3 「Guardians Assembled」 (2/2)

The argumentatively cutest one of the group was the one sitting cross legged and slouched forward watching the group with their chin in their hands, elbows planted on the floor. It was Andi the Dryad, their true body being a Bonsai Tree up in Cipher's study. Her body was akin to that of a twelve year old and was completely covered in bark the same color pale as the Bonsai's trunk. She was considered to be hundreds of years old according to her backstory. Her main attributes being wisdom and intelligence.

Pyri was an Elfish Ghoul, she had long black hair reaching down to her waist, sickly pale skin and red-green ringed eyes. She had small fangs poking out from behind her upper lips. Despite her small size she was the strongest amongst the Guardians made by Cipher's friends. She was dressed in a set of sturdy black robes.

Ross was a human bard, one of the only normal guardians to the naked eye. His primary attack was using a single spell over and over again.

This spell was known as Author Says. This makes his songs come to life in the form of story characters that fight on his behalf. He had shoulder length blond hair, hazel grey eyes and a Van Dyke beard. He was like the blond Robert Downey Jr. in appearance only.

Roberta was an Imperial Slime, a premium species similar to the predatory Slime, which takes the form of a human being. However they aren't hollow on the inside and are impervious to physical damage. She often takes the form of a Iron Chief, as she is a master cook, and ironically a military cleaver being her primary weapon allows her to get close enough to burn her opponents by simply touching them. She was named after her creator's grandmother.

Her hobby is cooking in abundance.

The last Guardian however is known as Chance, a talking black and tan Shiba Inu with a knife held in its mouth with grace. Its tail was currently wiggling side to side with excitement. There was so much going on.

...

As he had been observing his Guardians, he turned his head to look towards the Adventurer Party who was now all gathered at the kotatsu. Lukrut was showing them the scraps(cards) he got from the soldiers, while Peter was trying to have a serious conversation with the other two.

Lukrut was being completely ignored, something that from a distance, he didn't seem to mind.

Turning to look over at the Guardians once more, Cipher quickly noticed all eyes were on him.

Smiling at them, he walked on over to the group and gestured for those standing to sit before him. ”As you probably already heard from my conversation with the..” He stopped himself from referring to the guests as lesser lifeforms as he considered himself human, ”Guests. We are no longer in YGGDRASIL and we're within the borders of the Re-Estize Kingdom.”

The group of sixteen all nodded their heads in sync as they were now seated in a circle around Cipher. All of them wanted to have their eyes on him. It was quite.. strange really.

At least they didn't sound like fanatics, but he could see the great admiration towards him. If they had outstanding personalities and a written allure towards him, he was sure he'd end up like Ainz, puzzled.

Though part of this just made him believe he was having a reading circle with a bunch of adult children. It was a very uncanny feeling despite knowing their actual intelligence.

”For the time being, we are to be on alert and focus our skills towards intelligence gathering. Half of you have surveying and surveillance magic, use that to your advantage. Those who don't are on guard duty.”

”Yes my Lord.” They all stated at once, all of them drawing themselves to one knee with a single fist to the ground as their eyes shined.

Cipher was silent for a moment looking at them all around him. It was like he was on the top of the world or something. The awkward feeling was soon fleeting and now he was just taken a back by the motion of life which now surrounded him. His and his friends creations were alive.

In a way, it made him happy that they were at least indirectly here with him.

”I am in your care,” Cipher bowed his head to those whom were entirely at his beck and call.

”WE. Are in your care.” They bowed their heads in response to him, vowing they'd all take care of each other and in the end they were like a family of assorted individuals.

”What are you guys talking about?” Peter chuckled as he was now standing at the edge of the circle, looking over at the interesting collection of servants. What caught his eye though the most was the monsters. The Vampire, the Ghoul and the other lot.

He was surprised, but seeing them on one knee made them look almost harmless. Such a powerful being made these things subservient to him?

Peter and the rest let their sights rest back on Cipher who was standing in the center, turning to look back at them and return their gaze.

”Informing them of the current situation,” was as much as he would tell them. ”You are dismissed guardians.” They all nodded, jumped to their feet and scattered to their posts.

Seeing these organized beings, Peter was beginning to fear the power that he was just admiring. A man who could not only bring a whole fortress to another location and command all these people, just what kind of destruction could he be capable of?

”Would you mind if I joined you?”

”Join us?” Peter asked, folding his arms in front of him skeptical expression.

Cipher glanced over at Ninya then back towards Peter. ”I agreed to help Ninya recover her sister amongst other things for the information provided. They're trivial and will help me continue to gain more information about this place.”

Ninya's expression twitched uncomfortably when he referred to his promises as trivial matters, he was treating saving her sister teaching her more magic and acquiring a Sword of Darkness as mere meaningless milestones.

”So I'd like to join your party, and the Adventurer's Guild.”

”You need to take a literacy test.”

”I can read and write Japanese and English.”

”...” The four of them just looked at him as if he was speaking gibberish. There was apparently no such thing as Japanese or English writing systems in this world. ”In that case, as we'll be taking that vacation you offered, we'll teach you how to read and write.”

”Oi...” Cipher placed a hand on his forehead, he didn't really mind this, but it did feel tedious. ”Alright.”