She yawned as she went outside her small house, which was located in the central part of the tribe. As she arrived outside, the distant sound of a trumpet arrived in her ears. This was a declaration of war! But who…?
"It's him! It has to be!" as she realized the answer, she was afraid. "But … how? And why? The shaman? He's after the shaman! I have to stop him before Lord Saedis becomes angry. If he becomes angry, then my efforts will be fruitless!"
She looked towards the direction where the trumpet had sounded. However, after walking for a few minutes, there was a series of explosions that caused her heart to shake in fear! She had never heard a sound like that in her whole life. Crouching down, she tried to calm herself down, but her whole body would not stop quivering. After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality, was only five or so minutes, the shaking stopped. She got up, and as she tried to find out what was happening, she saw pillars of smoke coming out of certain places.
As she passed through one of the places, she saw raging flames engulfing some carriages. Riza was perplexed as she saw the flames. What was going on? This was too destructive to be a joke! Wait, was this magic? Magic this powerful could not be unleashed by normal shamans! Only those who studied from Artemine could use such magic! Was it a ranked mage? If so, what where they doing in such a backwater place?
Panic, confusion, pandemonium! There was never enough words to describe what was currently happening in the Southern Water tribe. No one knew what caused some carriages to spontaneously combust, causing the explosion sound.
Riza decided to suppress her curiosity, as she sped in the direction where the trumpet had sounded. After navigating through the scores of warriors who were panicking while rushing back towards the tribe, she finally spotted the battlefield. It was a horrible sight. However, she was a trained veteran. Such things were not enough to shock her. What she needed to do now was to find him. The source of all this madness!
It turned out she didn't need to do anything at all. The zombie came out of the camp all on his own. Well, technically he was commanding the army to pursue, but that didn't matter. He had revealed his location! And that was the important thing!
Rizaneth planned to approach him. She thought that if he saw her … actually, scratch that. After what happened last time, she couldn't be careless. She had already been captured once, and she didn't want to be captured again. With a sigh, she went towards the zombie's location.
After telling the troops to advance, Reeve decided to take a walk. This whole commanding thing was beginning to bore him. Imagine sitting for hours while watching people kill each other. Quite fun right? Actually, no. To him it wasn't. He decided to take a break after telling the troops to advance. One would ask what kind of army commander would leave after giving troops the order to advance? First, he wasn't the commander. He just acted on impulse to tell the warriors to advance.
Second … Anyway, he was tired of sitting. His legs were now getting stiff, and that wasn't a good thing. He was surprised that he was still calm after watching all of that violence. As he walked into the forest, he saw a red-haired girl beckoning him. He looked sideways, and then hesitantly went to where she was. For some reason, he was curious as to why she had shown up. And no, he wasn't afraid of her this time. He was convinced that he could actually use martial arts to defend himself.
"Here to assassinate me?" he asked with a smile.
"No. I'm here to warn you instead! Why don't we make a deal?" she asked, as her lips curled up into a smile.
"Ha! What deal?"
"It's simple. You will withdraw your troops, and I will get the elders of the Southern Water tribe to listen to your demands. How is that?"
"And if I don't?"
"Oh, that's easy. First, the Three Kingdoms Alliance will send its armies to destroy your little tribe. Second, they will also know about the foundation stone that you think no-one else knows about!" as she replied, she was now more confident.
Reeve clenched his undead jaw as he heard those words. This was really bad! If a foundation stone was enough to cause this funny something-kingdoms alliance to invade another country, then he was sure it would be bad for the Southern Earth tribe. As protector, he would have caused the doom of the entire tribe, and that was not a good thing. He might survive, but his reputation would take a plunge! Who cared about reputation when one was reincarnated in another world where no one knew them? Reeve did.
"So, what do you want?"
"Me? Oh, right! I also want you to teach me your combat method!" she said, with a smile. This was going according to plan. Her plan of course!
"What? Why would you want me to teach you martial arts?" asked Reeve with a hint of confusion.
"It doesn't matter. So, it's called martial arts? Interesting… Will you do it or not?"
��Fine. I'll get the troops to withdraw, and make sure you keep your word!"
"Don't worry, I'll come back to call you and those morons when I have arranged the meeting", she said, as she turned to leave.
Reeve was now in a conundrum. How would he explain withdrawing troops to the chiefs? 'Ah well, it doesn't matter! It's for everyone's own good! That's what matters!' he thought as he turned back towards the camp.
Inside the tent where they were strategizing, Mrak, Arkad, Myris and Gathar listened to Reeve's explanation. Well, after talking to that red-haired girl, he had told the troops to withdraw using the signal they had designated for a retreat. Now he was being grilled by the chiefs for that action. Technically, he was just being asked for an explanation, but to him, it was like defending himself in front of a jury.