"This is great. The bread is mildly sweet and incredibly soft. The texture feels divine in my mouth. This is the best bread that I ever ate." Alex commented. He quickly moved to grab more and eat. The breakfast that the Divine Butterfly tribe provided was heavenly for Alex.
Alex was having the time of his life while eating the breakfast the Divine Butterfly tribe provided. He was currently in a large restaurant of the Divine Butterfly tribe. This restaurant was inside the compound of the tribe. And they mainly served the members of the tribe.
So, the quality of the food was excellent. In Alex's words, it was luxurious.
"How did you make it?" Unable to bottle up his curiosity, Alex asked the guide who was following him around.
The guide gave a contended smile once he heard this. He was glad that he could be of service to the guest of his tribe.
"They are honey bread made by adding our region's speciality." The guide replied.
"Pushpam, honey?"
"Yes. If you want more, I could pack some for you." The guide suggested. Normally, he would not have dared to suggest something like that. Warriors treated as guests of the tribe usually were old men who couldn't even take a joke. Offering something like that would have been interpreted as disrespect or a threat.
But, with Alex. He didn't feel the usual air of dominance that an influential person has. He was much easier to get along with.
"Uh! Thanks. Then, pack some for me. I will get that later." Alex said with a gleeful smile.
'Once I have this, I will reverse engineer this marvellous creation.' He thought while looking at the bread.
'Even god won't be able to stop. Ka ka ka…'
Meanwhile, the guide quickly went to pack some bread. He didn't want to disappoint the guest.
Alex ordered a multitude of food that he had never tasted before. And after eating them, he almost decided to settle in Pushpam.
"Sir, allow me to guide you to the meeting hall. You are invited to attend the meeting." The guide who returned with a pack of bread said. He then guided Alex towards the meeting hall.
Alex knew that something serious was about to happen. So, he complied with the request and approached the meeting hall. His goal was simple when he decided to attend the meeting. It is to share and gather as much information as he can.
The thing that limited him the most currently was information. And he was happy to get some for free.
–
The meeting hall was small. And inside it, there were only a small number of people. Among them, Alex saw some familiar faces.
Karthi and his protector and the leader of the divine butterfly tribe, were some of the people he knew personally. And ten other tier 4 warriors were attending the meeting, some old and some young. Their faces were familiar, but Alex didn't know them personally.
Almost everyone was present when he entered the meeting hall, sitting around a giant table. And they were discussing something with each other.
The presence of the white-robed Alex caught the attention of everyone. They gazed at him with curiosity.
'Am I late? Usually, I am not. But this time, the breakfast was too good. Thus, you tribe that made the breakfast is the reason behind my lateness.' He wanted to scream at them when he saw their gaze.
"Come, Sit here." Suddenly, the protector of the Karthi quickly called out to Alex.
Alex's nervousness decreased once he saw a familiar figure calling out to him. Although he didn't know the person that much, he knew this guy was dependable.
The protector is sane, can make quick decisions accurately and has the willpower to follow through. Alex didn't care if he was good or bad. But he was sure that he was not stupid. And an intelligent person is always better than an unintelligent good person when looking for allies.
"Okay." Alex nodded and placed his delicate ass on the empty chair near them.
"Let's resume the meeting. The person we were waiting for had arrived. If you have any questions that you wish to ask, please ask right now." The protector said to take the attention of Alex.
But the tactic of misdirection didn't work this time. The majority of the people still focused on only Alex.
Finally, a person stood up. And as expected, his question was directed at Alex.
"White-robed person. What is your name?" The person that asked the question was a younger member of the Divine Butterfly tribe. And obviously, he was irked by the hidden identity of Alex. So, he asked without any pretence.
"I cannot reveal that." Although initially nervous, Alex kept his composure when he answered the person. He knew it was unsettling to have someone with an unknown identity sitting amongst them. But still, he was not willing to share his identity with them.
"Why?"
"Because it could put my family and friends at risk."
"What if we could promise that we wouldn't reveal your identity to the public." The person was unwilling to give up.
*Smirk* Alex could only smirk at this remark.
"What do you mean? Do you think that we will reveal your information to the public? Do you think we are that untrustworthy?" The person questioned in a slightly angry tone.
"Trust. Promises. I don't think we are that close." Alex said in a sharper tone. Everyone knew what he meant.
"WHAT! How dare you? We trusted your words when you described what happened in the underground hall. But why can't you trust us? Do you take us for a fool? Did Chitra really leave the underground hall on her own? Did you do something to her?" Finally, questions, one after another, were shot at Alex like bullets from a machine gun. And some of them accurately hit the mark.
It was true that Alex lied about some of the events that had transpired in the underground hall.
'I expected something like this to happen when I agreed to stay here. This young man is astute.' He praised the guy in his mind.
'Age is around thirty. A young tier 4 warrior that desperately wants to find Chitra. Does this guy like her? It might be possible. I would feel bad for separating them if the feelings go both ways.'
'Anyway, let's think about that later and use my trump card.'
"Your leader believed me. I don't think I need to explain any further." Alex directed his gaze towards the woman who was peacefully sitting.
"She also promised me to keep my identity a secret. I don't have to reveal it, either."
This stopped the conversation dead in its track. The young man didn't have much more to say after that. All his enthusiasm to question Alex drained when he saw the leader of their tribe looking at him.
"I…"
"Sit." Before he could say another word, an elder interjected. This caused the young man to pause and finally sit.
"Sorry, that was my son. He seems to have misdirected his anger towards the evil organisation towards you. I hope you don't mind." The first elder of the divine butterfly tribe tried to pacify Alex.
This meeting was critical for the tribe. The first elder knew that and prevented something terrible from happening.
"I don't mind."
"Let's continue the meeting then. Our tribe would like to share the information we have gained from interrogating the prisoner. Let's move to that." The first elder stood up, holding a parchment. It contained the information that the divine butterfly tribe gained by interrogating Kain.
"The prisoner Kain is a member of the evil organisation called the Divine Arm. And as we know it, also the leader of the spider gang. He began his activity in Pushpam two decades ago by taking over the underground organisation in the city."
"After taking control of the underworld, he participated in many illegal activities, including human trafficking and kidnapping."
"Our tribe failed to protect the city due to our lax security. Even members of our tribe had fallen victim to the nefarious schemes of Kain and his organisation. Lila is a notable person on that list. She was the sister of Chitra, who was kidnapped fifteen years ago. She was turned into an inhuman fighting monster by them."
"There are countless victims of the evil organisation that I have not mentioned. And they are waiting for us to take action."
"I think we should begin by addressing this." The first elder paused after speaking up to this point.
The question struck the audience with the intensity of a bullet. Those who had anger in their heart finally recognised the real problem. The first elder's explanation made them understand they were also part of the problem.
If the tribe had done a good job safeguarding the public, all this mess wouldn't have happened. They could have detected the danger early on and dealt with it.
The tribe with the best foresight failed to do that. They were a joke in front of reality.
Shame washed over all the people that were present inside the meeting hall.
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