The Red Crystal Kingdom
Rallies

It has been two weeks since the earthquake hit the Kingdom of Kastala. The disaster caused various adverse effects for the palace and – houses in the settlement. Many homes are damaged. Not a few casualties also fell.

As a result, many residents rallied to palace employees and asked for support and additional costs for the suffering they had suffered due to this disaster.

Hundreds of residents of the settlement flocked – flocked to enter the Royal palace while crying out and mourning.

“Let the King down!”

“King Endan doesn't know himself!”

“No action!”

“We're starving!”

“Stop this earthquake!”

“Give me food!”

The inhabitants of the settlement entered into the palace gate. However, the Official Soldiers were deployed to deter them as well as a number of Magicians. The Magicians are only allowed to carry out – small-scale attacks so that residents are not injured.

“We want to meet directly with King Endan!” the call was made repeatedly by residents while damaging the posse that had been installed by government officials.

Some of the soldiers were overwhelmed due to the many citizens who wanted to force themselves to enter the palace. Some of them also had to act decisively to the citizens who dared to injure the Soldier.

Ros, Frigg, and Heil, three protestors, managed to infiltrate the palace. The three of them ran down the corridor.

“King Endan is stupid!” Ros cursed while running with his two friends. “What did he do until – until our family so the bet?”

“Maybe he sleeps all day so that he does not have time to pay attention to the citizens,” said Heil who ran while scrambling his hair because of the sand shot done by a Witch.

“I don't know,” Frigg said as he played his sword. “We must get to King Endan to demand it directly. Otherwise, he will feel this sharp sword I just stole.”

As they were about to reach the final hall of the corridor to the main hall, a Female Witch and a Warrior confronted them.

The witch wore a white robe, while the Warrior used a red spear and armor typical of Kastala.

“People can not enter without official permission!” The soldier warned.

“We want to talk directly to the King!” Ros returned the call loudly.

“Alright, tell us, we are both higher-ups.” said the Witch. “My name is Rena, higher-ups of Magic and Klerik.” Rena pointed to the Warrior. “This is my partner, Rowan, Defense Section.”

Heil exclaimed, “We don't care who you are!”

“You heard, right?” frigg said in a mocking tone. “We want to meet directly with Raja.”

“You do not have the right to speak directly with the King!” Rowan exclaimed in a thunderous voice. “You can go straight out or we will harm you.”

“King Endan is Stupid!” rutuk Frigg while sweeping his sword as if threatening.  “Didn't he know that we felt misery because he wasn't quick to act? Otherwise, I'll—”

“No one can insult the King!” rowan shouted while raising his spear. “Bold – how dare you guys!”

The Soldier immediately ran to throw his spear at Frigg. The civilian prepared with his sword. However, he looked dazed as he had never played a sword before. His face was pale.

A wall of water loomed high between Rowan and Frigg, so that the Warrior's spear pierced through the wall of water.

Frigg, Ros, and Heil fell backwards, trying to stand up limping. Their faces were frightened.

Rowan's spear handle still remained firm and was unaffected by that wall of water. Rowan turned to look at Rena who was raising her right hand forward. Blue light shimmered in the Witch's palm.

After preventing Rowan's attack, Rena dimmed the light in her palm. The wall of water soon disappeared. “According to the King's decree, we must not harm ordinary people.”

Rowan sighed in – deep while pulling her spear. “This is so silly!”

Ross, Heil, and Frigg retreated regularly backwards while terrified. The courage of the three of them shrank.

“Alright!” rowan said as she raised her hand.  “At least, give that sword back!”

Seeing Rena's lost water magic, Frigg tries to muster up her courage. He stood up and threw the sword he was holding towards Rowan and just laid down. “This is your stupid sword!”

Rowan went back up and growled. Renata looked at the three citizens in annoyance while moving his hands.

Slowly, a whirlpool appeared and flowed swiftly around Frigg, Heil, and Ross. The three of them retreated close to each other in fear to avoid being exposed. Then, the water circle rose and formed a dome that covered the three of them.  Although the inside of the water flow in the dome was still airy, the three of them were trapped there.

“You should have returned it well,” said Rena calmly, “not throwing it away.”

Rowan took the sword and put it into his sheath. Anger subsides. He was satisfied with what his partner did to the three of them.

“Is the line sent to prevent them not enough to block them?” The soldier walked over to Rena who was still doing magic.

“I've already announced that earthquakes occur periodically. For two times a day,” Rena explained, “King Endan previously assigned me to hold a closed meeting with the other Palace Witches. The periodic earthquake was one of the pieces of information we concluded. I have also told this to Istandi.”

“Despite that, many hard-earned Soldiers helped get hurt by the citizens.” Rowan grunts. “Hah! The chaos of these citizens is very unreasonable!”

“Indeed very unfortunate.“ Rena faced down with disappointment. “I think King Endan's decision is good enough. Monitoring the development is the right way even though the insistence of citizens like this is not expected – thought.”

“That's the case,” said Rowan, “I fully believe in all the decisions of King Endan.”

Arrived – arrived, a Palace Officer came to approach Rowan and Rena. Ten soldiers also followed him from behind.

“Are you guys okay – what?” ask the officer to Rowan.

Rowan cleared his throat while pointing at the vortex dome. “You can see for yourself, Istandi!”

“The protest outside the palace is over,” Istandi is astonished. “What happened?”

Rowan and Rena told me about what just happened to Istandi.

“That's right,” said Rowan. “Report on that there are three intruders who want to oppose Raja.”

“Do they really want to oppose the King?” Stephen doubted his partner.

“They just want their aspirations heard,” said Rena, “but they exceeded the limit.”

A moment later, the Magician dimmed the magic light in his hand. The dome of water surrounding Frigg and the others soon disappeared. Rowan told the Innate Soldier to lead the three civilians out of the palace.

“I know that we also need to look at this disaster from the point of view of the citizens,” Rowan looked at Frigg and his two friends who were being led out. “As a Community Officer, you always hold high, don't you?”

Stephen nodded. “It's true.”

Rowan turned his spear. “However, the citizens who demonstrated just want to worsen the condition of the kingdom with their abandonment, even though we as the palace also do not want to deliberately harm them.”

Stephen put his hand in his pants pocket. “I think King Endan has assessed and needs time to make a decision, Mr. Rowan,”. “If he directly decides to rebuild – building damaged building, it will be in vain –sia.”

“There are many unexpected and unpredictable things,” Rena rubbed her hair. “Istandi, you better tell King Endan about what happened just now.”

Istandi scratched his head. “Where is King Endan now?”

“I met King Endan this morning,” Rowan circled his gaze around. “He said that he was on the terrace upstairs.”

Stephen nodded. “Alright! I'll report to you soon.” He quickly left Rowan and Rena.

-

King Endan stood on the terrace of the fifth floor of the palace while looking at the state of the settlement and twisted his beard. He was drowning in daydreams about the strange events that occurred in Kastala.

The King's view scanned the house – houses that looked damaged and unorganized, even from a height. He already knew that the people had already protested about his decision to look at the situation. As a form of attention to the citizens, he has given orders to his subordinates to monitor the community, especially the residents of the settlements around the palace.

Moments later, Stephen approached the King and reported. “Good day, Sire.”

“Please, Istandi!”

“Baginda...” Start. “According to reports from the Palace Community Officers, this earthquake has caused many casualties and not a few residents who are in trouble because they cannot run their activities calmly.”

“Rena already announced on the third disaster that this earthquake occurred periodically,” Endan said. “For two days, don't you think?”

“True, Sire,” Stephen continued. “As is well known, earthquakes do occur every two days. However, Rena's superiors also could not confirm the time of the earthquake. It could be day, it could be night, or it could be morning. Some residents also defected causing casualties when the earthquake occurred.”

“How is the place – places of refuge?”

“About the refuge..” Istandi looks doubtful. “Many citizens are not compliant with the rules because they are not comfortable on the site – the site. Some of them said they were uncomfortable if they had to fill a room filled with evacuated residents. Moreover, once they know that an earthquake occurs once every two days, they look for loopholes to break the rules. The reason is that they do not like to travel there – here to the refuge.

“Some of their homes have not collapsed due to this disaster, so they are more confident to stay in their own home than to stay on the site – refugee site where they will feel uncomfortable. In addition, they are also reluctant to leave their homes because, as I have said, the place – refuge we made is also far from their workplace.”

“Do they still not understand that the whole activity should be closed?”

“Official announcement about the policy has been delivered. Mr. Rowan has also given orders to forcibly close any kind of work activity.

“However, some residents still hold activities to facilitate their business. some office employees are still working with the lure of – high income lure because they do not feel at home by only receiving basic food from the palace and living in refugee.”

“So, yes?” Endan sighed worriedly. “Why don't they value their own lives?”

“Baginda...” Istandi nodded as if to feel what Endan was thinking. “What should we do?”

Endan was silent for a moment while looking back at the settlement while thinking about the answer to Istandi's question. This problem is quite strange. Such a disaster has never happened in Kastala. Moreover, not all citizens want to follow the rules that have been applied.

Istandi saw King Endan. Maybe it's time he told me about what just happened. The Superintendent added, “There's more, Sire..”.

“Ya?”

“Newly, there are three people who really want to see you, until – until they infiltrate the inside of the palace,” said Istandi. Then, he let down his voice, “but it has been cleared up by Senior Highness Rowan and Rena.”

“Already expected,” said Endan. “They will do that. This problem is not strange. But I myself also still can not feel – palpable about this strange incident.”

After calming down, Endan finally said, “Istandi, I want to know more about this. We'll have a closed meeting in an hour. Call Hikin the Pixi! ask him to invite all the members of the Seven Elders, you include. I'll take Queen Sofia to this meeting.”

“Alright, Sire.” Stephen nodded. Then, he immediately withdrew and left the King to call Hikin.

Endan looked at the settlement of the citizens to the next time. He hoped that after he knew all the information and held discussions with the palace officials about this matter, he could act immediately.

The King immediately turned to call Queen Sofia and prepared to hold a closed meeting.