"Don't grimace like that, boss. It's normal for our people to react like that to your presence." Tame shrugged, as if it were a completely normal sight for someone to bow before Etele. As a matter of fact, the sight may have been normal for the ghost, but the hegins couldn't understand this enormous respect for the grandpa.
After all, it was quite difficult for the hegins to reconcile the concept and role of a warlord with the personality of the grandpa they had come to know. At first glance, no one would say that Etele was suitable for a leadership role. He is the typical lone wolf figure. People would sooner believe that he would conquer the land alone than lead a group of soldiers.
However, Etele, perhaps the greatest ghost summoner the world has ever seen, contrary to what the average person thought, was not stupid at all. Razvan, already in his previous life as Csito, had said more than once that Svihák was a true genius despite his laziness. Even if few people noticed it. Etele's behavior usually distracted people from the fact that the táltos pays attention to everything around him, that he sees connections that no one, or only very few, see.
That's why he knew that he wouldn't get far alone. He was a good summoner, he had great power, if he wanted to he could have pushed anyone to the ground and brought under his rule from the average ghosts, but he himself was aware that he wasn't a good leader. He usually got bored quickly if those around him couldn't follow his logic. That's why he took Tame with him. The ghost, who came from much older times than him, naturally exuded a leadership aura.
When Tame appeared before the troops, it was like when Csito stepped forward at the head of his men. The crowd followed them involuntarily. And Etele was always content with secondary roles. He preferred to stand by such a figure in the shadows rather than in front of everyone. In the case of Csito, he even succeeded. Tame, however, did not let him hide. And since Tame bowed to him and stood behind him, the flock, which now became the ghost army stationed in Szelevu, stood behind Etele too.
It would be a lie to say that Svihák did not enjoy everyone bowing to him, on the contrary, he really liked it, but only for a while. From the perspective of others, he got bored of it very quickly and already grimaced, whined and did everything he could to be in this situation as little as possible. But now that he returned to Szelevu, it seemed that fate was laughing in his face and did not let him escape his duties any further.
Of course, this did not mean that Etele returned happily to the work of a warlord. Oh, not a bit and even the fool would have seen that on him. The grandpa grimaced at the ghost kneeling before him, as if his mere presence repelled him. If you could kill with your eyes, like in the ancient tales, then the ghost kneeling before Etele would have been destroyed and not a single presence of him would have remained in this world.
"What is it?" The question finally came out of Etele, but it seemed that it was only because he was no longer able to distract the unpleasant visitor with his aura.
"What don't you like about the situation, Svihák? You used to like to make soldiers squirm." Razvan chuckled as he looked at the ghosts.
"You're fucking funny, I hope you know." Etele interrupted the words and glanced at the boy from the corner of his eye.
"That's why I'm here. At your service." Csito nodded towards his former companion.
"Now you don't want to know what I wanted to say." Etele folded his arms in front of him.
"Probably to fuck his whores, but that wouldn't make much sense right now." Kamu shrugged, who was watching this whole thing in front of him with a faint smile on his lips.
"Don't you just say anything, Kamu!" Etele turned immediately with glowing eyes to the ghost-man, who raised his hands to his head.
"Sorry." He noted, but he had already returned to his breakfast. As usual, the Ishán of the Immortal Mist was paying attention to everything around him, so that from the outside it seemed that he was indifferent to the events taking place in the world.
"So are you going to moan out what you want today, or do you want me to force it out of you?" Etele turned back to the ghost kneeling in front of him, who seemed to have tightened up even more than he had done before.
"The troops are waiting for you, sir." The answer comes in a weak voice, as if the ghost was afraid that his head would be taken. Or as if he was afraid that Etele would be able to pull the skull of the unfortunate messenger out of the air, so that he could continue to torture him even in death.
"Let them wait! The humans still need to get ready. The danovuses are not going anywhere. They were there decades ago, they were there yesterday, they were there five minutes ago, they will be there in a few hours. There is no reason to hurry." Etele looked to the side, as if he was already sick from looking at the ghost for so long.
"I... I... Yes, sir." The ghost finally nodded, seeming to have accepted that he would not be able to encourage the former leader to act. To tell the truth, he probably thought this right, when Etele was stubborn, there was no god, ghost, demon, or daimon for whose sake he would have done anything. Perhaps, but only perhaps and only sometimes, there was an exception to this in the past, General Csito. For his sake, Etele grumbled, but did the things that the warlord asked him to do.
But now Etele was the warlord, and as such he decided to do what he wanted with his men. After all, what is the point of power if it is not used sometimes. To Etele's greatest relief, he did not have to tell the ghost twice to get out of his way. Poor ghost, as soon as he uttered his words, he had already evaporated into the air and only Tame's huge dissatisfied sigh was the only sign that someone was still present in this clearing.
"You could have at least behaved a little like a warlord. You brought the scare on the poor thing." Tame grimaced, then shook his head. "Ah, forget it! I don't know what I expected. You've been like this since the beginning. How are you guys doing with your breakfast?" He suddenly looked around the hegins, most of whom had finished eating long ago. Surprisingly, it was Wandi, who only now put down his bowl at the ghost's words.
"I think we're all ready." Rahul noted with a faint smile, whereupon Tame nodded and stood up.
"In that case, follow me. I'll take you to the army. Don't worry about the camp, our ghosts will pack up. The yurt should stay here, judging by the boss's mood, you'll be here for a while longer." Tame chuckled as he glanced at Etele, who was rolling his eyes.