A week after Suja fell ill, the old man was carried out by Seb on his back, to Manu who was forging iron in the hut as usual. The former tribe leader was finally able to open his eyes.


    "I''m sorry and thanks for helping me, Sebastian." Suja said in a barely understandable voice.


    "It''s nothing." Smiling, Seb helps Suja sit on the chair with Manu''s help.


    "You should just rest inside, Suja." Manu says while adjusting Suja''s position to be morefortable. "It''s cold outside and you''re still not well."


    "I''m bored." Suja chuckled with his nted mouth. "And did you forget? I promised to help you until the end."


    Leva, who came to check from a distance, just narrowed her eyes and returned to the training dummy.


    "But I''m feeling a lot better." Manu replied. "My focus is getting better and my pain isn''t as bad as it used to be."


    Suja sighed as he closed his eyes. "Let me do this.... Let me at least pretend to make a contribution to you guys."


    "You''re not pretending, Suja." Seb patted the old man on the shoulder. "I''m sure your mere presence will increase Manu''s motivation."


    "Thank you very much." Suja smiled back, though of course not perfectly. He then looked at Manu. "Hey, what are you waiting for young man, continue your work. Those irons won''t turn into something by themselves, you know."


    Manu nods and smiles too.


    While Manu forges the irons, Suja gives motivation and instructions, albeit with heavy breathing and difficulty speaking. He keeps doing that, especially when Manu shows signs of pain again.


    This man does have countless sins. However, seeing him like this, I couldn''t bear it. He was nothing but a helpless old man. His aplishments and prestige had been forgotten.


    But he didn''t want to be seen as a living piece of flesh like Leva said.


    "You have no idea how precious all of this is, Suja." Manu said when his work session finished in the afternoon. He is now carrying Suja to enter the house. "It''s hard for me to exin. Basically, something went wrong in my head.... It got me in a lot of trouble. And with this mental training, I think I can control it."


    Ah, maybe he''s also fighting the urgency of taking unreasonable revenge. Perhaps against Eric, who used to raid my colonists.


    Suja smiled faintly. "None of this would have happened if you didn''t have the will, Manu. The only one who could make this happen is yourself."


    "But, without your guidance, I''m sure none of this would have happened." Manu sighed as he finally entered the house. "Ah, if only someone guided me when I was in my old tribe."


    My bearded male colonist lowered Suja to lean on one corner of the room. Leva, who was lying nearby, just nced at them briefly.


    "So, how are you now?" Suja asks again.


    "I''m actually still in pain right now. But, like I said, it''s not as intense as it used to be." Manu replies, smiling again. "I can move more freely."


    "Ah, maybe my existence isn''t really needed anymore." Suja spoke still in an unclear voice, then chuckled. "You managed to endure the immeasurable pain, until it gradually disappeared. There were some who went insane before that happened. You''re great, Manu."


    Manu was silent, looking at the sad face of the old man. "You''re great too, Suja. I know you must still have a terrible headache. The cold outside must have been really torturous for you, but you still came out to support me."


    "Actually..." Suja gulped again. "This may be penance for me for driving many of my people crazy because of the devil''s tears, it''s not just to help you...."


    "So what?" Manu cuts off the conversation. His smile grew even wider. "In the end, you still helped me. That''s what''s important."


    Suja looks at Manu with teary eyes, smiling too.


    "Just friendly reminder. Don''t let him manipte you, Manu." Leva chimed in.


    Manu only nced at the red-haired woman, then spoke again to the former leader of the Redtooth tribe. "When you feel better, I''ll help you practice walking again, Suja."


    "Thank you." Suja''s tears start to fall.


    ***


    "I''m sorry.... All of you.... Because of me, you all suffered.... I became a ve to my own lust...." Suja spoke in his sleep, waking the others up. He then opened his eyes, turned to the other colonists, then said with a quiet tone. "Where''s Leva? I want to talk to her."


    All eyes were on Leva, who immediately snorted and walked over to the man.


    "What''s the matter, old man?" Leva asked while yawning, not bothering to kneel beside Suja. "I''m still sleepy, so hurry up. Don''t waste my time."


    Suja coughs, starts sobbing. "Forgive me ...."


    "I told you, didn''t I? I''ll never forgive you." Leva snorted.


    "Don''t be like that Leva. Don''t you feel sorry for him?" Seb reminded, but Leva just replied with another snort.


    Suja was silent, with more and more tears flowing down. Seb helped him to wipe the clear liquids with a rag.


    Leva, looking increasingly irritated, had opened her mouth just as Suja finally spoke again, of course in a barely understandable tone. "As you said, I did intend to manipte all of you to take revenge and take over Redtooth. In fact, my activity in helping Manu was to gain your sympathy first."


    Manu took a deep breath. Seb stopped wiping Suja''s tears while Kat and Eric just froze in ce.


    "I already knew that." Levaughed sarcastically. "Why are you saying that again? So that we can pity you even more?"


    "There''s nothing more to say." Suja sobbed, looking at my other colonists. "I''m really sorry. I''m a bad human. I intended to take advantage of all of you, even though you helped me...."


    Suja''s body suddenly flinched, and his mouth started to vomit. Seb quickly contains the vomit into a rag to keep it from spilling out. At the same time, Manu hurried off, presumably to get some water and another rag.


    Meanwhile, Leva was still standing tall, staring at the scene in silence.


    [Stroke, Extreme – Damage to the brain from interruption of its blood supply.]