After finally coming back to the ratman village dakiro and his father the villager chief came forward and invited all of us inside their village.

When they first discovered us approaching them dakiro and his father thought that the lamia were coming back for revenge,but soon enough their hearts calmed after they realized that we were actually bringing in prisoners instead,the father and son duo were confused on why I had brought in the people who had given them so much suffering,they obviously asked me,but I simply told them that any debt has a debtor.

Dakiro didn't quiet get what I meant with these words,but the village chief his father seemed to have understood immediately and no longer concerned himself with my business nor the lamia and instead smiled again and wholeheartedly invited us to eat in their banquet as their friends and guest of honor.The lamia's were temporarily locked inside the cave as prisoners,I still had something planned for them at the end of banquet.

The village chief already agreed to work under my banner meaning that I was indeed the new ruler of this village and most of the ratman knew that too,but just like the kobolds I decided to simply have the village chieftain continue leading the village and only every interfere if I wanted to.

I discussed this particular topic with the chieftain and he seemed more then fine with it and rather surprised since he was thinking that he would soon need to step down from his rank,he was glad that he could stay who he was and give his title later to his son in the future who already had my emblem.

The banquet didn't start right away there were still a lot of ratman who mourned the deceased ratman that died in battle a few hours ago,when we fought the lamia many were killed making a lot of the families in this village weep after their sons and husbands that had died under the blade of the lamia,their hatred particular flared up when the lamia were escorted inside the village because I was the one who escorted them inside no,one dared to say anything to it,but the hateful and scorning gazes couldn't be helped,but thrown towards the lamia who were being escorted which was also followed by numerous whispers of hate.

When the lamia saw the faces of the ratmen their expression fell very deep frightened with their backs crook as if they were walking towards the executioners stand a bit pale and shame crossing their faces.

Out of all the lamia zeph was the one who seemed to be most calm,but I knew very well that she wasn't her demeanor seemed royal and elegant,but deep down in her eyes she emitted the same fear as any other of her friends behind her.

The reason she held a tight front was because she wanted to give her people some hope,I had already promised that I wouldn't abuse nor harm her people these words I held true so she believed in these words and just waited for what was about to happen next,despairing over something wasn't going to help and she knew that which is why she wanted to show bravery with her back straight and her face unmoving to keep the lamia,her friends from cowering or despairing which partial seemed to work making the lamia behind her encouraged and stand for what they did.

I wasn't going to have the lamia be a circus attraction and have everyone stare at them all the time so instead I locked them up for no one to see and wait for their sentence the current relationship of the lamia and the ratman was pretty bad putting the situation was instable having them meet face to face with their oppressors was obviously not going to work.

Anyways the banquet would start after half an hour or so the village chief knew how to keep his people in high spirit giving off a very spirited speech about the brave ratman who had died defending their home and family making the other families very proud and a bit more cheerful then before stopping the sad atmosphere and instead announcing the banquet to keep everyone happy which inevitably worked as the ratman cheered that day.

At the time I was sitting inside the house of the village chieftain,the girls were already exploring the village and refueling themselves getting something to eat and drink for relief,they were tired and deserved a proper rest of course.

Wylniva also looked around the village she wasn't very optimistic or pleased when coming here,but she sucked it in and decided to go alone for a bit and look around,her attitude was bad,but I trusted that she wouldn't do anything immoral in this village nor cause trouble.

Concerning the little dragon girl I entrusted frostwing with her care since he was more reliable and also the only dragon who could understand her when she would finally regain conscious,he took the duty readily and assured me that he would have things under control and maybe question the girl when she wakes up to gain some insights.

While sitting inside the village chiefs house and observing it,I thought about the ratman village and to be honest they were a bit more primitive then the kobolds,dirtier and crude,it seemed like they don't even bath properly since most of the ratman seemed very dusty,but don't smell bad and instead smelled of earth,they were a race that seemed to be most resistant against corrosives like rot or filth in general.

I wasn't a type of guy that really minded dirt all too much,but even I was a bit perplexed on holding the hand of an ratman for too long or stay near them for a set amount of time.I really pondered whether or not I should build a public bathhouse for them to make them a bit more cleaner.

Just as I was thinking about it the door suddenly opened.

-Ahh...lord sorron sorry to have made you wait,what did you want to discuss with me before the banquet ?

The village chieftain spoke apologetic as he finally came,I had asked him to come meet me in his house a couple minutes ago before the banquet to discuss some things with him of importance,looking at the old ratman in front of me I could see that he seemed to be lightly out of breath indicating that he had run over here as best as he could.

Dakiro also came standing behind his father,but not really saying anything and just bowing to me politely.

I smiled politely and gestured towards the seat opposite to me behind the table.

-No,its fine please sit

The village chieftain nodded and swiftly sat down facing me with a calm and calculative attitude.

-You said that you wanted to discuss things of importance with me...

The village chief started,I also nodded my head and finally proceeded summoning a map of the forest we were currently in and placing it down onto the table for both of us to see...the village chieftain was momentarily confused and stared at the moment to see what I wanted to show him,the map had two circles drawn on it one of which was the location of the ratman village while other was the location of the kobold village.

-As you may know the kobold village is also currently under my control,I had already heard from the chieftain of that village that your people and their people have a bond of hostility and angered against each other and I am not saying that you should give up that particular bond of yours in any case,but I what I want you to do instead is to start trading with the kobolds and maybe work with them..

Listening to my words the village chieftain was momentarily in loss for words,it was clear that he was conflicted and not even sure what to say since this was a very big and confusing issue.I didn't really wait for him to respond and instead summoned a piece of charcoal from my storage using it as pen I drew a line on the map connecting both the kobold village and the ratman village with it.

Afterwards I continued talking and explained to him how it could benefit both of them through trading with each other,the kobolds had armor,weapons and other necessities which the ratman obviously needed for their future survival and improvement while the ratman themselves had the which the kobolds needed to improve their weaponry and strengthen themselves,if the ratman make an effort and mine for the kobolds in exchange of enhanced weapons and armor made through the the power of these two villages would soar without a doubt they would also gain a powerful ally each that they could rely on and didn't need to worry about the next time they meet inside the forest it was a win,win situation really since the value of the was big the ratman could profit a lot too.

My explanation in the end was thorough and didn't leave anything to question,I didn't have any proof nor numbers that were backed by statistics nor was I a merchant or knew the proper value of anything,but I still understood the situation and wanted to have these two villages together instead of fighting against each other.

Of course,I could also force these two to be co-operative,but that would most probably back fire and cause some hidden enmity against each other that both of them never wanted to begin with,both of them needed to accept and try for this to be successful,they were just very different from each other and trading would be hard too since both of them couldn't really speak in the same tongue so how would they negotiate to begin with ?

From the distressed look the village chieftain had I already guessed that this was his question which bothered him the most...how would they even talk with each other and honestly saying I also couldn't find a good answer to this question.

-Time goes on chief,you and your people lived up until now without getting ingested by the belly of some random beast this alone proofs that you are strong,but as I said time goes on you can't just expect to live and hope that you aren't going to get eaten you should know this by now too right ? If you don't change then no one will and then there is going to be another beast waiting for its next meal to be served you don't want that either right ?

My words hit hard,the village chief also seemed to have remembered a lot of things from the past which made him grit his teeth as he glared at the map in front of him as if the drawn line connected both of the villages was his only hope.

Dakiro shivered also staring at the map with a hard look on his face both father and son were incredibly conflicted and the chief obviously knew that I was considering them since I offered instead of ordered,it was a hard decision no,one knew what kinds of fruits this would bare which was why it was risky since poison would always be plenty.

The chief sighed after a long time of consideration as he finally decided.

-I agree...

His words were like thunder it made dakiro incredibly shocked from the side,but looking at him he didn't seem to be displeased by it,but rather seemed to be surprised that his father agreed to this.

-I can't assure that you won't regret this

I spoke my words were gentle and lenient,the chief also looked up at me his eyes had a trace of admiration to them as he replied.

-I won't need it,I would have taken the chance any time even if it meant failure..

His words were a bit lonesome,but I didn't say anymore and just stood up from my seat and left the house leaving the map on the table with both father son duo.

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