AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

“Are you going with them?”

Lana didn’t let the fear and hesitation appear in her voice. By now, she had learned how Tauron’s bond worked, and she wouldn’t risk influencing his decision. Although their first delivery would take another week to get here, the tribe had invited Tauron to go to the Sandine’s camp. The elder Beastman had accepted their offer, and technically, any further exchange would be their concern. However, if the tribe doesn’t exchange the weapons with the Sandines, the whole deal would fall apart. So, Tauron was invited to demonstrate the weapons himself.

“I think I should… If this deal doesn’t fall through, we would have failed your uncle, and I would lose the chance of saving the tribe.”

The Merchant didn’t like the idea of sending her employee and friend to stand against an army, but she recognized the need. At this time, shadow one darted out of his concealment and interrupted them.

“I could go with them… Nobody would notice me, and I could act if anything goes wrong.”

Tauron didn’t like the idea, but Lana made it a condition to allow him to go. ~

***

At the next dawn, a group of thirty bull Beastkin left the tribe in the direction to the Sandine frontier. Although he accepted the escorting, Tauron wouldn’t hide it from his kin. So, he told the warrior in charge about the shadow escorting them.

In the beginning, the tribe’s warriors acted vigilantly of their surroundings. But after two days, they just forgot about the supposed escort.

On the sixth day, the group finally sighted the Sandine Camp. Even though the independent tribes didn’t participate in the war, they were careful enough to keep tabs on the army's position as they wouldn’t like to wake up one day with the war on their doorstep.

True to their famous honorable nature, the bulls didn’t try to hide their approach. They stopped one kilometer from the camp and waited for the Sandines to send a team. Since they had exited the forest and the trees were scarce in the arid lands, the path to the camp was unobstructed. So, they were noticed right away, and in less than an hour, a team of fifty Sandines appeared.

The squad was formed basically by jackals and a handful of races of wolf Beastkin. The composition wasn’t unexpected since these races were the majority of the Sandine soldiers. They also didn’t make any effort to hide who their leader was. The towering and well-equipped black wolf Beastman unspokenly demanded the submission of others around him at each step. The squad stopped twenty meters from the bulls. Their leader’s devilish grin would make most shiver.

But Tauron’s race wasn’t most. They met the squad’s gaze with their own honorable and unshakable pride. Even with their advantage in numbers, the wolf leader knew most of his subordinates wouldn’t match the bulls in single combat. Annoyed that the other party refused to lower their heads, the wolf ground his teeth.

“So, your hornes finally outgrew your cowardice, and you decided to fight instead of hiding in the forest?”

The leading bull warrior suppressed his fury while many of his kin bellowed in anger. As the leader, he was responsible for bringing the others back safe, though the offense couldn’t go answered.

“We would never lower ourselves to serve lesser races such as yours.”

One of the younger wolfs stepped forward, ready to break the thin peace.

“Watch your mouth when talking to our commander, coward!”

However, before the Beastman could do something irremediable, the leader stopped him and turned to the bulls.

“So, what’re doing here?”

Instead of answering, the Beastman launched a machete towards the angry young wolf. Before anyone could react, the weapon buried itself in the ground just a few fingers from the wolf. The scared Beastman fell back and let out a weak moan of fear. The fear quickly shifted to hatred. The young soldier knew this shameful act would earn him a beating later and maybe even cost his life. He was ready to jump at the offenders and get his revenge when his leader commanded:

“Disgraceful pup! Pick up the sword.”

The wolf hesitated, looking between his commander and the enemy who shamed him and possibly, destroyed his ambitions. But the leading black wolf would take none of it.

“Now! Give me the weapon and leave!”

Hatred had made him make a second mistake. Now that he earned the anger of his leader, his fate was sealed. The defeated Beastman picked the weapon and gave it to the commander before leaving in silence.

The other soldiers thought their leader would pay back the offense with the same sword, but the wolf started to study the weapon instead. Their short-mindedness prevented them from realizing how unusual it would be for the object to end up completely buried. The curious performance picked the commander’s attention. As a seasoned soldier, he was well aware of the importance of good weapons.

Initially, he thought the machete would be a high-quality weapon that ended up in the hands of the bull tribe, but once he analyzed it closer, he saw it wasn’t the case. The weapon was well forged but not a the level of cause such abnormality. He turned the bulls, considering if it had been a lucky strike.

The leading warrior said:

“Test it.”

Without notice, the black wolf launched an attack at one of his subordinates, who barely blocked it. Although the exchange seemed ordinary, the commander frowned and attacked again, but this time he put more strength behind the slash. The soldier blocked it again, but his sword was left with a visible dent. The wolf leader grinned and attacked one more time with all his strength. The power was enough to send the soldier stumbling back, but what made the wolf howl in excitement was the state of the sword. It was cut in half while the machete was undamaged.

“What… What is this?”

“It’s a magic weapon.”

The wolf couldn’t take his greedy eyes out of the enhanced weapon. Everybody could see that he didn’t plan to give it back. Though they couldn’t know the schemes forming on his mind, his less than honorable intentions were evident.

“How did you get this?”

“It doesn’t matter. We have more, a lot more. Do you want to exchange them?”

The greed in the wolf’s eyes became even more apparent. His eyes danced through the bull warriors, probably counting their numbers, weapons and also trying to locate the so-called “a lot more” weapons. He was about to say something, maybe even give an order to attack, but the other party spoke first.

“Don’t even think about using dishonorable methods… We only brought enough to teach you a lesson, if necessary. For now, we can exchange roughly 30 weapons every month. But, if you dare to try anything shady, the deal is off, and even if you bring your whole army after us, you won’t get a single weapon.”

The commander made a sound of irritation with his teeth and spoke:

“How much and what do you want in exchange for it?”

“…”