The plan

This was my fault, I should have forbid him to come with me. Now, he might just die. I sat in the corner of a room contemplating what had happened. Kevin was kidnapped by a half beast named Zwein, Leon was not fast enough to catch up to Zwein. In the end, Leon and I continued on our way. We then arrived at Leon's hideout.

"Clarissa calm down, I'm sure the boy isn't dead. I will look for him whereabouts at once by looking for your brother whereabouts," Leon tried to calm me down when I was depressed.

I understand his good intentions, it's true that I couldn't confirm the condition of my brother and Kevin yet. Likewise, I tried to calm myself down, there was still a chance. I hope both of them were fine. But there was one thing that I really regret, which was the fact that I had to rely on Leon completely. Inside this barrier there were many creatures that could kill me, the knife I carry in my bag was not enough to protect myself.

As I was daydreaming in the corner, I heard the sound of the door that opened.

"Leon! Oh my god, it's you. Why did you come back?"

I raised my head and saw the figure of a woman with cat ears and a cat tail growing behind her. Her appearance was completely human-like except for its ears and tail. She also has shoulder-length black hair with slicked-back front hair.

"Kale, what are you doing here? I don't want this place to be known by anyone."

"Don't worry, I came here carefully. I'm sure no one is following me."

The woman named Kale then noticed my presence. She frowned and asked, "Who is that human girl, Leon?"

Everyone within the barrier used to live a human life. It's just, years inside the barrier and living a new life might change their own perception, at least that's what I think.

She is one of the reasons why I chose to come back here again."

Leon then briefly explained how he met me and also about my brother and of course, he also explained about Kevin. The half-cat woman named Kale listened carefully to Leon's explanation. It was only after Leon finished explaining that Kale expressed her opinion.

"You are stupid! You really came back here just because of that? Are you still holding on to your weird idea of ​​being human? Look at your body now, Leon! We're not humans anymore, no matter what you think, the humans out there won't accept you!" Kale scolded Leon excitedly.

Hearing Kale's words, I became aware of the reason why Leon was different from the other half beasts. Leon was definitely one of those people who still thought of himself as a human despite his years of experience in the barrier.

Leon took a deep breath before responding to Kale's words. "You don't know Kale, that talk like that is useless to me. It doesn't matter if my physique changes or people can't accept the current me, I will still consider myself human forever."

Kale shook her head as if giving up after seeing Leon's stubbornness. After that, she walked over to me. When she arrived in front of me, she said, "Forget about your brother and also the human named Kevin, I will take you home now before you die. You should be aware by now that a weak human like you can do nothing here but rely on Leon."

That's right. I realized it when Zwein kidnapped Kevin. I was too arrogant to think that everything would go smoothly just because I knew so little about Exor. However, I can't just walk away. At least not until I found out about my brother and Kevin's condition.

"I couldn't go now..."

Kale seemed dissatisfied with my answer. She was about to grab my head, but Leon immediately stopped her hand. Kale looked at Leon with a dissatisfied look. Meanwhile, Leon looked back at Kale firmly. "I will help her, but I don't think I could do it alone. I really need your help too. Please help me find the whereabouts of Clarissa's brother and Kevin."

A moment later, I realized how these two half beast were related. At first, I thought Kale would refuse, however, she looked like she hated me. But unexpectedly Kale agreed to Leon's request, even though with a few complaints.

"You're really useless, you couldn't do anything by your self, I'll help you this time. But first, I'll ask you, do you have any plans?"

Leon chuckled softly as he rubbed the back of his head, "I was thinking of looking for the two of them in the five pillars area one by one."

"You idiot, even though your story alone was clear. This human little brother entered from the south gate of the barrier, It was mean that he was in the Tenbu territory. While the man named Kevin was kidnapped by Zwein, if he didn't die halfway, then he must be in Zwein's territory. We just need to look for it in those two areas."

Hearing Kale's words cheered me up, even though Leon was nice, but Kale seemed to be more reliable.

"Then shall we go now?" Leon asked.

Kale shook her head, "If we go looking for those two now, Tenbu or Zwein will definitely find us right away."

"You know that I'm not afraid of the two of them."

"If you try to fight against one of them, it will attract the attention of Master Black Rat. Once you try to escape from here, Master Black Rat will definitely think of you as a threat. Do you think he will continue to let you go freely after you repeatedly refuse his invitations?"

"Then when are we going to move?"

"The day after tomorrow. Master Black Rat had given the order to gather at the center, someone from the organization will come. All the half beast would go there. I guess that's what I heard. When that time comes, there will be fewer half beast that were guarding the Zwein and Tenbu territories, so we could search them more freely. I will also ask my friends for help to find the two humans."

Organization? I then remembered Leon mentioning that the Black Rat was backed by a new organization after the Temple of Shadow expelled him. Could it be that the people from the organization that supported the Black Rats had come?

Leon nodded after listening to Kale's arrangement.

"Then we'll move the day after tomorrow."

"Thank you," I immediately said while looking at Kale. Though I guess she helped me because of Leon, but still, her help made my purpose to save my brother as well as Kevin easier to come true.

Kale who heard my thanks immediately put on a disgusted expression, "I didn't do this for you. One thing you should know, the chances of your brother and Kevin still being alive are less than 40%. Even if they were still alive, they should have been traumatized or seriously injured."

I nodded slightly, "I know that this area was dangerous. I have my doubts about Kevin and my brother's condition, but if they die, I should at least see their bodies."