25 Camp

The gnolls didn't flee very far, partly because of their exhaustion and the presence of the sick and elderly.

"Atasha, I have some mounts to help you transport some members," Alex said.

Atasha, who was attending to some of the sick, saw me return and her face lit up.

"Sir Alex, you've returned."

"Of course, did you expect me to die or leave? Am I not welcome here?"

Atasha immediately received the questioning looks from the other gnolls and began to panic. "No, my lord, I didn't mean that," she said, shaking her hands and head.

"Calm down, I know what you meant. Although it was a bit challenging, I managed to overcome the problem thanks to our allies."

"Our allies," Atasha murmured with some disbelief, as nobody really believed that the elves or dwarves would cooperate with them.

"Don't worry; they'll help us for now. They need us as much as we need them," I said, placing my hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

I looked at the other members to give them some reassurance and then declared, "I can sense a special place a little further ahead. We can rest there and decide what to do next, so I ask you to gather your strength and make one last effort to continue."

Initially, there was uncertainty on their faces, but soon determination began to emerge; they just needed a little faith.

Each mount could carry three adults and a couple of children. This showed how strong these mounts were compared to Earth horses. Also, although they were a bit more aggressive with other groups, they behaved more docilely with Alex, so it wasn't too difficult for the other gnolls to use them in his presence.

The situation was quite different for the other two groups, who were struggling to mount them, so they were barely using them for transportation for now.

Both the elves and the dwarves continued to follow the group of gnolls without integrating into the group but staying close. Alex started traveling with the gnolls and having small talks with some of them, asking relevant questions to Atasha.

It turned out that the reason I understood the gnoll language was because I had somehow accepted their sponsorship offer. Well, I didn't really accept it per se; it was that thieving creature who forced me to come here, so I had somehow become their chosen one.

Although I could easily abandon them and avoid any responsibility, or even join the other two groups that I was sure would gladly accept me, I knew there was power in accepting the role granted by the system. Moreover, this power was very different from other powers because it was something much more natural that grew with you organically. The system would never offer you something instant; rather, it was something you had to learn or develop.

After all the talk, we finally arrived at the place I had indicated. It was a fairly large clearing in the middle of this dense forest. There was an abundant stream here, some bushes with food nearby, as well as other wild fruits.

"Atasha, we'll rest here for now. We need to organize ourselves to collect food and wood."

"Don't worry about that, my lord. We can put the elders in charge of some children to gather the nearby fruits. As for the wood, with a little of your help, I can send some of our men to collect it, but they will need your protection."

"Leave the protection to me. Organize the matters; first, I need to discuss a couple of things with our allies."

This place had a mystical aura; I felt it calling to me, and there was a kind of power in the air. Although it wasn't as potent as a potion, I still felt that just being here could double your recovery of health or energy.

On the other hand, it was finally time to discern what the other groups wanted and whether collaboration was finally possible.

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Atasha entered the makeshift tent in the middle of her camp. Although they were all the same, this one was slightly larger and had a special meaning as both the residence and the command center of their savior.

"My Lord Alex, the rest of the gnolls are gathered and waiting for you."

Atasha was twisting in her position; she felt truly insecure about the upcoming meeting. In these couple of weeks, Alex had led their camp masterfully. Most of the sick had already recovered and were ready to serve again, the children were well-fed considering the circumstances, and the elderly had a safe place where they could perform small tasks to contribute to the camp. Everything was progressing amazingly.

Yet, there was something that troubled the minds of the residents, and Atasha in particular. Alex was a human, and humans were one of the races that had historically rejected the gnolls. Although the gnoll tribe on the Iretar Peninsula had endured decades of slavery, they had finally gathered enough tributes to offer to the system in the hope of sending them a leader who could guide them.

The person who responded to this call had to meet the minimum requirement to be a ruler according to the system's standards, and for Atasha, he fulfilled that and more. It was astonishing that a person of this caliber was not a leader among humans. That's why these last few days, she had lived in fear that Alex would tire of them and decide to abandon them.

Even more painful for Atasha was the fact that, even if Alex wanted to rule them, what was there to rule? Practically their entire race was enslaved by now. Although some of them would be liberated from time to time, it would mostly be because other species rescued their enslaved members, and they would only be freed as a byproduct of their captors' destruction.

Alex finally stood before the crowd with Atasha by his side. A little more than a hundred gnolls looked at Atasha with apprehension; the uncertainty on their faces was palpable.

"Community, during the last few days, we've worked hard, and we're finally back on our feet. Our wounded have been healed, our sick attended to, we have a resting place for our elders, and food for our children."

The faces of those present began to brighten slightly. In everyone's heart, there was a beautiful word that they all wanted to hear from Alex's mouth: "our."

"However, it's now time to finally confront our demons. I need you to answer some questions: Who are we, and what do we want for our future? We can hardly move forward if we don't answer these questions, and we'll only be striking in the dark."

Alex took a moment to observe the discussion that immediately arose, at first, they didn't understand the question, but soon, the discussion Alex had expected began. Some identified themselves as members of the Sha clan, Atasha's clan, while others said all gnolls on the Iretar Peninsula had come as members of the Rek'Tar tribe. Some talked about their small clans, and even more spoke of belonging to organizations not native to gnolls. They debated what they should defend, their beliefs and gods, their history, and recent events.