The Primeval Era-Chapter 59: Details Matter II

Her wing-shaped pupils flickered toward the Bone Tempering Warrior atop the tree.

"Paired with the fact that the leader holds a Land and Sky Physique with serpentine characteristics, it should be an influencing or controlling type, something that allows her to bend the minds of those weaker than herself. The Warriors from the Unbound Tribes aren’t allies. They’re puppets."

She continued without prompting.

"And for such a Sworn to be in regions of Unbound Tribes, so far from any Vassal territory, there’s nothing here for her except bodies. She should be here to collect forces, to build up an army from those that no one would miss, that no one would investigate, that could be thrown into whatever conflict requires disposable soldiers."

Her voice grew more certain.

"If a Sworn from a Vassal Tribe is out here increasing the size of her forces, it can potentially mean that a larger conflict is occurring between her Vassal Tribe and another, a war that requires more Warriors than their own population can provide. She was sent out to gather expendable troops, and if she’s here doing this, there could be multiple others like her stretched out in multiple regions of Unbound Tribes doing the same thing."

...!

The Saint nodded at these words as well, her stellar eyes gleaming with something that might have been pride.

"Yes. Look at all the information you arrived at with the little details you had."

She leaned back in her throne.

"Sometimes all the mysteries that people think are grand or unknowable can be solved if one simply looks with eyes that are willing to see. What more do you observe?"

This time the Holy Daughter took a pause, letting her gaze sweep across the entire scene with painstaking attention to every element. The positioning of the hidden Warriors. The expression on the serpentine-eyed leader’s face. The state of the tribe being watched. The fresh earth near the farmlands. The red stains that still marked certain stones.

"Even though her aim is to increase the number of her forces, the fact that she’s hiding and surveilling right now without revealing herself means something else is going on that we don’t know," she said slowly, piecing together a narrative from fragments.

"It shows that she’s actually cautious of an Unbound Tribe that doesn’t seem to have much going for it, a small collection of Dross who should pose no threat to a Bone Tempering Warrior with a Physique."

Her eyes moved to the tribe itself.

"When looking at the tribe, they’re increasing their defenses. Stakes are being sharpened. Earthworks are being dug. The Tribesmen move with the urgency of those who expect trouble."

She noted the disturbed earth near the fields.

"We can also see fresh graves dug near the farmlands, and the stones are still painted red with blood in some areas. A battle should have occurred here not too long ago."

The pieces clicked together.

"The forces of this Sworn were actually overcome by the weaker forces of this tribe, defeated despite every advantage she should have held. She lost Warriors, perhaps many of them, and now she knows that trouble may be coming for the survivors, which is why they’re preparing."

She returned her attention to the hidden force. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"This also explains why the Sworn is surveilling them and not attacking right away. She seeks to understand how her forces were defeated so that things don’t repeat themselves. She’s searching for whatever unknown factor turned her certain victory into a humiliating loss."

Her voice grew colder.

"She’s not here to increase her forces from this tribe. She’s here for vengeance and slaughter, to pay back for what she lost. She plans to butcher every single entity here as soon as she confirms the threat that initially destroyed her Warriors. Men, women, children, it won’t matter. She’ll paint these purple stones red and leave nothing alive to speak of what happened."

...!

As she said her last word, the wing-shaped pupils within her eyes flashed with a frowning light, her composure cracking just slightly to reveal the revulsion that simmered beneath. Even though she maintained her analytical demeanor, even though she didn’t allow emotion to color her voice, it was clear that she heavily detested what was currently unfolding.

And yet, even as she said all of this, the Saint remained calm, her stellar eyes watching her disciple with the patient assessment of someone administering a test that had no easy answers.

"What else do you see?"

What else was there?

The Holy Daughter had looked at every single detail and inferred so much from everything tiny and small. She had traced motivations from armor quality and identified Physiques from pupil coloration and predicted future actions from positioning patterns.

But she continued looking regardless, because her master wouldn’t ask unless there was more to find.

Her wing-shaped eyes shone sharply as they swept across the tribe once more, this time focusing not on the physical evidence but on the people themselves, on their expressions and their bearing and the subtle signs that revealed their internal states.

"The Tribesmen of that tribe surrounded by purple stones," she said slowly, "their faces don’t show fear even though they know an enemy might be coming. They move with urgency, yes, but not with the panic of those who expect to die. Either they don’t believe the enemy should have found them so quickly, or..."

She paused.

"Or whoever saved them before is someone they really believe in. Someone who gave them confidence that they’ll be protected again if danger returns."

Her brow furrowed slightly.

"They don’t know that their enemy is a Sworn with a Land and Sky Physique, and that such beings have vastly different methods of perceiving the Lands. The serpentine-eyed woman likely managed to track where her old forces died due to the imprint she left on them with her Physique, following the thread of her influence back to its severing point. The Tribesmen think they’re safe because they covered their tracks, but they don’t understand that tracks mean nothing to someone who can sense the death of those she marked."

...!