Golver was enjoying his evening chatting with his little disciple and quelling his curiosity when a talisman he had wrapped around his arm started glowing.
"What's that, Master?" Ryne tilted his head as he asked.
At first, Golver was confused as well because 'Emergency Contact Talisman' was used rarely, in scenarios where the entire tribe was in some peril that it couldn't manage without the help of the leaders.
Zaputa tribe had a lot of powerful warriors and mages, especially the Grade-3 powerhouses but only the 9 elders that were the strongest of those were given this expensive talisman, that would allow the Tribal Chief to call upon the help of the other 8 elders in case he found the burden hard to bear.
As a Low Grade-4 mage and one of the strongest individuals within the tribe, with prestige just below the three leaders, his help was never needed until now.
'What could have happened? Some rogue adventurer or a Grade-4 magical beast causing trouble around the tribe?' With a confused expression, he stood up, rubbing his flowing white beard, and told Ryne,
"We're going back to the tribe child, there might be some trouble there."
"En, I'm ready, master, but what trouble is there?" Ryne offhandedly asked the most crucial question as he stood up as well.
"I don't know that either, let's see what it is. Don't worry, I won't let anyone harm you." Golver sincerely placated the boy's fears as he chanted a minor spell, grabbed Ryne's shoulders, and started gliding back towards the tribe.
Ryne responded with an 'um' and kept silent along the way, but he still felt incredible even after 4 years of seeing his master glide in the air.
He still remembered how amazing he felt when the tall trees that seemed to have confined him within a limited area with the invisible oppressive might that they radiated grow smaller and smaller from his perspective until he perceived the fears that he didn't even know he had faded away into the chill western wind that blew over the horizon.
Even more amazing was the fact that the spell Golver was using to fly was just a gliding spell, a soaring spell would have made them fly even faster and higher.
As a curious child, Ryne never failed to appreciate the beauty of the environment that surrounded him while simultaneously trying to peer deeper into its mysteries.
When they reached the border of the tribe, Golver scrunched his brows slightly as he noticed the calmness of the natural mana, there was not even a slight disturbance that indicated a fight that would have happened there, 'There seems to be no problem here, could the talisman have malfunctioned?'
Ryne also looked in a daze at the familiar wooden fence for the second time in his life. He felt a sense of deja vu after coming here the second time.
A Mid Grade-3 warrior, standing at the gate of the tribe, came forward when he saw the young and old pair, standing at the same place as if lost in their world.
"Senior Golver?" The 6 and a half feet tall warrior nervously asked when he saw the figure that rarely joined the community yet was still one of the cornerstones of it.
By this time, Golver had already stopped worrying about the tribe and was instead mildly irritated by the inconvenience he had been caused.
He still needed to know the reason for the summon though and to do that he needed to meet Hans,
"Hey Kid, take care of my disciple, I'll be back in a while." He grumbled to the middle-aged Grade-3 warrior without checking for his reaction as he went off to question Hans.
Another quiet gust of wind blew by but instead of calming the hearts of the two people present there, it turned both their faces red. The warrior was embarrassed about being called a kid in front of a real kid while Ryne felt awkward being left behind by his master. He didn't know how he should interact with the warrior but he started trying,
"Um, hello mister."
The warrior silently gritted his teeth and prepared himself to flatter the little child in front of him, just because his master couldn't be offended by the likes of him, "Ah hello little brother, where do you live?"
"Oh, I live here." Ryne tilted his head and pointed towards the tribe.
"Ah, so you're Tribal Chief's adopted child!?" The warrior received another shock as the identity of the child was revealed in waves.
"What? No." This time even Ryne was frightened because the Chief made the announcement long after he had left with his master and no one saw the need to disturb them for this.
"No? What?" The two of them looked each other in the eye and felt the confusion within their hearts only increase.
"Hey, Rohilo!" Another gatekeeper shouted at the stunned warrior and woke him up from his thoughts.
"Little brother, I have some important work to do, so I can't stay with you for now. I'll be back in just half an hour so will you please stay here until then." Rohilo, the sturdy 6.5 feet tall warrior, implored Ryne to stay at the same place so that he could slack off without facing much trouble.
'There's no way Senior Golver is going to return so soon, I can meet with her until then.'
Thinking of meeting his mistress coming from the Conta tribe, his head started heating up. He thanked his fellow Warrior who randomly shouted his name silently within his mind as he left the confused Ryne behind.
'Eh? Why did that muscle mass leave in the opposite direction? Is he.. blind?' As Ryne was about to shout to help him change his direction, the warrior that called him out came near him and began to ask him questions,
"Hey kid, where did Rohilo go?"
"Umm, I don't know. My master told me to wait here." Ryne played with his fingers while replying nervously. As someone who spent the last 4 years holed up in the forest alone with an old man, who was also not so chatty, Ryne wasn't used to being questioned like this.
The warrior standing in front of him was average in all aspects, except for his triangular eyes, which made him seem like some sinister villain hiding a malicious plot.
Due to him feeling a little irritated about not being given attention, he misunderstood Ryne's words in distraction and thought he was Rohilo's disciple.
A sneer gradually materialized on his face and he seemed even more cunning to Ryne when he asked, "So you're a warrior, Kid?"
"Oh I'm trying to be one, but I'm only a mage currently."
"What!? You're not even a Grade-1 warrior?"
"Uh-huh," Ryne shook his head from side to side.
"Follow me, don't make me repeat myself twice!" This time, the burly man hollered at him before he turned around and started walking towards the gate.
Ryne estimated there was going to be no problem standing near the gate since his master told him to stand there anyway and so he followed the strange warrior awkwardly.