“It’s beautiful! I tip my hat to you, Enatsu… even if… I have not yet understood what the meaning of all this is”, Yoichi marveled, looking with interest at the Moruba.

“The meaning? It sounds pretty obvious to me, doesn’t it? Defeat the other Tamers and become the strongest! The most powerful Demon Tamers fight in the most important guilds of our faction and enjoy incredible privileges!” Enatsu replied as if saying something for granted. “There are common, rare, and epic demons. Of course, the higher the rarity of a demon, the stronger its shared skill with the Tamer!”

​​

“So just get rare demons to defeat the other Tamers, right? This also seems quite trivial to me”, Yoichi commented, looking for a glass to drink some of the water contained in the big barrel.

“It’s not trivial at all! The rarest demons are on the edge of our world! Only the most adventurous Tamers push themselves beyond the borders of our region, traveling to unknown lands, crossing the seas and other continents just to look for the strongest demons of Lumya! You’re going to understand these things little by little, my friend. If I were you, now I’d focus on the present,” Enatsu continued.

“Mmh, I understand. You talked about factions a few moments ago… could you explain yourself better? How many factions are there? Are they at war with each other?” Yoichi asked again.

“You don’t remember anything at all, ah? Hahaha! Luckily for you, being a trader, I never move without my world map! It’s not very up-to-date, this is true, but… with this it will be much easier to explain to you where we are and which faction we are part of”, Enatsu replied, getting up and heading towards the tunic he had hung near the fireplace.

“There you go, look!” he exclaimed, after extracting a piece of rolled paper and lying it on the table. “There is… is there anything to keep it still?” he asked, failing to keep the paper well stretched out.

“Um, yes. I think so,” Yoichi replied absent-mindedly, grabbing the now cold pot and the wooden cup with which he had drunk some water a few minutes earlier and resting them at the corners of the small table, above the map.

“Perfect. So, we’re right here right now, in the Bronzeforest,” Enatsu affirmed with conviction, pointing his finger east of the world map.

Yoichi’s eyes, before falling on the specific area indicated by his new friend, focused on the overall view: three large continents were the protagonists of that ancient hand-drawn map, one to the east, one slightly larger to the west, and one slightly smaller to the far north.

“Tent… Tentochu…” he whispered, reading aloud the name of the continent under Enatsu’s finger.

“That’s right! Our nation’s name is Tentochu, and it’s also the name of the faction that all tamers born and raised here are part of!” Enatsu explained, moving his hand westward. “This is the nation of Kamakiri, our enemies’ home.”

“Enemies? Why are they our enemies? What happened?”

“The ruler of Tentochu and the ruler of Kamakiri, have declared war on each other because of this cursed island” the trader promptly replied, knowing that his interlocutor would ask that question.

“Nomi Island” Yoichi read in his mind, without pronouncing that name.

“Although it belonged in ancient times to the Kingdom of Tentochu, many years ago, Kamakiri’s warriors landed on its shores and appropriated it, insulting our King. Since then, Nomi Island has been a contested territory, perhaps the most dangerous of Lumya.

“I understand, you’ve been quite clear. What about this one? What about this northern nation?”

“That is Mukade, an independent land, without a King and laws. Although its deserts and volcanoes are inhospitable and anarchist places, it is said that the rarest earth and fire demons live right there.”

“Mmmh… judging by its position relative to the other two nations, I’m not surprised it remained neutral,” Yoichi commented, looking at the world map as if it was a board game vaguely reminiscent.

The three large islands and the smaller one, Nomi, were surrounded by the sea on each front. Among them, the various regions were connected by harbors, marked on the map quite clearly, embellished with small drawings depicting tiny boats floating in the sea.

A harbor connected the north of Tentochu with the east of Mukade and the west with the small island of Nomi. The same thing happened between Kamakiri and Mukade, connected from north to west and between Kamakiri and Nomi Island, but not between the two main factions: Tentochu and Kamariki were not connected by any kind of land or sea route and the only way to travel from one to the other seemed to be the Nomi Island or the wild Mukade.

An old handwritten lettering at the top, in the middle of the sheet, read the words: “World Of Lumya.”

“So? Do you remember something you’re seeing? I was saying… you live here, in the Bronzeforest and a few kilometers from your home is Goldhaven, the capital of Tentochu, which is where I’m headed,” Enatsu continued, helping Yoichi to geolocate himself.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything. It feels like I’m hearing these names for the first time.”

“Well, that might be a hard problem. If you’re a tamer and don’t remember your Oracle’s real name, you can never tame other demons… or rather, you can never call that Nekage back into your body”, Enatsu sighed, bringing Yoichi back to reality.

Yoichi’s gaze fell on the Nekage, who stood still looking at him, sitting under the table.

If I cannot remember its name, I will not be able to catch a demon and what was written on the wall with blood will come true. Everything that’s happening to me is real, I can feel it. I don’t want to die, I’m so fucking scared!” the young farmer thought frantically, bringing his eyes back to the map and starting daydreaming.

While Yoichi was focused on drawings and writing, Enatsu approached the window, peering outside. Drop by drop, a stream of water wet the floor falling from the thatched ceiling, which was unable to hold back all that rain.

“Um… Yoichi?”

“Yes?”

“I have another favor to ask you… can I…”

“Yes, Enatsu. You can stay here tonight. I think there’s enough room for both of us,” Yoichi politely replied, smiling with one hand resting on the table.