The Ancestor Warriors of the Wild Mane Tribe traversed the icy terrain and forest, arriving at the place Lili mentioned.
In the snow, traces left by Charlie when he was searching for snakes were still clearly visible. However, as nightfall approached, the fading light made it difficult for these Ancestor Warriors to discern the marks on the ground.
"It’s getting late; we can’t travel in the dark," one of the Ancestor Warriors looked up at the sky and said to Lili’s father, who was leading the team.
Lili’s father also looked up at the sky, nodded, and said, "Let’s find a place to stay overnight. We can continue our journey tomorrow morning."
Though spending the night outdoors was dangerous for these natives, a group of Ancestor Warriors together could withstand the threats the night might pose.
They soon found a hollow created by a fallen large tree in the forest. After clearing away snow and dead branches, they quickly arranged a spot where they could settle down.
Then, using the tinder they carried with them, they lit a campfire. The group sat around the fire, warming their bodies that were nearly frozen, while taking out the dry rations they carried to roast on the fire as dinner for the night.
Their main food source was corn, but they would also mix in beans and other vegetables to make pies or bread.
What they were eating now was a bread made primarily from corn processed into cornbread, stuffed with chickpeas and diced vegetables. It was a fairly decent food when heated on the fire.
Of course, one could also use a portable bowl or pot to collect some snow, boil it over the fire, tear the bread into pieces, and cook them into a porridge-like dish, providing more heat for the body.
Most people’s cornbread was filled with beans and vegetables; a few young Ancestor Warriors even carried just ordinary corn cakes.
This was largely because they weren’t yet married. The older Ancestor Warriors were already married with children, and their wives managed the household, naturally preparing carefully-made dry rations for them.
Young Ancestor Warriors didn’t have this advantage. Being already adults and having separated early from their parents, they mostly had to prepare their own food, which naturally meant a lower standard and level of refinement.
Among everyone, however, Lili’s father was eating the best, as his cornbread had pieces of meat cooked with spices. When boiled in a pot, it emitted an enticing aroma.
"So envious. Lili made it for you again, didn’t she? Having a daughter is great! Unlike my boy, who can’t even catch a rabbit," one Ancestor Warrior praised Lili’s skills, throwing in a jest, "I wonder which lucky boy will win Lili over. Marrying such a talented girl would indeed be fortunate! If I weren’t so old, I’d consider pursuing her myself."
"Give it a rest, guys. Lili wouldn’t be interested in you rough guys," Lili’s father replied with a smile, playing along with the teasing, but also bringing up their mission: "Anyway, what do you think the purpose of the white settlers coming to the Northern Territory is?"
The atmosphere suddenly became heavy, and everyone lost their smiles, their expressions turning serious.
To the natives, white settlers posed a dire threat. In some tribes, this threat was even used to scare children at night.
On this world, the actions of whites during the colonization of the New Continent outdid those of the Anglo-Saxon gangs from Perfikot’s original world. To most native tribes, whites were white demons destroying their homesteads.
Unlike the original world, here the natives didn’t view whites as Divine. From the start, they’ve been firm in resisting the invaders.
The disparity between the worlds didn’t make a substantial change, though. The natives were still no match for industrial civilization, even though the Ancestral Spirit indeed granted them the power to fight against the Extraordinary Knights.
But how many people could a tribe muster? And an Empire entering the gunpowder age, even without considering muskets and cannons, already had far more Extraordinary individuals than the local natives.
Hence, the resistance of the natives was crushed, their homesteads destroyed.
Now, as the Wild Mane Tribe’s Ancestor Warriors discussed the purpose of the whites arriving in the Northern Territory, they couldn’t help but think of the worst scenarios.
"Are they dissatisfied with the fertile lands in the south and won’t even spare the Northern Territory’s forests?" One Ancestor Warrior suggested, off-target with their guess yet ironically hitting the truth.
"Hard to say; whites are powerful, their warriors and weapons..." Another Ancestor Warrior shook his head, disagreeing with the speculation, "But they don’t have resilient willpower and can’t adapt to the Northern Territory’s snow and wind. Usually, they won’t easily venture north, especially in this cold season.
We’ve seen whites here a few times before; they were only conducting so-called ’surveys.’ I think it’s the same this time."
The Wild Mane Tribe had encountered whites reaching the Northern Territory before, but mostly after spring, concentrated in summer, and the majority were surveying teams, not for permanent settling or anything.
This led the Ancestor Warrior to hold some optimistic feelings about the arrival of whites, thinking things wouldn’t escalate to the worst outcome.
But Lili’s father shook his head at that moment and said, "If they were just a survey team, there couldn’t be white warriors among them. Lili told me she met a white Ancestor Warrior this afternoon, and though they lack the Ancestral Spirit, their strength was not inferior to our Ancestor Warriors.
Such mighty warriors are precious to whites, and in the past, we only saw them during wars when whites expelled other tribes. No white survey team has ever gotten protection from a warrior.
The key point is, this white warrior was sent out to catch a snake, which sounds like a Chieftain suddenly assigning a young Ancestor Warrior to catch a sacrifice for the Ancestral Spirit." Updates are released by N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
Lili’s father’s words sank the hearts of everyone. They knew too well what this meant: there must be a high-ranking white person among them, and such a person’s appearance in the Northern Territory wasn’t a matter the Wild Mane Tribe could take lightly.
Though the living area of the Wild Mane Tribe was deep within the Northern Territory, far from usual contact with whites, in the event of any accident, no one could guarantee these whites wouldn’t harm the Wild Mane Tribe.