40 Heralds of the Wind.

While the chirps of birds from Barhl reached over the people's ear, alongside the murmurs of the Cloud Drinkers drifting up in the sky. The villagers from the Korale Village stopped on the beach while they started laying down their offerings towards the sea spirits.

It was a tradition dating from a long time on the west coast of Navori and Azure Farm's. It was said that when you left an offering to the sea spirits, they would bless the villages with thousands of crabs that would wait for the villagers to feast upon.

But that wasn't all, if they seem worthy or fit of them the offerings, they would protect the village from harms coming from the sea. Be it storms, ocean fauna and predators and such. But as well as to appease their anger in case they send a warning or punishment.

The villagers of the Korale village believed this last, the waters of the sea reached the walls, and although it was nothing too serious, they observed the effort that Renzo made together with the other members to mitigate the immense wave that threatened to wash over the village and it's surrounding.

That is why together they decided that the best option was to offer an offering to the spirits and hope that it serves to mitigate their fury.

This is how under the solemn and respectful gaze of the Heralds of the Wind, as well as the workers under their control, they left a long line of offerings offered by each family in the village, with each family head being the ones placing the biggest offering, while the children's or other partner, placing the minor ones.

Then, they knelt and began to murmur prayers towards them while facing the sea, showing all the time humility and respect towards those who were addressed on their pray.

Several workers, who had little with them, did the same, offering the most valuable thing they have with themselves and giving a prayer, hoping that the little they have will be enough.

"We should do the same, more than anything you Renzo, who must be at fault with the spirits of the sea after yesterday events." Karya turned to look at Renzo as she told him with a serious expression on her face.

The later nodded his head in agreement although he couldn't help but feel a little weird about doing that. After being accustomed to a life being agnostic on earth, while being the literal herald of Janna on this world, Renzo was only accustomed to pray Janna.

'But what can I offer? Certainly that wouldn't be the devil fruits, my brain would be dead the moment I so such I thing, but then what? I don't have that many things with me.' He began to question himself while looking at the scene in front of him.

He didn't noticed Tomura approaching them from the side with carefulness to not make any sound and bother the offering. Then he approached Karya while murmuring something on her ear, the latter showed a concerned expression while she said softly under her breath "Understood, I will talk to him later on and I'll tell you what to do."

After hearing that, Tomura seemed to be much more relaxed as he maintained silent and stayed alongside the group watching over the scene.

When the families finished placing their offerings and prayings. The male that was alongside Karenina, the Noxian female in charge of this village troops, stepped in front with a peculiar attire and a large hat that was adorned with various gems and other things.

The colors on his clothes, alongside his jewelery and paint on his face, make him stand out from the whole scene while he raised his voice and spelled something in a language that I was surprised to be able to understand.

"Spirits of Sea,I, Juwal of the Korale village, offer on behalf of those who precede me and for whom I swore to ensure their interest and protection, as well as the leadership granted by those who at one time founded this village, to my family, these offerings with the hope of, not only venerate your greatness and help, but also as a response and understanding to your will expressed during these days, after we failed and broke the balance. It is by fact that with the consent given by these villagers whom I represent and whose brother, cousin, uncle, nephew, grandfather and for whom I only have love and respect, I come to beg on their behalf and ask for your blessing for the next season. If we fail on our part, and if your will does not see this offering as worthy of you, may the village, as well as my person and family be forever cursed."

As the person called Juwal finished his words, Renzo couldn't help but murmur under his breath "Damn that's harsh..." Karya looked his face with a surprised expression, but didn't said anything as she continue watched forward.

Suddenly the chirps of birds and the sounds of the cloud drinkers in the sky stopped suddenly, a bright light engulfed Jawal and the tides receded back.

From the flowers after the sand and around the beach, specks of lights started levitating under the watchful gaze of the onlookers.

Morpheus who was sleeping soundly suddenly woke up as if he was called by something and rushed like a bolt towards the shore. Closing the distance in a matter of seconds.

The little cub then started roaring towards the see, his cute roar also carried a regal aura that spoke with dignity, even if his size could only give nothing else but cuteness.

Nonetheless, the moment the little thing roared the specks of light seemed to respond and floated around him, while the beast and other creatures around the campsite and village started moving in unrest.

"What the hell are you doing Morphy!?" Karya couldn't help but curse under her breath while Renzo looked over his little pet with interested, moving towards his position with intention of carrying him on his arms.

"Ren wait! Don-" Irelia tried to tell him something but Renzo didn't mind her and appeared beside Morpheus, who after perceiving him jumped on his arms, getting himself comfortable and then turning around to continue roaring with his cute voice.

"Raaawr!" Renzo heart melted while he heard his little pet, holding back from bringing him near his face to showcase his love for the little creature.

Nonetheless, Jawal looked at him and Morpheus with a solemn look, while Renzo returned back to his position. Meanwhile the speck of lights continue floating around Morpheus, and now too, Renzo.

While all of this happened, the waves were retrieving back the raft were Sett was laying into, as he approached closer to the coast alongside a large wave.

However, the people didn't noticed this, as the majority was looking towards the duo with curious expression alongside frowns.

Nonetheless, when the people finally noticed the wave coming on their direction, they returned back to their solemn expression. Although the offerings were most of the times leave behind, in occasions as such, they were often immediately respond by the spirits.

"Would Sett be okay?" Asked Irelia with a low voice after noticing the raft surfing the four meter tall wave.

"I hope he does." Replied shortly Hyuna while gazing with attention the outcome.

As the wave crashed to their position, the water engulfed the offerings alongside the families. However, instead of pushing them or dragging them down, the water seemed to only make contact with the offerings as they were retrieved back by the receding wave.

Meanwhile, Sett was left on the sand, still sleeping, while the group looked at the sight with incredulous expressions. The same think wandering on their heads 'How can he still remain asleep after all that!?'

Nonetheless, their attention was quickly taken by Juwal, who was about to kneel and thank the spirits when he noticed something.

One blue gem of the size of a fist was resting on the beach in the same position where Morpheus was previously roaring.

But that wasn't all, a yellow stone that glowed with inscriptions carved in white was also resting on the sand, giving to everyone who looked at it a warm feeling on their faces.

"T-The spirits answered back!" Someone suddenly said with an unbelievable tone on his voice.

Never once did the spirits gave something in return, and this could only meant a couple things, which none could think at the moment due to the surprised of such unexpected events.

Juwal didn't dare to touch the gem as he turned and looked over the little cub while he said to Renzo, "T-t-that belong to your little frie..-" He wasn't able to finishing his words when the little kitty jumped from Renzo's arms and went to the jewel position.

He smelled it for a moment, then he turned around and looked at Renzo with a look that seemed to ask for his permission, Renzo just motioned with his hand to do whatever he wanted with it as he was at lost in what to do.

Morpheus then swallowed the hole jewel that have the same size of his head in a swift motion that no one was able to see it correctly.

Gulping down, and taking a moment to sniff around the area, while liking his left pawn, Morpheus turned around and jumped again in Renzo's embrace while the latter just caressed the kitty with affection.

'Yeah, well, I hope he doesn't die for swallowing that thing, I remember Arturo dying after swallowing one tic tac.' Renzo thought to himself while reminiscing of his previous cat that ended up killing himself after jumping from the balcony of his previous appartement a few years ago.

The animal moments prior was sniffing around the house and after swallowing a tic tac, he jumped over the fence and crashed on the street, ' That was surely a surprising and ugly moment.' He added on his head, as he remembered seeing the whole thing happening.

Hoping for his new pet to not share the same fate, he looked back at the people and saw many of them looking at them with strange expressions on their faces. Renzo however quickly looked at the stone on the ground with a curious expression, Morpheus didn't seemed to be interested on it.

Thus, he was wondering what such rock could mean.

Nonetheless, Juwal turned and looked again at the rock, sensing a great power radiating from it, he breathed deeply while he ordered someone "Have an altar be erected on the middle of my house, we're going to venerate the gifts from the spirits!"

As he voiced carried out the orders, someone stand up on his feet and rushed towards the village while Juwal started walking towards the rock.

'They went full zealous mode, damn, well, I should also do the same with Janna now that I think about it.' Renzo briefly thought to himself while seeing Juwal.

'I've been praying on the ground after all, should I also build a temple or something? Gotta ask Janna later on.'

Ripping a piece of clothes from his attire, Juwal carefully covered the stone with it, as he didn't wanted to touch the rock directly. Mostly for fear and respect.

He then turned around and looked solemnly at the villagers while he said "In a few months we'll see the answer of the spirits, now let's return back and enact the altar!" As he said that he started retreating back to the village while the villagers followed behind him with smiles on their faces.

"That was weird." Exclaimed Hyuna while sighing deeply. Turning around and looking over Morpheus with curiosity written all over her face.

Irelia nodded her head while she keep looking over the receding figure of the villagers, "I never knew that the spirits could also gift things to us...I guess you learn something everyday." She voiced out the thing that was running on her head until now.

Karya walked in front of the little tiger while she looked over him with a concerned expression, not minding the hissing from the little kitty, "I hope he will be okay, although it was something being brought by the spirits, so there shouldn't be any problem."

Her voice tone sounded doubtful and worry some, clearly betraying what she was saying. Nonetheless, no one voice out anything as Ymir and Tahru went towards Sett position and tried to wake up the later.

"We're going to found out later on anyway, first we should take care of that brat and see what was Tomura wanting." Answered Renzo while Karya changed quickly her face expression after being reminded of the two points.

As they approached Sett, Karya keep complaining at Hyuna for pulling that prank on Sett while Sett himself was having a hard time waking up, only groaning in pain as every fiber on his body ache in pain.

He didn't heard they words as he grudgingly make his way towards his tent, that was besides Indah's one. The group escorting him while Karya continue scolding everyone for their actions.

"In another point, Tomura informed me about a problem that arose just now, see those workers over there?" she pointed out at the various workers on the beach, kneeling and praying "Well, it seemed like the thought of us being punished for breaking the balance was spread around and some people refuse to continue working unless we do some things."

When Renzo heard those words, his expression quickly changed to a frown and somewhat piss off.

Ymir looked concerned over the matter while Tahru expression seemed to say 'I knew it.'

"It has to be about the wood weavers, right?" Asked Irelia and Karya nodded in response while she added "Yes, and I also agree, although we know that yesterday events was due to Renzo, it wouldn't be bad to actually seek balance with our actions and not affect too much the area. It's troublesome but understandable for me, I don't know what you all think about it."

As Karya shared her opinion, she looked over everyone expecting to hear their response, Irelia being the first one to agree "We should also look for the monks after we reach the Placidium, they could help uf further align ourselves in peace with Ionia and the spirits." After passing a large amount of time in the Placidium, Irelia has been greatly affected by the way of thought in the sacred land.

"That's woraxcrap! Why should we lost more time of the needed just for that? We've been already planting tree seeds for every three we cut, and we've been careful enough to not affect the life of the animals on the woods, we have lost five days already on advancement, to keep adding even more." The pissed off expression on Ymir voice resounded quickly after Irelia finished, clearly upset about the current situation.

Renzo nodded his head and added "What Ymir said it's true, we cannot afford to lose more days, if we keep like that we don't know how much the Noxians on the west would advance, we may have to even face a situation where we would be cut off from the rest. What we need right now is swiftness, efficiency and complete our training. Not being dragged by the false notion that those guys have, we have to clarify what happened and have them continue working, I'm not saying we're not going to brought the wood weavers, but we cannot stay idle in the meantime just because of that."

As he explained his opinion to Karya, she sighed in realignment as what he said was the thing that has to be done.

"I'll see what I can do, if that's all, I'll go with Tomura to plan with him how to tell them this." she tried to raise up but was interrupted by Renzo.

"Wait, I'll be bringing some rocks here to enact a temple for Janna, please mention him this too." As he finished saying that, Karya looked at him with a disbelief expression on her face.

'We don't have a house yet and he's thinking of building a freaking temple! Understandable.' She thought to herself, a little bit conflicted over the fact, but also understanding it.

With a nod, she walked away from the circle and walked towards Tomura position. Meanwhile the rest of the team looked over their faces with complicated expression.

Irelia seemed a little bit angry at Ymir words as she looked over the Freljordian with a heavy frown. Ymir smiling at the young girl expression asked her with a mock tone "What? Are you piss off for what I said? Then let's go over there and resolve it with our first girl." As she said that, she stand up amidst Tahru intention of holding her back, nonetheless, the blonde freljordian was stretching her body while smiling cockily at Irelia.

When Irelia heard Ymir taunt and saw her actions, she didn't said anything and raised on her feet, looking over her with a piss off expression. Just as the duo was about to walk towards an open area, Tahru tried to reason with Ymir while Hyuna seemed eager to see the fight.

Renzo however looked over the two with a frown, sighing deeply and getting on his feet. Letting Morpheus rest on his tent.

He then walked behind the duo and grabbed their neck with an iron grip of his hand, raising both from the ground while saying with a icy tone

"No fights."

Both females grimaced in pain over the strong grip on their neck while they nodded their head, just wanting Renzo to put them down.

When Renzo saw both of them nodding, he put them down while looking over Tahru and Hyuna, his eyes asking them for their response also.

"I understood okay?, no fights!" Said Hyuna while rolling her eyes up in annoyance.

"I understood too." Tahru simply replied while giving him thumbs up for preventing his girlfriend to do something stupid.

Meanwhile, Ymir looked over Renzo with an aggrieved expression while muttering "You are not fun." Her hand caressing her neck as she felt her entire column a little bit numb.

Irelia also looked over Renzo, however she seemed a little bit more affected by something as her crystal blue eyes held some tears on it.

When Renzo turned and looked over her eyes, he put a gentle expression as he started to pat her head while saying "No fights, we are friends and a group, okay?" Hearing his caring tone and soft voice, Irelia nodded at him while she enjoyed his petting.

Meanwhile Ymir rolled her eyes over the clear display of favoritism towards the youngest member while hugging her partner.

Like that the group returned to their seats, resting their tired bodies while maintaining silence.

It wouldn't be after twenty minutes later that Karya appeared again, not minding the weird atmosphere and silence on the circle she informed them.

"Ahem, he will be informing them regarding our decision, however it's us who must tell them the reason behind the waves. I recommend to do it after finishing the shrine, in that way we can also promoted Janna's Religion within the camp." She looked over the faces of everyone while saying this. She then moved her head and looked at Renzo.

"He will be giving twenty workers for the shrine. So you can start now bringing those rocks, he only asked for not being built in a bad place." Renzo nodded his head as he heard this, a smile showing on his face.

"Still, I want the rest of you to keep patrolling around the campsite, at the same time I'll be taking a look in the village to see what's going on with that piece of roc-" she wasn't able to finish her words when a bubble engulfed the whole terrain, a yellow glow taking their attention as they look up in the sky.

"What the hell is that?" Hyuna murmured under her breath while looking up strangely.

"What..." Irelia was unable to continue talking as she watches over with surprise.

"What's going on?" Karya questioned while frowning deeply at the sight.

And Renzo, with a heavy sigh just muttered under his breath" la puta madre hermano, que pingo pasó ahora?" His face morphing into a tired expression.

The bubble then started to lose a little bit of light, however everyone could see patterns going around the whole sky around the village and campsite.

"That's some kind of protection, isn't it?" Exclaimed Ymir after thinking for a brief moment.

The group raised their eyebrows in realization as it made sense for them "That's what the yellow rock was for, right!?" The eager voice of Irelia asked.

Karya still looking over the sky with a complicated expression replied "It should be, I'll be going over there to take a look though, better of to confirm it." As she said that, she raised on her feet once again and started walking towards the village, Renzo following behind her while the team stayed back.

They were to tired to continue walking, thus, they tried to sit or laze around the most they could before Karya came back again and force them to patrol.

As the duo passed through the various tent and made their way towards the village gate, Renzo held Karya hand as the later turned her head towards his direction and looked over his face and their hands with a smile.

Not saying anything they continue walking while Renzo said to her afterwards "Irelia and Ymir almost got into a fight for something stupid, I think is about time for us to start thinking of something to help them relieved their minds unless we want to have a group of individuals that could jump on the minimum." As he said that, he caressed her hand with his free thumb.

Karya sighed deeply as hear him, "And what can we do? It's not like this war isn't taking a toll on everyone, on the second squadron there were fights most of the times but it's quite normal to be honest, we just need to make sure they don't take it too far and make it up afterwards. You can't expect our group to be easy going and relaxed most of the time, we're on war." She explained to him with patience.

Renzo smiled wryly while he defend his words "I don't expect them to be well all the time, I'm just saying that we need a way to make sure their minds are occupied with something else so they don't jump on the slightest remark, we need to implement disciple and self control. I know I'm not the most fitting person to say it, but there should be a level of decorum and respect with each other."

As he said this words, Karya looked over him and retorted "And lose the union of the group? It's exactly because of that, that the rest of them are comfortable with our group, we don't need to act like in the second squadron, we're just a bunch of friends fighting against the Noxians and hoping for something better for Ionia, the rest of the things are just the necessary to make it happen." As she made her point clear, Renzo just sighed and keep silent, not wanting to keep talking as he wasn't able to put it right his words.

Under the watchful gaze of the village guards, they made their way into the crowd surrounding a house in the middle of the village. It was obvious that this place was the current home of the rock, the house of Jawal.

"I don't want to deal with them for the time being, come over here and I will take us in the air so you can take a look." Said Renzo while signaling Karya to jump into princess carry.

The latter laughed in a charming tone as she jump over him and moved her hands around his neck, kissing him on the cheek.

Renzo just smiled as he channeled the vibrations on his legs and jumped over the air. He then started stepping on the air while the duo looked over the direction of the house and were able to make out the altar enacted, as the yellow rock spun at high speed, creating an energy field around itself.

"I guess that pretty much confirm it, let's go back now." Said Karya into his ear, while Renzo nodded and headed back towards the campsite, still stepping in the air.

The various guards around Korale village looked over them with wary expression as they saw the couple heading back towards their place, noticing that most likely they came due to their curiosity.

After landing on a open place, they kissed briefly while then parted ways, Karya heading towards the group direction while Renzo heading towards a beach cliff a couple kilometers on the east of their position.

With the help of the tremors, he launched himself at quick speed and reach over the place after ten minutes, his legs calf feeling a little bit hot due to the straining they've been put through.

Nonetheless, once Renzo was looking over the crag, he inspected the rock to see if it could work. He wasn't a stonemason nor someone fitting to build, however he knew that such rocks should have a level of hardness to be used as building material.

'It should also be white, so these ones wouldn't work.' He thought to himself while looking at they greyish black rock in front of him.

He then jumped again on the air and scanned around the crag in search of more rocky places, spotting a few boulders on the ocean while at the same time seeing other cliffs and crags along the beach.

After inspecting various places, he wasn't able to decided himself, at such he asked the person who should be more interested.

"Dear Janna, I hope you are hearing me, tell me, which ones of these rocks are of your liking for you first temple to be built upon?" As he prayed and looked over the large boulder in front of him made of white colour rock that was quite sturdy. He hoped to receive and answer.

And luckily for him, he just have to wait a few seconds until her heard her answer, with a charming giggle, her soothing voice reached over his ears "Fufufu~, that one in front of you will do, although it's not the first temple to be built on my honor." He then felt her presence fading away after answering him, not giving the chance to reply her.

Thus, he only noded his head and started channeling the vibrations around his arms, only one though going around his head 'What does she meant by that? I was obviously referring to the first one being built since she blessed me.'

Nonetheless, he started breaking the boulder in various square blocks of 2 meter tall, they weren't perfectly cut, but the precision was quite good on his opinion.

Thus, after thirty minutes of heavy work, he finished cutting sixty five blocks, reducing the boulder height at half of it's previous height, while flattening it's interior.

'Shit, now I have to carried them to the campsite, damn it!' Renzo cursed under his breath while noticing his mistake, nonetheless, he breathed deeply and prepared to move at least twenty of these rocks by tonight, hoping they were enough to build the base.

Thus, after carefully grabbing one of the blocks, he assessed wether he was capable of taking them in waves of two while also reaching the campsite in a reasonable speed.

However, he wasn't even able to lift one completely before he was forced to take it down. His face, arms, chest, and legs veins showcasing all over his body, his face red while the rest of his body tried to send blood on every one of his limbs. The strain that a 2 meter tall boulder take on him was incredible. He was now doubting wether he would be capable of transporting just one towards the campsite.

'What the fuck!? How the hell this thing could be so heavy!' He cursed on his mind while eyeing the various rocks. While he was cutting them with the vibrations, he wasn't able to notice such thing, as the vibrations itself were able to cut them and also moved them from the rest of the boulders.

However, now that he tried to raise one with his own hands, he noticed the extreme weight such things have. By now he could carry a car most likely with his arms, but this 2x2x2 rock was too heavy even for him.

'I guess I gotta need to train even more before we do this.' he said to himself while started thinking about how he would make it possible for the boulders to be carried towards the campsite. Not only would they need to take them down from at least twenty meters height if they wanted to take the last ones he cut, but they needed to have a boat that was able to carry it towards the beach, and then a medium to transport it to the designated position.

'Damn, why always everything is perfect on my head and then is like this when I tried it!?' He cursed to his fate while remembering those novels where the main characters didn't seemed to face such problems.

Not wanting to waste more time, he headed back to the campsite with a defeated look on his face, nature just won this round against him. Thus, after jumping though the air and stretching his calf's after landing, he made his way back towards his tent while an the orange sunset glowed over him and the surrounding.

After passing through various tents and seeing the workers starting to return back from their work, eating something and chatting among themselves, he finally visualize Karya alongside Irelia.

The duo were the only ones around the circle of tenta that formed their group. They were chatting harmoniously while Karya combed Irelia's silky hair, the latter smiling as she was telling her something.

The duo then spotted Renzo and waved towards his position. Karya noticed that Renzo's shoulder looked downcast, the same sign she always saw on him when something was troubling him. Making her frown a briefly while thinking what could've have gone wrong.

However, before she could ask him something he asked her " Where are those workers? I need to tell them that they can rest for the time being, something came up and I won't be able to get the rocks for now." Seeing his wry smile, she decided to ask him later on. Nodding her head she pointed towards the direction where they should be, as they saw him walking in that direction fastly.

It wasn't until a couple minutes later, where Indah just told them that the meal was ready that he came back and sat beside them. After hugging Karya by her waist, they started chatting alongside Irelia who was now resting her head on Karya tights.

The trio was waiting for the rest of the team to return so they can eat their meal together. The only have to wait ten minutes more until Hyuna, who was the last one, finally appeared and Indah brought the trails of food to everyone.

After she came back with her own bowl and sat besides Sett, they finally munched down their meal, which was a soup made of fish and a salad of various vegetables that they found out in the woods.

After finishing their meal, the group started chatting among themselves while Renzo shared his troubles, receiving some laughs from Hyuna and Ymir while the rest asked him if they could help him.

After assuring he was looking for a solution and thanking them for offering their help, they continue talking and sharing the news they heard around. What they mostly talk about was the workers thoughts, as Karya made sure to explain their reasoning for continue working and not wait for the wood weavers.

Many around were able to understand and didn't voice out any complaint, but others did have one or two thing to say on the matter, luckily they weren't a large numbers and thus, the campsite was in a good condition for the time being.

The chat was brought to an end after Ymir and Tahru entered their tent and started raising some sounds, thus making the group feel a little bit uncomfortable and said goodbye to each other.

However, Renzo didn't thought the same, as when Karya saw the predatory look on his eyes while looking at her, she gulped down in embarrassment and prepared herself for also doing the same as Ymir and Tahru.

It was bound to be a sleepless night in the Korale Campsite.

******

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