The girl knew that the man that was looking at her was dangerous. She couldn't help but tremble as her instinct screamed at her.
"Can you tell us why these guys are chasing you?" Souta asked as he pointed his fingers at the Four-Arm men on the ground. "If you tell us, then we aren't gonna harm you."
"I..." The girl was about to say something when Souta interrupted her.
"Oops, I forgot to tell you that I have the ability to detect lies so once you lie to me you should know what will happen to you," Souta said as he slowly put his thumbs on his neck and gestured to slit her if she made a wrong decision.
The girl gulped. Her forehead was full of sweat and her hands were trembling nonstop. She slowly opened her mouth and said, "I... I am Emina, daughter of Rigoru, the Chief of the Goat Tribe. These people are from the Four-Arm Tribe. They wanted to capture me so that they could control my father. They wanted the whole Goat Tribe to submit to them."
Souta raised his hand to stop the girl from continuing. He looked at Elder Hanmi and motioned him to start asking questions.
The girl didn't tell a single lie. She was really the daughter of the Goat Tribe.
Elder Hanmi stepped forward and asked, "Tell us the status of your Goat Tribe. If these guys wanted your tribe to submit to them then it must be powerful."
"Y-Yes... Earthen Woods housed hundreds of different tribes. Among those tribes, ten tribes stood among the rest. Our tribe is one of those ten. My father, Rigoru, is one of the few Two Shackles Realm of the Earthen Woods." Emina said.
"So basically you're a princess. I thought that the tribe in this land is unified so what happened to them?" Elder Hanmi asked another question.
Emina slowly answered, "A few months ago, the hidden Tanuki Tribe had appeared. They unified all the tribes in the Earthen Woods in the blink of an eye."
'Tanuki Tribe...' Souta rubbed his chin.
If he wasn't wrong, most of the tanukis were living around the territory of Takamagahara. Amatsukami, the abode of the Heavenly Gods such as Amaterasu and Susanoo.
Takamagahara was far from Olympus. There were several Holy Lands and Large Countries between them.
So there was a tribe of tanukis in this land too.
It's not surprising since he could find various races in different lands. The same for monsters, there were goblins here and there were also goblins in other lands.
Emina continued, "The Tanuki Tribe decided to expand. They brought out tons of resources as they tried to strengthen the overall might of the Earthen Woods. While everyone was preparing, chaos occurred. A battle broke out and it destroyed several dozens of villages across the land. The culprit was two outlanders. People dubbed them as Golden Fist and Face Changing Demon. In the end, the tribe leader of the Hawk Tribe had to personally appear just to stop the two outlanders.
"It brought rage as hundreds of innocent people died in that event. Since various tribes experienced a boost in their strength thanks to the resources provided by the Tanuki Tribe, they decided to take revenge. They wanted to expand the territory of the Earthen Woods. A war occurred as they fought the outlanders. Various tribes sent their forces yet the Tanuki Tribe didn't even send a single one of their expert. You should probably know the outcome of the war. We are defeated."
The unified tribe lost a huge part of its military prowess. They lost several Shackles Realm experts and hundreds of Solidifying Realm experts. It was a huge blow to all of the tribes in the Earthen Woods. They pulled back their forces after the chaotic event on the battleground.
An internal dispute occurred at this time. Some of the tribes banded together to fight the Tanuki Tribe who didn't help them in the war while the others decided to take the neutral stance. The Four-Arm Tribe, Hawk Tribe, Bear Tribe, and Tiger Tribe were the ones that decided to rebel against the tanukis. But they forgot why the tanukis managed to unify the entirety of Earthen Woods in the first place.
The four rebel tribes were defeated and now they were strengthening their forces. They were targeting the other tribes as their military might grow stronger and stronger with each passing day.
"Right now... I think the rebel tribes have the power to fight the Tanuki Tribe." Emina said.
"Hahaha, we are going to rule the Earthen Woods! We'll bring down those high and mighty tanukis!" One of the Four-Arm men on the ground laughed.
Souta glanced at the Four-Arm men before he sent a gesture to the witches.
The witches nodded as they pulled out the dagger on their waist.
"No one gave you a permission to open your mouth so die..."
They raised the daggers in their hands and swiftly swung them on the heads of the Four-Arm men.
Swoosh!!
Blood splattered, dyeing the grass in red.
"Eeik!!!" Emina was terrified when she saw this scene. She subconsciously took a step back.
Souta ignored the corpses on the ground as he stared at the girl. He knew that the girl wasn't lying so a civil war was currently happening in this region.
"What are we going to do now?" Elder Hanmi asked.
"There are no changes in our plan except our target this time will be the leaders of those rebels," Souta said.
"I see... I found it suspicious that the rebels could fight the overlord of this region. According to this girl, the Tanuki Tribe defeated them before yet they already possessed the might to rival them in just a short amount of time." Elder Hanmi said his opinion.
"If we haven't found any clues then we'll ask the other tribe leaders," Souta said as a matter of fact.
He's going to find out if there were clues about Eilish's brother here. After all, the group with her brother appeared at the time when they were fighting the tribes. The timing of the appearance was perfect along with the attack in Bland City. It shouldn't be a coincidence.
"Let's go. Guide us to where the rebel tribes are, girl." Souta glanced at Emina.
Emina could only nod her head. She didn't have a choice since she felt that she would die once she disobey this man.
...
The Four-Arm Tribe, Hawk Tribe, Bear Tribe, and Tiger Tribe's leader were having a meeting.
The four tribe leaders were sitting around a wooden table. The atmosphere was heavy as they didn't even try to hide their energy level.
"My men are after the Goat Tribe. They have no choice but to assist us in our goal." An eight-foot-tall man with two pairs of arms said. He was the tribe leader of the Four-Arm Tribe.
"Does it really matter? I think that we could defeat the tanukis with our current military prowess." The Bear Tribe Leader said.
"Hey, it's the tanuki we are talking about here. It is better to maximize our chances before we dragged them down from their throne." The Hawk Tribe Leader said. "Those tanukis are cunning. They didn't even send their forces in the war so they didn't lose any of their experts."
"That's why we had to strike them now. I'm sure that they are preparing for us so they wouldn't expect it if we launch an attack at this moment." The Bear Tribe Leader said.
"We're going to unify this land once again and we're going to drag those tribes that taken a neutral stance. Those tribes are cowardly. They didn't even think about their men that died in the war." The Four-Arm Tribe Leader said with a hint of hatred in his voice.
"Let's go and fight them. After we defeat the tanukis, we are going to destroy them one by one. Those tribes will regret why they didn't make a decision." The Tiger Tribe Leader said fiercely.
Suddenly, the door was slammed open and the three tribe leaders turned their heads.
Bang!
They saw a group of people entering the room as if this was their home.
"Who are you?!" The Four-Arm Tribe Leader stood up and pointed his finger at these unknown people. Then, he recognized a girl among them. "Emina...?! Why are you here?!"
Emina trembled as she hid behind Souta's group.
Souta scanned the room with a smile on his face, then he flicked his finger and aura covered the room instantly.
"Let's start the interrogation, I doubt that you guys would tell me anything so I had to do this."
Souta said as he sat down on the vacant chair and stared at the four tribe leaders. His aura froze everyone in the room. It was as if a giant boulder was pressed on their shoulders, putting them on their knees.
If he didn't show his power, he doubt that these people would listen to him.
