Victory!XP Gained: +500XP: 14 300 -> 14 800

  ‘Did you split the XP with everyone?’

  [Yes.]

  ‘Damn!’ Adam raised his brows. He supposed it made sehat so many hydras would give them so much XP, but he hadn’t even thought how it would be split amhly fifty or so people. ‘Hold on, should I be splitting XP between the children? Will they randomly begin to get a bunch of skills? How does that work?’

  […]

  ‘Bell?’

  [Yes?]

  ‘How does that work?’

  [It works.]

  Adam let out a sigh, realising why he didn’t speak to Bell often.

  Jurot’s eyes remained focused on the dead hydras, which had been killed with Iyrman efficy. The hydra had torn into his side, and though it had broken through his skin, Jurot did not gather the wound was too serious, outside of a light medical touch from one of the priests.

  He stared at the hydra. Its scales. Those heads which had provided those who could deal with the vicious creatures ample leather and scale to be used for armour, and so many other items. Hydras were quite a popur resource within the Iyr due to how easy they were to farm their materials. Many an Iyrman in each geion was often tasked with such, though…

  ‘Seven hydras?’

  Jurot hadn’t heard of so many hydras together. One was unon, two was rarer, and three rarer thahat. Four? Yes, there were some stories with four, and oh five. Six? Jurot hadn’t heard of such a story, though perhaps it was because six hydras together could deal with almost every grouping of warriors to have walked the nd i few millennia.

  Jurot’s thoughts fell to the several figures he had met who wouldn’t have had tle against even ten hydras. The fmes appeared in front of his eyes, whiarrowed.

  ‘Stronger.’

  “We should be careful,” Jaygak said, her eyes sing the forest around them. “I’ve never heard a tale with seven hydras.”

  “What do you mean you’ve never heard a tale with seven hydras?”

  “The most I’ve heard numbers five,” Jaygak said. “It was…”

  “Tamin, Sharat, Manfan, Zojyn, with the support of the East Rain Sword, Strong Fist, and Dawnbde,” Kitool said. “The Iyrman each held their own against the hydras while the trio of Aldishmen assisted them, in a simir manner as we have fought.”

  “Ah? Are they famous heroes of the Iyr?” Adam asked.

  “Their tales are well known to their families,” Kitool firmed.

  “Did they amount to anything iure?”

  “Zojyn died during the frontation as she was the st to receive support,” Kitool said. “However, Manfan was able to bee a Chief, while her panions, Tamin and Sharat, became her aides.”

  “How e Tamin and Sharat became her aides?” Adam asked. “Did they give up?”

  “Each were didates to bee a Chief, but Manfan earhe most votes, and so Tamin and Sharat became her aides.”

  “The Chief didates became aides?” Adam asked, furrowing his brows. “Eh?”

  “Yes.”

  “…”

  “…”

  “Are you telliwo people who could cim the title of a Great Elder became aides?”

  “Yes.” Kitool was uain why Adam eaking in that way.

  “Why didn’t they go on to bee, you know, a big deal?”

  “…” Kitool gowards Jaygak.

  “Adam,” Jaygak called. “Those who work closest with the Great Elders are typically those who did not earn enough votes.”

  “What?”

  “There are times when there are multiple Chiefs required to plete a task. There are times when aides hold the authority of the Chief to plete a task.”

  “I didn’t realise the aides of the Great Elders were so… you know.”

  “Many are not, but the Iyr uands not to rely on a singur figure, or a singur figure for one role. It was in the inal formation in the Iyr when one of the Great Elders passed uedly the rules were set out, that one of the aides would bee the Great Elder, though quickly the rules were ged to allow the aides to pce their hin one of the didates, before they were then ged again to disallow them from taking the role, instead ag as advisers to the Great Elder instead.”

  Adam narrowed his eyes, barely uanding the point Jaygak was making. “Cool. So, what did Manfa up to?”

  “She is sidered one of the five greatest Chiefs.”

  “What?” Adam asked. “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did she do?”

  “It was during the time of the Great Pgue, during the time of the federacy, the group had adventured, and were some of the few survivors who were able to return to the Iyr well. They had each mao gain favours frons they had let free. The Chief at the time stepped down and allowed new blood to step into the role, which they advised. It was in the chaos of the pgue in which several dragons decided to act up across the nd, trying to enforce their will onto the nearby nds.”

  ‘Damn, that must have been brutal,’ Adam thought. ‘It makes sehe dragons made a py during the pgue, since everything would have been so chaotic. Trust an Iyrman to call something like that ag up.’

  “In the histories of the nds nearby, the dragons who acted up during the time are sidered a footnote, barely appearing within the pgue. They brought some devastation, but the histories say they were pushed back by brave warriors, probably those of their noble blood…” Jaygak almost rolled her eyes.

  “What happened?”

  “The dragons who acted up were numerous, but more importantly, it was one of the few times three A Dragons acted up. One in the north, one around the south of Aldnd and the west of Aswadasad, and one i Aswadasad. There are more tales of the A Dragon who tried to be Aswadasad to his will, but there are few of the pair who tried te the nearby nds…”

  Jaygak leaned in. “Chief Manfan, with the previous Chief as her advisor, and Tamin the Sce as one of her anders and Sharat the Bane as another ander, not including all the reat figures of the time, uood these dragons o be forced away, and so they forced them away. She watched over the geion of not just Iyrmen, but Aldishmen and Aswadians alike, making sure the order was maintaihough the pgue should have led to the a great colpse and more chaos across the nd, it was Chief Manfan’s wisdom and might which kept the nd stable. The geion, the Quiet Geion, was filled with a time of very few stories for we Iyrmen. The Iyr had grown quiet. Not silent, quiet.”

  Adam could see within Jaygak’s eyes something dangerous. It was that kind of dangerous, as though she knew a secret Adam wao know, daring him to ask.

  ‘Should I?’

  “Though we Iyrmen love our stories, and though she presided over a time which brought in the fewest stories to date, but the stories which were brought were unlike any other.”

  “Chief Manfan was not just a Chief for the Iyr, but a Chief for the nds around,” Kitool said. “She is sidered among the greatest not because her name appears in the nds around, but because her name did not. The Aldishmen do not know of the fortune which was Chief Manfan, because it was what Chief Manfan had chosen.”

  ‘I know they’re pretty shadowy, but sidering how they’re talking about Chief Manfan…’ Adam raised his brows. “Well, that’s pretty great for the Fan family. Though… it is weird hearing about a Chief who wanted peace across the nd sidering you’re Iyrmen.”

  “You may name any Chief of the Iyr and it is likely they had undermihe nearby nations in some way, while keeping the nd banced. However, how many were able to keep the status qu a time of the greatest camities? It was always hard work, but for Manfan.” Jaygak held up her hand, writing in the air. “She wrote it to be the case, and so it was.”

  “It was that easy?”

  “It was difficult, but she had done so greater than any Chief previously. The first few Chiefs are among the Iyr’s greatest Chiefs, and she had matched them in some ways, and surpassed them in other ways.”

  “I see…” Adam said, thinking about Jaygak’s words. “I guess that means Chief Iromin’s going to be sidered as great as Manfan then.”

  Jaygak coughed, almost sn with ughter. Tears formed within her eyes as she tried not to ugh too wildly. She gowards Adam’s smirk, which set her off into raucous ughter.

  Kitool let out a soft sigh. No doubt Adam was joking, but the fact it could be taken seriously caused her forehead to pound.

  It was crazy to think that Chief Iromin may truly be sidered on the same level as Manfan.

  Manfan who not only quietly kept the peace across the nearby nds feion during one of its worst camities, but had gained favours from not o four different A Dragons.

  It was something which surpassed even the feat of the most well known Fan aor, Razfan, the White Wolf of the North, was something that brought too much stress to her shoulders.

  Who will cause more trouble? Four A Dragons, or a father of the most adorable kids?