Kingdoms And Plans

Everyone was now looking at Orano. 

They looked like they were quite surprised to see him there, but how much they looked at him, he didn't turn around and looked at them. He just slowly walked towards the man and stopped in front of him.

And since he didn't say anything or talked, the announcer was confused about how should he react. 

He just nervously smiled and said,

"Uhhh, And here is the silver medal for Orano Tatsumi! Thank you for your great service!"

But the crowd didn't know what to do either. They just looked at Orano's unresponsive expression and talked about how mysterious he was,

"Hey, why he's not talking?"

"I don't know, but for some reason, he is acting weird."

"I wonder what he is thinking about?"

The creature hunters standing above the stage were also looking at him. Their gaze was so judgmental and ostracizing that they were almost scary. It contained hunger, like the gaze of a predatory animal.

Orano didn't get affected by their gaze too, and just took the medal from the announcer's hand.

But while he was about to talk away,

Rai said with a sneaky smile,

"So you're leaving without saying anything, huh?"

Orano stopped and started listening to her.

She then added with a more serious tone and a scary gaze,

"But I have to say, if you're aiming for the top, you have to do more than that. And when that time comes, we'll be waiting for you, Rookie."

Then Orano slightly turned his head and looked at her. Then turned again and kept walking.

He then jumped through the barrier again and said,

"Yuma, Caitrin, We are going."

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After they left there, everyone started celebrating again.

And the Creature Hunters started talking to each other,

Kono said with a serious expression,

"So he is the new Rookie, huh?"

Haruhi replied,

"Yeah, and they say he climbed all the way here without any magical powers. It's amazing that he came all the way here, even with just physical strength."

Everyone's expression turned into a more serious one. Now they were all looking at each other.

Kono said with a surprised expression,

"With only physical strength?"

"Yeah, I heard it, too. He even killed dozens of Eirins and Citruses on his own in some missions. Nowadays people call him "Soul of The Wind" or the "Terror of the Desert". It is said that he was the "Sole Owner Of The Desert" and took care of all kinds of dangerous creatures on his own." Rai said with still having a smile on her face.

After she finished talking, Poteus said while crossing his arms,

"I have to admit, the willpower and the success he has is pretty respectable."

"It's true that he has become someone of interest among people, but I think we should keep an eye on him." Haruhi replied while looking at him.

Then Valdis said with a loud voice and grinning widely,

"Power or no power, He's a competitor to me anyway!"

"I wouldn't expect this bonehead to think such as this, but Valdis is right. Either way, he's a competitor." Rai said as she sighed and crossed her arms.

Then Kono looked at the sky and thought to himself,

"Orano Tatsumi, Huh?"

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And when they got away from there, they started talking again.

Yuma said with a nervous smile,

"It was a little tense, wasn't it?"

Caitrin sighed and said with a sarcastic voice tone,

"Yeah, It was. All those eyes looking at us, it was just..... Disturbing."

Yuma then took out the map again and said,

"Let's go over the plan for now, shall we?"

He then started explaining by pointing the first kingdom,

"Now. We started here and found the first rift there, which led us to the second kingdom.
But, after we got separated, I found another rift in Ravaryn too. And you guys found a rift in Aetas."

He then added, 

"Before moving on to the plan, can you tell me what did you guys saw?"

"We saw the fifth kingdom, Faye. We will probably find that and move according to that." Orano replied as he crossed his arms.

Caitrin then said,

"Oh! Yeah! I saw something in that rift too."

"You saw a vision too?" Yuma said with a surprised expression,

"Yes. And it showed me somewhere very luxurious, but I didn't understand where it was. And Tatsumi said that it would be dangerous for me to go there."

"I guess I know that place."

Then he pointed to the sixth kingdom and said,

"This is Emperal, the sixth kingdom. It is a powerful kingdom with rich mineral resources and its culture. People here usually do not have problems with economic difficulties and such, And they also have highly developed cities. But what is different from other kingdoms is that it is not ruled by a king, but by Earls."

Caitrin asked confused,

"Earls? But what is wrong with that?"

"The problem is, as Tatsumi said, the people there are not like us. Of course, they have a rich culture and highly developed cities, but all the earls there only think about how wealthy they are.

They don't usually help people and they don't like people that are less rich than them. They consider themselves superior to everyone else and they accept hurting an Earl as a crime. For this reason, there is even a defense unit called "Sniper Unit", which is the unit only the sixth kingdom has."

Caitrin looked like she was very annoyed by what she heard. And after every word she heard, the memories she used to have were coming back to her again and again, and her expression was getting angrier.

Orano then said,

"That's why they're nothing but a bunch of idiots."

After he said this, all of Caitrin's anger disappeared and she looked at Orano with surprised eyes. 

Yuma said,

"Yeah. We never liked them from the very beginning. And after you've taken that one mission, you've never been there again."

Then Orano looked at him and said,

"You were talking about you saw a rift too in the letter you sent earlier. Where was it that you saw?"

"Oh! Yeah, I totally forgot about that!" 

Then Yuma's expression turned into a more serious one and he said,

"Actually, I was really surprised by what I saw in the first Kingdom. The rift showed you both a random place, and one of you found it for the second time. That means our theory that the rifts indicate another location was correct.

But the problem is that the place I saw, is not a place that can be entered so easily."

He then looked at them and added,

"You know the Black Forest in the Third Kingdom, right?"

"You are talking about Besia, aren't you?" Orano replied.

"Exactly. But because it is protected by powerful spells, it will be very difficult for us to enter."

Then Caitrin said,

"Then what do we have to do?"

"Actually, I made preparation for that too. The good news is, before I came here, I sent a letter to a friend of mine that lives in the fourth kingdom. After all, she's a powerful witch and she knows something that can come through such spells."

Then he pointed the map again and said,

"Now let's go over the plan one last time."

He then started explaining again,

"Tatsumi started from the first Kingdom Ravaryn, and he went to Aetas. Then you both saw Faye and Emperal at the same time, And I saw Besia. If it's like that you both have to explore Faye first then you have to head for the sixth kingdom. And after you find something you will move out again. And If we take Tatsumi's route as an example, we have five possibilities.

The first is, It can show the sixth kingdom, which is what Caitrin saw. And if you go there, you have to be careful about what you do or what you say, Because the Earls have ears everywhere.

The second one is, It can show "Vurudora", the seventh kingdom. That is the kingdom where people live only for fighting. And that is where a tournament is held every month, everyone, including The King, watches the event and bets for different contestants for fun. Also, If a person defeats every rival he or she faces, the winner gets rewarded. So you have to be very careful about who you're dealing with since more than one dangerous people go there to fight.

And the third and the fourth possibilites are Besia and Idrisud. 

Since I am traveling to the fourth kingdom and The third kingdom is not a dangerous place, you will guys probably be safe. But there is something I have to add"

Then he said,

"If Caitrin sees a rift again, we'll have to make another plan on how we can move according to that. And we have to get back in touch after we make our next move."

Caitrin bowed her head and her expression turned into a sad one,

*That's right. After all, we were only going to help each other for a month.*

Then Orano said,

"Then let's start looking for the Rift before we waste any more time."

"Good luck on finding the rift." Yuma said smiling.

"Yeah, good luck to you too."

Then as Orano started walking away from there, he said, 

"Come on, Caitrin, let's go."

Caitrin came out of her thoughts and followed him.

But there were still things that saddened her heart.