"Why are you two here so early?" Zion asked, it being the first question that popped up in his head. He stared at them, still not quite believing they were here with him.
"Well, you heard the man, let's get out of here. Beth were too early," Camila replied dryly, playfully pulling Beth to the door. Zion put her in a light chokehold and rubbed her head.
"Don't be a jerk, Camila. I’m just shocked I got to see you early," Zion told the girl, her black hair now in a mess.
"We both finished training and ascending a couple of days ago," Beth explained, taking a seat on the bed and patting it with one hand. "We spent some time in Valor and got some upgraded gear."
Zion took the hint and sat beside Beth, leaving just enough room not to be the ire of Camila’s gaze. He did indeed notice the new gear that both the girls bore.
Camila’s red armor that had been destroyed was replaced by another set, but this one looked more like a leather set reinforced with chain mail. Her spear was new as well, this one having a shaft of strong cherry wood and a glittering ruby tip. There seemed to be four slots for gems, and he wondered if it was enchanted.
Beth was still wearing a slick white robe, but this one seemed to have a thin, almost unnoticeable glow to it. If he had to guess, it had some sort of protection enchantment placed upon it. Her bow from the dungeon was now replaced with an ice-blue one that seemed to have a slight mist radiating off it like ice exposed to high temperatures. The most noticeable thing was the silver circlet that rested on her head. In the center of it was a diamond that seemed to hum with enough mana to make him jealous.
He smiled at them and raised his chin in a pompous motion, "While you lovely ladies have been having a wonderful shopping trip, I've been here making the real sacrifices. Woe is me." Zion clutched his heart in fake agony.
The girls each grabbed a pillow and went to town, hammering him with them, feathers flying all about the room. They giggled and shot stupid banter at each other for a few minutes, letting out some of the pent-up stress they had obviously been sharing.
When the good-natured fighting was finally done, Camila broke in first, "So what's the deal with Tidus, Zion? What kind of problem are we getting ourselves into? The travel pillars are busy with tons of people showing up, which is odd for an established Sphere."
Zion explained the situation he had been discussing with Mavik the last few weeks. First, he told them about the huge difference in numbers they were facing and how that number was growing according to the scouts' information. This led to him pointing out the window to a brand-new building that had been erected. He explained that they had decided to hire anybody that was free and willing to defend the Sphere.
That particular news had been fun to share because, so far, they were having great results. Slightly over two hundred people had joined so far, far exceeding what Zion or Mavik had estimated.
"Wouldn't they be needed in other Spheres to help them deal with their own battles?" Beth asked as she took in the busy building.
Zion shook his head before sitting back down. "No, according to Mavik, they only know of five Spheres that will get attacked currently. Now we all know that's bullshit, and many more are going to be affected. We just don't know when or where."
"Then wouldn’t it be better to make one Sphere a transfer hub for when we get news of other attacks?" Camila asked her eyes deep in thought. "That way, a response team could effectively carry out rescue operations?"
Zion nodded his head in agreement with her words before sighing. “That was the original thought at Hammervale as well, but it was decided to be too risky. Randan proved to us that the Champions can blend in with us unknowingly, and according to the other leaders, he has not been the first to do so. If we consolidated so much power, we fear they would find a way to lock down the pillars and destroy the bulk of our forces.” They both seemed satisfied with this answer and nodded in agreement with the picture he painted.
“Would you guys like to see the preparations we're making?” he queried before the next part died on his lips. He took a deep breath, and they gave him the time he needed, each looking at him with patience. “I would also like to introduce you to our new party member Alyx.”
Zion cringed as he finished his sentence, expecting them to get upset and question him about his decision. He had agreed to let the elf join after only recently losing Jura, and he hadn’t even involved them in the recruitment. They had every right to be mad.
But neither of them was looking at him with anger; instead, they just looked curious.
“Yeah, sounds good,” Beth was the first one to open her mouth, getting herself off the bed. Her hand slightly ran over Zion's as she stood up, but she didn't even look at him. Zion figured it was an accident and was happy she wasn't mad.
“Agreed, let’s see what bad ideas our living mana potion has brought to life,” Camila agreed with a snigger at her own joke.
“Hardy har har,” Zion responded, giving her the finger before escorting them both into the hall.
When they exited the room, it was to a chorus of whistles and howls from some of the other residents living in the guild hall. One named Barry even had the audacity to try to get him killed.
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“Damn Herald, pulling in two hotties like that should be against the law,” Barry said, smiling and rubbing his hands together.
Zion used kinetic movement to appear in front of the man, shocking him so much that the dwarf fell on his rear. Bending down to his quivering form, Zion's eyes were filled with murderous intent. “First off, Barry, that is no way to talk to any girl,” he lectured, holding up one finger and then another. “Second, those two ‘hotties’ are my friends and both Chosen.” Holding up one more finger, Zion swallowed nervously and whispered the next point. “And third, do you want me to die? Because if I do, I swear to Ki you’re going down with me!”
At this point, his eyes were practically bulging out of his face as he felt the anger radiate off of Camila. Barry obviously noticed this and nodded frantically, “I am so sorry to all three of you, but especially you two. It was inappropriate of me to talk like that.” Barry moved to his knees and bowed his head to the floor, sweat visibly dripping down his forehead.
“Ok, don’t do it again!” The smile that followed Camila’s words hinted that death would be the result of ignoring her request.
Zion left the man, his body a little stiff from the anxiety of Camila being behind him with a spear during that event. “Just so you know, I had no part in any of that. I swear,” he told them, waving his hands in a warding gesture.
“Zion, you can be a little dense sometimes, but you have never been a pig,” Camila replied, giving him a light smile, and Beth nodded her agreement. “Do you think I’d let your cute ass flirt with Beth otherwise?”
Her words stopped the pair in their tracks, giving each other a brief glance before glowing red. Their chorus of “Camila” started the girl laughing as they ran after her down the hall.
The first thing Zion did was introduce them to Eva, who, after receiving a glare that would curdle milk, refrained from making any jokes as she had before. She welcomed them both, and Zion insisted she was a wealth of information and patience.
From there, he led them toward the walls of the city, introducing them to familiar faces as they moved. While they walked, he called Alyx to join them and made sure to re-add the two to his comm bracelet now that they were within range. He really needed to get an upgraded version of the item.
Walking the stairs to the crest of the city's wall was Zion's least favorite thing to do. It’s not that he got tired or anything from the climb, just that the stairs were so tedious. The girls seemed to notice his disdain and giggled about it, which meant he was not telling them about how he had used his cloak to walk up the wall the first time he came here with Mavik. Not going down that joke of a road.
Once they were sitting on top of the wall, he gave the girls time to take in the sight. Like him, they had come from a relatively land-based Sphere, so seeing the glittering water of the sea had them catching their breath.
“I think I could look out at that view for eternity,” Beth said in a hushed tone, her eyes glimmering with astonishment and her face alight with joy.
Camila was much the same, nodding her head in unison with the words but not taking her transfixed eyes off the body of water. They stood there, taking in the waves breaking upon the beach for another few minutes before Zion finally broke the reverie.
“It really is beautiful,” he told them, giving each a squeeze from the center of them. “Maybe after you get settled in, we'll buy some bathing suits and try to go swimming.” He smiled at them both and then looked away as his mind soared with thoughts of the pair in the local attire.
“That sounds wonderful,” Beth replied, her dazzling smile still glowing brilliantly. Thank Ki, she couldn’t read his mind.
Zion cleared his throat as Camila raised an eyebrow at him. Her intuition was way too strong. “So, as you can see, these walls are quite tall. They have been raised about ten extra feet since I arrived here, and now we're focusing on the thickness.”
“The final step is some spikes that the earth mages are going to add to the bottom of the wall to add something for those monsters to ram themselves on, or so we hope.”
“What about the gates? Couldn't they just focus on those and breakthrough?” Beth butted in, pointing at the solid wooden frames that were the entryways into the city.
Zion went on to explain how wood mages had spent four days reinforcing the gates. Then, they constructed a metal barrier that had been affixed to the front for more support. Finally, the earth mages had set up a massive set of stone slabs that could be slammed together and fused to add a final barrier if needed.
From there, he showed them the setups for ballistae, catapults, and supply depots that were lined up across the wall. These areas would be run by non-adventurers, people who couldn’t fight on the front lines due to the power gap but could use tools to help even the odds.
The defenses had decently improved since Zion arrived, thanks to a lot of hard work and dedicated mages. But even Zion knew that it wasn’t enough to fix every solution, a sentiment that the girls seemed to share.
“These steps are great, Zion; truly they are,” Beth began, gesturing with her hands to the walls they were walking along. “The fact that so much has been done in less than a month is impressive. But most of these barriers won't stop a Champion if they show up. Nor would it stop a legendary rank mob from beating the walls down in time.”
Zion stopped and turned toward them, crossing his arms behind his back and looking proud. “That’s where we come in, my friends.” The girls looked at him with eyebrows raised, and he went on before they got annoyed. “Our party, including Alyx and a tank who will join us for the battle, will be an emergency response team. We can still help with the battle, but our main goal will be to respond to threats that the others can't. There is one more team consisting of Mavik Tidus, the guild leader.”
It was at that moment that Alyx decided to finally show up, jumping right into the conversation. “Yep, our fearless leader decided that we should be the fodder if everything goes to shit.” His voice made the girls jump, and he held his arms up in apology, now stammering. “Sorry… sorry, didn’t mean to spook you. I'm Alyx.” He looked down sheepishly, not meeting the girls' eyes.
“Oh my Lanza, there are two of them!” Camila practically squealed in joy, looking between Beth and Alyx. “I wholeheartedly accept you into the group. You can apologize by bowing before my greatness.”
That caused Alyx to look back up in concern, “R-Really? You want me to bow?” Alyx asked hastily, already going to perform the act.
Zion burst out laughing as Beth stopped the poor elf, “No, she doesn’t mean that. She's just being a jerk.” Beth reached a hand out to stop their new teammate and glared at Camila. “Cam, don’t be mean to the new guy!”
Camila was laughing now, too, and Zion, amidst his giggles, was excited to see the ease at which they were taking him in. Their party was going to be okay.