CHAPTER 13
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Parker POV
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“Huh? Richard? Why are you here?” I asked dumbfounded. I knew that they were watching nearby, sometimes I managed to take a glimpse at their shadow but why do they interfere with us now?
“Sorry Parker, your trip has been canceled.” He said with a stern but gloomy voice. Wait, are there actually some secret objectives in this forest? Do we fail the school trip? Why is the trip canceled?
“Huh? Why?” Nana asked
“Richard. Don’t say canceled. You spoil the mood. Just say that they graduated early. They have the capabilities after all.” Bane commented.
“So, what happened?” John asked
“We will go to Berlin fort. Hurry up” Richard said while leaving. “What are you waiting for?”
“But, our stuff at our camp.”
“Leave them. We are in a hurry.”
And so, we were dragged towards the forest entrance and with haste, we were loaded into the carriage stationed there. Everyone was baffled, this was more like kidnapping. The sun was beginning to set, but it seems like no one cared. Isn’t it dangerous on the road at night? We are still continuing? We aren’t making a camp?
“Driver goes faster.” Richard scolded the poor carriage driver in the front seat.
“I am sorry dear sir, but if we go any faster, the horse will get tired. It will take longer time to reach.”
“Alright then. Maintain the speed.”
“Um... Sir Richard, it is dangerous at night. Why aren’t we stopping?” I asked Richard
“No. If any danger came to us, we will exterminate them. don’t ever go slower even for a second.” Richard answered. His tone was extremely dark.
“You guys should sleep.” Fay tried to smile
“What happened?”
“An order has been issued. We were to rally at Berlin Fort as quick as possible.”
“Why Berlin?” I asked with a ton full of curiosity. Berlin is a small fort located between the capital and Alpas city. It is made to exterminate monsters and serve as some sort of rest point for merchants and mercenaries. Is there some kind of monster uprising from the nearby forest? But taking Richard’s group on monsters' extermination is silly.
“The demon has conquered Alpas City. We are sent to battle them right?” Stella said with her expressionless face. Everyone was baffled except her.
“Ooo. You knew quite a lot. How did you get that information? Even we just knew about it.” Fay said while smiling. But her eyes stare at her with wariness
“Just guessing.” She dodged the question while looking at the night sky uninterested.
“Wait? We are battling demons straight away? We are supposed to stay in the academy for 10 more months at least right?” Hart said with a fluster
“Fay, aren’t we supposed to perform that Faith Ritual?” Nana asked. That’s a good question. My head was all fuzzy from the shock that I can’t think normally.
“It will be done inside Berlin. Everything has been prepared.” She replied.
“Think we can hold it?” Chloe muttered
“Our job isn’t just to hold out the fort. We must take back the city you know.” Fay answered. The difficulty went up by the minute.
“If we didn’t take back Alpas City, that means the kingdom will lose 80% of its territory. We might be considered getting annihilated already.” Bane answered from the driver's seat. The situation is that serious huh.
“Holding out is fine. But to be honest, I have some doubts about taking back the city.” Richard answered. “We are lacking in both manpower and skills. Their average soldier is C+ while ours is D+ at most. Even if we take it back, I doubt we could hold it against the enemy counterattack.”
“I see.” So, we can defend but we can’t attack huh?
“Nope. Defending would be hard too.” Stella barged in. “Richard.... why did you lie? It is 3 thousand against more than 5 thousand.”
“Eh?” Nana and Chloe shriek in astonishment
“How did you get 3000 and 5000?” Richard asked while turning his head from the road. His eyes were scary. Is he threatening us?
“Most of the soldiers are from Alpas' retreat right?”
“Alpas has over 15 thousand. You think only 3000 survive?”
“Even if it weren’t, their morale is at rock bottom. “
“And so, how did you get 5000?” fay interrupted Richard’s questioning.
“Over 30 thousand are attacking the city. As a vanguard and scout group, we can expect that much. Moreover, there will be reinforcement. Perhaps, instead of a vanguard, they are chasing down the remnants of the fleeing soldiers? That’s why we are in such haste right?” Her analysis is good. But what’s awesome is, how come she knew that? I have to ask her source of information
“Well well, looks like this girl here has more information than you, Richard!” Und said while relaxing his shoulder. “Anything you have yet to tell us?”
“It’s fine. Just like I said, defending against 5000 is fine if it is us.” Richard said as he looked back at the fort. “You haven’t known the battlefield, while your analysis is correct, the human qualities are different.”
“Wait, isn’t this serious, we are just 14 people here. 15 if we count the driver. Can that really affect 2000 differences?” I shouted in desperation. No matter how you look at it, this is too soon. We need to battle some small skirmishes first before going to the real thing. But here they throw us right into some big battle with huge disadvantages.
“What else can we do?” Richard then shouted. “If the fort is taken, the enemy will be literally at the front of the capital! Even without attacking, a riot will plunge the capital into chaos and the human will lose!!”
At that sentence, everyone went silent. Now we knew the degree of the situation. Richard knew that our training is half-baked and incomplete. He knew we weren’t ready. If possible, according to the schedule, there should be over 8 months at the fastest for us to become a proper knight.
“I am not blaming you. But if you were backed into a corner, you should ask for suggestions. For example, since the capital will not lend us any help, we can ask the freelancer instead?” Stella suggests
“Ahh, that sound quite possible.” Bane clapped his hands
“Why would they accept the quest? It is just a little better than a suicide mission. Besides, we don’t have the fund. And we will win if it is just defending. Numbers aren’t everything” Richard answered
“Che, even went they are about to die, they are as petty as ever.” Hart spits in disgust.
“I see.” Stella went silent. It seems she has no more saying. But she seemed to have something else in mind. She just looked outside the carriage window.
“Can we really win?” Chloe asked
“We can win miss Chloe. It is not a lie. An S-ranked soldier can stand against 1000 alone. If forced, he can hold himself against 2 or 3 thousand. and here, even though there are just 14 of us all of them are elites with talent on par or more than S ranked.” Fay answered
“It is fine even if all you do is look. Relax, we knew how much of a greenhorn you are. no need to be so pessimistic. You have no responsibility in this battle” Bane said in a carefree manner.
“Ehh, only looking?” Chloe and Nita tilted their head. “Is that fine?”
“Yes. You only need to look. But make sure to kill some for your own good name. We can’t have rumors about a useless hero in the academy come to light can’t we?” Bane shrugged him
“Thanks, Bane.” I hear Richard whisper while sighing.
“No worries.”
The carriage went on for 2 days with only a single break in between. It was hell. The carriage prioritizes speed so, it is a little bit uncomfortable inside. Even in my home country, I have never ridden buses for more than 10 hours. This is harsh. Oddly, I can see the capital from here, but with reason such as to save time, we will pass it and drive straight to the Berlin fort.
“Phew. I will never get on carriages again!” Nana said in relief after we arrive. It is truly a small fort. Can this puny fort really withstand 5 thousand enemies? It is just a single large building like barracks with a wooden fence covering it at 100-meter diameter. Judging from medieval times in VR games, this kind of fortress will repel 1000 Soldiers at most. it is jam-packed with soldiers that many of them camping out beside the fort. If it were me in VR games, I could only use 1000 soldiers here inside the fort and send the rest to the open battle outside. Since the outside is a forest, I will use some tricks like hiding in the woods and sniping with archers.
“Okay, guys! Come here, we will perform the faith ritual.”Richard called us as soon as we arrived at the fort. “once again, I deeply apologize that we have to be in such a rush. The demons will be swarming us literally in 2 days or tomorrow at worst so we have to make haste.”
“Can this fort really hold? It is all made of wood.” Hart muttered
“Hart. Silence. You will bring the morale of the troop down with you.” I scolded Hart for being such a dumbass. Logically speaking, what he said is true, this fort is entirely made of wood. Going by several medieval game standards, this small fort was designed to battle with 1000 troops at most and we are going against 5000 but what Richard said about winning seems like it is not a lie. We also haven’t seen their battle strategies either. Stella made her judgment too fast. Well, I must thank that ability too. I can’t be the only one fooling around knowing nothing.
“Sir Richard, isn’t it better if you rest first?” some old man talked to him. From his attire. He might be the priest from this religion’s nation. He is together with his 4 henchmen
“Is the ritual prepared? We will rest after that.” After some random talk with the old priest of the fort, we headed to the open field in front of the fortress heading to Alpas city.
“Richard, why are we doing it here?” Nana asked
“The fort is crowded right now. Isn’t it uncomfortable? We need some space to perform the ritual. Okay! priest, let’s begin the ritual.” Richard said as he step aside from the magic circle prepared by the priest. 4 priests are surrounding the magic circle all prepared with their staffs.
“Mister John. Please come forward.” The priest called us one by one starting with John. The magic circle then glowed after the priest put his magic power. We were already taught this, and after 10 seconds of putting a magical barrier, the head priest will insert a faith crystal into our left hand. What the head priest here do is very much like what’s written in the textbook
“My body is kinda hot. Is this okay?” John said worriedly after the priest stabbed his hands with the small crystal. The crystal then magically embeds itself into his hands.
“Yes. It should be fine. Since you haven’t had enough training, the side effect might be bigger for you. but the worst side effect is just a fever for 1 or 2 days.”
“Argg!” John groaned a little while holding his left hand.
“I... don’t like this,” Stella muttered
“I can’t say I like it myself. But this is necessary.” I answered.
“Don’t worry, we will wait until everyone is finished.”
The magic circle then faded and John sat limply on the ground. Trying to catch his breath.
“How is it?” I asked
“I feel weaker instead.” He smiled while giving a dry laugh. His face shows that he is totally exhausted.
“Haha,” the priest laughed. “Everyone said the same. After a good night's rest, try practicing your magic. You will feel the difference. Ah! Don’t forget to use small and safe spells okay? There are cases the user will kill himself due to miscalculations in their increasing magic power.
After 5 minutes of respite, the priest went back into their respective position and John moves to the audience seat with the others. Riki was next in line. After that, Riko and Nita were next. After an hour all of them have about the same condition as John. It seems the ritual has succeeded.
The priests were all exhausted and they are currently resting now. Why the heck am I worried about every little thing? But, this made me anxious, according to the information broker introduced by Stella, this ritual has some severe risk if it were to fail. The nobles and especially the church hid them very well but I heard it might cause death. That’s why to minimize the risk, we should undergo strict training. But we haven’t gone to such training.
That’s why the risk for us is higher. But that broker simply shrugged it off since the chance is very slim. He said that the chance is less than 5% even for untrained ones so we should not worry. But for modern society on earth, a 5% death chance is high enough to cause the government to ban something. I should not be negligent.
“Sir, our scouts were under attack!”
“Alright! You guys, go inside! And you please give me a detail about this attack.” Richard quickly makes decisions and sends us away.
“Are they attacking us?” Nana looked terrified.
“No. It is just testing the waters. Our scouts were killed. We are preparing to counter their scouts.” The soldiers that escort us replied
“Basically it is just a minor skirmish. Before sending their troops, they look for the forest path and possible trap locations, we are also doing the same thing.” Another soldier replied.
“That one didn’t appear in our textbook.”
“It didn’t. But it does on the others schoolbooks. It is some kind of military strategy textbook.” Stella answered. As expected of our walking encyclopedia
“Isn’t this kind of thing should be the first they taught us?” Hart asked.
After we went back into the fort we were shut inside the bedroom without any information about the battle. 4 hours later, the alarm went off and Richard returned. Informing the priests that the enemy has been repelled.
“So, did you guys feel any tension? I heard from some soldiers that miss Nana there were scared. Your reputation plummets again you know. What about John, Riki, Riko, and Nita? They okay?” Bane asked
“We are fine. John and the others were sleeping. So, how things were going outside?”
“They hit the bed already? I expected some things when they woke up. They are S-rank after all. please don’t disappoint us, heroes.” Bane said as he left. Richard then came to our room “Please rest. and Parker, we will continue the ritual. Please come into the hall, I have to vacate them.”
We were taken to the hall, to even vacate the building just for our ritual, they are seriously in a hurry huh? the scouts were already here, which means the army will come the day after tomorrow at the latest. I kind of understand their intentions.
“Alright, priests, set up the barrier. The sun is already set. I want this ritual to be finished in 3 hours at most.” Richard said as the priests were in a hurry to make the magic circle and get into position
“You are not going to tell us anything, do you?”
“You want to know? alright, while the others take their ritual, I will tell you.” Richard said as he sighed. The priest then called Chloe to be the next in ritual
“The scouts were a bit larger than I thought and I think they managed to take a glimpse of this fort. The army might really come tomorrow at this rate. I and Bane chase them down but we had to stop since we were too close to the enemy. “As he sighed and tell me in reluctance Chloe’s ritual finished. She dragged her feet towards us and Will was next. Quickly fell on her butt as she moaned in exhaustion.
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“Ahh, it hurts, my body is tired. I can still feel the tingling pain in my left hand even now. I want to drop dead in bed already. But I haven’t taken a bath yet. What a pain....” She sighed in desperation. She is still holding her left hand and rubbing it slowly. Is it really that painful? The book didn’t mention something like that. It just said it feels a little hot or it caused little pain. Is our pain tolerance actually really low compared to the people in this world? After a while, she dragged herself outside of the magic circle. Will was then called out
“So, do you think we could win?”
“Yes. just like I said before, defending is simple. Attacking the city is the problem.”
“Why? Is it the number?” I was curious. If what he said is true, then his group is pretty much equal to 5000 soldiers. but, in that case, aren’t we screwed if they sent in more than 10.000?
“It’s quite complicated since you haven’t been taught and you have no experience. This is something like a public secret. Do you know how special you guys are?”
“Well, most of us reach SS if that’s what you mean. And the weakest of us can still reach S rank.” But isn’t that just a rank? It’s not like we suddenly became one man army right?
“The truth is, S rank is the highest we have ever seen in our country.”
“So?”
“Now. let me tell you how much is the difference between each rank.” I listened attentively
“Under fair circumstances, a normal C-rank can go up against 3 D-rank soldiers at most. however, a B rank can go up against more than 5 C-rank.”
“Eh?”
“You see, the difference goes up in each rank. In this case, a B-rank can go up against 15 or 20 D-rank soldiers. Again I must emphasize that if it is under fair circumstances. For A-rank, they each can goes up against more than 10 B-rank. The difference between higher ranks can no longer be achieved through training”
“Aarg!!” I heard Will wail in pain as he fell down while holding his left hand “Damn it! It’s hot! Arg!! My body is breaking. Arghh!! It hurts!!”
Our attention went to him at once. Will agonized in pain for a while but he breathed a sigh after the ritual ended. He complained a lot, he even asked Hart to carry him outside of the magic circle because he is now too weak to even walk
“What a crybaby.” Chloe shrugged
“It really hurts you know!” He shouted. Now I am worried. Isn’t this abnormal? Do we get something like this? Has the ritual malfunctioned somehow?
“Hey, Richard. Is this normal?”
“Well, not really. It isn’t supposed to hurt that much. Maybe the priest was tired so they skimp on some procedures?” Richard dodged the question. The priest called Nana for the ritual next.
“Why are they calling us one by one?” a question suddenly popped into my head
“Huh? Why not?”
“I mean, isn’t the ritual the same for everybody? Can’t we decide the order by ourselves?”
“The faith crystals for each person are different. It is based on your rank.”
“I see...” it is not distinguishable by eye. But those crystals stabbed into our left hands are different huh?
“You guys are pretty special. That’s why the ritual was held up at the last minute. Crafting that crystal isn’t easy“
“So how many soldiers can we go up against? And what about Stella?” she has the highest rank above all of us. Triple S. Maybe she can wipe out the entire army in Alpas city by herself
“For us S rank. We can go up against 20 A rank.”
“That means 4000 D rank.”
“I said again, under normal and fair circumstances.” Now I see why he had some confidence against enemy vanguards. But then, why he seemed reluctant in attacking the city? But then, how about us? We can be considered SS rank, can’t we? And Stella is triple S.
“What about triple S.”
“Ahh, you are asking about her huh? Not asking about yourself?”
“I am curious as well, but I can somehow imagine it. Somewhere around 10 or 15 thousand?”
“Now, do you understand how special you guys are? To be more accurate, you might be able to go against 30 thousand but that would be a little bit dangerous”
“Yes. in that case, Stella can match against.... more than 70 thousand?”
“Nope, she is a special case.”
“huh?”
“SSS means the limit. That means, our instrument can no longer measure her talent. This is a surprise for all, after all, the highest talent this human country has achieved is S rank which is basically less than 10% of her talent.”
“I see.” More than in awe, I think they are more geared toward fear. After all, her talent is too outstanding. Just like when you have a nuclear bomb in your house. I wonder if Stella realized this.
“Nana collapsed!” Hart screamed.
“Please wait, the ritual hasn’t finished.” The head priest
“What happened?” I asked the priest.
“Well, I don’t know.” the priest answered
“What do you mean?” Hart was in a rage.
“The ritual has finished.” The other priest reported to the head priest.
“Ughh...” Nana groaned.
“Are you okay?” I asked in a worry
“Yeah, I am okay. just a little bit dizzy.”
“It doesn’t hurt?” Will asked
“It hurts a lot alright. Now I knew why you went on crying. I thought I was going to die there.”
“Richard. Something seems wrong with the ritual.” I asked in protest. The ritual seems to be getting more dangerous
“Priest. Is something the matter?”
“No, there are no problems. Maybe it is due to their lack of training. They didn’t perform mind training so their lack of composure when accepting the power of the faith crystal is to be understood.” The priest answered.
“As much as I want to postpone this, we can’t. Continue with the ritual.” Richard gave a decision. We can only agree. The next in line is Hart, after this, only Stella and I left. Is the order of the ritual n purpose? No, they wouldn’t get anything like that, I just worry too much.
“Parker, do you know why I didn’t include military strategy in your education? For example, something about scout battle earlier.”
“Lack of time?”
“Yes. That is the most important factor. But..”
“But why did you think that was unimportant.” I knew that if they didn’t teach us anything, there must be a lack of time. But that means they didn’t see military strategy as important as monster identification. Why is that?
“You read my mind. Let me tell you the public secret in the military. As I said before, an S rank can match up against more than 3000 inexperienced soldiers. I keep repeating myself here only if that is under normal and fair circumstances.”
“So there are unfair circumstances.”
“Yes. Of course. The demons are generally stronger than us. while our normal recruits are somewhere around D or D+ rank. Their normal soldier is C rank. That is twice if not thrice our power. And they have their own set of gladiators.”
“What is a gladiator?”
“It is us, or you can say the highest rank. An army is bound to have a gladiator or two.”
“So, what makes these gladiators different from each other? Or from the army commander?”
“A gladiator’s job is to kill enemy gladiator while the army commander’s job is to set up tactics and manage the army.”
“I still don’t quite understand.” A gladiator’s job is to kill the enemy’s gladiator?
“You see, an A rank alone can withstand 400 common soldiers. That is an entire battalion. And S rank can withstand 3000. That is the entire regiment. When an army loses their gladiator, they are most likely going to lose.” While Richard explained, I still have a question mark on my head. But I get a vague image of what we have to do here
“So.... you mean we aren’t supposed to do anything but kill the enemy gladiator?”
“Yes. That’s why we aren’t teaching you military tactics nor did we teach you how to command an army.”
“I see. But, what about you?“ I asked. He was in charge of everything back there. There are certainly several noble-looking men unfit to be a soldier but more geared towards paperwork that consulted Richard earlier. Is that this camp army commander? They look more than an office worker, their physique looks even weaker than the administration worker that hired us back in faith academy.
“Well, a gladiator is ranked higher than an army commander. And they have more risk to their life than the others, even the soldiers from the frontlines. Rather than entrusting my life to incompetent nobles, I should think for myself. What do you think? Hahaha.” He chuckled in amusement. This guy is interesting, he has the charisma that makes others follow him.”But the others don’t think so. So the lesson was dismissed.”
“Parker, Hart is acting kind of weird.” Stella and Nana interrupted us.
“Huh?” I looked at him
“Ugh!” unlike Nana that collapsed or Will that screamed in pain, Hart just grind his teeth while holding his left hand. He groaned heavily like he was holding something.
“Ugh!! Ahh!!” he finally lose it. He started to thrash around inside the magic circle. We watched the spectacle without words. In 5 minutes, he finally calmed down.
“hah.. hah...Damn.... this is no joke...” He pants while cursing.
“We will rest for a bit. It seems like we are all exhausted.” The head priest declared. All of the priests were catching their breath. After some words from Und, the maid then started to come down and served beverages to all of us.
“Richard. But you haven’t answered the first question, Richard. What about the unfair circumstances that you talked about? And the demons are generally stronger than us, so do you think they have their own set of S rankers like your group? How do you face them?” I asked another question while we rest. Our talk isn’t over so don’t expect to dodge this one Richard
“Ahh, you are sharp indeed. You guys from the other world don’t need such military tactics after all. One or two battles will make you progress much further than other military commanders.” Richard continued to chuckle “So, answering your question. The fundamental tactic is how to make the environment unfair to your opponent gladiator. As you see, under certain circumstances, that number earlier can be twisted and heavily at that. For example, let’s say an A-ranked mage can only deal with 400 people. But if he had just 200 vanguards as a shield, they can match 1000 people. Or better, if that mage is inside a castle with proper defense, they can prove incredibly devastating. Matching that of an S rank. But, let’s say that mage was under attack by ambushes when they are on a march. Maybe a B or even a C-rank warrior can kill him. “Richard said as he gazed at the ceiling. I can tell that he is speaking from his own experience, not from books. He has seen those unfair circumstances himself.
“Is that only...” I tried to ask the next question but he interrupted right before I could say anything
“Of course not. Warriors although their condition is more flexible than mages will also have their own special advantageous and disadvantageous circumstances. For example, when an S-rank warrior is surrounded on all sides, just 4 or 5 A-rank soldiers might be able to hold him. I was in those circumstances before I managed to beat them, but they managed to hinder us for a week. The reinforcement came late and some fort was lost.”
“I see. Is there anything else I should know?” so, the important thing is, to place ourselves in an advantageous position.
“Ahh. One important thing, mages, and warriors are the bane to each other. Therefore, before you do your battle, appraise your opponent's characteristics carefully. This is a piece of serious advice. Please put this advice in your heart.”
“Huh? Why are they bane on each other?”
“Depending on who gets the chance, they can do massive damage to each other. Imagine if an Archer snipes the mages from far away or an assassin attacked mages from behind. They will be dead before they knew it. The opposite also applied, if the mages manage to cast some high-grade spell while their vanguards hold enemy warriors in place their spell will mostly kill any warriors. For example, that thunder that killed the belue rhino. It could be used even by C-rank mages. If that thing hit, it could kill or paralyze an A rank. Dreadful isn’t it?” Richard said
“Even C rank could use it?”
“Yeah. But of course, comparing a C rank using it and triple S Stella using it is like comparing heaven and earth. In all terms of precision, power control, and chanting speed Stella is several leagues ahead. How weird that she is supposed to be a B rank at most in that time.” I doubt that Stella is even a B rank. I think she hides much more power by reading at the school library.
“Now is your turn. “ Richard said as the head priest called my name.
I nervously walked towards the magic circle. As I reach down the magic circle, the priest began to raise their staff, and the magic circle glows. The head priest then came towards me with a faith crystal in his hand. On closer look, the crystal was pretty like diamonds.
“Held out your left hand please.” The priest said as he held out his hands. When I held out, my left hand, the priest hold it with his left, and with his right hand, he stabbed the cone-shaped diamond into my hand. It stings a bit, just like when you get an injection in a hospital. Then he quickly stepped back outside of the glowing magic circle.
“Ugh....” my body feels hot all of a sudden. So this is what they talked about. Finally feeling it myself, I can’t laugh it off. My left hand is throbbing in pain. It was like my left hand pulsed and getting crushed from the inside.
“Aghh!!” I screamed like mad. Damn it! it hurts so much, I am going to die. My body grew incredibly hot and my hearts feel like it is being gripped. This is bad, am I going to die?
“Parker!” Nana and the rest called out to me. But their voice grew hazy, I can’t even tell what they are shouting about anymore. My head feels like exploding from inside
“UAGH!!! Damn it!! it hurts!!” I screamed and thrashed around for who knows how long. And my vision all turned black.
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Stella POV
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“Ugh...” Parker groaned as he woke up. He was in mess. He seemed to be in so much pain that time, he even hit the floor with his bare hand. His strength went up so it didn’t seem he was injured. But it was really frightening. He was mad and he seemed like he will kill anyone nearby. If it weren’t for the priest’s barrier, things might go in a bad direction. Is that the purpose of the magic circle? To contain the person that changed? What if Parker didn’t come back to his sense at that time? I was incredibly scared
“Are you okay?” Nana asked.
“Yeah, I am fine. What happened?”
“You screamed. Thrashed around destroying floors and passed out. Thank goodness you are okay.”
“I passed out?” he looked around confused
“Whew, now there is only one left. Please come Miss Stella.” The priest said “Ahh, we can’t use this floor, so we have to draw a new magic circle. Please wait a moment.”
“Ugh....” while Parker keep groaning and being consoled by Nana, I just stared at him from a distance. I want to console him too, but I knew this was not the time to do so. My turn will be up in a moment. Who knows what is going to happen to me when I step into that magic circle. I keep getting a bad feeling about this
“Parker, are you okay?” Nana asked him in worry
“Yeah, I am fine. That was hell, I didn’t want to do it again.” He keeps sighing and rubbing his left hand. His face was pale from exhaustion
“It hurts that much huh?” Chloe asked
“I think it is different from each other. After all, Chloe and Will didn’t even pass out. And John didn’t even scream. I wonder what's the differences?” Nana pointed out.
“Stella, are you ready?” Richard asked.
“Yeah, I am fine. Let’s go.” I said while slowly walking towards the magic circle. Even when Richard and his team seem confident in this ritual. I knew that this ritual isn’t 100% safe. From the information broker, I knew that this ritual has risks or accidents. These accidents happened when someone accepts faith crystal far above his or her ability.
However, the measurement system or the aptitude test that we take earlier grew more inaccurate the higher our rank. And my rank is past the measurement limit. This means they can’t determine my full potential. By looking at their greed and insecurity towards demons, I believe they are going to give me the highest rank faith crystals that no human will ever receive. But what if I bite more than I can chew?
Parker earlier just barely at his limit when accepting the crystals. When I take a peek at each of the crystals each of us accepts. Their brilliance was somewhat different. Richard said that they are indistinguishable by eyes. But why can I differentiate them? Parker’s crystals were a higher grade than the rest. And this one, the one that I will receive. Even by looking from outside of the box, I can feel that it was a league above even Parker. Why do they give us different crystals even though our abilities are averagely the same?
If compared to the second group, our rank is indeed higher but Parker and Hart are roughly the same. Why he gets better crystals? Nana too gets better crystals than Chloe and Will even though she has no S in her talent.
“Are you ready? Please hold out your left hand.” Without me noticing, the ritual already began.
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Parker POV
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“Stella has been pale since our ritual began...” Nana said
“Maybe she was nervous?” I replied halfheartedly. I wonder what’s in her head now. Is she afraid? I knew there are risks pertaining to this ritual, but so far, everyone made it out safely.
She held out her left hand which was then being held by the head priest just like what he has done for me. I can see that her hand is shaking. I want to shout out to encourage her, but it would be so embarrassing. Let’s just watch her warmly from the sidelines like the others. The pain has diminished considerably, I can walk and stand now.
Hmm.... the crystal that Stella received seemed a little bit different than the rest. Well, Richard said that each person will have different crystals and she is triple S if we are looking at her magic. When the priest stabbed the crystal gently into her left Stella gave a dumbfounded expression.
“Huh?” Stella keeps looking at her hand with a blankly look. Did nothing happen? How could it be, I was worried for nothing. Her talent is several levels above us so I expected that she would be in as bad of a situation as I do.
*Thump* Thump*
A sudden pulse reverberated through the entire room. What is this? I can feel some kind of pressure from her. It feels as though all of my body shakes from this pressure. Her expression changed drastically from a blank and expressionless look to that of anguish.
“Aaa...Aaaa.....” she groaned as she fell limp on the floor. Just like others, she strongly held her left hand. It was somewhat anticlimactic. From her face and rare expression, I thought it would be worse. I guess I have the worst symptoms huh? Well, now we are done, let’s head to the bead after she has done groaning there. I am incredibly tired that I might fall asleep right at this moment.
“AHHH!!!!” she started to scream incredibly loud. She thrashed around and hit the floor. her face suddenly filled with anguish as a rainbow aura oozes out of her.
*crackle crackle*
Sounds like electricity discharging could be heard from the air around her. The head priest raised his staff now unlike other’s ritual. Richard went up to the head priest in panic.
“What happened?”
“The barrier is under heavy pressure.” They replied
“But she hasn’t even cast anything yet. Pure power? Can you hold it?”
“She might be a lost cause.”
“Don’t give up yet. Parker can come back. There is still hope.”
“Raise the power.” The head priest
“AHH!!!!!” she screamed like mad. Do I scream like that too? Others said that I was a little frightened and keep banging on the floor.
“Fay! Bane! Und!” Richard called out.
“Yes.” without any orders, they immediately gathered and surround Stella outside of her magic circle. Fay was creating a second barrier just a little outside of the original barrier. What are they doing?
“They also did that when you went berserk. They keep silent about it though.” Nana asked while I was dumbfounded. Just what the heck is going on? Is the ritual about to fail?
“AHH!!!” with a crushing sound, ice spears sprouted from the ground facing outward of her location. But something seemed to stop it from spreading. The ice clearly hit something with great force. I could feel the shock wave from that magic circle.
“Ugh!! Richard, I don’t think we could hold.” The head priest said as he was sweating buckets
“Hold!”
“But...”
“I said hold! In normal procedures, you should give them more than 30 minutes damn it! You can’t even last two?” Richard shout
“GRAA!!!” Stella’s eyes were changing and she howled like a beast. Not only ice but this time, lightning was generated from her body to strike at the barrier that is holding her. But the spell was not enough to fully contain her power. Sometimes an ice spear or lightning strike will come out from the barrier and will be parried by Bane Richard
“This is serious! Richard!” Fay said in desperation. “I think we must go to plan B. Prepare your sword!”
“GRAA!! ARGH!!!” she keeps howling and screaming. Sometimes it is a beast’s sound and sometimes it is a human’s scream. The space inside the barrier became distorted. Lightning poured out from her body.
“Do I behave like that?” I asked Nana
“No. You are harming the barrier more physically and you aren’t physically changing. Her hair is changing color. And her eyes too seemed to change” Nana said as she looked extremely worried. She grip Chloe's hand as she talked.
“There is still hope. She is not completely changed.” Richard keep on deflecting magic that came out haphazardly from Stella with his sword to protect us and the immobile priests and Fay. Bane also tried to do the same. The whole meeting hall was ruined by stray shots from her.
“The barrier is breaking!”
“Damn... prepare to...”
“Wait.” Fay interrupted “Her powers are decreasing.”
While the pressure still exist, the howling and roaring began to stop. Her rampage was beginning to cool down
“Hold it, we can make it,” Fay said as she raised her staff and increased her power, she was panting. Fay is exhausted? That S-ranked magic teacher of ours? She never even broke a sweat when she trained us in mock combat training is exhausted?
“Good. The barrier is stabilizing. Don’t let your guard down now.” The head priest said while panting hard. He was trying to catch his breath. His legs were shaking as if he could collapse at any moment.
Several seconds of silence continued. Stella went silent as she fell back on the floor and fainted. Everyone breathes sighs of relief from their heart. The barrier went down and the priests all together at once fell into their butts soaked in sweat. Their old age is catching up and trying as hard as they could to breathe.
Stella was still unconscious. Unlike the rest, she physically changed a bit. Her hair turned silvery white. She was lying face down on the floor. Her breathing seemed a little ragged but at least she is alive. The ritual went on with success and no one died.
“Let’s call it a day. We still need to prepare for tomorrow. Parker, please carry Stella to her bed. She needs the rest and so is all of you.” Richard shooed us all to our bed. No need to be so rash, even without you ordering, I am going to the bed myself.
“Ah... I am tired. I want to take a bath but I can’t even take any more steps. I might fall unconscious in a bath.” Chloe muttered. I am worse you know.
“That’s dangerous Chloe. I admit that I want to take one too. But I guess we have to skip now since resting is our utmost priority now.” Nana said as she climbed into the bed and slept it didn’t even take two minutes for her to sleep. Chloe also followed suit to the bed under her.
The others quickly take any vacant beds and slept. The whole process was quick and silent, everyone was too tired to even talk before I knew it, I was the only one that stayed awake while putting Stella on her bed. We were all cramped into one room. This barracks, while relatively a large building, is still too small to house such an army. Many still sleep outside.
The fact that we get our own room inside the building is something we need to be grateful about. Sleeping outside is bad for your health. Not only the cold wind that is bad for your lungs, but sleeping on hard ground is uncomfortable and you might perform poorly when you need it.
“mmhh.” Stella groaned as I was about to leave her heading to my own bed. I was incredibly tired too and I wish to sleep as soon as possible. But is she regaining back her consciousness?
“Stella?”
“Parker?” I stared at her dumbfounded. Her eyes changed to match her silvery white hair.
“What happened?” she asked in her usual blank expression. Somehow I am glad that she is back to her usual. But that new look on her is more fitting to her than before. She is more beautiful that it catches me in awe. She fit the very definition of cool beauty.
“No, it’s just that, umm. Your hair..... and... your eyes.” I stuttered as I tried to reply to her. Why the heck am I acting nervous?
“Huh?” Stella look flustered as she looked at her hair. There’s no way that she would be able to look into her own eyes. But she somehow gets it.
“You also changed.”
“Ehh?”
“Your eyes changed color to red. What color are my eyes Parker?”
“It is the same as your hair. “ I replied. I really want a mirror now. When she said that my eyes also changed I quickly panicked. “What about my eyes.”
“There is a tinge of red in your iris. It suits you, Parker, you look cool.”
“Ehh?” sudden praise is not fair you know. I guess she was just being honest. “Y-you also look beautiful with your eyes and hair.”
My face went red as she smiled softly upon my counterattack. How can she stay calm like that? You are supposed to be fully embarrassed, why is she smiling? I have a girlfriend on the other side and this move is a sure kill technique you know. No girl has ever taken this move so calmly. Is it because she has amnesia?
“Thank you.” she then sighed. “I am really tired but somehow I can’t sleep”
“Umm.... so?” I asked dumbfounded. Her not being able to sleep isn’t really my business right?
“I just want to talk a bit. Care to listen?”
“Well, okay. If you insist.” I replied. To be honest, I am incredibly tired and want to sleep immediately. But I guess I can spare several minutes for this talk. So far, her words have been proven useful after all.
“It’s about this world. I guess this is another consultation huh?” she said. As I thought, she came up with a new theory or plan, isn’t she? Even if I am tired, I got to listen to this.
“So, what is it.”
“Hmm.... say, you are a politician’s son, right? What is a politician?”
“It’s a little bit hard to describe. A politician’s job is something along the lines of hearing common people's opinions. If you compare them to this world, they are like nobles I guess. But they do not own any land. They are just a representative from a group of people.”
“I see. I thought as much.” She said. If she had her memories, this should be obvious.
“....” She then keeps silent. She is always like this. At the important point of conversation, she always went silent like she was in deep thought. What is she thinking about now?
“So, what about a politician?” I took the initiative and asked
“I was just wondering... you heard my advice to Richard at carriages right?”
“Yeah. I heard them. Something about hiring mercenaries. right?” I replied.
“Richard refused. But he thought that the idea itself isn’t bad right?”
“Yes. He refused because he can’t do it not because he doesn’t want to do it. This scenario is a common occurrence even in a modern era where a politician or should I say nobles since we are in this world interrupted a professional worker to do their work with their utmost efficiency.”
“So it still happened even in our world,” Stella said in a daze. Her eyes aren’t focused she just stares at anything that’s in front of her
“Yes. That happened even in our world. If I were talking positively, several groups feel they will incur some loss with this other professional work and thus asking politicians to interrupt those professional workers.”
“That’s a positive way?”
“For example, a professional constructor wants to build a road. But, that road will be very convenient to people that it will incur losses to delivery companies since everyone will just use that road instead of asking the delivery companies to deliver their stuff. Or another example is building a road but to build that road, some houses will have to be demolished. “
“I see. That makes sense.”
“That is if we are taking it positively. If we are talking negatively which occurred more often than the positive ones. The politician is simply corrupt and he will hinder the professional workers if they didn’t bribe them. Or the rival professional bribed the politician to hinder their progress. This happened more often than the positive one.”
“What about this world?”
“I believe they are about the same if not worse. No, I have to admit that they are generally worse except for several people.”
“I see.” She then smiled
“So, what about them?” I asked.
“Hmm.... are you a corrupt politician Parker?” she asked. She is weird! Who in the world would admit that they are corrupt! And I am not even a politician yet!
“I believe my father isn’t corrupted. At least against the law.”
“How honest.” She said quite sarcastically. Is she testing me? Her words are getting on my nerves.
“So? What does my background have anything to do with these conversations? what are you trying to say, Stella?” I said while looking displeased.
“I was just wondering. Since the politician here is generally worse and you are one of the better ones in our world. Maybe, you should become a noble instead.”
“I see.” So that’s why she was beating around the bush. She is comparing me and the nobles in this world. I can proudly say that I am above average on that matter. This world’s way of thinking is just like the medieval ages after all.
“If you become a noble, you will get an income. That income will be for the army of mercenaries. If all of the corrupt noble’s income is to be yours, we should gather quite an amount right?”
“Yes. It would be plenty to hire an army.” I affirmed his thought. But stealing those corrupt noble’s money isn’t as easy as it sounds Stella. If it were that easy, our society in the modern future would already flourish by now.
“Thank you Parker for hearing me out. I am going to sleep now. Good night.” She said as she went back to bed and slept.
“Good night.” And our conversation ended. I climbed the ladder and slept above Stella. That’s the only empty bed here. I don’t like sleeping high but let’s not be picky.
“Fighting corruption in another world huh?” In contrast to Richard’s words, Stella asked me to directly confront politics and meddle in national finances. Personally, I think Stella’s idea is a better one but it is harder to execute. Before taking any decisions, we should see how the battle in this world turned out. Richard asked us to be gladiators. Our job is solely to kill the enemy’s gladiator. If raw power is all that it needs then we don’t really need to meddle in national affairs. We aren’t defenders of justice, we just want to go home. With that thought, I drifted to the lands of dreams
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Richard POV
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“The king asked for the status of the heroes about their ritual.” Some man in black cloaks approached me while I was taking a stroll in the middle of the night. It was such a hectic day today. If She didn’t make it, I didn’t think I would be able to handle it. It is an intuition honed by many years of experience.
“The ritual went on perfectly. Everyone survives. They are currently sleeping now.”
“So the ritual went on without a hitch. What about their powers? Are they as strong as we hoped?”
“They went to rest immediately. They seemed very tired after the ritual so I didn’t know about the 8 heroes. But for the first and second....”
“What about them?”
“The ritual almost failed on both of them so they displayed a slight of their power. Especially with the second, their powers are no longer in the human realm.”
“So, they manage to gain extreme powers then. Thank you very much, I will report this to his majesty at once.”The man smiled as he left. I can only sigh as he left.