Some of the Mermans grabbed the men and took them elsewhere. This left the nomad women confused and looking worried.
"You don''t love them, do you?" Leva shrugged with a sneer, then pointed at the short-haired woman who was Tom''s wife. "Ah, except for you, of course."
The woman crawled forward, making all the rifled mermans aim at her. Leva raised her hand to signal the half-fish creatures not to shoot.
"Please, don''t kill Tom!" The woman wept bitterly. "He did Jia''s will to survive! If he refuses, he will be ughtered! He was forced tomit all those atrocities!"
"Lies! That man also whipped me so many times!" Another woman answered.
The others shouted along, causing the situation to be chaotic. Tom''s wife couldn''t help but cry.
"Silence!!" Leva gave a thunderous scream, making the women shut up. Then, the red-haired woman spoke to Tom''s wife again. "You, what''s your name?"
"My name is Yvonne, madam." The woman wiped her tears.
"Okay, Yvonne. Youe with me to my tribe." Leva said ording to my orders. "With those guys, to avoid any trouble that might arise."
Yvonne widened her eyes, speechless. Then, from behind, another woman raised a hand.
Levi frowned. "Your name is Alice, right? What''s wrong?"
The braided woman stood up, massaging the nape of her neck with an awkward expression. She flinched when she realized one of the rifled mermans was aiming at her.
"Errrr... Well... Can I join you too? I mean with your tribe? Join your tribe?" Alice spoke in an incoherent tone, then grimaced.
"Why do you want to join us?"
Alice was silent for a few seconds. "Well, you guys are good people... It seems... I mean, you guys are really good people, of course."
"What?" Leva''s frown deepened.
Alice grimaced again. "Isn''t that reason enough?"
"If she does say you guys are good people, then she will really think you guys are good people, so the reason she wants to join you guys is really because you guys are good people." One of the nomad women added.
Hmmm... Interesting.
"So, what''s her most valuable skill?" I asked Yellow.
"Farming, and she''s very passionate about it... At least I heard from her chats... Under Jia''s leadership, she was demoted to just a maid and a sex ve." The guardian spirit answered.
[Alice, 23 years old. (ve)]
Ranged Attack: 60/100
Melee attack: 11/100
"Alright, I''ll bring her too." I went to Leva to give orders.
"Damn, even though she is my favorite." Yellow sighed in disappointment.
"Okay, youe with us." Leva gestured for Alice to approach her.
Alice clenched her fists and smiled widely, then jogged up to Leva. It made me feel like I saw a child acting up, even though Alice was already over twenty.
"Right now, we are tired, and some of our friends are injured. We need rest. So, we will spend the night here before going back to our home tomorrow." Leva exined in a firm tone. "And sorry in advance, we''ll be taking some of your supplies. Well, most of your members are gone, so you don''t need that many supplies, do you? Does anyone disagree?"
The women remained silent, some exchanging timid nces with each other.
It may sound selfish, but I don''t want to let go of this opportunity. After all, taking some of their supplies didn''t mean they would die.
"And after this, you can all be free." Levi continued. "We won''t bother you anymore. Well, as long as you don''t bother us."
The nomad women looked at Leva. Some were surprised even though it was already obvious, some cried gratefully, almost all of them said thank you.
"Don''t make me regret this, Yellow," I spoke in a cold tone. "Take care of them. If you mess with my colony, you and your colony will get even more terrible retribution than this."
"Well, you don''t have to worry." Yellow sighed. "I thank you for saving them."
"And one more..." Leva added. "We will take the metal giant."
***
It was morning, my colonists and Alice made their way back home aboard the mech. Meanwhile, the mermans walked on the ground escorting Jia''s henchmen. Yvonne did not go on the mech and instead walked beside her husband.
I checked the mech driver in the cockpit, a man with a long beard and curly ck hair. He just kept ncing at a merman who was guarding beside him.
"This is awesome!!!" Leva spread her arms. Her hair and clothes fluttered in the wind.
"This is not possible." Manu shook his head as he crouched down, looking around a few times with stiff movements. "How could something this big move like this?"
"Haven''t you heard of the legend of this iron giant?" Eric, whose face was full of bandages, chimed in.
"Yeah, but they didn''t tell me that this thing would... Fuuuuuckkkkk!!!" Manu stuttered as the mech shook.
The others werepletely unaffected because the shaking wasn''t too strong. They were passing through a rtively t meadow.
"Noooo, please!!! Let me get out of here!!!" Manu shouted while holding on to one of the mech pieces.
"I have to admit, this thing is amazing." Miro moved to sit next to Leva, but the amber-eyed woman just walked away with her dog. Sighing, Miro continued his words. "But, I hate it."
Leva turned to face Miro, looking in disbelief at what she had just heard. "What did you say? Why do you say that!? This is such an extraordinary thing!"
"Imagine if this thing also belongs to other tribes. The war we know about doesn''t exist anymore. I thought firearms were bad enough, but this is much worse." Miro exined in a cold tone. "And imagine if at that time Jia decided to attack your tribe with this thing, without checking the inhabitants first."
"Ah, that would be terrible," Alice replied with trembling lips. "The reason Jia rarely uses this thing for raids is because of its incredible killing power. Jia wouldn''t have had time to brainwash the boys and kidnap the girls if this thing had fired its hot metals."
"Why didn''t he bring this thing as a threat then." Levi raised an eyebrow.
Alice shrugged stiffly. "I heard, another reason he didn''t want to use this thing anymore was that he would be less scary. This thing is more intimidating than Jia."
What a narcissistic bastard.