A Puppy's Love

Arc 11.5

Lady Dashi ran along with the other brutes as she looked tired and weak, but to the Soka Clan soldiers, she looked ever so dashing, seeing such a weak-looking woman fighting for her people and their own convinced them that she was a very good person. But looking around, they didn't see their own Chief. Worry grew in their hearts.

Arriving at the halfway point with the rest of the mixed Soka and Nora Clan, everyone realized the Soka Chief was nowhere to be seen, turning their head that saw Nora Chief, lady Dashi silently sobbing, trembling.

"Lady Dashi..." The people were speechless at the usually strong and confident woman.

"I'm- I'm- sorry, I just- I couldn't- I was too slow." Her choked-up words sent chills down everyone's spine. No one knew that Lady Dashi was faking.

"What happened, Lady Dashi? Please, we don't understand." A member of the Nora clan knelt beside their chief as they handed over a handkerchief.

"I was too slow." Lady Dashi was able to pull herself together, with reddened eyes, looked towards the male lead Varn. "I'm sorry, Varn, your father." She whimpered.

No one needed any more clarification, just from her grief-stricken words and the pain-filled gaze directed towards Varn. Everyone knew that the Soka Chief had regrettably passed.

"Father..." Varn's own eyes looked empty, devoid of any emotion as he walked away to be in his thoughts, Kalmia right on his trails, following him with worry.

Out in the distance stood Fanrong. His straight and elegant figure was noticeable that he didn't belong to this world. He was well aware of the current plot twisting to his own will. At this point, the two homeless clans headed to the closest clan, the Eria Clan.

--

"What should we do?!"

"We need to find a safe place to get away from those things!"

"I will not leave my home!"

"There won't be a home to come to if we don't do something."

"Do we even have the manpower?"

"With one Clan Chief down, I doubt we can even handle the Soka Clan."

"Then we'll choose one for them!"

"As if we'll let an outsider choose a chief for us!"

"Then give the Chief's son the position."

"Not that weakling either!"

"ENOUGH!!"

Everyone went silent; currently, in a grand office inside the Eria Clan was a massive group of 20 people, all of them being from the Soka Clan, the Nora Clan, the Eria Clan, and the Wever Clan.

The one who spoke up was the Chief of the Wever Clan, Chief Jaran. His well-built body was prominent from the elastic-looking thin black clothes they are so well known to wear.

"Why must we bicker like old fools, do not forget our righteous battles in the past with the Chaos," Jaran said as he made everyone remember their ancestors. "This is what we've trained so hard. We must not let those creatures know of our cluttered minds."

"Then what should we do, Chief Jaran?" The Eria Chief, Doran, spoke up. His clan was known for their slim bodies, toned but not filled with deep muscles like the Soka clan. Or well defined like the Wever clan.

"We must build up our people, train them to fight to Chaos. Without proper training, everything could crumble without us even knowing." Jaran spoke as everyone pondered over his words.

"I agree, Chief Jaran. Please be our advisor." Chief Dashi spoke up, agreeing as she drooled at the beautiful man before her, of course without no one seeing her.

"I will do no such thing. Step back, Chief Dashi. Do your people usually stand so close to each other?" Jaran frowned as he moved away from the woman.

Frowning internally, chief Dashi stepped back with a flushed face of embarrassment. "My apologies Cheif Jaran, but how do you wish for everyone to train?"

"Simple, my strategy would be to use the Nora clan to create more of those explosives from before, the Soka clan can be our hard wall, making sure no Chaos pass a certain point. The Eria Clan will be positioned high in the trees shooting down the Chaos. While my Wever Clan can defend and disable the Chaos as best we can for the Soka clan to get a better kill."

"Magnificent!" Chief Dashi nodded as she looked swooned by such a capable strategic man.

"If anyone has a better plan, then please speak your mind. No idea is a bad one." Chief Doran said as he nodded in agreement, looking around the room. With no objections, they continued.

"Then what of the Soka Clan Chief position?" A Soka clan member spoke, one of the trusted close friends of the past Chief.

"What about Chief Kan's son?" Chief Jaran said as he looked towards the Soka Clan.

"He is too weak. At birth, his body was tiny, and to this day, he has barely surpassed our women's height. We cannot let someone like that run the clan."

"Because of his size, you throw him away?" Chief Kan said, bewildered. "My mother shunned me away because I was unable to hone the darkness well enough when I came of age. So I killed her and made my clan stronger than before. After five years, my abilities became stronger than any of our historical leaders. I am the strongest among all generations. So tell me, what if he is the strongest?"

"He isn't!" The Soka Clan paid no mind to an outsider's words.

"How do you know? Have you tested his skills? His abilities?" Chief Eria spoke up and directly looked at the second in command in the Soka Clan.

"No, but-"

"Then it is settled. Appoint Varn the position once his abilities are proven. Now on to the next topic, how can we help the Soka and Nora Clan? The land around does nothing for their abilities, not only that. There are no fields that can help grow their medicine and food." Chief Jaran pointed out.

"We can quickly strike down trees and make a clearing, but depending on the richness of the soil, we can be in a predicament in the early future."

"Do you have a way to read the soil?" Chief Doran asked as he turned towards chief Dashi, whose return didn't even waste a single glance on the weak-looking man.

"We do, but it will take some time." Lady Dashi said but then turned towards Chief Jafar with a bright smile. "Chief Jafar, do you mind accompanying us to help with preparations? We need a specific skill set to allow help in safety measures. Our skills leave us vulnerable to Chaos, so we need protection.

"No need, the Soka Clan can be a better lookout, Chief Doran and I will make our defense towards the Chaos and merge our clans to receive everyone better and get a better look at our people."

"So be it, everyone prepare yourselves. It will be a long year ahead of us." The chiefs looked at one another and nodded, heading out to do their respective roles and make themselves suitable for the battle that was to come sooner than they predicted.