Under Lilly’s unhappy gaze the three men tentatively entered the small house.

Before Josef could do anything the young woman already spoke her mind:

“Brother, why do you bring strangers in? You know I like to keep my privacy here.”

Iain felt guilty under Lilly’s harsh stare. He knew that his sister didn’t like people observing her work ever since the David incident.

With a small voice he rebuked:

“I know. Sorry. But these are good people. You know they helped Sophia, don’t you?”

While mentioning the older woman, Iain threw her a pleading look.

Sophia could only answer with an apologizing smile though. She also knew that Lilly didn’t approve on Iain’s behavior this time.

Enduring this awkward atmosphere, Josef took a step forward.

“My apologies, young lady. I didn’t know that we weren’t welcome here.

However, now that we are already gathered, would you kindly listen to my request?”

“Hmm. You have one minute. I won’t let my medicine overcook.”

“Thank you. Then I will keep it simple. Could I ask you to take a look at this artifact of mine?

We think it has something to do will old healing rituals. Maybe you could help us out.”

On Josef’s signal Iain held out the metal plate in his hand. However, Lilly didn’t reach for it.

A few seconds passed as the young woman observed the supposed artifact.

Only inspecting the plate on a surface level, she simply stated the obvious:

“This is a metal plate. What should it have to do with healing?”

Josef almost lost his calm expression. What could he do if this woman refused to touch the plate? Should he force her?

As everyone’s eyes fell on him, the proud warrior soon made up his mind.

I did my job. If these people were refugees, I would have surely felt it.

Since I’m done here, I will leave today.

Who would care about this backwater place.

Coming to this resolution, Josef took the metal plate back without any awkwardness.

“I apologies again for the interruption. It seems we are not fated to find the secrets behind this artifact.

Since it’s like this, we will move on today.

Captain! Let’s gather the soldiers and travel to Regensburg.

It was my pleasure to have met you all.

Farewell.”

Further confused by this abrupt change of mind, Lilly didn’t take back her suspicious look.

Meanwhile Josef and the captain soon found their soldiers lazing around outside as Iain happily bade them goodbye.

Afterwards Josef didn’t waste much time.

As the surrounding villagers sent them off with a bow, Josef and his soldiers left the village.

As the few houses grew smaller and smaller Josef threw one last look back.

He knew he didn’t do a good job those last few days. His clan will probably find out one way or another, earning him another scolding by those elders.

Stolen story; please report.

More and more the proud warrior wished to do his own thing. Obviously, he wasn’t made to be a spy. His training had always been geared towards fighting on the frontline.

It was a vicious move by some opposing parties within his clan to send him here. Making use of his flaw, they drove Eldrak into an unfavorable position.

Even his supporters couldn’t help him much since he kept sparing some enemies.

Now he was caught in this unsuitable job with those elders just waiting for him to make a mistake. The longer they could keep him occupied, the more time their own favorite juniors had time to catch up.

Never would they have imagined that being in this mana deprived planet might not be such a disadvantage for a genius like Eldrak.

Since the magical energy wasn’t all encompassing like at their headquarters, the young Zrathras was rapidly learning to feel even the tiniest bit of mana and use it to his advantage.

As they got further away from the village, Eldrak took a last look at the metal plate in his hand, deciding not to confirm anything. With a confident smile on his face the proud warrior tilted his head towards the sky.

His eyes seemingly tried to pass through space, staring at their temporary base of operations.

Just you wait for my comeback guys. We will see who will have the last laugh…

* * * * * * * *

Mouranek Zrathras had a stern look on his face as he observed the different monitors in front of him. Within the Zrathras Clan he was a respected elder, who had always been considered neutral.

However, this time his stance had brought him into a troublesome situation. He was caught in the crossfire between two opposing parties within the clan.

On one side stood the supporters of Eldrak Prim Irom Furuwewent Zrathras. When this junior revealed his talent at a young age, their whole clan was caught in a joyous mood.

Calling Eldrak a genius would be an insult. The young warrior showed massive promise, enough for some clansmen to regard him as a future rival for that supreme figure among the human race.

Sadly, the young man soon showed the flaws in his character. From time to time he would spare his enemies, quickly driving some elders to madness.

Their clan had tried to forcibly destroy this mindset in Eldrak. They even compelled his best friend to betray him during a mission.

In the end Eldrak still forgave him, thus forging an unbreakable bond between them, as his friend confessed everything.

This one move led to a divide in the clan, forming three parties.

Some clansmen strongly supported Eldrak to be the next General. Some strongly opposed this notion, thinking his character would create unnecessary enemies for their clan. Most clansmen simply decided to stay neutral on this issue.

Since females of their clans would have thousands of children at once, Mouranek could be sure that no nepotism was involved in their disputes.

Only the clan’s glory was important.

Every clansman wanted the clan to flourish.

Therefore, no one would ever think about killing Eldrak. This led to a situation where the elders thought of all kinds of ways to convince the young warrior to change his mind.

A ruthless Eldrak was the dream of every Zrathras.

“You called for me elder?”

Well, almost every Zrathras.

The young warrior who just appeared behind Mouranek for example couldn’t be happier if Eldrak never made any progress.

Tekark Zrathras was a genius from the Irom generation, the same as Eldrak’s. While many of his peers had been convinced by the latter’s prowess, Tekark still had some hope of becoming General himself.

Therefore, the unconvinced junior had volunteered for this mission. If he could spot any mistakes in Eldrak’s behavior, his own standing would naturally rise.

Without Eldrak’s suppression Tekark would even be a prime candidate.

The young warrior had inherited many of the best genes of their race. Typical for their Zrathras clan he stood at about 2,50 meters tall. His legs were long, slender and athletic, ending in five sharp claws, which grew in a ring shape around his foot.

Suitable for their clan’s best combat techniques he even received four arms with retractable scythes. His whole body was protected by strong, mint green armor. Yellow stipes decorated his fearsome muscles, giving his body a streamlined appearance.

Tekark even luckily got the rare trait of a reinforced head armor. If some humans saw him, they would probably ask if he wore a helmet on his round head. Naturally, this wouldn’t end well for them.

However, this head armor was of paramount importance to Tarkark, since it protected his two brains. Those formed his most distinguished trait as it was almost impossible for someone of their Zrathras clan to get.

Two brains were mostly symbolic for other clans of their Malohcras race.

All in all, Tekark was born superior to most. He was considered a master in battle and a smart tactician. Unfortunately, his continued losses to Eldrak had also distorted his mind slightly.

Tekark grew more and more irritable, gaining the cruelness which Eldrak lacked. Thus, he slowly lost support amongst the clansmen.

Knowing of his situation, Tarkark grew annoyed at the elder Mouranek’s silence, but didn’t dare to show anything on his face. He silently observed the old Zrathras sitting in the captain’s chair.

Multiple monitors adorned the room they were in, assisting them in coordinating their mission. A mix of runes and technology allowed them to communicate with the other Malohcras in the area.

This was the heart of their spaceship, which served as the base of operations this time.

Their mission was to search and eliminate refugees fleeing from their current war. Normally it was absolute overkill to have an elder stationed here, but since Eldrak was sent on this mission, the clan wanted to guarantee his security.

Thinking this far, Tekark was once again reminded of the importance his clan put on his rival.

He couldn’t hold himself back from letting out an angry snort through his triangular nose.