Chapter 47: Jade Medallion
Buckets of cold sweats began to form on Venn's forehead as he repeatedly turned his head to and fro, between the two "Ysera" in the tent. By now, he had realised that he had committed a huge blunder and had mistaken the identity of the girl beside him.
Upon closer inspection of her facial features, he finally understood why he felt a weird vibe from 'Ysera' when he first entered the tent. Though she and the real Ysera shared a lot of semblance with each other, her appearance looked much younger. And furthermore, she was equipped with daggers as her main weapons whereas Ysera uses a sword.
"Hah…" Venn let out a heavy sigh, and face palmed. He was lucky that he wasn't in a town, or else he would be thrown into a jail by now.
He was essentially harassing one of Ysera's family members. Judging by how similar they looked, Venn could tell that they had close blood ties. From the looks of things, it was highly possible that she was Ysera's younger sister as well.
Turning his head towards the young lady beside him in an attempt to explain himself, he was in horror when he saw that she was confidently smiling at him, her sweet tiger tooth was revealed as she smiled. And as if that wasn't enough, she leaned in and whispered softly into Venn's ears. Her face was so close that Venn could feel her expelling hot breaths on his face.
"I'm going to tell my sis that you laid your hands on me against my wish. Fufufu~"
"Thunk!"
While Venn was in a nervous and horrified state after hearing what Ysera's sister had whispered to him, a loud bang reverberated throughout the war tent. It was so loud that everyone's attention was instantly drawn to the center of the tent and onto the person that made the deafening noise; the Brugvun elder who was sitting in the center of all the elders.
Startled by the commotion, Venn and Ysera's young sister hurriedly returned to their position as well. Their expressions were shocked from being startled as their faces separated from each other. But soon, their faces became furious with rage as the Brugvun elder opened his foul mouth.
"Ysera! You finally dare to show your face to us! After the death of your father, we have organised so many elder meetings, but yet you ignored every single one of them! Don't you know that these meetings are extremely crucial and will determine the fate of our clan? Did you think that being the clan head will give you special privileges?" Even before Ysera had fully stepped her foot into the tent, the Brugvun elder began to chastise her with a smug look on his wrinkly face. After all, Ysera had finally walked into his trap that he painstakingly laid out for her.
Pointing his index finger at Ysera, he continued with his act. "Yesterday, I was pleased to hear that you had reflected on your actions and that you finally agreed to attend the meeting today, but you completely made a fool out of us! How bold of you to make us wait for you for more than an hour!"
"That's right! Ysera, you are late to the meeting."
"How can we trust a girl in handling the clan's affairs?"
"Ysera. I have known you since you were a little baby, but I'm sad to admit that I am really disappointed in your actions!"
"You weren't like this when your father was still alive, Ysera!"
As if they had all agreed, immediately after the Brugvun elder finished his piece, the rest of the elders, except for the granny representing the Shuten family, began to lambaste and criticize Ysera harshly, expressing their disappointment and anger.
However, regardless of how painful and regretful their expressions were, Venn wasn't deceived at all by their poor acting.
"How laughable. All of them are ganging up on a young girl." Venn mocked. Of course, he kept his comment to himself.
He was in no position to act, especially when the granny sitting in front of him had kept her cool. Watching the frowned faces of the Shuten granny and Ysera's sister, he reaffirmed his deduction. However, there was still something he was not clear on.
"Why are they putting on this act? What are they after?"
Then, as if to answer Venn's question, the Brugvun elder sprang his trap on Ysera.
"Ysera! In view of the upcoming war we have against the goblins eight days later, the elders have all decided in the clan's interests that you are incapable of leading our army. That is why, with immediate effect, you are to hand over the patriarch's seal that grants you command over the army to us. The elders will handle everythin-"
"Y-Ysera understands." Unexpected to Venn and everyone in the room, Ysera suddenly interrupted. After tossing the medallion that was carved out from a piece of jade onto the round table with accuracy, she said with an icy tone. "Is this enough?"
The Brugvun elder almost choked on his own words when he saw how Ysera willingly handed over the jade medallion that was in her possession to them.
The medallion could give the holder the power to command the entire army and that was what he and the rest of the elders were after ever since the original Patriarch died. With it, it could be said that the Brugvun family was now the actual head of the Oni Clan while the Shuten family had become a puppet to them.
For the sake of obtaining it, he had prepared countless plans and formed several alliances to this end. For him to obtain it so suddenly was a nice surprise to him. Although Ysera rudely tossed the jade medallion, he was delighted that Ysera had finally seen the light that it was useless for her to struggle. She had caused so much trouble to him because of her refusal to come to the elder meetings, but in the end she finally yielded.
"In the end, you are just a naive girl." He thought internally as he hurriedly grabbed the medallion off the table.