Chapter 94 (1/2)

Preparations for training went smoothly under Rivelia’s leaders.h.i.+p. Instructors a.s.sociated with the College strolled around the area with disparaging expressions, ready to criticize at any opportunity. But it seemed Duke Corduroy had given a stern order, and the instructors could only stare menacingly from afar before returning.

The new recruits to Central seemed to be in the middle of their training season, as the training ground was filled with shouts and roars every morning. It seemed the rumours of Isaac have already spread, and these trainees often sent curious looks toward the tent. Those who volunteered themselves for the Directorate of Security went further by approaching the tent, but they could only stare from afar, intimidated by the fierce watch of the instructors.

But even if it weren’t for Isaac, witnessing Rivelia, a living legend within College, was the dream for the majority of the students. Their eyes never left the tent’s direction.

As the days went by and the number of trainees grew, so too did the friction between Isaac and Rivelia.

“Why so?!”

“Because I don’t need it.”

“How could you say that you have no need of lodgings for the trainees! And how can the defensive coat be the only thing we’re giving them! What about all the other basic necessities?!”

As Rivelia pushed on with her argument, Isaac made a brief and annoyed sigh.

“Oi, damsel, I think you are misunderstanding something.”

“… What do you mean?”

“Damsel’s job is to watch me, not to nitpick and nag at everything I do. I will overlook this since the training has yet to begin, but there will be problems if you continue with this att.i.tude once the training begins.”

“…”

Isaac and Rivelia stared at each other, sparks flying. Everyone else watched silently from a distance, noticing the sour mood. Then, Kunette pulled at Isaac’s sleeve and spoke.

“… Isaac, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad. I’m just annoyed.”

Kunette nodded at Isaac’s reply, and Rivelia grit her teeth as she declared.

“If none of that is of concern to you, then I’ll make preparations myself!”

“Whatever.”

Isaac briefly watched the back of Rivelia as she stomped out of the tent before grabbing at his cigarette, when Kunette pulled at Isaac’s sleeve once more.

“… Isaac, are you really going to do it?”

“Hm? What do you think I have in mind?”

“…”

Kunette and Isaac’s eyes met. As Isaac stared at Kunette’s black puppy-like eyes, Kunette turned her head and spoke.

“… I’m on Isaac’s side.”

Isaac patted Kunette on her head.

“Thank you.”

‘I wonder how long that will last.’

Isaac spoke those words in his mind and lit his cigarette. Everything he was about to do was something that needed to be stopped by all means.

“So it begins. I wonder how far I can get…”

“Hm. There’s quite the variety.”

The goods Isaac asked Mazelan to send had arrived, neatly arranged in front of him. Isaac began inspecting the goods. They ranged from pistols to rifles and included its ammo and accessories.

Kunette and Reisha rushed over to the guns sparkling eyes and started playing with their new toys.

“Isaac, look at this!”

“Hm? That’s a Glock?”

<blockquote>

EDN: The Glock is a line of semi-automatic pistols commonly used as a sidearm. Read more about it here.

</blockquote>

Kunette handed the pistol at Isaac, and Isaac’s eyes trembled when he received it. It was one of his favorite weapons that he stole from US armoury when the US troops withdrew.

He killed many with this gun. Enemies, allies, and in the end…

Isaac smirked, shaking off the memories of sergeant Min Won-hoo, who died in his hands. Isaac pulled the slide to check the chamber was empty and handed the pistol back at Kunette.

“… I want to try shooting it.”

“Then shall we have some target practice? Rizzly, put up some boards in the distance.”

Isaac took the Glock from Kunette once again and stood up.

As ordered by Isaac, Rizzly tied a thick board to a tree and walked to a safe distance. Isaac loaded the pistol and pulled the slide.

With a ‘click,’ the gun was now live.

“It’s been a while since I’ve used this.”

So Isaac didn’t even aim with a proper stance, simply raising the barrel to where the board would be and pulled the trigger. He never intended to try to hit the board, and the gun didn’t boast of great accuracy in the first place.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The smell of burnt gunpowder wafted from the barrel as sh.e.l.ls were ejected from the chamber.

“Hot! Hot!”

Kunette, who was sticking right next to Isaac with eyes full of curiosity, curled up in surprise while her hands covered her ears at the sound of gunfire, but one of the empty canisters landed in her fluffy fur. Kunette shook off the canister in a hurry.

“Sunbaenim, I want to try shooting it too!”

Reisha came over with bright eyes, her ears seemingly not bothered by the gunfire. In her hands was an M16 and a fistful of bullets.

“Me too! Me too!”

Even Kunette, who was fl.u.s.tered just moments ago, begged Isaac to let her shoot along with Reisha. Isaac briefly taught the two how to place the bullets in the magazine, how to load the gun, how to aim, and then threw the guns at the two to play with on their own.

Reisha quickly caught on as Isaac had taught, but Kunette seemed to struggle greatly due to anatomical reasons. After much struggling, she gave up and sat next to Isaac, enviously looking at Reisha who was shooting the gun enthusiastically.

“Reisha, don’t touch it! It’s dangerous!”

Rivelia, who was elsewhere for her duties, rushed over to the scene in a hurry at the unexpected sound of gunfire. Her face was stricken with shock when she saw Reisha shooting the gun and quickly scolded Isaac.

“W, what is all this?!”

“They are everything I asked for.”

“What are you going to use it on?!”

“I’m going to use it.”

“How can you just say that! Do you have any idea how dangerous these things are?!”

Isaac couldn’t help but burst out in laughter at Rivelia’s scream.

“Are you seriously saying that to me?”

Rivelia quickly realised her blunder and pursed her lips with a red face. To think she was trying to teach an invader, a man who fought in wars, what these things were.

“Just what are you thinking?”

“Hey, damsel. I’ve been telling you time and time again, but don’t think about interfering with what I’m doing. All you need to do is tell the others just what kind of trouble I’ve been causing.”

“That’s not the problem! This place here is the training ground for Central’s agents!”

“Is that a problem?”

“Of course it’s a problem.”

An old man with a sharp, fierce appearance replied in Rivelia’s stead. Next to the old men stood ten or so others. The North Bears immediately gave them a firm salute to show their respect. Reisha threw the gun in her hand in a panic and Kunette growled at them like a puppy would at a foreign object, slowly grabbing at Isaac’s pants.

“Who are you?”

“You don’t know who I am?”

“I see that you’re a man who thinks everyone knows you.”

“How dare you!”

The group behind the old man shouted at Isaac’s insolent response, but Rivelia quickly intervened and let Isaac know who he was.

“That is Duke Lopez, the Chief Instructor of Central.”

“Is that higher than a Director?”

“That’s…”

While Rivelia was at a loss for words, Lopez sighed and shook his head.

“Dear me. I tried my best not to get involved in this as requested by the Queen, but to think I’d hear that abominable sound again on the training grounds of Central.”

“The Queen did? What did she say?”

“She told me it’d be better for my sanity if I ignored you, as you have a special personality.”

“Well she got that right.”

Lopez sent a cold stare at Isaac, who was smirking and nodding at the description.

“Just what are you plotting?”

“I thought the Queen told you to ignore it?”

“…”

The instructors that stood behind Lopez grew furious at Isaac’s answer, glaring daggers at him. Lopez briefly looked at Isaac before speaking.

“Everyone that volunteered for the Directorate of Security are agents who have been trained thoroughly under our efforts. You can say they are already perfectly trained. But the fact that you are training them again yourself makes it sound like our training is lacking in your eyes.”

“I wonder? I can’t say anything since I never watched how you guys train them. But there’s one thing I am sure of. I will train them in a way that none of you can replicate.”

“May I take that as a direct insult to our instructors?”

Isaac looked at Lopez with a smile in response.

“Shall we make a bet?”

“A bet?”

Rivelia wanted to urge Lopez not to take the bet in her mind but couldn’t act so. Duke Lopez was not only the master of all agents of Central, but he was also a sword master and her teacher.

Not only did Lopez have a great reputation, but he had the absolute support and respect of Central’s agents. If she were to intervene, it could even hurt Lopez’s pride and worsen the situation. But that piece of sc.u.m never did anything that he could lose out on.

Which was why she herself lived each day paranoid over the bet she made with Isaac. Now her respected master and teacher, Duke Lopez, was about to go through the same suffering she was now, manipulated by that treacherous schemer! She desperately wanted to interrupt, but without a good way to intervene, she could only watch.

“A bet… interesting offer. What’s the bet on?”

Lopez muttered, intrigued by Isaac’s gesture. Isaac answered as he took out a cigarette.

“I will allow the instructors to stop my training if the instructors can replicate my training to the volunteers themselves. If you aren’t confident, then you cannot intervene and can only watch. How about it – are you confident?”

“Ha! I see you underestimate the training curriculum for Central’s agents. Only after going through training that pushes you to the limits and beyond, to the point we have casualties during training, do we produce a single agent. I don’t know what your training will consist of, but it cannot be more perfect than our curriculum.”

“Man, you talk a lot. So what, are you calling it or not?”

“Fine! I accept your challenge. I will shatter whatever scheme you are plotting!”

Lopez declared those words, and the instructors behind him nodded in unison, swearing upon the declaration. Rivelia could only falter with a pale face at what had happened.

As expected of Central’s complete monopoly over the intelligence network, it was only moments before the word spread about the bet between Isaac and Lopez – not just throughout the Campus but to all of Central’s agents throughout the continent.

If it was New Port City, they would have gambled on the many possible outcomes , but this group of elites from Central took it as a mere hobby and pastime and simply tried to predict Isaac’s moves through deduction.

As that happened, the Campus’s graduation ceremony finished, and when the island was empty, those who volunteered for the Directorate of Security began arriving at the Campus. Those who had been a.s.signed to missions on the outside felt nostalgic as they looked upon their former training grounds, where they had once sacrificed oceans of sweat and blood at the mercy of their instructors.

“Ah! Never thought I’d be returning here again.”

“Ah! Reminds me of the old times. It was so hard back then, but now they’re just good memories.”

“Huh? Did you volunteer too?”

“Of course! How could I possibly pa.s.s up these benefits?”

“True, I mean you gain the t.i.tle of a Count the moment you pa.s.s, pretty much.”

“Have you got any information on that invader Isaac?”

“… It’s obvious. It’s the same no matter who you ask.”

“That he’s insane?”

“No ordinary man would come up with the idea of burning down a city.”

“But is it true that he is acquainted with the Queen?”

“I heard this from my colleague in the Directorate of a.n.a.lysis. Remember how Isaac was captured by the demonic turncoats? That lot immediately ran off the information they extracted from his head when we began following their trail.”

“I heard that too. Is it true he managed to defeat tens of combat knights?”

“Seems so. That’s why the Laboratory was in an uproar.”

“I mean, the Laboratory does have that weird sense of pride in being the creators of the strangest inventions of this world. .”

“Anyway, listen here. The Directorate of a.n.a.lysis came to a conclusion that Isaac could have only done so because he possesses the Queen’s Artifact.”

“Don’t’ we all know of that?”

“What’s more important is that the Queen’s Artifact was safely protected in Isaac’s mind even as the demonic turncoats extracted his memories.”

“He’s perfectly fine after going through that destructive extraction process that even we’re defenceless against?”

“That’s right! And they managed to recover the information they extracted from Isaac from their headquarters.”

“So what did this Isaac fella do in the previous world?”

“Says he was a soldier.”

“A soldier? An occupation similar to ours?”

“According to my colleague, they thought he was normal at first but twisted into what he is now after fighting in wars for too long.”

“Wow! That’s scary! Are we going to end up like him in the future too?”

The veteran agents immediately began exchanging greetings and information with their acquaintances, while the new agents who were close to graduation from College made small groups of their own, leaving behind the cold eyes of the instructors and the troubled looks of the fellow students. They occasionally glimpsed at their senior agents and reaffirmed to each other that they’d pa.s.s.

“Look over there. That’s the Rodetz medal that was given to those that partic.i.p.ated in demonic turncoat extermination that happened in Arioden Province 7 years ago.”

“You think that’s all? I saw someone with a Laflower medal, given only to those that partic.i.p.ated in subduing an angelic turncoat.”

“Man, every veteran here’s at least a team leader or higher, aren’t they?”

“Can we really survive here?”

The new recruits grew more restless the more medals they saw on the senior agents’, a constant reminder of their ill.u.s.trious careers. Suddenly, one of the new graduates moaned in astonishment and spoke out to his friends.

“Look! It’s Lady Rivelia!”

Rivelia showed herself in the training ground where the volunteers had gathered.

Wearing the Central’s uniform and her sword at her side, not just the graduates but even the veterans couldn’t help but stare at her beauty.

Rivelia got on the stage and announced to the volunteers who were scattered all over.

“I will now begin the entrance ceremony. Everyone, a.s.semble.”

With Rivelia’s orders, everyone naturally shuffled over, maintaining equal distances to each other in all directions. It seemed that this had been drilled into their bodies; it was almost second nature.

Rivelia gave a troubled look at the volunteers who in turn looked at her with eyes full of affection. Some of these volunteers were much more senior than she was.

Some have volunteered because they had no other options, but there were also those that rose up to the challenge, oblivious to everything. The bright, sparkling eyes of these baby chicks were rested entirely on her, weighing heavily on her shoulders.

Suddenly, their eyes quickly refocused, and the volunteers stood to attention without a slightest delay. Rivelia looked behind her to see Lopez and the instructors standing behind her.

It was doubtful they attended the ceremony to decorate it with their wise words. They were most likely here to witness just how well that piece of sc.u.m would train their students.

Rivelia greeted Lopez with a slight bow, when some North Bears quickly shuffled over to the stage and placed a table. On top of the table, they began arranging the other world’s weapons.

A commotion grew in the group. The graduates were excited to see the weapons they only saw in videos during their training, while the veterans were puzzled as to why they were here.

“Tsk!”

Lopez licked his tongue, unsatisfied at their reaction. The ground quickly turned silent. This was testament to just how much influence the instructors had over the agents.

“I see everyone’s here.”

Isaac made his appearance, and everyone’s eyes were gathered on him. With a cigarette in his mouth and both his hands in his pockets, he slowly shuffled over to the stage. Everyone frowned at his appearance; he looked like your average scoundrel on the streets. Their eyes then turned wide, seeing Reisha’s beauty follow him, and they couldn’t help but smile warmly at the adorable sight of Kunette rus.h.i.+ng to keep up with them.

Behind them followed the North Bears, and Rizzly was holding a large bell.

As Isaac got on the stage, Lopez and the other instructores glared at him coldly. Isaac smirked in return and ignored them, standing next to Rivelia and looking down at his audience.

On the stage stood Isaac, Rivelia, Kunette, and Reisha at the front and the North Bears standing behind them in a line. Rizzly hung the bell he brought on one of the pillars next to the stage.