Seeing Gen walking over to the table Raja asked, "What are you trying to do? Your ring is with Gerald, why are you going towards the table?", "Raja, don't waste your time, I know how your essence works", Gen then walked over to where he had put the ring, and then stretched his hand out in the direction it had been before. He then said, "Looks like I was right, and looks like I found you.", Gen then stretched out his hand in front of him, and grabbed the air.

Gen then said, "Are you going to show up for good, or am I going to have to make you show up by force?", Gen waited for a while, and after getting no answer said, "Then it's going to be force.", he then punched the air in front of him, but before he could complete it Raja said, "Wait! You win!", the area around Gen's hand began to blur, and Raja appeared there. Gen was holding his arm, and Raja said, "You can let go now.

Gen then released him and said, "What was the need to do that? You knew that I already knew your essence.", "I know, but I also wanted to test you a little.", "And what did you find with this test?", "I was able to confirm your strength.", "Are you satisfied now?", "Yes.", Raja then stretched out his hand and said, "I know we already know each other, but I don't think we ever really introduced ourselves. Nice to meet you, my name is Raja.", Gen then shook his hand and said, "Haha, that's right. Nice to meet you, Gen.

Raja then continued, "Oh, and another thing. Thank you for the advice you gave me that day. Unfortunately I didn't take it, and ended up with a trauma, but thanks for the intention.", "Yeah, you really should have taken my advice, but relax, I don't blame you, Lina is really very beautiful, and I also expressed myself a little wrong.", "Well, even if you explained it to me better, I probably wouldn't believe it. I was blinded by her beauty at that moment."

Gen then said, "Don't blame yourself, I saw a lot of people going through the same situation as you during the time I lived there. And out of all of them, I think you did the best. You said you've seen it happen several times, and I can completely understand that. Who wouldn't be charmed by her, with that beautiful face," Gen then remembered when his and Lina's faces were practically glued to each other and thought, 'Very beautiful.', "Perfect body," he then remembered the moment he hugged her and thought, 'It really is.', "And those lips -", "So soft," Gen added without realizing it.

Raja then said, "What do you mean soft Gen? You talk as if you ...", Raja then started thinking about something, Gen then asked, "I what?", while thinking, 'Damn, I ended up talking too much.' Raja ignored him, and after a few seconds he looked in Gen's direction and said, "It was you!", "Me what?", "You know very well! How do you kiss that demon and run away without dealing with the consequences?!", "Raja, I had my reasons.", "And what would they be.", "Well, the main one was fear, I won't lie, but there were also other reasons like-"

"Gen, Raja.", Gerald said interrupting the two's conversation. He then continued, "I know that because you two know each other, you must have a lot to talk to each other about, but let's leave the talking until after we're done here.", "True. Then we'll continue Raja.", "Yes, and don't even think about running away from the subject afterwards.", "...", Gerald then asked, "So, who's going to take their leader?", "Let Gen take him. His essence seems to be better at holding him than mine.", "Is that okay with you gen?", Gerald asked, "Yeah, no problem.", Gen said.

Gerald then said, "Well, then we're done here. I'll let the platinum ranks down know what they're going to do. I'll see you in an hour.", everyone then left the room, and after leaving the room Gen went towards Raja, and saw that he was talking to the adventurer who was sitting next to him at the meeting, Gen then said, "Raja, about -", "Gen, I'll find you later and we can finish talking, I'm kind of busy at the moment.", Raja then left with the woman.

Gen then thought, 'Some things never change', he then went to the front desk and asked, "Lia, can you tell me a good restaurant nearby?", "Sure sir Gen, there is a great restaurant in the back street, its name is 'Desert on Fire', the food there is very good, just a little spicy.", "Ok, thanks, and stop calling me sir, just Gen.", "Alright Gen.", "I'll go then, in an hour I'll be back."

Gen then left the place, and went in the direction of the restaurant that Lia had told him about. He quickly found it, and upon entering, sat down at a table and ordered the main course. While he was waiting for his food, Gen started to listen to what three men at the next table were saying. "It's only nine months until the tournament.", "That's right, I have to start preparing if I want to go watch it.", "Tell me about it, I remember I spent almost a month saving up to go to last year's tournament.", "Where is it going to be this year?", "From the looks of it it's going to be in the Kingdom of Brim.", "In Brim ... where is Brim again?", "It's north of here, it's not that far.", "Good, one less expense for me to worry about."

Gen then thought, 'The tournament ... I had even forgotten about it. This year it will be in Brim ... ah, what a shame, I wanted so much to attend, or even participate, but unfortunately I can't go back to Brim.', The men then continued, 'It seems that the reward this year is different, it seems they are going to give a map.', 'A map?', 'It's a map of what?', 'It seems to be a map to an ordeal from what they are saying.'"

Hearing this Gen was surprised, and was planning to let it go, when suddenly he heard Dehji speaking, "Gen, maybe this map has to do with the ordeal of one of my brothers.", "What? How do you know that?", "I don't know, but one of my brothers always liked this kind of thing", "It might be his", "... It will be difficult, Dehji, the tournament is not easy. There are always people with influence level essences in these tournaments, sometimes even on the natural level. Even if I go to Brim, which is something I'd like to avoid, and enter the tournament, there's no guarantee I'll get the map.", "So you won't even try?", "I'll try, but I need to get stronger first. Do you know any way I can do it in nine months?

Dehji then said, "If you can find my other brother's ordeal, you can probably get stronger.", "And do you know where it is?", "No, but she always liked rivers, it reminded her of her essence.", "Rivers ... I don't know of any rivers in this desert, but I don't know all of them, I'll check with the guild later.", Gen's food then arrived, he started to eat it, and then Dehji spoke to him again.

"Gen ...", "What is it Dehji? Did you remember anything else about your brothers' challenges?", "It's not that, c-", "You can tell me later, just let me finish eating", "Gen!", "What's wrong Dehji, can't you wait until I'm done?", "I can, but explain something to me", "What thing?", "How do you plan to pay for this food?", upon hearing this Gen choked on his food, and started coughing.

Gen then took a glass of water that had come along with the food and thought, 'That's right. I forgot that I'm out of money. Why didn't you warn me before, Dehji?', 'Gen, what do you think I am? Your helper? I didn't remember either. And at the end of the day, I'm not even eating anything. So it's not my problem. Good luck.', 'Easy there Dehji, give me some ideas at least.', but Dehji ignored him.

Gen then finished eating, and thought, 'What do I do? If I ask to pay later will they bother.', 'Pff, imagine.', 'Hey, if you're not going to help me don't bother me.', Gen then decided to call the waitress, when she arrived she asked him, "Do you want anything extra?", "No, I'm satisfied.", "Ok, that's twenty bronze coins.", "So, I wanted to talk to you about it. Gen then took his ring out of a pocket and showed it to her, and then continued, "Unfortunately I just came back from a ruin, and ended up losing all my money there. Would there be any other way for me to pay the bill?"

The waitress then began to think and said, "Wait a moment. I'll call the owner and let him know what he thinks.", "Okay.", she then went into the kitchen, and after a while came back from there with a man a little shorter than Gen. When the man arrived at the table he asked, "Are you the one who's trying to cheat?!", everyone in the restaurant turned towards Gen, and he then thought, 'How did things get this way?'