"Yeah, one," Nera spoke up.

"Why haven’t these ver- bears moved if they aren’t strong enough? Isn’t it too risky for them with only your protecting them?"

Gravana shrugged at the question.

"The food here is plentiful. Can’t say I know the real reason myself, but it’s not necessarily a matter of their weakness. They aren’t "Strong," but they’re one of the nine largest groups in the outer forest. 10 now with you and my disciple. If I had to guess, though, it’s probably because they don’t like fighting if they can avoid it."

"So they’re pacifists?" Alchemy said jokingly.

"When they can be," Gravana responded.

Nobody in the group was too surprised. As far as Alchemy was concerned, Gravana was a complete battle junky who seemed to disregard his safety for fun, and Rio was a bit of a lunatic in general. Pacifist bears were not the weirdest thing in this forest.

For Nera, this was a typical Tuesday afternoon... Or whatever day it was afternoon, not a single one of them knew. And Sapphire... She was just happy to tag along.

"Ah, they’ve seen us. They’re getting ready to greet us." Gravana hummed, having sung this song and dance before.

As he said, a large number of bears were gathering at the edge of the hill range. While they did that, Alchemy’s eyes widened in excitement.

"Oh my gosh! They’re so pretty!"