161 - - Fourth Episode Heads' Meeting

The Beastmen Confederacy exists between the Queen Elf Nation and the Dragon People's Empire.

The country is long and narrow, the narrowest of the five other races' territories.

The capital city exists almost in the center of such a country.

Some time after the beastman Wolfe tribe sent out a search party for the missing Garou in the "Abyss" and caused many casualties - the top leaders of each tribe who united the beastmen gathered one after another in a mansion located almost in the center of the capital city.

The gathering looked like a yakuza or a mafia meeting to a third party because of the many strong faces.

There is a good reason why there are so many strong-looking people.

Because the main industry of the United Beastmen Nations is that of adventurers and mercenaries, many of them have an air of violence about them.

Beastmen have a higher physical ability than the other five species, have a keen sense of senses, and are good at multiple combat.

Therefore, they are suited for adventurers and mercenaries, and many of them pursue such careers.

The land area of the United Land of the Beastmen is small, partly due to the fact that there is not much land for farming due to the deep inlets. ......

On the positive side, the country has a large area bordering the sea, and it flourished as a transit port for ships heading to various countries.

Those who do not aspire to be adventurers tend to be rowers and merchants.

Rowing is a job that other species do not want to do because it is a hard, bottom-line job, so it is a monopoly of the beast race, which is physically superior to humans.

The income is surprisingly good, and the job is popular among the beast races because they are always looking for people to fill the positions.

--Let's return to the story.

The chiefs of the five tribes gather together in a large room in a mansion built in the center of the capital of the United Beastmen Nation.

Beastman Wolf kind

Taiga species of beast

Winged Beast

The Beastman Bear

Bovine

Five tribes in total.

In order to avoid any tussles over seating, they were to sit down on a long-haired carpet with a cushion and sit in a car.

The chairpersons who conducted the conversation took turns.

This time, it was the chairman of the Taiga tribe.

He was a black leopard from head to tail, with a deep scar running from his right eye to his forehead.

He was so intimidating that if a normal human male were to stare at him, he would slump down and fall to the ground out of fear.

The Taiga are the most martial of the five tribes, and have produced many adventurers and mercenaries. Their chief, Levado, is also a former adventurer, having risen to the rank of "B".

Although he is now approaching middle age, he still has no intention of losing in battle to the younger generation.

Levado raises the most talked-about topic of the day.

Apparently, a huge tower has recently been built near the Queen Elf Kingdom. The elves are looking for adventurers to gather information about this tower, but what if we send out our young men to lend the elves a hand?

I see, but will it work that way?"

At Levado's suggestion, Gum, a Wolf Chief with drooping ears, interjected.

His eyes are sharp and violent, but at the same time he carries an air of intelligence that is rare among the bestial race.

If the taiga Levado is a mafioso who always smells of blood, the Wolf Gum exudes the air of an intellectual yakuza who uses both violence and intelligence.

The Wolf tribe is also a martial fighter among the five tribes and has a rivalry with the Taiga tribe. Therefore, whenever something happened, they exchanged sarcastic comments, and talked down the other's behavior and actions.

Levado said to him in disgust, "He's making a fuss about me again. He is unconditionally opposed to my opinion, isn't he?

If it were a human with a weak heart, his heart would stop beating in fear.

However, Chief Gum of the Wolf Tribe did not care and continued to talk.

The matter of recruitment has reached my place, but isn't it a little late to start calling downstairs to collect them now?"

As Mr. Gumm said, it will take time. If we gather them and then use the ship, we may make it in time. ...... but it will not be profitable and we will surely lose money. Therefore, as I have suggested every time, we should cut through the forest between the Queen Elf Kingdom and the Elven Kingdom and build a direct road. If we had that road, we could have gone to the Queen Elf Kingdom in no time at all."

Winged Chief Igor, who has a bald human face but his arms are covered with feathers like a bird, agrees with me and imposes his own opinion.

All the representatives present at the chiefs' meeting frowned, saying, "Not again.

The winged race is one of the five tribes that is very focused on commerce.

Currently, the only way to transport goods to the Elven Queen Nation is by land, which largely bypasses the forests in between, or by sea, where they take ships and travel along the coast.

If a direct route through the intervening forests were to be built, as he proposes, it would save time, money, and profit, without having to make a detour by land--but

"--Oi disagree. The forests between us and the elves and the sea between us and the dragons (dragonutes) are the reason we don't have to deal with unnecessary interference. There is no need to go to the trouble of sticking our heads in the mouths of dragons.

Ozoh, the tallest of the five tribes and chief of the beast-man bear tribe, disagrees, puffing out smoke from a long, flue-like device.

Ozos are bipedal bears, large both vertically and horizontally. He is easily over two meters tall. He is as powerful as the martial Wolf and Taiga chiefs, but instead of an intimidating presence that pierces the surroundings, he exudes a deep, heavy, and solid presence.

Although many of them became adventurers because of their good physique, a greater percentage of them were engaged in physical and manual labor such as carpentry, unloading ships, and farming.

Beni, the red-haired bovine chief among the chiefs, agreed with Ozo's statement.

I understand your desire to develop the land route, Mr. Igor," he said. But please think about us on the sea side, too. What will you do if you develop the overland route too badly and the shipping service shrinks, resulting in a loss of jobs? Unlike the overland route, it takes time to train sailors and rowers.

At first glance, the beastman bovine tribal chief Beni is a race (human) with bull horns on its head. Although the percentage is small, there are beastmen who look more like humans, especially among women.

The number of the bovine race of beastmen is the largest among the beastmen.

Although they are physically strong, most of them are quiet and do not work as adventurers or mercenaries.

Rather, many of them were involved in the shipping industry.

They become rowers or sailors and learn maritime techniques.

Therefore, if the land route became too strong, the maritime industry might be threatened, and it was easy to have a conflict of opinions with the commercial-oriented "just make a profit" Wing race.

The bear tribe chief Ozo opposed the plan militarily and the bovine tribe chief Beni opposed it commercially, but the winged race chief Igor would not back down in order to gain more profit.

I understand your point of view, Mister Ozo and Mister Beni, but we have been getting along well with the elves, haven't we?　Wouldn't it be more rude to think that the elven species would attack us now?　Also, don't you think that the development of overland routes will increase commercial profits, and that this will lead to a more prosperous seaborne trade?　There's no chance that maybe the seaway will drop off for a time, but you've explained many times that we can make up for that with the profits that have gone up."

Mr. Igor, you say that you will 'make up for it,' but as I have explained many times, unlike land routes, it takes time to train experts in the case of sea routes. Just because we pay them doesn't mean they will be trained immediately, you know?"

Therefore, we are including the maintenance of these experts in our compensation.

Igor and Beni's discussion gets heated.

Taiga tribal chief Levad, the facilitator, clapped his hands to get their attention.

The question on the agenda this time is whether to send the younger ones to lend a hand with the elven race. We'll talk about commerce another time. Well, as the story goes, it's going to be difficult to dispatch them with everyone agreeing. ...... Then anyone who wants to send out will be sent out, is that clear?"

No objections.

I second the motion.

Beni, I'll talk to you later. I agree.

I agree with you. Whoever wants to go out should go out. I don't think we'll get it out in time, though.

Wolf Chief Gum chuckles as he fries Taiga Chief Levado, whom he sees as a rival.

But the smile did not last long.

Taiga Chief Levado provokes him back with a smile that is too scary.

He said, "Well, many of our young men are very talented. There is a good chance that we can make it overland in time, and there is also a good chance that we can make a loan to the elven race. They won't die in vain in the dungeon, and they're at least capable of bringing back one of the relics.

"What the--?

Garou, a candidate to become the next chief of the Beastman Wolf species, disappeared in the Abyss. A survey team was dispatched to search for him, but they failed to bring back even a single piece of ...... property, and half of them died.

The next time you are in the market for a new pair of shoes or boots, you will need to look at the price tag.

The other chiefs were also disgusted, "Here we go ...... again," they said nothing and let it slide.

The conflict between the martial Taiga and Wolf species is not a new one.

The air is tense, but Taiga chief Levado is in a good mood because he has done it back safely and continues to talk.

The next item on the agenda is--"

The other clan leaders were unconcerned and exchanged opinions about the agenda.

In a sense, the meeting continued as usual.