Situated several hundred metres away from the outer wall of the village was Faruth and the hunters, hiding within the undergrowth of their home forest. Faruth was kneeling at the front of the group, with Frothen to his left, resting his head on the tree beside him and the two female Gnolls were crouched several metres behind the two in a denser area of the bushes. Though they may seem relaxed, all four of them were currently under the effects of the [Stealth] skill, so as to not draw the attention of the group that they had just found.
Just outside of the tree line was a small plain connecting to the range of mountains that spread as far as the eye can see. Upon this plain stood the reason for the group's worry. Another village. At the foot of the mountain was a village roughly 25-30 metres wide, but with no wall.
Due to no such wall existing, it gave the village a weak and run down appearance. At first he originally thought it was another Goblin village, so he decided to move closer to the edge of the forest to confirm his theory. But as he got closer, he discovered the true nature of the village's inhabitants.
What appeared to be a race of bipedal lizards, aptly named Lizardmen, as he found through [Appraisal]. In the novels that he read in his previous life, Lizardmen were a force to be reckoned with, the kin of dragons some would call them. But it seems he was mistaken this time.
Instead of having the appearance of fierce crocodile-like monsters, they looked more like Tokay Geckos[1], with the brightly coloured spots to boot. Even on top of that, they were not the 7 foot tall beasts they were shown to be, they had the same height as the children in his village, with the Stats to go along with it.
Faruth knew that even if he wanted to talk peacefully, they would undoubtedly be scared away by his towering stature in comparison to them. As he turned to the other three to try to formulate a plan of action, he noticed that the expressions on the hunters, Frothen in particular, had changed for the worse. Faces that once showed smiles and the occasional indifference now bore expressions of sadness, disgust and fury.
Turning his head around once more, Faruth caught sight of the scene causing such strong emotional reactions and his face twisted into a similar anger before gradually turning icily cold.
Within the centre of the village was a collection of makeshift cages, made only out of sticks and mud. Within those cages, were Gnolls. Men, women, children, the elderly, all crammed into these makeshift cages. The captive Gnolls were tied to the others within their cages by a thin rope, but with how malnourished and thin they were, he doubted that they had the strength to snap such a thing.
However, that was only the cause for a small portion of the group's distress, outside of the cages was the main reason behind their anger. On the floor were two female Gnolls tied together by the same thin rope around their necks, surrounded by a group of the Lizardmen. The mother, of who Faruth could only assume was the child under her, was covering her daughter by kneeling over her, while her blood seeped into the ground below.
The surrounding Lizardmen were chuntering to one another while occasionally stabbing and slashing towards the two with their makeshift spears and axes, resulting in screams that Faruth could hear even from his position, causing his blood to boil in anger.
After a while, the two Gnolls were dragged away by the Lizardmen into one of the huts surrounding the cages, all the while still screaming in pain as the surrounding men still slashed away at them, their screams only slightly muffled compared to when they were outside.
At this, Faruth slowly turned and walked further into the forest, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists. After walking for a few minutes, Frothen began to similarly grind his teeth before speaking up.
["Chief... You saw what happened, right?"] {Frothen}
Glancing back at him, Faruth only nodded before adding on.
["I did."] {Faruth}
["So you saw them suffering and you still didn't do anything?"] {Frothen}
["Frothen, there was nothing that I could do"] {Faruth}
To this, Frothen only let out a slight snort before continuing, his voice gradually becoming louder and louder.
["Nothing you could do? Chief, you're the strongest out of all of us-"] {Frothen}
["I know."] {Faruth}
["If there was nothing you could do, what do you expect the rest of us to do, cower in fear while you sit back and watch these innocent people be-"] {Frothen}
["I KNOW!!"] {Faruth}
Faruth's shout reverberated throughout the forest, causing the nearby ground to shake and leaves to fall off of the trees in close proximity.
["Do you really think I want to leave them behind? Do you?! I want to save them as soon as possible, just as much as you do! But we don't know anything about them, how many of them there are, what weapons they have, if any had experienced evolutions? Nothing! So don't accuse me of being a coward! Don't accuse me of being a coward for wanting to preserve the lives of my own people! I am returning to the village now to discuss with the elders of the village, so I expect you to fall back in line and do as you are told, you don't want to piss me off any more! Is that clear?!"] {Faruth}
With a small 'Yes' the now terrified Gnoll fell back to the similarly shaking duo behind him, though they weren't the subjects of the aggression, they still felt similar fear due to Faruth releasing his aura in his state of rage, and followed silently behind.
With his blood racing through his body, Faruth walked in the direction of his village with a look of fury on his wolfish face.