"."
"."
A long silence spread through the dim tent, like fallen night, shrouding the hearts of the two glorious nobles. After a long while, Mountain Clan Chief Izel crouched down, and under Reed Clan Chief Sintel's wary gaze, began striking the fire stone with a "tap, tap."
"Tap... tap!... Whoosh!..."
The bonfire slowly kindled, bringing light into the night. His old friend Sintel moved like a ghost, step by step, until the shadow he cast on the tent overlapped with Izel's. The two sat cross-legged on the muddy ground facing each other in tacit understanding, looking into each other's eyes, and also at each other's hands.
"Sintel, your skills seem much better than before?"
"Ha! Izel, if you were on the front line, risking your life with the Zapotec every day, your skills would improve a great deal too!..."
"Is that so?... But with the skills the two of us have, even with dozens of trusted men added in... to swing the daggers in our hands amid an army of tens of thousands... I'm afraid it would still be hard to reach the target, wouldn't it?... Besides, I don't want to be someone else's knife, especially not for that pack of people who hide their heads and show only their tails..."
"Mm... Izel, I don't want to be someone else's knife either. It's just that sometimes, the Divine King may not give us the chance to choose. Think of Sour Wood Clan Chief Jotico dying in battle! Think of Gorge Gold Clan Chief Pacho being sacrificed!... Besides, don't tell me you've forgotten? Back then, you, me, and Pacho, the three of us chose that 'Jade Knife.' Now, the distance between him and the Divine King's heart is already close enough to touch..."
". Sintel, that 'Jade Knife' has received