Chapter 901: Discussion
Dhar went back to the estate and met with his father making sure that his brother is okay.
He explained what is Sam going to do if they don't agree with the deal first and then later explained the deal.
The tribe head could only pull his hair in frustration.
He couldn't disobey the goddess' will.
He is not as detached to the goddess and their faith as his son and he knew that convincing the rest of the tribe to just ignore the goddess's instructions and go against them would be extremely hard.
And even though he was not involved in the massacre of the Warton tribe, it is still one of their own that did that, so if they just gave them away, they would lose the trust of the tribe members.
"Father, if he really uses all his weapons on us, not even an infant will live to see another day, don't you dare let your stupid faith and honor kill our tribe members. Every decision you will make would be catastrophically dangerous.
If you don't do anything, then I would call for the tribe head competition and I would fight you to death. I may not be as strong as you, but I would see if you will follow the rules and kill me if I didn't give up to follow the supposed rules and traditions created by your faith and people."
The tribe felt lost. He didn't know how to reply to his son. He thought for a moment and said.
"But the Goddess…"
"I don't care what your Goddess said or did. She didn't save the forty-plus astral plane cultivators that died.
As for the resources and other stuff she gave us, half of our Astral plane cultivators are being sent to her army and it is an exchange that is in fact unfair to us.
I was never a big fan of her and I only believed in faith because I believed in you, father. But if the faith leads us to our doom, then, please. I don't want that.
Tomorrow we are going according to our plan."
"Give me one chance. I am sure the Goddess will help us with this."
"I don't care what you do. Tell me what you decide before midnight and I will decide on how to proceed based on your decision. I am investigating who ordered and why the Warton tribe was destroyed."
With that he left the room.
But the only problem is that both of them didn't act as discreet as they wanted to be.
At least not for the most part as they didn't notice the guard that stood at the entrance in the middle of their discussion waiting for their audience.
So, when Dhar opened the door, he was a bit surprised.
"Second Elder wants an audience with the tribe head."
"Go in."
Dhar then left.
The guard went in and reported the same before leaving.
After getting out of that residence the guard ran towards the second elder and gave an account of what he overheard.
To his dismay he didn't hear the whole conversation and missed the part what Sam is going to do exactly and only heard from the part of catastrophe and told him everything.
The second elder has a nervous expression on his face as he thought of what might happen if Dhar's plan goes through.
He immediately went to meet the Tribe head and after discussing something with him, he went back to his own residence and called for some elders and discussed something else.
Meanwhile, the tribe head is feeling more and more complicated and he went to the inner temple.
He performed a ritual to call the Goddess.
The statue of Hel glowed brightly and she spoke.
"What is it?"
"Goddess Hel, we failed to keep Watt with us and in process we lost forty of our Astral Plane cultivators, He seems to possess some kind of weapon and he is threatening us with it. The tribe's existence is at stake. I hope you can guide us and let us cross this peril."
"I told you to kill him and you are coming back to me crying. What the hell am I keeping you all for?"
Her words made him feel shocked.
"Try to find a way to kill him. Lie, cheat, use tricks, I don't care what you do kill him. If he calls for the truce, act as you want it to and kill him there. Do I have to teach you everything?"
"But Goddess, that is not right. It is against our barbarian values."
"What are your values for? Did they give you the resources I gave you? Can they be used for your breakthroughs? Do what I say and you can try and find another god for your blessings."
With that she left.
The tribe head doesn't know how to react. All this while they never asked the Goddess for anything. It was always her giving generously and them taking it.
At least that is what she made them believe. They never knew what is happening to the flocks of soldiers they are giving her. He thought that they were loved by the goddess and cared for by her.
This is news to them. They were never in a situation where the goddess asked them to do some impossible task. It was always just the soldiers which they send with love. This is the first time they were even ordered to do something and when that brought them problems the goddess behaved completely differently.
In fact, it couldn't be said that she is different. She was always aloof. It is just that when she was while giving them blessings and resources, they felt that she is generous, now that she was aloof when they were dying, he felt like she is cold and unfeeling towards them.
He came out of the temple in a gloomy mood and he was called for another meeting by the elders. The second elder is the one leading the meeting. When he went there, there are severe protests from the rest of the elders about handing over the people that killed the Warton tribe.
From what they said, Dhar is currently 'handling' the people who massacred that tribe and is forcing them to give them a proper explanation.
There is a threat of division. The tribe head who is already having a lot on his plate couldn't take it anymore and called Dhar.
They had a huge argument and finally, there was a truce.
"Dhar, you will be challenging Sam to a duel tomorrow. If he wants the people who killed the Warton tribe, he has to defeat you, and then we will hand them over. Otherwise, he can just take the family heirloom and leave.
This is the deal and we are not going to back off anymore."
"But why should he comprmise? He has the leverage not us."
"We heard you are close with that Captive. You will be responsible for handling it."
"I am not doing it."
"You are doing it and there is no use in arguing about it anymore."
With that the meeting was over. Dhar doesn't know what the elders used to convince his father, but he knew he has limited power. If he is really too stubborn they might really do what they threatened to do.
So the next morning they moved.
Their family heirloom is a blood iron spear.
Dhar and four of his peers took the spear and went to the meeting spot.
Sam is there along with Wat, Wembley, her subordinate old man and finally one of his own subordinates.
Dhar didn't even wait for a second before giving the spear directly to Sam.
"This is the family heirloom."
Sam examined and admired the craftsmanship for a while before asking.
"I don't see the second condition of the deal."
"I am sorry. I cannot just give up my tribe members."
"It would be better than giving up on your whole tribe don't you think?"
"I know we are the ones who started this and we are the ones that were excessive, but it is not a barbarian way to give up on our tribe members. I would like to propose a condition.
We can have a duel. The barbarian way. No one else interrupts.
If you win, you would get them, if you lose you have to leave the realm and never come back. This is a fair deal. I hope you would agree."
"Are you sure you want to fight me? Yesterday you didn't do so well."
"It wouldn't be like yesterday. In a duel, I don't have to hold back. Yesterday, I was so caught up in saving my brother."
"I hope so, otherwise I would be disappointed. So, when do we start?"
Sam asked as he stored the spear away and took out his staff.
"Right now."
As Sam and Dhar got ready for the duel, something else is happening in the city.
The second elder is currently talking to his guard.
"They will come a few minutes later after you go there. They will be keeping a good distance, you are the one responsible for not only signaling them but also give a large signal that could let us know what happened there.
We have to proceed according to the result of that duel.
And no matter what result it is, this would be the day, I will reign supreme."