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FICTION

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Chapter 25: Astral Hiring

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

Also Pxtreon: P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin


It's been two weeks since the wedding, and, as the shock had settled down, I knew it was time to start looking at another element that was tied to Geese's betrayal.

We were down of a potential member and... we needed someone that was good with exploration and natural understanding of our future whereabouts. With the moving up process to our new home going to be done by the end of the month, I had very few people to keep around for this occasion, with Reida being one of them and Roxy being the other.

Zenith was the one in charge of the rest of the group as they were mostly done packing things up for the big relocation, so I could ask for others since they were busy with their own things. Reida didn't have much on her, and she had left Isolte's small burden on the packing to Ghislaine. Roxy was already one step ahead and had already packed everything she needed to move.

With these two keeping me company, I asked if the guild would allow me to set for a small area inside to recruit new members. The Receptionist allowed me to do this for a fee, which I happily paid since it was quite cheap compared to what I had expected, but where this part was easy, the next one, the main one that is, proved to be more complicated and tedious.

After all, I knew most of the people checking the guild nowadays, and I had to reject a few by bringing up what we were looking for. Most understood that I wasn't looking just for 'girls' but some just couldn't get it that I wasn't looking for more people experienced with melee weapons and that it was more of a matter of planners, stategists and those that had an attitude to pass as a Morally Good Rogue in DnD.

A bit of an odd comparison, but that was the point of it- someone that wasn't inherently strong, but that could still make the difference by having the street-smarts to handle problems that most in the group couldn't. And the entire thing was not as smooth and peaceful as I wanted. At least Paul didn't take part to any of the stupidity we were subjected to. It got to the point where something 'amusing' in Reida's opinion happened.

"Funny that you are looking for more chicks to add to your collections. How about letting men in the group?" A dull guy asked, his parrot-tier friend nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, let us guys have some fun too."

I sighed. "Look, this is not the point of the party, or the recruitment in fact. I don't care if it's a guy or a girl, we need people that fit with this listing."

"Well, it's still not fair. I mean, with so many hot girls, you should still share. And I don't care about your list, like, that chick over there deserves better than what you can offer her."

He was talking about... Reida. Hence the 'amusing' bit. The woman smiled at this.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, babe. I can pay whatever you need and show you a good time."

Reida's smile kept on widening. But there was no warmth in that. Only a promise of pain.

"Can you handle swords?" The woman asked, standing up and tilting her head left and right to stretch her tense muscle. "Because I want to see you and your boyfriend give it a try."

These two were confused, and then they were not when they were turned the subjects of a peculiar magic trick involving Reida as the magician and a thick and mean-looking tree branch suddenly disappearing as bruises swelled left and right all over their bodies. That was quite the sight, and I was glad I convinced her to do this outdoors because the sheer sight was enough to convince most of those cocky people in the line to keep away from annoying any of us.

The hiring process still continued despite losing more than half those interested, and where I thought that we would have found no one for this first day of looking around, I was surprised when two individuals, twins, decided to check it and... they looked quite young. Not that I was troubled by specific ages, but when it comes to handling knowledge over nature and fauna, I could tell that you need to be a bit older than barely an adult to give a shot in joining a high-ranking party.

"So, let's see if I got this right," I decided to interject about halfway their introduction as they had gone through the notion of where they had gone and what they were specialized with. The male one was experienced with animals and their behaviors, while the female one was specialized in plants and general habitats. "You two are from a distant land and have been traveling for some time now. Not enough to consider yourselves specialists just yet but enough to give it a shot to join a party, right?"

"Yes," The girl, short blonde hair and yellow eyes, smiled confidently. "I understand the doubt, Mr. Bukharin, but we didn't come here to just lay a claim without proof."

And said proof was a journal they had penned together. I took a quick look at it, but due to how extensive the info was in there, I offered it to Roxy to review it. To say that the Migurdian was surprised and pleased by what she found inside would be an understatement. These two definitely knew how to make a good point.

Yet, I wasn't willing to let them in as I saw something that drew my attention.

"It says here," I started to say, turning to the boy. "That you two are both training to use swords. You... You don't feel confident to say you can fight with it?"

"W-We never had the chance to train, sir," The fellow blond, this one with long hair pulled in a single braid, admitted. "We are explorer first and foremost, so fighting never comes up as an issue unless we venture dangerous places."

I slowly nodded at this. "If it is possible, I would like to personally gauge the two of you. There's a small training ground around where I can test you both."

"At once?" The girl inquired and I nodded. "Isn't it-"

"Too much?" Her twin brother asked and I shook my head.

"Despite the fact I can tell you are holding out on how strong you really are, I can tell the two of you lack expertise in that form of combat. I will not lose."

It wasn't arrogance, it was confidence. Of the kind that I was soon proving to them as we reached the place. I left both Roxy and Reida behind to tend to the rest of the applications, telling them to still keep an eye out for anyone interesting in that regard while I took care of the twins. The walk was brief, and no one paid much attention as I led these two to the sparring grounds.

Both had their swords... manifesting out of their sheats and into their preferred arms, taking basic stances before rushing at me. They were fast, faster than I had predicted, but they still lacked discipline in handling swords. I managed to have them lose their footing by countering their first attacks, both 'kids' panicking as they were blocked mid-air and then countered before they could land back to the ground. The boy managed to bring his guard up despite the shock, his sister struggled and ended up tripping down on the ground.

With that error, they left themselves open for two potential outcomes: either I attacked the girl as she recovered, or attacked her brother since he was the most dangerous threat but also weaker since he didn't have any immediate support for an aggressive assault. I picked option 2, out of the fact that the blond could have easily recoiled for option 1 and prevented me from capitalizing.

This take proved to be effective as the boy instantly got his sword removed from his hold and forced to drop down away from it. His sister got up and tried to give him the time to reclaim his weapon, but her rabid attacking only made her even more open to retaliation. Twenty minutes later, the two were done as they couldn't fight back, their weapons on the side and their stamina seriously depleted at this point.

"Well, that was admirable but I am glad the two of you understand that you need some training," I commented, helping them up both. "I still like what I have seen so... welcome to the family, Aether and Lumine."

The twins smiled at this, delighted of being taken in by the group and I just could tell these two were going to be interesting to have around.


Roxy grumbled a bit as she handed the umpteenth wooden stick to Reida.

The woman was having too much fun breaking the body, soul and spirit of anyone that tried to pass the recruitment process as 'wanting to add more males for the ladies'. Then again, one would think that they understood that things would get bruising and ugly for them after the first time. But for some reason, after John left, some of these came back assuming that he was the one that give them... the power to fight back?

It was all an assumption for Roxy, but it was the only plausible option as she just handed tree branches for Reida to use as punishing tools. It got to the point where bets were being made on the 'bodycount' Reida was going to bring today. It was really surprising how stupid some of those starting adventurers could get, but it would be a lie to say that Reida was the only one frustrated by these troublemakers. Some of them, perhaps perceiving how really dangerous the woman was, decided to aim their shots at Roxy.

And Roxy returned these attempts with something a bit more 'vicious'. It's not her fault that idiots suffered electric attacks more than normal people. An electric spell or two kept any troublemakers in check and prevented any major issues with the guild. It was truly a sight to behold for many, but to Roxy this was getting stupid. And yet, the stupidest but most interesting encounter was when she ended up talking with a masked young girl... accompanied by Lillia.

"My lady wishes to join the party."

"Yes~!" The child giddily exclaimed, before pulling back and fixing her voice to appear less childish. "I-I mean- Yes, I want to join this great party as I heard so many great things about it."

Roxy scratched her head at this, digging her right hand under her hat before giving the two a serious look. Princess Ariel was a delicate character in this matter, so a genuine refusal would be more off-putting. Accepting her was out of question, so Roxy decided to thread the middle ground.

"I can bring this up to John which I am sure will reach out with an answer. Anyway it goes, I see no issues to worry."

"Okay~!"

That was relieving, but it really made her wonder how the situation at the palace was going. With the news of Hitogami, or who called himself as such, being revealed by the king and many priests of Millis as a fake deity, some outcry was expected, especially by the more zealous nobles. If things were getting as tumultous in the few provinces refusing this decree and getting put down for revolts, then Ariel's situation may as well be as tedious as one could imagine it to be.

Luckily for them all, John had the means to personally check and make sure the poor child was away from trouble once he was informed of her own worries.


AN

Pre-Genshin Impact Travelers get! The key difference is that they are much younger and much more inexperienced compared to their counterparts. What they have in power, they lack in experience and education in combat.

Also, recently released a new story on QQ. 'Truly a Chaotic World' is a Cartoons/Western Media X-Over SI that starts in Gravity Falls and features numerous other shows ranging from standard Cartoons used as principal 'settings with characters' with a variety of other series within games and comics that add more flavor to an unique plotline.