Chapter 206: Weekend Expand
———Karra———
<12: 01 pm>
“I know I have been holed indoors often nowadays, but I still crave fresh air from time to time.” I said to the blonde ponytail girl. “Life of a celebrity is hard, you know? Feels like people are looking at you with weird intentions.”
“That does sound like a lot of pain.” She said before sitting on the same bench. “Can’t imagine being involved with suspicious people helped in that matter.”
“Oh. It makes things a lot worse, but I have a lifeline to back up on, so it’s not all bad.” I said to reassure her. I can’t really say more than that. “So what have you been up to this last week? Now that the school has opened up and changed in schedule and all that. We got doubled the P.E. class, for one.”
“Kinda surprising. It felt like they’re making us do less actual school work.” It had been like that for a while. I guess they don’t really feel like the usual school stuff would do much good in the new status quo. They are still teaching more practical stuff, it seems like. “...By the way, did you know anything about the fights this Monday?”
“I have heard a few things, but nothing too specific.” Wiina barely told me anything outside of her own involvement. I certainly didn’t expect her to split into two just so she can screw around and also create more mystery. “It was definitely surprising to see so many new faces after last time, there was basically only one.”
“That dryad? Whatever happened to her?” She suddenly asked. She was quite a mysterious person that Wiina knew a few things about, but I’m not exactly the one with all the answers.
“No idea. From what I know. She doesn’t even live near us. She’s a few states away. I sorta know where she lives, but that’s neither here nor there.” Based on her appearance in that shop, she probably lived not too far from there. “Why? Got a crush on her or something?”
“No? I just asked since you brought her up.” She replied with a puzzled face, so that was probably true. “So I guess it’s the same deal with the people during those matches?”
“Yeah. The first and third match have complete strangers involved, you won’t be seeing them around here. I’m sure you even heard of some of their exploits by now.” I don’t really know how Lrem managed to keep herself under the radar outside of a few news articles. She had complained before about how everyone seems to rely on her so they don’t get themselves killed. Must’ve been quite a headache.
“Just them…” She muttered. Does she not know about Wiina being from here? I would’ve thought that’d be common knowledge by this point. “...Say. What do you think is gonna happen around here? In your expert opinion.”
“Why? Is something worrying you?” The town and the surrounding area has been pretty darn peaceful compared to most places.
“I guess? It just sorta feels like something more dramatic is gonna happen soon when the world is still in turmoil. It doesn’t feel like it from where we are, but ain’t that the case?” She explained.
“That’s not wrong to say, but I don’t foresee us being in any trouble as long as we’re in this metaphorical protective bubble. Heck, even the other cities near us are relatively safe outside of a few reports of thugs and thieves. I doubt anything is gonna happen around here for a very long time.” The only way anything could happen is if everyone with authority around here lets it happen for shits and giggles, and I doubt Wiina will let that happen unless the others very much like it to occur. “If you’re just looking for an excuse to punch something or someone, you can just go into a dungeon. The industry still managed to not crumble, surprisingly.”
“If that’s what I really wanted I would’ve gone inside already, but I’m not exactly doing that, am I?” She pointed out. “Still. You aren’t wrong that I expected something exciting to happen, and not just from within the school itself.”
“Definitely not something you want others to hear, but that’s just my opinion.” Sounds like an inflammatory thing I’d say to get more attention. I wouldn’t say anything on the topic unprompted. “So how have you been doing on the punching and kicking front? Since you brought it up and all.”
“I have been improving, but honestly, it still feels like I’m missing a lot of things.” She said before leaning back on the bench and closing her eyes so as to not get blinded by the Sun. “It’s kinda unfair, you know? All of you and your monstrous talents.”
“Who? Me? I wouldn’t call myself that talented or blessed.” Considering the other people I have encountered, calling me talented sounds like a joke. If anything, I have basically been riding the coattail of someone way better than I am.
“Easy for you to say with how easy you have it. Even before everything, you guys always get the best of everything. The grades, the respect, even the ‘loser’ of your class makes others look like chumps.” She said without sounding too sore about it.
“Come on now, being jealous of us of all people surely ain’t good for your health. I thought people were supposed to look up and be envious of larger than life characters.” A bunch of celebrities with billions to their names, and we’re the one she’s complaining about?
“I can choose who I can complain about, thank you very much.” She said while throwing her hand into the air. “Seriously, who gives a shit about those people nowadays. They’re gonna end up in an alleyway somewhere as a corpse sooner or later.”
“That’s… not a very charitable outlook.” Admittedly no kind of security is gonna stop someone with the power to blow up a city, but surely people would be more mindful of the consequences later on. Power alone won’t stop you from getting shanked in the back if you’re not careful. Well, it’s not impossible to have a self-defense mechanism, but from my understanding, that’s not something a random person could just know to do. “I guess money feels less important nowadays with most of the world turning into a dog-eat-dog world. Honestly it doesn’t feel like it has gotten that far yet.”
“Anarchy doesn’t sound very fun when it’s around the corner, is it?” She remarked. I don’t think that’s quite the right definition of it.
“I don’t think there is a specific term coined for it, but anarchism isn’t quite it.” I pointed out. “A world ruled by strength is certainly not one that can remain peaceful for long, or at all, so it is quite a scary thing to think about.”
“Yeah. By the way, how did they get the school set up so quickly and without interference?” She suddenly asked.
“How should I know? I barely know more than the average person about the whole debacle.” If she really wants to know, maybe talk to Wiina or one of the top members, not that I think she would get anything substantial in return. “...By the way, how was the trip? We still got more than a few weeks of going to one of those monster habitats.”
“That whole mess? Nothing bad happened unlike the first time, thankfully.” She said while scratching her head. “I hunted more than a fair share of monsters, but those big ones are a real headache to avoid.”
“Those titans are quite hard to take down, admittedly.” Even for us those things are extremely annoying to take down.
“...Didn’t the reports come in that your class killed more than a dozen of them?” She asked while squinting her eyes as if finding the idea ludicrous.
“Yeah. We were planning on having each of us kill one, but there weren’t enough of those giant monsters around to do so, so we ditched the idea and just went with extinction instead.” Looking back at it, it’s rather presumptuous to think there is enough space to hold monsters that are the size of really really tall buildings.
“That’s definitely one way to put it.” She remarked. “Can’t imagine any other group of people saying that kind of thing so casually.”
“Eh? It’s not that weird, right?.” It’s just like playing a game. A risky game, but a game nonetheless.
“Of course it’s weird!” She said while raising her voice. “Honestly. What in the world are you guys gonna do with all that power, go conquer a country?”
“No way. A group of young adults conquering a country? That’s asking for the biggest tragedy ever seen, if we don’t include those genocide attempts.” If we were planning on creating one of the biggest fuckups in history, then that’s a good plan, but we ain’t doing that. “We’re just doing all of this for fun at this point. None of us are lacking in terms of academic performance. Everything has been kinda boring in school outside of some shenanigans people like Kenni cause.”
“Because you’re bored… Okay.” She muttered, as if frustrated by something.
“Look. We can’t all be doing something because of a grand ambition, you know? Keep your expectations low for these things. Those higher ups people sure don't outside of greed and the feeling of being in power. If they have any grand plan in mind they’d look a lot more competent than they currently are.” Most people really don’t have the plan to be anything impressive outside of living their life to the fullest extent. “Considering how little there is to do here, a lot of us have been expanding our reach a bit just so we can have more stimulants, so to say.”
“...What the hell does that mean?” She asked, clearly a bit concerned at the choice of words.
———Jeff———
<12: 12 pm>
“So you’re someone new here, eh?” The big guy said with a smirk. He’s not wrong about that. Does he have some wise words to say?
“Yeah. Sorry, did I cut in line?” I said that since I got here before he did. We’re only on the fourth floor of this dungeon I never visited.
“Sure did, buddy. Now get the hell outta here unless you wanna get hurt.” He said while cracking his knuckles. Is he a big shot around here? I see that he is also strapped with a gun.
“Come on now. Isn’t the whole thing with the dungeon first come first served? You’re just a bit too late.” I said before turning around and aiming to go deeper. He just needs to be patient and wait for monsters to respawn.
*Dash* *Swing* *Evade*
“Whoa. Aren’t you a bit hasty? What was that for?” I said as I avoided the punch being swung towards me. I wasn’t expecting to see someone so violent so soon. Here I thought he’d play tough and left me alone for now, at least. “You know that’s a crime, right?”
“Shut up!” He shouted out. Looks like the idea of more violent adventurers existing in other areas is very true. Back home I rarely ever see anyone even attempting to intimate others, let alone attack each other.
*Draw* *Grab* *Bang*
He drew his gun out and tried to shoot me point blank but he’s pretty darn slow. I just grab him by the wrist and redirect where the gun was aiming at.
“Please tell me you didn’t use that on another person.” I said, feeling a bit bad for the local guild if this guy has been terrorizing them for a while.
*Snatch* *Bent*
I snatched the gun out of his hand and destroyed it before he could even react.
*Punch* *Kick* *Smash*
A few attacks to his face and to his stomach. He doesn’t even look like he realized what just happened. That was way easier than I thought. He moved so slow.
“...Make sure you say sorry, alright?” I said to the man reeling on the floor being going deeper into the dungeon. He should be fine going back up to the surface even in the state he’s in.