The Divine Continent, the largest and only great continent of the Tiny World, a continent where Demon Beast roamed free and unhindered as they hunted for the last few humans living in it.
Among these few Humans there stood the Akagawa Clan, one of the last remaining Human Civilizations with a population only in the Hundreds. They built a city right at the top of a mountain and right now this clan was mourning the loss of their clan head and the wife of said clan head.
"Young Master.. I know that it's hard but is it time to decide what we are going to do from now on."
The one that said so was a buffed middle aged man with bright red hair, he was Daisuke Akagawa, currently the strongest person in the Akagawa Clan and also the little brother of the late clan head.
"I understand… Tell the other elders to meet me in the main palace in five minutes."
The one to respond was a young boy with medium long black hair with red tips and crimson red eyes, he is the Young master of the clan, also the only son that head had and his name Shin Akagawa.
Shin from a young age demonstrated a genius level intellect and was always looked as the new hope for the clan, the one that would bring the clan to new levels, and even after such an event he didn't disappointed the clan as he took the whole event in a mature way and even with his young age he was still able to think clearly and not drown into depression or sorrow for the death of his parents. Looking back at his achievement he could only sigh as before turning around and walking toward the main palace, His uncle already went ahead to reunite the other Great Elders.
Arriving at the palace he sat down at the seat that normally his father would be sitting at with a grim expression but quickly shook his head and looked at each of the elders in the face.
Daisuke Akagawa, his only Uncle and the little brother of his father, since Shin was little he always took care of him and even started training him in various martial arts. All said and done he always was the most loyal to Shin's father and even renounced the position of clan head as he alway preferred to simply train the guards or fight the Demon Beast, currently he was the strongest of the clan and he is said that he would reach the Legend rank in the next ten to twenty years but after the death of Shin's father he may take some more time.
Eiko Akagwa, a frail looking old man with long green hair and black eyes and currently the oldest of the whole clan, he always has been a grandfather figure for Shin and since demonstrated high intelligence and interest in learning and reading books he always tried to bring him in the path of Alchemy, he is currently at the 3-Star Black Gold Rank and the Alchemy Grandmaster of the Clan. He cares little for politics and power struggle as he is already old, he just wishes for the new generations to prosper.
Taishiro Akagawa, The self proclaimed Rival of Shin's father, a tall and muscular man with short black hair and golden eyes along with a scar in his right eye. He always has been training hard to catch up to the late clan head but unfortunately he was only gifted in the management of the clan affair instead of cultivation, even so he was able to reach the 4-Star Black Gold Ranka couple of years ago just to understand that it was his limit and would probably never reach beyond it.
Keiko Akagawa, a beautiful young woman seemingly in her early thirty with long pink hair and red eyes, since she was little she was the most adored in the clan the brightest child and still with her bright personality, not really coherent with her age, decided to dedicate herself into teaching the new generations of the clan, while she was the weakest of the Great Elders she still reached the 1-Star Black Gold rank.
Naoki Akagawa, The youngest of the Great Elders and one that was considered the genius right after Shin's father and Shin himself, as an orphan he grew under the care of all of the elders and before anyone noticed he reached the black gold rank at his thirties and in the subsequent years he was able to climb up to the 3-Star Black Gold rank and only a step to reach the 4-Star Black Gold Rank, he's said that he has a really good chance to actually reach the legend rank.
The elders were all seated on a round table and silently watched Shin.
"I suggest we leave this place."
With those words the Elders became even more silent as they quickly glanced at each other. Rules were good but now because of the same old rules they found themselves in a thought spot, according the Akagawa rules as soon as the Clan head died the heir would take control no matter what age he was but at the same time if the heir would find himself not worthy of taking the position he could renounce the right to lead but they wouldn't be allowed to become the head ever again in their life, this was also what Daisuke did so that his brother could become the head without any problem.
"Young Master… Can I ask you to explain your reasoning?"
It was Eiko that broke the silence, as the oldest he took it upon himself to see where this was going, none of the elders wanted the young master to renounce but if he really started to give mindless orders then they would have no choice to take control.
Shin lifted his hand as a purple colored ring shined with the little light coming from a window, Daisuke and Taishiro immediately recognized it as the ring of his father. Without saying anything he took out a worn out book from there and set it on the table for everyone to see.
"As some of you know my father always was a well organized person and he liked to always write every and each thing that happened in the clan, as his last words he gave this and told me of his plans and the reason why he and Mother went out that day."
Everyone immediately concentrated on the book almost as if it was a special treasure, no in this situation it actually was.
"A scout the other day found another Human refuge, several times bigger than ours but with warriors with relatively lower strength, he also noted that they were abundant in food and alchemy herbs. My father wanted to leave this desolate mountain and ask for ausilium in that place."
Shin opened the book as a map could be seen in it, the map showed a path from the mountain up to another bigger mountain along with other information about.
The elders were shocked, it wasn't the first time they found another refuge but most of the time the other refugees were in such a bad state that they all migrated to their place, this would be the first time that their clan would move from this place but with the ever diminishing food reserve and the ever growing number of demon beast this could be a really good moment to move.
"Certainly if we were to take just the most important things with us, with the help of spatial rings we would be able to leave in thre- no two days."
This time it was Naoki that spoke, the guy always preferred to stay silent but now decided to give his opinion, shocking the other people present.
"What will we do about the things that we can't bring with us? What about the monument with the history of our clan?"
Keiko put a hand in front of her mouth and asked while looking all around before stopping and looking at Shin who responded with a smile.
"We can always put them in the treasury and before leaving we can try to close the palace down, in the unfortunate chance that they do not accept us we can always return here."
The city, while not too big, was built along the mountain walls making it almost invisible if one didn't already know of its existence.
"If we were to put a cover of herbs or leaves we could certainly hide the city and if we block the entrance with boulders we can make sure no Demon Beast enters and make it its home."
Eiko continued as Shin nodded his head, Naoki was already planning how to divide the work and prepare with the most efficiency.
"Then, it's this your final decision, young master?"
Taishiro, who up until now kept silent, finally addressed Shin with a neutral face and looked straight at him almost as if trying to intimidate him.
"It's the only one, we don't have a legend rank anymore and the beast that my parent killed right before dying was probably our first and last warnings, we need more warriors and foods the people always ask for permission to expand the city but the moment we were to do such a things we would lose our only advantage and be right in the open for Demon beast."
Shin said without ever breaking eye contact only for Taishiro to harden his gaze as he asked another question.
"You do know that they don't have any reason to actually take us in and even if they do there is no reason for them to treat us well?"
"Fortunately the scout did a good enough job to infiltrate and get some info about their powers and how the City Lord rules. While they do have a Legend rank right now he isn't in the city and the others are Black Gold rank but numbered in the single digit, they still think they are the only human survivors in the whole continent and have more than enough food that nobody truly dies of hunger there. From the look of it they don't know of the concept of Soul forms and their cultivation techniques are mediocre at best. I don't plan to go in with force but my father was sure that they would definitely accept more help and I think so too."
As Shin finished it was Eiko to speak up.
"While I should say that it's wise to trust others so much I think it's worth the shot. If push comes to shove we can always retreat back into the forest, I don't think they would follow us."
Taishiro finally relaxed with that as he nodded at Shin, hiding the small bit of a smile.
"Then, should we start preparing?"
After a small pause Shin straightened his back before answering with a resolute voice
"Yes!"
All the Elders looked at Shin, through this meeting they almost forgot that Shin would become a 10 years old this year but even then they could see it, the shadow of the old Clan head and fire that would bring their clan to glory, unknowing to Shin they all prayed for the young master fortune and hoped that his parents could watch over him for the years to follows.
Hello there!
This is my first novel and English is not my first language.. Or the second but I'll try my best, so if you find any grammar errors please do tell me so I'll try my best to change it.
The next chapter will be in first person so that we can see what's going on with the mc, this was mostly an explanation and small introduction chapter for (hopefully) all the OC that I will introduce in the near future.
If you have any questions don't hesitate and ask me, I hope you will have a good day and see you soon.