I'm not a lord

Chapter 234 'God of War' Carula
“Once, we, the Wilderness People, owned all the land north of the Boundary Mountain, but now, we can only endlessly fight on this barren wasteland. It’s so tragic and pitiful.”

Augusta, the current chieftain of the Rift Valley tribe, has a dream: to unify the nine tribes of the Wilderness and make the Rift Valley tribe the sole ruler among them.

He himself was crowned the king of the wasteland people, possessing supreme power to command all the wasteland people.

Then he would lead the barbarians back to their homeland, drive out the evil and despicable southern invaders, and make the barbarians great again.

The tall woman, revered as a war goddess by the barbarians, sat opposite Augusta. She poured a full bowl of wine into the wooden bowl on the table and asked, "Haven't three tribes already been wiped out? The fighting must be almost over, right?"

Augusta watched as the woman downed the entire bowl of pale yellow ale in one gulp, swallowed hard, and then replied, "No, Karula, this is just the beginning. After we unify the wasteland, we will head south."

Wine is a good thing, but it's too expensive.

In the wilderness, arable land is very scarce, and coupled with the harsh climate, it is basically only possible to grow a small amount of low-yield oats that are highly resistant to cold.

A jug of oat wine could be traded for five deer or a beautiful young female slave in the wilderness.

Even though Augusta was the chieftain, ruling over the Rift Valley tribe and three vassal tribes, and controlling more than half of the population and farmland on the wasteland, he was still reluctant to drink alcohol like water.

The only person in the entire Rift Valley tribe to enjoy this privilege was the woman named Karula standing before him.

Karula put down the wooden bowl, picked up the empty wine jug beside her, shook it, and a hint of melancholy flashed in her eyes: "Go south, back to your former homeland?"

“That’s right, this is the only way to change our fate, and to return to our warm homeland, we must first kill Lynn.”

In Augusta's eyes, Lynn is his greatest enemy and the target he must eliminate.

Of the nine tribes of the barbarians, he has already taken control of four, while the other two tribes, the Lowland and High Cliff tribes, have fled south.

The three remaining tribes on the wasteland will eventually fall into his hands.

Once the rainy season ends in the wasteland, Augusta will immediately send troops to conquer the strongest of the three tribes.

Perhaps this year, he will unify the entire wasteland.

Therefore, he had to make preparations for heading south in advance.

Augusta understood clearly that the wasteland couldn't support many people at all.

Two hundred years ago, after being invaded by the Rui people, the nine tribes who fled to the wilderness should have put aside their grudges and united to reclaim their homeland.

Even if we don't unite, we should at least allow the population to recover and grow.

However, due to the extreme scarcity of survival resources, the nine tribes could only engage in endless fighting in order to keep their population size at a level that the wasteland could sustain.

During this period, some tribes that were unwilling to engage in infighting attempted to migrate south, but they were quickly driven back to the wasteland by the Rui people's marsh dukes.

The enemy's blockade, coupled with the barrenness of the land, became two heavy shackles around the necks of the desolate people.

Moreover, the wasteland is not only barren, but most fatally, it is also devoid of open-pit mineral resources.

This caused the handicraft skills of the people in the wilderness to deteriorate rapidly, retreating from the Bronze Age back to the Bone and Pottery Age.

Lacking the necessary metal tools, their farming techniques quickly degenerated into slash-and-burn agriculture.

The so-called slash-and-burn agriculture means not tilling the land, not loosening the soil, and not fertilizing. Loosening the soil relies entirely on burning, and fertilizing relies entirely on natural wood ash.

While the yield per acre is alarmingly low, this method of farming also has a very poor land utilization rate. A plot of land must be planted for one year and then moved to another place. The land that has been planted must be left unplanted for three or four years.

Returning to their homeland was almost the only cure for all the deserted people.

Carula picked up the last bottle of wine on the table and asked suspiciously, "Who exactly is Lynn? He can't be a barbarian, can he?"

"He is a nobleman of the Rui people. The Lowland and High Cliff tribes have submitted to him. They are noble barbarians, yet they willingly become slaves to despicable invaders. We must completely destroy these two tribes and erase the names of the High Cliff and Lowland tribes from our records."

Mentioning Lynn and the two tribes that had sided with him, Augusta could no longer contain his anger and murderous intent.

Augusta was ambitious, capable, and possessed exceptional execution skills. He even planted spies among some tribes, enabling him to obtain top-secret intelligence from them. Among the High Cliff tribes that migrated south, there were also loyal traitors within his ranks.

Originally, he intended to use the help of an inside traitor to completely conquer the Gaoya tribe.

Unexpectedly, the tribe, led by their chieftain Hafdan, fled ahead of schedule.

Running away was one thing, but Hafdan actually led the High Cliff tribe to serve as slaves to the Rui nobles, digging for salt and iron mines, which Augusta found completely unacceptable.

The Wildlings are the only masters of the North; how can they be enslaved and subservient to brutal invaders?
Moreover, Augusta had long regarded the High Cliff tribe as his prey, and for a top hunter like him to let his prey escape was the greatest disgrace.

Each of the nine tribes of the Wilderness has a unique tribal name, such as Lowland, High Cliff, and Rift Valley, and also has the name of the chieftain that has been passed down for thousands of years.

Like the lowland tribes, each chieftain is called Sowad, which means rule and power.

The name Hafdan of the High Cliff tribe signifies inheritance and glory.

As for Augusta's name, it symbolizes majesty and sublimity.

In his own eyes, he was born to be king.

Erasing the tribe's name also strips the tribe leader of his name passed down through generations, which is tantamount to completely destroying the tribe's past and future. Among the wild people, this means the complete annihilation of the tribe.

In the past two years, Augusta has conquered three tribes in succession, but has retained the names of their chieftains.

However, he had to personally wipe out the two tribes from the lowlands and high cliffs who had voluntarily surrendered to the invaders.

By making an example of him, he could establish his absolute authority among all the wasteland people, and then he could be crowned the king of the wasteland people!

Of course, Lynn, who took in these two tribes, deserved to be killed even more.

"Lynn, the Rui, that's interesting. How can I meet him?"

After asking, Carula picked up the bottle and drank straight from it, downing half a bottle of oat beer in one gulp, which was roughly equivalent to the weight of two and a half elk.

Augusta already had a plan in mind, and he slowly replied:

“I will arrange everything. All you have to do is go to the Rui people’s White River Territory and lie in wait for the opportunity to meet Lynn. It is said that he often patrols between the two tribes. When you meet him, you only need to draw your bone bow and then strike him deadly.”

After occupying the abandoned stronghold of the High Cliff tribe, Augusta went to great lengths to contact the traitor and obtained a great deal of intelligence from the south, including information about Lynn and White River Territory.

Augusta's plan was simple: to deliberately release a group of other tribesmen he had enslaved and lead them south to join Lynn.

Based on his understanding of Lynn, this man was completely open to all outsiders.

Carula will infiltrate the group of fleeing deserters and seize the opportunity to assassinate Lynn.

Augusta had full confidence in the 'God of War's' abilities.

Two years ago, Karula, carrying a bone bow, suddenly appeared outside the Rift Valley tribe's encampment and displayed astonishing martial prowess and archery skills.

Augusta hailed her as a so-called 'goddess of war' descended to earth, and with her power and fame, she conquered three tribes in succession.

Of course, Karula's abilities are not at the level of a god; they are still within the realm of human understanding.

But on the wasteland where people use animal hides as armor, even a 'warrior' who is above the level of an ordinary person can show remarkable dominance on the battlefield.

Currently, the war on the wasteland has basically come to an end, and the Rift Valley tribe has an overwhelming advantage over the remaining three tribes.

Even without Carula, Augusta can still finish the job.

Based on the principle of making the best use of people, he naturally had to assign this 'war god' who could drink half a bottle of wine in one gulp a more important and arduous task.

(End of this chapter)