"What?"
"Tribe leader, what are you talking about?"
"This is madness!"
"Suicide!"
The four elders shouted similar things almost simultaneously while Minos' group looked at the beautiful woman at the absolute peak of level 89, who was looking at Emperor Stuart with a sincere smile on her face.
"Tribe leader, please don't do this. What about the tribe? How would it be without you?" Blake felt his heart beat faster, afraid that this woman would leave and lose her life along with Minos' group.
He sincerely wished the best for the group's crew and the young man's goals. But he didn't think a trip to the North Sea was intelligent, and he didn't want any of his friends and companions to go on this journey with Minos.
It would be fine if any of them wanted to join Minos' group and return to the tribe before the crew left for the North Sea. But risking their lives was too much, even for grateful beings like them.
After all, they had a race to protect and couldn't be so selfish!
But the woman said something the four of them couldn't disagree with. "The tribe will have to get used to living without me in a few years. I won't live another 50 years, so I might as well go now.
Gulp!
"Tribe leader..." When she heard those words, one of the four felt her eyes fill with tears.
She had known Bella for more than 20,000 years and had practically lived side by side with the tribe leader for all that time. How could she remain calm when her friend told her it was time to go?
Even experienced old people could be moved!
"Bella..."
"Don't be like that. I'm still here! Besides, I'll be able to have one last adventure and repay the favors that young Minos Stuart did for our race. It will be good for everyone." She said calmly.
For someone who had lived as long as she had and who had waited so long for her death, she was no longer afraid of dying. Her only concern was the tribe, and so she would try to live as long as possible.
But after watching nearly all of her loves, friends and family perish on her journey, she was ready to leave, especially now that her heir had reached her level.
In her opinion, the tribe would live just as well in her absence as in her presence. So leaving now wouldn't hurt anyone!
Minos heard this and liked it. He wasn't a member of this tribe, and the level 89 fox was right.
As strong as she was, if she didn't do anything, the tribe would surely lose her in a few decades. So it wouldn't make much difference if she left now, especially since she wouldn't risk any trouble at her age.
High-level cultivators nearing their limit didn't become weak until their last days. Only when they had less than a week to live would they show that they were no longer able to fight, and they would quickly fall ill. But until then, they could fight as if they were far from death.
Yet. that didn't mean there were no risks. When you were young, even fatal damage could be reversed if you had the resources and high-level personnel to help you. But at the end of one's life, even life-saving resources like the Spring of Life would have no effect if one was severely injured.
Therefore, high-level cultivators had to be very careful not to fight because no matter how much they could fight normally, any injury would affect them far worse than people who were far from the end of their lives.
Therefore, this woman rarely moved and would only fight when all the other elders of her tribe were either absent or unable to protect the tribe without her help.
If nothing extreme happened in the next few decades, she might even spend her last years doing nothing, meaning that her absence would probably not be felt.
Minos said, not caring about the sadness of these four elders. "Very well. I accept you into my group. While you're with us, we'll try to make sure that you don't have to fight until we enter the North Sea. After that, I can't guarantee anything else."
She appreciated Minos' words. "Thank you for that. I'll do my best when the time comes. I hope I can help you in some way in the future."
Seeing the determination in the woman's eyes, the three Sea Folk members said nothing, aware that this fox was willing to die to help the group.
If they were faced with a desperate situation in the North Sea, Bella would certainly be someone they could count on to protect another crew member.
No one there wanted to have to use others to protect themselves, but knowing that someone from their group was willing to do anything for the good of the team was very gratifying.
"Minos..." Blake looked at the brown-haired guy, clenching his fists while already in his humanoid form.
"Blake, don't act like it's certain that I will die. Don't underestimate me that much." Bella said in a harsher tone. "Maybe I'll come back from the North Sea. Then don't be so quick to declare me dead. I can still beat you up."
With that, the group laughed at the older woman's good humor, while Minos felt that he would hardly get anyone other than Bella in this tribe.
Even if Bella didn't make a big difference in the stability of the tribe, the others there would make a big difference because they all had enough vitality to live for a few more centuries.
Centuries was plenty of time to raise new promising young people to replace them!
But as their conversation became less negative, as these beings put aside the fact that their leader was nearing her end, Bella said to Minos.
"I don't know if you'll get any more foxes for your group because not everyone is like me. But I have the location of an old fox who lives outside the tribe and might be useful to your crew.
Although he is no longer a member of our tribe, he is a powerful Nine-Tailed Fox. He could be as influential as I am, if not more so." She said, which made the elders look at her differently, seeing that she was willing to associate even with a renegade.
But they understood that she wasn't acting as the leader of the tribe for the moment but as a member of Minos' crew, even if she was wrong to say 'your crew.'
"Are you sure about that, tribe leader?" One of them asked worriedly.
...
