The existence of these three is proof that the devil is real, and he has a sick sense of humor.
“Ha.”
The three boys gave me a wide berth as I started laughing. Ridiculous. Never did I believe I would have such ridiculous encounters in my life again. The normality of it all was staggering. A group of teenage boys with feelings for a girl way out of their league, coming to harass me because I opposed the object of their affection.
As far as problems go, it was so… ridiculous.
I was used to my problems pivoting from ‘how do I save this witch?’ To ‘how do I survive this battle?’ Not, how do I make these brats stop bothering me?
“Hey… why’s he laughing?”
“He – er – I dunno – maybe he’s not all there up there –”
I found myself struggling to catch my breath, forcing myself to stop laughing. The effort it took was almost herculean, but, the minute I stopped laughing and glanced at the three boys, I burst into laughter anew.
Ridiculous!
“Hey Saintarelli! Are you making fun of us?!”
Clearing my throat and shaking my head, I locked gaze with the bespectacled one, Shaw. “Listen… Shaw was it? You – you have a lot of free time to be going around doing this. Shouldn’t you be training, getting stronger?”
Shaw waved his hand. “What for? I just need to survive the First Mission and that’s it. Nightmares aren’t a big deal. All it takes is one or two shots from an SR to kill them. Then, when I level up, I’ll pour all my stats into Charisma. I’ll make myself irresistible so I can have the honor of standing side by side with my Queen.”
My lips twitched. “That’s cute,” I said. “You think Nightmares aren’t a big deal.”
“Well,” Adam spoke up “The lower-tier ones aren’t. We’re still low-level, so we’ll only ever have to fight those weak ones. The stronger tier monsters are for Cadets and above. Besides that, we have General Hoplite and we have the Seven. Alhamis hasn’t been invaded by a single nightmare in over three hundred years.”
“I don’t know why everyone is always so strung. As long as we’ve got General Hoplite – we can never fail.” Affleck added.
Naïve. That was the first thing that came to mind as I glanced at the trio. So very naïve.
“Good for you,” I said. These three most likely had never fought a life or death battle in their lives. They seemed to be lacking heavily in the discipline and strictness I saw in the main AAA force.
“How old is Hoplite again?”
Adam was the one to answer “General Hoplite is fourteen.”
“Amazing right? It only means he’ll get stronger when he gets older!”
“And how old are you, Shaw?”
“What?”
“How old are you?” I asked again.
“What does that matter?”
“He’s nineteen,” Adam answered again.
“Damn it Adam!”
“You’re relying on someone five years your junior to do the heavy lifting for you. You stand here and fantasize about a girl who doesn’t care about your existence, while happily saying you do not need to better yourself because a kid will protect you. That’s just…”
Pathetic.
“…sad.”
Adam frowned. “General Hoplite isn’t a kid. He’s a Champion. And he’s the best there is. No one can beat him.”
I didn’t know about that. I knew ridiculously powerful individuals. Giggles, Apophis, Omega. If any of them ever got the urge to attack Alhamis, it would be up to that boy to stand his ground against literal nightmares, while people like Shaw and Adam cheered on, but did nothing to contribute except crossing their fingers and praying for his victory.
Weak.
I didn’t quite understand why it irked me. Hoplite was my enemy. There would be no amicable meeting or friendship between us.
Ah. That’s why.
That was why I cared. Hoplite was my enemy. He didn’t know it, of course, but he’d left an impression on me. He’d been the first being in Alamir to make me understand the nature of the world I’d found myself in, and send me running with true, genuine terror.
I didn’t want anyone to kill him before I did.
In a way, it would be poetic. To conquer my first, and greatest fear. My first and most powerful foe. The very idea that someone else might swoop in and kill the boy before I proved my growth by beating the kid who could create black holes set me alight with burning anger.
“As much as I’d like to sit back and continue this conversation, I have more important things to do.”
“H-hey come back you haven’t apologized for –”
“Let it go Shaw.”
“Seriously, Adam, what the hell?”
“…we shouldn’t mess with Saintarelli.”
“And why the hell not.”
“…it’s… risky.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean.”
“Just… leave it.”
Leaving the trio and departing from the barracks, I found myself increasing my strides and walking with an unsteady feeling of slight annoyance. The encounter had been amusing at the start, but it fell from amusing to pathetic rather quickly. I patted my cheeks as I walked, reminding myself to ignore it and focus on my main objectives.
Anything that didn’t further that should be tossed aside.
[Seventh Sense – Incoming Collision!]
My body spun on instinct, weaving out of the way at the last second of bumping into the person in front of me. It’s just one thing after another today.
“Are you alright?”
Three things drew my attention. The person was wearing a uniform that Neo’s memory told me only belonged to Generals. The person was floating, my gaze calculated that it was five inches above the ground. The person was female. The person’s skin was white as snow, and their hair, to my utter and complete disbelief, was
