It has been almost 47 hours since he started reading and he still can't comprehend the enormity of his difficulty. The content he is reading here is changing his world view, it makes him laugh at his own naivety in believing whatever was taught to him up to now as the truth. He understood that he needs to open his eyes and ears even more and keep his mind and body functioning at maximum capacity to overcome all the odds. There are many things that still make no sense to him, but he just kept it at the back of his mind for now. Time is the best teacher and the thing about time is it changes....very quickly.
He looked at the map one last time and pressed the button to leave. The small wooden slabs move aside to give him space enough for him to slide through. He goes in through it traveling somewhat like a roller coaster in the form of congested and tight space as well as no brakes for him to stop. After going through several turns and twists and having an overwhelming sense of vertigo, he slides and slows down as the passage becomes wider and horizontal to open up near a manhole near the base. "That would have been awesome in some other circumstances..." He thought. Getting out and traveling towards his room, he only has one thing in mind; he needs sleep as he hasn't slept for over 2 days and his body needs rest. Even though he doesn't have much time as he needs to leave tomorrow if he has to reach Nanbu Valley on the reaping day which is in 3 days, he will prepare for that after he has had some good rest.
Meanwhile, Major Shaw is busy in his own thoughts. He knows that he has given Raghu an advantage over other reaping candidates, but it's the advantage that he will need. Even though not many know the truth of reaping, royal family and some noble families know the truth. The reaping, while publicly considered a thing for society misfits and a sacrifice to the gods of the world to keep the world healthy, is all some cooked-up bullshit the royals and nobles came up with. Reaping is actually meant for something entirely else. It being based on credits was to give credibility to the narrative. Well, Raghu will know the truth soon enough. He just gave him a head start as he believes that his brother is still alive and he had opted for this long shot. His brother was one of the best explorers and scholars who traveled wide and collected information. He knew all this as his brother explained all this before he was reaped as well. He has never seen him since. He knew not just anyone can be selected for reaping; all of the candidates will have something special about them. They actually have the best of talents and potential but are usually hidden well. He confirmed it when he knew that Raghu was actually known as Phantom Death in the streets. He knew if anyone had a chance he would have one. So he gave him all the advice and advantages that not even a royalty member will get. The relevance of it will only be noticed after he enters the platform. Well, he did all he could. He can only hope his gamble pays off now.
Back at Raghu's room, he woke up after a sound sleep of 13hrs and is now getting ready to leave the base. His transport is actually arranged by the government itself. One of the special privileges as the government called it. The sacrifice would have to pay or do nothing as he is now government property and will remain so till they are reaped in the Nanbu Valley. He boards the military truck which will take him to the Nanbu town. He arrives in the underground to board and sees he is the only one. In the next 2 days, he sits alone in the truck watching nothing but the vast expanse of deserts with little to no vegetation for the first day while gradually changes as he nears the valley with vegetation growing thick along all the way.
By the time he has reached the Nanbu town, he is already surrounded by the thick vegetation, and the town has a lovely backdrop of hills in the background giving the town a character of its own. Even though not many live here. The total population itself is around 1000 people which mostly consist of military personnel serving here, the rest are town management services to provide a place for people to gather. A single tavern and single branch Enbo Trade Emporium.
He needs to report to authorities here, but before he does that, he needs to meet someone in the Enbo Emporium. The trade center is located at the west end of the city, and he needs to travel for about 15 min to reach there. He looks at the rather simple building when compared to the branch he had seen at 11th. This one is only a single shop with no amount of grandiose attached to it. He walks in to see the receptionist lost in her own thought. He walks towards her and she still hasn't noticed him.
He taps on the desk twice to wake her from her daze, her eyes go wide in surprise and fumbles to make sure she is presentable again. He looks at her; she could be considered someone who is good looking but he doesn't pay that much attention to her, and asks her if he can meet a lady named Hela. He needs to discuss something with her. She nods and tells him to wait in the seating area opposite to the desk, while she calls for her, telling him she has actually gone out with some work. As he has nothing else to do, he checks out the collection this place has; the items displayed here are quite nice.
He checks out the new technology-based laser shots, magnetic boots reflective jacket for camouflage, as well as arrows with nano-fitted bombs. And many more upgraded weapons that are not available in the 11th. It looks like they sell weapons according to the conditions; here wildlife is more viable threat than humans so these weapons are used more as deterrents to wildlife. That's why they have more explosive properties here in Nanbu to scare off the wild animals.
He hears someone walk in the store and sees it's a lady and she is dressed impeccably. She has a dusky skin tone, golden brown eyes and oval face with black flowing hair left open. Her formal dress complements her beauty and he believes she is the one that will be Hela, but to his surprise, just walks towards the receptionist and asks to meet Hela as well. She tells him the same thing and she comes in the seating area as well. She notices Raghu already has occupied one of the 4 seats so she sits at the opposite side not bothering with him.
After a while, Hela walks in with the receptionist. She is not surprised to see them as she has already spoken to the other trade managers. She addresses the girl first and asks her to come to the trade room. There is always one built in the Enbo Emporium and they are well aware of it. Raghu believes that the status of the girl would be quite high for her to be called before him. After a while, he is also called in by the receptionist.
Hela observes the young man who has just walked into the trade room and sits on the chair opposite to her. The man has quite a tall stature when compared to other men she has met so far; he is almost a 7 ft tall. And has a great military build and lean body structure. Keeping a neutral expression on her face, She introduces herself as Hela and notices the young man smiling at her. He is aware that she noticed him well but doesn't show it on his face. He looks at her as they exchange pleasantries and asks about the materials he ordered and hands her a black token. She knew that he was recommended by Satya, but now she knows why. The black tokens are only for privileged people and are not handed out easily, and she has already seen the 5th one with this token in the last few days.