She then bowed her head to the clan leader and took her seat. Koya flinched at the harsh punishment proposed by the old woman. He’d expected no less from her, but hearing someone so calmly demand his death still unnerved him.
“If I may, honored leader,” Shah Han rose next. He was the newest addition to the council of elders, but was not hesitant in voicing his opinion.
“I do not believe that it is the fault of these children. Rather, I think that it is the fault of the border guards. After all, security around our borders is tight enough that even a single thief should not have been able to sneak in. That is why we allowed such a token force to guard our Dungeon in the first place, is it not? I believe that they should be made to pay for their crimes a different way: they should be forced to leave the clan in disgrace.
We have already sent trackers out to find the thief, but they have yet to find any trace of them. Let their own return be contingent on catching the thief and returning the stolen core. If they succeed, then they will have earned their way back into the clan, and if not, then they will have to brave the Waterwood on their own.”
A light murmuring filled the room as he bowed to the clan leader and took his seat once more. Three others rose to voice their opinions, but all took a stricter stance than Han.
Koya could feel his heart pounding as Korgo rose once again. He could see both Izu and Kozu out of the corner of his eye. They were both standing behind him, each looking just as afraid as he felt.
“All of your opinions have been heard. Now it will come down to a vote. All those in favor of Shah Haru’s punishment, raise your hands.”
Koya felt his heart rate spike as hands began rising into the air.
Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty…
“That is fifty-two in favor of elder Haru’s punishment of death. Next, all in favor of elder Fukuma’s punishment, please raise your hands…”
And so on it went, each elder’s punishment being put out to vote. The longer it went, the more afraid Koya became. So far, not a single other’s vote had received enough votes to beat the original punishment of death. If it went on like this, he would be killed, and all because of that blasted cripple!
“All in favor of elder Han’s punishment, please raise your hands.”
Koya held his breath as hands slowly started to go up. This was his last chance at keeping his head. Although banishment didn’t sound great, it was better than the current alternative. It would also give him the chance to find whoever had stolen the core and make them pay for having to go through all this.
“It would appear that we have a tie,” Korgo said, as he finished counting. “It would appear, then, that I am the deciding vote.”
In the Shah clan, if there was ever a draw, the decision on what to do ultimately fell on the head.
Koya felt his heart stop. Shah Korgo was known for many things, but mercy was not one of them. He was as good as dead. He felt his heart sinking as he accepted his fate. It would do him no good to run. He wouldn’t even make it through the door.
“I vote in favor of Elder Han. We have every clan member we can spare out hunting for the perpetrator, but it can never hurt to have more people searching. For the good of the clan, I will allow Shah Koya, Izu, and Kozu to live. They will have an hour to gather their belongings and be out of the village. If they are caught inside Shah clan territory by nightfall, they will be executed on sight. If they find the perpetrator and return them along with the core, their banishment will have ended, and they will be reinstated into the clan. You are all dismissed.”
With that, he headed off the stage and out the back entrance.
The room exploded into conversation as soon as he left, leaving Koya to slump to the ground in relief. He’d come closer to death just now then he ever had, and had only avoided it by the mercy of Korgo, something he was sure he’d never be allowed to forget if he did indeed manage to earn his way back into the clan.
That didn’t matter, though. All that mattered was that he now had a chance at redemption. It was a chance to reclaim his lost honor and regain his place in the clan. He had a pretty good idea of where to start looking. The others in the clan were scrambling madly, trying to find the trail of some powerful foreign invader, but Koya had a theory.
What if the thief hadn’t come from a rival clan, but rather, from within their own ranks? No one would suspect it, of course, as who would possibly be willing to turn against their own family? But he knew better. Or, so he told himself.
“Um, cousin Koya, what should we do?”
Koya turned to see both Izu and Kozu staring at him uncertainly. They had the looks of people who had narrowly avoided death, only to be told that they would now have to leave their homes forever.
So their expressions perfectly matched what the situation called for.
Koya felt his lips curling upward in a grin. Well, it was more of a baring of teeth than a grin, but it got his point across all the same.
“We’re going to hunt for a traitor, and I have a pretty good idea what we should be looking for. Now, come on. We don’t have much time.”
With that, he rose to his feet and headed quickly for the door.
Whoever had decided to steal that core would rue the day they were born!
16
Roy spent the next two weeks training in the Dungeon. He spent most of his time cycling and training in the basics of martial techniques, reserving a few hours a day to develop his Physical technique. After some discussion with Geon, he’d decided that preforming the Full-area technique had been pretty risky without first having a solid understanding of the other three needed to preform it safely.
There was also the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he’d been unable to replicate what he’d done. So instead, he’d focused on honing in on his first Physical technique.
This time, instead of trying for something as ridiculous as making himself infinitely stronger, he focused on causing increased damage with his strikes, in the form of explosions. He’d gotten the idea after it had worked so well in his improvised Full-area technique. He hadn’t quite gotten the hang of it yet, but he was getting closer each day.
Every couple of days, his training would be interrupted by the two giant crabs, and he would be forced to kill them. The second time hadn’t been much better than the first, but at least he hadn’t thrown up, and by the fourth time, his feelings of guilt had almost completely vanished.
By now, he was running out of time. He’d used up most of his time to advance and now had only six days left until his body would give out. Just a couple of weeks ago, he hadn’t thought much about it, even going so far as to convince himself that Geon had to have been mistaken. Now he could no longer deny it.
With each day that passed, his body showed signs of breaking down. At first, it had only been mild headaches, but soon they were growing more severe. After that, he had started to develop a tremor, and now it showed visibly. Black lines traced his arms underneath the skin. They hadn’t spread anywhere else yet, but he had a feeling that they would soon.
He wasn’t sure what they signified or what their purpose even was, as he couldn’t sense what was wrong, but he knew it was nothing good. The more the black lines spread, the worse his tremors got as well.
Roy’s eyebrow twitched as his concentration was broken and he blew out a long, frustrated breath. He’d been pushing his core each and every day, but no matter how hard he pushed at the boundaries, it always seemed to have more room to stretch.