Irina quickly caught up to Sylphie and hugged her from behind, quietly letting her tears flow against Sylphie's back and quietly whispered. "Please let me stay like this for a bit."

"mmhmm." Sylphie placed her hands on top of Irina's and stood still, allowing her friend to let it all out. "I am sorry Irina... If I had known before... I would have convinced Zaran to stay clear of her."

Shaking her head slowly against Irina's back, she replied. "No it's my own fault. I should've tried harder to show him how I feel."

A few minutes passed before Irina finally raised her head from Sylphie's back. "I... I'm going back to the mountain and go for a run to take my mind of things. I'll be back later... you go back to training okay Sylph?"

"Meh. Not yet. If I go back now I will just end up fighting with him. I need to cool down too, so I'll join you on that run."

"mhm. That's fine by me." Irina said, as she quickly unequipped her armour and put on some casual clothes, Sylphie quickly following suit. When the two finished changing they exchanged a look and started jogging towards the mountain. The two of them only dared to unequip their armour because they were in friendly territory and there were a lot of nayeran warriors and guild members around and thus they did not need to fear any monsters in the area as they could just call in aid of anyone nearby.

_________________

Meanwhile, Zaran had already let Florance go and left for the Ergan mountain. During the whole ordeal he had addressed the guild but he had forgotten to talk to the nayeran leader, which could prove to be quite a problem. Thus Zaran had left Florance rather quickly and headed straight to the nayeran guild leader's humble abode, which was really just a crudely carved out home in the mountain.

Zaran had visited the nayeran leader quite a few times before, along with a few of the houses of the other nayeran commanders and one by one they had vastly better homes than the new nayeran leader. Somehow their current leader liked to live the most basic lifestyle.

While most other nayeran had some plants, basic furniture, some self made toys and games, the new nayeran leader had nothing besides a bed, a few cups and a water gourd. This resulted in a large part of the home to be nearly empty.

The leader was resting on his bed that arrived and quickly let Zaran in and gave him a cup of fresh water and sat down on the cold stone floor motioning Zaran to follow his lead.

Zaran noticed that the amount of sword scars in the walls and floor of the house had increased once more and noticed faint traces of sword intent seeping out from them. It were just the faintest of traces, but Zaran still noticed them and smiled happily. It looked like the small tips he had given over the past few weeks had proven to be very helpful to the nayeran leader.

Seeing that the nayeran leader was waiting for him to speak, Zaran started. "I see my tips have proven to be helpful. I can notice that you have improved. But that's obviously not what I came for today. I came here to discuss a... possible problematic matter."

"Go ahead." The nayeran leader quietly said. He couldn't really say much else. He was far too grateful for all that Zaran had done for their kind. Even though many of his brethren had died at his guild's hands, many more had been able to survive due to him and his guild.

"I've been able to make a deal with the invaders and made it so that it won't happen again. However to do this I need to build a city here. Which will mean that I will need to let other species besides the nayeran live here and that I will be the owner of this area from now on and that it won't exactly be your territory anymore. I know this is not what you or your tribe want but I assure you it's the ONLY way I can guarantee that you and your tribe will be able to survive." Zaran said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. He really did wish there had been another way to save them.

"WHAT!" The nayeran leader shouted stood up and was about to drew his sword before he fell on his knees and deeply sighed. "I shouldn't be angry at you. You've saved us before more than once and I'll trust that this only serves to save us again. The one I should be angry at is our previous king."

"Can you convince your tribe to think the same too though?" Zaran said with some uncertainty in his voice. "I'm not sure they'll take the news well.

"Well, with what happened recently... I think I should be able to convince them."

Zaran slowly nodded. "However... while we should technically be fine, I expect that the one who intends for your people to die won't rest and will keep harassing my people and your kind in the future. We'll need to establish a good town with a strong security quickly."

The nayeran leader stood up. "I'll talk to my people first and then we'll talk about what happens after."

Quickly gathering his tribe, the nayeran leader explained the situation to his fellow tribesmen. While the majority was upset that it would no longer truly be their home from this day onward, quite a few of them had realized that today's attackers would never stop hunting them down. With the nayeran leader spelling it out for the rest of them, most if not all the nayeran realized that Zaran's guild had given them a chance to survive.

Even if it wasn't truly their territory from today onward, as long as there was even a single nayeran remaining, this city would forever remain the city of the nayeran. The leader asked if any of his fellow tribesmen were against this and after a few seconds of looking at each other, the nayeran leader nodded and said. "Very well. Let's help our friends develop a city here. Everyone who is not busy gathering food. Gather with me. I'll ask them how we can help."

Zaran was quietly watching from a distance away and approached the nayeran leader. "I guess you have decided?"

"Not like we had another choice. Tell us what we can do." The nayeran leader quietly said.

"Go to the forest, you'll find my people there. Ask them. I am training an apprentice in the coming days. It's part of my deal for the territorial rights." Deeply sighing, Zaran looked at the nayeran leader. "If you have time, join me and my apprentice. I'll teach you all I can so that you can teach your people afterwards."

The nayeran leader nodded and led his people to the edge of the forest, were Zaran's people had gathered.