Armipotent

After the Moonlight Maiden and the Elders entered the main hall, Chief Moon told Lusha to leave. The next meeting was not something in Lusha's position could attend. As Lusha left the hall, the hall went into a deep silence. Everyone was looking at Chief Moon as they went to their seats.

"Grand Elder Olming, you can brief them on what happened to The Beast Coven and also the Guardian Beast." Chief Moon looked to the side and told Grand Elder Olming. At the words, everyone was looking at the old man.

Grand Elder Olming took a deep breath and told what he had just heard from Lusha. "This might be hard to believe, but this is what happened to our ally…."

An Elder stood up from the chair and raised his choice. "There's no way I will believe that, Grand Elder Olming! Do you know what kind of a figure the Guardian Beast is? There's no way The Guardian Beast will bow to mere a human! Lusha may make up that kind of story to cover up her and her team's failure!"

"Do you think so?" Chief Moon looked to the Elder. "Why would she cover something that eventually gets revealed? That doesn't make sense, Elder Armsong. On top of that, her team is held hostage by the Tang Empire."

Chief Moon changed the way he addressed Tang Shaoyang's force with the actual name of the empire. He did not call them The Tyrant anymore, proof that he had accepted the existence of the new force.

Elder Armsong, the brown-colored Moonlight Rabbit, froze when Chief Moon interrupted him. He was just too hot-headed and could not accept that something like that had happened. Who would expect the Guardian Beast to bow down to a human? That was something impossible, at least, in the hundred years of history, that never happened.

Chief Moon looked at his own daughter, Moonlight Maiden Sylvia. "Moonlight Maiden, Lusha is your direct subordinate. You chose and trained her; do you think she would lie about her failure? Do you think she will do this far to cover up her failure?"

Moonlight Maiden Sylvia became the center of attention in the hall. Everyone looked at her, expecting an answer from her. Sylvia did not immediately respond to her father's inquiry. She fell silent for a moment before responding to her father.

"I don't think Sylvia will do that just to cover up her failure. In the first place, it was not her fault, even if she failed to prevent the war. We can't expect four warriors to prevent the war between The T-TAng Empire and The Beast Coven. Lusha is also known for her loyalty to her comrades. I don't think she lied to us." Despite the nervousness she felt, Sylvia answered that well. Her thumb was pressing the palm while responding to her father.

Elder Armsong looked at the Moonlight Maiden before glancing at Chief Moon. Then he bowed toward Chief Moon and apologized. "Forgive this old man, Chief Moon. It's just hard to believe that…."

"I understand your feeling, Elder Armsong. I also feel the same, and it's hard to believe. However, this is not the time to question Lusha's credibility. We have to think of a way solution for the crisis." Chief Moon nodded his head at Elder Armsong. "The Tang Empire gives us two days to decide, should we surrender or should we fight the Tang Empire? This is the main topic for us to discuss."

"Before we can come up with a decision, there are many things we need to consider. For example, we have two Guardian Beasts, not just one." Chief Moon once again looked at his daughter. "What about The Green Sky Serpent? Can you make contact with Sir Suvan? Also, what about the Dark Tribe?"

When those questions came at her, Sylvia became even more nervous. She was not expecting the situation would escalate to this extent. All of a sudden, The Tyrant, or now The Tang Empire, was in the upper position to take over Gigante Forest. Her tribe was under The Tang Empire's threat.

If they did not come up with the right decision, the Moonlight Tribe might perish. The Kirin and an individual described as an Angel might be as strong as The Kirin, and they would have to face them if the war broke out. On top of all that, their actual opponent was The Emperor of The Tang Empire, who could defeat the leader of the Beast Coven.

The Moonlight Tribe might be strong as a whole tribe, but none of them individually strong enough to contend with the Guardian Beast, let alone an individual that might be stronger than the Guardian Beast. The war was disastrous to them, for sure.

"Moonlight Maiden!?" Chief Moon called her out as she was in a daze. There were so many things in her head. Sylvia snapped out of her trance. "Ah, yes. We can't contact or find Sir Suvan. We sent people to the Dark Tribe's territory, but none of the messengers returned…."

Sylvia stopped midway as she thought of something. The dots slowly connected in her head. The trace of battle around the Kirin's lair, the Dark Tribe that suddenly could not be contacted, and the missing Green Sky Serpent. Her eyes widened in shock, but that was just her conjecture.

"I might know what happens to the Green Sky Serpent and the Dark Tribe…." After she said that, everyone's gaze became even more intense. Sylvia took a deep breath and started to speak what was in her mind. "This is just my conjecture, but I think the rumor is true. The rumor about the Green Sky Serpent and The Dark Tribe working together to kill The Kirin."

There was indeed a rumor about that, but they thought it was just something absurd and brushed it off as a joke. Everyone knew that the Kirin was the strongest individual in the forest. The Dark Tribe would not be that stupid to fight the Kirin. That was what everyone thought at that time, and Sylvia had the same thoughts at that time.

However, with the clues she found up to this time, that was most likely what happened.

"Let us hear about your conjecture, Moonlight Maiden." Chief Moon allowed her daughter to speak out. There was no harm in listening to her daughter's conjecture rather than the meeting getting stalled.

Sylvia took a deep breath and told everyone in the hall about the clues she had found out so far. The trace of the battle around the Kirin's lair and the missing Green Sky Serpent. She pointed out those two topics, and she said missing because the Green Sky Serpent was usually easy to contact. This was the first time in years that the Green Sky Serpent did not respond to their call.

The same for the Dark Tribe. They might not have a harmonious relationship with the Dark Tribe, but they always kept in contact, especially in an emergency like this.

"This sounds silly, but the Green Sky Serpent and the Dark Tribe worked together to get rid of The Kirin. That explained the trace of the battle around The Kirin's lair and also explained the phenomenon yesterday last night. They managed to corner The Kirin, and that was the time when The Tang Empire appeared.

The Tang Empire helped The Kirin to fight the Dark Tribe and the Green Sky Serpent. With the help of the empire, they killed the Green Sky Serpent and also took over the Dark Tribe. The reason why the people we sent to the Dark Tribe's territory did not return. Like I said before, this sounds silly, but this is the most plausible explanation as to why The Kirin followed the human."

That was a great deduction on her part, but not everyone believed that. An Elder raised his hand and spoke up. "Or maybe the Tang Empire has something to threaten The Kirin and force her to follow them. In this case, a further investigation is needed to be done before we can come up with the right solution. We should focus our force on investigating The Green Sky Serpent and the Dark Tribe. If we have Sir Suvan, The Dark Tribe, and The Elven with us, I think we can face the Tang Empire even with The Kirin with them."

As this Elder voiced his thoughts, the other Elders started agreeing with his opinion more than the Moonlight Maiden's silly conjecture. "Yes, that's right!" "Let's investigate things thoroughly!" "We can come up with a decision from listening to one source!" or so. Out of the twelve Elders, eight of them agreed to further investigation.

"What about the deadline? We need to respond to the Tang Empire within two days, or they will attack us next." Chief Moon looked at the Elder with his calm eyes. Despite the crisis, he maintained his emotion well. No one knew their Chief was thinking by just looking at his expression. "What if everything Moonlight Maiden said is what actually happened? If The Green Sky Serpent is killed and the Tang Empire swallows the Dark Tribe, we are in a dire situation."

"We need to conduct a further investigation. I agree with that, but that's not what I want to discuss with The Elders. But how do we cope with the worst situation where the Dark Tribe and The Green Sky Serpent could not help us? If The Tang Empire could defeat the Beast Coven, the Dark Tribe should not be an issue for the empire. We need to think of a way to survive the worst situation since we only have two days. What if our investigation leads to nothing? What should we do by then?"