Flieday was sitting in a tent made of thin but long leaves surrounded by three people.
One was, of course, the woman with eyes of the abyss — Dawn.
To her left there was a frail boy with his show white face covered in pimples. Well everyone in Kle had snow white skin, so he was quite ordinary.
To her right, there was an old man with a hunched back standing instead of sitting.
"Well… so Dawn will be the one we three will report to; she is in command of our combat. The elders will do the rest." Flieday ended the discussion as she stood up..
Dawn stared at her back for a second before getting out of the tent.
"Dawn, let's go to the place where the kidnapping occurred."
Flieday and Dawn started walking towards the torn tent as Flieday's golden hair fluttered. After a while she yawned and said,
"Dawn~ I have found my goal now!"
It is highly probable that Flieday is not alone and has someone else helping her, wanting to go to the crime scene could be to get rid of evidence.
"Oh really! What is it, leader?"
Flieday tilted her head before chuckling, "I want to rule a tribe, so I'll probably make this a tribe and lead it to prosperity." Unlike last time, her tone was serious and determined.
She is telling me to stay out of her way. Rude.
"So please help me and report to me!" Flieday continued as she smiled brightly.
After walking for a bit more they reached the tent.
Flieday looked at the torn tent and sparsely spread golden hair before sighing. "It could be the work of a specter beast. No, to be more precise, it could be the work of someone who has tamed a specter beast."
"What about the golden hair?" Dawn asked with a smirk.
"Assuming that you did not place them, the hair is clearly planted. Well, to be exact, they are in such a position that they could be planted and could be not."
Dawn nodded, "So who could be the culprit? There is more or less no other proof or evidence."
Flieday stared at the twilight sky for some time before sighing. "When did this happen?"
"Late at night, around the time you left," Dawn replied as an elder stood beside her — Ryu Kai, a muscular man with a short stature. Ryu sighed before saying, "We have a message."
Flieday nodded before commanding, "First, find everyone who was awake at night and start interviewing them regularly; I'll sit with the interview. Send the message to my tent, Dawn follow me."
She has gained authority by simply ordering people and acting like a leader. To maintain the group's unity, we have to follow her. Dawn thought as she followed Flieday.
Soon they were once again sitting in the tent, but this time Flieday was holding a thick brittle piece of paper and stared at it intensely.
{The tribe you seek to enter does not accept you. We are the peace bringers of the tribe and would have you all rather die than try to contaminate our tribe. This is from the peace bringers not the moon tribe so do not dare slander the moon tribe or you shall have to lose your life…
…In short if you come any closer to the tribe you will be assaulted by ten grade three beasts.}
Flieday's lips curved upward as she gave the paper to Dawn.
How very interesting.
***
Elias was sitting in a carriage, going back to the 7th Pere, 1st street's Clair jungle after meeting with the old man. Weirdly, he felt at peace and calm right now; meeting with the old man was quite productive.
He was going to a simple jungle with no graded beasts in it on the executioner's request, the executioner believed that the best way to keep emotions out of work and fully embody one's beliefs would be to stay experiencing the calm side of nature.
The carriage halted as a tall, white haired man sat beside him, "Would you mind if we share it?"
The man's voice was quite young, similar to his face however, it carried a sense of wisdom and experience. Elias shuddered when he thought of various possibilities, such as someone who is an enemy of the respected duke used Requim to change his appearance.
But he pushed those thoughts aside; all he had to do was be careful with the young man.
"Clair jungle!" The white haired man told the handler where he wanted to go before sighing.
"Are you that new kid? Who failed in the first ritual?" The white haired dog in the form of a stupid human asked.
"Sure, how'd you know that?" Elias chuckled, barely hiding the sheer intensity of contempt and spite.
"Oh, it's just that I am also Haoki's student! The classes are going to start tomorrow, so I thought I'd come here to see you."
Shamelessly confessing to targeting me. Ah, fuck this guy.
"Now, do I think about what I just said I might have come off as a jerk, sorry"
Not even an ounce of regret in your bitchy voice.
"Well, I am really happy you failed!"
What the, why does he sound genuinely happy? Ahh is he teasing me? Wait, is he a combat warrior- Laity?
"Why?" Elias's voice was flat this time
"Ah… because people who fail have a moral compass which is not a fucking gear in a machine."
Ah… I see, he is angry… He is angry at the world.
"What's a compass? And gear?"
"Well, a compass is… What I meant was that people who have morals often fail at the trial."
Elias's eyes widened as he came to a sudden understanding.
"It's funny, isn't it? To have morals you have to be strong, to get strength you have to abandon your morals."
The white haired boy stared at Elias for a second before nodding subtly "It's rotten."
…
"Take these papers about beasts and learn them, I'll take a test in two hours." Haoki threw the bundles of paper towards the group of his students before yawning. "It will be important if you want to survive as a deity's disciple."
The class, previously slacking off, got fired up in an instant. The students took the papers and started reading them intensely.
Elias, who was sitting at the front of the class, was dumbfounded, he tilted his head towards the white haired kid named Ladro.
"Is the respected duke always like this?"
"Yup, pretty chill for a murderer, right?"
Why the fuck is he so angry, how can he emit no bloodlust while being this pissed off?
"...No one has a real choice in this system, you know"
Ladro sighed and nodded, picking up two papers and handing one to Elias.
{there are many types of beasts. However, with the help of Divinities, we were able to classify them clearly.
There are physical beasts…
…And at last one of the rarest beasts are special beasts who do not fall under any of the previous nine types.}
Interestingly, most of the giant insects which ravaged the world are merely physical beasts, while the blood blob was most likely an essence beast formed in the treasury. Having an alien beast in the treasury would explain why I did not receive the water blood.
The people who tried to get the false treasury died and created a mountain of corpses. One of them must be a Laity whose Heart and corpse's blood essence or the essence of blood and a laity's heart led to creation of the blood blob. Thus it was an essence beast.
After learning the ten types of beasts, all of the students went to the training ground to practise, some who were Laity were practising infusion and diffusion of moonlight and starlight while the others were training their martial arts.
The training ground was quite big, much bigger than the tribe Elias lived in but it was not much of a shock; after all, he did forget were the people living in the tribe but not the knowledge.
Empires were incomprehensibly big, once a traveller said that he measured the empire's area and it was around 12 million square kilometres.
Needless to say, they had no problem regarding land and thus often built extravagant and huge buildings. The trading ground, however, was only huge. It was anything but extravagant.
Elias was not practising the combat system or fighting style 'Ivory Sovereign', rather, he was laying on the ground and staring at the bright red sun, seemingly daydreaming.
Ladro, amused by his behaviour, gave him a questioning look.
"If I practice here, I will lose the deity's disciple competition. It's better to theorize now."
Ladro smiled softly as he muttered, "Quite confident are we?"
In actuality, he was thinking about Deity's disciple, the competition between laity or combat warriors which happens everywhere in the Red Tiger Empire. It happens every year and lasts another year, meant to cull out the weaklings and give a clear report on the talent of the Empire.
The top ten Laity get a chance to ascend to becoming a deacon, and the number one was granted the title 'Fragment of humanity' with plenty of benefits.
He was also thinking about incorporating the flowing fighting style with his own fighting style but that was just for leisure.
And like that, hours passed with Elias thinking. Soon most of the students went back to their homes, while Elias went to talk to Haoki.
Elias asked the thin, frail boy where the respected duke is. The boy was called a 'manager' who essentially 'advised' the duke and the respectable duke in their decision. Practically the manager — who had passed an official exam, simply made rules and regulations, controlling the Empirical market along with other duties a ruler has and asks the duke or the respected duke for approval.
Basically, he was the minds while the duke, or respected duke, was the body.
"He is in the garden." The manager spoke in a sweet voice.
Elias walked to the garden and stopped about a metre away from Haoki.
"I am doing it, the ritual." Elias told the respected duke, who just nodded in return and asked Elias to follow him.
…
I should prepare myself.
My emotions should not hinder me; the only thing I should feel is the euphoria of victory. A slave is a slave due to bad luck, being weak, or having a terrible fate. None of those matter to me. This world does not allow me to chase my goal if I use morality as a compass. Fuck being a good person.
I am not a good person.
I am the one who will become the strongest person.
Elias stared at the wall of blue fire and unburning flesh before yawning. This was merely a step in his journey now.
Living being's value is based on their strength. After all, one can say having good luck is a strength.
Strength reigns supreme.
Elias did not even try to embody his beliefs, to succeed, he always needed to have his belief carved into his mind.
He did not need to always suppress other thoughts and emotions, he had to do it for now; after all, if morality hinders his ambition, he should tear it away.
He took a step forward and touched the wall of flesh with his bloodied hands. He stepped on the heads of the weak to achieve strength and submerged into it.
It was a necessary step for him to satisfy his greed for strength.