It didn’t take long for Vorad to continue their advance from the borders toward Tiabe. Almost as if they knew what they were up against, the Vorad army put heavy infantry at the front and bulldozed their way into the forest, forcibly clearing the way.
The soldiers that were like walking hunks of iron had no gaps in their armors and defenses.
The lightfooted Uaya tribe did not have the strength to pierce that armor. They could only slow down the Voradi advance with traps and tricks. However, they did not last for long.
Other troops supported the heavy infantry from behind and swiftly moved out to clear any obstacles whenever they appeared.
But as soon as the Uaya tribe showed themselves, any supporting troops hid far in the back.
The Uaya tribe could only look on with bleeding hearts as the Vorad troops razed their home to the ground, chopped down trees, and excavated the ground.
The Vorad Kingdom wasn’t waging war. They were plundering the forest of all usable resources.
The Uaya were powerless to stop it, and the other tribes just let it happen.
So far, Vorad had only touched Uaya territory.
So far, only the Uaya tribe was suffering.
The Uaya tribe was being punished.
Although they had yet to receive an official verdict regarding their involvement with the Lowat tribe and their crimes, none of the other tribes voluntarily stood up to side with the Uaya tribe. They also had one or two things in their past that hung above their heads. Stuff like that was why they had chosen to side with the Lowat tribe in the first place.
But now, it had come back to bite them in the ass.
The other tribes from the same alliance couldn’t and wouldn’t help, either.
This was the forest’s tacit understanding and non-verbal condemnation of the Uaya tribe. Any who chose to help them would fall under the same paint.
The Uaya tribe faced extinction. They knew that only when they had suffered enough or maybe when the Voradi troops reached beyond Uaya territory would the other tribes step in and expel the soldiers from the forest.
They were desperate and left with no other option.
***
Nick had a frown as he looked toward the rising smoke. He could smell it.
The others hadn’t been joking when they said that one of the kingdoms was attacking Tiabe. It seemed pretty bad, but it looked worse than it was.
The forest was quick to recover, and the deeper into the forest the Voradi troops went, the harder it would be for them to leave. So, Nick understood the other tribes when they held off on counterattacking. They were biding their time, amassing their forces, and preparing.
Nick was about to turn around and invite Eo to sit on the porch with him and discuss what the general leading Vorad’s troops might look like when the bushes rustled, and a skinny thing tumbled out.
Nick tilted his head as he looked at the person, who froze when they realized where they were. It was like a deer caught in the headlights. But they had a pair of long, furry ears pointing straight up instead of antlers.
The young man’s gaze was also much more intense than anything Nick had seen from a deer.
’Hare.’ Those were the wild and ominous eyes of a wild hare.
"Outsider." The young man bowed and laid his head and outstretched arms flat on the ground like he was praying to a god.
"Uhh...?" Nick was not sure how to react. It was the first time meeting someone from the Uaya tribe, and he wasn’t sure if this was standard practice. None of the other tribes had treated him like this.
However, he soon got the explanation for the young man’s behavior.
"Please save our tribe!" The young man wasn’t lying down in worship. He was on his knees begging.
Nick pursed his lips.
"I’ve heard what your tribe is going through, but I’m not going to leave this place." The Uaya tribe was suffering, but even if he left the safe confines of his house, there wasn’t much he could do other than die.
’Oh, unless Eo can leave the house? I’ll have to ask her later.’ Nick smiled just thinking about talking to her later.
To Yooa, that smile looked like the smile of a demon, and he hurriedly pressed his forehead against the ground again.
"You don’t have to, Great Outsider. You just need to use your influence to ask the other tribes to take action!"
Nick frowned for a moment before his eyes widened in belated realization.
The furry young man had a point.
If he talked to Monkey, Muhso, and Sosora, he could probably motivate them to move and lift the Uaya tribe’s punishment early.
The Vorad Kingdom didn’t sound like good people so far. They had participated in the kidnapping of Tair and were now laying waste to a corner of the forest. Both here and on Earth, that was stuff that bad people did.
But...
"What’s your name?" Nick asked.
"Y-yooa," He answered, stunned by the sudden question.
"Tell me, Yooa. How deeply involved was your tribe with the Lowat tribe?"
...The Uaya tribe had sided with the Lowat tribe. Being from the forest didn’t mean they were good people, just because Nick’s friends were from the forest and good people. They could have participated in the kidnapping. They sided with the ones who took Sosora’s vision.
If possible, Nick didn’t want his neighbors to die. He didn’t want anyone to die, really.
But if he had to choose between getting his friends involved in the war and risk their deaths or do nothing and let the Uaya tribe lose more of their part of the forest, Nick was content not doing anything.
Yooa’s already wide eyes widened even further in despair as he raised his head to look at Nick, who was sitting with his hands on the porch, leaning back, and looking at the blue, smoke-stained sky.
They were doomed.