Chapter 101: Ekhri Tribe

Twelve Jokes, on the other hand, seemed to be quite content with simply staring at Evin with her permanent smile. At one point, the smiles seemed to have become even wider and crazed.

"You can leave, you know?" the Authority with the appearance of a girl said suddenly.

'Really? I'm pretty sure you're going to stab me in the back if I do so?!' Evin really did not trust the words of the girl.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Evin asked with his best business smile.

"Hmm, maybe later," the girl said and walked out of the room herself.

'Okay, I've survived certain death,' Evin sighed in relief. Say one thing about Evin, say he's a survivor.

Whole body melted? Ended up even more handsome than before.

Attacked by some crazed Mob as a one year old? Outlived all of them.

Actually died? Reincarnated

Evin smirked at his own jokes and told Rith to bring him to Ssatsko and Arza. Also Karan.

Rith brought the now 6-year-old boy to where Ssatsko and Arza was waiting. Evin entered and found that the old man hadn't really changed much, whereas Arza had become much taller than before. The boy was holding Karan in his hands, supposedly talking in their heads.

The red-haired boy was almost a head taller than the current Evin, making the latter wonder why there was such a difference in growth.

"Don't be so prone to sacrifice yourself," Ssatsko said after seeing Evin.

"The Lesser was obviously planning to spare me. There was only the difference of you dying or not after Rith," Evin said.

"Well, guess we can just be happy that no one died in the end," the old man replied.

"Whatever, I think we should hurry on to that Caretaker Tribe you were talking about. Pretty sure we're two years late at this point," Evin said.

"I suppose you're right"

The group then talked about the impending journey. Arza stayed awfully silent throughout the exchange, making Evin wonder if something happened when he was unconscious.

'Well, aside from us getting almost killed…' Evin thought with a slight smile.

Evin talked to Karan and told the man to not worry about the Organization.

[The fuck?] Karan replied. Evin was glad that the man's vulgar speech hadn't died out.

[Kena let loose a bunch of Authorities on them. They think that the organization has some technology or magical device that can revive their members,] Evin said.

[Shit, really?]

[Yep, they were talking about sending a bunch of Super-imposers and Lesser-imposers to the organization,] Evin said.

[Well, they did have some stuff that seemed too good to be true,] Karan said before he started wheezing.

'Probably said something he shouldn't have,' Evin thought.

A little while later, Karan had calmed down.

[By the way, what were you talking about with Arza?] Evin asked.

[Hah, you jealous?] Karan seemed to sneer and then continued: [Nah, the kid's just a bit overwhelmed by what had just happened. When Lady Helain took us out of your shadow, he saw the atrocity that had happened to you… Well, you can guess how shit like that can affect a 4-year-old]

[What did he say?]

[Said he wanted to be fucking hero. To be strong enough, so things like that won't ever happen again. I kinda sympathized with the kid] Karan said.

[I feel like I have to tell him that the truth about myself soon…] Evin sighed.

'Perhaps the best time to tell it to the boy is now,' Evin thought… but decided to wait for the time being.

In the end, the group decided to teleport to their destination. They said their goodbyes to Iorn, who promised he would tell Kena and the others when the Authorities finished talking. Maybe in a month or so. Iorn also gave Evin another Time bomb, just in case.

Evin hoped that he wouldn't need it, but he still put it on his middle finger, which had now grown big enough to hold the ring in place.

…

A day later, near the gates of the Ekhri Tribe, a golden portal appeared in the air.

The group got out of the portal one by one, with Rith coming out last. Evin looked at the "Tribe" territory and he really felt that calling it a Tribe was quite misleading.

The Tribe grounds were akin to a slightly small town, built only for the wealthy. There were no walls that served to protect from outsiders, only a short fence that even normal people could jump over.

A forest surrounded the Tribe Grounds, and Evin could hear the sounds of running water from somewhere.

The path to the Tribe grounds was paved with stone roads, with some people already queueing on it. Children of various ages, holding their parents' hands, were curiously eyeing the three newcomers. They were especially enthralled by the floating Cosmic. Their parents managed to keep them in check, but Evin was pretty sure they were about to pile on Rith.

"Guess a country in peace isn't so bad, huh?" commented Evin.

Before this point, every town or city he entered was surrounded by huge walls and trained guards. His hometown was even named after a wall.

Ssatsko gestured for the group to follow behind. He passed by the line of people and entered a door that said: [Mages only].

Inside the door, sat a bored male receptionist, lazily reading through some paper, stamping some of them in the process. Noticing the group, he seemed to have trouble deciding whether he should greet them or not.

"Two mages, coming for the Horn ceremony," Ssatsko said.

"The black-haired one seems okay, but the red-haired one is obviously much older than 7," the receptionist said with a snort.

"They're both six, here are the documents," Ssatsko said and showed a few papers.

"Look here, it says they're 4 in this document. Can you at least make a believable scam?" the receptionist said with open annoyance.

"The two were subject to a Time energy explosion, which made them a bit older than their actual age. And the red-haired boy is a World of Life mage, so his growth was much more prominent as well," Ssatsko tried to explain, but the receptionist cut him off.

"Please get out and stop wasting my time"

Evin felt like this would take a long time if it continued, so he pulled out the emblem that Kena gave him and showed it to the receptionist.

"Lord Kena Noyan told me to show this to whoever was in charge of my Horn ceremony. The red-haired kid has one as well," Evin said.

Glancing at the emblem, the receptionist's naturally uninterested face gained some color, and he hurriedly tried to grab at the emblem.

Evin, obviously, did not allow him to take it.

"Give it to me, so I can check its authenticity," the receptionist said.

"No deal. Call someone important to talk in your place. Someone smart enough to not offend a former Authority," Evin said in a threatening tone.

Hearing about the consequences of his actions, the man turned meek and went into the back door saying that he will need to call someone.

"But how do they know about this emblem's meanings?" Evin almost muttered, before the Northern Oath inside him started playing around with his heart, for speaking of such matters in front of Ssatsko and Rith.

His face paled, and he turned towards Ssatsko.

"Hey, what does this emblem mean to you?" Evin asked.

"I'm not sure, I just know that it's something very important, due to how it stirs up the Oath inside me. From the way it's wriggling around my heart with uncertainty is hinting at how important that thing is," Ssatsko replied.

Rith was also eyeing the Emblem with curiosity.

'So they don't know, but the Oath in them makes sure that they don't mistake it for anything else,' Evin thought with interest.

'Oaths are so useful…'

The group had to wait 20 more minutes before the receptionist came back. This time, there was another man beside him.

The newcomer was obviously cut from a different cloth, compared to the rest of the people that Evin saw in this Tribe. Charisma and heroism oozed from the man's entire being, and the magnificent two horns of Crimson and Blue on top of his head further pushed this image.

"Welcome to the Ekhri tribe, honorable guests. Let me introduce myself, I am known as Zorrik Khata, leader of the Ekhri Tribe. Could you tell me which of you has the emblem of the Eight-armed champion?" the Zorrik said.

Evin realized why it took the receptionist so long to come back. The poor man must've informed his superiors, one who which also informed their own superiors, resulting in a chain that somehow led to the leader of the Tribe.

"Thank you for having us, Lord Zorrik, my name's Evin and this here is Arza. We both have the emblem," Evin replied without batting an eye.

The receptionist was shocked at the boy's calmness, but Evin, who had just come from a meeting of Authorities would not be shocked by a mere Tribe Leader.

"Please follow me," Zorrik said and brought the group to a fancy-looking room. There were tons of parchment and scrolls put in small boxes on the walls, covered in yellow cloth. Zorrik's desk was made of some smoothened stone, giving off a heavy and imposing impression.

The Tribe Leader invited the group to sit down and had someone serve tea and snacks to the group.

Evin and Rith happily indulged in the snacks, while Arza and Ssatsko looked around the room with interest.