Chapter 12: One of Us.
Alfred was practicing energy manipulation when Aponi suddenly entered his tent, he wasn’t even able to greet her when Aponi excitedly said.
“Alfred the Elders was summoning you.”
Alfred didn’t immediately move instead he touched his chin and thought.
‘Is this about the Rune? They summon me after I succeeded in making a Rune, of course, this summons is about the rune, but what do the Elders want to do? Are they going to ask me to teach it to them? That’s reasonable the Rune is a big deal. However, what if they want to force me? No, they don’t need to force me, I will gladly teach them how to make runes. Maybe I’m overthinking.
While Alfred was lost in his thought, Aponi spoke again.
“Alfred we should go, we should not make the Elders wait.”
“Ahh yes, sorry about that.”
Alfred wore the prosthetic on his right leg, then walked outside. While they are walking, Alfred couldn’t help but noticed the big smile on Aponi’s face.
“Why are you smiling? Did something good happen?”
“No, at least not yet, you do not need to worry about it, you will find out soon.” Aponi replied while smiling.
When Aponi and Alfred reached the entrance of Chief Viren’s shelter, Aponi stopped, then signaled Alfred to go inside. After Alfred walked inside the tent, he saw the Elders staring at him. Alfred bowed his body almost 90 degrees to the Elders to greet them and show them respect. Chief Viren nodded his head with satisfaction when he saw Alfred showing respect to them.
“You are finally here young Alfred, come sit down with us, we are going to ask you something.”
Alfred sat down.
“May I know why the Elders summon me?” Alfred asked with anxiety.
“You do not have to worry young Alfred. We are not going to ask you something difficult.” Chief Viren replied.
Alfred nodded.
“Please ask”
“How is your stay in our tribe?” Chief Viren asked.
“It is great, thank you again for letting me stay here.”
“You do not have to thank us, that is just a simple matter. I am glad you find it great, then my next question is. What do you think of the tribesmen in this tribe?”
“I did not have a chance to talk to a lot of tribesmen in this tribe other than you the Elders, Aponi, and Vir. All of you show kindness to a stranger like me and for that, I am truly grateful. I know a lot of tribesmen do not like me, and I do not blame them for that, I understand.
I do not hate them, instead, I rather admire the people of this tribe, their selflessness, their willingness to sacrifice, and their loyalty to the tribe, I admired them for that. That is my answer.”
Chief Viren was visibly happy with Alfred’s answer because of the continued nodding.
“Shaman Catori was right, you are smart. Now for my last question and the most important one, I hope you think about it carefully before you answer.”
Alfred became even more anxious when he heard this, he straightened his back and start sweating on his forehead.
“We, the Elders of this tribe, have decided to invite you, Alfred, to join our tribe. Would you accept our offer and officially join our tribe?” Chief Viren asked Alfred with the anticipated look on his face.
When Alfred heard this, he finally relaxed, he thought the Elders wanted to ask something difficult, like taking the parchment back, he still didn’t memorize all the Runic Symbols, instead, he got invited to join the tribe. Alfred delightfully stood up, then replied with a wide smile on his face.
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“I would love to join the tribe! No, please let me join the tribe! To tell you the truth I do not have anywhere to go and for me, this place is already my home. Thank you so much for offering me to join the tribe.”
When the Elders heard this, all of them became joyful. Both Shaman Catori and Chief Viren smile widely, but the most excited was Elder Ahote. He stood up, laughed, and said.
“HAHAHAHA! You made the right decision young Alfred, from now on you are now part of our family!”
Before they could continue celebrating, one of the tribesmen enter the tent and interrupted their joyous laughter.
“Elders the Arrows are back.”
After the Elders heard the report, they decided to postpone the celebration for later. Chief Viren gave an order to the tribesmen.
“Go, tell Vir to come here and report to us.”
The tribesman bowed his head, then left. Alfred stood up to leave, but Chief Viren stopped him.
“You do not need to leave young Alfred, I want you to stay here and listen to our discussion. You are now a member of our tribe. I am going to be honest with you, we invite you to join our tribe, yes, because we like you and we think you are not going to harm the tribe, but the biggest reason is your ability to make Runes.
I know you are going to be a pillar of this tribe sooner or later, that is why I want you to stay. However, that is not the only reason. Shaman Catori said you are smart and think very differently from us. I want to ask for your help to use your different perspectives to find more solutions to our problem.”
Alfred was glad that Chief Viren was being honest with him, he didn’t want to seem disrespectful so he sat down as a sign that he was willing to help. When Chief Viren saw Alfred sitting down, he smiled and nodded. After a while, Vir finally entered the tent with Gunnar.
The first thing Vir noticed was Alfred sitting with the Elders, but before he could ask about it, Gunnar dropped the basket he was holding, then pointed his index finger at Alfred.
“What are you doing here outsider?!”
Vir instantly glared at Gunnar.
“Do not be disrespectful to the Elders Gunnar!”
“I apologize for my action Head Arrow Vir, please punish me.” Gunnar apologized to Vir, but not to the Elders.
“I will punish you later, but for now behave”
Both Elder Ahote and Chief Viren didn’t react to Gunnar’s disrespectful display, but Shaman Catori hate the most when someone disrespect her. That was why when she saw Gunnar’s action and not apologizing to them, her face frowned.
“Tell me Vir, why did you bring this disrespectful young man here?” Shaman Catori asked with contempt
“I apologize on the behalf of my hunter, he is still young and immature, I hope you can forgive his disrespectful action Elders. Gunnar is here to report something important.” Vir bowed and apologize to the Elders.
“Report” Chief Viren ordered.
Vir didn’t speak instead looked at Alfred. Chief Viren noticed Vir’s hesitation to speak because of Alfred.
“You do not have to worry about young Alfred, he is now officially part of our tribe, he is now one of us.”
When Vir and Gunnar heard this, they were both surprised. Vir caught sight of Gunnar’s face, he knew Gunnar will interject in their conversation. Before Gunnar could say anything, Vir placed his hand on his shoulder, then glared at him. When Gunnar saw Vir’s glare, he held the word in his mouth and remained silent.
After Gunnar calmed down, Vir order him to report what he saw. Gunnar hesitantly report what they saw in their hunt.
“In our hunt, we saw 3 different beasts working together to kill a single beast, we do not know why the 3 beasts are attacking this beast, or why are they working together, but we think the 3 beasts are the reason why the monster become scarce in this part of the forest. That is all we know, we did not dare to follow them, we are afraid of being noticed so we go back to report the situation.”
After reporting, Vir ordered Gunnar to go back to the Arrows. Gunnar left when he heard the order.
“If the same type of beast working together might be understandable, but a different type of beast working together? That is concerning, there might be something big that will happen soon. Vir I want you to investigate why the beast is working together and report everything you will discover to us. So, we can prepare ourselves for what might happen.”
“I will do what you ask.” Vir accepted the task
“What happened on your hunt? how many monsters did you bring back?”
“We only hunt 5 monsters. 3 big rats, a black-scaled snake, and a forest wolf.”
“That is less than last time, that food will only last us for two to three days. You should prepare the other Arrows to hunt as soon as possible.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Is there anything else you want to report?”
“Yes, the white lion was dead”
“I see, my old rival finally falls. How did the White Lion die?”
“It was devoured by a newly evolved 3-Eyed Snake.”
“How did the White Lion lose to a newly evolved beast?”
Vir lifted the basket that Gunner dropped earlier and showed the Elders the content.
“Because of these cubs, the white lion is still weak from giving birth to its cubs, and the 3-Eyed Snake sees it as an opportunity to attack the White Lion. That is how the White Lion lost.”
The Elders and Alfred saw the three small lions in the basket. Chief Viren was confused about something.
“Why did you bring these cubs here?”
“The food situation of our tribe is getting worst, that is why I bring these cubs to the tribe. I want the Elders to decide what to do with these cubs.”
The Elders talked with each other if they should resort to eating the cubs of a monster, but before they could make a decision Alfred spoke.
“We should keep the cubs and raise them ourselves.”