Listening to all of this, Rick realised that the previous host hadn’t been as completely alone as he had first assumed.

Because if it hadn’t been for Grog, Phyllis, and Grandmother Ophelia, his predecessor would almost certainly be dead right now. And if that had happened, Rick’s soul probably wouldn’t have transmigrated into this body at all.

So in other words, Rick owed those three his life.

’Hmm, so it seems I have a friend here in this tribe after all.’ Rick pondered to himself as he recalled what the system had shown him earlier about Grog already having a sense of loyalty toward him.

But how did an elf who spent most of his time sitting alone in a cave corner manage to have a friend when he never even talked to his own family?

Rick found this strange, so he turned toward Gwen and asked. "Who is Grog?"

"Grog is your friend, or at least I think he is. But I don’t really know that much about him. All I know is that whenever everyone eats together in the clan, I’ve seen you give him a portion of your food every single time."

In this world where food was scarce, it was rare to see someone sharing food with anyone else unless they were family.

But since Rick and Grog were clearly not family, Grog had somehow developed a sense of friendship toward Rick.

Hearing this, Rick now understood exactly why Grog carried that sense of loyalty toward his predecessor.

It all made sense now.

But still, something else was sitting on his mind.

"What about Zok’s friends? Are they still alive?"

"Yes, they are. But don’t worry. None of them would dare touch you while I’m here. The only reason Zok had been so bitter toward you was because Zok had always been bitter toward everyone in the tribe. He recently lost his father during a hunt, and that made him worse. As for his friends, they’re all currently being punished."

"Punished?"

"Yes, they’re buried up to their chests in the ground and won’t be allowed to eat for what they did to you. Grandmother Ophelia made sure they were all dealt with. But the elders also said Grog should be punished as well, and now he is punished as well for fighting in the woods and for not informing any adults beforehand."

Rick remained silent as he processed this.

From what he could piece together, it seemed like the elders had been looking for any reasonable excuse to make things difficult for the previous host, and since they likely didn’t want to directly upset Grandmother Ophelia, punishing Grog gave them a way to do it without going too far.

In other words, Grog was currently being punished for a mistake the previous host had made, and right now there was nothing Rick could do about it.

This was also their way of forcing Grog not to protect Rick next time something like this happens in the future.

"How long?" Rick asked.

"Hm?"

"How long will Grog be punished?"

"Two days. He and Zok’s friends are not allowed to eat more than a small amount of food for two days. But I doubt anyone will even have anything to spare for them because right now the food we have left in the tribe is barely enough to satisfy one elf, let alone feed everyone."

Rick nodded quietly because he had already noticed this himself.

The only food Gwen had brought back for them was a single type of fruit, and even that hadn’t been enough to make him feel truly full.

He was still hungry right now, but he didn’t say anything about it because he could see clearly that the tribe was going through a serious shortage of food.

There wasn’t much for a single elf to eat, let alone a family or a whole tribe.

And so silence settled over the cave again, until Gwen’s voice broke through it softly.

"Rick? It’s getting late. Let’s sleep and talk more in the morning, okay?"

"Okay."

"Goodnight Rick." Gwen made herself comfortable under the pelt.

"Goodnight." Rick replied, and to his surprise, he watched his sister fall asleep almost immediately.

It made sense when he thought about it because Gwen had been out in the woods for a full week, barely getting any real rest, and was always keeping one eye and one ear open for the sound of night creatures creeping too close.

But now that she was home, her body felt relaxed and her exhaustion had simply been waiting for the right moment to let go.

And the moment it got one, her exhaustion took over completely.

Rick stayed still as he watched the calm, steady rise and fall of her breathing.

She looked completely at peace as her long green hair fanned out slightly against the dried leaves beneath her.

Rick looked at her quietly for a moment before turning his gaze back up toward the dark ceiling of the cave.

He acknowledged that his new life was not going to be easy because the tribe didn’t want him.

Besides, He had no skills, no combat path, and barely any mana to speak of, but none of that was going to stop him.

He had already spent a lifetime back on Earth being told, in one way or another, that his body had limits. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He had been told that there were things he simply couldn’t do and he had accepted his fate at the time.

But that was then.

He was in a new body now and his new body could move, breathe, and feel without pain.

And as long as he could do all these, Rick had absolutely no intention of spending this second life sitting in a corner doing nothing.

He might be the cursed elf of the tribe.

But he was not going to let that be the last thing anyone said about him.

So, Rick made up his mind as his eyes grew heavy and the warmth of the pelt pulled him closer to sleep.

But just before he could drift off completely, a familiar system prompt appeared before him.