The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1162

Chapter 1159
Snake People

“Lord, please enter!!”
“Don’t worry, my Lord, we will keep your carriage safe!”
“I swear by the scales of the Ancestral Serpent, not a single item will be lost!”

The snake-person guards of the shrine were so respectful, almost to the point of flattery, that Anar was stunned.
…Is this how snake people are?
Are these the snake people who always have a deadpan expression and a cold, unapproachable attitude?
Anar felt like she was dreaming.

She had been very resistant to bringing Eivass and his group to the snake-person shrine.
It felt like encountering an important figure on a secret visit, who, on a whim, insisted on seeing your home – and you happened to have a rude, ignorant relative who was clearly displeased with the important figure.
At such times, you would be terrified of something going wrong. You wouldn’t know whether to bring them or not…
But when she arrived, she found – ah, it’s an acquaintance.
This foul-mouthed relative is actually good friends with the important figure!

Before entering the shrine, Anar glanced back outside with a sense of loss and confusion.
Outside, only the sky-obscuring yellow sand could be seen.
It was said that the sand had a texture like warm snow, but Anar had been to Star Antinomy many times and had never seen it snow.
The only similarity was probably that countless corpses were buried beneath them.

Anar couldn’t remember how many people she had seen disappear into the sand. Many of them were unrelated to her, but some were. Sometimes, when she walked on the sand, she would have the illusion that a hand would suddenly emerge and grab her ankle.

The wind wasn’t too strong today, and the sky was very clear. The distant town was already faintly visible.
She turned back and, as usual, walked towards the interior of the shrine.

Although the snake people at the shrine invited everyone to rest for the night, very few people actually did. For example, to be safe, Isabel did not come down, and Lixia stayed with her for protection.
Besides Anar, only Lily, hidden in the shadows, the Ritualist Ibn, and Zhu Tang and Mu followed Eivass down.

In the dim, tomb-like snake-person shrine, faint candlelight flickered on both sides. Upon entering from the hot desert sand, a weak, cool breeze could be felt, blowing through their chests and backs.
Shadows swayed with the candlelight, and everyone’s figures were reflected on the walls, appearing like some kind of shadow puppetry.
Two snake people walked slowly ahead.
They were both lean men with dark skin. Their rough skin, darker than bronze, showed fine black snake scales. Where there were no scales, there were obvious scars, bleeding abrasions, and wrinkles. Their upper bodies were only clad in leather vests. Their exposed arms were protected by snake scales, and from the waist down, they had giant snake tails.

Their faces were not handsome, even a little ugly – snake people generally had high cheekbones, lean and square jaws, and protruding chins. From the front, they looked like elongated hexagons, and from the side, like the moon.
Specifically, they looked like Zhu Yuanzhang with a shoe-horn face.

Lizardmen and snake people were very similar. They both had scales, tails, and cold pupils and rough skin.
But lizardmen were much taller and stronger than snake people, more like strong elves, while snake people had human upper bodies and snake tails below the waist.
Furthermore, lizardmen, both male and female, had fierce and ugly appearances, looking like crocodiles. Lizardmen did not have their own writing system; they used the writing and language of snake people, generally living in dependence on snake-person tribes, though some independent tribes existed. Occasionally, exceptionally intelligent mages and ritualists would appear among lizardmen, much like trolls.

Normally, intermarriage between snake people and lizardmen was a minor taboo.
This was because the upper echelons of snake-person society could not accept offspring with legs, while mixed-bloods were too thin for lizardmen, so neither group particularly favored it. This was different from the predicament faced by half-elves; the survival of snake people and lizardmen was truly difficult.

Unlike lizardmen, snake people’s faces were more like ordinary humans, but usually more gaunt and dark-skinned. This was not due to racial weakness, but simply because they were not well-fed. Snake people had large appetites and the ability to “overeat,” growing stronger through excessive consumption.
Only those who could eat sufficiently, the priestly class, had taller physiques, upright backs, and fair, soft, elastic skin.
Therefore, unlike lizardmen, who were all bandits and valued strength and muscles, in snake-person society, the better-looking, taller, and more human-like one appeared, the higher their status.

These two guards were clearly of lower status.
Although snake people had snake tails for their lower bodies, it was difficult to determine their exact height.
But at least these two shrine guards were almost shorter and thinner than everyone present. With their tails not straightened, they were probably only about 1.6 meters tall.
Their faces bore some special markings. They didn’t look like slave brands, but more like some kind of religious symbols. They looked like tattoos in the form of battle scars, possessing a strange deterrent force that made one hesitant to look directly at them.
For snake people, these markings were actually considered a form of “beauty.” Because they became shrine guards, they were allowed to be tattooed with religious symbols, signifying a higher status than their peers with the same appearance and height.
In their hands, they held strange weapons resembling long spears. But compared to spears, they were closer to “umbrellas” or “maces” – because the metal conical part accounted for nearly half of their length.

As they gradually moved deeper into the shrine, the surrounding candlelight became dimmer.
“This should be far enough,” Eivass suddenly said, his tone calm. “We’re far from those people now.”
“—What is it?”
Hearing this, Anar was startled and looked up.
W-what did he mean?
“We need to go a little further in, my Lord.”
The shrine guard’s tone was still polite and respectful, but the initial enthusiasm and fervor were gone. Instead, there was a sense of impatience and urgency.
Anar’s heart skipped a beat; she felt a clear sense of unease.
—Because she had seen a similar situation before.
Or rather, almost every Anxi person had.
The Ritualist Ibn sighed deeply, a hint of sadness in his voice. “What a familiar feeling…”
Anar glanced at her fellow countryman and thought to herself that it was indeed true.
It was indeed a feeling that almost every Anxi person had experienced – it was like the feeling of betraying rebels.
When the resistance organization replenished supplies or returned to see their families, they received an unusually warm welcome. Then they were led to a certain place, or drugged in their muddy tea, or left where they were. Finally, they would be captured by the Lord’s men or slave merchants.
Among those who betrayed them could be a close friend of decades, a shopkeeper who always added an extra half-cup of muddy tea by the roadside, or even a relative—one’s own father or mother, or older brother or sister, younger brother or sister.
Betrayal was the undertone of this desert.
No amount of integrity could withstand the test of free status and slavery. The more one struggled on the brink of survival, the more one envied and was jealous of the free people who could draw water freely… and the feeling of being served by slaves and manipulating others’ lives at will.
Everyone hated slave owners.
But everyone also wanted to be a slave owner.
And these snake people now, perhaps they hadn’t done this for a long time… their intentions were too obvious.
If the methods of these Desert People were this crude, they would have been seen through long ago.

“Let’s stop here.”
Eivass’s voice was gentle yet unyielding.
The two snake people turned back in shock and anger upon hearing this, looking at Eivass and gripping their weapons.
“Don’t blame them, I’m the one looking for you.”
As a complex snake-person language sounded, a beautiful female snake person, clearly out of place in this remote shrine, swam out from within.
She had long black hair, fair skin, and a high chest. She appeared to be over two meters tall, with a silk veil covering the upper half of her face. She wore dark red, magnificent clothes adorned with many gold ornaments.
As the female snake person swam, these gold ornaments clinked against each other, making sounds like wind chimes.
“I am somewhat disappointed,” Eivass said softly, staring at her. “I thought someone taller would be looking for me.”
“Like who?” the female snake person asked.
“Like Ah Huan,” Eivass said with a light laugh.
“Bold!”
“Presumptuous!”
The two snake-person guards immediately glared at Eivass in extreme anger.
They clearly did not know Eivass’s identity.
But the female snake person seemed to know something.
With a slight raise of her hand, she made the two snake people drop their weapons in pain, silently curling up like two spicy strips resembling bicycle locks.
“—How insolent,” her voice was hoarse and soft, yet held an inexplicable authority.
She bowed respectfully towards Eivass and nodded slightly. “Are you satisfied with the punishment of these blind ones?”
“What is your name?” Eivass asked, not answering.
“Dong Ya,” the female snake person replied.
“Do you know who I am?” Eivass asked again.
“You are a descendant of Prophet Jacob,” Dong Ya replied respectfully and politely. “The venerable… Sacred Entity.”