Chapter 450: You finally get it, Elder Draksis.

“His entire party and two of his three Bonds had to sacrifice their lives in order for him to escape.

And when he came here, he was heavily injured and passed out after the initial conversation with the soldier who found him.

He hasn’t woken up since then.”

Morvain answered with a grim look on her face.

Honestly, Kael already knew the answer—Imperia’s Ant had heard everything that man said. The only reason he asked this question was to get Morvain to talk.

After all, they couldn’t spend the entire day in awkward silence.

Yes, Morvain went against what they suggested, but what happened had already happened—nothing could be done to change the past.

“A hundred Stormcallers…”

Kael muttered in a solemn tone.

It was a number that surprised him, especially considering the fact that there were only about three hundred total warriors in the Stormcallers Tribe.

And it wasn’t just Kael who was confused regarding this matter.

“It doesn’t make sense for a third of their tribe’s warriors to be out of their tribe without any apparent reason.”

Nymeris pointed out.

“The tribes in the Heights all face the same problem—lack of food—and because they do not have enough farms to grow food, they rely on hunting and looting instead.

They are at a constant risk of being attacked by another tribe, so almost all their army operations make sure that their warriors aren’t out of their tribe for more than two days, else other tribes would know about it and might take advantage of this situation.

The Stormcallers attacked us yesterday, and they attacked our men today, that too, in completely different locations. And considering what they did to the bodies, it can be said that they are out to hunt us.

Which shouldn’t be feasible in itself because hunting isn’t just ambushes—they would need to know where our men are, how many there are, and tail them till they are in a region best suited for an ambush.

All of it requires effort—high effort—but the problem is that the rewards compared to the risk they are taking aren’t enough.

If they have hundreds of warriors attacking our hunting parties, then this is no different than a large-scale operation—an operation that involves the highest amount of manpower and keeps their tribe back home extremely vulnerable.

An operation on the level of a war, but unlike war, that might help them secure enough food to feed their people for at least a few weeks, this… this won’t give them anything in return.

It makes no sense for them to do something like this.”

The High Chronicler spoke.

She, as someone who studied all of the tribes in the Heights, knew that these tribes did not move on petty feelings like revenge—they moved out of necessity, and this had been the same for a thousand years.

But now…

Something felt wrong.

Their actions did not make sense.

“Do you truly have no idea what is happening even now?”

Suddenly, Lavinia spoke up, staring at Nymeris and then at Morvain.

The Matriarch momentarily lowered her head, but others weren’t the same—especially Korvath, who had lost more than twenty men in two days.

“Their actions would make sense if they are being influenced by someone else.”

The Commander spoke, his clenched fists trembling with anger, shame, and guilt. His mind still had clear memories of families breaking down as he delivered the news to them one by one.

Yes, he was used to such sights, but it didn’t mean those gazes didn’t affect him.

The Commander was broken—he… he desperately wanted a solution, no matter what it took.

In the end, the Commander raised his head, looking at Lavinia and—

“Drakthar.”

He spoke directly.

It was just a single word, but everyone in the room knew what he was implying.

“We do not know that yet.”

Morvain raised her voice as well.

“It is a possibility.”

Aelindra added.

“The Treaty stops them from having any involvement with us.”

The Matriarch countered.

“The Treaty only stops a ‘direct’ involvement. They have more than a single way to get involved.”

Nymeris spoke as well, staring at Morvain.

“So you are saying the Stormcallers are doing this because Drakthar is supporting them?”

Morvain asked.

“It is a possibility.”

Korvath nodded.

“If Drakthar offered them food and protection in exchange for an all-out attack against us, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to consider it.”

Aelindra added.

“Don’t forget, Matriarch—Drakthar wants us to be in a weak, struggling situation. It would give them the chance to return and rediscuss what they discussed before.”

Korvath spoke, staring at Kael and Lavinia before looking at Morvain.

Kael and Lavinia stayed silent; the discussion was finally moving in the direction they wanted it to. So although they weren’t happy that seventeen men had to die for this to happen, looking at it from one skewed perspective, this was indeed a good thing.

“So if Drakthar is getting involved, what do you suggest we do?”

The Matriarch questioned her Elders in a strict voice, and in an instant, Aelindra, Korvath, and Nymeris turned silent.

After all, they did not have a solution.

Rather, Aelindra directly glanced at Kael and Lavinia, wanting them to say something. It was clear how much the Warden of Provision was now relying on the two outsiders—something that the rest of the Elders did not miss.

And using this chance—

“The possibility of Drakthar’s involvement does exist.”

Lavinia began, garnering all the attention towards her, slowly taking the role of the leader in the discussion.

The Mage then stared at Morvain and—

“But this does not mean we have to act right now.

You asked what we should do, right?

Do what we said yesterday—nothing.

Keep our men inside the Walls, where they are together and safe, for the next few days. Cancel all operations that require one to go beyond the Wall.”

“So you want us to cage ourselves?”

Morvain narrowed her eyes.

“Till we have more information, yes.”

Lavinia nodded.

“And how do we get that information if we do not leave the Walls?”

The Matriarch questioned.

“Leave that to us.”

Lavinia answered as she held Kael’s hand.

“We are working on it as we speak.”

“Riighttt.”

Suddenly, another voice was heard.

It was Draksis.

“Leave it to you again, like we always do, correct?”

The Leader of Forge spoke, this time looking at Lavinia instead of Kael.

Hearing him speak, Kael instantly stood up from his seat—or so he wanted to—but Lavinia held his hand tightly, stopping him.

That little action made Draksis flinch. Lavinia smiled at that and looked into Draksis’s eyes.

“Why? Is there a problem with leaving it to us?”

She asked directly.

“Yes.

Yes, there is.”

Draksis nodded.

“What is it?”

“We do not know what ‘means’ you use to do everything.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem if you are getting the results you desire, no?”

Lavinia tilted her head in confusion.

“Yes, it shouldn’t.”

The Leader of Forge nodded, but then—

“And that’s the issue—you aren’t getting the desired results.”

He began.

“Do not think we do not know just because of everything that has happened.

We heard how your ‘Divine Rations’ have somehow ‘disappeared,’ and when asked why, you blamed it on the people instead.

Someone broke the ‘rules’ and ‘disrespected’ the ‘Living Blessing,’ was it? Load of bullshit if you ask me.”

Draksis raised his voice.

Soon, however, he controlled himself and—

“And forget it—even if I do believe what you said, you have the Warden of Vigilance with you, a Warden given the power to keep an eye on every single Velmourn without them knowing, but when asked who broke the Faith, you conveniently weren’t using your ‘Magic,’ so you did not know.

If you couldn’t even find the person who ‘broke the Faith,’ how are you supposed to find Traitors and Spies? Actually, have you even found anything yet? Other than a child writing on a slate that could very well just be him believing in his God.

You claim to have done many things, but other than the time when you helped defend the Wall, your ‘help’ has been… quite limited.

Also, I haven’t said anything since others here do not want me to, but if we think about it from a logical perspective, even during the time you defended the Wall, you two were the entire reason the Wall was in such a vulnerable state in the first place.”

The Leader of Forge spoke bravely, then after a slight pause,

“So no, while you have indeed been helpful, your contributions aren’t enough for me to feel comfortable enough to cage my people while you ‘gather information.’”

“…”

“…”

Silence.

The entire Hall turned silent when Draksis was done speaking. The Elders, especially Korvath and Aelindra, stared at Kael, fearing that he might lose his calm again, but…

The man didn’t react, at least not as strongly as he did before.

Rather, Kael actually smiled—

“You finally get it, Elder Draksis.”

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