Chapter 356: Over the Topic

———Karra———

<10: 21 pm>

“...I really didn’t expect her to show up.” Gregori remarked while looking at the woman with white hair leaning against the wall. “That must mean we’re going somewhere actually dangerous today.”

“Even Coach Wana is here, something big is definitely happening.” Orrel added. The two big hitters coming on board along with Rico means that wherever they bring us is genuinely out of our league normally. There are only a few places that meet that criteria.

“Well this is going to be fun then. I can’t imagine that it’ll be boring with them around.” Kenni said with a smug face. “The whole fighting thing has been getting stale and tiresome lately. Not a lot of thrills.”

“Why aren’t you of all people the one getting targeted by that person?” Qyunda is quick to complain about that.

“Who knows? I bet they think I’m super tough.” She said while playfully flexing her muscle despite being built like a twig.

It’s really just because she’s going to be annoying the entire time and there is always the risk of her blowing the perpetrator’s cover. Not to mention that she doesn’t need the draconian training session. Even though Emmie will keep her mouth shut she also doesn’t need any kind of boost.

As for me… Well, I technically have gotten the encounter many times over, I suppose.

“Super annoying, more like.” Qyunda sarcastically said even though that is basically the main reason. Even if she is plenty patient, if Kenni is making light of the situation she is going to cave her face in so the other person present can take things seriously. It’s going to cause a weird narrative if that comes to pass. “Speaking of annoying. I think I heard something about travel bans? I thought that was lifted.”

“Where the hell would we even go even if it’s lifted?” Malk pointed out. “Something about the States being too dangerous or something. That’s pretty crazy to hear.”

“Come on now, every place has been called dangerous at some point.” Kenni pointed out. “And it’s not like considering this nation a place of barbarians is wrong at this point with all the talk of attacks coming from a bunch of territories. Then again I think it’s the first first world country to be in that umbrella, talk about embarrassing.”

“Let’s not talk like other countries with similar status haven’t also been under fire, come on now.” Orrel argued. “Every nation has been going through it. Ours were given more attention because of its influence.”

“And you would think it would have led by example, a good one at that.” Kenni continued to argue for the sake of it even though we’re just going in a circle at this point.

I think I’ll stop listening to their yapping and focus on something else. Let’s see what else is on the news… Not a whole lot. Just some skirmish and other crap I’m not interested in.

I stand back up and walk over to the glass wall to get a look at where we are right now… It’s hard to tell with the clouds everywhere, but it is still quite a sight. Compared to how stuffy a plane can be, this giant flying ship is on another level.

A scene that feels like it should be out of a fairy tale and yet here we are. We have been desensitized to it at this point alongside all the extremely high tech and advanced magic stuff in the school. Other places look extremely primitive in comparison.

Calling people living here privileged is maybe underselling it at that point, but that’s a conversation for later, I suppose. There are a lot of things that if anyone outside of this place were to witness for the first time they’ll complain nonstop at how unfair it all is.

Not that none of these has never been shared, but the amount is so small that they could be dismissed as doctored photos and nonsense.

…I’m a bit parched, I guess I should drink whatever they got on the ship today. A blue or purple drink or just a regular orange juice. I guess I’ll go with the former, never seen this one before.

*Sip*

…I think it’s like dyed lemonade or something? I think there is another taste outside of lemon and sugar. The color is vibrant, but I’m pretty sure this is not something magically exotic.

“Hey, Sixson, you know what this is?” I asked him as I showed him the drink that was also in his hand.

“Butterfly pea tea mixed with lemonade is my guess.” He quickly answered before looking away. A pea tea? Let me look that up… Oh, it's flower tea. The colors are quite nice.

“Ah, thanks.” I said before walking away since he clearly is not in the mood to chat.

“You know, why do we even throw salt into pasta water when we can just put it in the sauce instead.” Kenni said for… whatever reason. What’s happening, I thought they were discussing a heavy topic earlier?

“You-! You are just saying nonsense at this point.” Gregori almost gets caught up in that. Is she defaulting to blatant ragebaiting now? The talk must have gotten boring quite quickly. If it’s just random bullshit like that then it’s not worth paying attention to.

I guess I should just enjoy the food for now and keep things to myself. Today we get rice and we can top it with Japanese curry and a few toppings. Also sandwiches.

Considering what we probably will be doing next, maybe it’s best to eat up and eat a lot before we arrive. Just a huge pile of food that I can slowly eat through over the hour. We all know at this point that if they want to, they can fly to the destination in less than an hour. All this travel time is for flavor than anything else.

———Meesi———

<10: 49 pm>

“...So if I am hearing that right, that should mean there will be monsters spawning throughout the world?” I asked, wanting to know for certain if that’s true.

“Indeed. Those habitats expanding was not the only change to the world, unfortunately.” James answered. “The increased number of monsters haven’t caused chaos among the general populace, but those who are traveling have expressed annoyance, which naturally include those who are carrying supplies, and you understand my point, I am sure.”

“…Escort missions?” We’re getting to that point as well?

“Indeed. The big companies will pay us for the tasks, but it will be a grueling journey, no doubt.” He clarified. “Some of the trips mentioned are quite long and arduous, especially on the return trip. It could take until midnight until any of us reach home.”

“That does sound like quite the headache.” I remarked. “So you got scouted for one of these or something?”

“No. I made it abundantly clear that I cannot leave this place. Like I said yesterday, without me here things get ugly quite quickly.” Great, so us plebs have to pick up the slack…

“I hate that you’re not really wrong for arguing that…” I bitterly said. I would also love to push all of this nonsense to someone else. “...But why us?”

“I think it’s just limited options. There’s no doubt that these big companies have been looking through the activities of each area and which place has the more reasonable people living there to negotiate.” He speculated. “This is definitely going to cause tension later, so I hope none of you are slacking on training.”

“We’ll be fine. Right, Alsam?” I asked the wolf guy who has been quiet for a while.

“Yeah.” He answered with just one word.

“So when do we even start?” Someone else asked.

“Easy now, the details won't come until next week. With so many things happening right now they really can’t afford to be hasty.” James elaborated. “Right now we are supposed to evaluate the capabilities of each person in our guild to see who can do this. Just so you know, Alsam and Meesi are automatically included because they are second and third.”

“Ah, great.” I said, already feeling the pressure on me already. As if we don’t have a lot to do by now because of all the nonsense happening elsewhere, but this is probably also very important. I bet we need help escorting the supplies coming to this town as well. “I hope the pay is good.”

“It should be. They should have plenty of money to go around even in a climate like this.” James reassures us. “Speaking of training, today seems to be quite peaceful with the scouts not seeing any signs of activity so far. How about we train in the dungeon? I can lead all of you if need be.”

“That’s fine with me.” Alsam spoke up. The others don’t seem to be resistant to the idea either.

“I suppose that’s the same for me.” I added. We can go deep into the dungeon and get some experience in, and hopefully it won’t get too tiresome.

———Lerim———

<10: 58 pm>

“What? Do I actually have to do that?” Evari is quick to complain.

“It pays well, you know? I think it’s best for you to put that skill of yours to use.” I can’t say it’s impressive, but surely guarding a few vehicles won’t cause her to drop dead. “The boss and I won’t take it since we are the deterrence. It’s you and the rest of the people here who have to go out there doing stuff.”

“I heard that the first time around.” She said while scratching her neck.

“Don’t get tense already. It’s not like we’re starting today.” I said while shaking my head. “I don’t see the other guys making noise.”

“Yeah, cause they are terrified of you.” She remarked. They all avoid eye contacts, but surely that’s not enough proof.

Still, them not looking at me is quite the offense…

“...Anyway, I hope all of you are ready to be vigilant and not mess things up without me around.” I don’t want to make a scene even if they are trying to piss me off. I could afford it when we are in a much more stable situation than whatever is going on in the world right now. “I really do not want to know what will happen if you all mess this up. We might seriously have little to eat moving forward. Do think about that.”

“Don’t we usually just leech off your stuff?” Evari shamelessly said.

“And I won’t share those with any of you if that happens, do I make it clear?” I said that and all of them visibly reacted. Now that’s what I want to see. “Speaking of which, here are your portions for the day. Can’t have the army moving on an empty stomach, can we?”

———Karra———

<12: 56 pm>

“We’re here again?” I remarked in bewilderment as we walked out of the ship.

“It has been a while since anyone has come here, and last time the performance was… not lacking, it was about as expected. Enough time has passed for all of you to improve by a lot. That’s what we all think is going to be the case, anyway.” Rico explained as we walked towards the entrance of this building. I don’t even remember what floor we reached. I just remember that we had a lot more people the last time around. “Alright! We’ll split into three groups like last time. Wiina, Wana, and I will be the guide for each group.”

“We already choose who will be in each group to save time.” Wiina explained.

Kinda weird of her to say that when we can literally come here in a blink of an eye, but I’m sure others also know that is the matter of picking and choosing teammates being awkward most of the time, so they’re doing it for us.

*Snap*

With a snap of the fingers the list of names appeared behind the three of them. This time I think this is purely magic at work, no high tech stuff this time around.

Looking at the list things seem pretty balanced between the three groups… kinda. Emmie alone dogwalked everyone so there’s that. It seems balanced, I guess?

“Alright, let’s not waste any time. We’re going in! Follow your leader!” Walsuna said as the three of them began moving into the towering building already. They sure aren’t giving us any time to adjust.