Tribe Conquest: Harem starts in a tribe!-Chapter 4: Survive Until Dawn(3)

Eric’s breath hitched behind the boulder. He leaned forward slightly, muscles locked, as if even his heartbeat might betray him by traveling through the stone.

"Ha... ha..."

Someone wheezed nearby, breathing like an old man pushed past his limits. A deep, exhausted voice followed, thick with irritation.

"Buan—once I catch you, I’ll make you pay for making me chase after you!"

The man was close enough that Eric could smell damp leather and sweat, close enough that he could hear his heavy breaths clearly.

Eric swallowed, the sound painfully loud in his ears. He imagined a hand resting on the boulder, fingers curling around the edge. He imagined a face leaning in, eyes adjusting to the dark.

However.

Nothing happened.

Instead, another voice called out from farther ahead, ordering the owner of that deep voice, "Daulk, come fast if you don’t want to get a beating from me."

Eric’s blood ran cold.

He recognized that voice — his brother-in-law — Rokan!

"Damn it!" Daulk cursed in a low volume before dragging himself away.

Footsteps receded, stretching into faint echoes before dissolving into the night. Their voices faded with them—confident, convinced, still chasing the illusion of a fleeing man.

Eric didn’t move.

He stayed pressed against the boulder long after silence returned, long after his legs began to tremble from strain. Only when his heartbeat finally slowed—only when the darkness felt truly empty—did he allow himself a single, careful breath.

’Why am I in this hell?’ he cursed internally, ’To be chased so openly... does this tribe have no rules at all?’

However, cursing his luck or the tribe’s law would not get him anywhere.

Instead, he decided to analyze his situation.

’I have to survive till dawn... Does that mean I’ll be safe after that?’

’But what will change?’

’If they can hunt me now, they can hunt me tomorrow as well.’

At this moment, Buan’s memory flashed again, giving him his answer.

The tribe didn’t allow killing each other; it only allowed infighting or bullying the weak. They believed in strength, and if the weak had a problem with how they were treated, they should strive to become stronger.

Rokan couldn’t kill Buan openly since that was a crime.

’That means something is different about tonight that has given Rokan enough courage to come after me so openly.’

’But what?’

However, he couldn’t think of an answer no matter how hard he tried. There were only a few individuals who could save Buan right now.

From the memories, Eric could only find three of them.

One was the village patriarch, another was the strongest warrior of the tribe — Shokan, and the last was Xira Nile — a dagger master with a 5-star spirit tattoo.

Only these individuals dared to go against the Vice-Patriarch and his son, however, only the Village Patriarch would do so for Buan.

There were also other powerful individuals, but they wouldn’t help Buan even if he begged them to. There were reasons for such treatment, which Eric couldn’t find in Buan’s memories.

’Damn, this guy Buan wasn’t liked by many.’ Eric smiled wryly.

Eric knew that he would die if Rokan caught him, as warned by the spell. He could either continue to hide or run to the Village Patriarch for safety.

’Should I just stay here?’

He pondered only for a second before making his decision.

’Yeah. Let’s just stay here quietly until dawn. The mission is to survive anyway, not to run to safety.’

Once he made his decision, he relaxed a little. There were still four hours until dawn. He sat still without moving, waiting for the time to pass.

For an hour, nothing happened, the silence of the night feeling a little comforting.

However, suddenly a yellowish red sphere of light appeared in Eric’s view.

At first, he was unable to figure out as to what that sphere of light was; however, as he squinted his eyes to get a clearer view, he noticed the muscular man holding a wooden torch in his hand. The sphere was the radiance emitting from the flames of the wooden torch.

Eric then noticed the hound he was sitting on, a large, nasty-looking beast with a necklace of bones around his collar.

From the memories, he recognized the man as a patrolling guard of the tribe, and the hound was the common mount used by the tribe, a Grimtrail hound.

’Why is he coming in this direction?’

Eric questioned internally in confusion. The guard was coming straight in his direction, albeit slowly.

’It’s as if he is searching for me...’

As soon as that thought flashed in his mind, Eric’s pulse spiked and eyes widened with horror.

He realized what was going on.

’Rokan must have sent him to find me.’

He cursed in his head, afraid to speak loudly. The hound must have a heightened hearing ability. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

’That hound must be sniffing my scent and guiding the guard to me.’

Eric wanted to bite on his nails, but he didn’t. Instead, his mind raced.

It was clear that the guard was sent by Rokan.

With his father’s influence, no one in the tribe would dare oppose him. Getting a guard to do his bidding was a piece of cake for him.

’Fuck the gods!’ he screamed in his heart, gritting his teeth in frustration. ’Not even hiding is an option!’

There was still more than four hundred meters of distance between Eric and the guard. He had time to think before rushing to take any action.

’I need to run before they get any closer. If that hound comes after me, I don’t know if I can shake it off.’

’I need to escape without letting it notice me.’

’But...’

’Where do I run?’

’If they can just sniff me out, hiding isn’t an option. No matter where I hide, they will find me. Even if I hide in someone else’s house, it would be meaningless with that hound coming after my scent.’

’I need to run someplace safe, where even if they find me, I will be safe.’

’The only place like that is the Village Patriarch’s residence.’