Betrayal.
Thoughts that he didn’t want to bring up again……
The things he worked hard to forget…...
Book 1-7.1 Discussion with the Chiefs (I)
The third night of Glow Baguna’s birthday celebration.
Inside the paoe were Glow Baguna and his three sons, as well as the tribal chiefs in charge of eleven oasis.
Since each oasis is maintained by three to four chiefs, the total number of people in the paoe was around forty people.
Truthfully speaking, there were not many chances for all the chiefs to gather together like this throughout the year, so every time they had the opportunity to do so, they gathered together to discuss their individual oasis, as well as determine a plan for all of Pareia.
Of course the discussion of the day was about how Yulian had manhandled the Empire’s prince.
The first to speak was the ‘Careful Cobra’ Sanatu, who lives in the oasis of deep bottoms.
“I’ll admit that I felt refreshed at the Young Glow’s action, however, this Sanatu is worried about how to handle the aftermath of the incident. Could the Young Glow not restrain yourself?”
Before Yulian could answer, the ‘Impulsive Buffalo’ Maigue of the Brilliant Tree Oasis tribe started to shout.
“Sanatu-nim, then were we supposed to watch our daughters be assaulted?! Furthermore, she is set to become the next Mother of Pareia. It would have been understandable even if all of the warriors ran in to fight against them. How could you blame the Young Glow for that?”
Their two sides were very fitting of their names. The other chiefs took Sanatu’s side or Maigue’s side based on their individual feelings.
Taking a look, there were more chiefs who agreed with Maigue and thought Yulian did the right thing.
The temperament of most desert people were militant. They also had very strong senses of pride. Many chiefs were even saying that if they were in Yulian’s shoes, they would have done the same thing. Truthfully speaking, even the chiefs who were blaming Yulian’s actions were only doing so thinking about the future of Pareia; they were not necessarily thinking that Yulian was wrong for what he did. As such, there wasn’t a large argument.
The chiefs were separated into two teams as they shared a heated discussion, and after trying to figure out how they can still make Pareia thrive, they looked towards Baguna.
They wanted him to clean up this mess.
Baguna looked towards Yulian who was sitting next to him.
“Since you caused this issue, how do you think we should resolve it?”
Yulian stood up from his seat and looked around at the chiefs in the paoe before starting to speak.
“I am truly sorry for causing such concerns for the wise elders. This incident, I accept that I may have been rash, however, if something like this were to happen again, I will act the same way. Even if it is not my own wife, no matter which maiden of Pareia it may be, I will still act the same way.”
Yulian spoke with a strong voice as he maintained direct eye contact with the chiefs.
“I was taught that the first mission of the desert warriors is to protect their tribe and the women and children. This mission that the warriors of the older generation maintained by spilling their blood has made Pareia into what it is today, and all I did was listen to those teachings. No matter if the opponent is a strong Empire, even if there is something that will shake the entire foundation of Pareia, if a situation occurs where we do not work to keep this most important mission, Pareia will lose the meaning of its name and the blood of the past warriors would have been for nothing.”
“......”
“Our Pareia is the strongest among the five desert tribes in the Eastern Desert, and our warriors are strong. What are we so afraid of that we must discuss like this regarding following through with a warrior’s mission?”
Silence filled the paoe at Yulian’s long speech. Yulian had reignited the core that they had forgotten about.
The mission of a desert warrior. A mission that any warrior must keep.
What Yulian had said ignited the feelings of even the few extremely old chiefs, however, at the same time, some of them were lamenting the fact that Yulian lacked political skills.
After a bit of silence, the oldest of the chiefs who had gathered, the one who was right behind Glow Baguna in terms of respect and level of trust, the ‘Tight-lipped Teacher’ Yarumaha of the Deep Deep Oasis started to speak.
“My dear Young Glow.”
“Yes, ‘Tight-lipped Teacher’ Yarumaha-nim.”
“Everything changes based on where you put the value of existence. If the Young Glow has put the warrior’s mission first, this old man will put the existence of Pareia first. If Pareia was to disappear, there is no point to a warrior’s mission. Have you thought about a warrior who does not have a tribe or people to protect?”
“Yarumaha-nim……”
As Maigue called out to Yarumaha, Yarumaha just raised his hand up to make him quiet down before asking Yulian for an answer.
“What does the Young Glow think about this question?”
Yulian looked into Yarumaha’s eyes as he answered.
“Our warriors just need to continue getting stronger. Strong enough so that we do not need to deal with this type of insult. Although what Yarumaha-nim is saying is also correct, the main issue is that our Pareia is weaker than that Silence Empire. All of the desert warriors must clench their teeth and get stronger. This is a situation that can be handled if we are strong enough that this many people do not need to gather for such a situation.”
Yarumaha shook his head.
“What this old man is trying to say is that a lot of effort and time is needed to get that strong. How do you know if something like this will happen again when you become the Glow in the future?”
Yulian clenched his fist as he answered.
“What Yarumaha-nim is saying is correct. However, I am confident. We will get stronger and make it so that the Silence Empire cannot do anything about our Pareia.”
“I want to ask you how you plan to do so.”
“If all of the desert tribes work together, we would be stronger than any power in the continent. I truly cannot understand why the desert tribes, which are all part of one nation, must fight to take over each other, and bleed to kill each other. I will unify the desert.”
“Oh!”
“This……!”
There were sounds of admiration and support all around the paoe.
“It is something that nobody has managed to do for hundreds of years. We may all be part of one nation, however, we have been separated for so long that even some traditions are different. What the Young Glow wants to do is impossi……”
Yulian cut Yarumaha off.
“Please don’t say that it is impossible. I have already set a goal for myself and will push forward to it like a desert warrior. Rather, isn’t it more realistic than my saying that I will fight with the Silence Empire now to see who is stronger? Once I unify the desert, the Silence Empire will need to walk on eggshells around us, not the way it is now.”
At Yulian’s shocking words, many of the chiefs looked at each other.
Should we try to stop him?
Or should we aggressively support him?
Yulian’s words were difficult to achieve when you thought about it rationally, however, they could feel their hearts lighting up with passion and wanted to believe his words. There was an unexplainable sense of belief that Yulian would really be able to make it happen.
This was the same even for Sanatu, who had originally blamed Yulian’s rash behavior in the beginning.
Glow Baguna looked at his son with a satisfied expression.
Rather than Yulian’s title as Desert Conqueror and his strong abilities, Baguna was more satisfied about how Yulian could share his dream with others and draw people to him. That unexplainable passion, and charisma. That’s what Baguna was most satisfied about when it came to his son.
You could raise a strong warrior, however, a Glow who can draw people towards him, that was not something you could teach. It was something you were born with. In this aspect, Baguna was satisfied.
“Our Young Glow is drawing this old man in with his weird passion. Then I will ask one last question. If the Silence Empire wants to get revenge about this situation and leads their soldiers into the desert, what will you do?”