"This food.
I have unlimited supplies."
She revealed, and the instant Zakaar heard and understood those words, his eyes widened in disbelief.
He...
He was already sold.
His mind was clear: as long as he got to eat this magic food as much as he wanted for the rest of his life—even if that said life was only a week—no, a month long—he was willing.
He was willing to risk it all for the Magic Food!
But—
"Zakaar."
Zakaar wasn’t the one who had the power to make this decision, and the one who did called him out in a strict tone, waiting for him to translate what was being said.
Zakaar flinched at his chief’s call and, without waiting, he translated everything Lavinia said. This ti, it wasn’t just Zakaar, but every Stonefang staring at Lavinia as if she were a goddess.
It was a gaze that made Kael take an unconscious step forward, almost as if covering the woman he loved from the gazes of all these n.
An action that made Lavinia smile ever so slightly. Soon, however, attention went back to Gruumak, who seed to have forgotten to blink when he heard Zakaar’s translation.
"Unlimited... magic food...?"
"Yes."
Lavinia nodded, and once every fish had taken the bait, she started the real thing.
"But..."
Gruumak tilted his head—
"But...?"
—as he repeated her words.
And Lavinia began—
"There are conditions to... grow this food."
Zakaar frowned as he turned towards his chief and translated. The chief frowned as well.
"Conditions? For Magic Food?"
He asked, and Lavinia nodded.
"What conditions?"
Gruumak asked.
"Faith Energy."
"Faith... Power...?"
Gruumak did not understand. This was the first ti he had heard such a term. He even looked at his n for answers, but everyone was as confused as he was.
And at this ti, Lavinia continued her explanation.
"This food doesn’t grow on ground; it is... created. And to create this food, we need Faith Energy.
While how to produce Faith Energy efficiently is still a question for us till now, what we do know is that Faith Energy cos from belief.
An absolute, blind belief in sothing or... soone."
"Belief...?"
The Stonefang Chief narrowed his eyes.
"Believe who...?"
He asked.
"The Velmourns believe Kael."
Lavinia answered with a shrug, a statent that made Morvain uncomfortable because of how it was said. But... while it may not be completely true, it wasn’t entirely false either. Many Velmourns did believe in Kael.
And while Morvain did wish to correct Lavinia and say not every Velmourn believed in Kael, for now, she stayed silent.
She could see the look in the Stonefang Warriors’ eyes. For the first ti ever since they arrived, they weren’t glaring at them. Instead, they looked... enchanted.
As if they truly wished to understand and be part of whatever was being discussed here.
And... to think all of this was done by just... throwing food at them...
For a mont, Morvain couldn’t help but feel how foolish and simple-minded these beings were, but... the mont that thought appeared in her head, she realized sothing else.
They weren’t any different either.
Many Velmourns too were ’bought’ by this woman using the sa trick—the sa... food.
It was a previously proven trick that she was now using to buy the Stonefangs too! And when Morvain realized it—she didn’t understand whether she should feel offended or impressed.
In the end, the only thing she could do was stare at this woman in silence, wondering if this was a situation she had already predicted and, if yes...
Then how far had she actually thought ahead?
At the sa ti, she couldn’t help but recall the previous conversation they had alone, and the way Lavinia made it clear that she was after the power Morvain held.
Is it finally the ti...?
Morvain thought inwardly.
Was she... truly going to lose the power she had been holding onto for all these decades to a child who had only been here for a few weeks?
And... was she truly feeling bad about it...?
Morvain was no fool. She could see what was happening here. If this continued and the Stonefangs joined them, they would join under Kael’s na. That would be like Kael now having his own personal army that was as strong as—if not stronger than—their main army.
Considering the fact that about a fifth of their own soldiers blindly follow Kael, and a significant number of them could be influenced by him, this alone would make Kael the most powerful man in the Council—not just in terms of individual strength, but also political strength.
This was a significant blow to Morvain, but this wasn’t even the worst part.
The worst part was that while Kael was gathering all this power for himself—power that would put him above her... she was... helping him gain that power...
Never in her life had Morvain imagined a day like this.
The Velmourn Matriarch once again glanced at the woman who made it all happen, and she... she stayed silent.
Letting everything... happen, almost as if she was now giving up.
And Lavinia—
She continued the discussions, oblivious to Morvain’s thoughts.
"Velmourn believe... Flying Man...?"
The Stonefang Chief frowned, and Lavinia nodded confidently—
"Yes. The Velmourn Elders pray to Kael. They call him Dragon God, a being who descended from the skies to help them flourish. And as they pray to him with pure hearts, they generate... Faith Energy.
Energy that I can use to create... Magic Food, or the Divine Rations as we call it."
"Elders pray to Flying Man... Dragon God... and... Divine Rations..."
Gruumak repeated all those words. It was all still too complicated for him to understand, and he couldn’t be blad either. Half of Lavinia’s words were being lost in translation since Zakaar himself was confused. He didn’t understand so of the words Lavinia used, so he wasn’t able to translate everything clearly.
But even then—
The Stonefang Chief understood the gist of it—
"You want... Stonefang elders to pray to Flying Man... for food."
"Yes.
That is how we get the Faith Energy required to create the food.
There might be other ways we can generate Faith Energy, but we do not know them yet, so..."
Lavinia didn’t make it too complicated. She could already see the Stonefang faces.
They were already overwheld—especially Gruumak, who was trying everything in his power to understand what the woman was saying for the sake of his people—
In the end, however, he just asked a single question.
"We pray... we get food?"
"Yes.
If you pray, follow the rules, you get food."
"Rules?"
Gruumak frowned.
"They aren’t sothing complicated.
You just aren’t allowed to waste food. Eat everything that is given."
"Food important.
Cannot waste."
Gruumak spoke with a solemn look on his face. Never in his life would he let his people waste food. He didn’t need ’rules’ to understand that.
"Good."
Lavinia nodded.
Then, she passed a smile and—
"So that solves the problem of shelter and food, correct?"
"Yes."
Gruumak nodded with a determined look on his face, and Lavinia turned towards Kael,
"Then let’s move to the next topic, shall we?"
Kael smiled back at her; inwardly, however, he felt... sowhat overwheld.
This woman... did she just convince another tribe to think of him as God...?
Just... why did it all sound so... easy?
He couldn’t believe it, and he was sure that he definitely wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.
While Kael was thinking all this, Kayden, who had been silent for a while now—
"Feeding is one thing."
He began.
"But what about command?
Who leads the combined army?
Who gives orders?
The Stonefangs don’t follow ranks—they follow whoever they respect most.
If a Velmourn officer tells a Stonefang warrior what to do, he’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get punched."
Zakaar quickly translated those words, and Gruumak, even though he didn’t like the Velmourn man, grunted in agreent.
"Stonefang only obey strength. No title."
"Then we will make both work together."
Kael nodded slowly.
"Every squad will have one Velmourn and one Stonefang leader.
They will make decisions together.
Gruumak, Commander Korvath, and I will oversee them all.
Of course, it will take so ti to rge them properly, but as the unity grows after a few successful missions, it will be smoother."
The idea was bold—but reasonable.
But there was another problem.
"And language?"
Morvain tilted her head.
The two sides did not even understand each other. How were they supposed to communicate and work together?
"Translators,"
Kael’s answer was simple.
"We will assign both Freyal and Zakaar to train others. Again, it will take ti, but we’ll manage."
"Can work,"
Gruumak nodded slightly.
"If both sides listen."
"This won’t be easy."
Morvain spoke with a solemn look on her face.
"There will be fights, mistakes, and... even blood."
"But if we do nothing, if we keep fighting each other, then we all die and... the Stormcallers and the Drakthar win and...
Everything we’ve built till now turns to dust."
Kael answered in a solemn tone.
"It will be difficult to manage. We will need stricter rules."
The Matriarch spoke, and Kael—he just smiled.
"I have you to rely on for that, don’t I?"
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