The Will of the Savior
- If you speak, you’ll die
Book 4-5.1
“Who are you?”
Yulian could subconsciously feel his heart beating as he reflexively asked.
“I am the Grand Elder of the Shire, the ‘Fragrance in the Air,’ Violet. Welcome.”
Yulian, the Red Storm, and even Tuma Takaka was shocked at the fact that the woman in front of them was the Grand Elder and leader of the Shire.
The woman who revealed her name to be Violet continued to speak.
“Starting from now, Tuma Takaka-nim as well as the Red Storm warriors must not speak. Could Yulian-nim make a promise regarding this aspect?”
Everybody closed their mouths tightly as if they were about to sneeze. Once Yulian nodded his head, Violet started to speak again.
“From now, the only people who can talk in the Shire are Yulian-nim and myself. Only the two of us. Yulian-nim, you came to prove that you are the Savior, correct?”
“Rather than saying that was the reason, it was more the desire that it would be great if the Shire would join our Pareia.”
“That is impossible. The Shire is a tribe tied to their laws. If you desire to draw us in, you need to become the savior. Nobody other than the savior can give us orders of any kind.”
Yulian stood up tall at Violet’s stern words and answered.
“If that is the case, I will take the test.”
“Great. The test is simple. Yulian-nim just needs to show us his will.”
“How so?”
“Inside the Shire we have 1,000 shamans and their 4,000 family members. Yulian-nim has less than 50 people in your group, am I right?”
Yulian took a look at Red Storm and Tuma Takaka before answering, even though he already knew how many of them there were.
“Yes.”
“Everybody has entered into silence now. I have already told the people of the Shire before coming out here.”
“You knew that I would accept the request?”
“Of course. Yulian-nim would not have come here if he did not have that type of desire.”
“That is true.”
“In the Shire, it is best to not say useless words.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
“Then I will explain the rules to you. Everybody will be living their lives in Silence. If one of the people of the Shire speak, it will confirm that Yulian-nim is the savior. If Tuma Takaka-nim or any of the warrior-nims speak, then Yulian-nim just forget about the Shire and return to your tribe.”
Yulian was flabbergasted. He could not understand how they could test his will based on which side speaks.
“Is that it?”
“Yes. That is it. The duration of it is until one side speaks. However, if someone on either side speaks, the competition can continue if you kill that person. Do you understand what I mean?”
Violet was saying things that did not fit her beauty without any issues.
“You mean……”
“Yes, if someone from the Shire speaks, I will personally kill that person to continue to competition, while if one of the warrior-nims speak, Yulian-nim can either give up or personally kill that warrior to continue this Savior’s Test.”
“It does not seem like a good method.”
Violet responded to the statement Yulian made while scrunching up his face.
“The Savior’s Test is definitely not easy. If someone from the Shire opens their mouth and they all die, Yulian-nim will automatically become the savior, while if all of the warrior-nims end up dying, Yulian-nim will just need to return like that.”
“Is there no other method?”
“There is not.”
Seeing Violet sternly respond even without thinking, Yulian subconsciously started to clench his fist.
“Fine. WE will do as you said. Our warriors have heavy lips.”
“The people of the Shire do not say any useless words. They also have no problem not saying anything for the right reasons.”
Maybe Violet was very competitive or she just wanted to play along with Yulian, but that was how Violet had responded to Yulian’s statement. That was a proclamation that she had no intentions of accepting Yulian as the savior.
Yulian decided that he needed to change first. He needed to imagine that the Red Storm did not exist. If he accidentally called out one of their names, they might respond out of reflex and that would be a big problem.
Yulian and the Red Storm were given residences and spent their first night in the Shire. They should have slept well since they were all tired from not being able to sleep much traveling on a ship, but they were not able to do so.
Humans tend to make mistakes regardless of their will. That was why even the Red Storm who had very strong wills had to be cautious and even more cautious.
In order to be cautious, all of the Storm warriors chose to bite down on a candle as they went to sleep and took turns standing guard as if they were out training. There was no way they could sleep peacefully while being on the alert like that.
Once morning came to the Shire, the majority of the warriors opened their eyes on their own and woke up the rest of the warriors who finally managed to fall asleep around dawn while making sure to cover their mouths first.
Yulian was not happy seeing the tired faces of the warriors Other people may not be able to tell the difference, but Yulian would not miss it. They all seemed to be extremely nervous. Seeing the warriors look like this when they were not at war was never good.
“Did you get a good night’s rest?”
As Violet approached from far away asking about the night, Yulian answered bluntly.
“There is no way they could relax well.”
“You seem to be very angry from the early morning.”
“I am not angry, but it is true that I am not very happy.”
“You’ll get used to it pretty soon. Everybody, please come with me. It is time for breakfast.”
Violet responded with a stoic expression before guiding them to breakfast.
The place she guided Yulian and the Red Storm to was a garden in front of a large building. It was covered in grass which was almost impossible to see in the desert, and there were also many different flowers with complicated patterns. In the middle of the garden was a giant tree that did not seem to fit in with the rest of the garden
When they got there, there were already many young and beautiful women who had placed long pieces of light yellow silk down on the ground and filled it up with plates full of payanats.
They then disappeared before returning with vegetables and fruits that were not usually seen in the desert. After that, they finally sat down.
“The food of the Shire have divine power inside of them. Even each and every one of the payanats are blessed. The priests of the Shire will personally prepare them for you, so please take a seat.”
Yulian motioned for the Red Storm to sit down before going over to sit down with them.
Once everyone sat down, the women moved their hands quickly to divide the payanat, vegetables, and fruit to each of the warriors.
Everybody started to eat in silence. As Violet mentioned, although it was the same payanat that they ate everyday, the taste was very different. The payanat tasted as sweet as honey.
Violet did not touch the payanat and just ate one of the yellow fruits as she started to speak.
“Today, I will take you on a tour of the Shire. There are buildings and artwork as old as the history of the desert. If you want, I could let you even read some of the books. However, since they are all written in the forgotten language of the ancient continent, you will not be able to read most of them.”
“I guess I have no reason to say no.”
Yulian answered like that before taking a bunch of vegetables and putting it in his mouth.
‘They were said to be a tribe that loved their freedom, but they are conducting such a brutal test. I didn’t understand why the prominent shamans did those silent meditations, but now that I think about it, it really must be hell.’
Yulian took a look at the Red Storm warriors who were not even breathing heavily before focusing on eating once more.
He decided that since he overcame all other difficult obstacles, he would just treat this as another type of training. He felt like if he considered this a type of meditation training, it would make the pressure of this silence a little less burdensome.
“It is meditation training.”
The Red Storm immediately understood what Yulian was saying and nodded their heads.