“We should be able to get the materials ready by the end of the day, and if the workers end up working through the night, the place should be ready by tomorrow.”
Inga reported to the chief.
The chief nodded. “Have the warriors prepare a tighter watch around the perimeter of the city. We can’t let Sun Wraiths get in so easily. Have we found out where it came from yet?”
“We have no clue. None of the warriors claim to have seen any Sun Wraith entering the city, but we’re continuing to ask around, so hopefully someone saw something,” Inga said. “We’ll hopefully find out soon enough.”
“It’s an omen, I tell you,” Rona said from the side. “That man is no good for our city. He is Death’s omen. I bet he somehow brought in a Sun Wraith too.”
The chief looked at him. “Are you still going on about this?” he asked. “When are you going to give up on hating the man? Sure, the way he looks scares me too, but that is no reason to claim he is bad.”
“First, he tries to change how warriors are supposed to fight, and now he nearly kills half a dozen people. At what point will you believe he’s bad?” Rona asked.
“When I have proof, and not delusions,” the chief shouted. “Stop trying to find fault where it doesn’t exist. I cannot trust any of your words as a counselor if you keep this up.”
Rona fell silent. There wasn’t much he could say right then even though he was so certain that the newcomer wasn’t good for the city at all.
A person walked in at that moment. “Gorang is here with an important piece of information. Should I let him in?”
“Gorang? Yes, bring him in.”
Gorang walked in a few seconds later.
“What is it, Gorang? If it is about women, it will take a little longer.”
“It will?” Gorang raised an eyebrow. “That is not what I’m here for. It’s about the Sun Wraith that attacked the city today. We found the source.”
“You did? Where did it come from?” the chief asked. “Surely the warriors aren’t getting lazy, are they?”
“No, the source was our new friend Alex. No one saw the Sun Wraith coming because it came from nowhere else. It was made in the city.”
The chief’s eyes widened just then.
“I knew it!” Rona shouted to the side. “You heard it, chief. He’s a walking omen, a harbinger of Death. He is here to kill us all, and if we don’t do anything soon, he will win.”
The chief was slack-jawed at that moment, unable to say a thing. He turned to look at Rona for a moment before turning to Gorang. “Are… are you sure it is true?” he asked in almost a whisper.
Gorang looked at the older man Rona with a confused look. “I feel like I’m missing something here. Sure he’s ignorant, but he’s not going to kill us.”
“Ignorant about what? Our ways? Of course he is. He’s an outsider. He was probably sent here by Death to kill us all.”
Gorang rubbed his head, unable to tell what the old man was talking about in the slightest. “He was sent by Death?”
“Are you sure he was the one who created the Sun Wraith?” the chief asked again, this time his questions demanded an answer.
“Y-yes,” Gorang answered instantly. “But it was an accident.”
The chief narrowed his eyes. “Accident? How so?”
“My father-in-law failed to tell him about not placing sunhearts and beast cores in the same place, which he ended up doing. So all of his beast cores are infected now, and one of those cores was what became the Sun Wraith.”
The chief paused for a long moment. “So… are you saying it was ignorance that caused the Sun Wraiths to form? It wasn’t intentional?”
“We just had to explain to him how Sun Wraiths form in the first place, so I am inclined to believe him.”
“Where is he?” the chief asked. “I would like to hear about it directly from him.”
“He’s not here,” Gorang said. “There were 6 more beast cores that were infected, so he took them to the desert. We couldn’t let the Sun Wraiths form inside the city.”
“He ran away?” Rona asked. “That is very suspicious, isn’t it chief?”
The chief glanced at Rona once before looking at Gorang. “Who did he take with him?”
“Nobody. He went on his own,” Gorang said. “We tried to ask him to take a warrior with him, but he said he would do it on his own.”
“That is even more suspicious. He left all on his own? He must be meeting with others who want to harm us, chief. You might not want to believe it, but he is bad news for us. We will need to deal with him as well as possible.”
The chief took a moment to think. “Alright, it will be better to confirm it than let it surprise us. Rona, go out and find out where he’s gone. Gather a group of people and be ready to go on my command.”
Rona’s eyes widened a great deal in surprise. He hadn’t expected the chief to make such a decision.
“I will do so right away,” he said and ran out.
Gorang remained stunned in his place, unable to figure out what had just happened. “If I may say something, I do not think this newcomer is a bad person.”
“I don’t think so either,” the chief said. “Inga, you’ll be going with Rona.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “I really don’t think he has anything to do with Death,” Inga said. “Death is always alone, and this man is just not that.”
“No, you aren’t going there for that. Let Rona think it’s a scouting mission for now. Have the soldiers know that they’re either going to fight there or help.”
“If by some chance it turns out that Rona was correct, then do everything you can to kill this newcomer, but it is more likely that he will kill himself trying to deal with Sun Wraiths. Help him when things get dangerous.”
Inga nodded and left.