“Do you have any beast blood or anything? Sprinkle some on the ground, and it would be best to slash this amulet too, to make it look like it was accidentally dropped during a battle,” Leticia said, holding the amulet brought by Yin Ya, and gave instructions to Yin Ya. “This amulet is a bit strange. The patterns on it seem a bit off.”
At first, when the amulet was in Yin Ya’s hands, she hadn’t noticed anything unusual. But after taking it into her own hands, she realized something was wrong. The patterns drawn on it didn’t seem to be the so-called great god of the beastmen.
Yin Ya’s tribe was undoubtedly an orthodox beastman tribe that believed in the great god. In the shrine at the center of the tribe, Leticia had seen abstract paintings of the beastmen’s great god.
According to Yin Ya, the divine patterns of the beastmen’s great god worshipped in each tribe were all different, but mostly only varied in details, and the general direction wouldn’t be wrong. However, the amulet in Leticia’s hand now had no trace of that divine pattern at all.
This abstract beast-like figure, which seemed to have a pair of wings, always gave Leticia a very subtle feeling, as if she had seen it somewhere before.
“The prototype of the beastmen’s great god should be a lion, after all, the royal court is ruled by a bunch of lion-heads,” Leticia turned to Yin Ya.
“Yes, legend has it that the great god’s incarnation on the grassland is a majestic three-headed lion, and all divine patterns contain elements of a lion to varying degrees,” Yin Ya nodded and affirmed Leticia’s guess. “However, almost everyone here has a bad impression of the great god, and it’s not uncommon for them to turn to worship other deities.”
For a tribe struggling to survive in this desolate place, it was indeed difficult to expect them to still believe in that great god, as it was that very god who had exiled them here.
In this situation, it was not strange for the beastmen here to change their allegiance and turn to other gods.
It was just unknown whether this so-called deity was a real deity or something fabricated by someone with ulterior motives.
Leticia felt that it was most likely the latter. Deities were not encountered so easily. She would even dare to assert that the lion god that the beastmen currently believed in was fabricated by the lion-heads to deceive other beastmen.
Otherwise, why would a deity be a lion?
Among the deities Leticia had encountered so far, apart from the unknown black mist, they were all beautiful girls without exception. And judging by the voice of the black mist, this one was probably also a good-looking pretty girl.
And Yin Ya had also mentioned some information about deities to Leticia, which almost confirmed Leticia’s guess, that is, all deities were beautiful girls.
Any deity that was not a beautiful girl could be classified as a false god or an evil god.
Now, the beastmen’s great god was a big lion, not even a human. This was definitely a fake god!
“However, it has little to do with me. We are just shifting the blame. Speaking of which, if that minotaur tribe is a firm believer in the great god, will they fight with this tribe over faith?” Leticia asked, throwing the amulet to Bai Ling and signaling her to handle it.
“That’s a good question.” Yin Ya thought for a moment and nodded hesitantly. “Citizens of the great god have an obligation to hunt down heretics, but here, I can’t guarantee that someone will be willing to do this thankless task.”
One couldn’t expect these beastmen, who were persecuted by the great god, to wholeheartedly help the great god eliminate heretics.
The charm of the great god, the lion-head, was probably not that high.
“Tsk, I thought I could provoke those two tribes into fighting, what a shame,” Leticia shook her head regretfully. If those two tribes fought, she could secretly cause trouble.
For example, sneak into a tribe’s granary to steal some food.
Hunting by oneself wasn’t as fast as raiding a granary. Leticia considered this reasonable warfare. She was avenging the human who died unjustly!
Yes, the Demon Lord wanted to avenge a human against the beastmen.
“It’s done, but with such obvious signs of forgery, will the beastmen really fall for it?” Bai Ling, having finished everything, walked to Leticia with her sword. To be honest, she was skeptical about the success rate of this blame-shifting operation.
Looking at the battle scene she had fabricated, a strong sense of incongruity lingered in her heart. This battlefield looked too deliberate, even too deliberate.
With so many traces of battle, spurting blood, and the amulet lying in a conspicuous location, all of this pointed the suspicion towards the tribe that possessed such an amulet. But this was just too obvious, with the strong implication of diverting blame.
Would any beastman really be deceived by such a setup?
Bai Ling felt that beastmen were probably not that stupid.
“Trust the beastmen’s brains. They won’t be able to tell anything. If they do see anything, we can just say we did our best,” Leticia said that she was doing her best and leaving the rest to fate. It was better than doing nothing. “At least we’ve given them a clear target. With the beastmen’s logic, there’s an eighty percent chance they’ll think that tribe is the murderer.”
“Uh, are the beastmen’s brains really that bad?” Bai Ling still found it hard to believe.
“Most beastmen have worse brains than you. Someone like Yin Ya is already considered a super genius among beastmen,” Leticia patted Bai Ling’s head and said with a chuckle, “So you can be proud now. You are a truly smart person here.”
Bai Ling knew that Leticia was mocking her. Being not as sharp-tongued as Leticia, she decisively chose to use physical means to show Leticia who was in charge.
With her cheeks grabbed and pulled hard by Bai Ling’s small hands, Leticia immediately raised her hands and mumbled in a confused voice, “I was wrong, let go of me!”
Alas, after her combat power weakened, she was completely unable to hold her head up in front of Bai Ling. Leticia’s heart was bleeding. Now she didn’t even dare to tease her much.
This brute, she would resort to violence at the slightest disagreement, how unreasonable!
Couldn’t they first use the weapons of language for mutual attack, and then start fighting? Although even then, Leticia would still have to beg for mercy, at least she could win the first part.
Not like now, she had to beg for mercy before winning anything, which was too unpleasant!
“Your face is softer than before. Let me pinch it for a while longer.”
“Bai! You die for me!”
“Hey, hey, you dare to sneak attack?!”
“Don’t think I’m just a little white rabbit, you bastard!”
Yin Ya suddenly felt superfluous watching the two girls getting entangled, completely ignoring their surroundings.
…
“The markers extend all the way here. Strange, why did they come to this riverbank? Didn’t we agree to return immediately after completing the mission and not linger?”
Deep in the night, with a bright moon hanging high, a team of fully armed beastmen emerged from the sparse jungle. The leader was a majestic lion-headed man. He was currently holding a wooden spear, his brow furrowed as he looked at the chopping marks on a tree by his feet.
This was a pre-arranged marker, meaning that the three missing people had passed by here.
Based on the time, the three were most likely here last night and then lost track, which was very abnormal.
This was less than half a day’s journey from their tribe. Even if they had spent a night here, they should have returned to the tribe by noon.
“From the time we received the carrier pigeon, they should have returned to the tribe by noon at the latest today. But we haven’t seen them yet, which can only mean that they met with some misfortune.” A fox-like beastman following behind the leading lion-head made a thoughtful expression. “Let’s spread out and search the surrounding area more carefully. Be sure to pay attention to safety. It’s been unstable here recently, so beware of enemy ambushes.”
“Understood!” The beastmen replied in a low voice and immediately paired up, scattering to look for clues.
Only the fox-like beastman and the lion-head remained in place. The fox-like beastman was silent for a while before quietly asking, “Gang Ren*, do you think they encountered that group again this time…”
“There’s no evidence yet, but I think they most likely encountered those heretics.” The lion-head took a deep breath. “I know the nearby tribe. Even if they encountered Grey Horn and the others, it’s unlikely that there would be any major conflict.”
That tribe had recently settled here. As long as their leader had some sense, they wouldn’t antagonize their largest tribe at this juncture. At most, they would verbally reprimand those who didn’t follow the rules.
Physical conflict would almost never happen. That tribe did not have the strength, and that dying kobold did not have the ferocity.
The most suspicious were those who stirred up trouble in the dark, the arrogant individuals who wanted to overthrow the great god’s rule. They, the citizens of the great god, would never let these guys off!
Unfortunately, those guys hadn’t shown any signs of their activities until now. The lion-head was full of pent-up rage. If he found any clues, he would be the first to rush forward and twist their heads off!
“My lord, there’s an anomaly here!” Just as the lion-head was striking a pose with his fist, a group of beastmen shouted loudly.
The fox-like and lion-head looked at each other and immediately rushed towards the direction of the sound.
Soon, a crime scene appeared before them. Deep sword marks remained on the ground, and traces of blood splashed everywhere. All of this indicated that a fierce battle had taken place here.
One of the parties in the battle had certainly lost, and even the corpses had been dragged away and disposed of. And the loser, it seemed, didn’t need to guess who it was.
Besides the minotaur trio who had left markers here, who else could it be?
“Damn it! It’s those guys again!” The lion-head stomped his long spear hard, gnashing his teeth and growling.
“Wait, there seems to be something on the ground. This is… an amulet?” Another beastman searching around shouted loudly again. He bent down and picked up a broken amulet from the ground, and presented the somewhat heavily damaged amulet to the lion-head as if seeking credit.
The lion-head snatched the amulet from the beastman and examined it carefully. However, he couldn’t figure out which side the amulet belonged to, so he could only cast a questioning glance at the fox-like beastman beside him.
“I seem to have some impression of this amulet. I think I’ve seen it somewhere before,” the fox-like beastman showed a troubled expression, as if recalling something. “This scene makes me feel a bit off, it feels a bit too deliberate.”
“Hmm? Deliberate?” The lion-head was puzzled.
“My lord, look at these battle traces. Our enemies must be very powerful. After the battle, they even had the余裕 to dispose of the corpses, which indicates they were very relaxed. Yet, under such circumstances, they still left this amulet. Isn’t that strange?” The fox-like beastman wagged his head and expressed his opinion. “Could it be that someone wants to frame someone?”
“Impossible. The tribes nearby are basically all kobolds and minotaurs, no fox-like beastmen,” the lion-head denied subconsciously. In his mind, only beastmen like fox-like beastmen had the brains to scheme.
“But Grey Horn and the others died here, and that tribe is also suspicious. I think we can visit that tribe tomorrow, maybe we can find some clues. Besides, they have been living here for quite some time, and they might have an impression of such amulets,” the fox-like beastman continued to persuade.
This time, his persuasion was effective. The lion-head pondered for a moment and finally nodded, approving the fox-like beastman’s suggestion.
The minotaurs did die here, and the nearby tribe was indeed suspicious. It was not unreasonable to go and inquire about the situation tomorrow.
“Then it’s decided. Everyone rest here for a while, and we’ll go to the nearby tribe when it’s dawn.”
“Yes!”
For beastmen, camping and roughing it was not difficult. Soon, except for the beastmen on guard duty who were still vigilantly looking at the dark, sparse jungle, almost all the other beastmen fell asleep with their weapons.
At this moment, a beastman suddenly opened his eyes. Those sly eyes glanced around. After confirming that no one was paying attention, he quietly stood up and walked towards the two beastmen on guard duty.
Hearing the footsteps behind him, the beastmen on guard duty turned around warily. Seeing the approaching person, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Fire Tail* Lord, what are you…”
“I have an urgent need. I can’t relieve myself here, can I?” The fox-like beastman who had quietly gotten up showed an awkward smile, covering his stomach as if he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Seeing the fox-like beastman like this, the guard beastman chuckled. So he had an urgent need. “Then Lord Fire Tail, don’t go too far. There might still be enemies around. You are the smartest person here.”
“Don’t worry, this smart head of mine won’t be lost here,” the fox-like beastman said confidently, then he hurried into the dark jungle.
It seemed like he really couldn’t hold it in any longer.
