As a frown creased her forehead, Zara heard the Village Chief's words resonate in the air, "Don't worry, your husband hasn't become lazy, nor is he burdening the future of this village on the shoulders of a young man who barely knows how to handle authority or run a village," he assured her.
He paused for a moment, then continued, "But... to have someone else who is more capable than me, someone with the potential to become more powerful than any warrior in the stronghold, protecting this village against the Vykr vines, is something that I can't be against."
Zara raised her eyebrow, a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes, "So you are saying that you are willing to give him a chance," she asked.
"If he succeeds in his task and proves his capability, then yes, I am willing. However, if he shows no signs of being capable enough, then he has a better chance of becoming a stronghold leader than even thinking about holding the Village Chief's position." the Village Chief replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Exhaling once more, Zara thought, 'So that's what has been on your mind, huh?' She then opened her mouth to speak, "I agree with you, and that is why I think it's even better for you to be there at the meeting with the Caretakers tomorrow so that you can witness more of his shortcomings and potential."
The Village Chief snorted loudly, "Handle it for me. Besides, since you met with the Caretakers today and perfectly took care of everything with no noticeable problems, just do the same tomorrow and tell them that the Village Chief has already recovered but will be taking a few more days to rest before he returns to his position."
He said, "That will sort things out, so you don't have to worry about anything going wrong during that time period."
Instead of replying this time around, Zara took the half-eaten Kalna fruit that she had kept back in the wooden bowl to speak to Orion, aiming it in the direction of the Village Chief before she threw it forward, releasing it from her tight grip.
Without turning to look back or bothering about the current position of the flying fruit, the Village Chief immediately stretched his right hand upwards and perfectly caught the fruit the moment it reached his position. Bringing it down towards his mouth, he took a bite and savoured its taste before saying, "Thank you."
"You are welcome," The Village Chieftess proceeded to stand up from her position on the floor as she added, "I will send someone to relay your orders to Greta and also see what I can do for Lola. However, before tomorrow ends as the Village Chief of this village, I want to see you present at your workplace in the Village Chief Compound so that I can inform you in detail of everything that has happened during your absence," she said before walking towards the door. "But, if you still choose to be lazy, then you may have Thak fill in the gaps for you before you continue with your work. So until then, get well, Chief."
Hearing the sound of the door opening and closing, signifying that his wife had just left, the Village Chief, turned around and laid flatly on the mat, stretching his aged bones apart, as he thought about how stiff his wife had become ever since she found out there was a young man whose future she couldn't read.
And now, that his own future had also begun to show signs or may have already become non-existent, it wasn't hard for him to understand how stressed she was currently feeling while also handling the position of the Village Chief.
'Maybe this is for the best,' The Village Chief thought, understanding that there was nothing that they could do in such a situation except carefully watch their steps now that one of their upper hands was gone.
Still, a loud, tired exhale escaped from his mouth as he thought about what had happened yesterday between Orion and Fiona. In fact, when Orion had told him the truth that he had proposed and failed to keep his promise to Fiona, which led her to do something as foolish as abandoning her task and running over to the other side of the river, he had thought that the young man was lying or only telling him a half-truth about what had really happened.
However, during his battle with the three-star Vylkr vine, as he watched Orion risk his life to save her, he began to understand that Orion wasn't lying and that he had genuinely proposed to Fiona and made her his partner.
"Haha," a short laugh escaped the Village Chief's lips. Though he couldn't imagine where Orion had gotten the courage to propose to a muscular, bulking woman like Fiona, he was still happy for her. He, of all people, knew how hard Fiona had worked to find a partner for herself and how miserably she had failed at it.
In fact, now that he thinks about it, with Orion's taste in women, it might be best if he arranged all the 'ugly' and unattractive women in the village and introduced them to Orion for the creation of the new village, where they could live together.
However, he quickly dismissed the idea, as the consequences of such an action were obvious once the villagers found out what their Village Chief was trying to do.
But in the end, just imagining entrusting the safety of the village to a young man like Orion, who would courageously risk his own life for his partner and even stay and be buried with her once he discovers there was no hope of their survival, was enough to make him realize that Orion would do the same for the village given the right circumstances.
Oh, he could sleep right now in peace and never wake up, if Orion still retains the same character and behaviour once he reaches his full potential and becomes a six-star warrior. But there was no need to rush, and he could only pray to Naka that Zara cools down her temper and takes her time to understand the future without using her gift.
'Maybe I should ask him to give Zara a child,' the Village Chief thought to himself since the last time that he had seen his wife focused on anything other than herself was when she was pregnant.
"HUMPH!!"
