“What did you say?”
“I said, I want to rule over your village. I plan to take over and be your new leader.”
Elijah smiled as he looked at Elder Jeb’s shocked expression. His reaction was amusing and expected. After all, Elijah was younger and weaker than the man in front of him. On the surface there wasn’t a single reason to accept Elijah as the leader of the village.
“Young man you should be cautious of what you say. There are some things you cannot casually joke about.” Elder Jeb spoke to Elijah with a stern expression.
“Does the magic item in your hand say I’m joking?”
The old man’s stern expression quickly changed back to one of shock. He looked at the wooden circle then looked at Elijah and repeated the action several times. Elijah simply smiled and stood in a relaxed posture with his hands behind his back as he waited for the old man to calm down.
Taking a deep breath, the old man calmed down and gave Elijah another stern look. “Your either extremely foolish or excessively confident. Both are terrible traits for a ruler to have. What makes you think you are qualified to lead this village? Do you really think the people of this village will submit to you?”
“You’ve already asked me a lot of questions, so I think it’s time that I asked a few of my own. Tell me, what do you know about the people coming from another world?”
“I don’t know much.” Elder Jeb put on a neutral expression when he answered Elijah. “The other elders and I have only obtained a little bit of information.”
“Have you heard that people from another world are able to grow faster than people born on this world?” Elijah smiled when he saw the old man frown. “The world is about to change, and your village needs to make the necessary changes to survive in it. One of those changes is a change in leadership.”
“And our best option is an inexperienced child?” The elder questioned Elijah in a mocking tone.
“I can’t say that I’m the best leader, but I am the best option currently available to you. I came to this world to be a ruler and I have the abilities that will let me do so.”
Elijah focused his mind and attempted to use his Supreme Will talent. He felt a powerful force flow from his body, and he saw the elders back slightly bend. Elijah let the force flow for two seconds before he stopped using his talent.
The elder was able to fix his posture, but he was unable to fix his expression. He stared at Elijah with shock and a slight amount of awe. There were a few lines of sweat dripping down the elder’s face, and he was taking slow deep breaths. Elijah was curious about how it felt to withstand the pressure caused by his Supreme Will talent. However, he knew that asking would ruin his momentum.
“I came to this world to be a ruler. But I don’t have to rule over your village. If you really think I’m not qualified to be the ruler of your village then I can leave now, and we can part peacefully. However, I truly do hope you accept me as your ruler. I think this village has a lot of potential and can become something great.”
Elijah stopped speaking and patiently waited while Elder Jeb thought about his words. Elder Jeb was deep in thought for several minutes and during this time his expression went through many changes. Eventually, the elder focused his gaze on Elijah and looked at him with a complicated expression.
“The other elders and I received information about people coming from another world several nights ago. It is as you say. Chaos will soon sweep through the world, and I have spent several nights trying to think of a way to keep my village away from it.”
“There is no way to escape the chaos. You can only do your best to make sure your village is as prepared as possible.”
“You’re right. That’s why the other elders and I agreed to send our warriors to search for the people coming from another world. We hoped to find a person that was willing to protect our village during the period of chaos.”
“Then what’s the problem? You seem to have a tough time accepting me as your ruler.”
“A protector and a ruler are two different types of people. After I experienced your aura, I was less against accepting you as a ruler. I don’t know if you currently have the qualification to be a ruler, but I do recognize that you have the potential to be one. However, potential is only potential. It will be difficult for me to convince the rest of the villagers to accept you as their new chief.”
“Difficult but not impossible. What’s the biggest problem?”
The elder let out a sigh before he answered Elijah’s question. “It’s my grandson. I was grooming him to be the next village chief. Everyone in the village expects he will be the next village chief.”
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“So, your hesitation is because you don’t want to betray your grandson. Do you think he will be a better leader than I will?”
“No. Although my grandson is currently at a higher level than you, I’m confident you will be able to surpass him.”
Elijah didn’t think cultivation was everything. He believed there was more to being a leader than being the strongest or smartest person in the room. However, Elder Jeb wasn’t aware of his other characteristics, so he didn’t bother mentioning it.
“Where is your grandson right now?”
“He left with the other warriors to look for people like yourself.”
Elijah nodded in response. The elder’s grandson was an unexpected roadblock on his path, but the grandson may be a roadblock that is easy to pass. Elijah was hoping that the grandson was someone more focused on fighting, instead of a person focused on properly leading and developing the village. If he was the former, Elijah was confident he wouldn’t face much difficulty in taking control of the village.
“You can relax.” Elijah noticed his silence was making the elder nervous. “I know I made it sound like I was giving you an ultimatum before, but I was simply making my stance clear. I intend to be a ruler and if I can’t do so here then I will go somewhere else. For now, I will stay in the village and observe it. If I believe your village doesn’t need me, then I will leave. However, I will offer my help to your village when I can. This place can be considered my first home in this world.”
“That’s good to hear. I have a good feeling about you, but I’m not able to make a definitive decision at this moment. If you tried to force me to make a decision, then I would have let you leave.”
“That would be a wise decision. I never expected you to make me your chief today. Instead, I expected you to think about the decision over the next few days. If you made the decision right now, my high evaluation of your village would decrease.” Glad that they were on the same page, Elijah and the elder shared a warm smile.
“Since we’ve come to an agreement, I think it’s time for me to resume my cultivation.”
“You can cultivate again?” Elder Jeb’s eyes widen in disbelief.
“Yeah, I don’t get why you’re so surprised. Aren’t the children cultivating right now?”
“Yes and no. There is a limit to the amount of time we can use our cultivation technique. Right now, the children are doing exercises to stimulate the body and gather astral energy, but it’s less effective than using an actual cultivation technique.” Elder Jeb put on a serious expression before making eye contact with Elijah.
“Truthfully, the cultivation technique you use is the main reason I’m in favor of making you, our chief. I knew your cultivation technique was better than ours, but I didn’t think it would be so amazing. Eli, will you-”
“They’re back! The warriors returned and they brought people with them.” A young man shouted.
Elijah turned his head and saw a young man around his age running in front of a group of approximately twenty men. The men had dark skin, they were covered in leathers and furs, and each of them carried several weapons. Behind the group of men, Elijah saw several men and women. All of them were tired and injured. Some more than others.
The group stopped in front of Elijah and the elder next to him. A man that looked like he was in his mid-twenties was at the head of the group. He took a few steps forward and bowed to the elder.
“Greetings grandfather.”
“Justin.” Elder Jeb gave Justin a small nod before he began questioning him with a frown on his face. “How did you get back so quickly? Where did you find all these people?”
Justin looked a little nervous when he heard the elder’s question. However, he quickly hid his nervousness and put on a confident expression before he replied.
“We traveled through the forest at night. The people behind me were captured by some goblins and a few of them are from another world. We attacked the goblins to save them, and we moved through the forest at night to create as much distance from the battlefield as possible. It was the right thing to do.”
Elder Jeb listened to Justin’s reply with a frown on his face. The more Justin talked the deeper that frown became. When Justin finished talking Elder Jeb replied with a cold voice that was unable to hide the anger he felt.
“I told you not to attack the goblins and you chose to not listen to my words. To compensate for your foolish decision, you chose to not listen to my words again and travel through the forest at night. Is that correct?”
Elijah could feel the anger emanating from the elder’s body. He took two steps to the side as he listened for the reply that Justin would give.
“Yes. My action may look bad, but I made the best decisions given the-”
“Bullshit!!” The elder roared. “You made the worst decisions possible! I’ve told you time and time again that the goblins are a serious threat, and you should avoid them whenever possible! What was going through your head?”
“You say the goblins are a threat, but we were able to easily defeat them!” Justin shouted back. “And the only reason we fought them was because you told us to look for people from another world! You told us to do our absolute best to bring them back!
“Don’t try to twist my words to your benefit boy? I told you-”
“Elder,” Elijah interrupted with a loud and firm voice.
“What?” The elder turned to Elijah and released his anger onto him.
Intimidated, Elijah instinctively activated his Supreme Will talent. Elder Jeb was stunned and took half a step back before Elijah stopped using his talent. A voice from within told Elijah to apologize, but another voice told him to say nothing. Elijah ended up listening to the second voice and continued talking to the elder as if nothing happened.
“I don’t think this is the best place to have this conversation.”
Turning his head Elijah looked at the children and adults watching from the side. He could see more people were coming from the distance and all of them wore expressions that were a mix of curiosity and worry. Elder Jeb caught Elijah’s meaning and immediately started giving orders.
“Warriors make sure these new people are settled down. Take proper precautions. Once that’s done get yourselves some rest.” The elder’s voice was loud, but he spoke in a calm manner. “Justin, you will follow me.” The anger returned.
The elder took a few steps forward before turning to invite Elijah to follow. Elijah calmly accepted on the outside, but he was dancing with excitement on the inside. Justin’s screw up was his fortune. Elijah felt like he took another step closer to becoming the chief of the village.