I Reject Quests

"Uuughkkkk! *Cough* *Cough* *Cough*!" Svety had been puking continuously for the last minute and still showed no signs of stopping.

Rewen watched the miserable Svety and shrugged. Rubbing her back, he asked. "Are you better now?" 

Svety gave a slight nod. "Do you have water?"

"Sure, which one do you want? Upper or lower? Ah, nevermind. We are quite close to the tribe."

***

"Why have you come here, if I may ask?" An elderly man standing in front of dozens of tanned skinned people of all ages wearing leather clothes asked.

The elderly man was the 'En' of the Jon Tribe. 'En' meaning a 'person who stands out' in one of the most popular tribal languages in Eastern Dream Kingdom. He is basically the Leader of the Tribe but due to customs and traditions, the head of the tribe is often called 'En'.

Rewen was about to answer when the words he had prepared to say got stuck at his throat. 'How should I ask ? He might not tell me if I'm too straight-forward and perceive me as someone with hidden intentions.' Quick making a plan, he coughed lightly.

"We were sent here to check the overall situation of the Restricted Area. Our superior has caught on some disturbing news originating from here so he sent us. We don't know what the news was though and can only ask you."

The elderly man didn't speak anything for a while, and then slightly nodded. "I see. Very well, come with me. I'll take you to the guest room. We can speak while walking."

"Perfect."

"…" Svety was muted the whole time.

"Um, so what is the present scenario of the Area?" Rewen asked.

"Hard to describe. Recently, with the new 'En' taking charge, the balance has fallen apart."

"The new 'En'? Of which tribe?"

"Oh, my apologies. Since you aren't from the Area, you don't know of the matter." The elderly man then went off to explain the matter to Rewen.

An 'En' can't be chosen randomly. There are four tribes – Jon, Kun, Jun and Qan, each tribe having their own 'En'. There is only a single rule when electing an 'En' – "When a single 'En' dies, the other three 'En's must retire from their post within a month."

The Kun tribe's 'En' died a week ago and the new 'En' is being chosen. Unfortunately, the story didn't stop there. Although the Kuns had an 'En', there were two opposing factions. The leader of the opposing faction conspired against the previous 'En' and killed him in order to become the new 'En'.

"I have no problems with retiring. Rather it's time for me to retire but the same can't be said for the other two tribes – Jun and Qan. The 'En' of the two tribes are particularly young and they aren't willing to step down. I have heard that the 'En' of Jun visited the Kun with his men two days ago and… hasn't returned yet."

"Did his men return?"

"No."

"Would it be rude to ask the strength of an 'En'?"

"Strongest among the tribe but can't come close to Mages or Martial Artists. Rest assured, even if we summon the entire armies of the four tribes, we won't be able to touch your hair." The elderly man chuckled, then added. "My racial ability is to gauge how terrifying a person is. It's vague but I have lived with the ability for more than eighty years."

Rewen didn't show any reaction. 'Sure enough, the 'En' of the largest tribe in Area 51 is not an ordinary man.'

"Any further questions for me?" Standing in the moderately large guest room, the elderly man asked.

"No, that's all. Could you send some of your tribe members of all the age groups?" Rewen sat down on the bed in the room.

"Sure. If there's nothing else, I'm leaving. If you have anything to ask, call the servant you saw in the hallway and ask him to take you to me."

Rewen nodded and watched the elderly man leave the room, and then laid down flat on the bed. He then turned his attention to Svety who was sitting on the bed, her back facing him. "You have been unusually quiet all this time. Are you feeling unwell?"

"... what's going on? Would you answer this? No. You wouldn't answer me anything anyway."

Rewen sighed. "I have no idea. I just know that if I don't do this, I would never be able to take responsibility for what I did." His mind drifted to the incident that happened last night. 'If only not for my baseless pride, I wouldn't have to face this day.' He regretted what happened but if he was given the same choice again, he wouldn't change his decision. From an outsider's perspective, what Rewen is doing is very bizarre and call him oversensitive but he knew that the expression and demeanor of the devil woman when he was leaving was definitely bad news.

"If you have come here not knowing what to do, then you have gone crazy. Anyways, when are we going back?"

"Let's see. By 4 in the evening, we'll be back to our respective places."

"I see. I'll be sleeping till then. Wake me up." Svety laid down on the bed and pulled over the quilt making herself very comfortable.

Closely looking at the face in front of him, he sighed inwardly and got up from the bed. His attention then turned towards the open door. "Come in."

A fair-skinned boy of around 12-13 years of age showed himself. "Umm, do you have something you want to do?" His hair was dirty blonde and timidity was evident from his expressions.

"How many years have you been in this tribe?"

"From birth…?"

"Then why are you a servant? Are you from the branched family or something?"

"I'm an orphan, picked up at birth near the tribe."

"An orphan, eh? What are your future plans?"

"Ah? What do I plan to do in the future? I do want to turn sixteen as soon as possible to be exempted from a servant's duties but beyond that… I don't know…" Just as he had finished answering, a lean man entered the room.

The boy noticed his arrival and respectfully bowed, then turned to Rewen. "Is there anything else?"

"No, you can go."

At this moment, the lean man stepped forward. "I heard you have some questions for me?"

"Yes, some. Why is your Jon tribe the largest tribe? Does it have anything to do with the tribe strength or just the population?"

"It has everything to do with population. If the general population is more, then the people who are suitable to join the Defenders Group are naturally more. In other words, we don't have stronger people, we just have more strong people."

"That makes sense. I hope you don't mind me asking this since you're the son of the 'En' in the tribe but, how do you feel about the current 'En' controversy?"

"I think nothing of that. Everything's too caught in this that I don't even know what to think of this. Rather, I don't even want to become an 'En'." The lean man groaned.

"You don't want to become an 'En'?"

"Correct."

"Why? Does it have something with your beliefs?"

"Yes. I firmly believe in democracy. Nothing's evolved since our ancestors arrived at this place. Everything's the same."

"I understand where you're coming from but the world outside of the area is also not a demo-" He paused as a memory surfaced in his mind. 'This is what happens when a world doesn't change.' This was said by his elder cousin, Cal. Although Rewen couldn't connect the dots between this and the incident that happened years ago, he understood one thing - the world didn't change. Yes, the world had changed in many different ways but the fundamental nature of human beings didn't change. 'Is it because the world had achieved moral perfection two thousand years ago? Is the law system flawless?'

Rewen didn't know the answer for the former but he wouldn't be in this place if the law system were perfect. 'Or is it because any more change would be detrimental to the world? ... forget it, there's time and place to be philosophical and now is not the time.'