Chapter 3988: Traitors and Cowards (Part 1) "Today’s events will remind my subjects that those who choose to live without me and don’t follow my rules also choose to forfeit my protection. Believe it or not, Featherlings, the hundreds that died today will save thousands tomorrow. "To you, my refusal to take action looks cruel, but to those who follow me will look fair. The people of the Desert will feel vindicated for their daily sacrifices and remember that my rules are not there to oppress them, but to keep them safe." Salaark said. "That’s what I thought." Lith sighed. "To be honest, I can’t blame you." "Wait, what?" Solus was flabbergasted. "Have you already forgotten what happened to the Kingdom because of the prolonged peace, Solus?" Lith asked. "The past Royals oppressed the grassroots mages until Balkor forced them to abdicate. "In the same way, the nobles undermined the Crown’s authority and had no qualms about joining Syrook’s side first and then Thrud’s just because they thought they had more to gain from the usurpers. "Can you blame Grandma for not allowing things to spiral that badly by simply letting people do what they want? She didn’t order the bandits to attack the refugees, just like she didn’t banish the refugees from the Desert. "They all made their own choice, and she respected it. If the refugees ask her to join her tribes, I’m sure she’ll let them. Isn’t that right, Grandma?" "First, I’d remove the bad apples, but yes." Salaark nodded. "No, I can’t blame her." Solus replied after a long pause. "Not after everything I saw during the War of the Griffons and in Jiera. "Yet it still feels cruel of you, Grandma." "It’s also the only thing that works, Solus." The Overlord sighed. "I tried all sorts of approaches in the past. I assumed many identities, like Elysia and Krahan, yet it always ended in war and bloodshed. "It took me a long while to understand that people don’t appreciate what they don’t earn, Solus, and one day, you’ll understand it too." *** Meanwhile, inside the tent, the rest of the Healers took care of the unconscious refugees and reassured those who woke up screaming in fear, thinking they were still under attack. "It’s all over. You’re safe now." Tista said with a soothing voice, pushing a man to lie down on his bed. "This is the Starry Lagoon village. Where are you from?" The man was stunned by her beauty first and then confused by her words. "You are not from the Desert, are you?" His voice was raspy from thirst, so she helped him drink a glass of water. "What gave me out?" Tista smiled. "My pale skin or my hair color?" "Neither." The man gulped the water slowly, appreciating its chillness in his throat. "Your words did. No one in the Desert belongs to a place. Only to a tribe. My name is Saron, and I am... was a member of the Black Stork village." "Why the past tense? You’re still alive." Tista asked in confusion. "Because my village is gone." Saron looked around the tent, noticing the pitiful number of survivors. "The Blood Desert is a harsh place, young lady. You can’t live alone. You need a village. Without the Black Stork, I’m dead." "You can always join another village." Tista had a hard time following a logic so foreign to her. "I’d be dead anyway." He sighed. "I’d be alive in the flesh, but the life as I knew it would be over. I’d need to take a new role, follow new rules, and become a different man. It’s not an easy task for a man my age." "You are exaggerating. You don’t look older than fifty." Saron looked well past sixty, but Tista’s breathing technique could see past the dehydration and fatigue lines. "Fifty is a ripe age for the member of a tribe that defied the Usurper." Saron scoffed. "We can’t afford a Healer like you." "Usurper?" Tista echoed in confusion. "You mean G- the Overlord?" "Yes!" The man snarled, fury filling his thin limbs with new strength. "It’s because of her that only her little slaves can enjoy the biggest and richest oases. It’s because of the Usurper that our magically gifted children abandon our village in search of a better life. "It’s because of her if those bastards of the Yellow Wind tribe managed to slaughter us!" "I can understand the part about the oases, but the rest doesn’t make sense." Tista replied. "The Overlord doesn’t go around bribing children, and she was with us the whole day. She has nothing to do with what happened to you." "That’s because you’re a foreigner and have no idea how cruel the Usurper is." Saron replied. "You’re only right about one thing, old man." Sinmara walked inside the field hospital, drawing the scared gazes of the refugees on her. "Tista is indeed a foreigner. Allow me to translate your nonsense for her. "Mother is unwilling to share the oases she reconquered from the past invaders nor the infrastructures she built to mine magical resources with those who contributed nothing to her military campaigns." The Phoenix of Darkness was allegedly talking with Tista, but her eyes moved from one refugee to another. "Also, Mother doesn’t allow access to her repository of magical knowledge to those she doesn’t trust and who don’t vow to put their powers at the service of her people. Most outlaw... I’m sorry, ’free’ tribes squandered their magical legacy." She spoke the word "free" with enough sarcasm to leave the rest of Mogar dry. "If any of their youths want to advance past tier three magic, they need to join Mother’s side. Lastly, Mother lets the ’free’ tribes illegally occupy our unused oases and even tap into the exposed veins of magical resources, but only until one of our tribes has to move there. "If the local Feather finds squatters upon his arrival, he has the right to reclaim all the stolen resources. Which means that the Black Stork tribe left their last oasis in a hurry and with quite a haul. "A tribe is at its weakest while moving since it loses the protection of its defensive arrays. I bet that the Black Stork bantered about their newfound riches with the wrong person, and the Yellow Wind ambushed them on their way to the next oasis." Saron said nothing, but he clenched his jaw so hard that it popped. "What do you mean, squander their magical legacy?" Tista asked. "Didn’t you just say that the free tribes have defensive arrays?" "As you know, Tista, magic books about spells above tier three are rare." Sinmara replied. "They are highly sought after, yet they are useless unless you have someone with enough talent for magic to understand them. "Whenever a ’free’ tribe lacks a real mage, they are often forced to give up on one or more books in exchange for help from a mage of a neighboring tribe. On top of that, if the resident mage or their apprentice isn’t happy with the treatment they receive from their current tribe, they often run away with everything they can grab. "Given enough time, most ’free’ villages lose most of their magical legacy except for their defensive arrays."