Chapter 233: Arbitration 1
"Hand me what you stole!" Seth ordered, as long as the man has what they wanted, he will be their target. Seth needs to protect him by taking it away.
"You violated a rule that we set…" The vile man that ordered the thief\'s execution began to speak but after a fleeting glance by Seth, his body froze before he was smashed to the ground by an invisible force. The only thing that stopped him from bursting to a pulp was the Navy Blue armour that appeared around his body.
Even with that, he was bleeding from his face in anger but still pinned to the ground.
[You have harnessed Silent Veil Force]
Seth glanced back at the thief, the guy was already handing him the item.
[You have obtained a stolen item, Time Director]
[You gained the ire of the Brown Team and Navy Blue Soldier]
By then Captain Brown, Captain Navy, Lady Rain and other team leaders had arrived, the silence was too much for them to miss. Chief Stonely, who was with them begging for them not to kill the thief, also rushed there.
"Coming to my land, taking their items and then raising your weapon against one of them. Who gave you that authority?" Seth\'s voice boomed.
"You lied to me, Stonely, you said their stay is peaceful." Seth\'s attention moved to her as he noticed them coming forward.
"Lord sir. It\'s an unexpected event. But it doesn\'t have to escalate, please!"
"Give that item to us and stop opposing us. I know you have Hourglass Team backing you, don\'t escalate it by thinking you can keep it!" A man in Navy Blue Attire said, he stood ahead of Captain Brown
"I mean we can talk this through!" Captain Brown said he didn\'t want to antagonize Seth directly.
"No, he must give the item back first!"
Seth looked at the man calmly, and the man continued. He seemed about to order his men to attack even though two of his people were pressed down.
"Who the hell are you?" Captain Navy Blue asked in rage, "You won\'t dare go against us even if you are some sort of…" he wanted to add something but Seth\'s subtle change of expression impacted him.
"Who the hell am I?" Seth asked in surprise. The question struck his heart and pained him more than anything today. He felt he was being disrespected to the point that his Ego couldn\'t handle it and was about to explode.
A wave of anger clouded him but he held it controlled and directed it as he stared at the man daring to ask his identity. They can see what his identity was and yet ask him that stupid question.
"You asked me who the hell I\'m?!" Seth asked against this time anger showed in his eyes, then in his face as he stared at them in surprise, amused and rage.
Suddenly, it happened fast, he took a gentle step forward and a massive blast of pressure slammed at Captain Navy, the man was forced to shift his attire to become solid armour and a shield appeared to protect himself.
"You are asking me who am I in my land? Who are you to dare ask me that question!" As Seth was talking he was also stepping toward the man until he was before him.
For the man it was like he was before a massive storm pushing, slamming at him making him gust back. This was not only to him but every Navy Blue Soldier was targeted.
But the leader was facing the brunt of the attack, Seth stood erect before him, looking down on him as the man\'s legs were bent, holding the ground, trying to resist the pressure. His eyes though were steady looking up toward Seth unwavering.
Seth noticed the man\'s right hand was beginning to glow and he frowned before he muttered, "Temporal Warrior, that class won\'t warrant that arrogance before me. Either you are a fool or you are looking down on me!"
Seth\'s hand moved and suddenly one of the Navy Blue soldiers broke away and flashed with great acrobatics and appeared beside Seth but a force blasted him outside the village like a bullet. His condition was unknown.
Seth\'s azure attire shifted to armour, this time, it covered his fingers and grabbed the man\'s shoulder.
Crack!
With ease, he broke Captain Navy\'s armour until he broke the man\'s collar bone.
"Who are you?" Seth questioned daringly. The man was now kneeling, there was no pressure and Seth was looking down at him as if he was some lowly servant that offended his master.
Seth felt satisfied, even though the man was still staring back defiantly. He had made his point, he also had satisfied his Ego. All the previous ego injury was healing.
"Know your place, Mr Navy!" Seth said softly. It was then he noticed Chief Stonly holding the hand that he used for the grip.
"Please. It didn\'t have to escalate!" She pleaded in fear that her little village would be destroyed when a fight happened.
Seth released the grip before standing erect as he ignored her, "It\'s fine, I will answer your question."
Seth floated above and everyone looked at him, his little charisma of only Grade 1 amplified. Then he glowed and 10 Drumming scales floated around him. All the Sanctuary inscriptions came to life and they became stronger and created a stable bubble around the village and then Seth\'s voice echoed.
"I\'m Seth, this Sanctuary, Silent Veil Village Benefactor, Leader and Overseer and... you are guests, behave like one, not like the owner!" Seth ordered. He floated down and looked at the now-standing Navy Blue Captain and said, "I will be the arbiter of this conflict. Know this, you are exempted from any authority you enforced upon them!"
[ANNOUNCEMENTS]
[NAVY BLUE SOLDIERS ARE NO LONGER IN AUTHORITY]
Every player received a notification that Navy Blue are no longer in power. Their previous task was maintaining the market and people within the village while the Brown Team was in charge of guarding the entrance of the village.
He turned, "Prepare us a discussion table. Lady Stonely!" Seth ordered. And then he invited the supposed team leaders and those in conflict for discussion. He still held on to the Time Direction device though.
"Damn. He looks badass. Thankfully, Captain Navy didn\'t fight back or he might be humiliated!" Zero whispered to Juma.
She glanced at the excited kid before she muttered, "Don\'t underestimate him. He is resourceful and too mysterious. Captain Navy didn\'t stand a chance!"
That shocked the Hourglass group and others that were eavesdropping. Some scoffed thinking she was boosting her teammate but those that can detect lies knew she trusted her words. Which means that was her honest review. And they knew she was among those that none of the team leaders wanted to face.
****
Ten chairs were placed around a rough circular table, and a high chair belonged to the supposed leader and arbiter, Seth Enoch. During the time it was prepared, he chose no side and didn\'t give face even for Hourglass members to approach him.
He sat and gazed at the 7 team leaders, including Zambia to take a seat. Chief Stonely refused to sit as she stood beside the thief that was kneeling and his face was down. There was some delay but the leaders sat down.
"We will discuss the conflict first, second the people in charge of activities. The third way forward. Fourth, other relevant matters!"
"Broken Stone, what makes you steal this valuable object!" Seth asked, taking a neutral stance.
Broken Stone took a deep breath and answered, "We have an ancient tradition of making stone and rock statues and some of us are fortunate to get an heirloom from our ancestors. I have a statue of a humanoid moose that has my great grandfather\'s feature as my heirloom. I\'m the third generation that inherited it and I intend to pass it on to my unborn child.
I wished to have it back but they claimed to have a transaction with Lady Stonely and now they owned it. I talked to her and we met with them but we didn\'t reach any standpoint. That\'s why I decided to use a skill to obtain something of equal value to them as the statue is to me!" He explained.
Seth glanced at Chief Stonely and she clarified the teams indeed said they will give Silent Veil village some valuable items and develop them but they will also take some things. There was no written agreement but just verbal injunction and then when they scoured the village and took the statues. We told them we can\'t give them some of them and they ignored us.
The lady did try not to antagonize them as she claimed their help was indeed needed and regarding the matter of the statue she intended to have a good dialogue with the Navy Blue Solders to get them back.
"Let\'s solve the first problem. Have you legally with their approval taken any item, technique or knowledge from them that you benefited from?" Seth asked Broken Stone. The man shook his head and said he was one of the guards and he was stripped from that position and forced to wait for orders.
That was when Seth\'s eyes rose as he recognised the man. He was the person that attacked him the first time he found the village. \'No wonder he seemed terrified of me!\'
"Hand his statue back. Before we proceed!" Seth gazed back at Captain Navy that had been glaring at him since when he was forced to kneel.
"Hmm!" The gloomy man groaned before he waved his hand and a 5cm statue appeared at the centre of the table!
Seth frowned, he stood and picked it up before he sat down. "This is the cause of the problem.?" He asked.
It was a badly made statue of an ugly made moose that has human features. Nothing looked good about it.
"You stole this because of this!" Seth asked as he looked at the Time Director and th3 Statue. Right then, he felt his heart throbbing as if he was being played. His Noble Ego was hurting as he glared at the man
Chief Stonely perceived what was happening and quickly said, "Allow me to explain." Seth glanced at her.
"Apart from the cultural icon to us, having what our ancestors began crafting has also a special power. We believe that when our ancestors have passed away they imbued it with their good wishes, will and spirit. The more a statue passes from generation to generation the more power is imbued.
Some of us can use that power for good luck, healing, praying for success in hunting and also protection against beasts and monsters." Lady Stonely added, "Broken Stone Moose statue is three generations old and he already was able to use it in healing and also protection." Read latest chapters at m_v-l\'e|-NovelBin.net
"I see!" Seth was already using Aura Sight but he had to look deep before he saw a tiny flicker of aura deep inside. He frowned, this is him having a Grade 1 Potential Advantage. That was to say he has 100% improvement in all his skills.
If he didn\'t have it, he might not have noticed it. \'Interesting, I was speculating that they pass a bit of aura in the statue but it was something else with a bit of aura. Perhaps, in these people\'s eyes, this thing was brimming with energy, if they have the relevant eye that can see it. I have to assume they have, if not they wouldn\'t have taken the statue!\'
"Basically, the stones too are valuable, we scour some special places in search of them." She added.
\'Hmm!" Seth nodded but he recognized he had a lot of them in Living Roots. They were very common there.
"Okay," Seth acknowledged the man\'s justification for his theft before his green with red stripe cloak masked the statue and he imbued it with a bit of aura. That spiked the statue and made it more refined.
Everyone felt the difference, it was like it came alive. Seth nodded as he confirmed some of his theory before he glared at the man.
"You must be punished for starting trouble!"
That surprised everyone but Chief Stonely and the man. She only sighed and the man bent more in servitude.