Chapter 124: Time to put my foot down

"NO!" The elders said in unison, even Nala and Telah.

"Oh, come on, you’ve barely heard me out."

"Kanan, you’re talking about leaving the village."

"Yes, but only after we’ve handled things here. It won’t be right away."

All of the elders seemed to pop a vein, seeing how stubborn and persistent Kanan was about leaving the village or participating in a serious battle. For the latter, they let him do so when the situation called for it, though they rarely let him fight against the monsters at the hole in the mountain.

"No! We’ve been over this countless times, Kanan. It’s far too dangerous. If anything happened to you, our tribe could perish. Think about our future, your future, and your children."

Ever since Kanan had become the Shaman–no, ever since that system was forced upon him– all he had been thinking about was the future of the village and the people within it.

Ways to protect everyone, knowledge to share with everyone, ways to improve their defences, ways to improve their weapons, ways to improve their ways of life.

Because of him, a good portion of their people now lived in cabins instead of huts. The people who still lived in huts had the best possible huts constructed for them, which were significantly better than the best hut that had been built prior to Kanan sharing the knowledge from the system.

So it’s not that he wasn’t thinking about everyone; he was doing this for everyone.

"Don’t bring my children into this," Kanan growled, his usual calm self now replaced by a dark shadow looming over his head, symbolizing his irritation.

"I’m doing this for them–for all of you! Do you think I want to leave the village so I can just explore and have fun? Do you think I want to see the wonders of the world and come back to tell you how much I enjoyed being away from my family?"

No one answered. It wasn’t often that they saw Kanan get serious or irritated to such an extent. In fact, they didn’t think they’d seen Kanan like this at all.

"I’m leaving to protect our home, our people. I’m putting myself on the line so we can have a future."

"But it doesn’t have to be you!" Elder Hal retorted. The value of the Shaman was too great to just throw away like that. He would never let that happen.

"So it’s okay to let someone else potentially die in my stead?" Kanan wondered

"If the situation calls for it, yes." It was Elder Nala who spoke these words. Ever so practical she was. But her words really did hurt Kanan. Out of all of them, she was the one who took his side the most.

Elder Trena sighed. When speaking up, she tried to soothe Kanan instead of shutting him down like Elder Hal. "Kanan. You are the shaman. Our people would die for you because of how much they believe in you. Look at how much you’ve changed our home, and it hadn’t even been a year yet. There’s still so much you can do for us."

"And I appreciate that. I truly do. But at some point, there will be a time when I will have to make the hard call to sacrifice myself for you. The blood of Nemean will continue, even in the line of Chiefs." Kanan pointed at Omula, practically revealing that they had mated.

When everyone turned to her, Omula blushed and looked down in embarrassment, though she was happy that Kanan had no problem acknowledging her.

"If there is no future shaman, then I’m sorry for failing you. But as it stands right now, I will be overseeing the journey to the Helsik Tribe, and I will not take no for an answer. With Chief Solan out of commission and acting Chief Omula on my side, I have more than enough authority to disregard your opinions. So, we can continue arguing, or you can help me save our people."

"I’m convinced."

Heads turned to Telah, who had just taken Kanan’s side. She wasn’t on board at first, but after hearing him out, she understood the position he was coming from. So to her, it would be wrong to deny Kanan this journey.

"How could you agree to this?!" Elder Lars questioned Trena, who had sided with them at the beginning.

"You’re keeping Kanan locked in a cage. He’s allowing it because you all are his people, his family. But the more you keep him locked up, the more resentful he will be. He may be the Shaman, but he’s still a person."

"Telah’s right." Omula joined in. "Kanan has the protection of Lord Nemean. His purpose is to protect our people, and this means making difficult decisions, potentially even sacrificing himself if it comes to that. I don’t want him to go, but who am I to deny his god-given duty?"

You could see the gears turning in the Elder’s head, trying to talk Kanan out of this, but nothing came to mind. Anything they would say was already said, and even if there was something new, Kanan would just come up with another argument to refute their own.

Trena was the first to relent. She could see the determination in Kanan’s eyes, and knew he wouldn’t back down. "Just to be clear, I don’t agree with this, but I will support you. As long as you don’t get yourself killed."

"I don’t plan on dying anytime soon." Kanan smiled

Elder Hal and Lars didn’t speak up, but their body language told everyone that they gave up trying to change Kanan’s mind.

"Chief Solan is going to grill us once he wakes up." Elder Lard rubbed his tired eyes and sighed heavily for an extended period of time.

"It will be fine." Kanan smiled. "I’ve secured my team. We wont be leaving today or anything, so you don’t have to worry about me disappearing out of nowhere."

"Can you tell us who’s on your team?" Trena asked

"Well, first I chose Alue because of his expertise in plants."

Everyone nodded, agreeing with that choice.

"Then I chose Terin–"

"Nooooooooooo!"