Chapter 1084, The Arrow Root Fruit

Translator: Silavin

 

The Chieftain of the Red Horse Tribe tasted the salt, and in an instant, everything she had believed about it was overturned.

 

The salt her Tribe used had always been bitter and astringent, and the saltiness itself was nothing remarkable.

 

She had assumed that was simply what salt tasted like. Now, having tried the salt from the Flame Dragon Tribe, she understood she had been wrong all along.

 

“Is this really salt?” The Chieftain of the Red Horse Tribe struggled to believe it.

 

In truth, she already believed it inwardly. It was only a matter of face that made her hesitate.

 

After all, her Tribe had eaten that other salt for generations. Being told suddenly that this was the real thing was difficult to absorb. The purity of the flavour was startling. It was truly nothing but saltiness, without a trace of unpleasantness alongside it.

 

“Our Tribe’s Shaman has personally vouched for it. He staked his own reputation on it. This is what salt really is.”

 

Zi Yun could see the conflict playing out behind the other woman’s eyes, and the more conflicted she appeared, the more satisfied Zi Yun felt. She enjoyed watching the Flame Dragon Tribe upend other Tribes’ assumptions. It made the negotiations that followed go more smoothly.

 

The Chieftain of the Red Horse Tribe said nothing more. She frowned and stared at the salt resting in her palm.

 

Then, she examined the linen, the seasonings, the paper, and the charcoal writing sticks, each one in turn. Every single item challenged something she had taken for granted.

 

The Chieftain herself was wearing linen. But when she held it beside the linen the Flame Dragon Tribe had brought, she felt a flush of embarrassment she could not quite suppress.

 

It was not a complicated feeling. The linen on her own back had cost her Tribe a lot of dried meat to acquire, and it was not even close to the quality she was looking at now. The Flame Dragon Tribe’s linen was finer by several hundred times.

 

Beyond the linen, there were the red chilli seasonings. Red and vivid, they looked appetising on sight, and the taste was sharp and spicy.

 

The Chieftain immediately thought of putting some into a pot of meat. [Wouldn’t it make the flavour so much better?]

 

While she turned that thought over, she picked up the paper and the charcoal writing stick as well. She found, to her surprise, that the paper was far more practical than Animal Hide Scrolls. The charcoal writing stick was stranger still. It produced clean, clear marks on the brown-yellow surface. Both items stirred something in her.

 

“Did all of this truly come from your Flame Dragon Tribe? You didn’t obtain any of it from somewhere else?” The Chieftain of the Red Horse Tribe asked, half-convinced.

 

Things this fine did not seem like they ought to originate from the Flame Dragon Tribe. And besides, hadn’t the Flame Dragon Tribe’s territory been seized by the Black Snake Tribe not so long ago?

 

The Chieftain did not directly ask about that. She could guess the general shape of it. They had taken their land back, and now the Tribe needed to grow, so they had come out to trade with others. That much was obvious enough.

 

Even so, she had never heard of any of these things before. Caution seemed wise.

 

She phrased it tactfully, but beneath the words was a genuine concern: what if these goods had been stolen? If the original owners came looking, the Red Horse Tribe would be in an impossible position to explain themselves.

 

Better not to invite that kind of trouble. The items were extraordinary and she wanted them, but she needed to understand where they came from first.

 

“Everything we have brought was produced by our Flame Dragon Tribe. What’s more, our Tribe has established a Central Market. All of these items are available there to purchase or to trade for.”

 

Zi Yun understood the other woman’s wariness. Tribes had little reason to deal with strangers. If someone arrived without warning and offered goods that overturned everything one thought one knew, a degree of suspicion was only sensible.

 

“Then what would you want from us in exchange?” The Chieftain of the Red Horse Tribe asked.

 

She had made up her mind. If the other side said there was no issue, then the next step was to discuss terms.

 

“That isn’t my decision to make. Your Tribe is a matriarchal one, and I am here only to open the door for our representative. If the Chieftain wishes to understand the details of how the trade would work, I would suggest speaking with the man responsible for our Central Market.”

 

Zi Yun grew more composed. Her part was finally done.

 

“The person responsible for your Central Market? Still a Market, right? And from what you say, this representative is a man.” The Chieftain of the Red Horse Tribe frowned slightly and glanced once more at the goods laid out on the ground.

 

She wrestled with herself for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “Bring him in.”

 

“Of course.” Zi Yun rose and left at once, plainly pleased.

 

*Step step step…*

 

A little over half an hour later, Qing Yan, Hu Shi, and the rest of the group entered the Red Horse Tribe.

 

The moment they arrived, it was clear they were unwelcome. The women of the Red Horse Tribe regarded them with open contempt.

 

Some rolled their eyes. Some simply walked around them as though they were obstacles. A few spat in their direction from a distance.

 

The disdain the Red Horse Tribe held for men from outside was not merely a reputation. It was visible in every face.

 

“*Tch* It was the right call, sending Zi Yun in first,” Hu Shi remarked, clicking his tongue.

 

“Yeah. If we’d come directly, we might not have made it past the entrance.” Qing Yan spread his hands with a dry laugh.

 

Neither of them was particularly bothered. Every Tribe lived in its own way. And more to the point, their purpose in coming was to establish a trading relationship. Letting personal feelings complicate the Shaman’s mission was not something either of them intended to do.

 

Inside the Chieftain’s wooden hall, the male Totem Warriors from the Flame Dragon Tribe were seated at a deliberate distance from the Chieftain. Zi Yun and the other two female Totem Warriors were allowed to sit a lot closer to the front.

 

“You said you wanted to discuss the terms. What does the Flame Dragon Tribe want from us?” The Chieftain of the Red Horse Tribe asked, direct as a blade.

 

“What we want is simple,” Hu Shi said. “Specialty foods your Tribe produces. Dried meat. Materials used in crafting Shaman Bone Tablets. Things like that.”

 

“That’s all?” The Chieftain frowned.

 

She had expected something more unusual. What she heard sounded no different from ordinary trading.

 

“That’s all. I know that the main staple your Tribe relies on is a fruit called the Arrow Root Fruit. It only grows in this region. Our Tribe would like to obtain some.”

 

The intelligence had come to Hu Shi before their departure. The Arrow Root Fruit was fresh and sweet, bursting with juice. It was a natural water source in edible form.

 

The Red Horse Tribe cooked their meat with Arrow Root Fruit and a small amount of water, and the result was said to be fragrant and sweet. The fruit could also be eaten raw and provided substantial hydration.

 

“Done.” The Chieftain of the Red Horse Tribe agreed without a moment of hesitation.

 

The Arrow Root Fruit grew in abundance around her Tribe’s territory. There was never any shortage of it. Eating through their supply was impossible.

 

That said, the Arrow Root Fruit was also the Red Horse Tribe’s foundation. Currently, it grew in this one region and nowhere else on the land they knew of.