*'Doki'*

"So... Doki?" Thorborg asked.

She probably had said it repeatedly, but in changing my skills, I didn't really notice her until now. I simply nodded, awaiting her to continue.

"Um... You're not planning on fighting in this war, are you?" she asked again.

LOD and the others were also looking my way with a mixture of keen and worried complexions. So I gave the honest answer, "Are you worrying about why I accepted this dungeon request? Well, I just wanted XP and something to waste time. This so-called war seems hassling, and to be honest, I don't really see someone of my level being so key in winning such a fight."

"I wouldn't be thinking that if I were you Incubi..." one of the girls sharing the cart cut to comment.

"What do you mean?" I asked in a slightly aggressive tone.

"You really think that the guards don't know who your party are by now?" the girl asked rhetorically.

In retaliation to the lost look appearing on my face, she continued to explain, "You are part of the group - which numbered only five - that beat the Big_Eyed_Puppies, who were the second strongest clan in the area. Second to us by the way, our request rate was trouncing them at the point you came in. Anyway, there's also an extreme lack of healers, and with your current aesthetics, I wouldn't be surprised if you to be conscripted."

I sighed heavily from hearing that, surprisingly, though, no one got mad at me for doing so... The girl who told me the news even seemed sympathetic with me.

"Wait, what's your current level?" I was skeptical at random her question, so waited for her to explain why before answering. "There's a chance that they won't make you go to the front lines, though, is protecting the country from an invasion really so bothersome?"

I fabricated an answer to the first question, thanking the creators of my auto-correct skill for making me not seem like an arse, "It is definitely bothersome since we're sort of on an escort mission. It's not like Thorborg has any real risk of getting actively killed, but we can't really complete the request if we actively force her to join a war or desert her completely... And since her brother's in the party, we don't have a choice to really drop the request."

Thankfully she brought this, mumbling 'I guess that makes sense...' under her breath.

"Oh, I'm level 48 by the way. Hopefully, that's not high..." I said this, but simply looking at the surrounding looks, I realized such a possibility didn't exist. I showed this understanding by cursing under my breath.

-

The conversation died from there and within a few minutes, we reached the gates. They were being heavily guarded and trivial things like IDs, which weren't necessary to hand over before we left, we now mandatory. The scale of which was evident from the outrageous single-file line reaching from the south exit to the stables.

We left our carriage and rejoined the rest of the groups who did the same. With a few congratulations and farewells being spilled from the members of the collaboration over, Me, Jeehan, LOD, Thorborg and Titanious were left as a group of five and joined the lengthy queue back in.

It felt like hours had passed by the time we were finally at the gate, and what should've been a smooth entry turned into an unnecessary interrogation. Starting with the first wave of three male guards that greeted us.

"Names." a loud, mono-toned voice demanded.

Without much of a wait, we gave them. Then he called for our IDs, which we also obediently gave. However, the guard who received them passed them over to the two men behind him, and upon reading mine, one of them pointed at a direction.

Noticing a minor pause, the first guard gave us a succinct order, "Go there."

Upon waiting for a few more seconds, the previously emotionless voice burst with annoyance and barked, "Now!"

There wasn't a need for more, as we headed where we were ordered whilst accompanied by the other two guards.

A while of walking inside the city walls lead us to a small alcove that had yet another queue leading towards it. We couldn't really see what the counter was for, but my main guess was some sort of recruitment center. The guards turned slightly hostile when I asked for clarification, so I gulped and obeyed their orders until we reached the start of the queue.

At this point, the accompanying guards gave us back our IDs and ditched us, and in silence, we waited.

And waited and waited...

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The wait was mind-numbing, mainly due to the lack of conversation from the rather large crowd gathered and ten or so minutes every single step took us. With every place forwards, more conversations could be heard. Similar dry voices kept repeating large chunks of information, and I soon got close enough to fully hear said voices clearly. So in the end, I found my guess of being conscripted was correct an hour before I was finally called in by one of the automated voices.

Following the voice's order, I entered one of the many booths and was met by a rather boring suit who broke the ice with the first of many orders, "ID?"

I obliged, the suit paused to skim over my card before looking at me in the eyes.

"Hm, you're strong for your class. Do you have any healing capabilities?" his unforgiving glare effortlessly broke through my charisma.

After he noticed I was frozen, a clench of his fist soon prompted me to answer, "Yes, I have blood_transfusion equipped."

I wanted to explain the problem with my healing capability, but decided not to waste time in doing so. Without any further questions, the sound of hurried scribbling followed.

Revealing the full page of writing, the suit started to explain what was going on in a livelier tone, "So... Dokidoki19, you are strong enough to enter the front-line, and with your healing capabilities taken into account, you will fight as part of the First_Brigade. Sign this contract to finalize this, or have you and the group you came in executed for treason."

My head tilted as I ran those words through my mind, thinking, 'The hell is this guy on, does he not see how stupid that is?'

Without thinking much further, I vocalized my confusion, "So, wait a second here... This city is in a war with a devil army, so your actively conscripting with the threat of making yet more possible enemies if one dares to refuse this conscription. Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy in this or something!?"

Unfazed by my rebuttal, the man simply replied, "If we had the time to care, we'd care. We don't though. In a matter of days, a large army of devils will come, and only our full might has a chance of even holding out for back-up. Hence rather crude conscription is completely necessary. In our desperation, we don't care about further points, now shut up and sign the damned contract!"

On cue, I grabbed the offered pen and signed.

Relaxing his frown ever-so-slightly, he started to state what I needed to do next, "Congrats on making the more beneficial choice, for the both of us... Anyway, now that's signed, let me explain. You are, as of now, apart of the First_Brigade, who are made up of most of our elites. Tomorrow, at noon, a full meet up will be made at the barracks, which is east of the northern exit. There you will get told you'll be patrolling, the necessary information in what we know of their force and be forced to train with your fellow adventurers hopefully before the fight breaks out. Being in the main force of our army does mean you'll be active twenty-four seven, but you just signed away your right to complain. Understand?"

Even though he said that remarkably fast, I mentally noted the important pieces and prepared myself for the oncoming hassle.

Well... I tried and barely didn't fail. But I counted it as a success due to the current situation.

-

Escaping the recruitment, I happened upon the others who made pretty happy faces. So when I came in with a near-death look on my face, they could only find pity for me.

Anyway, after spitefully demanding it out of them, their stories were pretty reasonable. Thorborg managed to get completely out of it by protesting she was a crafter, and with her low level, she was ignored despite being a desperately needed healer. Jeehan was just as lucky since he was a weak samurai the suit judged him as weak compared to the Samurai_Girls and having no healing capabilities, and therefore allowed him off completely to fulfill his body-guard request. Finally, Titanious and LOD had similar fates. With their relatively low levels and lack of healing, both were ordered to be city guards who had no real relevance to the war itself. I was understandably annoyed that I was alone in this pain, but was forced to bit the bullet on the ordeal.

-

Due to the obvious stress I was going to go, Jeehan offered to buy dinner at a place I chose. I just picked a random bland cafe and we talked about a cacophony of different topics before returning to the war.

"So Doki, any idea what you'll have to do?" Thorborg asked, catching my attention from my own brooding.

Annoyed at having to repeat myself, I returned her question, "Didn't I already answer that?"

"Well, you did... I was just wondering what your role in the party would be. I mean, I've never heard of a succubus before meeting you, and it seems like an odd addition to an army." she explained.

"I'll probably just be in the back binding the weak or something, though, I sort of hope the real fight will be more interesting than what we did in the dungeon," I stated.

Cocking her head to the side, Thorborg repeated my phrasing, "'Interesting'?"

"The mobs we fought were linear as all hell, hopefully so-called 'sentient' species like devils will put up more of a fight... But the elites I'll be fighting with may make it way easier," a pseudo-rant replaced my previously calm demeanor.

Jeehan butted in with yet another question, "Wait, you're fighting with elites?"

"Yeah... The hell did you think the front-line was made up of, people weaker than the city guards or something?" my stress was already showing itself through my random lashing out. I wasn't in the mood to talk, so maybe that's why... One or two more questions were asked my way, but I ignored them.

With their question pool emptied, silence filled our table. I was contently eating my sandwich whilst the others seemed rather anxious of talking around me.

By the way, unlike LOD and Titanious, I didn't have alcohol with my meal. Titanious surprisingly being the one to be the drunkest by the end of it. However, both became rowdy by the end of our stay, so we had to fight against them to leave the cafe.

-

I went to sleep early, waking up at about ten AM with LOD flopping across the floor in his sleep. Apathetic about his condition, he awoke from my first kick, emptied his lungs with profanities aimed at me and begrudgingly followed me to the meetup.

The only thought on my mind was, 'And this is why I don't drink...'

We met up with the others to have breakfast, choosing a completely different restaurant from any we've had before because Nio demanded it. There they served a wide variety of curries, so we all left feeling more awake. Mainly due to our tongues burning...

Walking off the fiery sensation, I separated from the group and headed towards where I assumed the barracks was; the guard from the other day said the wrong cardinal direction, though, so I was barely on time when I finally reached it.