Chapter 31: Flexing (Part 2)
Conference Tent
It had been a while since the scavenger tribe chiefs’ meeting started.
And now, the eight village chiefs looked even more troubled than before.
Meanwhile, Tara sat at the center table with her arms folded, openly wearing a smug grin while letting the tension spread through the tent.
“So, in order for Blackstone to properly protect all of you,” Tara said confidently, “your villages will relocate nearby, into the designated areas.”
“Tara, you bitch!” a rugged female human chief suddenly snapped. “Protection my ass! We were doing just fine before this! The only ones threatening us right now are you and your mutts!”
Tara looked completely unbothered as she casually raised both hands with a mocking shrug.
“Say whatever you want, Cynthia,” Tara replied. “But this grassland and the stone ravine will belong to Blackstone.”
Then her eyes sharpened.
“You should be grateful I still respect your villages enough to ask you to join first.”
Cynthia flinched slightly, her expression turning stiff.
“…Asshole,” she muttered under her breath.
“Tara,” Drak began carefully, hesitation obvious in his voice, “I think you’re not thinking far enough ahead.”
He paused briefly before forcing himself to continue.
“If all of us start living near each other, we’ll end up fighting over food and hunting grounds,” Drak said. “There won’t be enough herds around to feed everyone.”
The other chiefs immediately nodded, murmuring in agreement.
“You’re right, Drak,” Tara surprisingly nodded back. “There won’t be enough animals around. And thanks for bringing that up, because that’s actually our next discussion.”
Tara slowly looked around the tent, making eye contact with each chief one by one.
“That’s why, to solve that future problem… this alliance—”
She paused deliberately.
“—will also begin farming.”
Every chief’s eyes twitched at first, and then the entire tent exploded.
“Are you insane?!”
“Do you want the agros to wipe us out?!”
“Tara, you idiot!”
Several chiefs even jumped from their seats as the shouting erupted across the tent.
But Tara remained seated calmly with her arms folded and the same smug smile still on her face, letting them keep yapping exactly as she expected.
Because yes, starting agriculture in Border Prison was considered madness. An unspoken taboo.
The reason was the Agricultural Tribes, the strongest tribes in all of Border Prison. And the reason for that strength was exactly what their name implied, they were the only tribes that practice agriculture.
With stable food supplies that could feed large populations through every season, they could support far bigger manpower than ordinary scavenger tribes and even maintain proper armies.
And anyone else who dared to start farming independently? They simply got razed before they can enjoy the harvest.
---
Right outside the conference tent, Matheo and two other figures could hear the commotion coming from inside.
“Hmm… sounds like it’s about to start,” Matheo muttered to the figure standing behind him.
“I think so too,” the figure replied.
It was Theo, now already dressed in a dark robe and holding a staff. He kept adjusting the loose robe uncomfortably, clearly not used to wearing it.
Matheo then turned toward the other figure beside them, one of the villagers.
“Did you bring it?” Matheo asked.
“I did,” the villager replied.
He quickly pulled a magic scroll from his pouch.
“This is the last smoke screen scroll we have,” the villager said nervously.
“One is enough,” Matheo replied. “Get it ready.”
“R-right away.”
The villager immediately crouched down, holding the scroll with both hands as he began chanting the activation spell quietly.
---
Back inside the conference tent, the other village chiefs were still angrily yapping at Tara.
Then—
SLAM!
“Aah! Shut the fuck up, all of you!” Tara shouted as she slammed both hands onto the table.
The outburst came so suddenly that the entire tent instantly fell silent.
“Listen, if you think I’m doing all this without thinking ahead, then you’re so fucking wrong,” Tara said sharply. “Me and the necromancer already planned everything!”
“…That necromancer of yours?” Drak muttered cautiously.
“That’s right, Drak,” Tara replied. “You remember my necromancer who can summon champions from another world.”
“He’s been actively summoning useful souls to help build this village, as you’ve already seen with your own eyes,” Tara continued confidently. “And he’ll keep summoning more in the future to turn this place into something else. I was serious when I told all of you back then that we would grow together.”
“You mean…” Drak hesitated, “our villages could also become like this? With walls and everything?”
“Exactly,” Tara nodded casually. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t feel protected, no?”
This time, hesitation became visible on every chief’s face.
“Tch. Then where is that necromancer of yours right now?” Cynthia said impatiently. “If he wants this alliance so badly, shouldn’t he be attending this meeting too?”
“Oh, he’s already been here with us this whole time.”
“What?”
The chiefs immediately looked around in surprise, murmuring restlessly as they searched the tent.
“Master Theo,” Tara called calmly, “please reveal yourself to our guests.”
Then suddenly—
Pooff!
“Gasp!”
The chiefs jolted in surprise as white smoke suddenly burst near the tent entrance, instantly covering that side of the tent from view.
A few seconds later, the smoke slowly cleared, revealing a figure that absolutely hadn’t been standing there before.
Just like a proper stage entrance from a magician. Fortunately, nobody in this world knew what a magician was.
The figure standing there was Theo, dressed in a black robe and holding an equally menacing staff, the exact appearance people would imagine when hearing the word necromancer.
“Why has this meeting not finished yet?!” Theo suddenly declared in irritation.
His voice came out deep and theatrical so naturally it barely sounded forced. Which made sense, considering this kind of performance was practically his daily living back on Earth.
The chiefs looked visibly unsettled. Part of it was because Theo had acted unusually quiet the last time he and Tara visited their villages.
But the bigger reason was how different he looked now. Not just the robe and staff, Theo himself looked different.
Noticeably thinner than before, with sharper features and a more visible jawline. Yet instead of making him look weak, it gave him a harsher appearance that fit the necromancer image even better.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Tara replied casually. “I told you already. Scavengers can be pretty stubborn sometimes.”
“…Have you,” Theo continued slowly, “told them what will happen if they refuse?”
That single sentence immediately made the chiefs even more wary.
“No… not yet,” Tara answered, suddenly sounding slightly hesitant.
“Elders,” Theo called out as he slowly raised one hand, fully leaning into the performance, “as Tara has already said, we will build a great civilization starting from this grassland.”
The entire tent went silent.
“And to build that civilization, I will need every able body available,” Theo continued. “And remember this.”
He paused as his expression hardened.
“Whether those bodies are alive or not… makes no difference,” Theo said coldly. “They will still work for me.”
Everyone in the tent swallowed nervously.
“Theo, please!” Tara suddenly rose from her seat.
Her voice cut through the tent sharply enough that everyone immediately turned toward her.
“These people simply don’t understand how dangerous your power is,” Tara continued loudly. “They just want reassurance that what we’re planning here is safe for them.”
“T-that’s right, Necromancer,” Drak quickly said as he turned back toward Theo. “We’re only worried about—”
But Theo was already gone.
He had slipped out during the brief moment everyone’s attention shifted toward Tara.
The chiefs immediately looked around in confusion.
“Sigh… he left already,” Tara said as she sat back down again. “Sometimes he can be unbelievably moody.”
The atmosphere inside the tent turned noticeably quieter after that.
“Tara…” Cynthia called carefully, the hostility from earlier now mixed with visible caution. “Can he really… turn us into undead laborers?”
Tara looked directly at her.
“Yes. He can,” Tara answered firmly. “And he’d happily replace any of your souls with someone from the otherworld if he thinks they’re more useful for his work.”
Cynthia gritted her teeth hearing that, while the other chiefs looked just as disturbed.
“However,” Tara continued calmly, “I already told him that won’t be necessary.”
She leaned back slightly in her chair.
“Because I can convince all of you to cooperate.”
The chiefs stayed silent.
“But,” Tara continued as she slowly stood up from her seat, “I also understand it wouldn’t be fair to force all of you to decide immediately after arriving here today.”
She spread her arms lightly.
“So how about I give all of you a proper tour first?” Tara said. “You can see what we’ve built here, what your villages would gain, and how all of us can finally thrive together.”
She glare toward the chiefs.
“Thriving more than the other!"
Then she grinned.
"Thriving more than ever!”