The end of the year was mostly uneventful aside from the long chats which Jin appreciated. The bellators stayed, and each shared a story or two of their past. It had been a bit awkward initially, especially since this was the first time in a long while that Jin stayed with the entire group to chat rather than get caught up by his work.
The System Users were most intrigued about Kraft"s story about how Rex got betrayed by his Panda Lord Zhou Yu despite his utmost loyalty. The foxes, including Pei, had also briefly shared their lives and their own stories which led them to become servants of Kraft.
(Although Kraft kept insisting that they were companions and not servants, the majority claimed otherwise except for Kiyu. Still, from the tone of their accusation, it was clear that only Pei believed this to be the actual case.)
As for the master of the house… he didn"t have anything worthwhile to share since his life turned for the better (or worse?) after he met with the System. Speaking of which, he had been so busy that he had turned down a lot of his friends" catch ups and meetings.
"Wait, so that means you never met up with Yong Heng and Guo Zhong ever since? Hard to believe considering how close you guys used to be." Qiu Yue, the only one who had been part of Jin"s past before he turned into a dungeon supplier, was a little concerned that his new work focused lifestyle may potentially erode his existing friends.h.i.+ps.
"Ah...sorta. I did message the two of them recently, but I just told them that I was in some dead end job, slogging like a bull for the company. (Technically true) And, they kind of understood my situation." Jin would have loved to reconnect with them, but he did not know how to convey the message to his friends as showing them the dungeon supplier store would definitely expose him to a lot of lies.
Meeting up with Qiu Yue had led him into eventually making her a Sub System User, but he could not picture doing the same do his buddies...
"Mmm, actually, that"s the problem with me too. I never really revealed much to the others in my social circle. The only exception is my previous supervisor, who did not really know me despite the close working relations.h.i.+p we had." Qiu Yue affirmed Jin"s predicament. "I even told my parents that it was compulsory to work in the company"s campus, given the nature of the work."
"Hahaha! Nature of the work. That is undoubtedly true." Lynn chuckled. "At the rate, we are going, we can be considered as a full blown inter world mercenary company rather than just a.s.sistants to a dungeon supplier store."
"I don"t think that"s a good comparison. Mercenaries don"t usually earn the moolah you do by selling top quality food, nor do they spend it doing various levels of research. Let"s not even start with the city." Kraft chose to put in his two cents. "Even companies and organisations do not wield that much influence and power over these many people unless you are talking about the top 1% multinational companies, JODE or JOME."
"I guess in terms of size, we are more akin to JOME. They literally own the Vatican city and have armies of exorcists at their disposal. From what I know, I don"t think JODE officially even owns a city despite their overwhelming influence in the south eastern regions." Jin commented.
"Heh! I think we are missing the most apparent winners since the past. We have yet to include the Royal Zodiac Clans into the picture." Yun chipped in her opinion to the matter.
"And I am not talking about just the Zodiac Clans. The j.a.panese Seven G.o.d Clans, The European Astro Zodiac Clans and even the American Tarot Groups are in the same category. They are the people that controlled those companies and organisations." Yun was explicitly hinting Jin to be one of such groups.
"Who cares about all this stuff?! Let"s start the countdown in the Dungeon Cave Town and throw some fireworks out!" Peppers insisted, and Kraft began to make a mental count in his head.
"Isn"t it a bit early for that? It should just be evening at the Dungeon Cave Town around now? Also why not the Dungeon Fortress City?" Kraft was curious.
"Because I cannot see the sky in the Dungeon Fortress City, duh!" Peppers rolled her eyes at the obvious. "Why ignite fireworks if there is no sky to fire upon?"
"Then, what are we still waiting for? Let"s scare the people there!" Jin said in such an impromptu manner that the others joined in a heartbeat. (Naturally, Peppers was dying inside with much antic.i.p.ation at the chance that her whim may turn into fruition.)
When they teleported into the adventurer"s guild, the first person they saw was Zhi Nu, the Weaver Girl turned Guild Manager ordering some goblin merchants to place the food trays for the upcoming buffet. "Boss! Thanks for the treat! The preparations are almost complete and if you wish to partake on any food, do not hesitate!" Zhi Nu waved excitedly at Jin and the other Bellators.
Zhi Nu had invited every single merchant under Jin"s command as well as a few very prominent merchants. She had decided to use this buffet dinner as a way to earn some new connections. And even if that endeavour ended unsuccessfully, at the very least, Jin"s Orc and Goblin merchants would enjoy it. A cla.s.sic win-win.
"Hahah! No need, Zhi Nu. We already had our dinner but -HEY PEPPERS NO ICE CREAM! Milk, please drag that kid back in line or no fireworks for her." Jin spoke out loud, but at the same time, Kraft decided to follow Peppers" example by commanding his foxes to s.n.a.t.c.h several boxes of ice cream away.
Jin had no idea how the foxes were managing to balance those boxes, and the only silver lining was that Peppers was not as greedy as Kraft. The Dark Elves in their Night Foxes outfit however decided to pretend not to see the crime. They all knew better than to foolishly try and compete against the insanely strong individual foxes.
"Sorry, Jin. I may hate Kraft, but I do not dislike ice cream!" Pei apologised coyly as she transformed into a fox form and stole a box away, leaving Jin somewhat speechless.
"Don"t worry, we have at least three more crates." Zhi Nu telepathically whispered to Jin before acting furious that the two bellators were acting like this.
Surprisingly, Kraft stopped that mischevious behaviour after running out of the adventurer"s guild as he waited patiently outside on top of Itori, the giant white fox with his loot. "Come, I shall bring all of you to the nearest mountain peak and we can shoot our fireworks over there." Kraft offered with an ice popsicle in his mouth. Jin knew better than to argue with the egotistical fox leader.
Soon after, the whole gang was up on a cliffside area with the perfect view over the Dungeon Cave Town right beneath them. The town had changed drastically since Jin last saw it.
The main reason being the time difference between worlds.
From the once medium size adventurer camp, it had turned into a proper town with various facilities. And while they did not officially have a mayor, Zhi Nu had perfectly fulfilled the role by taking care of everything. The board of committee under her were also Jin"s underlings, and thus the town was broadly speaking, his second upcoming city.
"No wonder, the profit is steadily rising." Jin thought to himself before looking at his watch. It was exactly five minutes before the start of the new year in Jin"s world, and the bellators began to weave their magic spells as Peppers proposed a firework compet.i.tion with Yun being the judge.
Even Zeru had decided to join in the fun by creating a firework with his chi. Knowing that they were lacking in the chi department to win against the bellators, Qiu Yue and Lynn had decided to pin their hopes on Jin.
"What, why me?!" Jin asked, and they each took his hand and demanded to see a specific type of firework. "Because you made us worry earlier this afternoon! So do some work and win the compet.i.tion!" The two girls shouted in unison and in less than a few seconds, Yun announced the start of the compet.i.tion.
Happy New Year.