THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 232. A CHOICE TO MAKE

"How do I know that you are not lying?" Sagiri asked.

"Because I have not killed you yet," is all Taziraka said. He still carried the heaviest air of danger Sagiri had ever felt, and he could be lying if it didn’t make him skeptical about the man’s strength. Even the great chief of the north had called him the strongest man of Tagayia. Sagiri had witnessed part of Zaka Asakana’s strength, and he was no doubt the strongest person he had seen in action, yet he had called Taziraka the strongest man in Tagayia.

Sagiri mulled over the words he had said. Tsaka and the Supreme Mandra had not hesitated before striking a bargain with him.

"But if I do that, then won’t the south be the one to be a target from the Tatani? You want me to get mud on my feet for you?" Sagiri said.

"The way I see it, the supreme mandra is giving you a way out. You finish the task, and you have a free way out of the north with whoever you want to take with and if your parents choose to remain, they will be under my care. I’ll give you my word." Tsaka said.

"Am I just supposed to believe the word of a northerner?" Sagiri seethed. The two were now standing on top of one of the shadow corp bases overlooking the east side of Alika City. The city was indeed a maze from above, and it looked like it was a fortress. Especially inside the inner city.

"It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not. " If you finish this task, then you get to leave the north and keep your friends safe," Tsaka said. He was an honourable man, according to the rumours, but sagiri could see the man still had a cunning bone.

Firstly, no tribe had gone against the Tatani and won. Tatani lies on the western side of Tagayia and to the far south, touching the desert, but before going further west and almost touching the state of Safaya. Tatani sat between Safaya and Tagayia and refused to be claimed by any of the countries. Tatani had grown over the past years. It is said the tribe had risen after the many wars between Safaya and Tagayia over the years. The tribes that were caught in between had been torn over the years, and year after year, they had almost gone extinct. It is said that one man had risen from the tribes and had united the wartorn tribes. They had then acquired a secret art of one of the clans, and over the past decade, they had grown from just a small tribe to become a force. Enough to cause tensions between Tagayia and Safaya.

"Why can’t you send one of your chiefs to do this task? You have many capable warriors. What does this have to do with me? Why should I fight a war that I did not start?" sagiri asked. He had an idea why they wanted to send him there, but he still wanted them to admit it.

The tribes had taken a chunk of land from both Safaya and Tagayia, making it a very sensitive matter between the two states that had been at war for decades. If either Safaya or Tagayia engaged Tatani, there were chances they could touch either’s lands, and so then a war could break out between Safaya and Tagayia. Only this time, Tatani won’t take it lying down, and a war could only lead to the growth of Tatani. more orphans of war, more Tatani. If not now, then in the future. There would be no end to it. A tribe of the wartorn. Tatani might not be as strong as the entire state of Tagayia and Safaya, but the war could cost both countries more chunks of land. Tatani had grown up in war, and a war would be like watering. Children raised in war. Orphans of war.

"I think you are smart enough to know why that can’t be. Tagayia can not go to war with Titani, and neither can Safaya," Tsaka said.

"So you want to make me, or perhaps the south, an enemy of the Safaya and Tatani? "sagiri asked. "Why can’t you let them be. It is a monster you created. Perhaps it is in your nature to create monsters?" Sagiri asked. He was standing far from the two.

"Tatani can not be allowed to grow any bigger," the supreme mandra finally spoke.

"Why not merge them into a tribe of Tagayia or let them be a tribe of Safaya?" Sagiri asked. He was not into the idea of wiping out a tribe and its orphaned clans. Just thinking about it made Sagiri green with disgust for Safaya and Tagayia. Is wiping out tribes and clans all they knew?

"Will you be willing to get in bed with someone who killed your parents and entire families? Tatani was born from war. Its ruler is the most hateful of all. They are barbaric. Secondly, Tatani can not be joined with any state, even if they are willing, because they are already standing on three states. I will have you know that Safaya touches the south’s outer lands. The desert belongs to the south, and soon they might be a problem for the south too," Tsaka said. Sagiri could understand the orphaned tribe Tatani. He did not want to bear staying in the north for much longer either.

"The South did not contribute to making them orphans. I don’t think they have a reason to plague the south," Sagiri said. He did not want to do any dirty work for the two damned states. "So you can’t go to war, nor can you merge with them. Can’t you let them be?" Sagiri asked. That was the best solution.

"But if they continue to grow, then Tagayia and Safaya will at some point go to war with Tatani because they would be a threat big enough to ignore. When that happens, Tatani will surely die, but not without both sides paying the price. There will be casualties on both sides, but Tatani will die. Do you understand?" Tsaka said.

"I still don’t understand what you want me to do?" Sagiri said.

"Your clan was wiped out, and I think you must relate..." Tsaka started, and sagiri saw red.

"Don’t mention my clan!!" Sagiri snapped enough to make the air around them freeze. "The tribe is a result of your cruelty. They are monsters you created. They only want to live, yet you can’t allow it. And now you want me to kill them!!" Sagiri was ready to fight the damned mandra to the death rather than render the same fate he had been rendered. If he killed a whole tribe, then what was the difference between him and the damned northern tribes?

"You misunderstand. My mandra only wishes to tell you about the fate that awaits them if something doesn’t happen. You can push them out of Tagayia and into Safaya. Then, Tagayia could have no reason to go to war with them," Tsaka said.

"But then Safaya will have a reason to go to war with them. You are the reason they haven’t gone to war. Your standoff with them is the reason," Sagiri said.

"You can push them south," Taziraka spoke again. "The choice is yours. Push them to Safaya or south, or kill them now to keep them from inevitable death in the future if their hatred and numbers keep growing." Sagiri could finally understand why they wanted him to be the one to go on the mission. If he went to war with Tatani, then Tagayia had nothing to lose. He was an enemy of Tagayia, and so Safaya could not attach him to Tagayia. If anything, Safaya could want to be friends with him. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Same as Tatani. If he pushed them to Safaya, then Tagayias still had nothing to lose since by then they would be Safaya’s problem.

If he pushed south, still, Tagayia had nothing to lose because then they would cease to be a problem to them. Safaya and Tagayia had not been at war with each other even before the rise of Tatani. They would have no reason to go to war, and the two states could continue thriving as they had after the last great war between them. Tatani was close to breaking that, and both nations might have been strong, but going to war could mean many more losses that could last for decades.

Better a fragile peace than war.

How selfish of Tagayia.