Inside the guild master room, there was a computer desk near the window and a table surrounded by chairs for the guest. On top of the desk were two flat-screen monitor and several documents. Beside the desk was a printer that was filled with blank papers. At the side of the room, there a bookshelf that almost touches the ceiling which was filled with different kinds of fiction and non-fiction literature. Some files were organized alphabetically which seems to have documents related to the guild.
Another side of the room had the biggest furniture of all. It was a transparent cupboard that has several levels of compartments. Inside, there was some kind of small robot models which number to at least of several dozens. It has been several years since the last time Kim has watched television, but he did recognize some of the models from an anime.
It wasn't that clear but he vaguely remembered it to be an anime about humans waging wars with each other by riding these huge robots. Kim also remembered how cool it was that the robots could move so fluidly with all the guns and weapons they were equipped with. Trying to gain freedom and justice by war. It seems to be an unavoidable destiny which human civilization has gone through for millennium of years.
Anyhow, the guild master was a die-hard collector.
"Please have a seat"
Inside the room, there was only the guild master and Leila beside Kim and Momo. Lavis was still at the evaluation room to fix the mana detector. The other three were asked to wait outside.
"Would you like to have some drinks?"
Momo raised her hand and asked with full anticipation
"Behemoth milk please!"
There were out of behemoth milk for a while now after they left Borneo. They couldn't find any trace behemoth during their travel from the fisherman's village. She was expecting to find one in the city. But to her disappointment, finding a behemoth was not that easy as it was in Borneo.
"B-Behemoth! You can get milk from it?!"
The thought of drinking milk from a superior monster like a behemoth has never crossed one's mind. Milk is only from tamed un-monsterized animals like cow or sheep. But from a monster? And behemoth at that?!
'Are these kids for real?!'
The guild master still couldn't believe what happened in the evaluation room. He thought that he wouldn't be more shocked than that. He felt like more shocking things would come in the future from these two, which worried him a lot! At this point, he felt like he would get older faster.
"S-sorry. W-we don't have that. Would you mine make us some tea, Leila?"
Hearing the word tea, Momo could only sigh.
"Tea huh? I guess it's better than nothing"
'What with that disappointment in your face?!'
"Please excuse her behaviour. My name is Kim and she is Momo. You must be the guild master"
"Pardon my rudeness Kim and Momo. I should have introduced myself first. You are right. I'm Larc the guild master. I believed you have met Leila and Lavis?"
"Yes, we did. Are there only three of you working in this guild?"
"It's a small city. So we don't need much more people. If you go to a bigger city like Kuala Lumpur or Johor, you will find a bigger working guild with much more people than ours"
While waiting for the tea, the three of them continued with some small conversations.
"Please, help yourself. I'll be waiting at the desk. Call me anytime if you need me"
"Thank you, Leila"
There was a silent moment short after Leila left the room as the three of them slowly enjoying the freshly brewed tea. It was produced by the local. After several minutes, Larc finally put down his cup on the table.
"What's your business for coming here?"
"To register as mana users"
"That's it?"
"That's it"
Larc flipped through some documents with a serious look on his face. For someone who has been a mana user for decades, he never heard a mana detector get broken purely from mana. Furthermore, the mana detector they are using now has been upgraded using earthen knowledge with so-called technologies. To blow up a brand new one as well... that scene is remarkably preposterous.
'That thing cost our guild a hell lot fortunes'
Larc heart could only shed silent tears as he thought about the number of guild points he needs to spend on maintenance. He wanted to complain but to whom? These two kids were only doing what has been instructed. There's no possible way to blame them no matter how hard he thought.
'Maybe, I can pretend that it was their fault all along and take all their points away'
Larc instantly brushed away the thoughts and went straight with the reason why he brought Kim and Momo to his office.
"It has been 6 years since the Earth awakened. I was brought here a year after and was ordered by Prince Ray to pioneer the mana user guild among other people. Including me, we were promoted to guild master"
Kim wasn't expecting the sudden backstory nor did Momo. She already ignored him and went to check out the guild master's collections, leaving Kim the only one who was stuck listening to the old man story.
'What with this sudden story? He reminded me with the old geezer'
"Getting support by the royal prince himself, I lead a group of mana users to clean up the state of Terengganu. We helped to reconstruct new cities and restored as many villages as we could..."
It was 5 years ago when Larc was summoned with another group of people who are considered to be experts among their A-rank peers. Even though they are not S-rank, the number of skills they have perfected through thousands of battles and wisdom they gained from tens of years of experience has made them the best among the best. Just a step behind an S-rank.
They were one of the selected people who came to Earth after Prince Varhem and his army. Their mission was simple. Gain control of the land that will be governed by the Varhem Kingdom. Simple, yet getting it done was another thing.
For a world that has just awakened, majority of Otherwolders thought that the Earth only has low-rank monsters. It was true when they started. As they get deeper and deeper into their journey their arrogance became their fallback.
Many lives have been lost. Larc has lost more than half of his men. Even some of the so-called best of the best has forever buried in the Earth.
What worst was not only Larc unable to gain the land but he also had to give up the people who reside in them. The cry of help of people running for their lives which ended getting slaughtered or eaten by monsters would always haunt him in his nightmares. He could only run while reminiscing the hand of a child who held his arm wishing for his protection. A promise which he will never keep.
When Larc read the name Samarahan which wasn't a place he was familiar with it could only mean two things. One, they are survivors from one of the villages that have been wiped by monsters. Two, they are from a place that wasn't within his guild jurisdiction. Larc already crossed out the latter as he knew it wasn't possible to be a mana user without registering to a guild for that long.
He only had one choice to confirm his suspicion. He steeled his heart and asked both of them with a somewhat chocked voice.
"Your family... where there anyone beside you has survived the calamity in Samarahan?"
"No"
"Including her?"
"There's only me and Momo"
"I see...I see...that's how it is...I see"
Reminiscing his past, Larc look down toward the palm of his trembling hands. His vision became blurry as tears start to gather around his tears. Finally, he broke down emotionally as tears dropping onto his palm.
"I'm glad...I'm glad that two of you are safe. Thank goodness"
It wasn't clear whether he was laughing or crying as he mutters those words as he looked towards Kim and Momo with a forceful smile.
'You are glad?'
Kim could not understand what was in the mind of the whimpering old man in front of him who cried for someone he didn't know. To be grateful for seeing someone he just met for the first time. Even after so many thoughts, he couldn't find any reason as to why he should empathize with the people of the Earth.
Except for one... this man is a kind person. Even if he was an Otherworlder, he is kind. Kind enough to thought about the people of Earth who had died from the calamity.
Nevertheless, whether they are from the Earth or not, they are human after all. Even if they had early knowledge of mana, they are still human and nothing could change that fact. It's only logical for a human to empathize with another human being.
'That's right. The one who was responsible is the ruler of Varhem Kingdom. To be summoned here oblivious with the sin of his kingdom. I wonder how he will act if he knew what has the so-called saviour shitty prince has done. Interesting... everything is so interesting'
Momo who was sitting beside Kim was slightly flustered when he saw the sudden burst of tears coming out from an old man. She wanted to ask Kim for his opinion but seeing her master suddenly chuckled weirdly by himself made her more anxious.
'What is happening? One person is laughing and another one is crying...that could only mean one thing!'
She reminded of one scene when she was in primary school. During recess, everyone would gather in their group to chat or play. But there always be that one kid who was always alone and for sure there will be a group of naughty kids who see him as easy prey.
"Master, no!!!"
With the sudden shout, both men snapped out of their mind and look toward Momo at the same time.
"What's wrong, Momo?"
"Bullying is wrong, master! Especially, to an old person like him!"
"Bullying?"
"Bullying? Wait! Who are you calling an old man?!"
Momo grabbed the back of Kim's head to force him to bow with her and apologized on behalf of her master.
"Master can be mean sometimes, but he's actually kind. Please forgive us for being rude. Now master, what should you say to the old man?"
"What are you talking- ouch that hurt! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"Good, good. Sorry old man!"
"Enough with the old man!"
After some explanation, the room finally became calmer. Momo who ended up getting scolded by Kim sits quietly in embarrassment with her head bulging. Looking at both of them made Larc forgot about what happened. Instead, he felt like a burden has been off from his shoulder.
"Bahahahaha! Except for the old man thing, it kinda warms my heart to see two of you being lively. Bahahaha!"
"Master, master, just now he was crying, now he is laughing. Is there something wrong with the old man?"
"I'm not sure too...well he's old...maybe..."
"Maybe what?! At least be quiet about me being old!"
"Now he's angry..."
"..."
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The three of them continued on chatting while finishing their drinks. Leila eventually came in again to serve some keropok lekor and pisang goreng. Momo keeps gazing at Larc and Leila while continuing munching the snacks suspecting whether or not she should keep eating it. To her excitement, Larc even asked Leila to bring some more.
Kim as well as savouring the snacks. Kim didn't hold himself back as well when he saw pisang goreng. It was his favourite snacks which he enjoyed especially during rainy days. He also read about how Terengganu is famous with their keropok lekor. He always dreams of trying it back then. Finally, he got to taste some and it was wonderful! The bursting flavour taste can't be compared with keropok lekor from other states of Malaysia. Having a bite made him feel like he was enjoying the sea breeze by the beach. The grinned fish mixed with flour that was well seasoned. Crunchy on the outside, and soft in the inside. By having the chilli sauce as condiment enhanced its flavour to a new taste. It's no wonder the people of Terengganu is prideful of their keropok lekor.
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"In strength, I may be lacking compared to the two of you but I'm still a guild master. I wish to support you as mana users. Take it as a way for me to honour the lives who have gone due to my failures"
"Are you sure? No one asked you to take responsibility or anything. It wasn't your fault. You did what you need to do to survive...even if it means to abandon the weak..."
"The weak...you are right, I abandoned them. When the situation could have been better if I didn't get ahead of myself. The one who was weak...was me. I should have stayed there to keep my promise instead of thinking of myself"
Kim didn't want to trouble anyone with his plan on terrorizing the culprit who caused the calamity. Especially the person Kim wanted to kill the most is the prince of Varhem Kingdom and his followers. The invaders who were responsible for the sudden calamity that upturned his lives.
"If I'm going against your kingdom? Would you still support us?"