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?”
