Herald of Steel

That drought from two decades ago might have been a tragedy for the natives as a whole, but for the Helvati and Metztil, it was nothing but an absolute boon.

They were able to use that time to grow strong in number, while almost every other tribe lost people, weakening them. The loss ranged anywhere from 5 percent to a staggering 20 percent for the smaller, weaker tribes.

Then, under Atzi's advice, Metztil quickly capitalized on this hunger too, using the same tactic he used with the elites.

By offering to sell grain, he brought the loyalty of a few surrounding suffering tribes while any tribe that did not support Metztil or had a previous conflict with him was attacked and looted of their stocks, resulting in mass famine.

In this way, the Helvati cut down its competitors while at the same time strengthening itself.

It would not be wrong to say the dominant position the Helvati enjoyed was due to them capitalizing on that disaster.

And the people back then rejoiced about Metztil's strong arming tactics.

No one ever bothered to raise any objection about such daylight robbery because in this dog eat dog world, it was us or them.

As Metztil's popularity soared, the elites also began to favor him more and more, while Tepin and his mother found themselves completely on the backfoot.

At first, they were still able to publicly raise loud voices decrying Metztil's acts and privately pressure Atzi to follow through on her word or risk having her position declared void.

Back then even many elites joined this voice, both due to being the former chief shaman's supporters or simply out of righteousness.

After all, it was an undeniable fact that Atzi did make the deal, there were too many witnesses around her to deny it.

So in actuality, she was in the wrong here.

And most elites did not like a chief shaman who was flippant with her words. Discover more content at m,v l'e|m-p| y r

Not only were they worried such a thing could happen to them as well, but many also simply found it morally wrong.

As the divine reincarnation of their tribal spirit, Atzi was supported to embody the pinnacle of purity and superior morality.

Hence initially there were many detractors who pressed the young lady to keep her word.

But the stubborn young woman simply gritted her and refused to bend.

Not only that, she even put forth a strong defense, claiming to the elites that she had only made the deal under duress and that the offer was made in bad faith. ȓ𝘼Ｎ𝐎₿Ëꞩ

According to her, her master was trying to politicize the neutral position of the chief shaman using her and this went against her principles.

That was the reason why she refused to follow through with her word- not for her own selfish desires, but for the greater good of the tribe.

And in that same vein, that was also why she refused to step down fearing her successor would not be as intractable and 'pure' as her.

You would have to give it to the lady- she was a politician by birth. The way she presented herself was simply the work of a genius.

This was also why the elites felt a great headache when dealing with her.

They were of course more than aware of the backdoor dealing as well as its details, but there were some things you simply could not say aloud even if they were true.

It was simply too shameful.

They could never let the common people know about this or their faith in all the shamans would crumble.

The former chief shaman naturally vehemently denied having any such designs and only insisted that Atzi was the perfect daughter in law for her son and that only someone as noble and of high status as her was fit to take his hand.

In this way, those days were filled with various quarrels and bickering, each side trying to pressure the other side that they were wrong.

Atiz endured it all while banking everything on her 'then lover's' success. It was a brutal race against time.

Thankfully for her, the gamble paid off.

As Metztil began to get success, as its dividends, the pressure began to slowly subside.

The elites went from claiming that 'Tepin has every right to demand Atzi's hand in marriage or she should be removed from the post,' to now just urging her to 'do the right thing'.

After some time, the words turned even more lukewarm, as then they started to only say that-

'As the chief shaman and the mother of the sacred spirit, Atzi had the right to do whatever she thought was best for herself and the tribe.'

Lastly, when Metztil killed the chief and took his seat with popular support, the narrative flipped completely.

Dazed and dazzled by the result and simply being bought by Metztil, these elites began to ignore the mother son duo altogether and instead began to loudly express their support for the marriage between their newly elected chief and the chief shaman.

By that point, the pair knew the game was all but sealed for them.

So Tepin and his mother quickly switched strategies, going from contending for the chief's seat to just trying to keep their lives.

To do this, Tepin's mother used the last of her influence as the former chief shaman to have the elites guarantee her and her son's life, using Atzi's promise as collateral.

After all, it would not look good for Atzi if details of the chief shaman breaking her promise were to be released to the public.

And luckily for the former chief shaman, the elites accepted her 'pawned item'.

Many of them, especially the high ranking shamans were peeved at Atzi going back on her word, believing it completely against their teaching.

While the politicians were more angry over Atzi's increasingly intimate involvement in the tribe's politics.

This broke too many unwritten traditions.

Hence they guaranteed the mother son duo's safety- hoping to use them as a trump card against her if the need should ever arise.

Now, when this was announced, predictably both Atzi and Metztil were furious.

'A cruel stab in the back' they called it.

These two were their closest rivals and surely they wanted to eliminate them as soon as they could/.

Especially Atzi dreamt night and day of taking care of this hidden danger once and for all. She too knew of the risk of letting her master live.

Unfortunately however at the time, they had little political capital to do anything about it.

They were too busy dealing with taking over the recently deceased chief's seat as well as arranging their marriage.

So they had no choice but to wait.

But as time went on, Metztil simply started to slack in his vigilance.

Although he was urged by his wife to act, after getting all that he wanted, and with the whole tribe at his fingertips, he thought himself to be invincible.

At the same time, Tepin seemed to have turned over a completely new leaf and was helping Metztil wholeheartedly in ruling the tribe.

He dealt with all opposition and even led the army in quite a few victories.

For all intents and purposes, Tepin appeared to be in Metztil's camps.

This caused Metztil to think that the man had changed and that his wife was simply being paranoid.

In this way, Metztil simply forgot how he muscled his way to the top, sidestepping Tepin to take the throne.

He also forgot the rough way he dealt with the other tribes, and after a decade of festering, all of it at last came to bite him.

The lull had allowed his enemies to gather and strengthen themselves.

And this was how Metztil was in the position he was in now.

As Atiz looked around the table she felt a very frustrated feeling in her heart, feeling if not for her husband's carelessness, things would have never turned so sour.

But there was little point in crying over spilled milk.

Hence, ignoring her former master's comment about it being inappropriate for her to be here, the plain looking lady simply commented,

"I do not understand why we are arguing about informing the other tribes. What do they have to do with this? This deal is only between us and Alxx. Those chieftains said it themselves- that they know nothing of the deal. So why should we share the land with them?"

"We Helvati alone can raise 10,000 men. 15,000 if we mobilize everybody. This is more than enough! Since those tribes did not share our sorrows, why should we bother to share our joys?"

The declaration sent bolts of thunders steaking across each and every man's heart hearing this.

Not even Metztil dared to have such a big appetite.

Swallow the entire reward for themselves? The thought was too fearful….

But also too tempting.

"Bam! It's decided then." Metztil was the first to give in, unable to resist the allure.

Thus banging his palms on the table with an immense slap, he declared, "We will agree to Alexander's deal. Yaotl! Get the army ready. We march in two days!"

The rest of the council elders could only nod, for they did not have the will to argue

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

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