Above the mage

Chapter 263 Donald

The next day, shortly after sunrise, a knocking sounded abruptly at the door.

Both Gao De and Luo Yiqi instantly perked up.

Apart from Elder Grant, they knew no one else in Phoenix.

The fact that they came at this time meant that Elder Grant must have already gotten some results.

Upon opening the door, they found Elder Grant indeed.

Beside him stood Catherine, who had been taken away by the Zhenbing tribe for several days.

As it turned out, Elder Grant did not disappoint God and Loich.

In less than a day, he personally brought the person back.

"Holy Maiden, I'll see you off here," Elder Grant said to Catherine with a smile.

"Elder, just call me by my name," Catherine said, seemingly quite sensitive to the title "Saintess," making a point of saying it even in this situation, before thanking Elder Grant.

"Elder Grant, thank you so much for your help this time. Otherwise, I don't know how long I would have been blaming you for this."

Her usually cold demeanor was now replaced by an incredibly sincere tone.

"I really don't deserve your thanks," Elder Grant said, shrugging. "To be honest, I also bear some responsibility for your being framed, since it was my servant who led you into the trap."

He had already learned the details of Catherine's framing on the way here, and it was indeed related to Thomas.

"Moreover," Elder Grant paused, looked at God and Loich, and added, "the real heavy lifting was done by those two; I only did what was within my duty."

"I should even thank you in return. If it weren't for his help, I would have been in serious trouble this time," Elder Grant pointed at God and said seriously, "These people not only plotted to frame you, but they were also after me."

Having been imprisoned for several days and knowing nothing about the specifics, Catherine was completely bewildered when she heard Elder Grant say this.

Elder Grant solemnly took out a small bottle from his pocket and handed it to Gao De: "We owe you a lot for your help with the Golden Radiance Wheat incident. I haven't had a chance to thank you yet. This is just a small token of my gratitude. Please don't refuse it."

Gao De glanced at the small bottle and immediately recognized that it contained the Northern Territory's hard currency, Ice Marrow.

When Elder Grant saw that Gao De didn't take it immediately, he shoved the bottle directly into Gao De's hand without saying a word, and then bid farewell to the three of them: "The people we caught last night are extremely involved, and this matter is far from over. I'll go back and continue to deal with it."

Only after Elder Grant's figure disappeared from sight did Loich come to his senses, then, as if suddenly realizing something, he led Catherine into the house, asking with concern, "They haven't been doing anything these past few days, have they?"

"Fortunately, people have been taking turns interrogating me, but I've denied everything. Out of respect for the Snowfield Guardians, they haven't done anything to me yet, but who knows what will happen later. Luckily, you found the culprit in time and cleared my name."

Sitting down at the stone table, Loich heard Catherine's thanks and quickly shook his head, "It wasn't me, it was us."

He pointed to God and Flora sitting on God's shoulders, and took credit for them, saying, "God and Lady Flora deserve the most credit for rescuing you so quickly this time."

"What exactly happened?" Catherine, who was already curious about Elder Grant's behavior at the door, reached the peak of her curiosity after hearing Loich's words.

Loich then recounted in detail to Catherine what had happened in the past two days.

After hearing the details, Catherine couldn't help but turn her gaze to Gao De, who had been silent all along.

A strange light flickered in her eyes beneath the mask. After hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke, "Thank you."

Gao De responded with a slight smile, without saying anything polite.

Since he had indeed helped with this favor and put in a lot of effort, Catherine owed him something, and he wouldn't be polite to her.

If it weren't for this woman, he would already be on his way to plant trees. Why would he have taken a long detour to Phoenix and been forced to become one of them?

"And there's her too." Gao De even pointed to Flora on his shoulder without any hesitation.

Catherine paused for a moment, then subconsciously looked at Flora, only to see the little girl staring straight at her.

She thought for a while before cupping her hands and saying, "Thank you very much."

The little boy then snorted, looked away, and gazed at the scenery outside.

"Catherine, this matter involves far more people than we anticipated, and may even involve the Zhenbing tribe," Loich reminded Catherine, recalling Elder Grant's earlier words.

"Our purpose in coming to Phoenix has most likely been exposed."

"What do you mean?" Catherine frowned slightly, not understanding how the sect's internal affairs had inexplicably become involved with the Zhenbing tribe.

At the same time, she glanced subtly at Gao De, who was still listening in, but ultimately said nothing.

That means tacit consent.

Loich, who understood Catherine's thoughts very well, felt free to speak frankly: "I originally thought that the infestation of ice-line insects in the Golden Wheat Field was just something the mastermind did to keep Elder Grant busy and prevent him from helping us."

"It wasn't until yesterday that I realized things weren't that simple."

"Last night, before we took action to apprehend the culprits, I overheard their conversation. One of them said they wanted to use the Ice Thread Worm infestation to remove Grant from his position as elder."

"Therefore, the main purpose of the ice worm infestation was actually to remove Grant from his position as elder."

"Doesn't this prove that the Zhenbing tribe was involved in this matter?"

"After all, aside from the Zhenbing tribe, what other people would have a conflict of interest with Elder Grant, and do they want to remove him from his position as elder?"

Upon hearing this, both Catherine and God's eyes flickered.

Loich's statement is reasonable and well-founded.

"Is there factional infighting within the Zhenbing tribe?" Gao De asked tentatively.

Generally speaking, wherever there are people, there will be conflicts of interest; this is an eternal truth.

But the northern tribes, who can't even guarantee their basic survival, are more likely to become united in this situation—they need to be able to eat their fill before they can even talk about conflicts of interest.

Throughout his journey, Gao De encountered two northern tribes, the Snowflakes and the Dol Borderlands, both of which were very united and did not have any factional disputes.

"Of course." Loich was a smart man and immediately understood what Gaode meant from his question.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to tell Gao De about some of the secrets within the Zhenbing tribe.

"The Zhenbing tribe almost fell apart due to factional disputes."

"What exactly happened?" Gao De asked, curious. He was also incredulous that in a situation where survival was so difficult, they could still fight each other to this extent.

"This all started with Sunafa, the current War Mother of the Zhenbing Tribe," Loich said, organizing his thoughts as he began to explain to God.

"Sunafar's mother, Glenn Boreas, was the previous War Mother of the True Ice Clan."

"Therefore, from birth, Sunafa has the blood of Boreas flowing through her veins, destined to inherit the position of War Mother of the Zhenbing tribe and become the next leader of the Zhenbing tribe."

"However, before Sunafa came of age, Glenn Porias lost his life during a hunting expedition he was leading."

"No one knows what terrifying monster they encountered that could cause the True Ice War Mother, one of the most powerful Iceborn in this land, to perish, because the entire team of hunters that Glenn led out all died, with no one surviving."

"Glen Boreas has fallen. According to tradition, Sunefa should inherit the position of War Mother and lead the Zhenbing tribe."

"However, Sunefa was only fourteen years old at the time, still a minor, and her Iceborn bloodline had not even fully awakened."

"It's like a child whose parents have died and who suddenly has to inherit a large fortune. There will always be many unscrupulous relatives who want to seize the inheritance that belongs to the child, under the guise of helping to take care of it," Loich explained.

The metaphor is so vivid that it immediately evokes a sense of déjà vu.

"There's nothing new under the sun, and Sunefa's experience was no exception."

"Speaking of this, we must mention the composition of the Zhenbing tribe's leadership."

"The leader of the Zhenbing tribe is undoubtedly the War Mother, and below the War Mother are many elders. The War Mother and an unlimited number of elders together form the high-level leadership of the Zhenbing tribe."

"A very crude structure," Gao De thought to himself. After all, in his previous life, the power structure had developed to an extremely complex and sophisticated level.

However, this extensive power structure also has its unique advantages. The most prominent one is that it makes the decision-making process more efficient and avoids problems such as information distortion and slow decision-making that may be caused by multi-level management.

For the Phoenix, which still resembles a primitive tribe, their social relationships are relatively simple and their daily production activities are very singular. Such a power structure is in line with their "national conditions".

"Among those elders, who are not limited in number, there is also a Grand Elder, who is equivalent to the second-in-command of the entire tribe, second only to the War Mother in status."

"Donald, who was also the current Great Elder of the Zhenbing Tribe at the time, argued that Sunefa was too young, not mature enough, and too weak to take on the responsibility of leading the Zhenbing Tribe after the death of Glenn War Mother. He proposed that Sunefa temporarily take over the leadership of the Zhenbing Tribe."

"Once Sunefa comes of age and has sufficient power and ability, she will take over the leadership position."

“Of course,” Loich shrugged. “That’s just the official story. Everyone knows that once Donald is in the leadership position, he will never hand it back to Sunefa unless he dies.”

"Although Sunefa was the rightful successor of the Zhenbing tribe, her age and strength were indeed obstacles to her succession, so the entire tribe split into two factions at that time."

"One faction is the conservatives, who believe that the leader of the Zhenbing tribe can only be someone with the blood of Boreas."

"The other faction is the reformists who support Donald. They believe that Sunefa is not capable of leading the Zhenbing tribe. If they forcibly follow tradition and obey the orders of such a young girl, it will only lead the Zhenbing tribe to decline."

"Donald served as the Great Elder of the Zhenbing Tribe for hundreds of years and was already very prestigious in the tribe. Only the War Mother Glenn could keep him in check. Now, the War Mother Glenn has died so suddenly that no preparations were made for Sunaifa."

"Therefore, after Glenn Boreas's death, Donald's influence in the True Ice Tribe far surpassed that of Sunefah, and the supporters and strength of the reformists completely overwhelmed the conservatives."

"Seeing that the tide had turned against them, the conservatives still refused to submit to Donald. In light of this situation, Donald had already planned to drive the conservatives out of Phoenix and strip them of their status as citizens of the Zhenbing tribe."

"The Zhenbing tribe, which has a history of countless generations, is on the verge of splitting up."

"Young Sunefa stepped forward. She left Phoenix alone and, following the guidance of the ancient map, came to the central North, to the ancient holy site of the Iceborn tribe, a ruin that had been abandoned for countless years, the Ancient Frost Mouth."

"No one knows exactly what happened there. All we know is that Sunefa found the Ice Magic Weapon [Blizzard] belonging to the original Poria in the Ancient Frost Pass, and fully awakened the Iceborn bloodline and ancient True Ice magic within her." As he said this, admiration appeared in Loych's eyes.

For an underage "girl" to demonstrate such responsibility and courage under these circumstances, and to successfully "defy fate," is nothing short of legendary.

"The strong should do the impossible, this is what Boreas himself said, and Sunefah did just that."

"Sunafari returned to Phoenix with the Blizzard. With the Blizzard, she gained the support of more than 90% of the Zhenbing tribe and overwhelmingly ascended to the position of War Mother, becoming the new War Mother of the Zhenbing tribe and the youngest War Mother in history. She was even a minor at the time!"

"And her fully awakened Iceborn bloodline allowed her to rapidly grow into one of the most powerful Iceborn in the North within two years of reaching adulthood."

"Faced with this situation, Donald had no choice but to submit to Sunefa."

"But everyone knows that the feud between Sunefa and Donald is irreconcilable."

"It can only be said that Sunafa has refrained from taking action against Donald because of his strength and prestige, and to avoid internal strife that would weaken the tribe."

"Of course, it's possible that this new mother is truly magnanimous and doesn't hold a grudge, but I don't think Donald is naive enough to believe that."

"As long as he doesn't believe it, it doesn't matter whether Sunefa is prepared to let Donald go or not."

"Therefore, the conflict between Sunifa and Donald has always existed."

"And Elder Grant has always been a conservative from the beginning." After introducing the internal situation of the Zhenbing tribe, Loich pointed out the key point incisively.

"Therefore, this matter most likely also involves the Great Elder of the Zhenbing Tribe, Donald," Gao De concluded.

(End of this chapter)