Adhering to the voice on the other side of the door, Tomika finally mustered up the resolve to open the door. As the door creaked open, more of the other side was revealed. Unlike the less glamorous design of the rest of the facility, this room seemed more extravagant.
There was a medium-sized table towards the center of the room. On the far side of the table was a booth chair positioned against the wall. On the other side were three wooden chairs with a dark blue cushion on them. The very same crimson carpet as the hallway extended into the room as well. Three large portraits of various events were mounted on the wall with the same lining as the others in the hall. The wall was not barren either as instead of the wooden walls outside the room, there was this blue and yellow flower print wallpaper covering the inside.
There were two individuals occupying the room at that moment. One that I recognized instantly. His dirty blonde mustache twitched up at me with a sick sense of smugness. He, alone, sat on the booth chair. In his left fingertips was a thick cigar positioned in a way as if he was displaying it to the other man present.
His deep crimson eyes locked onto us as we entered, and he watched us with a gleam of amusement in his eyes. There were several silver rings placed onto the fingers of his left hand. They had some type of black print on them, but it was illegible from my point of view.
With his right hand, the man exposed a pouch from underneath the table. When the contents rattled once he placed it onto the table, it was obvious that there was a stack of coins inside of it. He had this strange dark blue ascot on his neck with a golden coin-like pendant positioned on his collar. His clothing was mostly white silk, but one could guess at a glance that he had armor underneath. Without a doubt, this smug aura belonged to one man: Fernand0_Da_Man.
"Ah! There you two are. We were just discussing the two of you.~"
Fernando spoke in a light tone. His words were hypnotic to most and oozed the arrogance that he carried himself with. He named himself "Da_Man" after all, and it takes a special level of self-absorption to do so. He pursed his lips at us and hoped to get a rise out of us.
"Nice to see you too, Fern. Not really, though. I have questions, and I expect proper answers. ", I responded.
Tomika didn't bother offering an auditory response as she opted to simply join the other two men. That left me to close the door before making my way over to the group.
"Yo, Harris. Sup?"
The other man in the room was Harris_Burger. His face was sharp, and his lips were incredibly thin. To be frank, Harris was one of the few people that was actually shorter than Tomika. He seemed more like a prepubescent boy than anything. His eyes could rival the moon in its purity, but that was a trap.
Even as I spoke to him, I could sense the overwhelming hostile intent leaking from the pale brunette. He wore more of a black cloak that covered up the majority of his tiny body. That excluded his crimson boots that swayed from the seat. His point elven ears peaked from his neck length hair.
"Who are you?", Harris questioned in a harsh tone.
While his stare didn't exactly invoke fear in me like Tomika's would, Harris gazed off all kinds of bad vibes. He and I have crossed paths before, but each meeting ended up just as this one. His eyes would tell me to just shut up and disappear.
"Don't worry about it then. Anyway-", I point to Fernando as the man begins to twirl his cigar. "It's obvious that you are the Handler for this mission, so it's best that you get to the point of the matter. I have heard your sermons before."
"Oh? Aren't you the forward one? Well, yes- obviously, only I am capable of leading this unit to success. That is why the higher-ups have selected me to oversee. Though, I am unaware of their reasons for allowing you to participate.~"
Tomika would clear her throat, and it was obvious that she was indicating for me to have a seat. I could tell since that was the "shut up and sit down" version of that particular sound. Begrudgingly, I followed her cue and pulled out the chair from the table. The legs shuffled against the carpet as I rotated the chair around. This allowed the back of the chair to be facing the table, and I sat in it like that.
It was quite embarrassing to do so, but it was made even worse by the smug face warping Fernando's features. I thought I heard a slight snicker escape the man's mouth.
"Well, I'll have you know that I haven't lost a single encounter in this game yet. Perhaps they need a winner on this team."
"They already have me.~"
"The mission. The job is urgent, correct?", Tomika interjects.
Fernando let out a child-like giggle at her words. It was quite the effeminate sound, but the man didn't see anything odd about it. He instead shifted his focus to the bag of coins that he placed onto the table. He pushed it towards the center and, in another motion, pulled another item from underneath the table.
"You're right. I assume that you are the one who was capable of reading the blurred text as well. Well… what it said was accurate.~"
Tomika flinched at his words, and honestly, it confused me. Just what was he hinting at by that? I turned to Harris, and the small elf reacted in a similar manner. His eyes covered half of his face at that point before they reset to normal. That just showed me that I was the only one currently present who couldn't read the text from before.
"What possibly could be that remarkable that these two would act like this? This should be a simple recon mission, right?"
"If only it would be easy. Reconnaissance is simply a prelude to our main objective. We must take over Stormpass and hold it until they dispatch the civil guards of our guild. Hence, we must pacify the region.~", Fernando instructs.
I still didn't understand why that would promote such an expression from Tomika. She was a relatively strong warrior in her own right, so I bet the four of us could do something like that. My confusion likely leaked onto my expression as Fernando was quick to follow up.
"I bet you are thinking that it will be a simple task, but that is something that SirWhatchamacall1t could not achieve. He fell at Stormpass last night,"
My jaw dropped without warning, and my eyes widened. I couldn't even fathom the words that just slipped out of his mouth just then.
"Hahaha! You're joking, right? Whatchamacall1t was defeated? That can't be true! That's not real! You're pulling my leg!"
Fernando seemed more offended that I insinutated that he was wrong than the actual news. SirWhatchamacall1t is one of the top members of the Gold Coin Brigade's military faction. He's like the Legend47 for our guild. The man has slayed dragons and bested spider queens.
He is the great captain of the guild's Red Demon Militant faction of the guild. In fact, he is the man who took me and Tomika into his faction. The armor that I am wearing comes from his forces.He's leaps and bounds superior in strength than everyone present combined. Now I can see why Tomika was acting like this.
"Wh-What the fuck can we do then?! Bro, whoever beat him, got that shit, man! They literally won! No contest!"
My words came off as a bit rushed, but my logic was incredibly sound. Those people who beat SirWhatchamacall1t have to be incredibly powerful. The best we could do is reconnaissance, so I don't know why they're acting like it's possible for us to wrestle power from their hands.
"The ones who killed him are… unknown. Could be River Mount Guild or FlyRiderz. They were noted to send their members to the region as well. As well as the other single parties that could have reaped the rewards.", Tomika mentions.
Her tone was quite low and melancholy, but her face was still expressionless as before. She simply shifted her gaze to me and we locked eyes. I could see it in her eyes. She was crazy enough to take on this job.
"Lady is correct. They dispatched two different units to investigate, but only one person had returned. Coincidentally they are from the original annexing unit alongside SirWhatchamacall1t. They have called our number next, so you should expect that this will be an incredibly difficult task, but It'll also be exciting.~"
Exciting? I had forgotten that this fool had a screw loose. Breaking my eyes from Tomika, I could see Fernando stroking his arms in ecstasy. He had this strange gleam in his eyes as if the prospect of this mission was turning him on.
"I expect that there will be other guilds that try to intervene in our way, so we will have to exterminate them as well.~"
When Fernando finished speaking, there was a slight bump to the table. It took less than a second before we all saw Harris rising from his seat. The small elven man's cloak reached nearly to his toes. It swayed with each step that he made towards the doorway.
"Ah! Going to refuse this mission, Little Harris? I would understand if you aren't up for the challenge.~"
Harris stopped before he reached the doorway. His hand extended towards the doorknob before he turned his neck like an owl. The blood-like pupils of the man had dilated and presented his sinister canines towards our group. His ears stood out on full display while he opened his mouth,
"No. You guys talk way too damn much. I'm ready to get on with the bloodshed. No more need for talking. The more time we waste, the less bodies I get to drop."
His words were drenched in his malice and my skin crawled at his every syllable. This man was actually unwell in his mind. He stood there like the grim reaper before he finished his previous action. It was good riddance for him. Everytime I come across this guy, he fails the vibe check. I just hope that he wasn't like this out of the game.
The next to stand up was actually Tomika, and she shocked me when she did. She appeared to be following in Harris' footsteps. On paper that was not a good path for anyone to practice
"Wait, T. Where are you going? Surely you know that we aren't capable of tackling this thre-"
"Vengeance."
Her one word sent a shiver down my spine. She meant when she said that. I could see it in her scolding gaze. She didn't have to say anything. I could feel her scrutinizing my hesitation. It was like a fiery wrath of the sun beaming down on me.
"Didn't you boast that you have yet to be bested in an encounter in this world? Are you afraid that your selling point would be tarnished?~"
Fernando's condescending voice caught my attention and when I glanced his way. The smug man suddenly rose from his seat and dragged the pouch of coins towards my side of the table as he circled to my side.
"Tch- I'm not afraid of a goddamn thing, but I'm also not a fool. This would-"
The item that Fernando had summoned earlier suddenly warped itself before my very eyes. It would turn from a block of rock into a silver ring. This ring was different from the ones' on his fingers. His four rings didn't have a crimson stone on them like the one in front of me. I merely stared at it in utter confusion. Why would this clown give me this?
"Take both.~ One is an incentive and the other is a barrier ring. You might need it more than I would. That is if you do not want to die.~"
My gaze shot up towards the shit eating grin of Fernando, but I didn't hesitate. I slid the item onto my right ring finger and examined it. Upon using my basic appraisal skill, I could confirm that it actually was what he said it was. I had little faith in this mission, but Tomika's gaze basically dragged me to my feet. She would move a single inch until I reached her side, and with Fernando flanking, the three of us excited the room.
"Good then.~ I will explain our strategy once we begin our travels on the road. I have a few ideas in mind.~"