a week passed by without any hitch, seems like we're progressing through quite smoothly today too although the peaceful days seem a little too much... maybe because most of the problems are outside the servers...
「please proceed quietly and dispatch the enemy before you」
「are you alright Fred? please retreat and recover」
「the leader is down. everyone, regroup」
「emergency in the forest cave 8 o'clock, please take extra caution」
well... that's basically what's happening in the outside... the missions in all days except Sunday apparently is quite hectic... there are also lines for dispatchment if you're going outside with a mission since only one unit or group is allowed to be dispatched for a mission... there's also the research or the dangers of dying within a mission but everyone disregarded it as a normal event...
"yo! Ron! what you up to right now!?"
"sir Rugia! it's a surprise to see you here"
"c'mon, just Rugia is fine. anyway, do you have any missions right now? it's quite dangerous to go out without a comrade"
"Sorry, not today... I'm still training today since now I know how weak I really am
"that's just self-bullying my man! have a little fate in yourself"
he pats my back quite roughly... it's true though, now that I was shown how weak I really am, it's quite disheartening to still live like this...
"mind if ya come with me for a second? it's quite busy in the guildhall in this time and the others"
I walk outside with Rugia and sit down in a nearby bench. everyone seems so busy too...
"let's see here... what weapon do you have right now?"
"weapon... yeah... I talked about miss Philia about that a week or so ago and I've been practicing with the knife I've been given for the reward of the quest... I'm still not that great at it though..."
the past week I just trained with the easy missions that Philia recommended to me, it was great but I'm not getting anywhere far if I just keep doing those kinds of mission
"hmm... why don't we book a mission today too? I'll be taking a hard one since you are training right now"
"w-wait! why a hard one!? can't we just-"
"Ron, the knights trained from the hardest one in the beginning and no one complained about it, it's the opposite actually, we had so much fun that we didn't bother with the pain we were given in each mission, although it was a group training session so it wasn't that grave and the operator was really smart on our movements, it's thanks to him that the whole group didn't have any casualties"
"and your point is?"
"put your trust in the operator, chances are, they'll save your ass every time"
that's not putting me in a better mood...
[attention all survivors-]
"huh? the local horn's on... what's going on?"
I look at Rugia and he's not smiling...
[deviant adventurers and bandits have been spotted in the Indian continent, all able survivors is permitted to combat any deviants and bandits lurking in the area. the rewards will be per head killed, more will be given if captured alive. that is all]
「did you hear that?」
「yeah... damn, another group of Bandits... wonder how many more are there in the world...」
"bandits... never knew there were such in our world considering that there's practically a war going on... Rugia? is there a problem?"
Rugia isn't having any of it... he looks pissed more than anything...
"I'll be taking that mission, Ron, it's best if you come with people experienced with this if you want to take this mission"
"huh then is this some sort of a free mission of some sort?"
"hmm... think of it as some event, everyone can join and everything depends on your contribution. although... we're fighting real people, do best to take that to note."
we'll be fighting real people... probably experienced too... if it were the old me... I'd be charging in headfirst again...
we head back to the guildhall but the place is still crowded as ever...
"Pheonix will be taking care of the urgent requests, he'll be explaining everything in the office. I'll be preparing for my equipment and you go to the office, there will be a meeting about it so listen carefully"
"got it!"
he leaves after in the opposite hall and a few people heads to where I'm headed to, I guess they're also in it for the urgent quest?
「is everyone here? I'll be briefing the subjugation in a few minutes, please sit tight」
hmm... aren't bandits just some lower people that can barely fight? or am I underestimating them too much... from the games that I played, bandits are weaker compared to the protagonist so... they're probably just some pushovers
a few people enter the room and Pheonix is in front of the whole group of people here
「first off, the deviants and bandits are living in India and there's a few of them scattered all over the place, I'd like everyone to take note of that since we can't relay information about them right now. this subjugation quest is even more dangerous than your typical monster subjugation since the weapons, forms, and location are entirely foggy and we have no exact information about it. they are also knowledgeable and cunning so take note of that. any questions?」
a person raises his hand just beside me
"if we'll be fighting in our own accord, will we be given an operator? there's quite a lot of people here and not every operator is going to join in the subjugation"
「I'll be providing support for every group, the group will be mandatory for this for safety and convenience reasons」
huh... then I'll be grouping with Rugia if possible...
「every group will be given a survivor namely in the knight's faction, you can now group together if wanted, you can't go without a partner or a group and always evade going into dark places or back alleys if possible, traps and ambushes will be in the most expected but always be careful when proceeding」
everybody started murmuring together... well, I don't need to bother with it but what's not assuring is that I'll need another person for a subjugation...
「for people still unfamiliar with a bandit subjugation/capture then here are the usual rules」
huh... everything's written in paper... seems like this isn't the first or second time they did this...
[no discord between each other]
[if spotted teaming with the enemy, he will be considered an enemy and will be tagged if so]
[if the subjugation is ongoing for over one day, joining the subjugation will be accessible for every adventurer]
[accidents happen and there will be friendly fire, one will be strikes if so and if it reaches 3 strikes, he will not be permitted to proceed or join the current]
「we will be joined together with the Chinese server and the operator will be Bloody moon」
a man dressed rather formally enters... it's like he's going to a grand ball or something...
「I'm Bloody moon hopefully everyone here is as talented as us」
quite a strong determination coming from him... he's quite old too... probably around his 30s
「we'll be teaming up with them so please don't get racist in front of them, there will be a deduction on your rewards if so.」
「quite nice of you to be like that to us」
「oh trust me... some mishaps happen every time and I don't want that to happen again...」
they seem to know each other...
「we'll be starting tomorrow so please get to know each other and fight alongside them, dismissed」
everyone stands and then leaves out the door... hmm...
"Ron, you'll be joining the subjugation too? have you met with others for a group?"
"no... I can't seem to choose or rather, it's like everybody's already taken"
he gives a deep sigh...
"well... that's to be expected... people go to their friends more rather than strangers since having a stranger alongside them can invite troubles..."
the Chinese guy steps in... he looks much more relaxed than in the meeting...
"I'll be taking him in one of my groups if I can, there's a group who's pretty open-minded to everyone so I think I can inject him there, is that alright?"
"oh!? sure! if you guys want to then I could"
hey! as long as I get to evade talking to people needlessly
"I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Ye Xiu, an ace operator for the Chinese server, pleasure to meet you"
"I'm Ron, I'm just a beginner right now but I know my ways with a knife. an ace Op huh?... kinda like Pheonix..."
"yeah! kinda like your ace Operator, unlike him, I'm still on the weaker side, I'm not even close to winning against him"
"huh? you guys fought?"
"ahh... yeah... those times when we were at each other's wits end... let's try to forget that time..."
"agreed... anyway, it's a pleasure to be your acquaintance"
"you too"
they shake hands... they just forgot about me all of the sudden
「some Chinese words. I'm not chinese」
「what if I just add some things unprofessionally? It adds to my personality」
"looks like his team's here, now Ron, your personality says it all so please don't be racist when they're around... I'd really hate it if there will be another fight or something..."
"wait, can they even understand English?"
"yes, all of them can, everyone with the guildmaster, namely the Chinese, Japanese, and European servers can"
ahh... somehow that seems impressive...
"Alright. I'll be counting on the scouts for this one, I'll be busy for the whole day so I won't be changing shifts for Philia, please relay that message to her"
"aye-aye captain"
I go back to the lobby but it's as stuffy as the time I went to the office...
"Philia, I got a me-"
"sorry, I need to manage the team. could you hold that for a minute"
a-ahh... I feel like she'll kill me if I somehow tell that to her when she's done...
. . .
. .
.
she's finally done with her group... that took half an hour...
"That was tiring, anyway, you wanted to say something Ron?"
"a-ahh... yeah... please don't kill me alright?"
"Pheonix said that he won't be changing shifts for you since there was an emergency in India... so..."
just-... huh? nothing?
"umm... you alright Philia?..."
"just-... wait here for a second Ron... I'll be in the bathroom a second..."
"'ahh-... yeah... sure..."
was... there something wro-
「GAAAHHHH!」
!!! w-was that Philia?...
everyone in the vicinity was surprised and appropriately so...
Philia emerges from the bathroom... thankfully no one was there to burn their eardrums...
"I'll be talking with Pheonix later... thanks Ron, that might've increased my stress even more..."
"I-... I'm sorry for your loss..."
I just walk away without another word... she's... scary when she's pissed...
"I'm not angering her anytime soon I'll tell myself that much...
the other operators were surprised for a brief second, it seems that even in work, their determination won't waver that much... it's like I'm seeing some heroes in-display...
leaving the place like that seems... incomplete... but I have nothing else to do after that... I might've missed something but anything's better than waiting there for god knows how long...
I return back to the Inn I was resting, it seems like those aliens are at it again too... haven't seen them in a long time too... wonder how they're going?