“How can we grow our village beyond the walls if the forest will not allow it?”

“If we run out of beasts to hunt, how can we survive as a village?”

“How do we survive if the warriors of another village arrive at our home?”

I repeated the question aloud before taking a deep breath and continuing.

“I would like to first thank you heads and elders for giving me the opportunity to don the cloak. I realize the importance of this event and I swear before you all and the ancestors that I will dedicate my life to the village until the day I meet my end.”

The elders all nodded but told me to continue so I got straight to the point.

“The answer to these questions can all be found within the village.”

I waved my hand over our surroundings.

“We can grow the village beyond the walls using our woodworkers to clear the forest. This will allow more space for the village while also presenting a solution to the second problem as well”

The elders all nodded at my words and then waited for what I had to say next.

“We can’t stop the beasts from leaving but we can use some of the new areas to grow food. The fruits and plants that some of the women of our village grow can be planted as well as other plants that grow outside the walls. This will also fuel the growth of the village.”

“The third problem can also be solved by using a combination of the other two solutions. While having more areas for homes and food can grow our village quickly, we can’t expect our people to grow as fast. That is why I think we should use those wandering tribespeople to our advantage to grow our numbers much faster. We can allow those who come looking for a home to stay with us while using our warriors and hunters to fend off any who seek to do us harm.”

The elders and heads of the village were all in deep thought as they digested my words. Even the teens who were listening to the whole ordeal had blank looks as they imagined how we could achieve all the things I suggested.

None of the ideas I put forth were revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination, not even in this world. This is the case for the first two at least because the village was obviously in the middle of a forest so at the very least they had the ability to clear it. Not to mention the “wall” surrounding the villages that while not being very big in size which was clearly made of wood. Some of the fruits I mentioned earlier were eaten by those who grew them while the rest were primarily used for medicinal purposes. I have some memory of eating some of the fruits from when I was younger and from what I remember they seem to resemble strawberries and raspberries in taste, as well as appearance yet was a bit bigger than their cousins on Earth.

This led me to think that they had been cultivated to be that way, but that wasn’t the case as I also remember seeing the same fruits outside the walls and they were the same size if not bigger in some cases.

I was surprised by this, to say the least, but it seems logical once you factor in the size of everything else I have seen so far in this world. Besides the humans, everything seemed to be bigger at least twice the size of their partners back on Earth. A mountain, which the village calls Spear Mountain and the feet of which sits about two thousand feet, was an example of that as it was at least the size of one of the smaller mountains surrounding Mount Everest from Earth. I could see the peak of it as we are quite a distance away from it even through the thick canopy of trees. But that only made things more confusing as the peak of the mountain was clearly green and full of vegetation albeit not many trees as the incline was definitely steep. I couldn’t help but wonder if all of this was just a testament to the scope of this world.

The elders and heads all seemed to come to their respective conclusion at the same time as they all reacted simultaneously yet in various different ways. My grandmother Rav had a look of understanding as she nodded her head. My mom, Alo, and dad, Rel, had proud looks on their faces and nodded more fiercely than my grandmother. My uncle Luke gave his usual toothy smile and gave a thumbs up to indicate his support.

The other elders were more shocked at my speaking ability which was similar if not greater than their own but still slightly nodded but not as enthusiastically as the rest.

The only person who did not find my answers sufficient was the head warrior Dak. He shook his head with a frown on his face before speaking.

“I can not speak for the first two solutions as I am not skilled in those areas but I feel your last solution is lacking. I understand the part about allowing the wanderers to join our villages as even my ancestors came to the village in this way. But you say we should be using our warriors and hunters to fend off our attackers as if we do not do so already. How does that solve our problem in any way?”

Everybody presented nodded at his words including myself as he did make an excellent point after all. However, I did have an answer to his question.

“You make a great point Dak. Fighting the same way we do now will only lead to a gradual end for the village, as we lose just as many men as we fight almost every battle. That’s easy maths.”

I was about to continue before I realized my slip-up. I checked the faces of the people listening but they all seemed to understand what I meant though they definitely noted the use of a strange word.

I decided to just continue as if nothing happened.

“The answer is simple though. Better weapons and tactics. Right now, we use spears and bows to ambush anything we want to kill. This works pretty well against a smaller number of enemies, but if we meet a group that is equal in number to ours that battle will end in a stalemate due to our lack of control over the battle. But our tactics are not really the big issue. The problem lies in the weapons we fight with. While the bows are useful in killing the beast who can not attack from a distance while being predictable in nature. Those tribesmen who attack us will likely have bows as well though, negating the previous advantage I spoke of.”

Dak nodded along with my words indicating he agreed with my train of thought. I continued.

“This can be solved though by using a new weapon that can easily be made in mass by our woodworkers. The weapon I am speaking of is called a crossbow. It can be made of wood, and it is just like a regular bow in that it shoots a projectile at a high speed. However it more simple to use as it only requires physical strength to draw the bowstring before locking it into place using a small lever built into the crossbow itself. This lever will prevent the crossbow from firing until the user sees fit.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“That is not it though. Because the crossbow no longer relies on the strength of the user to keep the drawn bowstring in place and instead relies on the material that is used to build the weapon.”

After hearing my explanation my father Rel and my uncle Luke looked at each other and immediately shouted out in surprise.

“Is such a thing possible!?” My father said.

“In belief, yes but I would need to see a design first.” said my uncle after thinking for a second.

“Such a weapon would be amazing!” said my father before they both nodded and focused their attention back on me. I continued soon after.

“But most importantly, since the bowstring only has to be pulled back and not held, the user can handle a much high draw weight. Allowing the crossbow to shoot much farther and with more accuracy than the bow.”

The elders, including my mom and grandma, didn’t really understand what I was talking about as they never dealt with any weapons of the village in terms of how they were made. So they just looked to my father and uncle, who had gone into deep thought after listening to my explanation.

They whispered between each other for a while before nodding in agreement with my statement. I smiled at this as this at the very least showed that they knew the fundamentals of their respective areas of expertise.

The head warrior Dak, on the other hand, only frowned before crossing his arms. He clearly wasn’t satisfied with my answer but he only gave a snort of contempt before nodding his head once.

I thought this was a signal for me to continue but I was stopped by a gesture from my grandmother. She had a proud look on her face before she nodded her head a few times. Then she called the heads and elders over and headed towards the boulders in the center of the clearing we were all in. We teens were told to wait while they spoke about the results of my test.

At first, we couldn’t what was being said. But as the conversation dragged on the volume and tones of their voices continued to go up. This went on until they broke out into a full-blown argument that all of us could hear.

“You are the one not making any sense Dak, he can not even be considered a child anymore as he completed the test.”

“He is still a child when it comes to experience, of all the people here Rel, I expected you to understand that!”

“I do understand, but I do not hold that against him. You heard his solution did you not?! If he can think of that without experience, think of what he will think of when he has gained it!”

“And when we get to that point the village will have been razed and looted by those filthy tribesmen. I will not allow my home to be run into the ground by a greenhorn who can not even look a woman in the eyes.”

“YOU BASTARD!!”

*smack*

A hand flew out and slapped the face of the head warrior Dak, leaving a bright red mark that was visible for all to see.

The person who slapped the man wasn’t my father who was in a heated argument with the individual at hand, but instead my mother who had the stare of a jaguar that had just sunk its teeth into the head of its prey.

Dak was equally outraged by the act and stepped up to retaliate but was met by my father. They stood off face to face for a few seconds before my grandmother stepped in and tried to calm the situation.

“You all stop your foolishness and act according to your title. This is a sacred occasion and the ancestors will not tolerate your childishness.”

This calmed things down on the surface but the head warrior clearly still had a bone to pick with both my parents given the death stare he was giving them. But he still decided to step back, for now, allowing my grandmother to continue.

“Thank you… It is clear that we all can not agree on how we should move forward. Luckily for us, the ancestors thought of such a situation like this occurring and have written down the way to which we should proceed when met with it. The method calls for one person to ask the question at hand and for those who agree to raise a hand above their head while those who disagree will leave their hands at their side. The one that gets more will be the decision we go forth with.”

“If there are any questions about the method then ask them now.”

All the heads and elders shook their heads indicating that they had none, so my grandmother started the “voting” process.

“Should Rallo be allowed to don the cloak of the beast and lead our village to his or its death?”

Of the nine heads and elders voting six raised their hands while three left theirs down.

“Then it’s decided. Rallo shall don the cloak of the beast. He shall lead us until the end. May the ancestors bless him in all their glory.”

“The ceremony will be held tomorrow when the sun is at its highest.”

“This cycle of testing is complete. Dismissed.”

My grandmother, who now had the book the elders were reading out of, closed said book and folded it under her arms.

All the people present then bowed at their waist as was per tradition when finishing the “graduation” test before then responding with their various reactions.

Obviously, my family was joyous as this was excellent news for them. Even the elder who agreed was nodding his head as if he knew this day would come. However, the three people who didn’t agree with my status change all had looks of scorn on their faces.

This was especially the case for the head warrior who was the most vocal about the action. This worried me a bit but I threw that aside as my family’s mood was rubbing off on me.

The head warrior grabbed his son who had been present the whole time and stormed off toward their home and the elders who weren’t related to me also left for their respective homes. The only people left in the clearing were all related to me and the group of us headed to my grandmother’s home which we often use for family gatherings as it was the biggest in the village, which sat at the eastern edge of the village.

On the way, we picked up a few more family members such as Zoe, Ash and Bell, the twins, and their parents, as well as Kai and his mother.

After reaching my grandmother’s house we all sat on the floor as the table wasn’t big enough to fit all of us. This wasn’t a problem though as there were thick leather skins of beasts that were spread across the floor as carpets.

The joyous atmosphere continued as my family shared stories about their lives as well as their feeling toward my new status. They didn’t treat me any differently which felt nice but they made sure I got the most food when it came time to eat. I tried talking with Luca again but he didn’t respond in his usual way, which made me a bit sad. I only hope we can speak like normal again in the future.

The party raged on like this for a few hours and the sun had gone down at this point.

My grandmother was in the middle of telling us the story of how she met our grandfather. The adults who had heard this story so many times before were busy gathering the food that was left over before putting it in leather bags that they usually kept them in.

We teens who were the youngest in the house all listened though while munching on whatever the adults had left out.

This was interrupted by a forceful knock at the door. From where I was sitting, I could see at least a dozen torches outside the window. I didn’t think much of it until I heard the forceful knocking for a second time. The feeling I got could only be described as dread. The thoughts I suppressed earlier shot forth and I was sure that I made a mistake by suppressing them when I did.

My father walked towards the door and opened it with a welcoming grin on his face.

“Wait–”

*stab*

I was too late.