At the time, Amastan had his mind full with the urge to charge into the Nine Mainland camp and rescue his sister, but when he saw the others obeyed
Alaric’s order and the fact that he was in no shape to do such a thing, he could only swallow his pride.
A few minutes later, Alaric sat gloomily in his tent. Dozens of Raksasa generals stood in line on both sides of the tent, with Amastan at the very front of the line. Not one dared to breathe a word in the nerve-wracking atmosphere. Debra and Shentel, who sat quietly behind Alaric, remained silent as well. In the wake of the sudden raid launched against their camp, their enemy had captured his sister. Alaric had gathered everyone for a strategy to resolve the issue at hand.
“Brother!” Finally, Amastan could not take the silence any longer and stepped forward. “What is there to discuss? We’ll rest for a bit and then immediately set out to attack the Nine Mainland camp and rescue our sister.”
The majority of the generals seemed to agree as they nodded in approval. The Raksasa Tribe had always been invincible; when had they ever encountered such a failure? Most of them wanted to solve the problem. However, Alaric remained thoughtful in silence.
“Brother, why are you still thinking about it?” Amastan questioned in frustration.
“Honorable Son, rest assured. Darryl Darby might have Natalie, but from what I know about that man, he would not harm her,” Shentel said in an attempt to appease Amastan.
Debra nodded in agreement and added, “That is true. The Nine Mainland have been on the losing end so far; the only reason Darryl took Natalie was to hinder our army. I believe that this is an opportunity. If the Honorable Son would like to make peace with them, we could send a messenger to them to discuss terms now.”
Make peace? The generals in the tent turned to look at one another; they looked conflicted. For the Raksasa Tribe, it had always been to conquer or be conquered; peace was never in the equation.
The suggestion provoked Amastan; he pointed at Debra and bellowed, “Woman, shut your mouth! Stop trying to manipulate my brother with your words!” It was the women’s fault; they had his brother wrapped around their fingers. His brother had always been resolute, but ever since they appeared, he had turned soft and indecisive. The more thought Amastan put into it, the angrier he got. He pulled out his longsword and pointed it toward Debra and Shentel. “There’s a saying in the Nine Mainland—beauty is the root of disasters. I am eradicating those roots today,” he shouted as he ran toward them.
Debra and Shentel’s expressions dropped at the sudden assault. They did not think that that Amastan was so displeased that he would attack them with no hesitation.
“Stop!” Alaric roared as he pulled his weapon out as well to block the strike.
Clang! With a wave of vibration, Amastan stumbled about ten meters
backward. Alaric’s face paled at the impact. He was also wounded from the battle with Darryl.
“Brother!” Amastan widened his eyes in disbelief and yelled, “Why are you keeping those women around? You’ve been living under their spells!” Before he could finish, Alaric slapped his brother without any warning.
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