Chapter 196: No Limits, Only Choices

"So... You are saying that there are chances that we won’t have enough meat for everyone?" Marin asked dumbfoundedly."Yeah," Sovra responded flatly and said, "The beasts have evolved because of the ether, and many of them now have inedible bodies."

Hearing his explanation, Marin leaned back in his chair and heaved a defeated sigh while staring at the hut’s ceiling.

A few moments later, he lowered his head, his gaze shifted to the woman a few steps away from Sovra, and he asked, "What bad news do you have for me, Taien?"

Taien looked at him with a troubled expression and answered sombrely, "W-Well, the herbs have also evolved so..."

"So we don’t have the meat and the spices..." Marin’s expression turned dark, and he mumbled under his breath, "Why can’t things go smoothly for once?"

But before he could truly fall into depression, a voice reached his ears.

"I’ll help with the herbs."

Marin instantly turned his head to the left, and his gaze fell on Rion leaning against the wall like he had been there the whole time, arms crossed, eyes glowing faintly.

’When did he come inside...?’ Sovra and Marin thought in unison, and Taien knelt before him.

She cupped her hands towards him and said, "Glory to the high commander!"

Rion looked at her with a smile. "I heard you became the right-hand woman of Zaelyane."

A soft smile appeared on Taien’s face.

Shaking her head, she answered, "It’s all because of your grace."

"That is true..." he mumbled and added, "So none will have any issue if I barge in, right?"

Taien nodded, stood up on her feet and said with a bright smile, "We will be happy to have you at our camp."

Rion smiled at her and looked at Marin, who was glaring at him with veins throbbing all across his face.

He furrowed his brows and asked, "What’s wrong?"

Marin’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he spat, "What’s wrong?!"

He pointed a finger at him and continued, "The first day you woke up, you went around like you had blood on your mind!! But it’s fine, it’s fine! You weren’t in your right mind after all, BUT what did you do right after?! You vanished for two days!! Two whole days!!"

’Ah...’ Rion smiled sheepishly, scratched his cheek with his finger and said, "Well... I wanted some time alone."

Marin slammed the table. "I get that! I understand that you need some time for yourself, BUT you are the high commander! You are everyone’s hero! You cannot disappear just because you feel like it!! You think I don’t want some time for myself?!"

Rion fell silent. Sovra looked at him with an amused light in his eyes, and Taien mumbled while trembling, sweat rolling down her face, "Umm... I-I think I should go back."

Marin displayed a sweet smile and said, "As you wish."

She took a final glance at Rion and stormed out of the hut.

Rion stayed silent for a few moments before he mumbled, "I am sor—"

But before he could finish his words, Marin once again slammed the table and said while grabbing his head. "I am not saying it for you to feel sorry! I am saying because I have to..."

He looked into Rion’s eyes. "I know you are worried about Dora... I also know that you have made your mind, and I completely support your decision, but for the first time in so many years, Dhaevrak is free. We are free!"

He placed his hands together, his eyes burning with pride, and he said, "Because of that, I have to reform everything from top to bottom, and the one person that I believed to have the capability to help me just disappears because they weren’t feeling right..."

Leaning forward, he asked, "How would you feel if you were in my position?"

Rion stared into his eyes and stated, "They will be coming for all of us."

All of a sudden, the hut fell silent, and Rion felt as if all the air within it had been sucked out.

Marin’s expression turned grim, and he mumbled, "Who told you that...?"

Sovra had a similar expression, though his was a bit easier as he had only heard of the slaughter that they had caused.

"The Remnant," Rion answered sombrely and hearing that, Sovra commented, "Why would you trust them?"

Rion looked at him and said, "The only reason why The Remnant had done all of this was to kill them... so even though I hate him, I cannot believe that he would lie about them."

Hearing his explanation only made it harder for Sovra to understand. Why would anyone trust the words of their opponent after all?

Marin stood up from his chair and said, "Yet you want to leave?"

Rion thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "I will leave. Not only for Dora but because by leaving and learning about the outside world, I will gain more strength than I would by staying."

A hollow chuckle escaped Marin, and he commented, "So you have made your mind..."

Rion nodded. "I have."

Seeing them talk about leaving and staying as if it were the most common thing, Sovra pinched himself on the hand and whispered, "Am I the only sane one here?"

"No," Marin responded. Shaking his head, he added, "That would be me. I am the most sane person within the whole red and black mountains, after all."

Rion chuckled, and Marin asked, "So? What do you want me to do?"

Rion nodded. "We will continue with what we were doing before."

"Hmm? Elaborate."

Rion turned. Stars sparkling in his eyes as if he had once again become the child who used to smile at just being able to walk.

He slowly swiped his hand sideways across the space and said, "The red and black mountains are full of minerals... I want you to use them and reform Dhaevrak from what it is right now... I want you to turn it into the kingdom that my mother always told me stories of."

"You are asking too much of me," Marin stated with an amused chuckle.

Rion turned his head towards him with a bright smile. "We have no limits... we just choose them by ourselves."