CHAPTER 114: ANOTHER CHANCE

Basla kneeled on the ground, too afraid to even raise his head. Qiro sat in a chair in front of Basla with his legs nonchalantly crossed and looked down at Basla.

"Basla, I must say...You aren’t living up to the hopes I had of you and your tribe. You are losing harder than expected." The disappointment in Qiro’s voice was palpable.

Somehow, it was only now that Basla realized that Qiro didn’t care about what happened to him and his tribe. He was only using them. He had nudged them along and supported them with their decision to antagonize the Aer tribe.

Basla had foolishly hoped that meant the Asa tribe would help them out.

That wasn’t the case.

Qiro just wanted the tribes to fight.

"W-we haven’t gotten the opportunity to use our trump card yet!" Basla desperately shouted in protest. As soon as they got that opportunity, they could flip the tables on the Aer tribe.

It was just the Aer tribe, which meant the other tribes could still fight, but the Seg tribe wasn’t a threat. The Gezercher tribe wasn’t that scary. The biggest threat was the Ursa tribe.

But if Basla and his warriors could flip the tables, maybe the Asa tribe would step in and deal with the bears.

"Tsk."

Qiro clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"And whose fault do you think that is?" He asked scornfully. "You’ve done everything except flat-out tell the other tribes that you have an ace up your sleeve. Of course, they’re being cautious."

Basla trembled and avoided Qiro’s gaze again.

"Do you know what could have made those birdies ignore their caution, though, Basla?" Qiro asked, saying Basla’s name like it was made of mold.

"W-what?" Basla asked, too afraid to even guess.

"Tair’s corpse." Qiro put both feet on the floor and leaned forward, hissing the answer at Basla.

"Instead, you let them bring him back whole with nothing but a few scrapes!" Qiro’s voice rose, and he slammed his hand into the armrest, crumbling it.

"G-give me one more chance!" Basla pleaded before Qiro could think about transferring his anger to him now that the chair had broken.

Qiro scoffed.

"Sure, I’ll give you an opportunity. Don’t regret it." Qiro left those words behind as he disappeared from Basla’s home.

***

"Captain, these monster subjugation requests...They’re worrying," Lily said while cleaning her blade on the slain wolf at her feet. She glanced around. They were outside Tiabe at a field not far away. An entire wolf pack had been exterminated by the Free Bird mercenaries. In the distance, she saw a few more wolves and other monsters being hunted.

Monster subjugation requests weren’t unusual. It was a common occurrence that weaker monsters couldn’t survive the competition for food in Tiabe and sought the roaming sheep, cows, and pigs of the farms outside Tiabe.

Farming close to Tiabe was risky for exactly that reason, but the soil was too good. Besides, it wasn’t usually this bad. At most, it would be a pack of starved wolves aiming at the farm animals or a herd of hungry deer aiming for their crops.

"Don’t complain, Lily. It’s good money," Squawks answered, already skinning the pelt of the wolves closest to him. He had even made sure to kill them cleanly to maximize the worth of their furs.

"I’m just saying...It should still be a year or so left until there’s a monster stampede." Lily sighed frustratedly. Something was clearly off, but Squawks was blinded by money.

Squawks tossed his haul onto the cart that Damas was pulling and glanced at Lily.

"Do you know why monster stampedes out of Tiabe happen and why they have happened every few years over the past couple of decades?" He asked.

"Because there are too many of them in the forest? They increase their population until it becomes too much, and since there’s no space, a lot of them are forced out once it reaches a boiling point? The commotion makes the monsters frenzied or something, right?" That was the theory behind it that she was familiar with. It was the theory that everyone was familiar with.

Squawks gave Lily a look as if he were looking at a kid while he was a wise old sage.

"Lily, you can do better. Think deeper. Why?"

"’Why?’" Lily frowned. She did not like Squawks’ condescension. It seemed to be especially heavy just because the pelt of her wolf wasn’t in pristine condition.

"Yeah. Why do the monster populations outgrow the forest’s confines?"

Lily’s eyes widened.

"Uhh...Good circumstances, a lot of food, and not enough predators?" She suggested.

"Next." Squawks turned to Damas.

Damas took a break from peeling wolves with Squawks and looked up at the sky with his head on tilt as he thought about it.

"The forest’s power crystals?" He asked.

"Next." Squawks turned to Hugo.

Hugo looked up a little taken by surprise when he felt everyone looking at him. He had not been listening. He was busy taking care of the arrow in his hands, caressing and sniffing it.

Squawks turned to Dima, who was using the rest of Hugo’s quiver as a pillow. Without opening his eyes, he held up two fingers. Two bottles for an answer.

Squawks sighed at the hopelessness of his subordinates. Lily was good and diligent. Damas was strong and reliable. Dima and Hugo were absolutely useless. Fortunately, there was one left.

"Don’t disappoint me, Mole," Squawks said, the rest of the gang following his gaze toward the one dismantling the wolves with any degree of precision and skill.

Without looking up, Mole answered,

"The monsters are outgrowing the room for them in the forest because there aren’t enough threats. For as long as our records go, Tiabe has been a gathering of violence. It is only during the last century that it has calmed down somewhat. And it’s only during the past few decades that the place has felt any peace.

"In other words, the tribes aren’t fighting as much, which means they aren’t dragging the monsters into their fights anymore. Before, the monsters were killed by each other and the tribes. Now, they are only being killed by each other. They reproduce faster than they are killed. Monster overflow. Monster stampedes." Mole’s explanation was something they could all understand.

Peace in the forest meant trouble for them.

But what about Lily’s initial worries? Why was it happening earlier than usual?

It was because it wasn’t the prelude to an ordinary monster stampede. The monsters weren’t leaving the forest because it couldn’t fit them. They were leaving because they were scared.

There were probably few others who knew, but the Free Bird Mercenaries were definitely aware.

The peace of Tiabe had been lost. The monsters were leaving because they didn’t want to get caught up in it.

***

Nick woke up with a yawn and stretched his arms out to either side. One of them, however, hit something soft. Frowning, he opened his eyes.

"Good morning, honey."