"Stay close," the young man with red hair whispered as he inched closer to the old, wrinkled elder of the human tribes.
Right now, they were surrounded by lizardmen with spears, walking them toward their carriages. An accusation had been laid upon them, and now they had to prove they weren't thieves.
Of course, since they had been framed, this would most certainly not go well for them.
"Hmmm..." At the front of the human envoys leading the lizardmen, Qarc and Zysera stopped in front of a carriage made from luxurious wooden material with designs that burned the eyes.
It was such an exquisite carriage, one probably gotten from the frequent pillaging done by the savage humans over the years.
"Let's see if you're telling the truth," Qarc reached forward and grabbed the handle of the carriage, slowly pulling it open to reveal the insides.
"I've always known you guys were thieves," Qarc smiled, turning to the red-haired young man. He hated humans because they were despicable. Now he wondered how much they loved the taste of their own medicine.
"Qarc, don't jump to conclusions. Our friends here have been allies for years. Let us do some more investigations so we get everything straight," Zysera stepped forward and patted Qarc on the shoulder, showing extreme worry and a sense of confusion.
It was as if she didn't understand why the humans would do such a thing. Naturally, she was in on it too. The Yolan family's ability to be despicable and sly was laid bare right here.
Like mother, like son.
"Friends, please bear with our clan as we perform the required investigations. We will surely take care of you properly during that period of time," Zysera bowed slightly, with her arm still pressed against her sword.
If they tried to make a run for it, she would immediately stop them.
"Hehe, you must be joking," the wrinkled old man sneered, looking at Zysera's display. Who knew that lizardmen could also be this despicable?
"Your puny village does not have the right or capability to keep us here. Even the lizardman tribes wouldn't dare!" one of the human envoys barked, waving his hand around.
They were clearly being framed, and there was no way he would stay silent and allow it to happen. He wasn't powerful, but he had a sharp mouth. In a few seconds, he began to curse at the ancestors of the lizardman clan, causing most of them here to heat up.
Monsters valued their heritage more than anything. An insult to that heritage was the most taboo thing to do to a lizardman.
But you know what was even more taboo? Killing humans.
It was the worst mistake anyone could make.
There was once a Shelka-run town west of the savage human kingdom, which was a small village at the time. This town had a very brutal elder who hated outsiders to the core.
The story went like this: an old human merchant selling crude wares entered the Shelka town to sell his goods one fateful day and caught the eye of the town head's daughter, who bought a pair of sandals.
The savage humans were crude and stupid, but their imagination was very good, making them skilled painters, so it naturally attracted the female Shelka. Unfortunately, beauty and quality were two different things.
After wearing the sandals for five minutes, they broke in two and caused the Shelka to fall flat on her back, cracking her shell. This was incredibly embarrassing, and the moment the town head heard of it, he ordered the human merchant to be hung upside down at the town gate. After several days...
The old merchant died.
At first, it seemed like nothing. Humans were known to have short lifespans anyway. Death was not special. But little did they know that this one event would not only spell the doom of that town but of every other town in the area.
The humans besieged the town by night and killed all the Shelka. In the weeks that followed, they took town after town, growing stronger with every territory seized until eventually, they grew to the size they were today.
A kingdom built on killings, born from a single act... killing humans outside of a war context was the worst taboo.
"Shut your mouth!" one of the guards bellowed, then used the back of his spear to knock the human out.
Killing them was a taboo, but anything else was fair game.
However, this act allowed the red-haired young man to reach forward and grab the spear from behind, directly beheading another lizardman.
"Hold ranks!" Seeing this sharp turn of events, Qarc commanded.
Unfortunately, it was already too late. All hell broke loose within the next minute as the human envoys tried to escape frantically.
—Clang—
Zysera immediately acted, pinning the old, wrinkled human. This was the most powerful person here.
As for the red-haired young man, Qarc pulled out a sword and thrust it toward him with extreme precision. He only had one chance—while the redhead was distracted, he had to disable him in one shot.
But there was a problem. Qarc and even Zysera had no idea how powerful this young man really was. The moment he felt the sword piercing toward him, he dodged and created space between them.
"Make a run for it!" the red-haired young man bellowed, slashing the reins off the horse carriage, causing the horses to run in the direction of the scuffle.
—Neigh! Neigh!—
About four horses ran forward, causing those in their way to scatter in different directions. This created the best opportunity. The moment after, they all ran in different directions, each aiming to leave the village instantly.
"Don't let them escape!" Qarc saw this and panicked.
They couldn't let the humans get away. This would be a disaster.