Dinner was ready and everyone was heading to the communal area to eat. However, Elijah wasn’t concerned about eating at the moment. He stood at the border of the forest, with his village behind him and waited for Justin and the other warriors to return.

“Hmph, those boys sure know how to take their time,” Elder Jeb said.

Standing beside Elijah was Elder Jeb. Elder Jeb decided to join Elijah in waiting for the village warriors to return because he was worried about his grandson. Although they were the only people waiting, they weren’t the only people worried about the village warriors. Everyone in the village was.

One of the reasons Elijah decided to wait by the forest was because he was being affected by everyone’s emotions. As it got closer to dinner and Justin’s group didn’t appear, the anxiety the villagers felt steadily increased. He felt the emotions of every individual, which meant that the worry Elijah felt was multiplied by more than a hundred.

As a ruler, Elijah knew he should stand by his people during this time. He used his Supreme Speech skill to reassure everyone and help them calm down. However, after a few minutes passed their worries returned and Elijah was once again under immense pressure. In the end Elijah could only leave.

“My future self never mentioned anything about having to endure the emotions of others,” Elijah thought to himself. “Maybe it's all in my head and I’m simply overreacting to the situation. I mean, I didn’t even experience other people’s emotions when the village was about to be attacked by goblins. Well, I did officially set up my territory, so maybe that has something to do with it.”

Glancing to his side, Elijah saw Elder Jeb standing with his hands behind his back staring into the forest with a calm expression on his face. Elijah knew that expression was a lie. He could feel the waves of anxiety radiating from Elder Jeb.

“Is this what it’s going to be like in the future?” Elijah thought to himself. “Am I going to have to constantly deal with the emotions of those that follow me?”

It wasn’t that Elijah was heartless and didn’t care for those around him. However, dealing with the intense raw emotions of another person was a difficult thing to do. Multiply that by a hundred, well, it definitely wasn’t a good time.

“Maybe this is the price I have to pay for being a ruler.” Elijah thought to himself. “The burden I have to bare. I’ll just do my best to tough it out. Maybe with enough experience I can train my mind to resist or block out the emotions I feel from my followers. I probably just have to focus my will and then I can…No, it can’t be that easy.”

Supreme Will. A smile full of relief spread across Elijah’s face the moment he activated his talent. Anxiety, fear, and all negative emotions were swept away after Elijah activated his talent. What remained were joy and arrogance.

“How embarrassing,” Elijah thought to himself. “I can’t believe I let the emotions of my followers affect me so deeply. Who am I? I’m the Supreme, the Supreme Ruler. Since I’m above everyone, naturally I should be above the negative emotions they feel as well.”

“Chief, is there something wrong?”

Looking to his side Elijah saw a concerned expression on Elder Jeb’s face. Elijah didn’t deactivate his Supreme Will, but he did reign in his presence, so he didn’t affect Elder Jeb. After pausing to think Elijah responded to Elder Jeb with an arrogant smile on his face.

“I just thought it was silly that were standing here worrying about Justin and the other warriors. Instead of being filled with anxiety we should be filled with confidence. We should have confidence that Justin and the others will return to the village safely. Even if we don’t have any confidence in them, shouldn’t we have confidence in ourselves? I’m confident that my guidance has given them the ability to explore the forest and return safely. You should be confident that your sparring has given them the ability to fight against any threats they meet in the forest. Yes, we shouldn’t be worried but confident.”

Without using his Supreme Speech skill Elijah was able to affect Elder Jeb with his words. As Elder Jeb listened to Elijah’s speech his eyes began to fill with confidence and the negative aura that surrounded him was swept away. Elder Jeb clenched his fist before he responded to Elijah with a voice full of hope, joy and most importantly confidence.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“Ha-ha you’re right. What’s the point of being worried?

“Hehe, once again I embarrassed myself in front of this junior.” Elder Jeb thought to himself. “I should calm down and try to mimic the confident smile he is wearing. I must have confidence. Confidence that my grandson will definitely return safely.”

Elijah looked at Elder Jeb with an arrogant smile on his face and Elder Jeb returned his gaze with a confident smile. Both of them were pondering several thoughts behind their gaze, but those thoughts were interrupted by the sound of grass being stepped on. Turning their heads toward the village, they saw Jenny jogging toward them.

“Why are you here? I told you to stay back and rest.” Elijah spoke to jenny after she stopped jogging and started slowly walking toward them.

Jenny was wearing a worn green dress with an animal fur draped around her shoulders. She treasured the dresses she wore as it wasn’t easy to replace or repair them in the forest. She also wore her familiar two belts with several pouches attached to them.

As Jenny walked closer, it was easier to make out how exhausted she was. Her sweaty dark hair clung to the brown skin on her face. Using his Supreme Eyes Elijah could see that Jenny’s health, stamina and mental energy were all below twenty five percent.

“I came to help,” Jenny answered with a smile on her face.

“And how exactly are you going to help with so little energy?”

“I still have enough energy to heal two or three people.” Jenny replied to Elijah with a determined expression on her face. “Also, it doesn’t take a lot of energy for me to diagnose the injured and apply my medicine.”

Elijah was speechless for a few seconds before he finally responded to Jenny. “Fine, if you want to push yourself, I don’t plan on standing in your way.”

Once she received Elijah’s approval Jenny’s determined expression crumpled and she let out a sigh of relief. Jenny plodded past Elijah and Elder Jeb before she dropped down on a tree stump. This was a stump from one of the trees Elijah cut down earlier.

Looking at the tired young woman in front of him, Elijah couldn’t help but admire her dedication. She had spent the whole day tending to the adults and children in Kento’s clan and still managed to find the energy to continue healing people. He reminded himself that he should try having that same determination toward being a Supreme Ruler. No, his determination should be even greater than Jenny’s.

“Right, I wanted to ask you if you would be willing to teach the children about healing?”

Jenny shook her head with a helpless expression on her face. “I already tried to teach them, but they weren’t even able to learn how to do a proper diagnostic. I had to settle for teaching them the basics of using different plants and healing items. I think it was Liam that managed to learn the herbalist job.”

Elijah was surprised that one of the children obtained the herbalist job. He filed that information away for later and reminded himself to pay more attention to the children in the village. So far, he was working on grasping all the visible and hidden information about the adults in the village.

“No, I wasn’t talking about the children you grew up with. I was talking…”

“Ah, that’s a great idea,” Jenny jumped up in excitement after she finished listening to Elijah’s plan about teaching children from Kento’s clan, but she immediately started swaying because she stood up too quickly. When she recovered, she continued speaking. “There were a few children that showed some interest in healing earlier today. I think at least one of them should be able to become a healer.”

“I also think this is a good idea.” Elder Jeb said. “This will help to quickly resolve the conflicts between us and the new members of our village. Although we aren’t in any danger right now, it’s a bit uncomfortable to constantly be on guard against a group of people in our home. Teaching the children will create a good foundation on which we can build our trust.”

Before Elijah could respond to Elder Jeb’s statement, he turned his head toward the forest. Elder Jeb turned his head almost at the same time and it took Jenny a second before she realized why they were looking toward the forest. Although the trees created a lot of shadows, there was still plenty of daylight left that they could use to see the figures in the distance.

“Hmph, brat, you’re finally willing to come back!” Elder Jeb shouted with some blame in his voice.

Although Elder Jeb sounded like he was upset, Elijah was able to sense the relief and joy the old man felt. Jenny emitted a wave of joy as well after she heard Elder Jeb’s shout. Of course, Elijah’s Supreme Will was still active. Therefore, although Elijah could sense their emotions, he wasn’t affected by them.

“Ah, they’re injured,” Jenny immediately took of the moment she noticed the wounds on their bodies.

Elijah smiled and calmly jogged after his eager healer. He already used his Supreme Eyes talent and saw that none of them were close to dying. Also, he instantly knew the number of people and was happy to see that there were no deaths.

Although the majority of worry Elijah felt over the past hour came from his villagers, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little worried about the fate of the warriors he sent to the forest without his protection. Seeing them all come back alive, Elijah felt an unknown weight being lifted from his shoulders. At that moment Elijah couldn’t help but let out a laugh full of joy.