Exploration of the Lake Kingdom, First Encounters with the North American Tribes!

The mountains rose and fell in the east, stretching toward the western sea, where they turned into gradually gentler hills. The winding Yaqui River came down from the mountains, carrying a surging current that scoured out broad stretches of fertile plain. And between the plains and the hills were many gray-brown mounds, clustered across the yellow-green earth, silently telling the story of life from ancient times.

The old militiaman Chiwako climbed onto a small mound, bent down, and picked up a gray-brown stone. He gripped it hard. The gray stone was hard against his palm, neither deforming nor breaking.

"Huh? The firestone of your Yome Tribe seems much harder than the Yoreme Tribe's?"

"Haha! Outsider, how could the Yoreme Tribe's firestone compare with our Yome Tribe's?"

At that, Mountain Eagle Viho burst into laughter and declared with pride, "We Yaqui are the people who dwell beneath God Mountain! Our firestone can burn for a very, very long time, far better than every tribe's! And the reason is that the ancestors of us Yaqui had the strongest souls, and have always sheltered the tribe!"

"Uh... that's true too."

Chiwako scratched his head. He kept feeling there was something off about that logic, but could not say why. He did not understand the difference between bituminous coal and lignite. Still less did he know that the firestone fields here were high-quality bituminous coal deposits, and even held astonishing reserves of anthracite. The old militiaman only nodded again and again, following Mountain Eagle Viho's words, his old face smiling like a blooming flower.

"Friend, good, very good! Yome Tribe, strong, great tribe!"

"Haha, naturally! Our Great Yoeme Tribe has a full three thousand warriors. We are the strongest tribe in this region!"

Viho nodded in satisfaction and stretched out an arm to gesture.