"We just got word. Sounds like trouble.""What do you mean, "trouble"?"
"Seems hostilities have erupted between Froad and Evergreen."
"Evergreen is under our protection. Why would they make a move all of a sudden?"
"Well, we"ve been lying low for the past couple years, I guess they thought we wouldn"t mind?"
The talk around Carter quickly revolved around the two men from the Evergreen division.
"Didn"t their division leaders teach them not to poke a sleeping monster?"
"My thoughts exactly. Well, it"s not such a bad thing; about time we got the rust off."
The mood of Carter the Grand Duelists was that of righteous indignation. With good reason, as Evergreen is a division under their protection.
It was like a corporation was attacked by a local store; the size is incomparable.
Despite the relative quiet of the Grand Duelists, this was still a questionable move by Froad, because of how the Grand Duelists would react to this development.
"Or maybe that was the point? Goad us or something?"
"I don"t know about you, but I"m feeling pretty goaded right now. Let"s go bring a few vets and raze Froad to the ground, make a statement."
"I don"t think the situation is that simple."
"What do you mean?"
More news came through the grapevine, and the word was out that the Grand Duelists" response would be by the book: dispatch a few of their awakeners to help keep the peace and settle the situation down.
"Well, if we do retaliate, it won"t give our division a good reputation. I think Froad will spread rumors that if we intervene, it will be like a meddling tyrant oppressing a group of freedom fighters."
"What a load of s.h.i.t."
"Not if you"re looking at it from outside."
It would definitely be a large hit to the reputation of the Grand Duelists if they directly intervene, thanks to Froad publicly declaring a division war.
In this situation, the Grand Duelists stepping forward and take down Froad would be like an adult getting involved in two children fighting; a huge loss of prestige and reputation.
"If that"s the case, what should we do?"
"Well, if we move from intervention to mediation, we could come out of this with our reputation intact. The poor b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from Evergreen, though… nasty business we"re in."
"Master Li always makes the best decision for everyone; all we can do is wait at this point."
"Agreed."
***
"Klay," the leader of the Grand Duelists declared, making his decision after hearing the story of the Evergreen members, "send Jake and Liam with those two."
"What?" Klay asked, doubt on his expression. "Are you serious?"
"It"s kind of difficult to send our established members in this situation," Li explained. "Let"s send in our new recruits for this task."
"But will they be of great help to the Evergreen?" Klay asked, unconvinced of Jake and Liam"s ability to turn the tide of a war between divisions, despite their talent.
"Their presence will be all the statement we"ll need to make to Froad and whoever is backing them."
"Ah, I see what you"re going with here," Klay replied as he finally understood what his friend was aiming for.
He didn"t intend to bring Jake and Liam there to fight: they were there as a message to Froad.
"We know what you"re doing, and we"re watching you," the message was.
If Froad continues their actions and Jake and Liam end up sacrifices in the conflict, then nothing will stop the Grand Duelists from bringing their full might to bear on Froad.
Ergo, the worst-case scenario for the Grand Duelists would be two lost awakeners, but Froad would be crushed like a bug underfoot.
"It is also a golden opportunity for them to keep out of the schism within the division at present. The longer they stay here, the larger the possibility that my son and Connor will get their hooks on one of them – or both."
"Mediating conflicts between lower-ranked divisions is a skill I need them to learn," the old man explained further. "You, of all people, should know that brute strength and skills aren"t enough in this world. You can give them a little help before they leave."
"Well said, Li – we have a problem, though."
"What problem?"
"Jake and Liam haven"t returned."
"I see," Li replied enigmatically, his clever plan for Froad running into a stumbling block due to the absence of the two awakeners needed for Li"s ploy.
"I should get a bunch of guys to find them – pretty sure they aren"t that far from here, as they haven"t established any familiarity with this city and its outskirts."
"If I were you, I"d expand my search net significantly," Li said with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Klay asked.
"Klay, let me put it this way," Li replied, "Jake has a knack for exceeding expectations."
***
The two men from Evergreen were currently in the guest room placed for them by the Grand Duelists.
While they were asked to rest and recuperate, the gravity of the situation has them stressed out and worried, reduced to pacing around the room while worrying about running out of time.
There"s nothing they can do but wait for the decision of the Grand Duelists, and the wait is excruciating.
Leaving their people behind to face the crisis didn"t help.
Klay understood, which was why he came forward in person to help find Jake and Liam, the two awakeners tasked to a.s.sist them.
This is a consideration that divisions like the Grand Duelists give to those under their protection; however, a veiled meaning is also included: "we have gone above and beyond the call of duty to a.s.sist you. It is only common courtesy that you remember this gesture and return it should we need you."
And as of this moment, Li had predicted correctly, to the detriment of both divisions due to the circ.u.mstances of the moment.
"No trace of them, sir."
"How far could they have gone?"
"Execute the next search on a larger quadrant. Move out," Klay ordered, as his men couldn"t find Jake and Liam, despite their search taking them quite far from Carter.
"Looks like you were right, Li," Klay thought. "These rookies have just shown up at the Grand Duelists, I never expected them to make it further than the outskirts of the city."
"GD Actual, this is GD Alpha," an awakener communicated. "Order confirmed. Expand search quadrant by ten clicks on my mark."
A chorus of "Roger" followed this order, and Klay nodded at the skill and professionalism of the unit under his command: Grand Duelists Security, which they call GD Security for short.
This kind of occurrence only happens once every blue moon, and I have no doubt now.
GD Security is a unit operating directly under Klay (and by extension, Master Li), and thanks to its unrivaled capabilities, is generally considered the elite of the Grand Duelists.
Their existence is a bit of a thorn in the side of LJ and Connor, whose orders they tend to ignore if at odds with the orders of Klay and Master Li.
"With double the search radius, you will have to double your efforts."
Another chorus of "roger" replied to Klay, and he nodded – it was only a matter of time before they found traces of the general direction where Jake and Liam headed.
Several hours later, Klay was once again impressed by how well his unit worked.
"GD Actual, this is GD Xi, fresh monster traces found here. Estimated TOD is forty-five to sixty minutes."
The corpse of a still-warm monster was found: a lucky opportunity for GD Security, as monster corpses tend to vary.
Some disappear with no trace, others leave a fine powdery ash, and still others leave viable corpses, just like the one the GD Security awakener code-named Xi found.
"GD Phi and GD Chi have continued pursuit. Found wound patterns on our corpse consistent with a large, two-handed weapon," GD Xi continued.
"That"s Jake Smithson"s weapon of choice," Klay said. "Leave a marker for the processing team and resume pursuit, GD Xi."
"By your order."
He didn"t sound like it, but Klay was in a hurry.
"Allying with a lesser division means you have to protect it the best you can."
"This is why I have had my unit move quickly: any further delay will cause relationships between us and Evergreen to sour further."
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Ten minutes later, a female voice came over the receiver.
"This is GD Phi. Vocal confirmation of awakener Jake and Liam. Making contact."
"I want radio silence from all of you from here on out," Klay ordered, so he could focus on the sound GD Phi was catching.
And when her audio feed came in, Klay and his unit heard something like poetry, but rhythmic and more aggressive.
"Moving towards my 11:30," GD Phi said as she moved forward. "GD Phi, back me up."
They went forward and heard the voice more clearly.
"This is why I"m hot, and this is why you"re not," Jake intoned while he and Liam were surrounded by numerous monsters.
"Can you not provoke these guys further?" Liam asked, and the two GD Security awakeners decided to hold their position until the monsters were defeated before they would approach the two.
"Their appearance and combat strength have improved dramatically since their last appearance in Carter," GD Phi noted to the rest of the awakeners in his unit. "Converge on our location. Estimated time until the monsters are defeated is five minutes."
"You heard the man, let"s go," Klay ordered, and the entire unit was on the move.
***
Jake Smithson had no time to rest. More specifically, Jake Smithson"s shopping had no time to rest.
There were points to save, GOAT Flyers to buy, but he simply could not stop buying during that time, as his shopping withdrawal symptoms might kick in at an inopportune time.
That was why he purchased a skill.
[Aqua Blade: gather moisture from the atmosphere to create a sharp blade to attack the enemy with.]
"Since I have these shoes, I might as well get a few water magic skills for them, right?"
The skill he bought had amazing synergy with the GOAT Flyers he was wearing.
"So, if I use the Aqua Blade, I"ll be triple-wielding, right?" Jake asked, finding his Aqua Blade skill rather amazing, not just because of that synergy with his very nice kicks.
Of course, because it looks cool.
Jake was exactly the type of person who bought things for simple and frivolous reasons.
"I may need an armor upgrade soon, too."
Thanks to his installment plan, he was also able to purchase another set of armor from the Gold Label: while the Griefen still served him well, some parts of it were broken, and he didn"t have the time to repair and maintain it due to nonstop battles and training.
[Dragon Knight Shard Armor Set:
This armor set consists of two pieces: a pair of spaulders and a breastplate.
Has extraordinary durability and defense, and also has a special effect of Gore-Tex when this armor is enchanted with mana.
This set was originally designed as an experimental suit of armor made to withstand a dragon"s fire breath, but failed during testing.
Re-enact this experiment at your own peril.]
It has a different magic effect than the Griefen, which gives it a tremendous level of flexibility and defense: making it strictly better than the Griefen, if you valued defense.
"I"ll take down two birds with one stone if I buy them on the Superstore," Jake said before he made the purchases from the Superstore to improve his purchasing performance at that outlet.
There was still a long way to go for him to increase that level enough so he can buy the 2K Miles" Velocity Roadster for cheap.
However, if there was anything Jake knew, it was that slow and steady wins the race.
To Jake, though, his current performance will never be enough.
"I can"t wait to buy everything!"
Of course, Jake simply wants to buy things, not just to improve his performance as an awakener.
"Which means I have to earn all those points quickly."
Because of Jake"s lack of time to repair and maintain his Griefen, the Dragon Knight Shard Armor set looked a lot more respectable.
"This is why I always keep upgrading my products."
As to the fate of the worn Griefen armor?
He lent it to Liam.
"You"re lending this to me."
"Exactly," Jake replied, since he considers giving his own stuff away as inconceivable, he decided to just lend his items to Liam instead. "When your birthday comes around, I"ll get you an equipment set for yourself."
"How nice, but you don"t know when my birthday is. Thanks for the gesture, though."
"You"re welcome, so… rain check until the division has a holiday instead?"
"There won"t be a holiday in the Grand Duelists if this situation worsens," Master Li declared, suddenly appearing near them.
Jake and Liam were a bit winded from all the monster battle that they only took a step back instead of taking a large leap backward, but they were still surprised to see two men flanking their division master.
"Jake, Liam, allow me to introduce to you Morris and Igor: guests from the Evergreen division," the old man declared. "And I will ask the two of you to escort them back to their division."
***