Vol 2 Chapter 8 (1/1)

Fuuuu daru for my aunt to show up at the port ter a pain in the ass I think that’s whytheir chauffeur About an hour past the arrival time, she finally shows up with a pair of porters behind her With her blond hair tied tight into a bun, forle spectacles, and a stern, passive expression, she’s the very definition of serious I wavetoward the parked car my parents sent e stern, passive expression into “resting bitch face” ;P] pan uuuuuuu The faroans of protest from anyone that’s required to help her arrives on cue as I turn my back Like my dad and the rest of his side of the fa as a diplomat She has just returned from a mission in Matane with the United Marities Rumour has it that all the different leaders all said the sa about her, “old, stubborn woacha I open the back door of the car to allow the porters to place the various pieces of luggage with a chorus of dosa as they pile the space in the car pon One of the porters givessh with a fuuuu and nod with h we’ve only justto deal with an insufferable woman The porter quickly walks away as soon as his partner finished receiving the pay? Didn’t e to roll my eyes at her as I ith a “hello, Aunt Quinn” before entering the driver seat I dread the drive back as well as the faht “What in the…?” I finally get to log in after 3 days’ worth of absence due to ame “What the hell happened here?” leaks fro before my eyes as I step out fro tortured us ere level 0, arrows are flying haphazardly non-stop So the arrows After a while, the ones dodging and blocking will switch equiped into defensive equip treated in the sidelines while cheering [T/N: Wan is the japanese sound of a dog’s bark So ans is Rick’s way of referring to the delish, while an is more like a childish term of endearment So I opted to keep an] “Welcoet you some tea?” “Um… wah… umm… yes, please” I stammer as I fumble out of my confusion to the bushy-tailed student that spotted ht away” The girl gives a quick bow before heading back inside Shortly after, Isnic and the girl return with trays of tea, utensils and snacks “Welcoe her greeting and help the the entrance of the building The other girl gives a quick bow before reentering the building “What’s going on here…?” I point at the arrows that are flying all over the place “Eh? Isn’t this a training game from sensei’s hometown?” “Wait… what…?” “That’s what those uncles and aunties froe said” I smack my forehead with a ba as I realize what has happened They took the training I was doing and adopted it for their own use Originally, the gae of Chaos was called “baseball” It required nue fields and soao, they failed horribly and succeed a by aame down into 2 to 4 players as a ed attacker while the “batter” is replaced with a defender to intercept the projectiles with their arsenal at hand The “attacker” gets a point for each successful hit on the target, the optional auxiliary player, or on any exposed part of the defender The Atlantic Union adopted the gaame as a sport Now it’s a professional sport played within a large cage watched by thousands during any given e is there to prevent stray balls froh, there was a rumour of an assassination atteardless, it was one of ood at it prior to et a scholarshi+p into a nearby university, after giving up a while ago I never expected the gaame I absentmindedly nibble on the dried fruits and drink the tea as I watch the spectacle After finishi+ng up the pot of tea, soot injured on the field An idea clicks in et up fro toward the injured person, I think Isnic gave me a funny look, but I’m not too sure and this certainly isn’t the ti about that I arrive on the scene shortly, as I expected, it’s one of the students from the evasion class Fortunately, the wound looks worse than it is At least they had the common sense to use blunted wooden arrohich only see “Whose idea was it to be doing this?” The gathered crowd looks uncomfortably at one another before the older uncle froe wades to the front of the crowd “That would be h, why isn’t anyone else here? Why didn’t Till stop the, I realize that they are probably just trying to help the students with the training while keeping it fun So I can’t exactly blame them for any mishaps, and they did blunt the arrows… “It looks like I didn’t explain the rules of the game You need to erect soive all the ones that are doing the dodging soht slow the instead of being set aside after getting injured” “Oh… right… I didn’t think of that” The uncle replies sheepishly while the rest of the ans look a little eotten too excited to think straight “Blah, forget it, let’s set up some rules and equipht?” The ans nod while the students look around with confusion on their face Just how trusting are you guys? Then I reht to criticize others… Do I? I start giving orders to everyone after I ot sent to the infirood can co to fix it “De’ht place? It’s just an empty field… we can barely see the Merchant Quarters from here…” A teen with a rattail and a rat’s tail asks from inside the cart as they meander their ay fro noon as the sun slowly rises toward its peak De’uards at the gate when they were paying the iht place Let’s set up ca De’muel and Mak’ra, there’s a total of 10 people that traveled on the carts with the goods This makes a total of 16 people if the escorts are to be included The field looks to be a barren, uneven piece of land filled eeds, likely unsuitable for farns of prior construction with a trench that’s now filled with vegetation, they must have tried to find a use for this piece of land and failed to do so The only reason why this sort of land is within the city’s wall is likely due to its location between the castle and the far his voice, the youth turns toward one of the fox-eared escorts ““Captain! We will be setting up camp here!” The de orders to her subordinates Breaking the hexagon formation, two of them, one on each side of the carts, re a shallow ditch somewhere in the field, away from the road The soil is hard and uneven with rocks of various size ers from the carts, led by De’muel and Mak’ra, find the flattest section of the field next to the dirt road and startthe cart that Sa the import tax, two of the escorts head toward the well near the Merchant Quarters while the captain and the ree square formation with the two still ers just ed to co to their first one “Mak’ra, you and Kalo help the escorts Me and Lauet the boards ready” The group splits apart, most head back to the carts to pick up so a still younger ra the barrels of water to “«Fla the weeds within the second square on fire As soon as the fla, he uses the same spell to set the first square -surrounded by the ditch- on fire as well A stone’s throay, s to rise into the air as well “De’ht, then start setting up the caet the others to take care of the ca-” keho keho “Shoot, «Breeze»!” A gentle gust of air fans the fla away the shing and getting some fresh air, the bull-horned youth resumes “Get the others to take care of the carts and the horses” Faruards from the Merchant Quarters shows up as the smoke raises with concern on their face The far fire to the field and wanted to stop the that the fire seeawk at the demihumans from a distance, as this is the first tiether Even a noble can only employ one or two demihumans due to their cost Since there doesn’t seehten the for on here?” A fat, blonde youth, leading a squad of city guards holding short spears, approaches one of the et my captain” Fiiiiiiii The escort whistles sharply with his fingers before waving at the rider in another corner The rider gives hi over As soon as the captain arrives, the escort trods away to replace her spot “Soulp visibly when she starts speaking as her voice was as fine and unique as her appearance The one leading theoing on here?” “We are setting up ca arson?” “Watch your tongue boy, if you know anything about setting ca that” “I’m not a boy! And you and your lot are under arrest for co arson within the Sardonian capital!” hahahaha “You throwing a tantrum is proof that you are indeed a boy And by whose authority are you going to arrest us with?” kuku The rest of the guards try to stifle their laughter while the fat youth’s face turns red and he snarls, reaching for his sword De’muel arrives next to the Captain of his escorts since he started walking when the previous rider whistled An almost inaudible shi+n accompanies his arrival “Why you, if I don’t throw you into the dungeon for setting fire on my father’s land, my name isn’t Nikolas Donavic!” “Boy, draw that sword and you will regret it” The captain says it with a flat tone of voice and narrowing her eyes while her cadejo starts snarling, revealing its fangs Souards each take a step back as everyone just assumed thetheir stance with their spear lowered dottaa The fat youth falls over backward spectacularly when he tries to draw out his sword, his leg flying forward and up fro to unsheathe his weapon “Hold it! What’s going on here?” De’muel’s unexpectedly loud voice stalls the co to arrest us for co arson on his father’s land” “Eh…?” De’ eyes “He isn’t a prince that I know of, but we have per to use the land as we please anyways” He quickly prepares the velluuards raises his spear up before walking cautiously forward to inspect the sheepskin The guard checks the seal before looking at the rest of the docuaze between the horns on the lean,in front of hiotten up with the help of the guards in the enuine His Majesty conditionally loaned the field to thery red face suddenly turns pale, the guards start looking at each other, unsure as to what to do “That is all for today! Get your lazy asses back to your posts!” The youth starts screarily at his men as he tries to stomp away “So that means your name is Fat ass from now on?” The Captain raises her voice loudly for everyone to hear “Eh… the fat kid’s na senses… Careful on your way back everyone, Fat ass!” kukukukukuku The youth can do nothing but storuards struggle the entire way to hold back their laughter It’s already well known that their incoot his job with the help of his father, so there’s literally no respect for hi the coiant ball of fur, otherwise known as Sahters only now reach everyone’s ears The faring thes have quieted down after the first day’s chaos The burnt ground was flattened with sto temporarily frozen with «Frozen Javelin» The purpose was to break the ground doith the changes in te all the pests and roots to prevent the back The ditch is to serve as a e to divert any water away fro trench Four tents were erected, two tents were pitched near the road; holding the sales tent and a resting tent A fewyet another resting area and the storage area for the goods Between the two sets of tents, a makeshi+ft ca Like the sht by Kun, the fire pit is a flat-bottom U shaped hole Above the hole, where the fire is made, stands a metal stand made with three rods tied at the top, a wooden bucket would dangle froave out instructions to her teaht, the escorts would patrol the area in two sets: The first set would patrol for 6 hours before switching out with another, the second would do the same except 3 hours after the first set have started This is to prevent any potential gaps fro day, De’ to the various shopkeepers that are on the main road within the Merchant Quarters In each instance, they would talk with hio ahen he asks if they would be willing to buy his goods Undeterred, he goes on to try the smaller shops within the Merchant Quarters He draws stares every now and then, but it is soo He already covered almost half the Merchant Quarters by the ti to set and the shops start to close down for the night Walking back toward the tents, he hears the occasional laughter of children before it disappears along with the sun De’muel reports his lack of success while Mak’ra reports that not a single buyer visited thehbourhood kids bothering Sa into the Merchant Quarters the first thing the next , De’muel continues where he last left off He somewhat expects more of the same treatment as that of yesterday’s, but it didn’t prepare him for what is yet to come “Get out!” … “No” … “Get out of here!” … “You are not welcoain” Each time he tries to enter a shop, the shopkeeper would immediately chase him away He was able to visit all the shops in the entire Merchant Quarters by the time brunch came around He walks back to the tents with a frown on his face, as he can’t figure out why no one would buy fro able to sell various things to the shopkeepers, whatbrunch as he continues to think “So the matter, De’muel? You are back early today” Mak’ra turns to the bull-horned youth while eating his serving of potherbs with bits of dried meat in it “You want to eat, De’er with a rattail asks hi for one of the off-duty escorts “Please, Laum And yeah Mak’ra, do I look weird?” ““““Huh?”””” Everyone eating around the campfire turns and looks at hi look “Reet kicked out the moment I take a step within any store in the Merchant Quarters…” “That is strange…” Mak’ra furrows his brows “Well, De’ is typical for a traveller, it can’t be that” “He’s pretty good looking, it also can’t be that he’s ugly…” “Maybe because he’s deive us strange looks every now and then, but it isn’t so like thi-thisc-thiscreo, De’ of food in a wooden boith a wooden spoon “Thanks” De’ over the situation “Mak’ra, you try and sell at the store after brunch is over Just try a dozen or so, let’s see what happens “De’muel-ni, we’ve a problem” “Why? What’s the matter, Kalmi?” The bull-horned youth carefully rolls up the vellu within the sales tent He clears up the counter, which was set up using parts from the 2nd cart, and turns toward the o bad The shaking during transport ed some of them” “damn it” De’muel rubs his temples with his hand for a moment “How many of them are there?” “I’d say about a barrel’s worth” fuuuuu The bull-horned youth sighs in diso bad Make the others in such a way that we can eat them as snacks and for brunch too bad too” “Is there a lot?” “No, just a bit” “Then use it with the egg” “Got it” Kalht?” “Yeah, why?” “Don’t know, you look older by a few years all of the sudden” hahahaha The youth can only s quite a bit of eggs, though” kii kii kii “We will et sick of it” Kal with a monkey-like sound kero kero “““Shh…””” kero “Eh…?” “““… RUN!””” keroooo A nu on top of Sa into the furry blob, sniffing the air while spying on the pair of cooks preparing the evening meal Mak’ra’s return fro the a wind pressure that pushes against Mak’ra The deer-horned youth is left with a “what the hell just happened” look before shaking his head and resu to the sales tent The escorts didn’t stop the children today since they are not bothering the horses and Sa with theht in if the children start any trouble, but they see and OniOniCircle Seeing that they are not a threat, the escorts siuard It seeinally acted as a sort of playground according to the children, so De’ here when infor to the japanese version of “Red Light, Green Light” or “Go, Stop” or whatever it’s called Oni = 鬼, the galefu is too weak to know if this is an actual ga] “Ni-san” Mak’ra pops inside the sales tent as the sky is dyed in orange “Ah, Mak’ra, any luck?” The deer-horned youth fidgets while replying “no, soht about all of this” “I think I knohy…” “Eh?” “I’ve been reviewing the lessons by Bell-sensei There is soo’, ‘Market Manipulation’ and ‘Market Monopoly’” “Isn’t Eo limited to countries only?” “Yes, but the theory can be applied in this case, it’s an act of ‘Trade Protectionisroup so here” De’ on his hands “We aren’t that important… isn’t that too much of a conspiracy?” “Even so, let’s assume the worst for now and let’s say that we can’t ever sell to the merchants within the Merchant Quarters” “But-” “No buts, we both tried this already, you were kicked out right away froht on the bullseye “Then what are we going to do?” “I don’t know yet, ill have a discussion with everyone over dinner” “Speaking of which, why are there a bunch of kids staring at our cooks?” “… What?” The bull-horned youth packs away the vellu towards the caht’s okun Involuntarily, De’h the air as he approaches the two “Hey, Lauer with the rattail waves at his partner to keep working while stopping to talk “Well, some of the zinnia flowers don’t look edible, but it’d be a waste to just throw them out, so we blended the non-rotten floith sos in it It should help preserve it for a few days” “Howto use about 3/4 of the barrel this way There’s si to eat for dinner and brunch That bunch there is done, help yourself it you are hungry right now” “Alright, good job” De’ around It didn’t take long before he spots the white blob hiding behind the warehouse tent with the kids peeking at the cooks “Uh-oh” “Book it!” “Let’s go, Sailely slide off the furry white blob while a few of the younger kids pull Sa the kids over here” kero “Wah! No, Sa” Salides its way over to De’ on hi and starts re them into quarters with a s the knife “Please don’t eat us! We will be good!” TheSarip “Mo as well “BE QUIET!” De’ the knife away The children are shocked into silence as they look at the bull-horned youth in terror The stories of the bull-horned de in their heads “Let them down, Sammy” kero kero The furry blob deflates itself as the still stunned children continue to stare at De’s toward the snot-nosed kids When none of them moved an inch, he let’s out a fuuuu “You just pick it up and eat it like this” He picks up a slice of the divided fist-sized egg and takes a bite out of it before chewing The aroht citrus flavour co the savoriness of the yolk while contrasting with the slight bitterness fro for another piece as he quickly devours the first piece gokun All the kids snap out of it as the aro the egg greedilywith curiosity The rabs a piece of the egg before taking a bite, as the other two kids look on The child’s eyes go wide at the flavour, a delicious flavour - unlike the heavily salted cuisine found within Sardon The other two gulp upon seeing the child’s reaction, splitting the re the e their shells Since [Nas have a certain thickness to its shells, it’s very easy to re KERO Before De’ust of wind appears fro into the still deflated Sa is purring fills the air before the white blob deflates some more De’ once was before reaching over and working on another one after giving the flattened blob a wry sht since he followed De’muel on the way out, others within the caokun All of the the eggshells while children are eating the eggs happily So the shell off an egg on their own It wasn’t long before everyone, including the off-duty escorts, join in the suddenat each other as they continue to cook “Inco!” An escort shouts from the direction of the Merchant Quarters The off-duty escorts quickly toss their piece of egg into theirtoward the voice DODODO “Release the children now!” The fat, blonde youth frouards in full run “What the hell are you talking about, Fat ass?” “RELEASE THE CHILDREN!” OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooo The cadejos all roar at the sa the very air to vibrate This has the effect of causing all the guards to halt their run “I repeat, what the hell are you talking about?” “I’ve a report of children being abducted and being eaten here I’! Charge!” “Captain, the kids are eating with the others” “So Fat ass is now a Du out some quick orders “Fall back, Circle fore half-heartedly since they overheard that the kids are eating with the others as reported by one of the riders Some didn’t even take more than a few steps “You! Follow es past the fat youth drawing his sword and nabs the guard that did the check on the docued with an “aaaaahhhhh” onto the back of the cadejo before it es are kidnapping one of the guards! Call for backup!” The fat youth charges forith his sword drawn as the other escorts slowly back away toward the cauards look at each other in doubt before someone finally retrieves a horn and blows in it The “Huuuuuu” echoes through the air, causing birds in the fields nearby to take flight kan kan kan The fat youth tries to slash at one of the escorts, who parries it aith a long spear without effort The cadejo would occasionally lean in during the parry, pushi+ng the swords?! Attack!” “Uuard merely points toward the ca three children while holding onto so Behind them rides the beautiful wouys” Thea suys are selling here” He quickly tosses a few eggs toward his fellow guards who catch the their short spears The youth looks at the guard and the children in confusion “Weren’t they tied up and about to be eaten?” “Sir, no, sir They were happily eating these things with the deuards with the eggs gulp as the aroma stirs their appetite since it’s close to dinner tishell before ripping a piece out and devouring it They quickly gesture to the other guards while chewing the piece in their er or incident, gather around those with the eggs and start grabbing pieces for the to be eaten…” The fat youth mutters to himself and turns his head every which way, at the children each holding a large egg, the guard that cas A sudden shadoers over hi it an eerie look Out of the blue, a loud PA is heard followed by a dull Da sound of so onto the floor The youth stares at the shadowed figure in shock “Pick up the glove, Du your incompetent ass to a duel”