I met Laura and Ahlan in the dining room. They asked me why I picked this place for a meeting. "Well, I am pretty hungry right now. How about we eat first?" They looked at me and asked the innkeeper for food.
Before waiting for food to arrive, Laura asked me. "What is your plan now?"
"I think I have said before. We should start farming and mining. I don't know about farming and mining. Ahlan, do you know someone that has knowledge about this?"
"Hmm... I think I know someone, I do not know whether he wants to help or not."
"What can that man do?"
"He is quite smart about farming and mining."
"Interesting. Could you let me meet him?"
"Sure. When did you want to meet him?" He said that the food had arrived.
"After this."
After taking lunch, Ahlan brought me to meet the person who knows about farming and mining. He brought me into the deepest part of this village. It stinks, and many of the people here appear to be beggars and stray. Is this what Ahlan meant before? The people here are in a dire state. The government does not want to see the people here. I thought prison was a bad place to be here, but I'm wrong. This is a worse place than a prison.
"Ahlan, what did you bring with you?"
"Oh, this?" He showed me the food supplies that he had.
"Are you still hungry?"
"Nope. If you meet him, you should bring something if you do not. He will not open the door."
"Wait, don't tell me that he is a shut-in person." Ahlan nodded.
"He might be a shut-in person, but I don't know much about him. He's quite strange." We stopped in front of one house. "This is his house." Ahlan knocked on the door twice but was not answered. The door is locked from the inside.
"Eh, Ahlan! What happened to him? Is he okay?" Ahlan continued to knock.
"Hello, is anybody home?" It seems like there is no answer.
"Something might happen to him. We should rush this door."
"Wait, I have a key. I can't believe I have to use this." Ahlan uses the key to open the door.
"How could you have someone's house key?" The door is unlocked and opened.
"Believe me, you don't want to know about this."
"Okay. If you said so." We entered that house to find him.
"Hulaif, I think I have found him." Laura pointed at one person lying on the floor.
"That is the guy I said." Ahlan said.
"Then, help him fast."
"Don't worry about that." Ahlan throws a bucket of water at that person.
"Ah! Where am I." It looks like he is awake. "Ahlan, you came to save me. I am happy."
"Get up, you are going to help me."
"What? You want me to help you. It looks like you are open to me."
"Before that, could you introduce yourself to our leader first."
"You mean him? What happened to you as a leader?"
"It seems I have to tell you everything." Ahlan started to tell him about the agreement.
"You lose the fight. Even though you use the cursed weapon, you still lose. I could not believe that. Ugh, sorry. I not introduced myself yet. My name is Kasim and I am a shut-in." I do not believe that he is proud of that title.
"So, I want to ask you for help. Could you help me?"
"You are a new leader, I think I should hear yours even though I don't want to do. What is it you want help with from me?"
"I want you to teach a people here about mining and farming."
"Is that all?"
"What, you want to add work?" He shook his head.
"That is enough for me."
"Then, make sure you teach them to do so in a week. Ahlan, you stay with him. Support and protect him."
"Who needs protection from a loser like him? I am stronger than him."
"If you said so. Then, I put Ahlan under your care. I will come back in a week."
"Okay."
"Make sure there is a progression in a week or there is something bad happening to you."
"Okay, boss."
After talking with Kasim, I let Kasim and Ahlan think about what they should do to teach the villagers. Meanwhile, Laura asked me to get back to the barracks. It has been more than a week since I haven't gotten back to the barracks. I really miss my bed there. "Laura, did they know that we were here?" Laura shook her head.
"But I have said to the general that we did a mission to terminate the man-eater. As soon as we kill the man-eater, the mission is complete, and I will let you fight because it benefits me greatly."
"So, you are the one who plans, but I am the only one who is negligent. I should know it very soon."
"Well, it is a win-win situation. You can also get trained in that time. Is not that a good condition."
"Yeah, I know that, but I didn't know that one of your plans was also being captured by that man-eater."
"For a report."
"I don't want to write a report. That is not my role to begin with. Also, I saved your life during that man-eater attack."
"Alright. Alright. You win. I am going to write a report. You just justify everything during that time."
"That's the deal."
"Ok. Deal."
We walked through sewage to get to the city. This kind of sucks walking through this. Smell the worst here. I hope that there is an alternative way to get to the city without going through the sewage.
"I want to vomit. It smells like crap here."
"Why do you sound like a girl? Did not man like smell like this."
"Wait, are you not a girl? Of course no man likes to smell like this. Which man makes you think they like this?"
"I don't know. It might be my woman's instinct. People always say, women are always right."
"I don't care about winning or losing. Just let me get out of here fast."
"Okay. Then, follow me quickly. Because I am going to sprint now." Without a countdown, she left me behind, running through this sewage with all her efforts.
"At least tell me first you are going to sprint." It looks like I have to get closer to her if I don't want to stay here for long. I also sprint, trying to get closer to Laura.
I run with all of my effort to get close to her, but I can't. She was too fast for me. Fortunately, we got out of the sewage quickly.
"Hah... Hah... Finally, get out of that sewage. "I don't think I'll ever use that way again."
"Hahaha. You lose. Look at what I said. "Women always win."
"I know that. Don't repeat it twice." I looked around and felt that this place was outside of the city. "Where are we?"
"We are on the edge of the city. People from the city don't know too much about this area. Let's take a bath. You smell stink."
"Please smell yourself first. You also stink."
"What a rude way to speak to a woman."
"Let's go."
After taking a bath at a bathhouse, we donned our uniforms and entered the office to write a report before meeting with the general. Laura wrote the report, while I justified all the explanations to her about the incident. Of course, I chose to hide the part where I use the power of chesscraft. I just said that I lost in a cave and defeated that man-eater only.
"Are you sure that is all?" I nodded. "Then I should add what I have done."
Laura submits the report to the receptionist after writing it. The receptionist will send the reports to the general. Meanwhile, we waited in the waiting room, if the general wanted to meet with us.
"Laura, how much procedure do we need to follow?"
"You should not talk when general talk. I will handle it. Also, if he asks you anything just relax and don't say other than a report. If you say something that is not in the report, we will get executed. Are you understand?" She pointed her hand at me. Wait, is that a Jojo reference?
"Yeah, I understand. Could you drop that Jojo reference?"
"Huh, Jojo what?"
"Ah, it's nothing."
"Hey, tell me what Jojo did you said."
"I don't know."
"Ah, you are not funny." A few minutes have passed since we waited here.
"Eh, how long do we have to wait? I am kind of annoyed right now."
"Just a bit more."
"Could you stop clinging to me."
"Oh, sorry. Hehe." I don't know what's wrong with her, but she is weird.
"Laura and Hulaif, the general is calling both of you to meet him?" The receptionist came and told us.
"Okay. We will come right now." Laura said to the receptionist. "Hulaif, you need to mind your manners well." I nodded and showed her the sign OK.
We are in front of the general's office right now. The aura is really heavy and I can hardly move my legs. Laura knocked on the door and opened it.
As she opened the door, she said, "excuse us." I followed her from behind. Then, we sat on the chair in front of his table.
He looked at us and read the report. "Hmm.. From the report I have read, I found that you two beat a two man-eaters." We both nodded. "Where is the part of that man-eater?"
"Excuse us, sir, we put it on the outside. If you want to see it, I would like to take it here."
"Don't worry about that, at least I know that you two aren't lying. As you two have killed the man-eater, what do you want?"
"No, sir."
"You?" I can see that the general is looking at me. " Young man?"
"Sorry sir, could you grant me a permit to farm and mine?"
"Is that all?" I nodded. The general was writing something on the paper and asked me to write a signature with him. He gave me that paper as we finished making it. "Show this to a guild, so they can make a card for ya."
"Thank you, sir."
"You are the guy who passed my test, isn't it?" Why did that question come? I nodded.
"What's wrong, sir?"
"Oh, nothing. Because I don't know if you are powerful enough to beat all of those goblins in one day. It really makes me shocked with excitement to look for someone who might be strong." I could feel danger was nearby. He might want to fight with me. "How about we spar?"
"Sorry sir, but I think I don't want to fight anyone." Laura shocked.
"Are you making fun of me?" The general's aura feels really heavy right now.
"Sorry sir, he is new here. He does not know the tradition here. Could you wait a while." Laura took me outside of the room and said to me. "Are you crazy? Refusing to fight the general is equivalent to denying him his wish. You know that you have to fight him no matter what happens."
"Does not mean I will be dead by fighting with him."
"Maybe."
"Then I would have refused to fight with him."
"I will tell you one more thing, if you refuse to fight with someone, you will get executed. Here in Sigma, there are no pathetic people. All should be warriors. So, do you want to fight or get executed? "
"Ah, fine."
We entered the general room and sat on the chair. "What is your answer, young man?"
"First of all, my name is Hulaif and I will fight."
"Then, set a date for a fight." Before I set a date, something large appeared in the sky.
"Sir, there is something in the sky." Laura, with a shocked eye, looked outside the window.
"Wait Hulaif, I want to look outside first. You choose the date first." As he looks at the sky, he is quiet and his aura feels different this time. It feels like he wants to destroy that thing in the sky. I wonder what that thing was. I looked at the different windows to look at the sky. I was quite shocked when I saw that there was a more modern civilization than I expected.
"What is that thing?" I talked to myself.
The general answered my question by saying, "That is an enemy ship. How dare they invade our lands without our permission? t is Alpha, the country of the sky. It seems the time has come for me to destroy their pride. Hulaif, I think that we should postpone our battle. Let it be as late as it can be, because this war will be quite long."
"Huh! War?"
"Laura and Hulaif, follow me to the rooftop of this building." We followed the general to the rooftop. As we moved to the rooftop, we saw someone who was wearing a different outfit than Sigma's uniform.
"It appears that Sigma knows how to dispatch their representative. I thought they were too scared to meet with us."
"So, you are a representative from Alpha?"
"Yeah, who else? I am the greatest of the great to be a representative." Wow, he really has his pride at the top.
"Then, how about a fight with me." The general asked him whether he wanted to fight or not.
"Nah, I don't want to dirty my hands now. I have a greater proposal. How about you give us your land? Then we can settle the difference."
"You talk too much. There is no way that we, Sigma, will give our land to invaders like you easily."
"People always say, if you don't get what you want with talk, you must take it with force. Then, it is decided that Alpha will declare war on Sigma country." He looked around. "Hmm... It looks like you are not ready yet. I will give you one month to make a preparation. Look, how generous am I to enemy. Hey old man, if you want to fight me. Then, meet me in a war. Remember, I am really strong among the strongest." Then, he disappeared from our sight.