Chapter 13: (Manzkiny tribe/the laughing ones)
I woke up in my bed, The ceiling looked the same as before, but my mind wasn't. I rubbed my face, sat up slowly, and whispered into the room,
"System… who were those tribal people?"
Then the system's window appeared.
[PROCESSING REQUEST]
[INITIATING SCAN…]
[SCAN COMPLETE]
[RESULT: IDENTIFIED GROUP]
Name: Manzkiny Tribe
Alias: The Laughing Ones
Status: Active
Behavioral Pattern: Hostile / Ritualistic
Worshiper of: Deity: ■■■■■■■■ (REDACTED)
The words appeared one after another, cold, emotionless. I exhaled slowly.
I pushed myself off the bed and stepped on cold floor. I crouched down and pulled the dusty chest from under the bed, dragging it out with both hands. The wood scraped lightly, shhhhhk, across the floor.
I opened the chest. Inside lay the clothes and the dagger—gold handle, silver blade, still stained faintly with blood. It looked expensive… but it also looked useless specially in my situation. I grabbed it carefully, the metal cold against my fingers.
"System… sell my gold-handle silver dagger and convert it into points," I said while grabbing an old shirt and wrapping it around my arms and shoulders like makeshift bandages.
The system responded instantly:
[SCANNING ITEM…]
[IDENTIFICATION COMPLETE]
Item Type: Sacrificial Dagger
Material: Gold-fused handle / Silver-ritual blade
Condition: Usable
Value: 500 Points
[SELLING…]
[TRANSACTION SUCCESSFUL]
Current Balance: +500 Points
The dagger disappeared like a bubble in my hand. My total points flickered and updated.
[POINTS UPDATED]
Current Balance: 500 Points
I exhaled and clenched my fist.
"I'll use these points, this points to survive" I murmured to myself.
I raised my head slightly and spoke clearly,
"System… purchase Multilingual Translation (Basic). unlimited. Auto-purchase the Manzkiny tribe language when I encounter them."
The system paused then...
[REQUEST RECEIVED]
[VALIDATING PURCHASE PARAMETERS…]
[TARGET LANGUAGE: MANZKINY]
[MODE: AUTO-ACTIVATION]
Then the confirmation.
[CONFIRMATION]
500 Points will be automatically deducted upon next direct encounter with Manzkiny Tribe individuals.
Purchase will activate instantly.
[STATUS: REQUEST ACCEPTED]
The screen dimmed slowly until it disappeared to the air.
I stood there for a moment, wrapped in my old shirt,
This time, I returned to the Forest That Laughs— without dying to get here. My steps were slow, steady, each one sinking into the soil.
The deeper I went, the more I felt them. Something hiding between the trunks. Dozens of eyes staring and waiting.
I stopped, took a breath, and stripped off my shirt. I crouched down and smeared dirt all over my chest, arms, and shoulder. If I looked less clean… they wouldn't be as suspicious.
The forest stayed quiet for a moment.
Then I see one of the manzkiny tribe staring at me with some more behind him, then it reacted instantly and spoke.
"Keh-keh-keh-keh! Hii—hii—hii—hii! Kra-kra-kra! Wrah-hah-hah!"
Then the system window slammed open in front of me, bright and harsh:
[DETECTION: MANZKINY TRIBE — DIRECT ENCOUNTER]
[ACTIVATING PURCHASE]
[Multilingual Translation (Basic) — Unlimited]
[500 Points Deducted]
[STATUS: TRANSLATION AVAILABLE]
The screen faded.
My heart pounded once, hard.
One of the Manzkiny stepped forward—bones around his neck rattling, tattoos twisting across his skin. His stretched ears swayed as he leaned closer, studying me with a smile.
I swallowed, opened my mouth, and prepared to speak.
"I'm here because I'm lost…" I said carefully.
The tribesman froze. His painted face stiffened as he stared at me—confused, suspicious, studying every twitch of my expression. For a moment, he didn't breathe.
Then he spoke, voice low and commanding.
"Who are you? Answer truthfully. Your words will decide if we let you live… or if we tear your flesh apart."
My throat tightened. I swallowed hard and forced out,
"M-my name is William… vhuca."
A fake name. A weak lie.
Sweat slid down my back.
I added quickly, trying to make my voice shake in the right places,
"I'm one of your tribe… I got separated… after what happened in the west."
The Manzkiny warriors murmured, their tattoos shifting as their muscles tensed. One stepped closer, his voice harsh:
"You mean The Laughter of the Crying Ones? The day our tribe was nearly erased? When many fled… and many were captured?"
I nodded fast.
"Yes. Yes—my mother died back then. I was four. She protected me until the end. I escaped by luck and wandered to the west… I didn't know the way home."
Another warrior approached, his grin wide and unsettling.
"Come with us, then. We just finished a bountiful hunt. You must be hungry."
Their laughter echoed almost musical in a disturbing way. I followed them deeper into their home.
They led me to a firepit surrounded by crude wooden seats. Thick smoke curled upward. Boar meat roasted over the flames, some pieces cooked, some still raw and dripping.
One tribesman shoved a chunk of liver toward my face.
"Here. Eat this."
Another—clearly their leader—handed me a cooked piece of meat.
"Here. Take this instead."
I quickly grabbed the cooked one.
"Thank you…"
I bit into it. The meat was tough, with a strong smell and strong taste. I forced myself not to gag, chewing slowly, pretending it was good.
Then I heard giggles. A group of Manzkiny childrens, around seven to twelve years old, gathered around me with wide curious eyes.
They fired questions one after another:
— "What did the ones who captured you look like?"
— "What's outside the forest?"
— "Are they strong?"
— "Why do you look so—"
Before the last question could finish, the leader stepped in with a firm clap.
"Enough. Children, return to your houses. He is tired. We will escort our lost tribesman to the shrine for the night. There is no space here."
He looked back at me with a strange, unreadable smile.
"Maybe the chief will grant you a sleeping place… now that you have finally returned."
The children scattered.
The adults surrounded me.
And I followed—slowly, carefully—toward the shrine, my heart pounding with every step.
They led me deeper into the forest. Then I saw it.
An old shrine. A decaying structure made of dark wood and blackened stone… its walls decorated with bones, skulls, and shattered smiling clay masks. Above the entrance hung a massive ribcage like a crown.
They pushed the door open.
Inside was a single giant room.
In the center, a staircase of uneven rock descended downward, torches burning weakly on both sides. Their flames snapped and flickered.
The torches brightened as we walked in.
Then—
THUD!
The entrance slammed shut behind us, sealing the light from outside.
I froze.
The leader walked ahead, his steps slow, echoing against the stone walls. The deeper we went, the colder the air became.
Then his voice cut through the silence atmosphere.
"Tell me again… who are you?"
I kept my voice steady.
"Like I said, my name is William Vhu—"
A sudden force yanked my arms back.
Rough hands grabbed me, twisting my wrists. Another warrior drove a sharpened bone into my leg.
"AH—! What are you doing!? Untie me!"
My voice cracked, echoing back at me.
The leader turned around slowly.
His grin was wide—too wide.
He grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head down, dragging me until my knees scraped the stone floor.
"Don't lie."
His laughter mixed with the torches' crackling.
Then he spoke, one finger lifting my chin.
"First… Manzkiny children have their ears pierced at birth. You do not."
He pointed at my bare ear.
Then he tapped his own tattooed chest.
"Second… our bodies are marked before we can walk. You have no tribal tattoos."
He leaned closer, breath warm and rotten.
"Third… we eat raw meat before cooked meat. It is to show what we eat is alive and to show respect to our deity. But you refused it like an outsider."
His grip tightened in my hair.
"And fourth… our mana called the **Mischievous Children** Anyone who have this kind of mana will laugh unconsciously. Like everyone. But you stayed stiff and silent."
He chuckled, low and cruel.
"And lastly—"
He stared straight into my eyes.
"You cannot hide those black eyes."
His hand slowly released my hair.
"We are not fools, stranger."
"you are the children of that disgusting Demon Wolf. We smell lies."
His smile widened, stretching unnaturally as it started to tear and bleed.