A week has passed since Kongane no fuyu's birth and today is the day to declare the victor of the hunting festival. The participants have been working very hard for the past week to get the most hunts so that they could be the Protector of the young chief.
And today is the day when one of these young warriors fate will change. Today one out of these 50 some warriors will be declared the strongest in the village, only next to the village chief and the Protector of the young chief aka Kongane.
Everyone gathered at the village square waiting for their loved ones and family members to come out of the forest with their week long hunts. Normally these type of hunts only lasts for three days but this time the village chief announced that the hunt will be seven days long as a welcome celebration for the new born child and the future chief.
The sun started to set slowly over the horizon. The sky was starting to get dark and the time set for the end of the competition was coming near. Slowly small moving black dots could be seen coming towards the village. One could make out the 50 or so humanoid figures, all of them carrying something on their backs or in their hands. One by one all the warriors came back to the village. Cheers could be heard from all the villagers, either welcoming the warriors or their loved ones home. Every warrior was young. No one more than 20 years old. But each and every one of them were caring some kind of beasts on them.
Slowly the sun finally set, officially declaring the end of the hunting competition for the fox village. The village chief and his family along with all the village elders walked up to the stage and welcomed all warriors back and checked if there was any deaths. Luckily no one died but death in such competition was not uncommon. Every warrior participated in the competition knowing the risks. The best the village chief would do is compensate the death ones family. Nothing more, nothing less.
" My dear brave warriors of the Yukon village. I congratulate you all for participating and surviving this hunting competition and bringing the hunts to the village. As I have said at the start of the competition that not all of you can win. Only one of you will be given the tile of the strongest warrior and will become the Protector of my first child and your future chief, Kongane no fuyu. But fear not. Even if not all of you can win the top 25 will be given a rise in their monthly payment and the rest win be given 50 lowest grade spirit stones as rewards. Now without further ado the winner of the competition is... Hoshino!!!!!"
The crowd of fox people cheered at the name of Hoshino.
(Who is Hoshino? Well he is the youngest warrior of the village who became a warrior at the age of 18. For the last two years he had been fighting with the rest of the warriors and has helped gain the fox village a lot of new territory. This village may not have any rivals since it is in one of the weaker parts of the forest but that doesn't mean that it's danger free. Even the weakest beast of the middle ring can kill at least two warriors before it dies. So one can tell how terrifying the actual middle ring is. Sometimes stray monsters come and attack the village or start their own territory near by so it's difficult for the village to gain new territory. So it understandable why the villagers adore Hoshino so much.)
Hoshino came forward and kneeled in front of the village chief and the elders.
" Warrior Hoshino greets the village chief and the elders. "
The people on the stage nodded at him as a form of acknowledgement. Then the village cheif took Kongane in his arms from his wife and walked down from the stage and towards the still kneeling Hoshino and said in a low voice but loud enough for everyone to hear.
" Warrior Hoshino, I, the village chief, congratulate you on your victory. Now as I have promised before, the reward for this hunting competition is the tile of the strongest warrior and being the Protector of the young chief as in my son until the coming of age, of him becoming the village chief. Now here is the thing. If you accept to become the Protector of the young Chief you have to stay with him all the time till his coming of age. Or you can only accept the tile of the strongest warrior and the person in second place can be Kongane's Protector. So choose wisely Hoshino because once you choose there is no going back."
" I accept Chief. I want to be the Protector of Young chief. I will spend my entire life beside him as I see him grow up. I vow in the name of the heaven and earth that I will always protect him with my life and if I fail to do so then the heaven and earth will be my judge."