Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 308

“Samoa,” Village Head Fan called out to the departing Samoa and said, “You should stay.”

“Why did you agree to their suggestion Father? Sir Dan saved our lives! We have no right to demand anything more of him!”

Once the elders were gone, Arthur unleashed his frustrations on his father. In his anger he banged on the table, which happened to be the only table in the room, and unsurprisingly the poor table was destroyed.

“Calm down. You just broke the only table made of Acacia wood in the entire village.” Village Head Fan’s heart ached at the sight of the expensive wooden masterpiece crumbling into bits. It was something he paid a great price for – or at least that was the lie he fed everyone he knew.

“Please. Isn’t that the furniture you extorted from the Black Wolf Gang when they tried to raid the village?” Arthur smirked disdainfully and said.

Others didn’t know where this piece of furniture came from, but he sure did. So he had no reservations about destroying it.

“I’m starting to regret drinking around you,” Village Head Fan sighed and said.

Although he seldom got drunk, there were times when he was lucky enough to hit the jackpot and come across some strong wine. In one of those instances he had gotten drunk and had spilled several secrets to his son. One of these secrets involved the origin of the Acacia table, which turned out to be a ‘gift’ from the head of the Black Wolf Gang several years ago.

The unfortunate gang had taken the village to be one for the taking and had ended up meeting Village Head Fan who was returning from one of the cities on the way. Naturally after hearing of their plans they were beaten to a pulp but spared on the condition that they would let others know of the fearsome might of the village. After all, to their knowledge, only one of the men from the village, whom they had run into coincidentally, was enough to deal with them all. Not knowing that they had just dealt with the head of the village and the strongest warrior at the time, they happily agreed. But Village Head Fan still took something from them as well. The unfortunate robbers had just procured an Acacia table and didn’t have the time to enjoy the rare masterpiece when Village Head Fan extorted it from them. The older man called it justice, for they had experienced what they had done to countless people. But Arthur knew that his father didn’t care about justice. The man just wanted a nice piece of furniture but was unwilling to fork out the money required to buy it.

“All I can do now is get a drink and forget about this incident,” Village Head Fan sighed and tried to leave.

“Do you think that would work?” Arthur smiled scornfully and blocked his father’s way. How could he not see that his father was trying to avoid answering his question? It was a trick the old man had been using since Arthur was a little boy. And whenever he was caught, the old man would just pummel his son into an unconscious state and leave anyway. Unfortunately Arthur’s newfound strength made that an impossible option. Village Head Fan looked into the determined eyes of his son that were telling him that until he got an answer, he wasn’t going to leave. Finally, he sighed and returned to his seat.

“So, why did you indulge them?” Arthur looked into his father’s eyes and demanded.

“Because they need something to cling onto,” Village Head Fan sighed and said.

“What do you mean?” a confused Arthur asked.

“Do you know what the relationship between the elders and Dan has been like all these years?” Village Head Fan asked. Naturally, the naïve and relatively uniformed Arthur shook his head in reply. How would he know when he had never been involved in the affairs of the village until today?

“Samoa?” Village Head Fan turned to Samoa and asked.

“Strained,” the young Samoa replied, avoiding his friend’s eyes.

“Exactly. Strained. They have treated him like crap these past decades. They’ve sent him on missions unbefitting of a Predator and have treated him like some sort of servant” Village Head Fan stated as he reclined in his chair.

“Why? He’s a Cheetah. His reputation is beyond many others. Why would they treat him like that? Also as a Predator, if they treated him poorly he could have just threatened to leave the village” Arthur wondered. The villagers normally got along well, so he had no idea that a Predator was being mistreated in the shadows. Also every Predator was an asset to any power. So mistreating one was very unfavorable. Arthur wondered why Wandering Cheetah had endured all these years.

“Because of something that happened years ago. Before he was swallowed by the Resurrection Cat, he revealed some unreal speed. And that was even when his abilities had been suppressed. I wondered then why he hadn’t revealed his true strength and had accepted the scorn of the entire village. But it was because of that incident. It was that incident that that made him so submissive to the abuse of the elders. It was that incident that caused him to lie low”

“Several years ago, a team of three Thrashers were sent out on a mission. These Thrashers were Unbound Mongoose, Wandering Cheetah, and a young woman. The young woman, who also happened to be the daughter of one of the elders, was Dan’s love interest. But they got careless on the mission and she lost her life. Later Dan confessed that it was his fault that she lost her life. She sacrificed her life for his. The elders were unhappy with him, hence the abuse. And I’m certain that he felt that he was to blame and took on their frustrations as a punishment he thought he deserved. He probably didn’t reveal his true strength and hid his speed because he knew that he would be given more responsibility and wouldn’t have to take their abuse anymore. Maybe he still feels guilty, but he may have kept his strength hidden so that he wouldn’t be spared their wrath”

Village Head Fan sighed when he was done speaking.

“And that is why the elders are so confident that he would accept the Village Guardian position. They know that as long as he is still ridden with guilt, they would still have their way with him. But because they are terrified of his strength they don’t dare make unnecessary demands, hence their fear and hesitation”

Samoa analysed.

“Yeah,” Village Head Fan nodded his head.

“You should thank Samoa,” Village Head Fan suddenly told the still stunned Arthur.

“Thank him? What for? For betraying me?” Arthur recovered himself and burst out again. He couldn’t understand why Samoa didn’t stand up for him and instead took the side of the elders. He was supposed to be his friend!

“For preserving your status,” Village Head Fan disregarded his son’s outburst and stated calmly. His words stunned Arthur for a while, and the young man turned to his friend for an explanation. Samoa only turned away. But Village Head Fan chose to answer the question.

“You cannot antagonize the elders and expect support when you become the chief. Believe it or not, you would need elders to help you handle the affairs of the village, especially when you have no idea how governance works. These elders may not be around when you lead, but they would train those who would take over and their impression of you would be passed on to these people. Why else do you think Samoa is here?”

“I reckon Frowning Tiger was worried about this, wasn’t he? That was why he sent you?” Village Head Fan turned to Samoa and stated.

“Yes Village Head Fan,” Samoa replied humbly. It was true that was the only reason Frowning Tiger asked him to come. The man didn’t care about the meeting enough to send an assistant just because he was injured. The only reason he was worried was because of Arthur. He couldn’t leave Arthur to the wily elders and rest easy. So he sent the intelligent Samoa in his stead.

“I’m sorry Samoa” Arthur bowed his head in shame and apologized.

“It’s no problem. I would have been mad too if I thought you had betrayed me,” Samoa comforted.

“Well there you go. Now we just have to wait for the elders to return and see what Dan thinks about their idea.”