Adrian realised things were getting out of hand when Ahuli angrily stepped towards his ’Advisor’. At the moment, Adrian didn’t know if he should act like Milka and protect his ’father’ or stand there, not caring what happened to him.
"Th-that’s not it, Chieftain!" Sihu blurted out. "My son hasn’t healed completely, so I was worried-"
Unfortunately for Sihu, Ahuli wasn’t in the mood to hear excuses and threw a punch at him. Sihu quickly shielded his face with his hands, but he realised that doing so would only end up breaking his arm along with his face.
Yet, before the fist could touch Sihu, someone seized Ahuli’s arm. That someone, to everyone’s surprise, was Adrian.
’I need the oldie to live to find out about the relationship between the tribe and the Church. Ahuli might not want to kill him, but I can’t take any chances.’
Ahuli slowly turned towards Adrian and, without any hesitation, swung at him. Adrian, quick on his feet, jumped in time to avoid the attack but somehow still got hit and was flung into a Tiak.
"You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that," Ahuli responded before spitting his anger out. "But you should not interfere in the matters concerning the elders."
Ahuli warned him, but Adrian was lost in his thoughts. He was confident he had dodged the attack but still got hit.
’Don’t tell me... it’s armament?’
Adrian had read the tales of an ancient technique called ’armament’ but had just seen it in action. The method was said to have been devised by A’Donai, the legendary elf who led the first group of heroes against Nether.
Mastering armament could allow one to concentrate one’s aura and use it for offence instead of defence, as one naturally would.
It was easier to explain than to perform because concentrating arua on a whim was something not even the greatest paladins could do, and the art of armament was thought to be lost because manifesting one’s aura into physical form was next to impossible.
’I’m sure he used something like armament... It has to be.’
"Ho, ho, the young lad is not a coward," Ahun, the former Chief, commented while slowly walking towards them. "Not anyone would dare to go against my nephew without hesitation and get back to their feet without any injuries."
Ahuli raised an eyebrow before turning around, and sure enough, ’Milka’ was standing there, not an injury on his body.
’Interesting...’
Ahuli hesitated when his uncle ordered him to meet with Sihu’s useless son and teach him a lesson. Sihu had asked their help to make a ’man’ out of his son.
Ahuli wasn’t interested in the weak and was about to decline the request as he had heard several notorious rumours about the advisor’s deadbeat son. But he didn’t need to because Milka disappeared from the settlement.
Ahuli was even glad someone when they disappeared. In his eyes, the weak were vermin who didn’t deserve to live a good life, and their disappearing saved him the headache of dealing with them.
But the peace didn’t last long when he learned that Milka had returned. His uncle pestered him again, so he decided to deal with the mess. But it seemed the accident had changed Milka in more ways than one.
Not only did the brat stand against him, but he also survived his attack. In Ahuli’s eyes, this was a commendable feat, as very few could remain unaffected by his secret technique.
’Maybe he isn’t so useless after all,’ Ahuli wondered, walking towards Adrian.
Adrian flinched, thinking he was about to get hit again. Instead, Ahuli walked around him, eyeing him carefully.
"A rider," Ahuli broke the silence. "The rider role would be suited to someone with your build."
That’s all he said before walking away. Adrian didn’t know what was happening, but Suhi had tears in his eyes as he rushed to embrace his ’son’.
"I never thought I’d live to see this day," he smiled, tears rolling down his cheeks.
Adrian still wasn’t sure what was happening, but if being a rider would help him climb the hierarchy, he would be happy.
***
A few hours later...
’This isn’t what I had in mind...’ Adrian thought.
He was back in the enclosure, but this time, he was there to be paired up with his ’familiar’. To become a rider, he would first have to find a direwolf willing to join him in his adventures.
Well... that was the case, but for now, he was standing in the enclosure with Ahuli’s uncle glaring at him. Skaha, that was the old man’s name, and it seemed he was in charge of maintaining the enclosures and was often referred to as the great tamer.
’How boring...’ Adrian yawned, only to be hit by Skaha’s staff.
"I told you to stay still... didn’t I?" Skaha quaked, "You move again, and this stick will blow your head off."
"My apologies, great tamer!" Suhi apologised while standing further away.
Skaha, however, waved him off. Skaha’s job was to help find a familiar for the tribe’s exceptional warriors. But this time, he had made an exception since Ahuli had acknowledged Milka.
In the years he had served as the great tamer, it had never taken him this long to find a familiar for someone. It was as if Milka was someone special who had been hiding in plain sight, or maybe someone else was inside him.
"What’s your preferred weapon? Don’t make me wait and answer quickly, or I’ll hit you again!"
"..."
Adrian remained quiet, puzzled by the old man’s request. He couldn’t help but wonder if the old man was losing his mind. ’Milka’ could not speak or remember anything; it was a well-known fact.
That’s why it felt strange when the old man asked him to talk about something he obviously couldn’t recall.
"Forgive the interruption, but my son doesn’t know how to use a weapon..." Suhi interrupted.
"Well... that’s a bummer! You really were useless before. A young man like you doesn’t know how to wield a weapon? What have you been doing all these years? Cuddling your pillow?"
"..."
"You have the perfect physique to be a wolf rider, but I doubt any direwolf would accept you as a partner. It’s disappointing. It’s highly disappointing," Skaha shook his head. "Even a Tiak might reject you, but maybe you’ll surprise me."
He continued, "Follow me, both of you. Let’s see if any creature shows interest towards your born-again brat."
***
Author’s note: Thanks to UvularBurrito for gifting 22 golden tickets and increasing my workload (sarcasm). Two new bonus Chapters will be uploaded today and tomorrow. Thanks for your support!