After crossing the dense forests for two hours, they reached an area where Lily had found the largest tribe. It was weird to see old huts like that after so long since it made Billy recall of his first home in that world, but there was a sense of nostalgia in the air as well. The people of the tribe quickly grabbed their weapons to fight. Weirdly enough, all of them were made of bones, and Billy could sense a lot of mana on them. It seemed that they had some dungeons nearby.
The tribesmen calmed down a little when they saw humans in the vehicle, and they calmed down even more, when they saw Lily. She seemed to have some fans there, mainly those armed with bows since that was her primary weapon.
"We will be counting on you, Lily," Billy said.
"Leave it to me," Lily said and then walked ahead of the group.
The kids seemed a little tense when they noticed that the people around seemed weird, and they had those helmets on their heads. Aside from their pets, they never saw real monsters, and the helmets were made of that, after all. So, it looked like some of them had monster heads.
Regardless, Lily approached some people and began to hug them way too friendly… Billy had counted on her for the diplomacy work, not to say hello to her friends. Still, that was the kind of person she was. He wouldn't have made many friends in her position, after all.
"You don't have to be scared of them," Billy said while patting Christina's head. "They are a bit different than us since they live in a different area, have different houses, and wear weird pieces of clothing. Still, you can see kids playing around, right? They aren't much different than us."
"I am not scared!" Christina said.
"I guess that is fine then," Billy said. "Just be nice to them, and they will be nice to you."
"Papa is nice to Blitz, so why Blitz isn't nice to papa?" Christina asked.
"Because that stupid bird wants to be my next meal…" Billy replied and then sighed. "Anyway, it seems that we can enter the village now."
Everyone left their weapons inside the vehicle, so the people of the tribe looked a lot more relaxed, thanks to that. That had been the right call… while they didn't know what those people could do, it was hard to imagine that they could win against Billy's group. That being said, when Billy used Appraisal on some of them, he saw that they had some weird skills… Spiritual Armament, Shamanism, and Beastly Possession.
"I don't remember seeing those in the skill shop… I guess Uvish have been doing a sloppy job updating that," Billy thought. "Or perhaps he didn't want us to know those skills."
In any case, Billy had come to that state to learn and teach, so he will take a good look at those skills in action. Regardless, under the curious gaze of all the people in the village, the group was guided to the biggest house in the center of the place. Eventually, they entered and saw something akin to a round room that was used for gathering the villagers for whatever reason, and there they found a white-haired man staring at the fire. The mana round was really weird, so Billy raised his guard.
"Hey, chief, I am back again," Lily said. "This time, I brought some friends."
Although she was friendly, Lily truly wasn't suited for diplomacy work. Not like Billy could complain since he was almost worse… but he was pretty sure that such greetings weren't the best way to talk with an unknown leader. It would be the same as patting the back of an emissary of a ruthless leader on the back.
"Lily… we have heard about your intentions," the chief of the village said. "Since we owe you a great debt, we decided to list, but I can't see how things will work like this. Our people value their costumes too much, and all the strangers saw us with weird eyes."
"Don't mind the small stuff," Lily said. "Just work hard to reach your goals, and everything will be fine."
"You are as free-spirited as ever…" The chief said and then sighed.
"This is Totaic, the chief of this tribe," Lily said. "While he seems a bit grumpy and too serious, he tends to let loose when he drinks, and he is a friendly person when he gets some cups of booze in his belly."
Leo sighed… it wasn't the best policy to sigh in the middle of an introduction, but sometimes his daughter was a bit too much. She also talks too much when she shouldn't. Nevertheless, Totaic didn't take offense to that and told his visitors to sit down.
"This is my daughter, this is my husband, and this my father," Lily said. "The others are all my friends."
"Yes… it is nice to meet you all," Totaic said. "We heard that Lily and the others who were sent to help the southern part of the continent were working with you all and were sent by her leader. I am grateful for that."
"Billy here was the one who decided that and prevented the worst-case scenario," Lily said.
"It was a team effort…" Billy said and then sighed. "I got my ass kicked on the first fight, and you guys bought time until I returned and also tired the enemy out."
"You… have a peculiar aura," Totaic said. "It makes me recall of the legends."
"What kind of legends?" Billy asked, already imagining what he was going to hear.
"A long time ago, there was a man who united all the tribes and fought the invaders coming from all directions," Totaic said. "He became our leader for a few decades, but one day he suddenly disappeared. Thanks to him, we obtained the power to defend our lands and our costumes."
