Leone stared at Cain, who stood defiantly and was looking back at him.

The warriors of the Darkmane Tribe immediately surrounded their Young Lord, their hands gripping the hilt of their weapons.

Hugo, who stood in front of the Grimfang Tribe, even hoped that this matter would escalate. It would be great if the Darkmane Tribe and the Aslan Tribe duked it out with each other.

Tension soon covered the surroundings as everyone waited with bated breath on what would happen next.

"Who are you?" Leone asked, narrowing his eyes at the arrogant man who was in his mid-twenties. Of course, he knew whom he was speaking to.

However, since this was their first meeting, it would be best to follow the flow of the moment.

"I am Cain, the eldest son of the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe," Cane declared.

Leone nodded before shifting his gaze to his Great Uncle.

"Great Uncle, I have prepared this feast to celebrate your birthday," Leone said with a face filled with injustice. "Did you see what he did? He is disrespecting your birthday, Great Uncle!"

The corner of Gundar and Wayne’s lips twitched in response.

Gundar’s birthday was still four months away. Everyone in the Borderlands knew this. Even Cain.

"The Great Shaman’s birthday is still far away!" Cain shouted in anger. "How dare you spout nonsense in front of him!"

"Cain, was it?" Leone sneered. "Have you not heard of celebrating birthdays in advance? It’s alright if you don’t. But so what if Great Uncle’s birthday is still far away? If I want to celebrate it for him, what’s stopping me from doing it?

"Also, you’re just a guest to this celebration, yet you’re already causing trouble! Just who is being disrespectful here?! Do you think I’ll allow you to be unruly during Great Uncle’s birthday party?!"

Gundar didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry. Leone was dragging him into this mess. It was like a fight between two children where one of them said "I’m calling my uncle!", dragging the adults in their fight.

Wayne looked at his brother, who had been praising Leone to the high heavens ever since he returned from his trip to the Aslan Tribe. Sensing his brother’s gaze, Vlad covered his face with both hands, feeling his cheeks burn from embarrassment.

However, Leone wasn’t done just yet.

"Are you not going to apologize for ruining Great Uncle’s birthday celebration?" Leone asked calmly.

"Shut up!" Cain shouted. "Stop talking nonsense!"

Just as Leone was about to talk smack once more, a powerful voice spread across the surroundings.

"Enough!"

Gundar finally spoke up, making everyone freeze. The great shaman then glanced at Cain, looking at him coolly.

"Sit and eat," Gundar stated. "If you still want to quarrel, do it after eating."

He had no intention to join this squabble between children. He was already an adult.

And while he sympathized with Leone, he believed this was something the young man should handle by himself.

Since the great shaman had already spoken, Cain was left with no choice but to go to one of the tables to sit down.

If he openly defied the great shaman, he would just be asking for trouble. Gundar had already made his intentions known. He could quarrel with Leone after eating, so he would save the tit-for-tat when his men had properly sated their thirst and hunger.

Leone sat after that, and asked Kael to handle the cleanup.

When Cain kicked one of the tables, it landed on another table, causing damage to it as well.

The members of the Aslan Tribe then moved to carry out their orders without even glancing in the direction of the Darkmane Tribe.

They had already been briefed that Cain and his subordinates might cause trouble, so they were already prepared for this kind of incident.

After the places that had been messed with were cleaned up, Kael once again moved his hands, pretending to summon tables and chairs from the fortress.

New food and drinks were then placed on this table, making the scene look as if nothing had happened.

After the issue had been dealt with, Leone started talking to Vlad, asking him about his journey.

The teenage boy was more than happy to tell Leone the stories of their travels, as well as the things that happened after his return to the Warclaw Tribe. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Leone, do you know that the Grimhowl Tribe had formally recognized the Aslan Tribe as their allies?" Vlad said proudly. Leone had given him permission to talk to him without formalities.

Since Vlad was the son of Godwin, and looked up to him like an older brother, he decided that there was no need for formalities between them.

"Really?" Leone smiled. "So, how does this alliance work?"

"Um... I don’t really know the details." Vlad glanced at his brother. "We’re from the Warclaw Tribe."

Finally getting the opportunity to talk, Wayne lightly cleared his throat and spoke about the details of how alliances in the borderlands usually work.

"I am from the Warclaw Tribe, but I’ll tell you a little bit on how alliances work," Wayne stated. "It means supporting each other in time of crisis. For example if any other tribes attack you, the Grimhowl Tribe will mediate with them to stop any further hostilities."

"But what if they don’t want to stop any hostilities like that guy over there?" Leone raised his voice loudly and pointed at Cain. "Will the Grimhowl Tribe also step in to handle guys like him?"

The corner of Wayne’s lips twitched because Leone was starting to rub him off the wrong way. He, and his brother already said that they were from the Warclaw Tribe and not the Grimhowl Tribe!

If not for the fact that Gundar had good relationship with Leone, Wayne wouldn’t even bother explaining things to this upstart chieftain!

"Although I am not from the Grimhowl Tribe, I believe that they will stand by your side if you are in the right." Wayne decided to make sure that this point was settled to score some browning points with Gundar.

"But, you can’t start causing trouble and expect them to help clean your mess for you. Alliances in the Borderlands doesn’t work that way. At least, that is how the Warclaw Tribe does it."

"I understand." Leone nodded before pointing back at Cain. "I’m sure you saw what happened earlier. He came here to cause trouble. It is very obvious that he came here to bully us. Since the Grimhowl Tribe is our allies, how will they handle this, great uncle?"

Leone looked at Gundar in response, but the great shaman was busy eating his food. Clearly, he didn’t want any part of this discussion.

Seeing that his great uncle didn’t really want to give any comments, Leone decided to not pry any further.

The Warclaw Tribe was here as their guests because of Vlad. It was only logical that they didn’t want to meddle in this muddy waters. Wayne stepping up to explain things to him was done out of the kindness of his heart.

’It is quite unfortunate that only great uncle is here to represent the Grimhowl Tribe,’ Leone thought.

But, seeing Gundar’s stance, it was obvious that he wanted to see how Leone would deal with this problem on his own.

This alliance was only made possible because Gundar was the one that initiated it. If not for him, the Grimhowl Tribe wouldn’t have even bothered acknowledging the Aslan Tribe as their ally.

"Understood, I’ll deal with this matter myself," Leone said.

Vlad wanted to give assurance to Leone that the Darkmane Tribe wouldn’t dare to be so overbearing since they were allied with a high-ranking tribe. But, Wayne’s gaze made him hold back whatever he wanted to say.

The two scions from the Warclaw Tribe had been informed by their father that the Darkmane Tribe had sent a messenger to the Grimhowl Tribe to ask Hagen if the Aslan Tribe were indeed their allies.

Cain had come here knowing that as well. And yet, he still acted arrogantly as if he didn’t put a low-ranking tribe in his eyes.

Of course, Leone had no intention of taking things lying down. Since trouble was already brewing, he sent a telepathic message to Blitz.

"Plan B, Blitz!"

*Squeak!*

The young man knew that after the food was cleared up, the real conflict would start. Gundar would then excuse himself from the scene, leaving only Wayne and Vlad to witness how Leone would handle their guests.

Although the great shaman didn’t want to admit it, he was looking forward to what would happen next.

He considered this as a test that Leone had to overcome on his own, which would teach him a valuable lesson in life.

What Gundar didn’t know was that the Great Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe had already been preparing for war with the Darkmane Tribe ever since the battle with the Bloodtusk Tribe ended.

He understood that he had no chance of winning. But so what?

Leone already prepared a backup plan in mind. Even if war really started between them, his goal was to make the Darkmane Tribe bleed so much that they would regret attacking them.

He no longer planned to endure anything.

The lesson he learned from paying tribute to the middle-ranked tribes was enough for him to know that once people thought you were a pushover, they would continue to treat you as a pushover.

Hassan’s story of her mother’s retaliation against the Kingdom of Britannia helped Leone affirm his choice.

After his exile, he thought that his family would be left alone by the nobles of Britannia. However, they were not left alone.

They pushed and pushed, and then stopped. But they only changed their minds because they started to fear the Frontera Family.

The Darkmane Tribe was a high-ranking tribe, so they didn’t fear the Aslan Tribe.

If the Grimhowl Tribe was taken out of the picture, they would not hesitate to send their warriors to the east in order to teach Leone a lesson.

Yet, they were not aware that Leone wasn’t really expecting anything from the Grimhowl Tribe.

He couldn’t care less about them.

Since that was the case, he would handle this matter as the Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe.

His people gathered under his banner because they believed that he would protect them.

And Leone would show everyone that, regardless who they were, the Aslan Tribe wasn’t a soft persimmon that they could easily crush.

Instead, it was a cactus.

Fortunately, it just so happened that Cain was there. He would be the first to know just how prickly Leone was.

The example that would make the Borderlands think that the Great Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe had finally gone crazy!