Volume 2 - Chapter 15 - Mustering

[T/N: The title is 勢揃い, I am pretty sure it means Muster as it's the only word in the dictionary with the various meanings that makes sense in context. If anyone have a better suggestion, do let me know -sauce is required as always-]

“What are you doing, you pervert?!” Rick grabs the gray fox roughly by its torso from behind before throwing him off of Till. Rick has been keeping up with the news on the various forums, the animal avatar is new and apparently extremely hard to use. It’s mostly agreed upon that only those truly dedicated or perverted would use the avatar. Seeing the sniffing action, Rick has assumed that Gui is a pervert.

Gui, accustomed to being roughly handled, simply resumes sniffing the air, circling the blonde youth this time instead.

“Hey, stay away! I don’t swing that way!” Rick turns his head left and right as the fox circles him. “I said stay away, you pervert!” The youth gives Gui a swift kick, who lightly jumps away. The Elders, demihumans and Cori’s group can only watch on with stunned silence.

“You! Don’t bick on Mr. Gui!” A little girl with curly blonde hair and emerald eyes runs up to Rick and gives him a quick kick in the shin before diving at the fox. Gui, not wanting her to get hurt, absorbs the impact by stepping back after she got a hold of him and intentionally tumbles onto the floor.

“Charlotte!” Cori runs up to the four of them and picks the girl up. “I’m so sorry.” The brown-haired man repeatedly bows toward Rick with Charlotte in his arms.

“Oh~ Don’t worry~ right, Rick-ni?” Till tries to defuse the situation since the Elders and the guards finally snapped out of it and they are staring needles at the girl and the fox. She turns her eyes to the pre-occupied fox who is sniffing the ground at the moment. “Say~ Who’s your brother anyways~?”

“Brother is Brother!” The gray fox answers loudly, looking slightly proud.

“Yes~ But what do others call him~?” Till is accustomed to looking after young children, the way the fox behaves reminds her of her adopted siblings when they were younger.

“Oh, everyone else call him Kun. But he’s my brother, so only I get to call him brother.” The fox sits up straight with its head held high, looking extremely proud.

““KUN?!””

* * * * *

Greetings readers! We have some great exclusives for you this week! There seems to be complete silence from Leviathan ever since the release of the animal Avatar, but that’s because they were working on some new features! Starting next week, we will have live updates to our weapon usage! According to numerous anonymous sources, the company has been busy working with real live masters of various martial arts. The sources are from within the company itself, there seems to be an upcoming event relating to exploration, the information is sketchy, but apparently immense resources have been poured into it. With these two tidbits of information, it’s clear that the next update will be substantial! In other news, an anti-Missouri coalition has formed in the central region of the continent. Numerous requests from NPCs as well as users sick of the tyrannical rule of the Church of Latter Day Saviours reached the point of no return! Skirmishes are a daily occurrence, there’s even a rumour that a Cult of Vengeance appeared, led by a deified player! The incoming update might prove to be the deciding factor on who will win this war, we will keep our eyes peeled for the time being. The coming weeks will prove to be the most exciting yet! Stay tuned, OneWingedPegasus signing out. For more information or the latest news, check out various portals below.

* * * * *
“Eh?”

“Hmm? Something the matter, Kun?”

“Ah, it can wait.”

Right now, Kun and Hank are supervising the last explanation of the rules to the last few batches of new arrivals. Various men and women are paying close attention to the speaker, who was one of the first to arrive and has thus already been trained by Kun and Hank. Many of these men and women are disfigured in one way or another, some are missing fingers, limbs, and even facial features such as eyes and ears. The few who are whole have scars in obvious places, making them look dangerous and ferocious, or are paralyzed in one way or another.

“And most important of all, no illicit drugs or heavy alcohol consumption. If you absolutely can’t stand it anymore, let one of us know and we will find a way to help you discreetly. But if you try to hide it and use it secretly, we will know. There is no “first time offender” leniency, if you screw up, you are getting thrown out, period. So fess up either now or afterward, we will get you help, don’t wait until it’s too late. I don’t think I have to tell you this, but this is a rare opportunity. There is no shame in this, we are all the bloody same here, we all survived the wars only to be treated like trash. We might not know each other’s pain, but we all know we suffered. Shame? Pride? These shitty things won’t feed us, and only those lazy hypocrites have the luxury for them. We don’t give a shit about those useless things here. Okay, dismissed. Gather ‘round if you need to talk after.” The one speaking at the front of the room ends the talk and reaches for his crutches as he moves away from the podium towards the nearby desk, handing out papers as each individual leaves.

The various men and women start exiting the room after getting the papers, but a handful of them remain. Some look sheepish while others are biting their lips. These are more than likely the addicts.

“Want me to take care of this, Andrew?”

“Nah, Hank. I’ll show them where they will be working first, and then give them some options. If I still can’t help them, I will get you.” The man hands out a stack of paper to each of the remaining individuals before advancing out of the room with his two crutches as his lower legs are completely useless. “Alright people, there’s basically three ways to do this, work it out of your system, go cold turkey or taper it off. I recommend a combination of the first and last option, you will see why once I show you where you will be working.” The man makes his way to the console room with the rhythmic *da* of his crutches leading the way.

A total of about 117 personnel has been recruited by Hank. Out of these 117, 19 have been immediately expelled due to unbecoming conducts, as these people were beyond redemption. Out of the remaining 98, about a third are addicts of one sort or another. The majority of them either suffer depression, PTSD or are just simply impoverished. But out of all these recruits, about two dozen of them have sharp, keen eyes, as they are fully aware of the opportunity that’s laying before their eyes. Some are eager for work as proper humans, some are eager for the money promised to send to their families, some are eager due to the freedom the job represents.

Hank and Kun start cleaning up the room after everyone leaves, gathering the papers, aligning the chairs, picking up the odd piece of rubbish.

“So what do you think?”

“I hope we didn’t recruit too many people.”

“Don’t worry, Kun. A bunch of these will be in treatment first, and quite a lot of them will be working offsite in the city as part time workers.” Hank scratches his face a little. “Although I think I might have overestimated the dropout rate a little. We might have excess manpower…”

“It just means we need to work hard and show some clear results, it wouldn’t be a problem if we get more business by summer. And don’t worry about excess manpower, I know a place that can use them.”

“Alright, we are done here. I’m going to check up on the others.”

“See you at dinner.” Kun turns off the light as they leave the room. After closing the door, he looks down at his wristwatch with the email icon flashing. He makes his way back to his house, greeting the various employees on the way out.

It’s already November, fast approaching December, the air is crisp and sharp, with the occasional cold breeze cutting through the air. Kun taps his boots at the door sill before opening the door to his home with the afternoon sun shining on his back. Although there’s no snow, there’s frost on the ground, which can get the doorway muddy if he lets it melt inside. Making his way to a terminal, he checks his email.

“What…?” Quickly getting up, he rushes to the room with the unpowered console. “Huh? Then where is he? Gui? You here?” After checking the house, Kun gives up. Once he finishes plugging in the console and booting it up, he logs onto «Second Phantasia» for the first time in a while.

* * * * *

Till sent an email directly to Kun after the gray fox’s proclamation. Shortly after, Cori resumes his business with the Elders. Although the Elders treat Rick and Till with reverence, they barely listened to Cori’s plea for help in regards to the village. But the matter concerning the children ended up being settled quickly, Till’s emotionless stares quietly coerced the Elders into either accepting the children into their respective families or ending up being enrolled in the Academy instead of going to an orphanage. As the final business started to wrap up…

[T/N: I don’t know if I’m more afraid of a smiling Till or an emotionless Till…]

*haa haa haa*

A figure appears suddenly from the direction of the Academy’s main building, charging toward them at high speed. It abruptly stops before the group, while taking deep breaths.

“Gui?”
““Kun?””
“Brobaa?” Gui struggles to talk as some of the children are leaning their weight onto his head.

*buri buri*

The gray fox gives a quick shake, getting out of the grips of the children.

“How did you log in?”
“Log in?”
Kun makes a face as he tries to simplify his words. “Where did you sleep to get here?”
“Oh, I went to the quietest cabin with four beds.”

*kunka kunka*

“You smell different, Brother.” As Gui walk up to Kun to get a closer sniff, Kun falls down like a ragdoll. “Brother?! Brother?!” The gray fox turns toward Cori with a pleading look. “What happened to Brother?”

“Um… he just logged out… Gui was it?” Rick tries to help uncomfortably, as it seems that Gui is who he claims to be.

...

Gui, can you hear me?

“Eh? Brother? Where are you?” The fox circles the collapsed vessel of Kun, occasionally poking it with his nose as he continues to sniff.

Um… first things first, how long have you been using this?

“Since the first time with the blinking bo- umm… blinking panel!”

Silence follows, as Till, Rick, Cori, the children, the Elders and the guards look at the seemingly one sided conversation with the fox talking to itself.

Okay, then why did you keep eh… coming in here?

“Because I couldn’t sleep with all the banging and sawing. Oh, and because these nice people give me some yummy bread.” Gui’s tail perks up suddenly as drool slowly collects at the corner of his mouth.

Do you… like it here?

“It’s good for sleeping, it’s fun, it has yummy food, oh, did you know they have these rabbits with big claws? They are very plump and juicy…” The drool from his mouth has started to drip onto the grass.

*fuuuuuuu*

A long silence is followed by a long sigh. Okay, just don’t cause trouble, and remember to follow the rules. Okay?

“What rules?” Gui’s head tilts to the side as it decides to sit still next to Kun’s vessel.

I will explain later, I will log back in first.

“What is this ‘log’ thing? Everyone keeps using it and it doesn’t sound like it’s related to the trees at all.” An answer didn’t come as the voice inside Gui’s head vanishes. He starts looking around restlessly.

“’Log’ is what you do when you go from sleeping on the machine to come play here~ or to go back when you stop playing~”

“Oh… fake sleeping and waking up from fake sleeping! I get it now!”

“Smart boy~” Till pats Gui’s head, who rubs his head into her hand.

The rest of the people can only watch on as the scene before them continues to baffle them with its absurdity. The 3rd Elder was the first to realize something and approaches Cori.

“Mr… Cori, was it?”

“Yes?”

“Who is this gentleman here.”

“He is the Immortal Hero that saved the village.”

“No, I mean, how is he related to the Academy…”

“I’ve no idea, although I hear his brother is really amazing.”

The Elder starts sweating bullets as he realizes that they shouldn’t have dismissed this Cori so quickly. “Umm… you know what, I think my family might be able to provide some help to the village…”

Hearing the sudden good news, Cori’s expression changes from a slightly sullen one to a bright one.

Suddenly, the Immortal vessel’s torso snaps straight up. “Ah, sorry about that, had to umm… ask my brother a few questions.” As soon as he finishes, Kun twists his body and locks Gui into his arms before ruffling his neck. Gui, used to this kind of play fighting, nips Kun in the chin before squirming his body, sliding out of his grip.

Rick stares at the two as though they are perverts.
Till stares at them as though she wants to join in.
The Elders stare at them in trepidation.
The shadow stares at the scene with narrowed eyes before disappearing.
The children stare at Kun as though he’s the new big boss.
Cori stares at Kun in disbelief.
The guards stares at Gui with curiousity.

“Eh… what’s the occasion?” Kun finally realizes that there is an unusually large amount of visitors surrounding him and starts looking around in earnest.

“Nothing much Kun-ni~ These Elders are just paying their respects cause the you-know-what worked and they all got a kid now~”

“Oh, congratulations!” Kun beams while giving each of the Elders a handshake. “Alright, I’m going to log back out now. Have to finalize some stuff before I can play with you guys again.” The young man leans so that only Till and Rick can hear him. “Keep an eye on Gui for me please. Also, I’ll be bringing some instructors-in-training soon, so can you two check if any of the students are interested in melee combat, strategies, or wilderness survival training?”

The two of them nod while Kun retreats back into the main building. “Oh, remember to come for dinner Gui. We are going to have dinner with everyone.”

* * * * *

Most of the visitors left the Academy at first light, but there is a handful that decided to stay behind. Using the excuse of “inspecting the classes and facilities”, a few Elders’ chamberlains, some Nobles and others opted to stay behind for half a day.

…

Dawn - Tactics and Strategies Class

“We need to refine the existing system.”
“No, the existing system doesn’t work! Look at the failure from last night!”
“What are you talking about?! Last night was a success!”
“Failure! They had to withdraw!”
“Success! They managed to contribute to the fight!”

“What’s going on here? Where are the teachers?” A middle aged woman asks Isnic sternly.

“The senseis only directly teach the class once in a while, the rest of the time is self-training and group-study. Right now, the students are likely analyzing last night’s duel.” Isnic answers tacitly, as though it’s obvious. She stops just outside the classroom to allow the so called inspection to proceed. The chamberlains and Nobles had originally hoped to curry favour with the Immortals, but due to the current time difference between Earth and Amoatlz, Till and Rick had to log out to sleep. As such, they are forced to tour the Academy.

“Using the calendar as directional reference takes too long!”
“It’s the easiest to understand!”
“It isn’t efficient!”
“So what, it’s useless if everyone else doesn’t know what you are doing. How can you be useful if you can’t communicate properly!”

*Ta Ta Ta*

“Look, if the situation is like this, calling it out would take too long!”

*Ta Ta Ta Ta*

“But, if the situation is like this, using any other system would be too confusing!”

The young students are vigourously moving the figures about on a map as they argue their respective positions passionately.

“Hmph, what do these children know about strategies? This is a waste of time if the teacher isn’t teaching them.” A man of nobility that looks to be in his late-20s snorts in contempt.

“If you want, you may face any of the students in this class in any of these wargames. Le’oni,” Isnic calls out to the youth that was a part of the duel last night, “this gentleman would like to be a sparring partner for your class, take care of him.”

“Yes, sis-, Yes, Ma’am!” The lion-maned youth corrects himself quickly before sizing up the Noble. “You don’t look too bright, maybe Jo’en would be a good enough match for you.”

The man gives an incredulous look while the tour group moves on.

…

The group inspects the farming fields, the workshops, the barracks and the archery range. As breakfast approaches, the group -joined by a frazzled looking Noble- at the cafeteria. After a small commotion with the various Nobles demanding to know the source for the tea -which was solved by threats of expelling them out of the Academy grounds for causing disruption, backed by a nearby patrol of demihuman soldiers-, they head back out onto the fields. Aside from the main field where the duel had taken place, the students and soldiers are busy setting up nettings and equipment.

“What are they doing now?” The stern woman from before asks again, out of everyone here, she’s the one that always questions Isnic. At the same time, she pays the most attention to the finest of details, most notably when they were at the farming fields.

“They are setting up for the morning practical.”

“Morning practical?”

“The classes are divided into morning, afternoon and evening. Students in non-combatant classes have to complete an obstacle course, with the soldiers attacking with long range weapons. Students that take classes in any combat based courses will have to undergo a different practical each day. These practicals are based on something from Rick-sensei’s hometown.”

The group advances from one field to the next as both the students and soldiers themselves participate in the training. A few of the guards responsible for their safe return also join in the exercises due to the novelty. Needless to say, they are slightly better than the students. Nevertheless, almost everyone is impressed due to its mimicry of real life situations, practicality, and irregularity.

“Ms. Isnic, how does one apply to be a scholar here?”

Everyone turns toward the voice in surprise, a man with brown hair faces the harpy-like demihuman with a bright expression.

* * * * *

“What… the… hell…?” Rick is staring into the air, as soon as he logs in, where the Quest tab is. On it, it has 896 unread messages.

He absentmindedly heads toward the study since it’s midnight at the moment, even though it’s just after sunset on Earth. The slight time difference causes minor hindrances, but users laud it as a feature since it allows them to experience «Second Phantasia»’s various times of day.

“Eh~ What’s the matter, Rick-ni~?” Till is inside the study as well, reading a book by the candlelight.

“Apparently I’ve… followers now?” The blonde youth continuously pushes the confirm icon that pops up after acknowledging each request. Most of them are requests for blessings, prayers for safe childbirth, a few desperate prayers for pregnancy and the occasional gifts in the form of prayer and experience.

“Eh~? You are joking right, Rick-ni~?” The girl quickly closes her book and places it gently on the table with a *pa* before approaching the youth. “Mom didn’t mention anything about followers…”

“Does it look like I’m joking?” Rick continues to poke at the transparent confirm button that’s only visible to him.

“Why don’t you just sort the messages and deal with them as a group~?”

“Oh, right!” Rick slaps himself on the forehead with his palm. After sorting the messages, his expression changes suddenly.

“What~?”

“I’ve a quest here… ‘Save the Norman Kingdom’s 1st Princess’… How the hell did I get this?” The blonde youth scratches his right eyebrow.

“Ehhhhhhh~ So Rick-ni finally shows his true colours and went after a princess~?”

*zichi* *pachi*

Rick swings his hand suddenly down at Till’s head, who stops it by clapping her hands together above her head.

*biiii*

She sticks out her tongue in defiance.

“I’ll get you one of these days!”

“Sure~ but what’s the quest about~?”

“I’ve no idea. Everything is in question marks aside from the quest title.”

“Let’s do it~!” The girl with the aquamarine hair smiles at the youth with the candle flame reflected in her eyes. If one isn’t aware, she can easily be mistaken for a demon of the night.