Primitive Man

"It's a miracle that nobody died in the village, even after all those problems we faced," Ayra said, while scooping up the remaining snow to clear out the training ground and finally start her training again.

Rona followed in her footsteps, agreeing with Ayra. She knew how hard it was for humans like them to survive the winter, drawing from her experience when she was a leader of a small group.

"We have to thank Garnt for that. If he didn't give us all those canned foods, we would have ended up dead from starvation," Rona added to the conversation. Ayra agreed, and they kept working on the ground until they saw Unami running toward them with an angry look on her face.

"Baktou..." Ayra obviously knew why a sweet girl like Unami would have that face. When they heard what she said next, everything started to make sense to them.

Baktou attacked their food supply and tried to weaken them because he wanted to invade their seaside village. Unami explained what happened, sharing information she got from reliable sources. Ayra and Rona also started to feel angry at Baktou because they knew how important the seaside village was to Garnt.

"Unami, what are we going to do with your brother?" Ayra asked, as if she wanted permission to do something bad. Unami didn't hesitate to give that permission.

"I don't care. That man is not my brother anymore. We should invade the seaside village and recapture it with the mining village."

All three of them nodded their heads, thinking along the same lines. However, they wanted to know what Garnt was planning.

"I already told him what happened. Let's see what he wants to do. He is holding back because it's Baktou, but I think this is the limit for him," Unami said. Ayra suggested going to meet him right away, as being close to him, their faithful wives, was the best thing they wanted to do.

Leaving the training grounds and handing over the shovels to the rookie warriors, hoping they would clean the place, Ayra, Unami, and Rona went to meet Garnt only to find him near the entrance of the main village with Kara.

"Garnt..." Unami called him out, but then she noticed a few rugged-looking men tied by a rope lying beneath them, and she wondered who they were.

"What's going on?" Ayra questioned Kara as they approached. With a smug smile, Kara decided to answer her mother.

"They were snooping around the village, trying to collect information on us. I caught them while hunting, and it looks like they are from a familiar group we know. After all, we have only one enemy right now."

Garnt kept looking at the men, but then Unami suddenly kicked one of the men and started questioning him.

"Tell me! Who are you working for? I'm rather angry right now, so I will give you ten seconds before breaking all the bones in your body," she said, keeping her leg on the man's face and pressing it rather tight, showing she wasn't playing around.

At first, no answer came from the man but little by little when Unami pressed her leg on the man's face and blood started to come out of his face, the answers started to flow as if he didn't really even care in the first place to reveal who they were working for.

"Alright, alright! Please don't kill me, we work for Baktou. He sent us to gather intel on your village!" he finally confessed, gasping for breath.

Unami's eyes narrowed with rage. "Baktou, huh? What does he want with our village? What intel he wanted"

The man hesitated for a moment before spilling the beans. "He's planning an invasion. He wants your seaside village for himself. He thinks it's the key to power in these lands. I wasn't ordered to find out about this village, but I wanted some extra points so I tried to spy on this village with my group."

Unami clenched her fists, feeling the anger boil inside her. "That traitor! We let him live because he was once our comrade, and this is how he repays us?"

Ayra, ever the strategist, spoke up. "We can't let him succeed. We need to defend our village and strike back."

Garnt, silent until now, spoke with a determined look. "No! This is enough. I waited far too long thinking he would change back. It's been five years and he is only getting worse. We should put him down before he becomes an even bigger threat to our village."

Unami, still pressing her foot on the man's face, delivered a final threat. "Tell Baktou that he made the biggest mistake of his life. We're coming for him."

With that, Unami released her hold, leaving the man gasping for air. He tried to run away, thinking he was spared, as Unami muttered those last words. However, he soon felt something hitting him from behind, and when he looked down at his own body, he saw a sharp, pointy sword piercing his chest and coming out the other side.

"Ugh~" Coughing blood out of his mouth, the man fell to the floor, and Garnt kept looking at him with a merciless gaze, knowing that sooner or later, his brother would also look like this.

The trio turned to Garnt, who had a plan forming in his mind.

"Winter and suffering is over. Let's get ready to finish what we started five years ago."

***

Telvi arrived at the seaside village after leaving the mining village, knowing that Baktou needed her help. After all, throughout these five years, she had been by his side and knew how vulnerable he was.

"Mother! This village is beautiful, I want to live here," the boy who was holding Telvi's hand muttered. She quickly patted his head with a sad look in her eyes, aware of the reality of the situation.

But then, she noticed her son started to look more and more like a certain man she knew and felt rather odd. Her hands, without even knowing, caressed her son's blond hair, which neither Baktou nor Telvi had.

"Toga, you're starting to look more and more like him," she muttered under her breath while Toga enjoyed his mother's touch.

Baktou, upon learning that Telvi had arrived, quickly came to pick her up. He was rather happy that she was here; after all, he had a rather close relationship with her within these five years, during which he mostly depended on her when he was vulnerable.

"You came! And Toga is also here. I'm glad to see both of you," He hugged both of them, but Telvi quickly tried to escape knowing how strong Baktou was. She also protected Toga from Baktou, as she knew his body could go out of control with any movement.

"Me too! Me too, Baktou." She said, and Baktou smiled but then he noticed the weird look his wife and kid got from the other villagers, so he quickly decided to accompany them to their resting places because he also had to inspect the ballistas that came with Telvi.

"You two can rest since you're tired. I will talk to you later, we will be staying in this village for a few days or maybe a few weeks, so try to make yourself comfortable, also don't get too close to see since we have some surprise awaiting inside that water," Baktou warned and Telvi took the warning with her whole body.

She knew that if Baktou said something was dangerous, it truly posed a threat; after all, he was the strongest human she knew at the moment. However, a lingering question persisted in her mind.

'Is he stronger than Garnt?'

Though she didn't fully comprehend how the syringes worked, she was aware that Baktou's strength was not natural, and the way his body occasionally went out of control was far from ordinary.

"That woman! She's the only person who knows what's wrong here, but I can't stand her," Telvi muttered to herself. Then, as if her thoughts had materialized, she saw Kalina waiting for her in front of the house that Baktou had assigned. Telvi couldn't help but click her tongue in annoyance.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a dissatisfied tone, and Kalina responded with a smile.

"I'm handling everything here, but don't worry. You might also find some value in your seemingly primitive life." It was a tone that Telvi couldn't stand, and Toga quickly covered his mother, as if sensing that the woman was not friendly.

"Ohhhh~ little boy, you're rather big now, and you're starting to look more and more like him. I guess sometime in the future when you know the truth, you will hate your parents for hiding it from you," Kalina muttered those words and left, causing Telvi to turn red, as if she was boiling inside. However, she also knew that the woman's words held some truth.

'I need to tell him the truth about his father. Soon! Soon, I will do that, but for now, I want to see and help Baktou so he won't make a mistake.'