Cardinals of Auresia

Chapter 5 - Stay or Leave

I was now inside the transportation.

"Where to?" the systematized voice asked me. It was a man's voice and his name was Exter.

There were many of them, systematized voices. I wonder how many staff were there in Auresia and I wonder how rich was Vinitor. Maybe he had a swimming pool inside his house.

It only took me one minute and I was already in The Slum. The transportation opened and I stepped outside. There was transportation everywhere but we could use it four times a day or else we could walk for months before getting in The Centrum.

I could see other guilds camping on every side. The Slum was huge for we had a large number of cardinals. The Slum was divided into four parts: The West, The East, The North, and The South. Maybe other ranks' places were divided also, especially those outnumbered ranks.

I immediately walk my way to where our guild decided to camp. There was nowhere to look without meeting malicious eyes. No. They were not malice, they were annoying. Pissing me off by looking at me like that. I didn't know what was with them.

Were they mocking me for not making it to Bronze Cardinals? Stupidity. As if they could make it. I wanted to raise my middle finger at them, but I didn't want to start a fight.

Rule number five in Auresia: Do not ever indulge in a street fight.

Punishment: Restriction of account in five months.

That would make my life boring. There was no place outside the Auresia where you could have fun. Only in Auresia. You could forget the reality that the whole world was facing outside.

Here, you couldn't feel the thirst and longing for water. You couldn't feel the pain even if you were wounded in a battle. You couldn't feel being tired. That was why even old people were playing Cardinals of Auresia and Vinitor was praised because of that.

Vinitor was a mystery for all of us. We didn't know what he looked like. His spokesperson was the only one attending all meetings for him, even press conferences.

I was walking silently and ignoring all the glares. I looked above and I could appreciate the wide blue sky. Birds were flying freely up there. There were trees and flowers everywhere. Everything that the outside world didn't have.

If only Shaniya was here. I knew she would be happy watching birds in the sky.

It didn't take me too long to reach my destination. There they were, camping under the tree. They looked at me in unison. Rayumi stood up and waited for me to get near.

I didn't know what they were talking but I got a hint that it was about the new update of the system.

"What's up?" I asked as soon as I got near them.

I was expecting that Denro would fire at me with those filthy words he had already in mind. But it seemed that he had another thing to say.

I turned my head sideward to look at Rayumi and I also see the hesitation in her eyes.

"What's wrong with you, guys?" I asked and I was filled with confusion.

"We are talking about the new system's update," Meon said, one of the oldest members. He was ahead of me and was good at using sword.

"And what about it?" I asked and looked at them one by one. Their expressions were telling me that they were about to spill some atrocious news.

I heard Denro cleared his throat before answering my question. "We know that The Blue Devils were after you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked again. "Can you please tell it me right away? I'm not a seer and I'm not good at guessing."

It was like they were also waiting for Denro to spill out the thing they were talking about. How intriguing.

"Well, we also knew that you're more than willing to leave the guild and join with them," Denro said while looking at me intently.

I was not surprised by what I just heard. I was expecting that, actually. Their attentions were already on me, waiting for my response. I saw Rayumi's eyes were filled with hopes that I might say what she wanted to hear.

Rayumi was the only one I could rely on here in Auresia. She was the one that lifted my mood whenever Denro would scold me. She was always been with me ever since I chose The Conqueror. I couldn't tell exactly but I felt comfortable and at ease whenever I was with her. If it was not for the rules, I would gladly meet her in the outside world.

I heaved a sigh before sitting down on the root of the tree. Prime was already sitting on her clouds. This tree was with us over the years. It witnessed our dreams, our waves of anger, and our hopes of ranking up. And today, I would let it witness my decision and perseverance. "If you're saying that I will choose to leave the guild, sorry but you're wrong."

Maybe this would be the second huge mistake I had made. But what  Derus said earlier made a huge impact on my heart.

I heard everyone's gasp and I saw how Rayumi's lips formed into a smile. I even saw Denro's reaction. He was surprised and his eyes were telling me how stupid I was for making such a decision.

And as expected, he fired at me. "Why will you decide like that easily?"

"Why not?" I asked him back. "Everyone's already assumed that I will choose The Blue Devils this time and that Derus mocked me!"

"But, Reign..."

I looked at Skyre when she suddenly spoke up. She was the youngest member of our guild. Liked Meon, she was good at using sword and it was her main weapon when battling. As for me, I could see my sister on her and I treated her like my younger sister.

"This opportunity is once in a lifetime. The Cardinals of Auresia's fifteenth anniversary is near and as a celebration they allow cardinals to choose another guild again. We don't know if this will happen again on the next anniversaries," Skyre explained as her eyes were filled with hopes that I might change my decision.

"Are you letting me go?" I asked Skyre and was looking at her with confusion.

"It's not like that, Reign," Frim said. She was the spell master of our guild. But because we didn't have any tasks, we couldn't afford to upgrade her skills. Spells were very valuable and indeed helpful. "But we want to see you soar high. The Blue Devils is famous and a strong guild that's why they rank up every tournament. They see your potential and so do we. We don't want to imprison you and—"

"And rot like hell," I added to what was Frim wanted to say. "We are together for a long time and I am disappointed that you look at me like that kind of cardinal."

They fell silent and I could sense the outgrowing tension in our midst.

"Why are you so eager to let me leave the guild?" I asked at looked at them one by one. I was throwing suspicious looks at them and at the same time I was really disappointed. They should be happy with my decision.

"It's like you never read the announcement," Denro said and it got me even more confused.

"What announcement?" I asked and I didn't know why my heart suddenly beats so fast. Like it wanted to pop out from my chest any minute now.

I immediately scrolled in front of me and the menu bar popped out in an instant. They couldn't see my menu bar and vice versa. At least we could have some privacy regarding our menu bar.

I searched for the announcement. I read it from up to the bottom. First on the column was the announcement about the upcoming fifteenth anniversary.

There were huge prizes for guilds that had tasks. The annual tournament would be held this month and the prizes were increased tipple times. What a huge treasure that would be.

But what caught my attention was the last part of the announcement. The first sentence was about the chance to choose another guild and the last sentence was about the cardinals that were qualified to change guilds.

I didn't know that there were only a few selected cardinals that were allowed or qualified to change guilds.

And there...

I saw my name.

I didn't know why I was qualified.

"There were rumours that the qualified cardinals were in great need of water," Rayumi said and that answered my confusion.

But how did they know about my situation? I couldn't remember that I mentioned it to anyone else.

I looked at the sky, trying to calm my heart and mind. Earlier, I was firm with my decision but now, my soul was triggered and I couldn't think properly.

The question of how they knew about my situation was lurking inside my troubled mind. Could it be possible that they could read all the cardinal's mind?

Or did they investigate our personal information? If that was the case, they knew who we were in the outside world.

Of course, they knew!

Upon registering into the game, they were gathering our personal information including our names and such. But how come they knew about my personal problem?

Maybe they had their eyes around us.

But one thing was bothering me...

What would I choose this time?

Stay or leave The Conqueror?