Chapter 431: This isn’t the time to Hunt.

“I speak when words are needed.

I did not need to speak until you two forgot whose hall this is.

Do not confuse my patience with my permission.”

Morvain answered.

But then—

“So that means we are allowed to call out any member of the Iron Council until you think things are going too far and stop us?”

Kael questioned directly, not letting this matter go.

And the Matriarch—

“Yes.”

She answered with a nod.

Her answer surprised every single person present in the room, even Kael.

“The Council is not an army to be ruled by command.

Frictions like these reveal weaknesses before enemies exploit them.

Draksis presses, you push back, and at the end, you both settle your differences, privately or with me as your mediator.

If I silence every sharp word I hear, I blind us to hidden danger, something far worse than the danger we face right now.”

The Matriarch explained, her words affected both Kael and Draksis, forcing the two to momentarily stare at each other.

Morvain, who saw that, stared at Kael and—

“Yes, I gave you power.

But keep in mind, Power is not given, it is proven.

If I interrupt every time someone questions you,

You will not be seen as an equal, but as a child who is supported by the Matriarch.

And I do not want a child sitting in my Council Hall.”

“…”

Kael turned silent, replaying Morvain’s words in his head, as if remembering them. Lavinia, on the other hand, stared at the woman in front of her, observing how she managed to defuse the otherwise complicated situation with such ease, while keeping her authority.

This…

This might not be as easy as she was expecting.

She thought grimly, of course, her face didn’t give away her true emotions. The Mage simply grabbed Kael’s hand, telling him that she was here for him no matter what. Kael too, tightly held her hand and nodded at her.

Seeing the situation had calmed down, the Matriarch stared at Kael and Draksis and—

“Whatever is the matter with you, I need it to be solved within a week.

Is that clear?”

The two nodded, staring at each other, their hatred and anger hadn’t disappeared, but it now seemed well contained.

Morvain nodded back, then she turned back to the rest of the council members and—

“Now that tempers are cooled, we return to the danger outside our walls.”

She began.

“Our men were killed and the enemy is openly threatening us.

Another odd thing about the situation is that the Stormcallers are known for living at the tallest peak, they rarely come down, even during winters.

The last time we encountered a Stormcaller was decades ago. The fact that they have made a move after all this while seems… puzzling.”

The Matriarch commented, beginning the discussion again.

“There is indeed something unsettling about the matter.”

Commander Korvath nodded at the Matriarch’s words.

“The fact that they are quite far from their homes aside, to think they managed to kill every single one of our men doesn’t sit well with me either.

Those men weren’t weak, unless they encountered more than fifteen Stormcallers at the same time, it couldn’t have been a complete annihilation.

At the very least, one of them should have been able to escape and call for reinforcements.”

“More than fifteen enemies…”

Tarevian repeated those words in a low voice.

“Even if they were hunting like us, they wouldn’t use fifteen warriors at the same time, especially when there are enemies all around them.”

Morvain muttered.

She then stared at Korvath with a grim look on her face and—

“This is only possible if…”

“If it was a planned execution.

They didn’t come there to hunt beasts,

They came to hunt our men.”

The Commander nodded and the air in the hall became even grimmer than it already was.

“It definitely isn’t an act done out of anger or spite,

Something big is happening beyond the Walls,

Something we do not know.”

Nymeris commented, her words sounded ominous but the Elders had no choice but to agree with them.

“Lord Kael…”

Slowly, Aelindra called out, glancing at Kael.

Kael stared back at her and—

“Were you… truly not able to see anything? Can your Magic extend that far…? It would be of great help to us if it can.”

She questioned, her words and tone seemed much more careful.

After what happened, she didn’t want Kael to snap at her. It was clear that Kael today seemed different than he usually was and she didn’t wish to get on the bad side of someone who was feeding almost half of the town.

Honestly, Aelindra didn’t even blame Kael for reacting the way he did, this was the second time Elder Draksis had confronted him in such a manner and while she understood his feeling of not wanting to rely on an outsider too much, confronting their benefactor in such a way was not how you dealt with the situation.

More than Draksis, Aelindra was worried that his words might offend Kael, this was the reason she was being extra careful with her words but—

“I am still not strong enough to cast such a large-scale Magic, I do not have enough Mana.”

Kael shook his head, answering much more calmly compared to his previous clash.

“My ‘Eyes’ are currently limited within the Wall.”

“Is there not a way we can extend it? What if we cover more area outside the Wall and leave the area inside aside? We already found the Traitor, did we not?”

Aelindra suggested.

“That cannot happen.”

This time, the one who answered was Lavinia, who had stayed silent all this while.

“We still do not know if there is another Traitor amongst us. There can be one who reports every month, or at some other interval.

It is a risk we cannot take.

Traitors are much more dangerous than enemies in front.”

The Mage explained.

“What’s the point if the Traitor can simply go beyond the Wall where he will not be watched?”

Draksis snorted.

And in an instant—

“If the Traitor knows he is being watched and even knows that the way to avoid it is by moving outside the Wall,

Then we have bigger problems to deal with than that.”

Kael answered, looking right into Draksis’s eyes.

“What are you trying to say?”

Draksis narrowed his eyes at those words.

“Why? Are you too foolish to comprehend them on your own?”

The Forge Leader’s mouth twitched in annoyance,

“You—”

But before he could say anything else,

“I said it once, I will not repeat it again.

I do not want you two disrespecting my Council.

What part of my warning is not clear?”

The Matriarch spoke up.

Kael simply looked away, not bothering himself with the old man. Draksis could only clench his fists and glare at the boy in front of him.

Aelindra, not wanting this to affect Kael’s mood even further, tried to bring him back on the topic,

“Is there truly no way to use your Magic to Watch beyond the Wall…?”

She questioned and Kael shook his head,

“Not until I am stronger than I am right now.”

He and Lavinia had already prepared such questions, so he didn’t have to think too much.

Aelindra turned silent.

“What’s the solution? Should we just let this go…? Or… do we avenge our men…?”

Tarevian questioned carefully as he stared at Morvain.

“We cannot attack the Stormcallers. They live too far.”

Korvath answered.

The Commander then stared out of the window and—

“And in a stormy weather like this one, most of our men would lose their strength before they even get to their base.

We will only become easy targets, not to mention we cannot leave the Wall undefended either.

The Stonefangs attacked just a week ago, it wouldn’t be surprising if they, or some other tribe attacked again, especially when our men aren’t there to defend.”

Korvath then stared at Kael and—

“Lord Kael protected us before, but this doesn’t mean we should rely on him all the time.

Respect goes both ways, we expect him to prove himself when he already did more than once, but ever since he arrived here, never once did we do something that would prove our competence in his eyes.

If anything, we only showed him our undesirable side and it is high time we change that.”

The Commander commented.

His words seemed to be directed at everyone present in the room, some might even think he was trying to please Kael, but the more observant ones quickly understood who the Commander was actually targeting.

Morvain, obviously, didn’t miss it either. She stared at Korvath for a moment, trying to understand why he was doing what he was doing and in the end, she made a decision,

“Then we will step back.”

She declared.

“Avenging our men isn’t the priority, it is survival.

Commander Korvath, you are to ensure that every Hunting Party that leaves the Wall has thrice the numbers the current ones had.

Send your finest men if you have to.

We cannot allow another accident like this to happen again.”

The Matriarch gave her orders but then—

“This isn’t the time to Hunt.”

Lavinia shook her head.

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