Chapter 30: Focus

Asking Azuran?

Nagu fell silent after receiving Momoli’s answer. She initially thought that if she could find out how to turn Hamoyin into a human, she might be able to help, although she didn’t believe the residents here would treat him nicely even if he became human.

However, Hamoyin must have his reasons for wanting to become human, and those reasons must be unshakeable, otherwise, he wouldn’t endure all the garbage here for so many years.

Now, Nagu felt that what she could do was help Hamoyin become human as soon as possible so he wouldn’t insist on staying in Azuran’s territory. Then, maybe they could plan to leave together. So, she needed to figure out how to find out the method without arousing suspicion.

Asking Azuran directly was impossible, but Momoli mentioned that Hamoyin needed the power of the Mother Goddess, which was related to the tribe’s rituals. She was currently taking care of the witch, and Hamoyin’s tailbone was also in the old witch’s house.

There must be a connection between these two things!

Nagu’s mind started calculating. Many things related to the rituals were recorded on stone tablets and animal skins by the villagers, but she couldn’t read those texts. So…

Nagu turned her gaze to Momo Li, who was hopping beside her: “By the way, can you teach me to read?”

“I can’t either!”

“…”

Well, that was expected. It seemed she would have to subtly ask the old witch to teach her some words when she got back. Of course, it would be even better if the old witch could directly tell her about the rituals, but that seemed suspicious… better to be cautious.

Momoli looked at Nagu, who was deep in thought: “If you want to learn to read, you can ask my brother to teach you, or maybe the old witch you’re taking care of might be willing.”

“Yes, that’s what I was thinking. I’ll discuss it with the old witch today.” Nagu felt a bit nervous because the old witch usually didn’t pay much attention to her. If she was refused, she wouldn’t know who else to ask. Asking Duogaluo was definitely not an option.

“Why bother discussing with the old woman who can’t listen? My brother is very willing to teach people and likes long-winded things the most.”

Nagu always felt that Duogaluo’s image in Momoli’s description was really strange, both strange and regrettable…

“But I still want to discuss it with the witch first. After all, Duogaluo is the leader and can’t have time to teach me every day.” Nagu politely declined Momoli’s suggestion and, to divert the girl’s attention from the topic, she started to change the subject. “By the way, why do you call Duogaluo your brother? Your mother seems to be his sister, right?”

“Huh? I just call him brother.” Momoli looked at Naggu, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking, aren’t your mothers the same?”

“No, and my mother isn’t Duogaluo’s sister either. They just call each other that.”

“Oh…” Nagu nodded, somewhat understanding. It seemed that in their tribe, there wasn’t much concept of seniority. Maybe whoever took care of you could be called brother or sister?

The two girls slowly crossed the shallow water while chatting. At this time, Gongduo and several other men were already waiting by the cattle. When Gongduo saw Momoli, his fierce face, covered by a big beard, unexpectedly showed an incongruous smile: “Momoli!”

“Gongduo!”

Momoli ran away from Nagu’s side and rushed towards Gongduo, who caught her and lifted her up, spinning her around a few times: “Going back?”

“Yes, Duogaluo is busy driving Lali and me away.”

At this point, Gongduo turned his head to look at Nagu standing behind.

Nagu remembered that this bearded man was hostile to her, but she still raised her hand to wave at him: “Hello, nice to see you again.”

“Uh-huh.” Gongduo nodded perfunctorily at Nagu, then put Momoli back on the ground and turned to lead the cattle. “Momoli, you and she sit here. We’re going back now.”

On the way back to the village, Momoli was unusually quiet, which surprised Nagu. However, it was likely that Momoli didn’t want to disturb Gongduo and the other men discussing matters, so she didn’t talk to her. At this time, Gongduo and the others were discussing Azuran’s capture of the monster.

From their conversation, Nagu roughly understood that Azuran had set out with more than fifty people five days ago, heading towards the barren mountains to capture the monster. Three days ago, someone returned to report that no trace of the monster had been found, so they might stay in the barren mountains for a few more days.

The sacrificial ceremony would also be delayed. Today, Duogaluo and the other leaders were arguing about the timing. Duogaluo wanted to bring Azuran back and hold the ceremony as originally planned, but some leaders believed they should wait for Azuran to bring back the monster, which would give them more power.

“Although the chief’s decision is never wrong, I think it’s too risky this time and shouldn’t be done this way.”

A short, stout man in the cattle team said this, and the man next to him nodded in agreement: “And the captured monster will be kept within the territory…”

“Enough.” Gongduo interrupted the men’s conversation. “The chief will arrange everything, just like before. We just need to prepare according to the instructions.”

“But Duogaluo thinks our idea is right. The chief is indeed too…”

“Duogaluo is still not used to his position as a leader. He will feel ashamed of his immature words in the future.”

So Duogaluo is a newly appointed official… Nagu sighed to herself. It seemed that the tribe wasn’t united to the point of being like a cult.

Duogaluo’s people were clearly more moderate and conservative, while she wasn’t sure about Azuran’s side, but it seemed a bit radical, at least for now. However, this had nothing to do with her. After returning today, she would start focusing on understanding the sacrificial rituals. First of all, she must find a way to get the old witch to teach her to read…

No matter how useless one is, at least one shouldn’t be illiterate!