Chapter 28: The Retaliator

Manu slowed his pace as he almost reached his colony. However, it turned out that Leva was already standing there with her arms crossed, staring intently at the man's face.

"Where have you been?" The woman asked in a cold tone.

Manu shrugged. "I was just walking around because I couldn't sleep."

Leva's gaze turned to the sack that Manu was carrying. A dry leaf fell from the sack.

"I know that you brought dry leaves with you, right?" Leva drew closer to the bearded man. "What are you burning, Manu?"

I had crouched down by Seb to ask the blond man to mediate between the two before the fight broke out. However, I didn't do it because an idea popped into my head. Maybe with this fight, I can unlock more of Manu's history. This is related to his strange trait.

I'll break them up if things get any worse.

"That is none of your business." Manu said flatly and started to walk away, but Leva pulled his body.

"Of course it's my business!" Leva snapped. "I have to confirm whether you are doing something dangerous or not!"

Manu rebuffed Leva's hand and started walking again. Leva snorted and blocked the man, then punched him so hard he fell.

"Hey!" Manu protests while holding his cheeks which are starting to bleed.

The other colonists got up to check what was going on. I hastily asked Seb to separate the two people.

"Hey, can't this be discussed properly?" Seb got up with his eyes half-closed from sleepiness. "You two ...."

"You shut up, Seb!!!" Leva shouted again, louder this time. "I need to know what he's doing!"

Manu stood up with tense facial veins. "I set fire to the place where the evil monkeys live so they don't attack again! They deserve it!"

Leva's eyes widened. "What did you say!? You burned their habitat!? Don't you think that would harm us!? What if the fire spreads to our place! You are a hypocrite, Manu! You get angry when I do what you think is dangerous, but You did that too!"

"I'm sure the fire won't spread. There isn't anything around that place to spread fire." Manu's breathing started to get heavy. "And what am I doing to protect all of us! As for you? What were you doing in that salt cave!? Why are you mining salt that isn't really of much use to us, when it's obviously dangerous!? You're going to use that salt to clean your dirty, smelly pussy, right!?"

You're going too far, Manu.

Leva choked. She had raised her clenched hand to hit Manu, but Seb was holding her back.

"It's not worth it, Leva." Seb sighed.

Leva lowered her hand. The veins on his neck were already protruding. With a voice like the growl of a beast, the woman said to Manu's face. "Just watch out if the fire reaches us."

Manu chuckled, then left the place by pushing Leva's shoulder. The red-haired girl closed her eyes and bit her lip in anger.

Should I let Leva beat up Manu? I also really hate this guy's behavior. However, at the same time, I didn't want the pace of the man's building work to slow down. If Manu gets injured from Leva's attacks, then the man's movement is hampered. The woman had a melee attack stat higher than Manu's.

And one more thing, I'm not sure Leva could be stopped if she did beat Manu.

I looked at the nipple smoke that was starting to rise in the distance. I can only hope that Manu's guess is correct that the fire won't hit my colony.

I pressed the fast-forward button several times.

And my hopes were dashed. At first, I saw orange flames in the distance. The fire grew in no time. Until finally, when the sun rose, I could see a wall of fire as high as a human's knee that continued to devour the grass.

Without me needing to do anything, the fast forward stopped by itself. The colonists woke up and looked in the same direction as me.

Even though the fire was still far away, I could already smell the burning scent. My vision is also a little while because it started to be covered in smoke.

"No.... No...." Manu squeezed his head. "I don't want this to happen. I just want to protect this tribe."

Leva suddenly strangles Manu's neck with her hand. The woman's gaze was already fierce, like that of an animal angry at its territory being disturbed.

Manu can't fight... No. He resigned himself to what would happen to him. The bearded man closed his eyes.

I was about to ask Seb to stop Leva, but the woman took the initiative to lower her hand instead.

"There's no point in doing anything to you now. It won't change things." Leva said with trembling lips.

The woman turned to go to Seb. Manu knelt on the ground with a face full of regret.

Use this as a lesson, Manu.

"What should we do now?" Seb asked in a worried tone.

Leva shook his head with teary eyes. "I don't know."

"I remember. When I was little, our tribe had to move because there was a fire like this." Pif joined the conversation.

Seb shook his head. "But, we've made a lot of progress. Manu has started building a bigger shelter. I've also planted potatoes and bananas. It would all be meaningless. Isn't there any other way to survive this fire?"

"If any of you know any methods of surviving the fire, say so. Otherwise, you'll have to get out of here." I had to say that, even though my heart didn't want to.

Kat stays in position, still silent and expressionless. Pif looked away with a gloomy face. Manu just looked down. And finally, Leva took a deep breath with her eyes closed. Seb rubbed his face when he saw the woman's expression.

"Sorry, but it looks like we really have to go. I know you've worked hard for us, but there's nothing we can do about it." Leva massaged the spot between her forehead and nose. "However, this is not the end of everything. We can start over again."

A faint smile formed on Seb's lips. "Well, if this has to happen, we have to accept it."