339: Romethra Anthral!

Romethra Anthral!

Caragan Forest ran from the east coast of the Belmont subcontinent to the mountain range along the west coast. The area it covered was almost one-fifth of the whole Belmont subcontinent. It also divided the northern kingdoms from the southern kingdoms like the Novaria Kingdom.2

Humans wanted to open a path through this forest to trade with kingdoms on the opposite side or reclaim the land of the forest to expand their territory but the inhabitants of the Caragan forest made it extremely difficult for humans to do as they wish. 

And one of the rulers of this Caragan forest was the Barbarians who are considered a different species than humans because of their unnatural physique, strength, culture, and eating habits. 

Various Barbarian tribes were scattered throughout the Caragan Forest, forming a network that was both scattered and unified at the same time.

Romethra Anthral was a leader of one of these Barbarian tribes, the Anthral Barbarian Tribe. 

Viscount Bardrick was now standing in front of that man. 

"Basho Antrhal, ore shiga temo seno( Its been a long time since we met, Chieftain Anthral.)" Bardrick said to the eight-foot-tall barbarian dressed in fur and bones of Demon Beast that he had personally killed by his own hands. Sitting on a chair made completely out of bones, Antrhal looked uninterested in the guest that his subordinates had brought to meet him. The thing that did intrigue him was the two human girls standing behind the Viscount, frightened and trembling in fear.

Bardrick cursed the Barbarian leader in his mind but he never showed the displeasure of being ignored on his face since he knew how these barbarians thought in their heads. In their minds, humans are nothing more than emergency food, lambs they call them. And it is true in some sense because barbarians are born with powerful brute strength.

One normal adult barbarian is enough to overpower five to ten-second grade Body tempering realm human cultivator, five on average and ten if the barbarian is considered to be particularly blessed by their primitive gods, a genius.

Romethra is that genius. He had twice the strength of his peers when Romethra was born. Five times the strength of normal human babies.

Barbarians do no cultivate. To be more precise, they cannot cultivate like humans as their bodies cannot form Dantian due to reasons unknown. But they can absorb the Demon Beast Qi in their body to strengthen it like human Body Cultivators. The power ranking system of barbarians is crude, unlike humans. They divide themselves based on the Demon Beast ranking. 

Romethra was a Rank 3 Barbarian, strong enough to kill a Peak stage Elemental Gathering Realm Cultivator by himself. But because humans can use the power of elements, barbarians like Romethra can be suppressed by Mid-stage Elemental Gathering Realm cultivator like Viscount Bardrick easily only if he doesn't let him come in the five-meter distance. 

This is also the reason why humans are leaders of the Belmont Continent and not the barbarians. The advantage of barbarians becomes almost nonexistent after Rank 2. But even then no human King or Sect master would make the mistake of underestimating the barbarian chieftains in battle. 

"Bardrick... Spare me with your fake show of respect... Tell... why you came here?" Romethra suddenly opened his mouth as he shifted his gaze from the girls to the Viscount for the first time. He spoke in human language, taking the human guards and Viscount Bardrick by surprise. 

"You!... When did you learn our language?" Viscount Bardrick asked after getting over his shock. It's common knowledge that barbarians detest learning a human language or learn anything from humans because they think it would also make them a human, a lamb. 

But seeing Romethra's eyes turning cold, Viscount Bardrick quickly diverted from this topic, he said "Romethra, I have come with a proposal to forge an alliance between us. I know you and your tribesmen are in short of weapons, grains, salt, and... female humans. Therefore, if you help me kill my enemy, I will gift you half of the land that we conquer together." Viscount Bardrick came to the point. There was no need to go in a circle with the Barbarians who are themselves very straightforward. 

Tap... Tap...

Other than the slow tapping sound of Romethra's finger, every barbarian present near them stayed in complete silence. Ever

Viscount Bardrick didn't bother to say anything more to persuade the chieftain. Since he had not been rejected right after he spoke then it meant that the Chieftain of the Anthral Barbarian tribe was seriously considering whether to accept his proposal or not. The only thing that remains now is to hear if Romethra has any special request. 

It would be wrong to say that Viscount Bardrick wasn't nervous. In fact, he had put his life on the line by coming here since his men and Romethra's subordinates had spilled each other's blood quite a lot of time. But 

There has never been a case where barbarians and humans have cooperated with each other on large scale in any war but Viscount had some understanding of the new Chieftain of Anthral Barbarian Tribe that rose to his position just three years back. 

"Bardrick... I want... Twenty thousand lambs... not one less or we do not help you fight Nathan Nehmor." Romethra didn't know that what was currently happening outside in the human world. In his understanding and from the news he listened from the captured humans before was that Nathan Nehmor was the enemy of Viscount Bardrick. 

Bardrick knew before coming that he would need to tell Romethra about the new enemy of his but the counter-proposal of ten thousand lambs... humans had stumped the Viscount.

"Twenty... thousand?" Viscount Bardrick repeated unconsciously because of how insane it sounded to him. Giving away Twenty thousand humans to the barbarians would make him an enemy of the human world if the news spreads. 

"Yes... Twenty thousand lambs... not one less. You agree we help you,... you disagree we help your enemy... by killing you here and seize ten thousand lambs... from your domain." Romethra leaned forward and said in a non-negotiable tone.

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