CHAPTER 63: A NEW MISSION
Aurora woke up with a headache.
Her mind was drowsy and her headache was not helping her recovery, and the only clear thing was that she was in her bed.
Realizing that she was wearing her pajamas, she remembered that Alice had helped her put them on before she had let her sleep in her bed.
However, not only did that memory come to her mind, but she also remembered clearly what she did to the young man.
“He probably hated me, didn’t he?” Aurora muttered with a strange expression.
She was ashamed of her actions and childish acting, but defended herself by saying that it was the alcohol’s fault.
However, inside she was laughing as well and couldn’t deny that she enjoyed the shocked expression at the young man when she blamed him for something he didn’t do.
Getting Alice to call him a ‘pervert’.
Managing to ‘break’ the performance of an important figure the young man had been performing with certainly left Aurora quite pleased with his actions.
“Have there been any emergency missions?” Aurora asked, sitting on the side of her bed, trying to forget her embarrassing performance yesterday.
Her system didn’t answer her question and Aurora got a strange look on her face, realizing what kind of pajamas she was wearing.
Before Alice changed her, she herself acted childishly, expressing that she wanted these pajamas... Slightly revealing pajamas, but very comfortable in privacy.
Alice obeyed, and the system disappeared to maintain her privacy.
“What kind of system likes to maintain privacy?” Aurora muttered shaking her head strangely.
While she could not comprehend such a fact, at this point in her life, she was used to such occurrences.
After all, her system had been with her for as long as she could remember and she questioned it for fun, just as she did with her teachers.
After changing into comfortable clothes, Aurora looked at her holographic clock and sighed as she saw that it was already noon.
She woke up too late and could no longer train in the morning and perform a daily mission as usual.
She liked to train before the students woke up and before going to sleep, to keep in shape and meet the expectation of her masters.
It was problematic because both masters asked her to train in two different styles and as much as the time in that white space passed differently; it was still tiring physically and mentally.
However, she was not wasting so much time and could devote herself to her work.
When she went out to her room, she went to the living room and found Alice coming out of the elevator.
The fourth floor belonged entirely to Alice and her, being a fully equipped and independent apartment with all the necessary amenities.
The main reason was that she needed a private place to address her masters without having to draw attention to herself.
“How are the students?” Aurora asked after greeting her friend.
“Better than you. Most of them have already completed two missions and are now training with Akira’s group,” Alice reported calmly and after putting down her chips, she passed her a drink and commented. “It’s a concoction. It will help you get over the hangover.”
Aurora was not surprised by the report about the students.
They were truly putting their all into taking advantage of every moment and opportunity to improve themselves.
The ‘Ark’ mission also gave a sense of needing to improve and live up to the mission.
Aurora’s gaze shifted to the concoction that had a strange color and smell.
It was clear that it was created in the alchemy room, and despite its appearance, Aurora drank it in one gulp.
The drink was sticky and strange, however, the vanilla flavor made it better than she expected.
“It’s delicious...” Aurora murmured with a smile.
—And the effects are remarkable.
That comment about her system being back made Aurora couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
The headache and general hangover were completely gone.
Despite her friend’s request for an alchemy lab to create ‘dressings’ and all sorts of ‘sauces’ using medicinal and magical plants, she was actually someone quite knowledgeable in the art of alchemy.
“I have to go visit the army and the volunteer adventurer’s guilds. Can you take care of the Apicius Company?” Aurora asked as she stretched, feeling better.
She had some business to attend to today, and the cause was that there was less and less time left before the Ark mission.
No matter how much she had settled some minor matters virtually, a visit in person was necessary to clear up any issues that were left adrift.
The Zerzura City army and the volunteer guilds for this mission had a high involvement and were vital to ensure the effective success of the mission.
It was the same with the Apicius Company who basically took care of much of the city and gave their help not only financially.
However...
“I don’t want to,” Alice answered immediately and when Aurora looked at her, she explained. “I’ll probably be invited to the anniversary of the founding of Zerzura City.”
“Ohhh, right,” Aurora murmured as she remembered the dates.
A party to celebrate the annual anniversary of the founding was always held on July 27 and was a rather festive day for the entire city.
It celebrated the achievement of having created the city, honored those who gave their lives for Zerzura and those who strived to protect it today.
In the streets, it was a big party, but the higher-ups had their own personal party with important national and international figures that Aurora found tedious.
So she was by Alice’s side on that point.
Unfortunately, someone had to sacrifice for the team.
“Let’s send Liam,” Alice advised, and gave a tender look for him to agree.
Aurora’s lips twitched.
For Alice to be stooping so low... She certainly didn’t want the guest to be her.
“Well, tell Liam to go arrange the details with Apicius Enterprise,” Aurora commented, unable to resist.
Alice gave a victorious smile, but Aurora was thinking that her friend would not get out of attending that party so easily.
“I’ll go to work,” Aurora reported, not wishing to ruin her friend’s good mood, and Alice dismissed her with a huge smile.
Like a loyal wife bidding farewell to her beloved husband, who cared for her with utmost attention... Aurora’s lips trembled as she held her smile at such an idea.
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Riding in a car she pulled out of the garage, Aurora drove to the military barracks that were located on the edge of the city of Zerzura.
The center of the city was dozens of tall buildings, but to the sides were suburbs that covered much of the city.
All but to the south, where she was currently heading.
In that place, there were also different high-tech buildings and the military barracks.
That area was the place where the beast tamers could live quietly with their beasts.
The beasts themselves had different habitats to stay near the city buildings, where their tamers would be located.
As most of the magical beasts were treated as ‘equals’ with their ‘tamer’ they actually required conditions according to their tastes and those areas were created especially for them.
In the army and in the guilds, there were some beast tamers and those places were vital for them.
This was the only part of the city that the wall that was not expanded with suburbs but expanded with free habitats for the magical beasts.
Driving through the center of this area, Aurora drove first to the military barracks that were attached to the southern wall next to the large gate that stood open.
Zerzura City had its own army with skill users and was equipped with advanced weapons.
This was not only for self-protection, but served as a deterrent to those warlords who had their eyes on the ‘jewel’ of Africa.
No matter if it was an SS Rank or those few SSS Rank individuals, in modern warfare armies were still important and more so for large-scale wars.
A powerful stock deterred individuals from acting, but an army deterred entire nations or kingdoms.
Of course, the army also served as a protection for beasts and villages.
They also had volunteer teams to support in missions around the cities and at the same time take charge of supporting missions like the one Aurora was about to undertake.
There were times when groups of refugees from other areas would approach Zerzura City in search of protection and times when huge waves of creatures were roaming around, that’s when the army would step in.
While lunatic players and skill users with malicious intent had diminished over time, the army also served to keep that kind of individual from acting up.
Driving carefully, Aurora gave her pass to those guarding the entrance to the military barracks.
“You may come in. I have already informed the Colonel of your arrival,” said the soldier with a professional expression, giving a military salute.
She had sent a message asking if she could come in today, but seeing the soldier salute in such a disciplined manner gave Aurora a bad feeling.
As she parked the car, a dark-skinned middle-aged man approached with a serious expression as he was followed by an entourage of local military men.
The military uniform was quite striking and even though Aurora didn’t recognize the insignia, she recognized this person.
“Greetings, Colonel Wiyghan Makeba,” Aurora greeted with a professional tone and....
“Greetings, ‘Protector of Zerzura’!” saluted the man with a military salute as his entourage repeated the salute at his side.
Aurora’s expression quivered.
Because of people like the colonel in front of her, that title she didn’t like had become so widespread.
“That title is too heavy for me,” Aurora commented, trying not to let her frown be seen.
They were her most sincere thoughts.
Zerzura was a city of twenty million people and her job was only a grain of sand compared to the others.
The army, the church, the mercenaries, the adventurers, the Apicius company, and tens of thousands supporting the city and protecting it.
Being called ‘Protector of Zerzura’ was a joke to the efforts of the others, it was why Aurora didn’t like that title.
“Yet you are someone who can bear that weight.” Colonel Makeba replied without changing his expression.
Aurora shook her head.
She knew the Colonel was an overly direct, blunt, and half stubborn person, even if she told him not to call her that he would still insist.
“How are the preparations?” Aurora asked to change the subject.
“Perfectly. We have prepared the vehicles for the trip and an outpost has been set up in Wau City in Sudan,” Colonel Makeba reported.
As much of the countries of Africa had collapsed and civilization had literally disappeared from that area, it was a big problem transportation.
Specialized vehicles needed to be prepared so that they could make a journey through the now ruined streets covered by the magic forest.
The outpost served to organize the base for the ‘Ark’ mission and, in case of emergency, prepare a backup.
Colonel Makeba led Aurora through the military barracks, where several groups of soldiers were waiting.
“These are the volunteers,” Colonel Makeba pointed and, looking at the soldiers, ordered. “Line up!”
The soldiers lined up like professionals.
They wore their uniform and carried a large backpack on their backs along with their weapons in their hands.
Not only were they using state-of-the-art rifles, but some carried swords or cold weapons.
The soldiers were mostly all Africans, but there were some who joined the army from other nationalities or other continents.
“Actually, the big backpacks are not necessary,” Aurora muttered as she saw that the soldiers had space rings.
“It’s part of the training. They carry everything vital in their space rings, but one never knows if they will have to carry someone who needs it. The backpacks represent the lives of those they save.” Colonel Makeba stated with a solemn tone.
Training with extra weight was quite useful, the problem was that the meaning Colonel Makeba gave it was too heavy.
Aurora knew that sometimes she needed to carry someone, still... Even for her, it was extreme.
“Captain Sadiya to the front!” Colonel Makeba ordered, without noticing Aurora’s expression.
One of the few African women stepped forward.
Aside from her rifle and heavy pack, she had a sword sheathed on her hip.
“Captain Sadiya will be the one to lead the four teams and lieutenants. She is a Rank A swordsman, and the lieutenants leading the other groups of five are also Rank A. They have a medical team included,” Colonel Makeba reported and was given a nod by Captain Sadiya.
“Greetings ‘Protector of Zerzura’!” shouted the twenty soldiers in unison next to the Captain.
Aurora’s lips twitched, but in the end, she nodded in greeting.
“If you wish, we can offer you extra support. Personally, I am available,” Colonel Makeba said with a serious tone and watching her closely.
It was a look Aurora identified as ‘expectant’.
“No need,” Aurora replied quickly, and seeing that the big man was looking at her with pity, she added. “We don’t need to overdo it too much.”
Colonel Makeba was an S-Rank and someone very dedicated to the protection of Zerzura.
The problem was that if she started moving too many S-Ranks, there could be inconvenience elsewhere and incidentally too much tension could be generated with the warlord of Mombasa.
It might even instigate the warlord ‘Somali Terror’ to act and ruin the plans for the ‘Assault’ mission she wanted to carry out before the end of the month.
Liam had been preparing for the ‘Assault’ mission for quite some time, she could not ruin his preparations now.
“Anyway, thanks for your support Colonel,” Aurora thanked with a professional smile.
“It’s our honor to help you,” Colonel Makeba replied without changing his expression.
His response was sincere and quick.
Aurora smiled, and after settling some minor matters, she left the military barracks driving her car.
“It’s quite troublesome that they extend that title,” Aurora muttered, shaking her head.
—It’s impossible to stop them.
Aurora knew it was already too late.
The title had spread too far to the point where even intelligent magical beasts were using it.
It was by the likes of Colonel Makeba that it was spread too far, Aurora knew it and it was for such a reason that she kept silent despite her internal complaints.
—I guess saving him made it so that now I couldn’t help but call you by that title.
Aurora didn’t respond to her system’s comment.
She had been working in Zerzura City since before its founding and had saved quite a few people, despite her inability to use her primary weapon.
Colonel Makeba was one of them, only...
“I’m surprised he became an S-Rank and stayed in the military,” Aurora murmured sincerely.
It was hard to know and remember all the people she saved, but for someone to reach S Rank and stay in the military, where the benefits were low compared to the guilds, was surprising.
—Surprising, but not uncommon. These are the effects of the circle that Zerzura stood on.
Aurora couldn’t help but smile when she heard that.
Someone saved some people, and they then saved another, allowing that other to save someone else... There was always someone who continued that circle and the city Zerzura was created based on that circle.
While there were mercenaries and other individuals who worked for their personal interests, such deeds did not take away from the strength of the circle.
After leaving the military barracks, Aurora went to the ‘Orisha Oko’ guild, where she met the other volunteer groups, which belonged to adventurers from different guilds, who were to be led by the Orisha Oko.
As the Orisha Oko were a guild of adventurers that from time to time met each other during the missions, it was quite nice for Aurora to talk to one of the S-Rankers leading the guild.
After finishing her task and organizing all the details, Aurora retired and headed to the center of the city where her home was located.
“Alima is a good guild leader,” Aurora muttered as she drove.
The person who had greeted her was one of the leaders of the ‘Orisha Oko’ Guild, of which Aurora had a good impression.
—Despite her desire to help personally, she does not forget the interests of her guild. She strikes a good balance.
Aurora agreed completely.
The Orisha Oko was a guild supported by the city Zerzura that helped in the same way as Aurora and, even though helping was their goal, their interests as guilds were also important.
They too had to live, buy weapons, artifacts, and items of any kind to improve their strength.
That was why they needed to make a profit and not rely so much on Zerzura’s funding.
At that point, the leader Alima was someone who knew how to balance the desire to help her and her guild members with the interests to continue subsisting.
In these types of missions, although completely voluntary, preferential treatment was received as a reward.
Whether it was receiving priority on high reward quests, dungeon clearing, or other more administrative matters.
Aurora may have done this as a non-profit thing, but she wasn’t forcing others to do the same.
Everyone had their reasons and their goals, as long as those goals did not harm innocents, Aurora had no problem cooperating with them.
While she was having such thoughts and enjoying the music in the car, her holographic watch vibrated.
—It’s a message from the authorities of the Swiss Beast Tamers Academy.
Her system reported, and when Aurora gave the command to display the message, her system obeyed.
“Oh, it’s about time the beast tamers came for their contracts. It’s a chance for the group to visit the magical forest,” Aurora muttered after reading the mission and seeing the reason why the mission was coming to her now, she added."I have to thank Colonel Makeba for the mission."
An annual mission and of high benefits, it was left to Aurora for a simple reason.
One had to enter the magical forest and head deep into a dangerous area controlled by a type of magical beast.
Aurora could not hide her smile and sent a message of thanks to Colonel Makeba, who reported that she had returned, allowing the Swiss academy to pass the mission on to her.