As dusk fell, the rescue party was brought to their abode. It was a cave with a large interior, furnished with stone tables and stone beds and lit with only three torches created from animal fats. It was quite rudimentary, but it was still better than staying in a tipi.
Besides, to young people like Xillians, Mia and Tisdale, they found it more novel than shabby.
When meal time arrived, Mama Goat came with the young lad they had previously met, bringing food. Although it was refreshing to see a young barbarian before he turned into a wall of hard muscles, it was more refreshing to see him bringing in a big pot of fish soup. Then, after opening a satchel hung on one of Mama Goat's horns, the lad released one of the most alluring scents into their room.
It came from a heap of steaming rice biscuits, deep-fried to golden crispiness.
"Whoa! The rice biscuits of Harrogath! This just brings me to tears… I feel so nostalgic. If only you could taste it for me, Sir Hope! But you don't have a mouth," the Caveman cried out wistfully. Baiyi noticed that he was the only one completely disinterested in the discussions the other Voidwalkers were still engrossed in.
"The soup is my mom's recipe, it tastes good. The rice biscuits are from Zar'Zar's mom. She makes the best rice biscuits in all of Harrogath," the young lad said simply, eyeing the rescue party. Interestingly, he didn't avert his gaze when he saw Mia. Instead, he studied her curiously, having never seen a girl with a different kind of beauty, uncommon in his society.
From here we can correctly surmise that their beauty standards were not born twisted.
Baiyi invited the boy to stay for the meal, but he declined the invitation. The young lad explained that he still had more trainings to do. In order to participate in the next selection of Divine Warriors, he had been vigorously training himself since the tender age of 8.
He was only 13, yet he already had a few of his own tattoos.
Even if the Divine Warriors got their strengths from the Ancestors, the blessing was not given freely but it has to be earned. Harrogath was home to a population of about a million, yet there were only about 70 Divine Warriors. Those were the elites, the best of the best, and they all proved their worth in similar manners.
Baiyi turned to Mia, who was persuading Tisdale to touch Mama Goat. In comparison, the girl was lucky she was given a chance without much hardship.
The rescue party indulged in their once-in-lifetime feast. It didn't take long for the soup and the biscuits to vanish from their plates. In fact, most of them didn't even seem satisfied.
"That fish soup? Fresh! Those biscuits? Crispy, with new scent rolling into my tongue in every bite! I have no idea that the Alpine Barbarians are such culinary artists!" Xillians gave a glowing review.
"They have good materials to work with, you see. How the food is made doesn't matter as long as what is used is the best of its kind," Baiyi explained, drawing from the Caveman's experience. The barbarians had always had the advantage of getting their hands on ingredients that the common cooks would not even dare to dream about. A simple example would be the ribs of a Behemoth, very uncommon, almost unheard of as food. Yet the Alpine Barbarians roasted it as you would a common chicken.
After the meal, Baiyi was to meet the Huskar for some advice on their mission. As he prepared to leave, Mia was already hopping on her toes behind Mama Goat, joining in on an excursion with a few young kids and even lambs.
Mama Goat herself had the look of a proud mother as she brought the young ones out, showing the whole of Harrogath who the best mother was around the place. Her human-like awareness intrigued Baiyi— what drugs did these people feed her to become this anthropomorphic? He shook his head, realizing that it was another mystery of the barbarians that no Voidwalkers would be able to answer.
When he found Huskar in his home, he was talking to his wife, one of the most beautiful woman among all the female Alpine Barbarians. She might not have the conventional facial features considered as beautiful, but her body was an entirely different story. Her clothes were scant in conventional standards, covering only the important bits. She was not incredibly voluptuous nor muscular like her husband, but the she had all the curves and figures of healthy, strong woman in the wild, carrying the grace and power of a leopard.
So in the end, the house mother back in Mia's dorm with her middle-aged annoying voice and temperament… Is still not considered beautiful even in barbarian standards, huh.
The woman, having already heard the story from her husband, nodded knowingly at Baiyi before excusing herself.
"She's my wife, prettiest lady in all of Harrogath." The Huskar pointed at her sexy back as he started the conversation with a typical men's conversation starter.
"I cannot disagree with that," Baiyi replied. Even normal humans would think the same.
"Yea? Haha. Alright, tell me about your business." Satisfied, the Huskar reclined comfortably in his seat and turned his attention back to the matter.
Baiyi obliged. He told him about the mission of his rescue party, then added, "So that's what happened. The success of getting her would rely on my plans, which in turn require special help from you."
So why was saving Undine such a priority? It wasn't just because Tisdale and the Merchant had pleaded him to do so, it was also because he needed to establish a vast and stable social network. Baiyi was already one of the Duke of Wright's most trusted persons. Saving Undine would provide him with at least two additional, and equally important allies. The wealthy Dole family and the Alpine Barbarians. Combining those with the numerous acquaintances Baiyi had made in his daily life, he was already starting to form his own powerful team.
Maybe he should start thinking about a name for the team! Something like Hope & Co. Sounds pretty cool, right?
"Is it me or does it sound like the name of a bank?" The Caveman said.
Can you not? I was just toying with that idea—it is not official yet!
Just as Baiyi was talking to the old Huskar, the current one came to a decision.
"So, taking the girl when they are in the middle of their Warrior Gala? Now that is a once-in-lifetime fun. Very, very fun. No doubt about it, I'm bringing my boys to trample— I mean, help you. It's been a while since we crushed those puny ants! Although they seemed to be less dishonest nowadays…"
The two sides had always been enemies, so when the golden opportunity to wreak havoc presented itself to them, why would they not take it? Watching how motivated Huskar was, Baiyi was even considering upping the ante... Rain destructions on their village, perhaps? Make their people cry out in mercy?
… Or maybe not. It would be a very memorable bonding experience with the Divine Warriors, but for now, he thought a modicum of moderation would be better. "Well, I'm not thinking of starting a conflict with them. Just give them pressure to force them into releasing the hostage is enough."
That was purely out of consideration towards the Alpine Barbarians but the face of the big man fell immediately. "Hmph! And here I was planning to scratch some of that itch on my knuckles…"
Bro. If you like fighting so much, just start a dungeon quest with your warriors in the Dragon Summit!
"Oh, we would love to, believe me!" The previous Huskar said within the Void. "The Ancestors said no. They said our people haven't got into that big of a blood feud with the dragons yet. Eh, now that I think about it… maybe it's just that we have a bit too few warriors in our army."
So maybe you should factor in the problem of number as well. Let's see— there are about at least 80 millions of Steppe Barbarians, comprising of 30 different tribes, while you people have how many again? You won't be able to kill them all even if they queue up to be murdered without a fight.
In the end, Baiyi managed to convince the pugnacious Huskar to just bring about three or five of his men along. The mission was to rescue a woman, not massacring an entire city.
"Right, right. Whatever." The Huskar mumbled unhappily. "Oh! Tomorrow I should ask Cuckoo to scout the situation beforehand."
"Um, Cuckoo?"
"Yea, Cuckoo. You know, Zar'Zar's alpine hawk-eagle? Cuckoo's the best of them all in Harrogath."
And the alpha bird was given the name of a pigeon. Quick question: did you guys take naming classes with the Archmage?
Meanwhile, the oft-mentioned Zar'Zar was sitting in his own cave, stroking Cuckoo's feathers as he muttered to himself, "Why hasn't Brother Hope come see me? Aren't we supposed to have another round of spear-throwing match?"
At that time, Baiyi was already back in his cave.
Mia returned a while later, after having enough fun with Mama Goat. She brought with her a furry billy. Its physique was nothing like its mother's, and was instead a round little puffball, akin to a small pet.
"Little Billy cute," Mia said as she rubbed her cheeks against its soft fur. The billy reciprocated by sticking out its tongue to lick her face.
After a while, Little Brother Zhang also returned from his errands, he had a grin on his face when he saw Baiyi, "Sur Hope! Glad tae see ye! Ah did as ye told, 'n' exchange mah mead wi' them. See what a've git!"
After that announcement, he carefully unfolded whatever he was holding close to his chest. It was dried marinated dragon meat!?