Chapter 652 - Village Chief (Patreon)

The next morning, during breakfast, Multrak clapped his hands loudly to get everyone's attention. It seemed like the village was used to that kind of thing, and they all stopped to listen.

"First of all. Good morning everyone. Second, yesterday Hera and Adriel went out on their first hunt. Even if it was something that wasn't prepared properly, that doesn't change the fact that they have succeeded and returned alive and well. A bit scorched, but well," Multrak smiled at Adriel, who took the joke like a champ.

"Scorched? I think I was way past well done," the elf joked.

"I agree, but I wasn't the one who was going to say that," Multrak chuckled, "A toast to them. They have officially become part of the Vanguard!"

"Cheers!" everyone raised their glasses and took a sip.

"Now, the rest of the group will have their chance, don't worry about it. And no one is going to treat you any differently because of that. Going on your first hunt is just a rite of passage," Multrak's face became more serious, "Now, for the less pleasant news. I'm sure you all know what happened yesterday. The mist and the thunder were all made by Hera here. But don't worry; it was all an illusion. Just something she was able to do thanks to a skill."

"A heck of a skill. I thought the sky was falling," Grilat cheered.

"Yes, and we can all drown her in questions about it later. What I want to talk about is why she had to use such skills. Reynara saw them, Hera and Adriel, outside the village. And although I do appreciate her wariness to send people ahead to confirm if they were indeed new additions, I cannot condone her following actions. Without telling anyone, she dragged them both to the nest of the Cherry Mantis that were becoming resistant to fire. That was one of the groups that were already on our radar, but we, collectively, had decided that there were more pressing matters to deal with. But apparently, our chief huntress disagrees."

Even if he was serious, the mood was still light enough for people to joke around. There were a few boos and shouts about the mantises being a pain in their ass, but Multrak didn't take long to raise his hand, asking everyone to be quiet again, which they did to a point. People were still eating and passing plates around, but no one was talking.

"We all know that Reynara can be difficult, but she is also very skilled and always makes sure to complete her job. Not to mention that, despite her apparent detachment from everything, we all know that she cares about us and means well… Most of the time," there were some incredulous expressions and gasps from the crowd, including from Reynara herself, "Fine, every so often she cares. Better?"

Reynara nodded, but a few still seemed unsure until the huntress stared them down, making them change their opinions immediately.

"Moving on. She took matters into her own hands, and although that can prove value on certain occasions, it is not the type of person we need to lead the Vanguard."

With that phrase, the clattering of plates and cups stopped completely, and everyone paid attention to Multrak.

"Oh? Now you are listening? Good. As you all know, I am old. Very old, and I don't have the energy to deal with all the bullshit you toss at me every day. I mean, why am I the one who was to solve marital disputes? And honestly, Harrisha, you can't expect me to be on your side when you made your husband sleep outside because YOU had a dream that he cheated. I mean, you are not an oracle, so it was, quite literally, just a dream. If you ever find proof, that's another thing entirely, but until then, you do have to control your temper. Anyway, where was I?" Multrak genuinely had lost his train of thought.

"You were talking about how you don't have the energy to deal with this," Grilat replied in a weak voice, almost like a child talking to their parents.

"Right, thank you. As I said, I'm tired. I'm old, and quite frankly. I'm weak. It's been two years since the last hunt I actively participated in, and I honestly believe I did my time at least on that part. So, I am announcing today that after we hunt the Night River and the Boulder of Vines, I will be stepping down. I still will be here, but no longer as the chief, only as a person still serving their sentence. And I would like to use this as a chance to start a small tradition. We all know how powerful legacies can be. Heck, mine makes me strong enough to train with all of you, and my body just can't take it anymore. So, when I pass the position of village chief, I will also pass on the legacy to a new generation. And that is you, Grilat. The choice was between you and Reynara, as everyone is painfully aware, but yesterday she proved that she can't be trusted with that much responsibility."

"What?" some of the hunters gasped.

"Multrak, with all due respect, is that really a good call? Reynara may be bat shit…" one of the hunters started speaking, but she stopped to look at Reynara, who just gave a nod of approval, "but she is a damn good leader. She always helps us get back safely and always looks out for us. I mean, she might be a bit overbearing and aggressive, but I don't think she would be a bad new chief."

"Yeah," a couple of hunters and even a few of the people who always stayed in the village nodded.

"Really? So you say she always helps you. She always puts your safety first?" Multrak asked.

The hunters nodded to each other, "We are."

"So you are saying that she never, for instance, would drag two new people away and force them to hunt monsters that are starting to change without giving anyone information, and when one of those new people got hurt, she wouldn't stop the other from helping the wounded one?" Multrak continued.

"Of course not! She would never do something like that!" the hunter proudly announced.

"So, Reynara. Do you tell them, or shall I?" Multrak turned to the huntress.

"Why Are you changing the subject? Oh, whatever," the hunter asked as she turned to Reynara, "C'mon. Whatever it is, just tell us. That way, we can continue this conversation."

'Multrak wasn't wrong when he said the people here are not the brightest,' Daskka said.

'Shush, don't bad mouth them,' Hera replied.

'I'm not wrong, though,' Daskka said and got a flick on her head as a response.

Eventually, the huntress replied, "I did what Multrak is saying. I grabbed two people, Hera and Adriel, and dragged them to fight the fire-resistant mantises. During the fight, they used fire since it was the most effective way to kill a nest, but the monsters used that fire against them. Adriel got seriously injured, and Hera went to help him. I stopped her thinking she was stepping away from the fight, but in the end, she had a way to send him back. Which I didn't know, so my reaction was perfectly justified."

"Then why didn't you help? Or held the monsters back?" Grilat asked.

"It wasn't my hunt; they were the ones going after the mantises," Reynara replied.

"Because you told them to!" Grilat yelled.

"Stop it!" Multrak yelled, red veins popping on his neck, making his voice much louder than normal. That effect went away after a few moments, "Now. Like I said, I truly believe that both of you could be good leaders for the Vanguard. Things would be very different if Reynara was the chief and Grilat was the safest choice, even if I do think there would be some changes. But, another issue the chief has to deal with is the relationship with the kingdom, and what happened yesterday proves that Reynara is not ready for that kind of job. If Hera and Adriel were some of the envoys from the kingdom, we would be in trouble, and our next request for aid or supplies would end up not coming. Back to the matter at hand, I will keep the position of chief until the end of the Night River hunt. Then I will pass it, along with my legacy, to Grilat."

"May I ask a question?" Adriel raised his hand.

"Sure, if anyone earned a voice on this matter is you," Multrak nodded.

"Why wait? If you give Grilat the legacy now, wouldn't that increase the chances of the Night River hunt being successful?"

"I see how you would think that, but there are some issues. First, we don't know if he would have my buff skill available to him. If he didn't, that would reduce our fighting capabilities by a lot," Multrak saw the confused expressions of most of the villagers, "That would make us weaker. Second, we don't know what skill he will inherit… get. As you know, part of my legacy makes me crave blood, beastman blood as a drug, and things could become problematic if he doesn't get the skill that removes that desire right away. It would also take some time for everyone to get used to the new chief, and we can't have multiple people acting as the leader during the hunt. So, when it's over, we will have a moment to relax and make all the necessary changes," Multrak explained.

"Oh. I didn't consider any of that. That's a good call," Adriel smiled.

"And that's why you were not in the running to be the new chief. And the fact that you just got here," Multrak joked.

There was some laughter around the table, and some people congratulated Grilat while others went to see if Reynara was doing ok, only to be met with annoyed stares and slaps on their hands to push them away. The huntress had already accepted the decision and didn't want anyone's pity. Only when she grabbed someone's arm and slammed their head against the table that people finally stop. Kadhan was already with a potion on hand, passing it along to the injured person before they were even up.

Eventually, Multrak asked everyone to be quiet one more time, "Now for another matter. Reynara is still going to be the chief huntress of the village, and she found out what we needed. Do you want to explain everything?" he turned to Reynara who just waved him off and told the chief to keep going, "Very well. We were setting up to go after the Night River, and our plan was to hunt it next week. She found out that there was a change in the schedule. The Night River skipped a part of its route around the room, so he will be arriving at the spot we need it to be in four days. So, starting tomorrow, we will head out and prepare everything. That includes having a team block the Boulder of Vine from leaving the area. We will leave that to the hunters. Tomorrow, everyone will be setting up the materials for the traps and everything we will use; the day after, most of us will go out and stay in the area, ready for when the Night River shows up. I'll talk with everyone tomorrow to say what we actually need, but tonight, we feast to our new chief!"

Everyone cheered and continued eating. Hera noticed that a few people seemed upset. It was somewhat understandable, but at the same time, something was bothering her about that. It was also decided that her party would be joining the hunt whether they like that or not, and they still would have to help everyone get ready. Sometime later, the party had gathered once again in their house with the soundproof bubble in effect.

"Does that mean we have to figure out who made the curse tomorrow?" Blue asked.

"Not really, but we might need to pull back our snooping for a few days," Bonnie replied.

"We still have tomorrow, and since everyone will be focused on something else, we might be able to catch them off guard," Shane added.

Helena shook her head, "I think we might be going in the wrong direction. Alex, as far as you know, did the curse start that powerful? Could it already infect others?"

Alex stopped to think for a minute, playing with a couple of pebbles that fell from the bench, "I don't think so. It grew and evolved."

"So maybe we should be doing what they are doing. Preparing a trap for when the curse actually shows up."

"But how are we going to know that?" Hera asked.

"Sammy, can you feel if the curse is already here? You seemed to know that we came before it showed up."

"I more or less can. Because we used one of its memories to get here, I can tell when the being who the memory belonged would arrive, but not where it is," Sammy replied.

"Then… What if we start looking into ways to make traps and prepare plans for ambushes? We can still try to figure out where it will arrive, but if we are also preparing something else, it will feel less like we are running in circles," Helena continued; she was clearly frustrated even if they were just starting to look for things.

"So, in the end, tomorrow we will only figure out how they make traps and start to think what we can do about it?" Adriel asked.

"That's the idea. One way or another, we have to deal with the Night River to keep our cover, so it's not like we have many options," Helena sighed.

"So, one more time, we are just going to sleep because there is nothing else we can do?" Hera asked.

"Pretty much, yeah," Helena nodded.

That ended up killing the conversation, but they didn't go to bed right away, it was still early, and they weren't actually tired just yet. Hera took a moment to walk around the village and take in the night air of the jungle. She was going around the wall, saying hello to the guards who were no strangers to random people walking around. That was pretty common, especially with those who just arrived. People needed time to think and process what brought them to this place. For the moment, Hera also sent Scythe and Edge to fly around the place and try to hear some conversations that could be suspicious.

So far, she didn't get any information from her blades aside from the need to move to one place or another. She was looking over the arena where they fought during the test when a voice crept into her mind.

'Do you want to seeee? The power you misss?"

'Can you not drag your words? I already had to deal with that when Daskka was learning to speak. I'm very proud of her, but from you, it's just annoying.'

'Give me strength, and that goooesss away,'

'Give me a billion levels, and I'll do that. If you can't, just shut up.' Hera huffed in her own mind. This was much more intrusive than talking with Daskka or her court. She wasn't thinking about talking with someone else, and she wasn't putting her words out. Instead, it was as if someone was hearing her thoughts and encroaching on them. To her luck, the curse stopped talking, but she knew that what it was offering was something she wanted. She spent most of the day thinking about that moment, that brief moment when she felt the mana in everything and how it felt completely alien to what she was used to.

With a sigh, Hera mumbled, "Man, I wonder if this is what Alex has been dealing with this whole time. I'm not sure I would have the strength to ignore this for months on end."

"Mum? Are you ok?" Daskka asked.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Let's just enjoy the stars," Hera looked up, seeing the beautiful milky way above her head, hoping that all of this would, eventually, work out and she would remove that one voice in her mind that was trying to drive her crazy.