An unexpected shout came from Lumberis' crowd . It came from none other than Raph, who had a solemn expression on his face.
Not only the people from the villagers were shocked, even Clind and his men were surprised when they heard what Raph had just said. But smiles crept on their faces when they started to realize what was going on at this moment of time.
"What the hell are you talking about, Raph!?" Lumberis exclaimed out loud with a grim face. He did not expect that Raph would say something like this! The audacity to say something like this in this uptime manner was baffling for him.
"Can you see the situation better, old man? We are going to be killed at this point! We should Relent on our
Lumberi wanted to say out loud that these people, Clind and his men, were taking advantage of them too much, but deep in his heart he was still having apprehension. If they truly would lose this battle, then surely Clind and his men would not forget what Lumberis would have said to them. So he thought for a while to retort what he should say to Clind.
"Are you blind, Raph?! They were the ones who had been taking advantage of our villages, exorting our harvests in the name of nonsense protection when they were just a group of gang that suddenly appeared out of nowhere without any reason. Now there is a chance for is to expel them from our land, but you tried to slap it away from you!?" Timan said in a loud voice.
He was happy when he thought that the one who surrendered was the gang, Clind and his people. But it was actually Raph! The people of his village! More than that, he previously had a prett good reputation as a representative of the villagers for the gang. That was just unbelievable for him to think about before.
"Look at that man, Enjar. He can barely survive if we don't intervene at all. He would die at any moment if we don't help him now. Are you trying to be ungrateful?" Raph asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at Timan. And just like that he said, Enjar truly looked pitiful, he looked like he would fall with just a single gentle push of a child.
Enjar looked at Raph with a blank face as his body was trembling, "What do you say… If I say that I would rather die than give up here? Do you have anything to say about that?" Enjar asked without a hint of anger or disappointment. It was like a normal question being asked in a normal situation.
Raph felt like his tongue was tied but he quickly got a hold of himself. "Mr. Enjar, I think you're just too poisoned that you think you are fine. But look at your body, you are sick because of the poison that has been etched into your body. I think you should take a rest now or else it would just get worse."
Looking at the conversations that were taking place, Alvred firstly had a surprised expression which was changed into a grin. The enemy was breaking apart at a crucial time, how could he not be happy about this?
Lumberis snorted when he heard what Raph had said just now. "Are you being serious? Mr. Enjar had bled and sacrificed himself at this point of time. Are you implying to make Enjar give it up all and surrender?"
"No, naturally I didn't think so. How about this? Why don't we start negotiating so that there will be no more casualties among us?"
"How about we prove our words by dropping our weapons to the ground?" Raph said with a serious face plastered on his face. Lumberis was caught off guard by what Raph was saying right now. This man was out of his mind!
"What the hell are you saying, Raph? Have you gone crazy?! This is not the time to be making silly jokes like that!" Lumberis was afraid that there would be a crack on his group, and that would truly weaken them. There would be an internal conflict when the fight had not even started, and that might be the end of their struggle.
"Do you think I'm kidding? I'm being serious naturally. This is after all for our best. I don't want to make our family sad if we shed our blood." Raph said with a sad face on his face. He shook his head as if all of this was just a shame.
A loud laugh reverberated through the air. "Hahahaha! I like it. I presume your name is Raph, right?" Alvred could not hold his laughter after he heard all of this conversation. His eyes were showing a keen interest and glints.
"That is right, Mr. Alvred. I was the representative of this village before." Raph bowed a little toward the direction of Alvred. His attitude showed how he was being courteous with him.
"I get it already. So, do you think you can take a word of what you are saying?" Alvred said with a relaxed expression even though his body was full of bruises and wounds.
"Naturally I will try my best to achieve that. It would be best if you can give me the chance to do this." Raph answered while he stood up upright again. He looked righteous, with how everyone's attention was on him.
"If that is the case, then I need to see your actions first. As you can see, all of us here were hurt and tired right now, and you all are the one who had the most power. I cannot believe what you say if you don't do what you said just now. ." Alvred said with a smile on his mouth. He looked like he was amused with how everything had been going on.
Alvred gave a cue to some of his men in the crowd, as he glanced at Enjar for a second before he looked at Lumberis. "Old man, I hope that you will understand what I will be doing." All of a sudden, around a quarter the numbers of the villagers suddenly raised their weapon toward their own people.
Lumberis once again was shocked with how the situation was progressing! What the hell is going on? Why are their own neighbors raising their weapons toward their own people? Don't they have the same goals?!
"What kind of scheme are you doing right now, Raph?!" His voice was very loud, showing how angry and frustrated he had become. His eyes looked bloodshot, he could not put off his eyes from Raph. This man was truly doing something outrageous!
"I did not want to fight with you either, Lumberis. This is just a show of labor from us. We are doing this not because we hate you or anything like that. In fact, we are doing this for all of us, so that we can survive this ordeal." Raph said as he raised his right hand. It seemed that if he put forward his hand, it meant that his men would advance to apprehend Lumberis and the others.
Lumberis was so angry that he started trembling. He was absolutely baffled on how Raph was so adamant about this that he also brought some of the villagers to do his bidding. He did not know how ha achieved this, but many people followed him already.
If a clash was going to take place, then there would be chaos between them. If there was chaos, then Alvred and his men could take advantage of that situation. And at that point. the result would be more than clear. Alvred and his men would occupy their village, and this fight could be made into a reason for him to be executed.
That last point was not the only thing, his village would also not be free from the subtle oppression that had been going on in this village. He knew just how much extortion they put to the villagers, and if this kept on going on, then they would only work hard not for themselves but for this greedy group of people. Where is the justice if that was the case!?
"Never put down your sword, all of you!" Suddenly a voice was shouted. It sounded like it came from a young man, hearing how his voice was still not deep enough for it to be an adult. And it came from none other than Timan.