Chapter 10 - 7 years

"It was clear that Harl had betrayed us. He was part of the vice-captain's group and gave the information about his team to others. The enemies must have given him another mission to bring the false report to make the chief leave the village. The chief ordered leader Harald to come back as fast as possible to capture Harl. He must have come earlier and been in the central building."

At that time one villager starts to talk:

" Isn't Harl the only member left of his family? His father died, due to the attack of the beast when Harl was a kid. As for his mother, she got a terrible disease and passed away last year. He was an isolated person from others and had always been alone. It was why vice-chief Bjorn pitied him and took his group. How could he do a thing like that?"

'Don't know about the village, but my family's life won't be as easy as how it was until this incident. However, I can't allow myself to make the same mistake. I must get stronger.' Ulf began to think after hearing the whole story. 'But there is a hope that my father is still alive.'

Soon the whole tribe moved to the central part of the village. Ulf also saw his mother and sisters there. He went to their side.

"Ulf, where have you been till now?" His mother felt a bit relieved, after seeing Ulf, but was still worried for some other reasons. It seems she hasn't heard a story about the village chief.

"Sorry mother, I have been walking around the village and couldn't realise when the night has come." Ulf tried to show a self-blame look.

"Okay, just remember to tell me in advance next time!"

Ulf sincerely nodded.

The villagers were watching the mother with pity. Inga felt something wasn't right and asked the tribesman next to her.

"What happened? What had caused this commotion?"

The man looked at Inga, then at me and Hilda.

"I feel sorry that you have to hear it from me. But first of all, Inga it's better not to let children hear it... You must also be strong." Mother trembled a little, but still turned around and told us.

"Kids, go back to the house and wait for me. I will come back soon."

"But, mother..." Hilda was starting to become stubborn.

"Hilda, go back home!" Mother's face was so serious, that even Hilda stopped resisting and I also followed her behind.

"Ulf, What do you think has happened? I heard that the chief was injured, but how can it be? Isn't the village chief the strongest? Father told me it and he is always right." Hilda couldn't hide her curiosity.

"I don't know sister, but everyone is so anxious." Answered Ulf. Hilda admires and loves Bjorn so much. He felt sorry for her and his mother.

'I hope you are alive. If not, I will become strong enough to defend the family and avenge you in future.' Ulf always had a bad impression of the word 'father'.

His so-called father in his past life left his mother alone with a newborn child. When his mother passed away and then soon John (Ulf) became a member of the gang, he searched for this bastard to take his rage over this piece of sh#t. Then he discovered that 'father' was on drugs, and had a huge amount of debt taken from another gang. So, he changed his mind to kill him. This guy didn't have anything to return his debt and to take their money back the gang would even forcefully take some of his body parts and sell them.

In this life too he didn't have a close connection with his father. However, it was because most of the time Bjorn was out of the house to work, only coming back late at night or would bring his group out to hunt and stay there for a few days. Nevertheless, he knew that the old man loved his family.

In the end, Harl disappeared and nowhere could be found. The village sent groups again to search for Bjorn, but no result. like Harl, he too disappeared. However, compared to the latter one, not many believed that the vice-chief would be alive till now.

There were unanswered questions: Who was the enemy? Why did they attack? What was the reason to ambush Bjorn and then the chief Olaf?

Ulf had several ideas.

'First, maybe they were from the neighbouring tribes. However, those neighbour tribes were dozens of miles away and for what reason would they come this far with around 150 - 200 hunters? Only to steal some resources from Bjorn's team? What a joke. If it was right, why would they attack the chief too.'

'Their main motive may have been to weaken our power, but again, why? As far as I know, the Hadda tribe doesn't have any strong grudges against any tribe. If it was the confrontation for hunting grounds it also doesn't make sense. There are so many territories to hunt or gather other resources in the surroundings and rather than fighting against each other, the danger that is coming from nature is the priority.'

Ulf heard many times, when he was about to meditate, his mother's cry late at night. Of course, she loved her husband so much. One time mother said something that greatly interested Ulf.

"Did they finally find me and my family? If not them then who? Bjorn didn't have any enemies here. However, if it was them, they would destroy the entire tribe, rather than just ambush him. Maybe, they just checked us out. Sorry, Bjorn, may I be blamed for your disappearance."Mother was sobbing alone.

'It seems, a mother has a mysterious origin and also a really strong enemy is looking for her. There are more reasons for me to hurry up and gain more power.'

As for Harl, Ulf had to find out more about him in future. First, why would he betray the tribe and second, how did he make a connection with an unknown enemy? Where did he disappear? Was the only one or are there others in the village?

There were already many problems, but it will be harder in the future. So, Ulf had to become stronger.

7 years later...

Ulf was already 12 years old. Many have changed in the village.

First of all about the chief. It seems, his wounds weren't simple. He had serious internal injuries and the spear that wounded him in the abdomen had been poisoned. He would recover, but the process took a very long time. The poison was so strong that it hasn't been fully extracted till now. That's why for time being vice-chief Dorgon was doing most of the village head's duties.

Bjorn hadn't returned and other missions to find even the evidence of his demise have been fruitless.

The mother missed her husband even now, but instead of focusing on her feelings, she had been wholeheartedly taking care of the children. The village head even came himself one time to Ulf's house to see how they were. Olaf promised Inga that he would regularly send the food till the kids would grow up.

However, it wasn't that easy. May the villagers would remember the kindness Bjorn had shown to them, but not for a long time. Especially, when one vice-chief wasn't longer around and the other couldn't go out for fear that unknown enemies would attack the village. The captain rank hunter was the key figure for gathering important resources for the cultivation. When one after another two winters were very cold 5 and 4 years ago, some tribe members weren't glad that the precious food brought by their families was given to the family that wasn't longer of any use for the village.

Maybe it was the reason that the food given to them became less and less for some time.

As for Hilda, she has shown a great talent for body cultivation. However, if her characters were like a typical hadda tribeswoman, her body was different. She was more like a mother and not muscular like other tribe women. However, the speed of her cultivation didn't decrease because of it.

May her strong aspect wasn't physical power like others but was more agile compared to even some warriors. She was talented at speed. Hilda was 15 years old right and had already reached peak novice rank and would reach warrior rank soon. It was very fast according to the whole tribe's history.

As for Ulf, he was called the "second Bjorn". Why? He was 12 years old and had already reached the warrior rank. Ulf was considered a very rarely seen genius. He was going to take part in the next competition before the winter's hunting to prove his power. Of course, he wouldn't use spiritual energy there, only the power gained by the tribe's body cultivation.