Chapter 376 - 344: Meeting With Tribe Leader...

(A/N):

Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.

Guys I hope you put more comments and power stones... Which will encourage me...

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The old man stopped several steps before Devara and looked at the three men carefully.

His gaze moved from Devara’s royal clothing to Karna’s armor and then to Ashwatthama’s weapons.

The old man’s grip tightened around his staff.

"You are not hunters," he said cautiously.

Devara remained seated upon his horse.

"No."

"You are not merchants either."

The elder narrowed his eyes.

"Then who are you, and why have you come to our settlement?"

Before Devara could answer, the young boy who had spotted them earlier peeked from behind the bamboo gate.

His eyes remained fixed on the three strangers, particularly Devara, whom he had never seen anyone dressed like before.

The elder noticed the boy and gave him a brief look.

"Stay behind me."

The boy immediately obeyed.

Devara saw the gesture and understood that the elder was protecting his people rather than deliberately challenging him.

He slowly dismounted from his horse.

Karna and Ashwatthama followed.

Devara then stepped forward without touching any weapon.

"My name is Devara."

The elder’s expression changed slightly.

Several tribesmen behind the wall exchanged glances.

The old man’s eyes widened when he heard the name.

"You are..."

"The King of Trivenivrata,"

Devara finished calmly.

The elder stared at him for several moments.

The warning he had given his grandchildren about people from kingdoms suddenly seemed far more relevant.

Yet the man standing before him did not behave like the powerful ruler the elder had imagined.

Devara simply stood there, waiting patiently for him to speak.

"We heard that your people have been suffering from attacks by wild boars,"

Devara continued.

"I came to understand what has been happening."

The elder’s suspicion did not disappear, but his expression became more serious.

"You came here yourself?"

Devara nodded.

"I did."

Karna glanced toward the settlement while Ashwatthama remained quietly observant, studying the surrounding forest.

The elder looked at the king again.

"If you truly came to help, then perhaps you should hear what we have seen."

Devara gave a small nod.

"That is exactly why I came."

The elder tightened his grip on his staff before turning toward the settlement.

"Then come inside, Maharaja. There are things happening in this forest that even we no longer understand."

The old man led Devara, Karna and Ashwatthama deeper into the settlement, following a narrow pathway between the small huts that had been built from bamboo, mud and thick layers of dried leaves.

The villagers slowly began to emerge from their homes as they passed, their eyes following the three unfamiliar men with a mixture of curiosity and caution.

There was something unmistakable about the visitors that separated them from the ordinary travelers who occasionally passed through the forest.

Their clothing was too finely made, their ornaments too carefully crafted, and even the weapons they carried looked unlike anything commonly seen among wandering hunters or merchants.

The people of the tribe had little knowledge of royal customs, but they understood enough to recognize when someone belonged to a world far beyond their own.

At the end of the pathway stood a larger hut, surrounded by a wooden fence and several carved poles that marked it as the dwelling of the tribe’s leader.

The old man slowed his steps as they approached, and before he could say anything, the entrance curtain of the hut was pushed aside.

A broad-shouldered man stepped outside.

He appeared to be somewhere in his late forties, perhaps early fifties, with thick black hair streaked with grey and a face hardened by years of surviving in the forest.

A long scar ran from the side of his forehead toward his cheek, while another marked his exposed arm.

He wore simple clothing made from animal hide and woven cloth, with a necklace of bones and wooden beads hanging around his neck.

A heavy hunting spear rested in his hand, and several smaller weapons were fastened around his waist.

He took only a few steps before stopping.

His eyes immediately settled on the old man.

Then they moved toward the three strangers standing behind him.

For several moments, the tribe leader simply stared.

He had seen outsiders before. Hunters occasionally passed through the forest, and merchants sometimes traveled along the distant routes, but these three were different.

Their appearance alone announced that they were not ordinary men.

The quality of their clothes, the ornaments they wore and the weapons carried by the two men standing beside the stranger in the center all suggested wealth, authority and training.

The tribe leader’s grip slowly tightened around his spear.

His eyes moved toward Devara first.

There was something about the young king that made it difficult to look away.

Devara stood calmly beside his companions, dressed in garments that carried the unmistakable refinement of royalty, yet there was no arrogance in his posture.

Karna stood beside him like a warrior who had spent his entire life on battlefields, while Ashwatthama’s sharp gaze constantly moved around the settlement, quietly observing everything.

The tribe leader immediately understood one thing.

These were not common people from the kingdom.

He looked back at the old man with a questioning expression.

"Who are they?"

he finally asked, his voice low but firm.

The old man stopped beside him and looked toward Devara before answering.

"They came because of the wild boars."

The tribe leader’s expression changed slightly.

His eyes returned to Devara.

"The wild boars?"

Devara stepped forward, but he deliberately stopped a few paces away, making sure his approach did not appear threatening.

He had noticed the way the villagers were watching them from behind the huts, and he understood that entering their settlement as a king could easily make them nervous.

He therefore kept his hands relaxed and allowed the old man to remain between them for a moment.

"I am Devara," he said calmly.

"I am the king of Trivenivrata."

The moment those words left his mouth, the tribe leader’s expression hardened.

Several villagers who had been standing nearby immediately lowered their heads.

Others quietly stepped backward.

The old man’s eyes flickered toward them, but he did not say anything.

The tribe leader, however, continued staring at Devara.

A king.

That explained the clothing.

That explained the weapons.

That explained why three men of such stature had come personally into a forest settlement instead of sending soldiers or officials.

Yet knowing that did not make the tribe leader relax.

Instead, it made him even more cautious.

He had spent his entire life protecting his people from the dangers of the forest.

He knew that sometimes the greatest dangers did not come with claws, fangs or poison.

Sometimes they arrived wearing fine clothes and carrying royal weapons.

Devara noticed his hesitation and spoke before the silence could grow heavier.

"I did not come here to claim anything from your people. I came because I heard that the forest around your settlement has changed, that the number of tigers has fallen sharply and that the wild boars have multiplied to the point where they are attacking people."

The tribe leader’s eyes narrowed.

"You already know about that?"

"I have seen the changes myself,"

Devara replied.

"My men have reported the attacks, and I saw the condition of the forest on our way here. The balance has clearly been disturbed."

The tribe leader glanced toward the old man.

The elder gave him a small nod.

Only then did the leader lower his spear slightly.

"There is much more to it than the boars," he said quietly.

Devara’s expression became serious.

"I suspected as much."

The tribe leader studied him for another long moment before stepping aside.

"Then you should hear it from us."

He looked toward the larger hut behind him and gestured toward its entrance.

"Come inside, Maharaja."

Devara nodded.

Karna and Ashwatthama followed him as the four men entered the hut, while the old man remained close behind.

Outside, the villagers continued watching silently, unaware that the arrival of their king would soon uncover something hidden deep within the forest, something that had already begun disturbing the delicate balance between the creatures, the people and the land itself.

Inside the hut, the tribe leader motioned for Devara, Karna and Ashwatthama to sit on the woven mats placed around a small fire pit.

The hut was much simpler than anything found inside a royal palace, yet everything within it had a purpose.

Baskets filled with herbs and dried roots hung from the wooden beams, hunting tools were arranged neatly against one wall, and several animal skulls decorated the entrance, each one representing a creature that had once threatened the tribe.

The old man settled near the doorway while the tribe leader sat opposite Devara, keeping his spear beside him.

For a few moments, the leader remained silent, seemingly trying to decide where to begin.

Finally, he drew a slow breath.

"Before these strange things began happening, the forest was not an easy place to live in, Maharaja. It never was. We have lived here for generations, and we learned long ago that the forest belongs to no man. We take what we need from it, and in return we respect the creatures that live within it."

Devara listened without interrupting.

The tribe leader continued, his voice carrying the weight of someone recalling memories passed down through generations.

"Tigers were always the greatest danger to our people. We never hated them for it. A tiger hunts because it must eat, just as we hunt because our families must eat. Every few months, sometimes after a year, a tiger would begin coming closer to the settlement."

"Usually it would target our hunters when they wandered too far into the forest or someone who travelled alone after sunset."

"There were times when a man would disappear while collecting wood or tracking deer, and we would later find his remains somewhere beneath the trees."

Karna’s expression remained calm, but his eyes hardened slightly.

"Yet you accepted it?" he asked.

The leader nodded slowly.

"We mourned them, of course. Every death leaves an empty place in a family. But we understood what had happened. A tiger was not killing out of hatred. It was hunting. If we were careless, the forest reminded us that we were not its masters."

He paused and glanced toward the entrance of the hut, where the sounds of the settlement could still be heard.

"Sometimes we even knew which tiger had taken a man. We could recognize them by their markings, their tracks, the way they moved through the forest. Some tigers became familiar to us over the years. We kept our distance from them, and they usually kept theirs from us."

Devara leaned forward slightly.

"So there was an understanding between your people and the tigers."

"Not an understanding spoken with words," the leader replied.

"Something older than that. A balance."

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(Author note:)

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