Listening to the mention of Tarhan made her mouth dry and a burning sensation in her stomach. Yaru quickly added.

“Ah, of course. I’m not saying this is all Enya’s fault. Just that…”

She stopped speaking when she noticed Enya’s hands trembling slightly.

A silence fell.

Observing the situation, Fiarca checked Enya’s expression and cleared her throat.

“Ahem! And about the third option…”

Fiarca hesitated for a moment. Then, crossing her arms, she suggested seriously.

“What about heading to the Nervana Forest?”

Ihita acted first.

“See, I knew you were going to say that!”

She jumped up from her seat and exclaimed.

“Fiarca, you’re to be the next leader of Nervana, so of course, you’d want to take Enya back to the Nervana Forest to see if she truly is ‘the daughter of the forest’!”

Ihita grasped Enya’s arm as if to warn her.

“Enya, you must not fall for that! The Nervana Forest? Do you even know what that place is?”

Enya could feel the eyes of her companions turning towards her amidst the confusion. She felt herself shrinking.

…Daughter of the forest.

Something important that she had long forgotten had surfaced.

“That’s too harsh.”

Fiarca frowned at Ihita and then approached Enya closely.

“You don’t really believe what that child is saying, do you, Enya? Do you think I’d propose this just because I’m chasing only Nervana’s interests?”

Fiarca swept her short hair back with her palm in frustration.

“I chose the Nervana Forest as the most likely rally point given our current situation.”

“The most likely rally point…?”

At Enya’s question, Fiarca began to speak in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Yes. The issue of the daughter of the forest is a major one, you know? It’s certainly something that those of us living on this land would naturally be concerned about at least once.”

She continued in a very grave tone.

“Do you remember the legends passed down from our grandmothers’ time? The Daughters of the Forest symbolize the dominion and balance over creatures. Not just the Skull Spiders of the Nervana Forest, but all creatures of this land might obey you, Enya.”

Enya was speechless, hearing this for the first time. Yet, the other members of the Nervana Forest seemed unsurprised by Fiarca’s words.

She listened to Fiarca’s explanation in surprise.

“Enta, if you truly are the daughter of the forest, with the lines in the desert and the straits now severed, you’re the last of your kind. The true awakening of a daughter of the forest naturally commands the allegiance of these creatures.”

Fiarca solemnly added.

“Meaning, if you choose, there’s no army you couldn’t defeat.”

Enya swallowed nervously amidst her tension. She recalled the strange excitement on Avisak’s face when the fact that she was a Daughter of the Forest had been revealed.

‘So, that’s why Avisak conspired with Serbia to eliminate me.’

She thought bitterly amidst her anxiety.

Avisak had known all along that preemptively eliminating her was important so she would be unable to harness such vast power.

Seeing Enya’s complexion darken under the pressure, Fiarca quickly reassured her.

“Of course, it’s very rare for a daughter of the forest to possess such power.”

That was when someone else interjected.

“However, those who know history can’t help being wary of such power.”

Senu remarked.

He had been quietly listening all along and now spoke seriously,

“I agree with Fiarca. My mother…”

He cleared his throat.

“Ahem, she would certainly be infuriated by now that I not only spared Enya’s life but also fled with her.”

Now, everyone turned their attention to Senu’s words.

“With Tarhan’s disappearance, the chaos would not only be within the Great Plains’ Allied Forces, which Tarhan had led, but also in the Argon Desert. It was now under the temporary leadership of Gernan. Gernan’s control was largely due to the prestige of my mother’s name. Soon, questions about his leadership capabilities will arise, inevitably leading to a split in the Allied Forces.”

Senu’s voice hardened as he revealed Gernan’s name.

“And my mother, who painstakingly built this Allied Forces, will not sit by and watch it dissolve. She’ll likely try to cajole and keep together the tribes of the Great Plains that oppose the desert. Moreover, the daughter of the forest would be a perfect lure to draw the coalition’s attention.”

Everyone held their breath at Senu’s words.

“My mother’s forces will invade Nervana if need be, just to clarify the truth about the ‘daughter of the forest.'”

Senu asserted firmly.

“It’s possible they might even provoke a battle with Argon and persuade the allied forces to join in an invasion of Nervana.”

Rigata, who had been listening intently, chimed in with a grim nod.

“This is escalating quickly.”

As he acknowledged Senu’s points, Rigata crossed his arms and continued with a serious face.

“So, heading to Aquilea now would only mean aimlessly waiting for Tarhan, whose fate is uncertain, and dodging the obstacle that is Serbia. It might be more advantageous to directly go to Nervana Forest, confirm your status as the daughter of the forest, and potentially harness the significant power of the Skull Spiders.”

Rigata’s clear summary directed everyone’s attention toward Enya.

“This could completely change the landscape of this land.”

At that moment, Enya’s heart began to pound uncontrollably. It felt as though she was being burdened with a monumental responsibility linked to all these events.

Then, Ihita quickly stepped in.

“But Enya, don’t jump to conclusions. Think of Tarhan!”

She sounded concerned and turned to Senu and demanded abruptly,

“Weren’t you also aiming to meet with Tarhan?”

Just as Senu was about to speak, Ihita raised her voice again.

“Honestly, what good can we possibly do by moving on our own in this situation?”

The high-ranking warriors of Nervana Forest seemed to take her words as an insult. However, Ihita, undeterred, clutched Enya’s arm with a tone of desperation.

“There’s no need to rush into such dangers. Let’s go back to Aquilea. Enya! Let’s go back and think it over, okay?”

Enya couldn’t answer immediately with her mind a mess.

At that moment, Fiarca scoffed in disbelief and said to Ihita.

“You’re being frustrating, think about it. Tarhan isn’t a fool. He may have acted rashly this time, but remember how astute he usually is. He was the leader of both a tribe and the Great Plains Allied Forces.”

Fiarca curled her lip.

“Do you really think Tarhan hasn’t already considered all that we’ve discussed?”

She spoke assertively while baring her teeth.

“If he’s still alive, he will undoubtedly come looking for Enya by any means necessary. Where do you think he would predict Enya would go, considering all that’s happening? Where do you think they’re most likely to meet?”

Fiarca narrowed her eyes fiercely, emphasizing her point.

“Given the current situation, where they’re continuously exposed to enemy interference, and paths may cross unexpectedly, the most likely final destination where they could meet is Nervana Forest. It’s highly probable that’s the conclusion he’d reach.”

Silanda, who had been observing quietly, chuckled and muttered to herself.

“So, it sounds like all forces might converge on Nervana.”

“Really?”

Jahan asked in a scared tone, to which Silanda snapped back.

“That’s what we’re discussing, you fool!”

Frustrated, Jahan shook his head dismissively.

Yaru then spoke up.

“Then it seems Enya’s opinion is what matters most now.”

With that remark, everyone’s gaze turned towards her. Feeling suddenly flush with embarrassment, Enya stammered.

“I, I…”

She murmured in confusion. Her hands trembling with the weight of the decision before her. Seeing her struggle, Fiarcar started to speak but then shut her mouth.

Ihita burst into tears, turning away from Enya and burying her face in her knees.

‘What should I do…?’

The responsibility suddenly thrust upon Enya was crushingly heavy. It was as if she had reached the most significant crossroads of her life.

The first face that came to mind was inevitably Tarhan’s.

‘…Tarhan.’

Just thinking of him made her feel a tumultuous wave of emotions inside her. Her heart felt like it was being torn apart. This moment that was spent away from him, felt surreal, almost dreamlike.

To Enya, Tarhan was instinctual.

He was the guiding star for migrating birds, the direction of the sun’s rise and set. His presence was that absolute in her life.

It was so much so that she couldn’t imagine being without him.

She was terribly afraid. She wanted to retreat into a shell like a wary snail and hide in a safe place where no one could see her. Then, inside, she would wait endlessly for Tarhan to rescue her. Just to see him again would be enough, to forget all else and lie down as if dead, waiting only for him.

As she always had.

But then, a question she had never considered before struck her like lightning.

…Then, who would save Tarhan?

Who would rescue him, the man who had always saved her?

At that moment, Yaru’s words echoed in her mind like a reverberation.

“The last thread he was clinging to in his mind finally snapped. That man, I’ve seen him pushing his limits for a while now.”

The words pierced Enya’s chest, stabbing deep towards her heart. One by one, images of Tarhan that Enya had tried to bury deep within her memory began to surface. It cruelly unfolded before her eyes without her consent.

His desperate cries echoed like a caged beast as he stood in front of the elders, bound by a dozen soldiers.

The exhausted face he only revealed after falling asleep in her arms each night during his time as deputy chieftain.

The night their child was a stillborn, when the man leaned against the wall of Piache’s house, his expression that of a man on the brink.

Her memories traveled further back.

A young man, freshly after his coming-of-age ceremony, covered in wounds, having survived countless brushes with death, not a single fingernail unscathed.

A boy whose lips were split, who clumsily rolled an apple to her as an apology.

A boy who masked his fragility with rage and defiance, teetering through each day on the edge of collapse.

Ultimately, her memories mercilessly burrowed into the deepest place she had hidden away.

There he was.

That night, clutching at his mother’s lifeless legs, howling, collapsing as if he would never get up again.

And perhaps Tarhan was still there, collapsed and unable to get up.

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