Chief Eamon Rikon did not know what to feel. Vale Athrimir made him the High Chief of the Athrimir Clan, but in truth, his position hadn’t changed much from an ordinary Chief.

Although he has been given the right to expand his territory as he liked, the position isn’t something that comes with instant power. The only gain he’d seen so far was that he got more money from their Clan Leader and high priority for essence materials and resources.

Vale Athrimir promised him what he promised, to make his Clan bigger. It’s now left to Eamon to do as he wanted.

’...well, I guess I’m now glad that I did not betray Vale...’

One of the reasons he was also in a foul mood was because he’s not a Knight himself. He was not a Master Knight that could go into the battlefield, but he did have warriors, hundreds of Knights and even dozens of Errant Knights.

Immediately after the disappearance of their Lord, the whole Clan had been thrown into disarray, and he did his best to stabilize things before the Commander arrived.

Eamon sighed again as he muttered to himself. In time of war, power generally goes to the Commanders, but that’s mainly because the Athrimir hasn’t had a High Chief for so long. But now, by Vale’s power, and unless there’s any standing order, High Chief Eamon is the second most powerful in the Clan.

"Seriously, if only I’ve been given a few years, then I won’t need all of this as my power would already be crystallized," he said as he rubbed his fat chin, his eyes shining with a glint.

"Do you think Commander Garran will behave out of order?" Chen, his son, said.

High Chief Eamon Rikon and his son were riding on their horses, surrounded by dozens of Errant Knights in gleaming armor, also mounted.

"He already behaved out of order, Chen Rikon," Eamon reminded his son. The sun, mixed with the salty air blown by the nearby sea, made him sweat. "He sent his men out. Almost all of them are deployed with the order of taking control of all the small towns, overriding local Clans."

Even his own city was threatened, as all the small towns that surrounded it, towns that belonged to his own sub-Clans, had been taken. Only his own city was still under his rule. In fact, in all of the Athrimir Clan, it was only his own that wasn’t under direct military rule. Half of it was under Akatsuki after all.

"To be made a High Chief under this situation, Chen. How ironic," he added under his breath.

The Commander should have been the one to come for him, but he had been forced to go to him after the man simply ignored him.

"What’s your impression of him, Father?" Chen asked.

Eamon looked at his son proudly. His son, unlike him, is a Knight, and one with a promising future at that. He’s Eamon’s hope, and he had already invested a lot into him. The Clan’s hope.

"Commander Garran... I don’t have much impression of him, to be honest. He’s not one to show his face often in court," Eamon said.

Chen looked at his father slyly. "Alright, I know you don’t keep an eye on people like that! Our intelligence officers are good, very good."

Eamon chuckled. "Alright. By all accounts, Garran is the perfect Commander. He’s by the book, perfect, and does all things according to the rules and law of the Clan. The perfect Commander."

There was a slight emphasis on the last part that was followed by a sneer.

"You don’t think he’s the perfect Commander?"

Eamon shook his head, his eyes flat. "I’ve tested him enough times. Sent people to bribe him to allow some illegal goods, to allow some illegal import and export when the previous Clan Leader closed everything down, but he won’t accept it. He’s... too perfect. And what did I tell you about people like that?"

"That they don’t want attention to themselves. They want to be alone because they likely have something they are hiding."

"Good. We are Clans of Knights. We always have something to hide, there must be something. But our Commander is quite clean, considering he’s more than a Commander when you look at it."

"The Coastal Fortward," Chen said.

"Yes. Before the Athrimir Clan claimed the position as theirs, there was another Clan that was ruling these lands. And as usual, there are many who supported or opposed the Athrimir Clan’s rise to power. Our Clan was one of the supporters, of course, but the Clan that ruled the west here, so dominating and powerful, opposed them.

"When the Athrimir eventually won, they put all their opposition to the sword, but the Clan here was strong indeed, so strong that the new Clan Leader had to mobilize their entire army and everyone in their Clan to destroy them."

Of course, Chen had heard this story before, but he nodded along and let his father speak, asking questions when needed. "So a bloody fight happened."

Eamon nodded. "Quite right. But it’s not that simple. The people themselves took up arms to fight the Athrimir. It was a bloody affair that killed thousands of people. At the end, though, the Clan was totally destroyed, and a fort was built here to suppress the rebelling people.

"The Coastal Fortward. And a Commander was appointed. The Garran family has more or less been ruling this place since then. They are a highly militarized family, not participating in politics but devoutly doing as the Clan Leader commands. The Commander Garran of each generation is a sword that the Clan Leaders have always used to keep all of us in line.

"But like the Clan itself, we’re all weakened."

They rode in silence for a while. High Chief Eamon could have ordered a flying ship that would have taken him just under a day to arrive at the Coastal Fortward instead of the three-day trip, but he wanted to see what the Commander had been up to. Also to calm himself.

"I’m afraid Commander Garran might be taking advantage," Eamon suddenly said with a dark chuckle.

Chen stiffened. "Why did you say that, Father?"

"Chen, when I said you should study the people when we are on the trip, don’t you do that?" Eamon isn’t a Knight; as such, since he was born, he has been sharpening all his human skills to take swift advantage when one appears.

"Every town that we passed has a military presence. All of them. And do they look like people who had been fighting bitterly? The Ito Clan is strong, why then is the Western army at full power?"

Chen’s eyes widened. "Wait... wait... and some of the people are behaving strangely! I don’t know how to put it..."

Eamon laughed loudly, his belly shaking. "Of course. They must be outsiders mixed with the people. Outside forces. Oh, this is just so good! What else do you notice?"

Chen frowned before he finally spoke. "The serpent. I don’t see the serpent of the Athrimir Clan. The armies always have it, the symbol of the lord they fight for, but now..."

Eamon smiled. "Right, Chen, right. It seems the Garran ’Clan’ has been playing a long game. They mostly take people from this area into their ranks. They have proximity to the sea. Proximity that could afford them a quick trip to allies.

"They used the distraction of the Akatsuki to reserve their strength while they wait for the desert to take care of us."

"Father..."

"The Commander Garran must have been working with the Ito Clan for long. It seems we’ve all been fooled." Eamon’s eyes darkened. "Our Clan Leader is missing, half of our territory is already within the Akatsuki’s hands. I don’t see a way out of this, boy."

"Maybe the Ito Clan and the Akatsuki Clan will fight each other and we’ll take advantage?"

Eamon snorted. "You still don’t see the picture? We don’t have any Master Knights, all of them are destroyed. What we can do now, what we must do, what I must do as High Chief is to prevent a fight between the two forces."

The words bit like a splash of ice water, and it took some seconds before Chen could absorb them. But when he did, his body shook. "You... mean the Athrimir Clan is gone? Now it’s just the Ito and the Akatsuki?"

Eamon grinned, then shook his head helplessly. "Chen, I don’t want war inside our territory so that the people and our investments won’t suffer. Already, the food and resources are under the control of the army. What happens in time of war? Both the Ito and the Akatsuki will use our own resources to battle in our territory."

"The core Athrimir might be gone with the last of their blood disappearing. But this is our land, and I’ll be dead before we give it up."

Chen didn’t speak for a while, then he said with exaggerated slowness, "If you know all of this, Father, then why are we, the new family of the High Chief, one of Garran’s threats?"

Eamon blinked. "Why, to kill him, of course!"