Bhang

Ram, Hanu, and Prakhar returned to their surroundings and remained silent. It could be seen that there were a lot of thoughts going on in all of them.

Though Ram was not sure what Hanu and Prakhar were thinking about, he had definitely heard more than what was shown and spoken about. He knew that the important thing to note was that the leader asked for the help of food and medicine supply and any other help that they could do other than directly interfering with the security, and also that the management elder took a pill to change his appearance, so it also cleared the doubt that the management elder was the leader of the village, and he couldn't later on say that he never asked for the help, and it was the management elder who took this crystal and passed it on without his permission.

Ram recalled all that he had just seen and heard and smiled as he now knew how to proceed.

He looked towards Hanu and Prakhar, who were still silent, and said

"I know we all have many thoughts, but as you have seen that the leader has requested for the food and medicine supply, this gives a way to enter the wooden village again, but I feel we should proceed as planned and see what Stone village needs help with and find out more about the crises from them, and then come to the rescue of the wooden village. I know you both might feel that we should first visit the wooden village again, but as the citizens of Village One, we have our mission to help Stone village as they have directly requested, so we will help them first and then proceed back to the wooden village, and this is my decision and I won't change it."

Ram looked and saw that Hanu and Prakhar wanted to say something, but he ended the conversation with

"Everyone, good night and sleep well. Tomorrow we will proceed towards the stone village at the break of dawn, and any further doubts you have we will discuss on the way."

He then picked up the audio-visual crystal and kept it in his spatial ring along with the heat marble ball, and then looked towards both of them and said, "I'll be sleeping early and won't require any food or anything, so I will directly meet you tomorrow morning."

He exited the tent and went towards his tent, opened the tent, entered it, and directly appeared in the secret world.

…..

"So do you have any plans for tonight? or we could enjoy a drink." Prakhar asked, looking at Hanu, who was still thinking about something, and while thinking, he didn't focus on what Prakhar asked, so he just nodded.

Prakhar, after seeing this, simply removed two tall glasses and a jar filled with greenish-white liquid from his spatial ring. He then used both hands to hold the jar and used his prana on a mark that was already on the jar. The prana interacted with the mark, and in turn, the mark became more prominent, and slowly the liquid in the jar started to get colder.

If Ram would have been here, he would have seen this method and maybe triggered the basic rune knowledge scroll from the system, but he would have definitely been able to recognise the liquid as he had taken it once on earth; this was 'Bhang Thandai'.

Within a few seconds, the Bhang thandai got extremely chilled, and he poured it into two tall glasses and passed one to Hanu.

Hanu, still in the middle of his thinking, observed the glass, and without really focusing on the content inside, he picked it up and drank it.

After having emptied three glasses, Hanu looked at Prakhar and said,

"This bhang is really good. Thanks."

"No need to mention it."

"Hey Hanu, there is something I am curious about; should I ask if it's about Ram?"

Hanu looked at Prakhar and said, "What?"

If there had been anyone other than these two in the tent room, they would have been able to tell that Hanu was totally out of control. He couldn't understand everything that was being said to him, and it was not only Hanu but even Prakhar who was talking while staring too hard beside Hanu as if he had lost his point of focus. Basically, both seemed like drunk fools who were constantly smiling.

"What were you saying?"

"Nothing. Yes, I remember now, so I thought you were the leader of this mission, but it seems I was wrong; it was Ram. " The only thing that I am not able to understand is that Ram is not yet even a citizen of Village One, and as I had heard from you, he is taking his cut for this mission from the chief." Prakhar spoke while stammering.

"There is no leader in the group; we all have individual roles to play in this group, but if you want to know a clear face, it's me, as I am the chief's son and everyone knows about that." Hanu replied with confidence.

"Yes, then why did Ram say that it was his decision and it needed to be followed? Doesn't he need to consult with you first? We can clearly see that the wooden village needs help, but Ram still wants us to go to the stone village first. I am confused about what he is thinking, but somewhere I can't help but feel that it is because he would get his cut, so he wants the wooden village to suffer more so that he gets more out of the mission."

"Prakhar, what you said is wrong; the chief has said that there is nothing wrong with Ram's character and personality, though I also sometimes doubt his actions, but my father has never been wrong."

"I understand it, and I also like you, and everyone in the village respects the chief, but you see, the chief is getting older, and sometimes when a person starts to age, they do make mistakes, which is very normal, and no one knows about the past of Ram, so I just had some doubts."

"You don't need to doubt his past; the chief has already researched it and cleared it."

"Hanu, Why is it always with you, 'Chief This' and 'Chief That'? Can't you sometimes make your own decisions and make the chief proud of them? After all, you will be the future leader. You should also start taking your own decisions."

Prakhar finished speaking and looked towards Hanu with clear focus, as if he were never drunk.

He, after hearing Prakhar, remained silent and started to look towards his empty glass.

Prakhar refilled the glasses, and they both enjoyed one last drink before Hanu stood up and silently left the tent.

After entering his own tent, Hanu removed the audio-visual crystal and started recording some messages about what had happened in the wooden village, how they planned to proceed the next day, and all the doubts that he had. This message was being recorded for the chief to be updated and to guide him, but after recording the message, he kept the crystal back in his ring and didn't send it out.

"I am the leader, and I should make my own decisions."