Joseph sat on Thomas’s back, gazing out into the distance at the familiar Red Grass tribe and the surrounding fields.
His mood was completely different from the sorrow and uncertainty of last year’s journey, not knowing where the future would lead.
Thomas showed his annoyance as Joseph kept fidgeting on his back, shaking himself in displeasure, throwing Joseph off balance to fall sitting into his long fur.
Arriving at the familiar place, Joseph’s melancholy mood dissipated. He stood up, looked at the small black dots appearing in the distance, and patted Thomas’s fur beneath him.
"What tribe is that coming from over there? They look like beastmen too!"
Afraid the wind would prevent everyone from hearing him, Joseph shouted loudly.
With Thomas’s and Max’s eyesight, they had actually seen them long ago. Hearing Joseph’s voice, Eric also straightened up, looking in the direction he was pointing.
"It’s that despicable Black Wolf tribe. No need to pay attention to them."
Michael replied coldly.
This was the first time Eric had heard Michael use such a cold tone to talk about another tribe. The Black Wolf tribe, Eric muttered, trying to rummage through his memory.
Only then did he remember that the original story had mentioned that although the Black Wolf tribe and the Snow Wolf tribe were both Wolf beastmen tribes, the Black Wolf beastmen were cunning and treacherous, holding a long-standing feud with their tribe.
Years ago, when the Golden Kingdom gathered the beastmen tribes to fight against the Elf tribe, the Snow Wolf people originally did not want to participate in this conflict. It was the Black Wolf tribe that went to the Snow Wolf tribes to incite them.
The Snow Wolf tribe then sent warriors to join the battle. As a result, on the battlefield, the Black Wolf tribe used the Snow Wolf tribe’s warriors as meat shields, and even used their military achievements to climb to high positions within the Golden Kingdom.
Later, it was said they even wanted to seize power, but several of their high generals were decisively killed by the Golden Lion tribe, forcing them to dejectedly flee back to their original territory.
Since then, the Snow Wolf tribe and the Black Wolf tribe became irreconcilable enemies, never considering them kinsmen again. Therefore, encountering the Black Wolf tribe here made them all feel extremely unlucky.
The original owner’s memory had a vague impression, and Eric had also read about it in the original story, so after learning those people were the Black Wolf tribe, he also felt extremely disgusted.
Among a group of straightforward beastmen, such an insidious and cunning tribe was truly a rarity.
Even the Golden Kingdom, despite competing with the Elves for territory, acted openly and honorably; beastmen did not use such underhanded tactics.
They were even more despicable than the Golden Kingdom, a power considered traitors by the beastmen. Apart from the Ox-Head tribe who would trade with them, other tribes kept the Black Wolf tribe at a respectful distance, while the Snow Wolf tribe despised them bitterly.
Accidentally encountering the Black Wolf tribe this year was also beyond Thomas’s and Max’s expectations.
Although Joseph didn’t know the details, seeing everyone’s expressions and wrong tone of voice, he was tactful enough not to ask any further.
Although the Ox-Head tribe’s settlement only had a few thousand people, the area it occupied was almost the size of a small town in Eric’s previous life.
In winter, even the diligent Ox-Head people rested, strolling leisurely on the streets.
Recently, other tribes had begun to arrive one after another at the Red Grass tribe to trade for food. The chieftain of the Ox-Head tribe, Tu, had specially arranged for a few people to welcome them and arrange accommodation.
They finally crossed the vast fields to reach the Ox-Head tribe’s settlement. This was Eric’s first time here.
He curiously looked at the tall wooden houses and the wide, tidy roads around him.
Worthy of being the Ox-Head tribe, the "richest" among the beastmen. The level of cleanliness and tidiness of the entire settlement was indeed something ordinary beastmen tribes could not compare to.
Perhaps due to their tribe’s habits, the entire settlement consisted of wooden houses, unlike the haphazardly erected animal skin tents with dilapidated thatched roofs of Thomas’s tribe.
The Ox-Head tribe’s wooden houses were built very orderly, exactly like the houses in fairy tales Eric used to watch on TV.
Through the huge windows, one could even see fireplaces blazing inside. Smoke rising from the chimneys of each house added to the warm, domestic atmosphere.
Large houses had correspondingly large windows. Eric tilted his head to peek inside and saw enormous beds, covered not with grass mats but with very soft-looking blankets.
Their lifestyle was already very close to that of humans.
Although they didn’t have private yards, each house was built close together in an orderly fashion, not haphazardly erected like the Snow Wolf people’s, but planned into straight, neat roads.
Thanks to their good relations with the Dwarves, their household utensils were all iron pots and pans forged by the Dwarves. Eric even saw that the farming tools they propped up in the corners were also made of iron.
Max and Thomas had both transformed back into their human forms, putting their animal skin clothes back on before entering the Ox-Head tribe’s territory.
Seeing Eric standing stunned and looking around, Max walked over, took his hand, and led him to follow the others into the Red Grass tribe.
After going deeper inside, Eric could observe the Ox-Head tribe’s way of life more clearly. He finally got to see their appearance.
Now he understood why this tribe was named the Ox-Head tribe. The tall figures passing by on the road were much taller than the human forms of the Snow Wolf people; they were truly giants.
Every one of them had a strapping physique with bulging muscles. Even though it was winter, their thick cotton and animal skin clothes couldn’t hide the large muscle blocks protruding.
It was just that behind every Ox-Head person was a long, thin tail, with a fluffy tuft of fur at the tip, swinging leisurely in the air with their every step.
Their heads, however, retained the shape of a bull’s head. The human-like body combined with the bull’s head created an incredibly imposing appearance.
Eric carefully observed the bull heads sitting on their necks. Although their fur colors varied, they didn’t look like the types of cattle raised on Earth.
Just by looking at their appearance, it was impossible to guess that the Ox-Head tribe had a gentle temperament. Every one of them had eyes as big as copper bells, glossy fur, and sharp, enormous horns.
If he were really a beast cub, he probably would have been scared enough to dive straight into the arms of a Snow Wolf adult.
The Ox-Head people passing by on the street made Eric feel both astonished and somewhat familiar.
He felt as if he had seen this image somewhere before. After racking his brain for a moment, Eric suddenly remembered.
Didn’t the Bull Demon King in the Stephen Chow movie he had watched also look like this?
It was just that the Ox-Head tribe didn’t have the crafty appearance of that Bull Demon King, and their bodies were much larger.
This made Eric feel a bit more affinity toward the Ox-Head tribe, and looking at their sharp horns no longer felt scary.
The Ox-Head tribe’s settlement was indeed much livelier than his tribe.
They were used to the appearance of other tribes, and didn’t stare much at Eric’s group, but rather gathered in groups of two or three to chat among themselves.