Chapter 221: Typical Job
———Lerim———
<11: 08 am>
“Well I guess I can do this one in the meantime.” I said while looking at the request at hand. Seems like they just need me to deal with a group of troublemakers in the next town. I know the previous incident with that unhinged man ended up with a lot of their best men killed, but surely they have some in reserve, or someone strong who didn’t show up that day. “Can’t believe people still form gangs nowadays.”
“It doesn’t matter what they actually are, we just need to quickly get rid of them until things escalate. It’d be imperative for you to quickly go there and quell them before anything bad happens.” He said. If it’s such a big problem then…
“Alright bye.” I said before quickly leaving the room and getting out the building. There’s already some descriptions on the notes so I can just check it on my way there.
*Leap* *Zip*
I jumped up high and started flying towards the location. It should only take a minute at the rate at which I am flying at. Hopefully there’s one or two of them around to lead me straight to wherever they're stationed at.
Oh, would you look at that. How convenient for me. Looks like someone is going against the police force right now. It’s clearly causing a lot of commotion at the moment. Let’s see who is involved here.
I landed on a rooftop and observed the situation. There seems to be a standoff at the moment. From the looks of it the two sides are armed a bit differently. One side is armed with guns and such, and the other side seems unarmed but I can tell that they are preparing spells to fire.
Hmm… That armband… Quite nice for that side to paint themselves with a target on them. It makes things very convenient for me.
*Dash* *Smack* *Punch* *Slam*
I get down from there and quickly beat down the three criminals with the logo on them, quickly incapacitating them before anything else could happen.
“Who are you!? Get down now!” One of the police members said in response. Oh joy.
“Relax. I just have business with them is all. I even have my guild license here. You can talk to my boss later, one of your top dogs asked for help, right?” I said before pulling out my card. All of them seem rather apprehensive and unwilling to hear me out since their guns are still out, no doubt loaded. They aren’t unconscious but it’ll take a while before they can stand back up.
“We need you to come with us then!” Another one yelled out.
“Sorry. I’m a bit too busy for that.” I said before putting my card away and walking towards the three people reeling in the ground.
“If you don’t comply we’ll shoot!” A policeman yelled out. Great. Just great.
*Grab* *Leap*
I grabbed one of them before leaving the other two behind. I really only need one to at least get a clue of where they are based. I could try to sense it out, but if I want this done quickly and go home, I need a direction at least.
———Karra———
<11: 16 am>
“Ancient weapons… Huh. Why are those things unearthed now?” I asked since it came up.
“If I were to guess. Desperation. They clearly cannot control the masses that have now started gaining the same kind of power they have been cultivating for multiple generations. Tough luck.” Wiina explained. “That particular ancient weapon isn’t even in the top half in terms of quality, by the way. I guess they go for it since they already know it was there.”
“But you said it can easily destroy multiple cities?” I said, wondering how something with that sort of description could be considered low-tier.
“A lot of things back in the day can do that. From people to man-made weapons to monsters. It’s a higher power format. We’re in a lower power environment at the moment.” She explained. How in the world does anything even last in ancient times then? I mean, we still have very old records that still exist before the current calendar system.
“How in the world does someone live in a world like that?” I can’t help but to ask that with how ridiculous that statement actually is.
“The defense was also higher back then. Everything was magically reinforced or used exotic materials created by unique ways of tempering or changing the preexisting materials.” She explained. “All the evaluations we're doing are based on today’s standard. Also, to be more clear, all of these artifacts are from different times, so it’s not as if all of these powerful items were active at the same time period. It wasn’t that ridiculous.”
“…I see.” It’s still hard to believe those powerful things existed, let alone that some of them are still around today, hiding somewhere for people to unearth. “How did she even end up getting involved with that group? I thought she would avoid contact with those people and keep herself secured.”
“Most likely, she thinks the potential damage that thing could’ve done without her prevention would be too catastrophic. I can’t imagine most people would’ve ignored the warning of a city destroyer being activated and used.” She explained. Well, when you put it like that, yeah. I guess she’d really have no choice but to join the suppression team.
“…I’m still kinda surprised she still goes along with it, what if she didn’t make it?” I asked.
“Who knows. From my understanding she was there as backup, so it’s not as if she’s meant to do most of the damage and always be on the frontline, so that probably helped convince her to go through with it.” Wiina explained. “As for what she did specifically at the scene. I didn’t bother checking it thoroughly. I think just knowing that she was involved is enough for you, right?”
“Yeah. I guess that’s plenty.” I replied. I didn’t quite expect there to be a scuffle happening in the middle of the ocean though. “She sure has been through quite a few things lately.”
“It’s almost like being near our vicinity in any way caused all sorts of hijinks to come her way. Not that I think your other online friends were involved in nearly as much.” Wiina remarked. I think Lrem is legitimately the only online friend of mine who seems to be roped up in stuff. Edea is just an entirely different matter.
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure she’s the only one. I guess being strong just attracts trouble. She’s the most active out of everyone, Edea aside.” I don’t even know what Edea does behind the scenes. I think the last time I heard anything about them was them donating money to help with repairing the cities near them. Obviously that’s not exactly something that’s ‘behind the scene’.
“That person shouldn’t really be counted for multiple reasons.” Wiina remarked. Yeah, I get that already. “As for your blonde friend, she’s not exactly someone I would call talented, but she is certainly someone that wants it more. Problem with wanting more is attracting others who also want. Even when you’re not someone who seems to be unfairly talented, you still get targeted. Ain’t that something?”
“I don’t even think she was parading it around as far as I understand it. Feels more like bad luck more than anything to offset being involved with me.” I can’t help but say that.
“That’ll certainly be a cruel twist of fate, but I don’t think the recent incident was necessarily bad luck. If anything she was rather fortunate to learn about something quite dangerous happening and stepped in to stop it.” She pointed out. I guess when she puts it like that…
“It stressed her out, I bet.” She doesn’t show it, but I can’t imagine the idea of preventing quite a dangerous scenario from happening to not put a toll on someone.
“Most likely. I do wonder why she keeps going with it. I know you said it’s for vanity sake, but beauty isn’t exactly something you aim for as a fighter. Those who accumulated a lot of power tend to look young and live longer than their normal lifespan, but the risk to one’s life couldn’t possibly be worth that.” Wiina remarked.
“It just seems cheaper for her. I guess. Don’t need to worry as much about beauty products.” I paraphrased what she said to be before.
“I have heard that before, and that is still puzzling.” Wiina dismissively said. “I hope she at least finds more uses for it outside of that, since she seems like a hard worker she should figure more things out.”
“She is a practical type. I don’t think we need to worry about that.” From my understanding of things, she has always been very direct in her approach and makes sure to get her job done quickly. Probably no quip or anything.
———Lerim———
<11: 25 am>
Ugh, these guys are actually really weak. Is this really the group that’s going to take over an entire town and make it their personal kingdom? Give me a break.
“You’re done!” The crazed-looking guy with the long claw gauntlets said before leaping into the air and preparing to drop down on me with his arms open wide, ready to clamp down on my body like it’s going to cut me into pieces.
*Kick* *Crash*
I moved forward with a kick at a high angle that completely caught him off-guard and sent him flying into the ceiling and causing it to crack before he flopped down to the ground.
“You bitch!” At this point I could make a habit of counting all of these typical lines, but I won’t. That’ll simply be another thing to occupy my mind that doesn't need to be there.
*Swing* *Punch* *Bent*
“H-Hah?” She looked terrified as her chainsaw was punched and bent in half from the result. That was simply a common weapon, and she doesn’t seem to quite know how to reinforce it with her own power quite yet.
*Grab* *Swing* *Evade*
I grabbed her by the face before avoiding the incoming attack from the last of the trio trying to sneak in an attack at the last moment. A tiny bit too late for that.
Even with that giant axe and big frame, he doesn’t really pose any threat to me, just like the other two.
I dropped the woman down before focusing on the big guy who hasn’t been hit in the chest or demoralized yet.
…I haven’t even taken out my sword yet, I just realized. I guess I just sorta forget to draw it out with the opponents I am dealing with. Not exactly something I need my sword for. If anything, they need me to not have such a deadly weapon, as otherwise they’d be dead just from getting near me.
*Swing* *Evade*
“...Huh?” He muttered in confusion as his next attack missed and saw that I had completely left his field of vision, looking up and down for where I might be. He is certainly not the smartest tool in the shed.
*Strike*
Since he couldn’t notice me literally being behind him, I took the opportunity to strike him right at his back, sending him flying and tumbling on the floor of this underground lab.
That’s two down and one completely intimidated. I don’t think the grunts guarding the place are still reeling on the floor at this point, so I should probably take these three into custody quickly before chaos breaks out the second time.
———Karra———
<11: 27 am>
“So do you think she’s in any trouble right now?” Wiina suddenly asked.
“I mean. Possibly. I would think she is at least taking care of herself and not involving herself in anything unnecessary.” She’s certainly strong, but this is the world with much bigger fish out there. There’s no point in being cocky.
———Lerim———
<11: 28 am>
“Rescue them!”
“Don’t let that bitch escape!”
“Come back he- Agh!”
Do these grunts know anything about crowd crush!? They are seriously filling up the entire underground base here! Get the hell away from me!