System vs Rebirth

"This is the Beast Kingdom?" said Noel, whose voice contained confusion and excitement.

Before him was a savanna. The only thing he could see was grass and some trees. There wasn't any sign of life in this place. Then again, even the Muivell Kingdom had a part like this where they could see nothing but scenery.

Andreas nodded his head. "Yes. We have reached the Beast Kingdom, specifically the Buffalo King's territory."

"Buffalo King?" Anna raised her eyebrows. "Now that I think about it, what's the structure of the Beast Kingdom?

"As you probably know, animals have their own living areas suitable for them. Because of this bloodline, most of us live in a place suitable for us.

"Just like you, we're also having sovereigns for territories. This savanna, which stretches for more than fifty kilometers, is protected by the Buffalo King.

"There is a swamp area not far from this territory, which is protected by the Alligator King. All these kings are the strongest people in their respective territories. The Buffalo King can be considered equal to your Demon Banner Army's captains or Arbiters.

"And above them are the elders. Whenever there's a conflict, the elders will come to handle the situation.

"I've heard some rumors that there is something called an Overseer that is above the elder, but there's no proof of it, and it's not like I have seen this Overseer. Even my grandfather refuses to confirm its existence."

Noel fell into deep thought. "Does the beast kingdom have cities?"

"Yes, we do. While most of us live in tribes, there are cities scattered all around the kingdom. Their purposes are for neutral zones. In these cities, fighting is prohibited. The city is where the trade occurs.

"Of course, there are cities with different purposes, like our current destination. This city is for the meeting of all elders and all important discussions. Whenever there's a need to involve a lot of tribes, they usually convene a meeting there and call the kings to either give them order or persuade them."

"I see." Noel nodded in understanding.

"It's time to sneak around, huh? The Beast Kingdom hasn't seen any humans for the last seven or eight hundred years, right?"

"Yes. But this time, it'll be much easier if we meet the Buffalo King and ask him to escort us. Considering the Buffalo King's personality, it'll be quite simple to persuade him. All we need is strength, and I also have the connection with my grandfather."

"Strength, huh?" Noel glanced at Anna.

"I don't mind a fight. I'll just avoid causing injuries. It's not like we want the Beast Kingdom to be our enemies."

"Please don't worry about it. There is a tradition we can use. If you don't have any more questions, please follow me."

Noel and Anna exchanged looks. On the one hand, they wanted more information about the Beast Kingdom. On the other hand, it seemed to be more appropriate to ask Old Ru or other elders about it. In other words, it would be best to reach their destination first.

"Alright."

The group started traveling inside the savanna. Noel couldn't find a single thing for the first ten kilometers, as if this area were abandoned.

However, this area was directly linked to the demon territory, so they might want to create their defense a bit more on the inside.

As expected, they finally found their first settlement.

It was located in the middle of a plain. The settlement was also quite huge with more than a thousand tents on sight.

Each tent was quite huge, able to accommodate more than twenty people.

However, when they took another look, they could finally see the buffalo-people. Each of them was huge. Their average height was more than two meters. Whether they were males or females, all of them were extremely muscular.

In addition, the parts that turned into a buffalo varied. There was one person who only had a pair of giant horns on top of his head. There was another person with a complete buffalo head.

Their bodies still looked humanoid, but some were covered in the black skin that buffalo had.

"Oh?" Noel was intrigued. For a human like him, he understood how handsome or beautiful a human was. However, he couldn't discern the same thing for animals. Meanwhile, there were indeed some people with human facial features that piqued his interest.

At the same time, he realized that the buffalo would have their own beauty senses. He was a bit curious about their cultures.

"Have you seen enough?"

"There is one thing that I want to ask, but the question is extremely rude…" Noel scratched the back of his head.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Andreas shrugged. "Just ask away. I'm not a person who cares about that stuff. You might as well ask it to me since no one is here."

"From the way I see it, all of them are buffalo-people. And I don't think I have seen anyone other than them…" Noel stopped the question before it sounded even worse.

"We have a tradition here. Marriages with other races are allowed, but their child will have three possibilities. The first one is to have the same feature for only one of their parents, which happens in most cases. In this scenario, if they stay within the tribes, they usually have to live in their respective tribe and their children will follow the race they belong to.

"Most of the time, they choose to live inside the cities, becoming the representatives of their tribe to take care of the trades and other stuff. Since the city is free for all races, they can live together there.

"The second scenario is where they are unable to conceive a child due to their genes clashing. In this case, there are couples who are disappointed and divorced. Some are loyal and choose to spend the rest of their lives together.

"Last but not least, there are cases where the children will have both of their parents' race characteristics. We call them hybrid races. In my family, I have an uncle who married someone from the cat tribe.

"My cousin ends up having a pair of wolf ears and a pair of cat eyes. She is able to use those two traits to be stronger than normal people from the wolf and cat tribes. Of course, there are cases where the combination messes up, such as having the left ear of a wolf and the right ear of a cat, which creates an imbalance.

"That's why people encourage marrying people of the same races."

"I see." Noel nodded in understanding. "Tribes, huh?"

"Yes. As you can see right now, there are a few wooden structures and a lot of tents. A single race usually has a lot of tribes scattered all around the territories. You can think of them as nomadic villages. But there are some who choose to settle down. They usually become a beacon point for these nomadic, smaller tribes.

"The Buffalo King is living inside that village. It should be the biggest house over there." He pointed at the house.

"In that case, I don't have any more questions. Thank you for answering that one." Noel nodded.

"Alright. It's time to meet the Buffalo King."