As we walked closer the person came into view was indeed a human and began waving vigorously trying to flag us down.

Jakob Watt Lv 5

Apprentice Spearman Level 2

The AR and appraisal skills began providing me with information.

“If he’s level 5 I wonder why he doesn’t upgrade his job more,” I spoke under my breath to myself.

I couldn’t see his face, but from his frame, I was able to identify that this person was a man. He was also fully equipped. He was wearing a football helmet equipped with a facemask and a dark visor, a baseball umpire gear set, chest protector and shin guards, football pants with the pads in them, he also had an ironing board he seemed to be using as a tower shield. His weapon was a pool cue, but he had what looked to be the horn of a horned rabbit duck tapped securely from the midway point of the cue giving it a pointed end.

I must say even though he looked absolutely ridiculous his gear looked somewhat effective. His body had a very small amount of areas that were exposed. He even looked to be equipped with a cup for his baby maker.

He approached me as cautiously as I approached him, I guess he has seen the two machetes hanging from my waist and Vera still had her bow locked and loaded because the closer we became the slower he walked.

He was at least four inches taller than me, a muscular build. Seemed like an ideal football player. I’d guess about 6’4.

“Hello, I mean you no harm.” He was the 1st to speak. He raised his hands in a surrendering posture. That was enough for Vera to remove the arrow from her bow. She quickly ducked behind me as he approached.

I guess she was still somewhat shy, but I couldn’t blame her. Her childhood was worse than mine.

“Hello, my name is Jordan. This shy girl behind me is Vera. You looked very well equipped.”

"Anything to help me survive out here, times have changed,” he answered.

I was glancing up at the sky the sun was beginning to set and we were still out in the open. I couldn’t drag these introductions on for too long.

“My name is Jakob; I see that you noticed the monsters hunt predominantly at night. I was just going to head back myself before I seen you, would you like to come with me?”

“Come where? And what exactly were you doing out here?”

“I was tasked with scouting this area for monster activity and survivors. There was a settlement established at a local high school. The best part is its safe. My father is the principle so he established it the day all this stuff began taking place. It’s what is called a high-risk school because it’s in an area that had a high crime rate. So it had a level two security requirement. We haven’t had any monster incident there to this point.”

What he was saying sounded pretty good to me I had no reason to say no, the fact is we need somewhere to stay, but it’s best to make a decision with all the necessary information.

“What does a level two security entail?”

“Well, half the school is bordered by a neighborhood so the shared border is separated by a twelve foot stone wall. The other half is a ten-foot steel fence with welded metal mesh. The only way in or out is through gates we keep manned and closed.”

“Mr. Jordan, what does that mean?” Vera spoke up for the first time since we got in the range of Jakob.

“Oh, so she does speak I was concerned she was mute.” He said it with a laugh.

“What he is saying is its pretty safe from monsters.”

“The safest.” He confirmed

So I ultimately decided to follow him to the school.

“I’ll give you a quick rundown, my dad normally gives a full orientation to all the newbies every day to help them get settled.”

“That sounds good.”

“The cafeteria was turned into a general population area and that is where most of our residents are staying, there is still running water so the bathrooms and water fountains still work. “

“Sorry to interrupt, but what’s the population?”

“The last count it was an almost five hundred people.”

“And you keep all five hundred in the cafeteria? Why not use the classrooms?”

“No we don’t keep them there, but most find comfort being around others. I personally hate the cafeteria, it’s depressing and I try and avoid there as much as possible.

“Why is that?” He didn’t seem annoyed by my barge of questions.

“You would just have to see for yourself. There is no hope to be found in there. We are trying to keep the classrooms reserved for people who make contributions to the establishment in some form or another. Since there is no way of paying for them. That’s the only reward we could think of for people like me and the others who leave the safety or the premises to do things like hunt and fight. There are a lot of people who just want to sit and wait thinking the army is going to come and save the day.”

“That makes sense; even if the army does come they have no vehicles, weapons, or technology. At that point, they are just civilians like us.”

“Yes exactly.”

“And what are the chances the school will disappear like everything else?”

“We’ve been carefully observing the disintegration happening to the buildings and roads, we came to the conclusion that it only happens after there is no living human activity for 24 hours.”

During the course of our walk and talk after fifteen minutes, we made it to the gates of the school. I was fairly impressed; it was as imposing as he said. I thought for a brief moment he was just being a used car salesman.

Vera noticed we were heading into a populated area and pulled the hood of her jacket over her head to hide her ears. Up to this point, she’s kept them tucked under her hair.

We walked along the sidewalk to a single person entry gate that had two individuals manning it in similar attire to Jakob standing on the other side. They both looked to be about Jakob’s age and seemed to be on friendly terms judging by their interactions.

“Hey, Jakob you found another?”

“Yes, are the others back?” he asked one of the guards.

“Yea man, you’re the last as usual.”

“Ok, I'll introduce you guys later; I want to bring him to dad straight away. He doesn’t like doing the new booty orientation twice.”

“Yessir.”

I nodded as a quick hello to the guards and followed behind Jakob.

The Parking lot of the school was pretty large with only three cars present, but fireplaces were set up throughout and various people were hanging out around them talking.

“Seems like people are beginning to cope with the changes.” The thoughts on my mind slipped out of my mouth.

“Yea, some people have a stronger will to live,” He confirmed.

“I see.”

Vera was quietly following behind me she was being very mousy reverting to herself the 1st time we met. It concerned me a little, but I assumed she would get comfortable as time rolls on. In her world, humans were extinct so it must be pretty odd to find yourself suddenly in the presence of such a large group of them.

We made it to the school courtyard and more fires were blazing these had large stainless steel pots on them.

“What’s the purpose of those?”

“There just for boiling water, we try to keep a few pots on at all time so we have drinking water. We weren’t sure how the shutdown would affect the filtration system so we began doing this for health purposes.”

It seems like a good idea in theory, but in my mind, it was somewhat wasteful. With everything going on death by stomach bug was down my list of ways I could die. The wood being used to maintain all these fires could serve better uses else, but that was just my personal opinion.

We finally made it the main office portion of the school, and Jakob escorted me in where I sat on one of the available chairs in a room with a man and two ladies.

They didn’t seem to be connected but, they were both looked severely frightened, dirty, and had a cachectic appearance to them.

“Hey guys sit tight my dad should be out in a few, I have to go check in so I have to run.”

While I was a student, this was a place I avoiding with every fiber of my being. There were a very small amounts of reasons a student would want to be in here. The office looked like it was in very good shape pretty much untouched since the last day it was used. The lack of AC caused this tightly sealed space with the body heat of its occupants to be a little warm, but it was tolerable.

“Vera, Are you ok?”

“Yes, there’s just so many things I haven’t seen before in here. Are these floors made of some kind of stone?”

“I guess you can call it that.”

I wasn’t a genius by any stretch of the word. So I wasn’t sure about some of the how it’s made questions that she seemed to ask a lot. I guess that’s her dwarven side peaking. She was still holding the dead rabbit in her hand and I know she was really getting excited about making it.

“Are you getting hungry?”

“Yep.”

Hearing the talk switch to food, our office mates pick their heads up and stared intently at us. Their glares were so intent it frightened Vera who was now gripping my arm.

“Your glares are pretty harsh,” I said to them.

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t eaten in days. Please if you have anything to spare.” The gentleman jumped at the opportunity to start begging.

“Yes me too please it’s been at least four days.”

“Anything at all please!”

At this point, they were beginning to scare me too.

Then the door opened, cutting through the tense atmosphere like Swiss cheese. In came a fairly large physically imposing man. He had to be at least 6’6 with a barrel chest and large guns attached to his shoulder. He gave off a terminator feel.

“Hello, my name is Tyler Watt. I’m the former principal of this school and founder of this settlement. We’ve taken to calling it Central village named after the school.”

Principle? He looked like the powerlifting coach!

“Is there food!”

The gentleman from earlier yelled out.

“I will offer you one meal. From that point on it's your responsibility to find ways to feed yourself.” His words offered some form of relief to the starving people I was sharing the office with, but in hindsight one meal isn’t going to do much. He glanced back and forth quickly forming a first impression; his gaze was heavy and felt packed with a lot of pressure. They made me want to tattle on myself for something I didn’t do. This gentleman was fit to be a principle. His eyes eventually landed and began appraising the rabbit Vera was still holding. “I see you guys brought dinner.”

She tighten her grip on the rabbit and buried her face in my arm and tried avoiding the pressure he was exuding.

“Very well then let me continue, the key to making this work is everyone has to do their own part. There are multiple ways you can help here. Whether you cook, hunt, clean, or you have a unique set of skills that can help us here.”

He took time to explain the various things they need here and how we can contribute in depth. The information though seemed like pretty common sense. Somehow he managed to talk for fifteen nonstop minutes before he looked around making eye contact with each of us just to make sure we weren’t in a daze from too much information. I guess that’s the teacher in him.

“You will be assigned a space in the cafeteria where you will sleep, however, it’s not a demand you sleep there you may sleep anywhere on the compound it's entirely up to you.”

“I would like a classroom, how do I get one?” I was ready to get to business.

“Classrooms are designated private rooms assigned to families that contribute. The benefits are obvious they are private and every classroom has a key so it’s secure. In order to get a classroom, you must take an off-campus job such as a scout, hunter, or participate in any battles. Or contribute something that covers the value of a secured classroom. “

“What kind of contributions are you currently looking for? I’m not comfortable leaving a small child by herself while I’m out hunting.” I was speaking of course about Vera, and he seemed to understand.

This was a gathering of people of various backgrounds. Not everyone has good intentions.

“That’s very understandable. Let’s see we can use weapons, food, and anyone with medical expertise. All healers can also get a classroom.”

Vera began tugging on my shirt; I know she must be getting very hungry I need to wrap this up soon.

“Oh, you have healers here as well?”

“Yes, of course, we have four. However are you familiar with what Mana or MP is?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Well, their mana only gives them the ability to heal at most five people a day each. Depending on the severity of the injury all four could use up their entire mana just healing one person, but a few of the healers are nurses so they are capable of patching people up with old fashion elbow grease and gauze.”

“I get it; well can we do a quick negotiation. I’d like to not take up much more of your time; I will commit myself to the defense of this campus and combat any force that attacks this compound. In addition to that, I have a five lbs. bag of rice in my book bag.”

“Well, I would be willing to offer you the room just for your combat potential. That little one is carrying a bow and you are equipped with blades at your waist. “

“She is not to be involved in any conflict without my consent. The rice was to help feed those three. Also please use it for any women and children who are hungry. It should be able to feed at least ten people.”

“Thank you so much!”

“You kind soul!”

After a quick nod of his head the principle Tyler walked to a different room and came back with two keys.

“Please be careful not to lose them, I only have two keys for each and one master key. So they will not be replaced. You will be in Room# 2-212. Also, I’d like to ask a personal favor. We are having a combat meeting to discuss a potential rescue operation tomorrow. I’d like if you can attend. “

“No problem, I will be there.”

“Ok allow me to get back on track and finish up. As for rules, basic laws apply including the golden rule. If you follow those you shouldn’t have a problem.”

“What about coming and going?”

“We haven’t really had an issue there; most people would rather stay put and only a select few leave on their own. I guess it should be fine the gates are manned 24/7, but if you are chased back here by a hoard of monsters don’t expect someone to put the lives of many at risk to save the lives of a few.”

“That’s perfectly reasonable. Last question, there are a few open flames out there are we allowed to use one or do we need to set our own.”

“Open flames are set for a designated area, so please only set a fire if you see another fireplace close by. There are also children on the compound whose safety we have to think about, but if you see an open fire you are welcome to use it. Rule of thumb, the “dibs” method doesn’t apply here.”

“Thank you, very much I’m sure this little one is hungry and exhausted. We’ve been walking for a while.”

“Understandable we are all done here.”

With that, we exited the office first leaving the those three there with Tyler Watt, and then we walked back to the parking lot where most of the fireplaces we saw were located.

“I’m sorry that took so long Vera, I know you’re hungry.”

“Well yea, but that wasn’t why I was trying to get your attention.”

“Ok, what’s up?”

“I was trying to tell you that I am able to use healing magic, so if you wanted me to help I am ok with that.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you could use healing magic.”

“You didn’t ask. Light Magic is a racial skill among the elven race.”

I felt like there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“Tell you what, let’s get comfortable and you can cook the rabbit and you can tell me more about things I don’t know.”

This was the golden opportunity I was waiting on.

Her response was a quick nod.

The Orange sun was now kissing the landscape and would be gone in a short while. The weather was also noticeably chillier. That’s only natural when you consider we’ve been heading north, but it wasn’t intolerable. I welcomed it. This felt a lot better than the stuffy sealed building’s with no A/C, and with the fireplace it was perfect.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Mr. Jordan can I use your knife to skin the rabbit?”

“I put a knife for you in the book bag I gave you, it’s slightly smaller than mine, but should be very easy to use.”

The thought of her using a knife didn’t sit well with me. She was just too young looking. I had to get over that. She’s obviously from a world a lot harsher than mine and has been catching and killing her own food for a lot longer than me.

She held her knife in hand and I was awestruck by the way she handled it. It was as if she was an orchestra conductor and she was in the middle of a grand symphony. In a few minutes, the rabbit was skinned as easy as peeling a banana.

“Mr. Jordan….I feel pretty uncomfortable with you watching so intently. Maybe you should just come back in thirty minutes.”

“Wha….fine”

I was definitely disappointed to learn that I wouldn’t be able to watch her work so beautifully anymore.

But it was refreshing to see her exert her independence, she went from PTSD induced separation anxiety to “leave, but don’t go too far, and be back before too long.” I would say we were heading in the right direction.

She was clearly in her element here and my presence wasn’t needed, so I left her to do her thing.

I was planning on walking to the cafeteria to check out what the general living situation was like there before heading to our newly assigned room before I heard frantic begging from someone coming out a room my right.

“Please I’m begging you, I have children.”

“I’m sorry, you know the rules this is a trade shop and you have nothing to trade.”

I heard the back and forthcoming from out of what used to be the school store I assumed.

“It’s getting cold and I just want my kids to have something to wear. We sleep outside in the courtyard at night it’s going to get really chilly tonight.”

I walked into the store because my curiosity had a stranglehold on me. There was a lady I would say mid thirty’s brunet, long thick messy hair. Well, she overall looked a mess but was still very pretty apart from the fact that she looked like she’d been through hell. She was in a stained tank top and ripped jeans, not by design. Behind her were two boys, twins maybe, they were almost identical. They looked a lot like her in shorts and a t-shirt.

“My daughter went to this school, I know they kept jackets here for sale and I know you have more in the back.”

“What do you have for them?”

In the middle of their back and forth bickering, something on a shelf behind the store attendant was catching the attention of my AR.

Unhatched Divine dragon egg.

It was a pretty large egg about the size of a basketball. Its shell was a beige color with a rough texture that looked like the skin of a crocodile.

What the hell. What’s something like that doing here?

“Excuse me I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was interested in acquiring one of the items you have displayed.”

Barbara Watt Lv 1

Merchant Lv 1

Her last name Is Watt. I assume there is a relation to Principle Watt since she is running the store. She gave off a stern skinny librarian vibe the complete opposite of Tyler and Jakob who were both physically imposing. Also, why chose a non-combat job in a time like this?

Eh, to each their own. I had no place to judge. Her husband established this entire mini-city; she would likely never need to fight.

My AR didn’t display the information on the others they likely haven’t assigned a job yet.

“Sarah please step back I have a customer.”

As desperate as she seemed to be, she complied without question and took a step back allowing me to pass.

“I’m interested in that.”

I pointed at the egg and she turned and picked it up off the shelf.

“This isn’t any good, I was completely jipped.” She responded honestly, “I traded for it thinking it would make a pretty big breakfast for my boys but it’s fossilized and is nothing more than a pretty big rock.”

She demonstrated by dropping it on the floor. I felt like it was falling in slow motion like an expensive smartphone. My heart was shaken.

Bang.

It smashed into the floor but was completely unharmed. I breathed a massive sigh of relief. It actually had enough power to crack the tile under it.

I picked it up. The egg was remarkably light in spite of the damage it just did.

“I assume by boys you mean Tyler and Jakob?”

“Yes, as well as Daniel, Jakob’s brother, my other son.”

Ding ding ding I figured it out. I had to trade for this egg.

“Well, Tyler must be under a lot of pressure from all these responsibilities along with his son being on the front line. But he's probably used to the pressure since he was a principal for a school like this.”

Bait set.

“I think the one under the most pressure here is me younging, “she said with a sigh. “But you’re right; He does have a lot of pressure on him right now. This all just happened so fast, and sometimes there are times I feel so helpless. Before shit hit the fan here he uses to come home, kick off his boots, I would pour him a glass of wine and rub his shoulder and help drown his troubles away. Working at a school for troubled children isn’t easy, but he had such a big heart he never gave up on anyone.”

Hooked.

“What kind of wine did you use to poor for him?”

“He was a red wine kind of guy,” she was speaking in a passionate voice as if she was fantasizing about the good times.

In the art of negotiation, it’s best to know what your adversary wants and how bad they want it. It clear to me that she doesn’t know what that egg is and doesn’t think highly of it and would probably trade it for a stick of gum. However, I don’t know what skills her merchant job gave her so it’s best to be cautious. There is always the chance she is trying to pull a fast one on me. Merchants can be very sly people.

“Do you still do that for him now?”

“Heaven's no, we ran out of our house so fast wine was the last thing I was concerned about grabbing and it’s hardly worth risking my life out there to find.”

I took out a bottle of unopened red wine from my book bag via storage and set it on the counter. I bet raiding that liquor store makes me look like a genius now doesn’t it.

Her eyes became as big as dish saucers.

“Whatever you want, tell me what you want for it!”

“I want this,” as I grabbed the egg of the counter, “and whatever they wanted,” I pointed to the lady and her sons.

She went in the back and came back with three sweaters, sweatpants, blankets, and various snacks.

“Here, about the bottle, can I have it now?!”

The wine worked up Barbara; she was on the brink of a tizzy.

I just nodded, she was scaring me now, her gentle librarian vibe was gone without a trace.

“Thank you, if that’s all the store is closing.”

She pushed all four of us out the door and locked it behind us.

“Thank you very much, I appreciate what you did for us more than words can ever explain, but to give up something so valuable for people you don’t know,” Sarah began thanking me as soon as the door closed behind us.

“It’s no biggie; I’m not a big wine drinker. I brought it just for that purpose.”

I put the egg in storage via my book bag. I don’t know when it will hatch, but I didn’t want it to hatch here. It might cause a national crisis if a baby dragon suddenly started flying around.

“My name is Sarah; these are my sons James and Joey, What’s your name? Is there anything I can do to pay you back? I don’t have much but I’m a fairly competent cook. It’s just things have been very hard on us since my husband died.

“Oh, did he get caught up in the monster madness?”

“No, he died a year ago overseas. He was stationed in a highly volatile combat zone and…...”

“I understand, I’m sorry to hear that, my name is Jordan,” I cut her off because I felt bad about making her talk about such sad memories. “If you’re in trouble I’m in room 2-212 I don’t mind sharing some space the classroom should be large enough to accommodate the five of us.”

“Wow you’re so kind; I don’t know what to say.”

She began tearing up; I’ve honestly had enough crying. I knew sharing a room would make it a little more difficult to do things how I wanted but, I didn’t want the kids sleeping outside in the cold. I used to be a foster brother. I still have a soft spot for them.

I got down to eye level with James and Joey.

“Hey, your mom is going to cry. You guys must take over the role as the man of the house. Comfort your mom.”

They both nodded obediently, and they all embraced each other while her tears fell.

“Well, I have someone waiting on me. So, I have to go, but I should be upstairs in about an hour. It’s an open invitation you can come if you like or not.”

I walked away and I heard her saying thank you repeatedly until she was out of range.

I approached Vera and the fire while she was preparing a plate with the roasted rabbit.

“Hi Mr. Jordan, I’m all done.”

“Awesome let’s eat.”

We sat and ate around the fireplace, the rabbit meat had a very lean taste to it, but it was still pretty good. It didn’t have an overly strong gamey taste. It’s honestly something I would have eaten without questioning it was some kind of monster.

“Hey Vera, what can you tell me about dragons?”

“Hmm, well they are the reasons humans in our past world went extinct.”

Shit.

“What happened?”

“I guess I'll have to explain it from the beginning for it to make sense. There were Four main human nations. Each nation was larger than all the demihuman nations combined. However, they all had hostility against each other to the point where traveling from one nation to the other was strictly forbidden. They were equal in power and desperately wanted a way to gain more power than the other. So, one of the kings decides to try to use dragons. He established a unit of knights to try and subjugate a dragon to add to their fighting force. All the other nations got wind of it and then tried the same. When they all failed terribly at subjugating adult dragons, they tried young dragons, and when that failed, they resorted to stealing eggs. Safe to say the Dragon God Typhon got words of the humans’ action.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but Dragon God Typhon? Is he an actual God or a dragon?”

“Typhon is the strongest living being in the world. It’s safe to say he’s a little bit of both.”

“I see for please continue.”

“Well, Typhon became so powerful he had a restriction placed on him by the Gods. He’s not allowed to attack and only allowed to retaliate. The actions of the human counted as an attack on the dragons so it was within his means to retaliate and he declared war on the entire human race. They were hunted down and in less than a year not a single human was found.”

“Maybe they went into hiding?”

“Dragons are the alphas of the world Mr. Jordan. Once you're marked as an enemy of dragons there is no hiding and there is no surviving. Only death.

I began thinking about the egg in my book bag. I would hate for it to start another dragon-human war. Or who’s to say that the war is even over in the mind of the dragons. This is stressful.

I thought about the title of the egg I found and it dawned on me that it wasn’t simply a dragon egg, but it was divine dragon egg.

“What makes a dragon a divine dragon?” I asked.

“There are four divine dragons. They are Typhon’s second in command. Each has a hemisphere they are responsible for supervising. North dragon Kur, South Dragon Shenlong, East Dragon Eren, and West Dragon Wawel. They are only second in strength to Typhon himself. Rumor has it that the reason Typhon became involved was that one of the eggs of the divine four went missing.”

Shit! It’s in my damn book bag!

“What happened with the eggs that the humans stole? Were they able to raise them properly?

“They were not able to hatch them. Dragon eggs don’t simply hatch over the course of time. They require a strong elemental exposure.”

Vera’s explanation up to this point had been easy to follow up to this point, but she completely lost me at strong elemental exposure.

“What do you mean by strong elemental exposure?”

“Hmm, the thing that determines what element a dragon is going to be is the element used to hatch the egg. For example, if a dragon breathes fire on an egg and hatches it, the dragon born will be a fire dragon.”

“Wow really? I always thought that it was the same as its parent.”

“Well 99% of the time that’s accurate, because a fire dragon won’t take its egg to the depth of the sea to use the water pressure there to hatch it.”

“What about the existence of dragon knights?”

Vera looked at me as if a second head began growing out of my shoulder.

“A dragon knight?” she asked perplexed.

“Like a dragon that has a human ride him to battle.”

“A dragon? Being used as a horse…has never and will never happen. They think of all other races as rats and cockroaches. Would you let a cockroach ride you?”

“Point taken.”

Vera was beginning to shiver I didn’t understand, we were sitting in front of a warm fire and it felt very pleasant outside. Then I looked around and noticed everyone was bundled up.

In Florida, the weather is fairly tropical year round and in the winter you get cold fronts where the temperature would drop drastically for a few days.

“Vera, are you cold?”

“Yes Mr. Jordan, it is very cold outside.”

Damn it, I forgot I had a cold resistance skill and as a result what I was feeling and what she was feeling was very different. The sunset and the only light were the various fireplaces around the campus, but it wasn’t that late yet, about 8 pm.

“Ok let’s go inside. Do you want to take a shower before we head to our room?”

We were on the road all day under the sun and became fairly sweaty. Since we were at a high school, I was confident they had locker rooms which were normally equipped with showers.

“A shower sounds wonderful!” She was very excited. I learned she thoroughly enjoyed showers, during our stay at the apartments we were at prior, I would often have to remind her that she needed to get out eventually.

Well, that was settled. We both went to the respective boy and girl locker room and took a shower. The locker room was pitch black due to it being in the heart of the campus with no windows. You couldn’t see your hands in front of your face, but I gave Vera a candle because I foresaw this being a problem.

After the shower, we went to the room we were assigned. We found Sarah and her sons waiting at the door. Sarah looked a lot different from an hour ago. She looked refreshed, in new clothing, her hair was no longer messy, it now looked freshly washed, and she was now neatly groomed. It’s safe to assume she probably went to clean herself up after we separated.

“Thanks again for allowing us to stay. The Weather took a turn for the worse.”

“No problem, but why don’t you sleep in the cafeteria? Since it’s closed it would be a lot warmer.”

“Have you been in the cafeteria? The place is awful. The nonstop crying, the putrid smell, and the overall sense of despair that hangs in the atmosphere. Most of the people in there have completely given up on life. I can’t do that I have to get my daughter back, or I wouldn’t be able to face my husband in the afterlife.”

She echoed the same sentiments of Jakob.

I opened the door to the classroom in the middle of Sarah’s explanation. I was planning on checking out the cafeteria, but I didn’t have the time yet. Now I was thinking of avoiding it altogether. Inside the classroom was very standard, the tile floors. Five rows of six desks facing a white dry erase board. It interestingly had a bathroom on suite which would come in handy, I was sure. There was a large window with horizontal shutter blinds closed preventing the moonlight from coming in causing it to be almost as dark as the locker room. With my night vision, I was fine, but it would pose a problem for the others, so I used the candles Vera and I use for our shower to illuminate the room.

“Your daughter?” I questioned.

I didn’t know she had a daughter.

“Yes, my daughter is among the women taken by those fiendish goblins.”

I didn’t want to say it, but if her daughter was taken by goblin then she is probably dead or wants to be dead.

Reading the look on my face she spoke up,” I know what you’re thinking, but my daughter is alive and unhurt. She is one of the forty-five women currently being held captive.”

I wanted to refute her delusions of grandeur, but her eyes were burning with pure confidence.

“Why do you think so?”

“A thief snuck into their base and confirmed a group of girls barricaded themselves in a bathroom and are safe. My daughter is resilient, like her father. I know she will fight her most damn to live. We were finally able to convince that damn coward Tyler to plan a rescue mission. It took him three days!”

Her voice was gradually climbing.

“Ohh, I was invited to attend that meeting tomorrow,” I recalled.

“What…. he said only select participants. I don’t have the right to ask you for anything else but please help save my daughter.”

This day and age bowing and groveling wasn’t really a thing nor did I want her to, but she was going to start crying again, and I was really at the limit with all the crying so I responded quickly give her something else to talk about before she started.

“Where are they being held?”

“The goblin made their base in a large store. It’s about three miles north.”

With the lack of caves, they decided to use a big building for shelter.

“I will see what the plans are tomorrow. It’s been a very long day and I’m exhausted so I’m going to call it an early night.”

“O yes me as well. My boys have already found a spot and are fast asleep, “She said pointing at them who were huddled in a corner on the opposite side of Vera who fell asleep sitting up against the wall.

The next morning I was in a solemn conference room in the same office I gathered yesterday for my orientation. It was dark, illuminated by two candles on a long oval table. There were only six people seated at the table including myself, Vera was also here standing to my right. I was told only certain individuals were allowed to sit.

There were people gathered around the circumference of the room silently observing the conversation that was about to begin.

At the top of the table. Daniel Watt was sitting at its head with His brother Jakob and his father to his left and right respectively.

Daniel Watt Lv 13

Brawler Lv 3

He was the strongest person; apart from myself, I’ve seen thus far. The Brawler job was fitting for his frame. He was larger than his father and his brother, but they all looked pretty similar. He looked to be at about 6’7 265lbs. He had a shoulder-length black hair and a full-length beard. He gave off a barbaric vibe and his eyes were stern and intimidating.

I felt the urge to question what Barbara was feeding these guys.

To the bottom of the table, there was a portly, posh looking gentleman who looked out of place for the hard times at hand. He looked very noble and was in a clean black three-piece suit. He reminded me of Dr. Penguin.

John Harrington III Lv1

Apprentice Magician Lv1

Standing over his shoulder where two men who looked to be his henchman. Both were level five with a level two brawler job.

The last person was sitting directly across from me.

Joan Pearl Lv 1

Healer Lv 4

She was level one but was a level four healer. I didn’t understand that, but I’m sure there was a lot I didn’t understand, this change didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual. I’d be foolish to act as if I knew everything.

She was a plain middle-aged woman with brown hair pinned neatly in a bun and was wearing scrubs and a lab coat.

“Hey, Tyler, whose the brat? Why is he sitting at the executive table? “

His sight was set on me and his tone left a lot to be desired. It was easy to identify the kind of man he was. He’s looking at me down his nose before I even introduced myself.

“Do not start Joseph, now is not the time there are serious things to be discussed. My father feels he has potential, then he is welcomed here.”

The voice that answered came from Daniel.

“My name is Jordan Cain; I was invited here, so here I am.”

“We don’t have a lot of time to waste, every moment is precious we need to save those girls before it’s too late. As most of you know this is our fourth attempt to come up with a plan. Hopefully, Jordan will offer a new point of view. “

“Do we even know what his level or Job is? Shouldn’t we start there to know whether the kid is worth our time?”

The eyes in the room gather on me. Including Vera who had the most curious look of all. I forgot I never actually told her about any of my skills. I thought about outright denying telling them. If I told them my real level I could get expect my responsibilities to rise dramatically and I’m not certain I want that quite yet. I’m using to being the kind of guy that can disappear into a crowd and I prefer it stay that way.

“Is that something that you guys share regularly with others?” I asked.

There is also a risk of everyone knowing exactly how strong you are. Not everyone is your friend.

“If he’s not comfortable sharing then it is perfectly fine. All I want to know if you are capable of killing goblins?” Daniel asked.

“Yes,” Was all I needed to say to ease the tension in the room.

“Very well allow me to continue. The throng of goblins that are holding the women hostage is being held in a large department store three miles to the north of here.”

He rolled out a large store map on the table. There was a corner of the map circle identifying that this was the location the girls were barricaded at.

“Thanks to one of our thief’s we were able to get a map and have confirmed that somehow the ladies have barricaded themselves in this bathroom here. He was also estimated there to be over 250 goblins hold up in this store.”

I heard Vera’s subtle gasp when he said the numbers.

“You know my plan. Put a weapon in those lazy bums’ hands and blossom our numbers. It’s not fair they get to rest on their laurels while we work,” Joseph grunted.

I had a feeling this guy has never left the campus since he’s been here. The only reason he was at the table was likely because of his job. I noticed that there were no other apprentice magicians in the room.

The second person to speak was Tyler. “I agree, but in a less extreme sense. We need to grow our fighting force. They have to accept the fact that this is our world now. We need to encourage more participants.”

“I’m sorry, but I disagree with that proposal. Forcing someone to fight won’t raise anything, but or mortality rate. The healers can hardly handle what’s on hand as it is.” Joan seemed to be the voice of reason in this room.

They are basically suggesting using human beings as meat shields. I can understand the need for bolstering your number, but I think high morale is just as important as having numbers. Sending people who don’t want to fight, to fight will do just as Joan said. Cause more deaths.

“What is your thought Jordan?” Daniel spoke up before the meeting became too frenzied.

He was good. He had a firm control over what was going on here.

“I think that plan is vile. Using other human beings as meat shields is basically what they are recommending…..”

“Mr. Jordan, can I speak?” Vera gentle words whispered in my ear completely changing my train of thought.

“Sorry, my friend would like to speak please hear her out.”

This was very unlike Vera. So I assumed it to be very important.

“Hello, my name is Vera. I…… I’m not good at speaking to a lot of people, so please bear with me. “

“It’s ok Vera go ahead.” I encouraged.

She took a deep breath and firmed her resolve.

“There should be another thing you should be concerned about when facing goblin hoards that large. Goblins only gather in a hoard that large when they have a strong leader. That said leader will normally also have a few executives under him. Their strength will normally be far superior to the goblin they rule over. However, you can take solace in the fact that the horde in question is most likely made of goblin grunts, so a goblin king might not be involved here.”

“What the fuck! Why are we now listening to a damn child!?” Joseph yelled.

His killing intent was raised and his loud voice was aimed at Vera causing her to shudder nervously and she withdrew herself to behind me and began trembling, she was shaken.

“I’m sorry I was just trying to hel….” She tried explaining herself.

“Shut your pie hole or ill shut it for you.” He barked back.

I began seeing red. I was seething with rage. The amount of effort I put into raising Vera’s confidence for her to finally be able to speak up in front of a group. Knowing how much effort she was putting into this just to be treated so rudely set me off.

Before I knew it I had my knife in my hand, I jumped on the table and ran towards him. My knee to his chin forced him out of his seat. I grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and forced him back against the wall. The tip of my knife was pressed against his throat. I pricked his skin and a single drop of blood flowed down his neck.

His bodyguards were caught off guard by the speed of my movements and weren’t sure what to do now that he was in the predicament he was in.

“I will slit your throat and watch your blood stain the floors! You will never speak to her like that again! Do I make myself clear!” My words were clean, clear, and concise.

His eyes were shaking with fear as he slowly nodded.

“Please calm down!” Daniel was trying to deescalate the situation in the room

I let him go and his body collapses to the floor. I calmly returned to my seat.

“I apologize for my outburst.”

“Umm, sure it's ok. Can you two get him up off the floor? Anyways, I must ask how do you know about this young lady?”

Vera was done speaking. She was trying to stay out of the line of sights of everyone here.

“Vera please show them, it might help save the lives of a lot of people.”

She pulled her hair back and showed them the pointed ears hidden underneath.

“As you can see she is not from our world, she is from theirs. Though you might call her a child she is over four hundred years old, so I do recommend listening to her. Daniel, you asked me what’s my plan I will tell you. Starting an all-out battle will be costly and could attract the attention of even more monsters. This should be a covert op.”

“We only have one thief who agreed to scout and he is deathly afraid of returning back to that building.” He responded.

“I am a thief. I will sneak in and do what I can to rescue those girls. In the meantime, you should prepare for the arrival of forty-five girls in any given condition. That includes hurt or severely hungry. “

“By yourself….surely you….”

“There are more benefits to it being this way. I honestly don’t have a lot of time to waste. I’d like to head out immediately. The goblins should be in the midst of their deepest sleep right about now. “

“Very well, all other parties prepare for a large scale hunt. Joan, have the healers clear the clinic for all non- fatal injuries. Dad, have the cooks prepare everything in stock, get a large amount of water ready. Jordan we are going to bank everything on you. “

“Thank you, I must go to my room to prepare.”

With that, With Vera at my side. I exited the conference room and returned to my room.

Conference room-

“Why do you trust him? That kid is clearly a murderer! He almost killed me we should do something about that thing he keeps with him too!” Joseph’s voice was filled with a murderous rage.

“Joseph calm down,” Daniel gently replied. “Did anyone else see him move when he attacked Joseph?” He asking while looking around the room, but there was no response in the affirmative.

“That because he was too fast, I’ve learned that every time you level up your speed and overall strength increases as well. Thief class also prioritizes speed. While I don’t know what his level is. It may be as high as or higher than mine. Maybe he has a skill we can bank on. Besides, I agree with him, I think it’s best that this job is done as a covert situation, but didn’t think anyone would be willing to volunteer.”

“Maybe? You’re banking all our resources on a maybe? That is unlike you my son.”

“No, not necessarily father. We do not have a refrigerator or a freezer anymore; if we don’t regularly use and restock our supply will go rotten. Also, we need to be encouraging hunting more regularly, it’ is a good way to level up.”

“What about that she-devil! Then thing isn’t of this world and we are just going to mingle with it? We should burn it on a stake.”

With a heavy sigh, Daniel cold eyes ran over Joseph whose rage was burning like a million suns.

“Joseph, that girl has done nothing to deserve your wrath, but give us advice. I can tell you with great certainty, anyone who touches her, he will kill. Plain and simple. “

“You’re such a fucking coward. I’m done here.” Joseph spat and exited the room