Chapter 135: Not Going
———Lerim———
<12: 03 pm>
“What is it now, bossman?” I asked, wondering what he could possibly want from me during the holidays where everyone just kept wasting their time in their house, not really going anywhere.
“I’ll make this quick. The government has been requesting the presence of the strongest members of each branch of the explorer’s assembly. I need your approval quickly and an agent will come pick you up on Thursday.” He explained.
“Ugh. Can I just… not go? Why don’t you go? It’s not like you’re weak either.” I bet going on a meeting with a bunch of presumptuous old men will build up a lot of stress. I have been managing my mood quite well, if it suddenly goes downhill wrinkles might start forming for real. A healthy mind contributes to a healthy body, so the last thing I need is hearing nonsense all day. Does this guy want to sabotage my health?
“I already need to go as the head of the branch. We’re not allowed to play double duty.” He explained with a hint of exasperation. This is exactly why I don’t want to go. “You are the most fitting person to fill in besides myself. It would be dishonest to bring anyone else along.”
“Find someone else. You already handed me a lot of tasks as is since no one around here can pull even half the weight I can. Why are they slacking so much?” Seriously, what a pain. I know the police force here hasn't been operational for quite a long time now, so new faces and such need time to reorganize and train. “You can’t just use me as a crutch all the time, you know?”
“Look, it’s not as if I don’t get where you are coming from. I’m not exactly in a good position either, they’re going to dock my pay or replace me with someone far worse if I fail this one, more than likely.” Oh, guilt tripping now, is he?
“Just go find someone else. I doubt those freaks actually care if you pick the strongest person in the guild. There’s probably some tryhard wanting to impress even those bumbling elders.” I want to enjoy my time basking in the lack of need to turn my air conditioner on. It’s so cold out right now that I don’t even really need to waste electricity indoors. “Seriously. I could use a break after all the nonsense I went through, most of it is because of you. You shouldn’t be the one who gets to bargain. I’m not above just leaving and leaving all of you to rot if need be.”
His face visibly darkened at my words. He should remember that I was one of the reasons our fight against that collection of criminals went well in the first place, and I am the one who apprehends multiple wrongdoers before he could even step in.
I think I have been helping out this guy way too many times without getting any assistance in return, and more importantly, I don’t want to get involved with whatever nonsense those government officials will be spouting.
Let’s not forget the likelihood of them being involved with shady experiments and other nasty things as well. I want my hands off such vile topics.
“Since it doesn’t look like there’s anything in it for me anyway, I’ll take my leave.” I said before walking out of his office and back down to the ground floor.
It’s pretty damn worrying that those guys seem to be trying something with strong people. I can’t imagine that going all too well. I have to wonder what other people who might get called for this might be doing. They might feel overwhelmed by the implications and go through with it, fearing the consequence. Or maybe they don’t really believe it?
Ugh. I don’t really want to think about it later. Let’s go beat something up to count as today’s exercise, and to let out some stress so it doesn’t affect my skin.
———Kenni———
<12: 14 pm>
“Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! Ha… What nonsense are you spouting?” Oh man, that gets one hell of a laugh out of me. “Get outta here. If you want me to believe that, at least show some proof outside of words. Otherwise, I’m outta here.”
“This is serious news. I have seen your great performance, and I want to bring you along, if at all possible.” She said with a straight face. Does she not realize what kind of person I am? If I’m brought along bad things will happen, that much is a guarantee.
“Pfft… Sure. Whatever.” I don’t see why not. “When do we go again?”
“This week’s Thursday. Someone will come to pick you-
“Hah? That’s inconvenient. Sorry. I have something to do that day. I ain’t missing a school trip.” Rather unfortunate. Looks like I can’t stir up trouble in such a high-end place. “You gotta find someone who isn’t part of the school I’m in.”
“C-Can you not simply ask for a leave? It is the holidays anyhow, I’m sure you can convince them.” She insisted. Hah. She should look at her face right now.
“Nah. Sorry. The people at school have quite the authority on them, and I doubt they want their students to mingle with the political crowd. They don’t want us to grow up dishonest, you see?” I’m just bullshitting at this point. I just wanna see her grow more desperate and exasperated by my antics. “I don’t know about you, but a school run by someone who made a border for the school campus that could repel the military is way more scary than a bunch of old people who should be in the grave by now.”
Heh, she looks even more troubled once I start yapping a bit more.
“Besides, I’m still a student, barely of age. Don’t you think it’s gonna be humiliating for a lot of people if they found out a schoolgirl like me can beat everyone up easily like there were babies? I bet they’ll try to kill me if they find out.” I said with a big smirk on me. I’m not really scared of them, but anything I can say to throw people off, I will say it. “Sorry. Thursday is off the table, if they complain, tell them to go suck it. Also, if you try to threaten me with revoking my license or whatever. I will murder you in cold blood, dumb office lady.”
I burst out of the office without even letting her make a response. Sorry but not sorry. Go find someone else to shoulder those responsibilities. Stuffy meetings aren't for me, especially if I have to give up a nice trip with friends.
Can’t believe I actually get called for that. Just let someone else do it, not a girl like me who will give everyone nothing but grief.
Also, a great performance my foot. I’ve been doing dungeon runs and got deep a lot of the time, but I sell most loot to those shady dealers anyway, the official result would probably look worse than it actually is. Was it because Emmie also sells stuff to those black market people? Is data on how much loot she actually gives to the officials even lower? She is way more proactive in fighting and such more than I do.
Anyway. What in the world was I gonna do before being called to the office like I’m about to get scolded by the teacher? I think it was… Ah, right! I was gonna go to one of the places where an incident happened right after cashing in the dungeon loot.
I haven’t been observing those carnages in a while. I miss all the chaos to be honest. Now where did I plan to go again…
“What in the world were you told?” Jennla suddenly walked over and asked. Guess she was talking about my time in the guild leader’s office. She did see me being called.
“Nothing important. Some sort of invitation to an official place somewhere. It’s on Thursday so I ain’t dealing with that.” There’s a bit more to it than that, but who cares. “I’m sure they can find someone else to fill in my shoes. I’m no diplomat anyway.”
She looks at me with skepticism, fully aware that I am not telling the full story.
“Hey, the least you could do is not stare at me like that. You got nothing better to do?” I said while taking a few steps back. “Why aren’t you using more time to stay with your family? Surely that’s a better use of your time than trying to scrutinize yours truly.”
“We’ve been spending enough time catching up. They don’t want to pin me down for too long.” She calmly explained. She has been getting a bit more stuffy since she got back. It’s kinda lame, really. I know she gets into fights and a bunch of serious stuff, but she’s back home, surely she can lighten up more.
“You really ought to be more expressive. I know you said you haven’t had much human interaction in another time or whatever, so you forget half the stuff. Get it back quickly, will ya?” I said before poking her head playfully. “Don’t permanently become a serious type now, boring as all hell. Not even Wiina is like that.”
“Huh? How do you know that?” Jennla said, completely caught flat-footed by my comment. Now that’s the type of reaction I want.
“Whoops. Gotta skedaddle!” I said before walking out of the guild. Time to go do my own thing now. Not gonna elaborate on that unless I want Wiina to kill me.
…Speaking of Wiina. I wonder if she is curious about this little tidbit…
———Lynda———
<12: 28 pm>
“Ah. I just remembered the actual difference between a virtual creature and the real deal.” I kinda forgot that at one point I was drowning in books like some sort of nerd. I was trying to look through whatever Rico was insinuating, and ended up going through a lot of books to find out, maybe rereading way too many times.
“Huh? You mean aside from one being made of flesh and blood?” Fiss asked, looking rather confused. Meanwhile Glery didn’t really say anything. She is never one to talk, especially with others around.
“It’s a mechanic called a siphon. Basically when you kill something that is actually real and living, you siphoned a bit of their strength. It’s actually not a lot, but it is quite helpful. Those virtual enemies aren’t actually real beings, so you can’t siphon anything out of them.” It’s part of why I go into a dungeon at least a few times a week. It’s a good way to improve my strength.
“Huh… I could’ve sworn they never taught us that before.” Fiss said, sounding a bit skeptical.
“They probably don’t want to suggest something that risky. As you know, monsters can kill you. They wouldn’t want to instruct their students to do something so risky for a boost to performance.” I don’t really know how much they actually care about PR, but they probably don’t want their students possibly dying from something they suggest. They did make us exercise and do magic, but even during the dungeon trips they didn’t force us to fight and stepped in when they needed to. “The boost isn’t that good unless you are already regularly exerting yourself anyway. For someone like me it’s a walk in the park and a good way to get tougher. For some other weaksauce it’s best for them to work on their fundamentals before even thinking about fighting a monster.”
“...So I guess those virtual things are like training bags?” Fiss asked before she continued eating.
“You could say that, if training bags can fight back…” I don’t think there’s an equivalent. “I guess the siphon thing is more like an extra protein shake, maybe? A bit of supplement to your routine, except it stacks with other extra fluff without compromising your health.”
“Huh. Interesting.” Fiss said, looking more interested in the food.
…Is this conversation even actually going anywhere?