Above the mage!

Chapter 263 Donald

The next day, shortly after the sun rose, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Both Gode and Loic became alert instantly.

They knew no one else in Phoenix except Elder Grant.

And coming here at this point in time, there must be some result from Elder Grant's side.

When I opened the door, it was indeed Elder Grant.

Next to him stood Catherine, who had been taken away by the Zhenbing tribe for many days.

As it turned out, Elder Grant did not disappoint Gode and Loitch.

Less than a day later, he personally sent the person back.

"Saint, I will take you here." Elder Grant said to Catherine with a smile.

"Elder, just call me by my name," Catherine seemed very sensitive to the title of "Saint". She said it specially in this situation, and then thanked Elder Grant:
"Elder Grant, thank you for your help this time. Otherwise, I don't know how long I would have to bear this blame."

She was always cold, but now her tone became extremely sincere.

"I really don't deserve your thanks," Elder Grant spread his hands after hearing Catherine's words, "To be honest, I also have to take some responsibility for you being framed. After all, it was my servant who led you into the trap."

He had learned the details of Catherine's frame-up on the way here, and it was indeed related to Thomas.

"Besides," Elder Grant paused, looked at Godd and Loych, and added, "They are the ones who really made great efforts. I just did some of my part."

"I even want to thank you in return. If he hadn't helped me, I would have been in big trouble this time." Elder Grant pointed at Gao De and said seriously, "This group of people is not only plotting to frame you, but they are also coming for me."

Catherine, who had been detained for several days and knew nothing about the specific situation, was unable to react and was stunned when she heard Elder Grant say this.

On this side, Elder Grant solemnly took out a small bottle from his arms and handed it to Gao De: "This time, thanks to your help in the matter of Jinhui wheat, I have not had time to thank you. This is a small token of my gratitude. Please don't refuse it."

Godard glanced at the small bottle and saw at a glance that it contained the hard currency of the North, ice marrow.

When Elder Grant saw that Gao De didn't take it immediately, he stuffed the bottle directly into Gao De's hands without saying anything, and said goodbye to the three people: "The people we arrested last night are very involved. This matter is far from over. I will go back and deal with it first."

It was not until Elder Grant's back disappeared from his sight that Roychi came back to his senses. Then he led Catherine into the house as if he had suddenly realized something, and asked with concern, "They haven't done anything to me these days, have they?"

"Luckily, people kept interrogating me, but I denied everything. For the sake of the Snowfield Guardian, they didn't do anything to me yet. I can't say what will happen in the future. Fortunately, you found the murderer in time and helped me get rid of this blame."

Sitting down at the stone table, Loych heard Catherine's thanks and quickly shook his head, "It's not me, it's us."

He pointed at God and Flora who was sitting on God's shoulders, and took credit for them: "God and Flora are the ones who deserve the most credit for rescuing you so quickly this time."

"What exactly is going on?" Catherine, who was already curious about Elder Grant's behavior at the door, became even more curious after hearing what Loychi said.

Loichi told Catherine everything that had happened in the past two days, in detail.

After hearing the details, Catherine couldn't help but look at Gao De, who had been silent since then.

An indescribable light flashed in her eyes under the mask. She hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Thank you."

Gao De smiled back and didn't say anything polite.

Since he really helped and put in a lot of effort, Catherine owed him something, so he would not be polite to Catherine.

——If it weren't for this woman, he would have been on his way to plant trees right now. Why would he have traveled tens of thousands of miles to Phoenix and been forced to become a grasshopper on the same rope with them?

"And her." God even pointed at Flora on his shoulder without any hesitation.

Catherine was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked at Flora, only to see the little person staring straight at her.

She thought about it again and again before she bowed and said, "Thank you very much."

The little guy then snorted, looked away and looked at the scenery outside the house.

"Catherine, the people involved in this incident may be much bigger and more widespread than we expected. It may even involve the Zhenbing tribe." Roychi remembered what Elder Grant had just said, and reminded Catherine.

"Our purpose for coming to Phoenix has most likely been exposed."

"What do you mean?" Catherine frowned slightly. She didn't understand how the affairs within the sect were inexplicably related to the Zhenbing tribe.

At the same time, she glanced at Gao De who was still listening, but ultimately did not say anything.

This is what acquiescence means.

Roychi, who understood Catherine's intentions very well, spoke out boldly after seeing this: "I originally thought that the incident of the ice nematode in Jinhui Wheat Field was just a plot by the mastermind behind the scenes to make Elder Grant too busy to help us."

"It wasn't until yesterday that I realized things weren't that simple."

"Before we caught the murderer last night, I heard the conversation between those people. One of them said that he wanted to use the ice nematode infestation to pull Grant down from the position of elder."

"So, the main purpose of the ice nematode infestation is actually to remove Grant's position as an elder."

"Doesn't this mean that someone from the Zhenbing Tribe is involved in this matter?"

"After all, apart from the people of the Zhenbing Tribe, what conflicts of interest would there be between other people and Elder Grant? Do they want to take away his position as elder?"

When Catherine and Goder heard this, their eyes flickered.

What Leutsch said makes sense.

"Is there still a conflict of interests between factions within the Zhenbing Tribe?" Gao De asked tentatively. Generally speaking, where there are people, there will be conflicts of interest. This is an eternal truth.

But the northern tribes cannot even guarantee basic survival. Under such circumstances, they will become more united - they have to have enough food to eat before they can talk about conflicts of interest.

Along the way, Goder met two northern tribes, the Snover clan and the Dor border tribe. They were very united internally and there was no so-called factional disputes.

"Of course." Loichi was also a smart man, and he immediately understood what God meant by his question.

He thought about it and decided to introduce some secrets of the Zhenbing tribe to Gao De.

"Even the Zhenbing tribe almost fell apart because of factional disputes."

"What exactly is going on?" Gao De became curious when he heard it, and at the same time felt a little bit unbelievable. When survival is so difficult, can internal fighting reach such an extent?
"This has to start with Sunaifah, the current war mother of the Zhenbing tribe." Loichi organized his words and told Gaode the story.

"Sunaifa's mother, Glenn Boreas, was the previous war mother of the True Ice Tribe."

"So Sunaifah has had the blood of Boreas flowing in her body since she was born. She is destined to inherit the position of the War Mother of the True Ice Tribe and become the next leader of the True Ice Tribe."

"However, when Sunaifa was still a minor, Glenn Boreas lost his life during a hunting operation he led."

“No one knows what kind of terrible monster they encountered that could kill the True Ice Warmother, one of the most powerful Iceborn in this land, because the entire team of hunters that Glenn brought out died, and no one survived.”

"Glenn Boreas has fallen. According to tradition, Sunaifah should have inherited the position of War Mother and led the True Ice Tribe."

"However, Sunaifa was only fourteen years old at the time, not yet an adult, and even the Iceborn bloodline in his body had not yet fully awakened."

"It's like a child whose parents die and suddenly inherits a large fortune. There will always be many relatives with ulterior motives jumping out and wanting to snatch the fortune that belongs to the child, under the pretext of helping to take care of it," Loitch gave an analogy.

It’s a very vivid metaphor, and the sense of déjà vu hits me all at once.

"There is nothing new under the sun, and what happened to Sunaifa was no exception."

"Speaking of this, we have to mention the high-level composition of the Zhenbing Tribe."

"The leader of the Zhenbing Tribe is undoubtedly the War Mother, and under the War Mother there are many elders. A War Mother and an unlimited number of elders together make up the top leadership of the Zhenbing Tribe."

A very extensive structure. Gao De gave his evaluation in his mind. After all, in his previous life, the power structure had developed to an extremely complex and sophisticated level.

However, such an extensive power structure also has its unique advantages. The most prominent one is that it makes the decision-making process more efficient and avoids problems such as information distortion and slow decision-making that may be caused by multi-level management.

For Phoenix, which is still similar to a primitive tribe, their social relations are relatively simple and their daily production activities are also very simple. Such a power structure is in line with the "national conditions".

"Among the unlimited number of elders, there is also a Grand Elder, who is equivalent to the second in command of the entire tribe, and his status is second only to the War Mother."

"Donald, who is now the chief elder of the True Ice Tribe, argued that Sunaifah was too young, immature, and weak to be the leader of the True Ice Tribe after the death of War Mother Glenn. He proposed that he should temporarily lead the True Ice Tribe."

"When Sunaifa reaches adulthood and has enough strength and ability, she will take over the position of leader."

"Of course," Loic spread his hands, "This is just a statement on the surface. Everyone knows that as long as Donald takes the leadership position, he will never return the leadership position to Sunaifa unless he dies."

"Although Sunaifa is the legitimate successor of the Zhenbing tribe, her age and strength are indeed obstacles to her succession, so the entire tribe was divided into two factions at that time."

"One faction is the conservative party, who believe that the leader of the True Ice Tribe can only be someone with the bloodline of Boreas."

"The other faction is the reformists who support Donald. They believe that Sunaifa is incapable of leading the Zhenbing Tribe. If they force themselves to follow tradition and obey the orders of such a young girl, the Zhenbing Tribe will only decline."

"Donald has served as the chief elder of the Zhenbing tribe for hundreds of years. He has great prestige in the tribe. Only War Mother Glenn can suppress him. And now War Mother Glenn has passed away so suddenly that there is no preparation for Sunaifa."

"So, after Glenn Boreas's death, Donald's influence in the Zhenbing tribe was far greater than Sunaifa's, and the supporters and strength of the reformists even crushed the conservatives."

"Even though the situation was hopeless, the Conservatives still refused to submit to Donald. Seeing this situation, Donald had already planned to drive the Conservatives out of Phoenix and deprive them of their status as members of the Zhenbing Tribe."

"The Zhenbing tribe, which has been passed down for who knows how many years, is about to split."

"Young Sunaifah stood up. She left Phoenix alone and followed the guidance of the ancient map to the central part of the North, where the ancient holy land of the Iceborn tribe was located. It was a relic that had been abandoned for who knows how many years, the Ancient Frost Mouth."

"No one knows what happened there. We only know that Sunaifah found the ice magic weapon [Blizzard] belonging to Boreas in the Ancient Frost Mouth, and completely awakened the ice bloodline and ancient ice magic in his body." When he said this, Loychi's eyes showed admiration.

For an underage "girl" to show such responsibility and courage under such circumstances, and to successfully "change her fate", is enough to be called a legend.

"The strong should do the impossible. This is what Boreas himself said, and Sunaifah did it."

"Sunaifa returned to Phoenix with Blizzard. With Blizzard, she gained the support of more than 90% of the people in the Zhenbing Tribe. She became the new War Mother of the Zhenbing Tribe and the youngest War Mother in history. She was not even an adult at the time!"

"And her fully awakened Iceborn bloodline also allowed her to quickly grow into one of the most powerful Iceborn in the North within two years, when she reached adulthood."

"Faced with this situation, Donald had no choice but to surrender to Sunaifa."

"But everyone knows that the feud between Sunaifa and Donald has already been formed and it is impossible to resolve it."

"It can only be said that Sunaifa took Donald's strength and prestige into consideration. In order to avoid internal fighting that would damage the tribe's strength, he did not take action against Donald."

"Of course, it is also possible that the new war mother is really broad-minded and does not bear a grudge about this matter, but at least I think Donald is not naive enough to believe this."

"As long as he doesn't believe it, it doesn't matter whether Sunaifa is ready to let Donald go or not."

“So the conflict between Sunaifa and Donald has always existed.”

"And Elder Grant has always been a conservative from the beginning to the end." After introducing the internal situation of the Zhenbing tribe, Loychi pointed out the key point directly.

"Therefore, this matter is likely to involve the great elder of the Zhenbing tribe, Donald." Goder concluded.

(End of this chapter)