Elsewhere…

——

Inside a large cave filled with bones from both creatures and dominants, many large green and red orcs were milling about. Some were sharpening rusted blades on jagged rocks while others were tearing into raw meat.

There were wooden torches mounted to the uneven walls, their orange flames casting long, flickering shadows that danced across the piles of remains.

In a shadowy corner of the cavern, a young beautiful girl with blonde hair tied in twin ponytails was leaning against a damp stone wall when an orc suddenly brought her an apple. The girl didn't react at first as she had a vacant, distant expression and her face was pale. But then her lips suddenly curved into a smile.

"So he knows where I am?"

She let out a soft laugh that grew into a chuckle, and then she began to laugh like a mad person, her voice ringing out unnaturally high in the damp air.

"That bastard really is scary."

She wiped a tear from her eye that had escaped from laughter. Then, without looking, she reached out a hand and took the apple from the orc, which immediately turned around and shuffled back into the darkness of the cave.

The girl took a bite from the apple, chewed, and swallowed. Then, she stared at the spot she had bitten. "I'm really curious about you, lad. No one seems to know anything about you other than the fact that you did not have a bond until a month before the lunar eclipse. That alone is strange. Tsk. Because of that, no one knows what you can actually do. I can tell you are of the darkness element like me, but… that's all. Your abilities are so strange. Are you a seer?"

The girl smiled after a few seconds. "You even seem to be able to come back from the dead. Damn... scary."

She chuckled again and reached into her haversack, pulling out a whisperscript. Then, she poured mana into the small blue crystal, and after a few seconds, the crystal began to glow.

A few more seconds passed and then, the holographic projection of a tired-looking boy with short black hair and a scar that ran across his left eye flickered into view.

"Why are you disturbing me at this time of the night, Yami?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Yami smiled. "Well, I'm calling to warn you guys. There's a scary person you need to watch out for."

"Huh?" the boy frowned. "Aren't we supposed to watch out for only Princess Aurora and the brat Leon?"

Yami chewed loudly on the apple before answering. "Yes… but an even scarier dude has just popped up. I heard he goes by the name Cedric Martini."

The smile on Yami's female face vanished, replaced by a cold, serious look. "He already knows that I'm onto the dominants from the Bastion of Crimson and Silver. It won't be long until he finds out about you guys too, so be careful in that grove."

"Cedric Martini, huh?" The boy narrowed his eyes as he searched his memory. "Wait… I heard that Leon had joined the party of someone named Cedric. That him?"

Yami nodded slowly. "Yes, yes. That Cedric. And don't think you can kill him. The bastard can come back to life. No matter what you do, stay out of his radar."

The boy on the other end of the script remained silent for a long moment. Then he sighed and rubbed his face. "Arggh. Why do things have to get more complicated?"

He looked back at Yami then muttered under his breath, "Fine, I'll tell the others from the Bastion of the Somarian Pride to avoid him and his party in the meantime."

The holographic screen flickered once before cutting out entirely, leaving the cave in its natural, oppressive gloom.

***

Cedric's POV

The next day…

——

By the time the morning sun began to peek over the horizon, my companions and I were already having breakfast, while also going through the map on the whisperglobe to finalize our route.

We were going to avoid the goblin territory to the west because those annoying pests were a pain to deal with and since they could not be eaten, there was no point in wasting the effort. We were also going to avoid the territory of the land kraits which was north-west, and instead, head north-east toward the Saurian Outskirts.

After we finished breakfast, the party all slung their haversacks over the shoulders and headed out. But before I joined them, I turned a feather into a Chihuahuan raven.

"Your name is Muninn," I muttered, while stroking the head of the bird. "Watch over the shelter while we are gone, okay?"

The bird cawed then flew out toward a high branch nearby, settling in to keep watch.

I then joined the others with Aika, who was perched on my shoulder in her raven form, and we all began the journey north-east.

However, we had barely moved a few meters from my shelter when Aika's voice echoed in my head.

'Can you see him?'~~

I replied with a small nod.

Arlo was flying high above us in a circle, so I could see everything around me clearly. Because of that, I could also see that hiding in a cluster of tents and observing us was a boy with black hair and a scar across his left eye.

I couldn't recognize the boy, so I concluded that maybe I couldn't recognize him because he was probably an irrelevant character from a different bastion.

'Why is he watching us so intently? Gamer Privileges… who is he?'

[Retrieving Character Information…]

[Name: Casimir Adalricus]

[Casimir Adalricus is a level 16 character from the Bastion of the Somarian Pride of the Evrarel Empire.]

'Bastion of the Somarian Pride?'

Yami was from that bastion. The people who killed Audrey were from that bastion. Now, this guy…

'What's the deal with the cadets of that bastion?'

The boy didn't look at us for long and turned away, going back to his usual business.

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