The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1193

Chapter 1190
Harpy
Eivass’s premonition was correct.
On the afternoon of the very next day… that is, the afternoon of June 23rd, he received news from a messenger who collected debts.
“It’s already burning Heaven City? Is that real?”
Eivass exclaimed softly.
Sitting before him was a scantily clad Harpy woman.
She wore only a loincloth, similar to a sumo wrestler’s, with no other fabric. However, her face, shoulders, and chest were painted with red and black oils, making her look like a priestess of an Indigenous tribe.
“Of course, it’s real, Lord Eivass. My sisters and children have firsthand information. As soon as I heard, I flew straight to you—I knew you would be concerned about this.”
The female Harpy smiled submissively and humbly, but her smile held a untamed wildness. “I also have a lot of top-secret, exclusive information about the rebels. I can give you all of it if you want… If you pay an additional price, I can also ensure that others cannot obtain the relevant information for several days. Or… weeks, months? It’s up to you, my lord.”
Her gaze at Eivass was so fervent that it made Eivass feel a headache.
This was the first time Eivass clearly understood what it meant to have a “turn-off” and “naked” gaze…
—She was clearly lusting after him. Her gaze was almost like a tongue licking Eivass’s face.
Although he knew Harpies were like this, it was also the first time he directly interacted with one.
Modern Harpies, strictly speaking, were not like the ancient Winged Ones who could float in the air by sheer power. Their appearance was not as handsome and beautiful as the Winged Ones, but much thinner. They also lacked the decorative ear tufts, waist feathers, and ankle plumes. Their wings did not extend from their waists or backs, but from their arms, looking like a dancer’s long sleeves. Their feet were not the five-fingered feet of the Winged Ones and Elves, but strong eagle talons.
Harpies were also called Harpies—of course, there were male Harpies within their kin, but it was a society distinctly led by females.
The biggest reason lay in the Harpies’ unique method of reproduction.
Regardless of the male’s race—be it Harpy, Lizardmen, Human, Troll, or Elf—the offspring would always be Harpies. However, if a male Harpy had children with another race, they could not give birth to Harpies, thus unable to expand their population. They could only exist as warriors, mages, apothecaries, or educators.
Due to the Harpies’ special reproductive method, they first let the offspring develop within their bodies for a period, then laid an egg, which continued to develop externally. After hatching, they would then breastfeed. Thus, Harpy childbirth was not painful and did not delay their actions or work. Races born this way were all turned into Harpies, much like transplanting seedlings after successful hydroponic cultivation into soil… Male Harpies, naturally, could not lay eggs.
The Harpies’ special physical structure made them unsuitable for labor and not adept at standing or sitting for long periods. Furthermore, Harpy children had a high mortality rate, and not everyone could fly… Those who were naturally weak, obese, or lacked a sense of balance were easily ostracized by their kin, and might even be thrown off cliffs during “mandatory flight training.”
This also led to Harpies worshipping fertility so much, yet their population could only rank around third in the Anxi region.
Aside from those who delivered letters or parcels, and those who served as scouts for the armies of the Lord or Slave Knights, the primary occupation of most Harpies was raiding—their flight ability, which allowed them to travel freely through sandstorms, was perfect for theft, robbery, or kidnapping.
Because the Harpy species had naturally low fertilization rates, over ninety percent of the eggs in a Harpy family would be unfertilized.
Similarly, due to this unique reproductive model, Harpies had a different sense of shame compared to other races—since their numbers were low, they relied on quantity to win. Besides goods, they also kidnapped people from other races to bear their children.
Except for learned scholars and doctors, who were kept, the rest were killed and eaten after mating, hence the name “Harpy.”
Legal Harpies living within Oasis City, who were Free People and unable to engage in raiding, would randomly grab people on the street for mating through “mutual attraction.” Or they would simply open a brothel and then cater to each other’s needs with customers.
—Although Harpies were not as good-looking as their ancient ancestors, that was when compared to Winged Ones and Elves. Compared to the average human standard, they were still quite good-looking, and their figures were much better.
Based on this reproductive model, although she might not know who the father of the child was, she at least knew that the child’s mother was herself, as she was the one who laid the egg.
The more fertilized eggs a Harpy laid, the higher her success rate in skirmishes, robberies, or her own charm and fertility. She would have more “children” in the tribe, thus increasing her influence and power, and strengthening her position within the kin.
For each fertilized egg laid, Harpies would paint an additional rune with red pigment on a visible part of their body. Black was a mark of a deceased child, where the red was painted over with black—because Harpies believed that the strength and health of their children were related to the personal abilities of their parents. Therefore, Harpies also raided the bloodlines of the strong to produce stronger offspring, using more offspring to radiate over more territory.
This was equivalent to human medals hung on their bodies. And these runes, difficult to wash off with water like tattoos, could indeed bring them special power… they were rune imprints from the Path of Love.
Harpies were a race possessing the Path of Love and the Path of Authority as their two mainstream paths. Only a few particularly thin Harpies might strangely mutate to the Path of Wisdom. This meant that, like Dragonkin, Children of the Moon, and Werewolves, they did not need to master a profession to gain path power—because they were path beings themselves.
To display the runes on their bodies, Harpies would even boldly remove their clothes. For Harpies, clothes were actually proof of incompetence. It was only because they didn’t have many “runes” on their bodies that they wore clothes to cover themselves. However, from the aesthetic perspective of other races, these fierce and wild imprints on their originally smooth, tawny skin could be somewhat terrifying.
Take the female Harpy before him, for example…
She had long, curly, fiery red hair and tanned skin. She wasn’t ugly; her features were well-defined, with thick eyebrows, a high nose, and large eyes. She could even be considered to have a cheerful beauty, possessing the aura of a bold mercenary captain—if she had appeared before Eivass wearing normal clothes.
But at this moment, her upper body was bare, with over thirty runes painted on her skin, four of which were black. This indicated that her children could roughly form two football teams, and only four had died so far.
This also meant that she possessed power of approximately Fifth Tier, capable of truly calling upon storms and lightning.
In most Harpy tribes, she would be considered a “Chieftain”-level existence, potentially leading over twenty tribes and having influence reach over ten Oasis cities.
Eivass didn’t know her name. However, the messenger and media organization “Desert Sounds” was clearly under her control. There might be other Chieftains of her level, or perhaps not… But she was at least the second-in-command of this organization, which was why Eivass personally met her.
The one who had previously interacted with Eivass was not her. That Harpy probably had only eight runes, implying she was an Extraordinary of Third Tier. It was clear that she had reported this matter to her superior, which was why the boss had come this time.
Eivass coughed softly and asked gently, “How much money do you want? Or do you want water?”
Putting aside everything else… Eivass was quite confident about the reward.
Whatever she wanted, Eivass could afford it.
“I don’t lack money, nor do I lack water. I am the leader of the tribe, the best warrior. I can catch the best lamb and bring it to the sky; I can fly faster than an eagle and catch a hawk in the air; I can also see fish in the river from the sky and swoop down to catch it.”
She smiled, revealing sharp teeth. “I want one of your children. I don’t want anything else.”