Chapter 377 - 345: Hunter Is Missing...

(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 word of the tribe leader lingered inside the hut.

"That balance lasted for generations," the leader continued.

"Our hunters knew when not to enter certain parts of the forest. The women knew which paths were safe during different seasons. The children were taught never to wander alone. Even the elders could tell from the silence of the birds when a predator was nearby."

His expression gradually became more troubled.

"But then, little by little, the tigers began disappearing."

Ashwatthama narrowed his eyes.

"Disappearing?"

"Yes."

The leader nodded.

"At first, we thought they had simply moved deeper into the forest. That happens when food becomes scarce or when another predator takes control of their territory. We did not worry. Then weeks passed, and we stopped finding their tracks near the streams."

"The usual roar that could sometimes be heard at night became less frequent. Eventually, there were days when we could walk through places where tigers had once lived without seeing even a single sign that one had passed through."

He rubbed his thumb against the wooden shaft of his spear.

"At first, some of our younger hunters were happy. They thought the forest had become safer."

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

"They were wrong."

Devara’s gaze sharpened.

"What happened?"

"The prey animals began changing."

The tribe leader looked directly at him.

"Deer became harder to find. Smaller animals vanished from certain parts of the forest. Then the wild boars started appearing everywhere. At first, seeing more of them seemed like a blessing. We thought perhaps the forest had simply become richer."

He gave a humorless chuckle.

"Then they started destroying everything."

The fire crackled between them.

"They began tearing apart the roots of plants, destroying crops, digging through the ground near our homes and fighting among themselves. They became bolder every month. Before long, they stopped running when they saw us."

Karna’s brows furrowed.

"And the attacks on your people?"

The tribe leader’s expression darkened.

"That came later."

He lowered his gaze for a moment before continuing.

"At first, the boars only charged when someone came too close. Then they began following people. A hunter would return from the forest and realize that a group had been trailing him for half a mile."

"One day, a woman collecting firewood was attacked by three of them. Another time, a group of hunters found themselves surrounded by nearly a dozen."

His fingers tightened around the spear.

"They were no longer behaving like frightened animals."

Devara remained silent.

The tribe leader slowly looked toward him.

"And that is why we are afraid, Maharaja. The tigers killing a man once in a while was something we understood. We knew why it happened. What is happening now..."

He shook his head.

"We do not understand it."

The old man sitting near the doorway finally spoke.

"The forest feels different."

Everyone turned toward him.

The elder’s aged eyes were fixed on the ground.

"I have lived here longer than anyone in this settlement. I have watched the trees grow, watched rivers change their paths, watched animals come and disappear with the seasons. But this is not simply nature changing."

Devara’s expression became thoughtful.

He had already seen the dead deer torn apart by boars. He had seen how the animals behaved strangely and how the tiger population had collapsed.

Now he was beginning to understand that the problem was much deeper than an increase in wild boars.

The tribe leader leaned forward.

"We don’t know what happened to the tigers, Maharaja. We don’t know why the boars have become so aggressive. And we don’t know what else is moving through that forest."

He looked directly into Devara’s eyes.

"But something has changed."

His voice dropped to almost a whisper.

"And whatever caused it may still be there."

Hearing the tribe leader’s explanation, Devara let out a slow sigh as the pieces began falling into place inside his mind.

He leaned back slightly, his eyes lowering toward the small fire burning between them as he went over everything they had told him.

The rapid disappearance of the tigers was the first and most important clue.

The tribe had lived alongside them for generations, so the sudden reduction in their numbers could not simply be dismissed as the natural movement of predators into another territory,

Especially when even experienced hunters had noticed that their tracks, roars and presence had almost completely vanished.

"What you have described confirms what I was beginning to suspect,"

Devara finally said, his voice thoughtful.

"The tigers did not merely become fewer. Their numbers dropped rapidly, and none of you knows why. After that, the smaller animals began disappearing as well, and then the population of wild boars increased dramatically."

The tribe leader nodded slowly.

"That is exactly what happened."

Devara rubbed his chin as he continued thinking.

"Then the increase in the boar population may not be the original problem at all. It may simply be the consequence of everything that happened before it."

Karna glanced toward him.

"You believe the tigers were keeping their numbers under control?"

"Not only the tigers,"

Devara replied with a sigh.

"The forest itself had a balance. Every creature played its part, whether the people living here understood it or not. The tigers hunted deer, boars and other animals."

"Smaller predators hunted creatures lower in the food chain. Even competition between animals prevented any single species from multiplying without limits."

His gaze hardened.

"But once the tigers began disappearing, one of the creatures that normally faced pressure from them suddenly lost its greatest natural hunter. The boars were no longer being hunted as often, which meant more of them survived, reproduced and spread through the forest."

The tribe leader stared at him.

"So the boars multiplied because the tigers were gone."

"That is what it appears to be,"

Devara answered to the tribe leader truthfully.

"And the disappearance of the smaller animals may have made the situation even worse. If their numbers fell because something was hunting them, consuming them or driving them away, then the entire food chain may have begun shifting."

Ashwatthama folded his arms, his expression becoming increasingly serious.

"But that still leaves the most important question unanswered. Why did the tigers disappear in the first place?"

Devara’s expression became thoughtful again.

"Exactly."

For several moments, nobody spoke.

The explanation made sense, but only up to a certain point.

The rising number of wild boars was understandable if their primary predator had vanished.

Their increasingly aggressive behavior could perhaps be explained by competition for food and territory as their population grew.

But none of that explained why the tigers had disappeared so quickly.

Devara looked toward the tribe leader.

"Have you found any dead tigers?"

The leader shook his head.

"Very few. That is what frightened us. When an old tiger dies, we usually find signs of it. Bones, tracks, remains, something. But most of the tigers simply stopped appearing."

"Did you find blood? Wounds? Signs of fighting?"

"Sometimes," the leader replied hesitantly.

"But nothing that gave us an answer. There were places where we found strange marks on trees and disturbed earth, but we could not determine what caused them."

Devara’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"And the smaller animals?"

"Some disappeared completely from areas where they were once common. Rabbits, certain birds, small deer and other creatures. At first we thought the boars were responsible, but their numbers were not large enough at that time."

Devara slowly nodded.

So the chain of events was beginning to reveal itself, but its first link remained hidden.

The tigers had vanished.

Then smaller animals had vanished.

Then the boars had multiplied.

And now the boars were attacking humans.

Devara looked toward Karna and Ashwatthama. Neither spoke, but both seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

The wild boars were not the true mystery.

They were merely the most visible symptom of something much larger happening within the forest.

Devara turned back toward the tribe leader.

"Do not misunderstand me. We will deal with the boars attacking your people. But before we do that, I want to know what happened to the tigers."

The tribe leader’s eyes widened slightly.

"You intend to enter the forest?"

Devara gave him a calm look.

"Yes."

Karna immediately glanced at him, though he did not object.

Ashwatthama’s expression remained stern.

Devara continued,

"If the balance of this forest has been disturbed by something, killing the boars alone will not solve the problem. If we do that without understanding the cause, another species may simply take their place. I want to find the beginning of this chain, not merely cut off the final link."

The tribe leader stared at him for several seconds before slowly nodding.

"Then perhaps you truly are different from the kings we have heard about."

Devara gave a faint smile.

"I am still a king. I simply prefer knowing what I am fighting before I draw my weapon."

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(Author note:)

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