Chapter 143: Next Stage.
Maren had brought out a handful of the required herb from the sand as she turned and stared at Sunnie with a bright smile, handing it over to her. "Shiny leaf."
Sunnie smiled as she took it, staring at Maren. She was simply impressed. "That’s something, I must say. I can’t believe it..." She smiled as she patted her on the head. "Good girl, really good girl." She was beyond proud of her.
---
Soon, everyone had gathered back at the spot where they had dispersed from, in front of the tribe leader’s house. The time given to them was up.
The tribe leader stood before them. "It seems none of you got the rare herb?" He asked, staring at all of them.
None of them were speaking up at the moment, so he assumed they hadn’t completed the task and gotten what was required.
The boar tribe leader shook his head as he said, "That’s disappointing, then. I suppose this stage will automatically become invalid so that we can find something else..."
"Some people might have failed to get the herb, but that doesn’t mean everyone didn’t," Sunnie immediately said.
All eyes turned to stare at her, confused.
"What’s she talking about now?"
"Yeah, what does she mean by that? It’s not like they can ever get anything if they want. So why is she speaking?"
The tribe leader stared at Sunnie and asked, "Is there anything you’d like to share with us, perhaps?"
Sunnie smiled as she said, "Yes. The rare herb you requested for."
"....."
Everywhere was silent. They stared at each other and then at Sunnie, all bursting into loud laughter.
"What’s she talking about now? She has the herb?! What a big joke!" one laughed.
"Can they even be more serious or something? We all know that it’s impossible for someone like them to even find it."
"Exactly. Even the bear tribe didn’t find it, and they think they can? What a complete joke indeed!"
The bear tribe leader turned to Sunnie. "I know you’re desperate not to get eliminated, but you really don’t have to lie at all."
"Exactly!"
"We all know that it’s an impossible task. No one could even find a trace of it anywhere. So you getting it? That’s just impossible and a plain lie!" The bear tribe leader insisted as everyone nodded.
But Sunnie smiled as she took out the herb she had in her sack. "But why would I even lie about such a thing? I’m certainly not that bored." She said, showing it to them all.
"...."
There was complete silence as everyone stared at what she had in her hand. They were in shock and disbelief; no one wanted to believe that she had the herb.
They stared closely and couldn’t even deny that this was the herb they were supposed to get. Even the boar tribe leader had approached to confirm and was shocked to see that it was actually authentic.
"This is it..." He said, staring at Sunnie in shock and disbelief. "They actually did find it...?"
Sunnie smiled as she stared at him. "Yes. We did get you the herb you demanded. So I believe it’s time to do the needful and announce the winners for this round."
The bear tribe leader was speechless. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He couldn’t believe that they could find it.
He stepped forward and questioned Sunnie, "How is this even possible? Are you sure this is not a fake? What evil strings did you pull to get this? It makes no sense!" He demanded.
But Sunnie stared at him. "And what makes you sure of the nonsense that you’re spilling? Don’t you think we can also find such things?"
The bear tribe leader scoffed. "Hmph! Everyone knows that it’s impossible for people like you to achieve such things! So how on earth did you even find it? It must be a fake!"
Sunnie smiled. "You all can confirm it if you want. I don’t have a problem." She stared at him. "But saying that about us when we all know how you got your first win... Don’t you know you’re contradicting yourself to sound stupid?"
"....."
The bear tribe leader paused. At that moment, he understood what Sunnie was trying to say. He understood that Sunnie knew about what he had done to Luka to get his win.
But he kept his calm as Sunnie added, "You should quit running your mouth whenever you get the opportunity, unless you want these monsters to actually come for you."
The tribe leader could feel his skin rise. He cleared his throat and kept his calm as he turned and went to stand in line with his other tribe members.
The boar tribe leader had no choice. He cleared his throat as he turned and stared at everyone. "After careful consideration, it’s been decided that the winner of this round is... them." He pointed at Sunnie and the rest with a sigh.
It was clear that he didn’t want to announce them as the winner, but he had no choice.
With that announcement, everyone stared at them, disappointed. They were disappointed and embarrassed that Sunnie and her team, whom they had been looking down on, had actually won over them. And they hadn’t even gotten a win themselves.
They simply felt frustrated.
But Sunnie didn’t care. She had won, and that was all she needed to know. She was just one step away from getting the final reward she needed.
She stared at the bear tribe leader. Their eyes met as Sunnie let out a smile. The two teams had each gotten one win. They were just one win away from grabbing the winning spot, and they were obviously going to go head to head for it now.
Sunnie knew she had to get it no matter what. That was the reason she was here, after all.
After announcing the winner, the boar tribe leader proceeded to announce the next task on the spot.
"... And for the next and final stage, we’ll be having a cooking competition."