Herald of Steel

The war like bellicose Metztil had already thought of using military force when troubles began to first brew.

But was staunchly warned against doing such a foolish thing by his wife.

She quickly showed him during such a crisis, he would be able to produce at best 10,000 men from the fractured Helvati and other allied tribes.

Whereas Tepin's supporters would likely wield twice as much if not much more.

Facing such a mismatch, the Helvati people would likely flip on Metztil even before the man could march to war.

After all, many natives would have their friends and families in that army, and they would hardly consent to see them sacrificed for Metztil's foolish ambitions.

This chief was not charismatic like Alexander to be able to wield the complete support of his subjects.

Hence afraid of being ousted by a popular uprising from people who were sick of war, the man could only grit his teeth and endure.

Now though things had changed.

Metztil thought that if were to ally himself with Alexander, with this external aid, he would be able to crush all internal and external threats.

This gripping the handle of his dirk hanging by the waist tightly, his eyes turned thus razor sharp and he appeared like a cougar imminently about to jump.

"Why should we tell the other tribes about our deal?" When suddenly this melodious voice rang into his ear, stunning him into a pause.

It came from beyond the thin flaps that acted as the conference room's door, and Metztil instantly recognized it.

And so did all the others, as they turned their heads to see a woman stepping into the restricted room with steady steps showing no scruples whatsoever.

Of medium build and height, she was extremely plain looking, and similarly wore plain clothes- a very baggy white full sleeved gown over which was draped a simple, red shawl to fight the biting chill of the winter.

Her looks were hardly distinguishable from any other native woman living in this vast area. However if one thought she would be able to easily mix herself in a sea of crowd like any other commonerer, they would be grossly mistaken.

For her gaze, movement, and body language all exuded a level of confidence and poise that made most people not even dare to look at her eyes.

She possessed such a remarkable air of elegant temperament that it was hard to come by even among ten thousand women, clearly showing she had held a position of great power for a very long time.

As you have probably guessed, this was Atzi- the current chief shaman and Metztil's wife.

As the middle aged woman slowly made her way towards her husband, the other elders gave a respectable nod of recognition to this powerful figure, each producing a complicated mix of emotions.

They of course knew who was the brains behind all the brawl of their chief, and had counted on her being absent for the negotiations.

That would have made things so much easier.

'What are the guards doing?' Some of them hence cursed, wishing to beat those worthless men for being little more than 'living statues'.

But they also knew deep down they were barking up the wrong tree here.

This chief shaman was not something those poor men could deal with.

As the divine reincarnation of the tribe's spirit, she could go anywhere she wished within its grounds without any scruples.

Even other people's homes and houses were within her preview.

And denying her access would be like denying the divine.

Such blasphemy was unimaginable for any tribal man.

Hence the lady did not need to utter a peep when she came here.

As soon as the guards saw her walking towards them, they bowed and gave away, and got a grateful nod and a slight smile in return.

This was how she was able to make all the way up here without raising any alarms Stay updated through m-v l|-NovelBin.net

"Atzi… it is not appropriate for you to come here. You should know better."

However, although the chief shaman was technically allowed to go anywhere within the tribe as she pleased, the reality was a bit different than what was written on paper. řα𐌽Ồ𝐁Ёś

There were some unwritten tactic restrictions even she had to follow.

One of which was that chief shamans were heavily discouraged from engaging in politics.

This was because as the representative of the divine spirit, it was assumed they should not taint themselves with the filth of politics, that they should concentrate on only serving the people, and not be concerned with their governance.

In this way, the elders and the chiefs tried to separate civilian rule from religion.

Of course, beyond all these flowery words and deceitful veil, laid the real reason, which was the always present hunger for power and influence.

Since the chiefs were publicly believed to be divinely appointed, they were considered the heart of the tribe and simply too powerful for any chief or elder to contend with.

Recall that people with such powerful titles were usually called kings and emperors.

And indeed long ago, such was the case.

The chief shaman was also the chief of the tribe,.

But around a few centuries ago, the elites plotted to have it changed.

They did this because when as powerful being as that dipped their hands in the pie, all the others were left with little more than bread crumbs.

The various forces felt too dissatisfied with such meager scraps. They wanted to eat the meat too, not just drink the soup.

Hence to suppress the clergy, the Helvati elite banded together and using an easily manipulated shaman who was ambitious way beyond her capability, cleverly decreed that only women could be chief shamans.

They said both men and women could be shamans there was no problem with that, but only females could be the head.

When this was first introduced, there was obviously intense backlash from among the men, who naturally thought themselves to be superior to the women and demanded such a law be revoked.

And listening to them, initially, the elites tried to change the doctrine of their belief itself, such as claiming the tribe's spirit lived in them all and there was no divine representative among them.

That however proved to be an absolute PR disaster, as by then the tribe's belief had become solidified in the people's hearts.

Formed over almost a thousand years, this was the core, central part of it.

So when it was attacked and so blatantly at that, it drew the universal ire of the people, and many of these plotters were even outright killed by the rioting clergymen and the law was temporarily abolished.

But after a few decades, under the relentless yoke of the abusive shamans, the descendants of those same elite once again tried to change it.

And this time they came up with various other reasons to justify this decision.

Such as saying that women were more suited to house the spirit because they were mothers and the spirit was like their child, resting in their womb and being lovingly cherished there.

And claiming that as women they could stay inside the tribe and always protect it, while men had to go and fight wars.

'What would happen if our chief shaman died beyond the walls of our tribe?' They raised alarmingly, thus bringing great fear to the people.

After all, the chief shaman dying inside the tribe was not considered too great a tragedy because the people believed the spirit in her would return to the lands underneath and from there choose a new successor.

But what if they were in unknown, foreign lands?

Wouldn't their sacred protector get lost then?

Using such reasons and more, those clever elites got their way, and from then now, it was implicitly agreed that a chief shaman would never concern herself with the mundane matter of the tribe.

Hence once she took a seat beside her husband, the first words to greet her were objections about her presence, and it came from none other than the former chief shaman, the mother of her husband's chief rival, and to add even more to that title- Atzi's former master.

But given the two's title, this was only natural.

Unlike holding on to the post till death, the Helvati tradition dictated that once the chief shaman had reached a certain age, she had to hand over the position to her successor.

And in this instance, that handover had not been smooth.

This was because Atzi was chosen as the successor under very special circumstances. Tepin's mother had suddenly fallen gravely ill back then and it was assumed she was not going to make it.

So the elders had hurriedly begun to look for her successor. And ultimately Atzi was chosen after stirking a backroom deal was struck with her master.

The former chief shaman promised to make Atzi her successor, in exchange Atzi was to marry Tepin, her master's son and the most promising male shaman.

However, Atzi went back on her word after getting the position, because she saw this arrangement as her master trying to puppet her using her son.

So instead, Atzi chose Metzil, and this inevitably caused an irreparable divide among the former pupil and master.

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

Please come Here!

=>Link to the original site:

/book/herald-of-steel_24388579605084705

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!