Disclaimer: I do not own God Eater, and any contents already in the game.


Chapter 38: House Victorious 2

"Candy..! Candy, Daddy!" Phym pointed at a colorful store.

Then Jerad chuckled. "Spotted one already? Wait a sec."

He turned to the owner. "Ma'am, you don't mind just a few minutes, right?"

"Of course. Please do," Hilda smiled. "Anything for Phym."

"Thanks. Let's go, Phym," Jerad began walking her towards the store, and after a few steps, he also saw many children inside..along with their parents.

"You're a danger to our society. You shouldn't even be around here. Go away, monster!"

He turned to the girl holding his hand. "Phym..I think you, and Mommy should go in there. I'll stay outside."

"Huh..?" Baffled by his sudden aversion, Claire blinked her eyes. "What's going on?"

"I'm not gonna risk trouble.., and ruin Phym's chances for candies," Jerad slightly winced. "Here's my FC card…Use it for whatever two bags she wants. Just two bags."

"Um, OK," Claire hesitantly took his card. "Are you sure? I mean it should be fine with me around…"

"I get it, but I'm not taking chances," Jerad shook his head. "One wrong move with just me being in there, and candies are gone for Phym. Plus, I don't want to have you using your authority for this. Not worth risking your reputation for it."

Then Levin blinked his eyes for this.

"Go ahead. I'm perfectly fine staying out here..," Jerad forced a faint smile. "As long as Phym gets her candies."

"I understand," Claire closed her eyes. "We won't take too long. Come, Phym."

"Why, Daddy? I want you to come," Phym tugged his hand.

"I just want to make sure you get your candies," Jerad patted her head. "Plus Daddy doesn't want to cause trouble."

"But you're not a bad person..," Phym argued.

And Jerad paused for another few seconds. "It's more complicated than that. Please..just go with Mommy. I'll wait."

"Okay..," Phym finally nodded.

"Come, Phym," Claire held her hand. "Let's buy your candies, and not keep Daddy and everyone waiting."

"Okay," Phym more confidently answered before the two proceeded into the store.

To be safer, Jerad took a few more steps away from the store to avoid further unwanted attention.

"You serious, man?" Zeke slightly grimaced.

"Considering how tight and crowded it is in there with kids, and their moms, I don't think it's a smart idea," Jerad crossed his arms. "I really ain't taking chances, and my mind has been made up. You know what happened when I once tried to help that girl up."

"I see," Hilda frowned. "Yeah, I suppose it was a good measure. I'm sorry."

"No worries at all," Jerad shrugged before glancing back at the store. "As long as Phym gets what she wants in there, I don't care."


"Here, Mommy," Phym held an orange, and a red bag of candies to her, beaming. "I want these!"

Then Claire giggled. "I see. Orange, and strawberry candies..?"

"Yeah," Phym nodded. "I love them."

"Okay," Claire smiled before turning towards the cashier, and once she arrived in a few steps.

"May I help you?" The female cashier smiled.

"Yes, I would like to buy these two bags," Claire placed the bags on the desk.

"That will be 400 FCs total," The cashier said before turning to Phym. "My..she's so adorable."

"Hello," Phym waved.

"Hii, there. How are you, sweetie?" The cashier grinned.

While they were talking, Claire pulled out Jerad's FC card, and then paused. After a few seconds, she placed his card back, and then pulled hers. "Here, please scan."

"Alright," The cashier took Claire's card, swiped them, and after the receipt printed. "Would you like the receipt?"

"Um..," Claire paused. "No, thank you."

"Alright, your child is such a cute one," The cashier cooed.

'My child..?' Claire paused again. "Um, thanks."

"You're pretty, too. Just like her," The cashier smiled. "Whoever your husband is is a truly lucky one."

"Oh..," Claire began blushing. "Thanks."

"Daddy? He is outside," Phym pointed at Jerad's direction who was speaking with Hilda. "He's a good daddy."

"Ah, I see..," The cashier looked in his direction, and paused. "Wait…I think I remember seeing him here once…Why didn't he come this time..?"

"Um, he had his reasons..," Claire murmured. "...I think he was a bit shy."

"Oh, he had no reason to," The cashier giggled. "I sell candies to AGE children from time to time, and often help them reach whatever they want to buy. I welcome anyone in my store, and in my eyes as a store owner, prejudice has no place for me to my customers, so please tell him not to be next time. He's quite handsome, too."

"Oh..," Claire blushed harder.

"You two have a nice day," The cashier smiled.

"Thank you. You, too," Claire waved at her before leaving the store, and once they were back to their friends.

"Daddy, I finally got candies!" Phym excitedly flexed her arms inward.

"Oh, yeah? What you get?" Jerad lifted her in his arms. "Let me guess…Orange, and strawberries, riiight?"

"Oh..yeah!" Phym nodded. "But how you know..?"

"Because I know you like them, silly," Jerad laughed as he pinched her nose.

"Hey, that hurts..!" Phym covered her nose. "And daddy..I told her you're a good daddy."

"Huh..?" Jerad blinked his eyes. "Who..? Your mommy?"

"The candy lady..," Phym pointed at the cashier. "There."

"Oh..," Jerad hesitantly turned his eyes to the cashier, and saw her wave at them.

"Please come by next time," The cashier waved at them again.

"Alright..," Jerad nodded before turning to Phym. "Phym…you know you violated something I taught you a while ago right..?"

Then Phym shuddered. "What is it..?"

"Not to point your finger at anyone..?" Jerad began grinning as he raised his left index finger, curving it. "Three second hell tickles as your punishment..!"

And he poked Phym's armpit, and she began flailing in his right arm as he tickled her for three seconds.

"You're mean!" Phym pouted.

"I told you to mind your courtesy at all times," Jerad chuckled. "So, you're ready to move on?"

"Here's your card," Claire gave his FC card back.

"Thanks," Jerad pocketed it.

"Bye, Candy Lady," Phym turned back to the store owner.

"Bye, little one," The cashier waved back at her before turning back to her business.

"So, should we turn to buying hygiene first?" Hilda tipped her monocle. "I heard you guys are quite in dire need of them."

"Yep, definitely gonna need some," Zeke grinned. "And Keith, help me find that smell good spray thing."

"Disinfectant spray, or air freshener? Got it," Keith nodded.

"Yeah, those," Zeke grinned.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at a personal care store.

"Here we are," Hilda glanced around with a smile. "It's already smelling great here. Why don't we split around here, and shop? It's a small store, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"I guess," Hugo rubbed his backhead with a chuckle. "About how much time do we have?"

"I'd say about..," Hilda glanced at her watch. "15 minutes..? Does that sound enough?"

"Looks just about right," Misha replied.

"Alright. 15 minutes, then," Hilda nodded. "Have fun."

"Hugo, wanna go shopping?" Misha smiled.

"Yeah, sure," Hugo smiled back with a nod.

"Brother, you coming?" Misha turned to her brother.

"Ehh, I think I have a different section to browse on," Jerad chuckled. "Thanks, but you two have fun."

"...Alright," Misha nodded before instinctively grabbing Hugo's arm. "Let's go, Hugo. We don't have much time..!"

"Yep, let's..whoa, hey!" Hugo cried as Misha dragged him.

"Heh, pshh..," Jerad sighed while shaking his head.

"Um, are you sure?" Claire walked beside him.

"Oh yeah, I'm serious about browsing somewhere else," Jerad shrugged before seeing Claire simply staring at him, smiling. "What..?"

Then Claire simply giggled. "It's nothing…"

"Nothing..? You were giggling just now," Jerad's expression became flat.

"I said nothing," Claire giggled again.

"Ah, whatever. Never mind," Jerad shrugged before sighing. "Time is of essence. Let's go shopping."

"Right," Claire smiled.

"Daddy? Can you pick sham-poo and 'sop' for me?" Phym grinned.

"You might wanna ask Mommy that. I know nothing about girl shampoos," Jerad curved his lips.

"Yes. Phym, let me help you pick what you like," Claire smiled. "Shampoo, and soap."

"Yay, please. Pick me a good one," Phym grinned again.


"Umm..Hugo? What do you think of this..?" Misha held an opened shampoo to him after taking a whiff.

Hugo held the bottle, and leaned his head forward.

'M-my hand..!' Misha began overheating at the sensation of her index finger touching his pinky.

"Not too bad," Hugo released the bottle, and leaned back.

"Not too bad..?" Misha closed her eyes in disappointment before capping the bottle back. "Fine…"

And she placed it back on the shelf.

"Do you like it, though?" Hugo plainly asked.

"...Not really," Misha began browsing again.

"Okay..," Hugo sighed before he followed suit.

A few minutes later, another shampoo brand caught Misha's attention, and she grabbed it. She popped the cap off with her thumb, and sniffed. "Mm. Hugo, what do you think of this..?"

"Huh?" Startled by this, Hugo quickly turned.

"What do you think? Try it," Misha grinned while holding the opened container to him.

"Let's see..," Hugo took the container from her, and took a whiff. "Not bad, either."

Misha's jaws almost dropped. "Really..?"

"Better than last time," Hugo countered. "But do you like it or not?"

"Umm," Misha paused.

"You're buying this for yourself, right?" Hugo sighed. "Just buy what you personally like. Don't buy it just because I don't like it enough."

"Oh, fine..!" Misha pouted.

"Look, I didn't hate any of the two you had me try," Hugo curved his lips. "But I definitely like that smell better than the last one, so if you personally like it, then buy it by any means."

"Alright, it's settled then," Misha capped the bottle before gleefully tapping it. "It's mine."

"That's good," Hugo slightly smiled before watching Misha leave, and then shrugged before resuming his browse. 'Kinda weird of her. Buying a shampoo for herself that I like..?'

Then he sighed.


"Hm," Jerad held two red and black shampoo bottles in both hands. "Swagger..Captain."

Then he suddenly chuckled before opening both bottles with his thumbs, and sniffed them.

"How is it?" Claire murmured.

"I like 'em," Jerad smiled. "Wanna try?"

Then Claire took the shampoo bottle, and sniffed it. She blinked her eyes from this scent, and felt something..strange with her body.

"How is it?" Jerad asked who was feeling worried about her reaction.

"Smells quite strong, and also strange, but..I don't think it's bad," Claire curved her lips as she passed it back to him.

"I guess I'll buy it, then," Jerad snapped the red container's lid back in.

"It's a shampoo for men, Claire," Trista chuckled. "Of course it's gonna smell a bit weird for you. But it turns you on, right..?"

Then the taller woman flashed her eyebrows.

"Um, no. N-not at all," Claire shook her head.

"You sure?" Trista slouched. "It's fine. We're just women, and these shampoos were made differently."

"Huh, I see," Jerad stared back at his bottle in hand. "Well.., I'm gonna buy them, anyway. Swagger? Captain? Just how cool is that to name shampoos, and body wash for men?"

"Good answer," Trista patted his shoulder. "I'm sure Claire liked it, too."

"Hey, I made up my mind as soon as I sniffed it, OK?" Jerad curved his lips. "Got nothing to do with you, or what Claire thought. Just asking for her opinion in case I had bad taste."

"Bah..! Who cares? Just buy what you like," Trista grimaced. "You'd be wiping those things all over your hair, body, and then your…anyway, just buy what you like, and enjoy your own smell."

And she facepalmed. "Jeez, your sister had the same issue. Trying to impress Hugo with her taste of shampoo as if he wasn't dense enough to care."

Then the two laughed.

"Stupid brother-in-law of mine..," Jerad shook his head.

And Trista laughed again. "Anyway, you two are done, right?"

She raised her shopping bag.

"Oh..," Jerad blinked.

"Don't worry. Mine went without a hitch, plus the owner is near the cashier to make sure nothing happens," Trista chuckled. "Just show your stuff, pay up, and leave."

"Crap. That means she is already done," Jerad turned to Hilda's direction. "Claire, you got everything you need, right?"

"Yes, I'm ready to finish this," Claire held two blue bottles.

"Phyyym, come be carried by me for a bit," Trista lifted the little humanoid Aragami in her arms.

"Wee!" Phym giggled.

"Your mommy, and daddy gonna need to pay their stuff," Trista finally held her.


"Wooh! Thanks for showing me to the air fresheners, bro," Zeke examined his bag. "Now my clothes won't be stinkin' as much. Nice."

"Oh? What did you buy, if I may ask?" Lulu turned to him with a bag on hand.

"Uh, bought myself some air freshener, shampoo, body soap, and some..de-odor-ant," Zeke struggled to say the last word. "Wanna see..?"

"Um, sure," Lulu carefully held Zeke's shopping bag before grabbing a red shampoo, popping its lid open, and taking a whiff. "Ooh, this smells kinda strong…"

"Oh, jeez. Found something new to complain about..?" Zeke hung his arms down.

"N-no, not at all. I can't exactly call that a complaint, but rather..just a neutral comment," Lulu smiled while giving his bag back. "I don't hate it. I think it's a good choice, anyway."

"Alright, thanks," Zeke held his bag. "Can't wait to try it in my next shower tonight."

"Um, OK..," Lulu leaned back while curving her lips.

"What..?" Zeke furrowed his eyes.

"Nothing..," Lulu shook her head.

Then Keith laughed. "I think I get her, Zeke. Don't talk to the opposite sex about things like that."

Hearing this, Lulu quietly felt uncomfortable yet also thankful to Keith for explaining for her.

"Oh..," Zeke paused before turning to Lulu who awkwardly stared back at him. "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to."

"That's…fine," Lulu forced a smile.

"I guess everyone is mustered up?" Hilda walked up to them.

"Heyyy, whatchu buy, Zeke!" Jerad quickly snatched Zeke's bag out of his hand.

"Hey, what the hell, man?!" Zeke tried to reach his hand back before Jerad pulled his red shampoo out of his bag. "Ohhh, you got the same Swagger one? Nice!"

"Huh?" Zeke held his bag as Jerad gave his shampoo back.

"Swagger," Jerad pulled his red bottle out of his bag. "Got one, too, and Captain."

"Hell yeah," Zeke banged his red bottle with Jerad's.

"You got an air freshener in there, too? Is that for spraying your armpits?" Jerad grinned.

"Of course not, you moron!" Zeke pouted as Jerad laughed. "It's for my stinkin' clothes after I wear 'em."

"Oh..good thinking," Lulu complimented. "Been wondering a bit about that."

"Yeah, I figured I should sanitize," Zeke groaned.

"Well, looks like we're all good to go here," Hilda smiled. "Shall we get going?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jerad smiled with a nod before the crew began moving.

"I must say, I'm amused you bought your…Captain hygiene," Levin smiled. "Fitting for you..Captain Alexander."

"Hey, it's got nothing to do with the name. Jeez..," Jerad sighed.

"You liar. You told us earlier how cool your shampoo name was," Trista refuted him.

"And I also said it smelled good," Jerad argued. "Name is secondary."

"Still fair enough reason," Levin smiled as Frida beside him giggled.

"Ah, whatever," Jerad groaned. "Can you guys pick on someone else? I'm getting really tired of this."

"Well, we won't," Trista smiled as Shin behind her smirked. "You, and Claire are always fun to tease together. Haha!"

Then Claire simply sighed.

"Wait a minute..," Zeke suddenly squinted at a store they just passed. "Is that some sort of..kid school store or something?"

"My, it certainly is," Hilda turned to the store. "Is there anything you need from it?"

"Uh yeah…please don't laugh, but I want to buy notebooks and pens," Zeke chuckled while rubbing his backhead.

"Laugh? I see no reason to laugh when it comes to that," Hilda shook her head. "By any means please buy what you need."

"Thanks. I'll make this fast," Zeke quickly zoomed into the store.

"Wait..!" Hilda chased after him.

"Notebooks, and pens..?" Lulu murmured. "I don't quite understand why."

"Oh, that," Hugo chuckled. "He wants to start practicing on writing. Isaac told him earlier in the hangar."

"Oh, I see now. I also remembered we talked about this earlier morning," Lulu murmured. "Good on him."

"I'll make him write your name 100 times on his first day," Jerad snickered. "For an easy start."

"Jerad..! If you try making him..!" Lulu glared at him as Misha and Ricardo laughed. "And more importantly, don't mock my name..!"

"I was just kidding. I know you won't let him," Jerad took two steps back before shrugging. "You'll cut me to strips of bacon, otherwise."

"Right," Lulu said with a plain face. "I advise you to begin refraining for this."

"Ooh, so touchy," Jerad sneered.

"What did you say?" Lulu glared closely at him as Misha, and Trista started laughing.


"Hm, this, and this?" Zeke grabbed two of the same notebooks, but of different colors. "What's so different?"

"Zeke, whenever you shop, please wait until there is an appropriate supervisor with you," Hilda suddenly spoke behind him.

"Wha..? Uh, yeah," Zeke frowned. "Sorry, ma'am."

"It's fine. I just wanted to protect you from any potential liabilities," Hilda tipped her monocle. "And as much as I don't want to guard you guys as if you're children, this isn't our Port, so just for here, please bear with this. We don't want trouble, and this goes for the rest of us."

"Alright," Zeke nodded.

"And to answer your question, those two notebooks are the same as long as they have the same dimensions, and paper or page amount," Hilda continued. "You just simply choose whatever cover color you want, but I recommend picking different ones so you can differentiate them in case you want to use them differently. Perhaps that is the reason why manufacturers made them that way."

"I see, but..dimensions..?" Zeke scratched his head.

"The size of the notebook by length and width," Hilda explained before taking his notebook. "This is length, and this is width. Those are what makes up a dimension, and then for notebooks, you also buy them based on paper amount."

"I think I get it," Zeke stared at his notebook. "Length, and width, huh?"

He said this as he traced his finger on the edges of his notebook.

"...What do you plan to do with them, if you don't mind me asking?" Hilda murmured.

"I..want to start teaching myself how to write..," Zeke frowned.

"I see..," Hilda raised her eyes while holding her monocle before smiling. "There is absolutely no shame in that, and it's a good start. I could help you based on your goals, but with these two, I think it's also a good start considering the thickness or amount of paper. I honestly think you should buy a third just in case. So you have red and blue, what's your third?"

"This..?" Zeke pulled a green notebook out of a shelf.

"Very well. Have you picked what you needed for writing?" Hilda asked.

"Uh, I think I'm gonna start with pencil. The big guy told me to start with it so I can always erase them," Zeke grinned. "But I also wanted a pen. They look better."

"Nothing wrong having both," Hilda shook her head. "But who is this big guy?"

"Isaac, yeah I just remembered," Zeke chuckled.

"It's a solid advice, anyway. Wow, Sofia's people are starting to educate you?" Hilda chuckled. "I should have figured that being her officers that they're likely educated. Her people are something."

"Alright," Zeke picked his few mechanical pencils, and pens. "I guess this is it after."

"Then please give the rest to me. I'll take care of them," Hilda placed her hand in front of him before Zeke placed his two notebooks, and bundles of pen and pencil on his owner's hand. "Thank you."

Then she turned towards the cashier.

"Ma'am, wait. My FC card," Zeke held his card to her.

"Please do not worry about it. My tab," Hilda smiled at the bewildered young AGE.

"Huh? Why..?" Zeke murmured in shock.

"Because I simply support your educational goal, plus these aren't that expensive overall. Consider it as my gesture of support," Hilda chuckled. "Just promise me you will commit to this. I see a future in you, Zeke.., besides being a God Eater."

"I..don't get it?" Zeke scratched his head.

"Have you considered other careers besides fighting Aragami?" Hilda asked.

"Uh, no. I haven't thought of it," Zeke scratched his head.

"I think you would make a good fit to become a skilled worker," Hilda said.

"Skilled worker..?" Zeke furrowed his eyes.

"It's a bit self-explanatory," Hilda tipped her monocle. "A labor worker that requires some technical skills..such as accurate measuring. With the way you took my dimension lesson to you, and then remembering the length and width, I can see you getting into that kind of job. You're almost an adult, so I urge you to start thinking about it."

"But measuring? I think that's Keith level," Zeke groaned.

"Measuring is not difficult, and don't self-sabotage just because you lack the skills your brother currently has," Hilda shook her head. "Wasn't Keith once a child who had nothing..?"

"...You're right," Zeke frowned.

"Then I think you could also become something beyond what you currently are," Hilda nodded. "There are a lot of skilled jobs out there. Construction, and mining just to name a few, but those are the highest in demand. They are laborious jobs, but also have good pay. I once oversaw the construction of our Port, and they measured all the time as they built her. Plus..with your tough attitude..I believe you might become a good foreman who would push his workers to give it their all, and finish jobs on time."

"Fore..man?" Zeke blinked his eyes.

"They are the direct supervisors," Hilda smiled. "Don't you want to be a boss someday? Yelling at your workers who do unsafe working practices, and maybe for slacking around jobsites? Motivating your apprentices?"

Then she giggled.

"I think I'm starting to like the sound of that," Zeke grinned.

"Yes, there is more to it, but please look into what skilled labor is," Hilda turned towards the cashier. "Something tells me it might inspire you. Anyway, promise that you will commit to this, and I personally want you to learn how to read and write. That basic skill is very important in any job."

"Alright, I'll do it," Zeke clutched his hand.

"Good answer," Hilda smiled. "Also.., don't tell anyone I did this."


"Heh, I honestly still can't believe he took it to heart," Jerad chuckled.

"You're doubting him?" Hugo shrugged.

"I hate to say it considering how he's been for years, but definitely, this isn't a bad thing at all," Jerad also shrugged. "Kinda felt like he's changing into a different guy..in a good way."

And Claire giggled. "That's kind of you."

Then Jerad turned to her. "Uh, no.., I'm just..!"

"Hey, can it..!" Trista stepped closer to him with Phym still in her arms. "I can already guess what you're gonna say. Learn to start taking compliments, and stop dissing people's positive opinions to you, alright? None of us, especially Claire, are gonna lie about them, and I'm starting to think it's rude of you to do that to those who are seriously supporting you. You're also just insulting to them, but if you're still not feeling comfortable about being praised, then you're not the only one."

'That's exactly right,' Hugo mused.

"We both lived most of our lives being mudslinged by people all the time, so I know compliments could feel so alien to you. I used to feel that way with the owner when Shin and I first came," Trista continued. "But all we did was thank her each time, even if it felt so unnatural, and before I knew it, Shin and I had been working harder. Taking praises you deserve from others can help you more than you think. It's not being humble or modest, you've gone way below that, no offense. That's your negativity, and you need to stop listening to it."

'I never imagined it was possible for people to feel so uncomfortable with compliments just because they have been derogated all their lives,' Frida frowned. 'That's just sad…'

"And aren't you tired of being bamboozled?" Jerad replied as Ricardo glanced at him.

"Bamboozled? I just told you when we say good stuff to each other, we mean it," Trista sighed. "Otherwise, what the hell are friends for, if we're all just going to be emotionally dishonest with each other? With that, I'd rather be alone. I'm not trying to start a fight with you, or even give you a hard time. I'm just helping you."

"She's right," Ricardo held Jerad's shoulder. "I've been watching you do this myself, and you deserve more credit than you've been giving yourself. Relax, and keep your head up."

Then Jerad sighed with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, I've been telling you that you've been our ace," Hugo added. "I really don't think we could have gone this far without you. Don't you understand how important all your work has been? Let's get this reclamation thing done, and start taking our next step to our dream. Agree?"

"Hi. Ready to move on?" Hilda waved at them.

"Yep. On to the fashion stuff now?" Ricardo turned to everyone.

"Right, maybe I could use some," Hugo replied.

"Whatchu buy this time, Zeke?" Jerad smiled with anticipation.

"Just notebooks, and pencils," Zeke suspiciously curved his lips.

"Nice. ABC, get it done before sleeping tonight," Jerad teasingly grinned. "Capitals or upper cases only, but if you want to step it up, write lower cases, too."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'm planning to, anyway," Zeke dismissively waved at him, and hearing this, Hilda faintly smiled.

"Capitals are harder..in my opinion, but also more important," Jerad added. "You know..like you always start writing a sentence with a capital letter..just among the reasons why you should be good at it. Then after that, you gotta worry about grammar next like commas, apostrophes, and periods. I don't think you have to worry about the rest like exclamation marks unless…you're writing a story."

"Oh, my. Writing stories?" Amy giggled. "I wish I could write one, but I don't think I have the creativity to do that."

"But you're an artist, right?" Jerad blinked his eyes. "I'm sure you have it."

"That's true, but art isn't that simple, and it's a skill, in fact," Amy explained. "Arts have different mediums, and styles such as sculpting and etching in which those are different skill sets. My medium is drawing, and coloring with pencils. I can draw, but I can't sculpt statues out of rocks. Writing stories is a creative medium which is unfortunately outside my niche."

"I get it," Jerad sighed. "Not for the novels, huh? But drawing seemed to be the most practical way of art, anyway, and just stating the obvious, but all you need is a pencil and paper."

"Right, and it's the basis of all art," Amy giggled again. "It was all I had when I was a child."

"Speaking of novels, you know who likes reading them?" Trista smirked before glancing at Frida. "Our Friday girl here."

"Oh..," Amy paused.

"Whoa, really?" Jerad chuckled. "I didn't know you're the type to read stories. What kind do you like?"

"U-um..," Frida paused as Trista, and Misha laughed while Lulu simply turned away. "I like..adventurous fantasy stories?"

"Adventurous, and fantasy, you say..?" Trista's grin suggestively grew wider. "You're definitely..adventurous in your fantasies. What's that other genre, hmm..? Your seemingly favorite?"

"So it's likely that girl has been having fantasies about you for a while now, kid."

"There's also a saying that the nicest girls have the dirtiest minds."

'You kidding!' Jerad froze. 'This girl?'

"Hey!" Frida glared at her before Trista, and Misha laughed again.

"Let me guess..," Jerad also suggestively grinned. "Adventure, and fantasy…something about handsome heroes saving beautiful damsels in distress, and then living happily ever after, right? I think that's the type you like."

"Guys..please do not pry on her," Levin closed his eyes. "Her hobby seems more personal, and if she is not comfortable in disclosing it, then it's her right not to."

"I agree. Please stop," Lulu turned back. "I'm sure all of us have secrets that we'd rather keep to ourselves, and bury down in our minds. Frida definitely had hers."

"Hey, didn't I just went over about honesty, and friends?" Trista shrugged.

"I wholeheartedly agree with you, but there are still limits," Lulu replied. "And that's OK. At least that's what I believe."

"Alright, I got it," Trista shrugged again.

"I don't think it's a bad taste, anyway. Pretty romantic, if you ask me," Jerad flashed his eyebrows which gave Frida a slight chill, suspecting that he knew.

"Thanks. I just love reading," Frida shyly turned away.

And in only a few minutes, they finally arrived at the clothes store.

"Here we are," Hilda glanced at her watch. "We only have two hours left, so make the most of it before we head over to Sofia's manor, OK? Also, stay close together with us."

"Got it," Hugo nodded. "I'm just gonna browse for some more jackets. Anyone want to hang out with me?"

"I'll have to pass for now since I got new clothes to buy," Shin murmured.

"Ohh, I remember. You gonna make yourself look like a real ninja now?" Trista smirked. "I wanna see it."

"...Yeah, since like I said, we're going to a dark place," Shin chuckled. "No way I'm wearing white there, and expect anything to not see me."

"Dark place..?" Phym shivered. "Is that place scary..?"

"We don't know," Jerad shrugged. "Never been in it, plus if there's a boogeyman, Daddy's gonna shoo him away. Just keep being a good girl."

"Okay..," Phym slowly nodded.

"Mmm, Phym. You're a strong girl. You should never be afraid of the dark," Trista nudged her, who was still in her arms. "Grown ups ain't afraid of dark places, or..boo-gey man."

"Yeah..!" Phym nodded more enthusiastically.

"That's the spirit! Gonna have to put you down so you can have fun," Trista carried her down, and then in response, Phym clung to Claire's legs.

"I'm gonna get started now, and I can already see them hanging there," Shin pointed to the direction of stacked dark clothes.

"Ohh, yeah..! Let's see what you look like in it," Trista grinned.

"Not gonna be anything special, jeez. It's just a dark version of this white outfit," Shin sweatdropped.

Then as Shin began browsing, Jerad also began browsing coats, albeit randomly, and was followed by Claire, Phym, Levin, and Frida. Zeke, Lulu, Amy, and Keith decided to browse in a different section. Something more for the common folk.

"Man, I think I should start buying anything I can wear like say..outside of fighting," Zeke murmured.

"What do you mean? I think the clothes you currently wear are good enough for public wear," Keith curved his lips.

"Right, but I think I should buy something different for a change," Zeke smiled. "How about I start buying shirts, and.., shorts anyway. I'm never cool with wearing pants. I think they would feel too hot for my legs."

"Hm, I suppose it's time for me to pick my own sense of fashion as well," Lulu added.

"Yeah, wearing the same type of clothing is starting to feel old, and boring," Zeke agreed with her. "I wanna try what wearing shirts are like."

"Mm, Lulu being fashionable?" Amy giggled. "That's very interesting. I can definitely imagine you being a fashion model for advertisements in magazines."

And Lulu laughed, "You really think so?"

"Absolutely," Amy smiled. "I also heard that you can also sew clothing?"

"That's correct," Lulu smiled. "And keep this a secret between us, but I'm currently working on a few projects for Phym."

"I quite envy you," Amy kept her smile. "That means you can always modify, or a better way of saying, tune your clothing if one you buy does not exactly match your preference."

"Hm? You know? I haven't thought of that yet," Lulu held her chin. "Maybe I should consider something like that."

"Yes, and wait, about Phym," Amy glanced at Phym's direction to make sure she would not hear them. "Are you saying you have been crafting a few clothes for her?"

"Right..," Lulu smirked. "But it's not easy since we can only work on them whenever she is not around our cabin, particularly whenever she sleeps with Jerad."

"Wow, I wish I was part of that," Amy frowned.

"Oh..I'm very sorry," Lulu murmured. "We didn't think you would be, plus…"

"I understand. Yeah, by sleeping in the same berthing as the owner as a privilege, I would have no way of knowing," Amy smiled again. "But could you let me into this? I also would like to see what you have in store for Phym, and I may be able to help with my creativity and somewhat, a fashion sense."

"I wouldn't refuse that," Lulu replied. "However, it won't be easy to contact you without anyone noticing, and nothing against our men with the exception of Jerad, Shin, and Zeke, who happened to find out last month, but we haven't been talking to them about it since, and none were complaining. We just want to keep confidentiality of this until they're done."

"I have an excellent idea for that," Amy confidently grinned. "I can create a radio channel solely just for us, mainly me, you, Trista, Misha, Frida, and Claire. With that, you can contact me without anyone intercepting."

"I see. That's right," Lulu blinked her eyes. "Please do so, and whenever secretly possible, I will inform the other girls as well."

"Then leave it to me," Amy giggled. "I will let you know once I finish creating our secret channel, and due to the fact that it won't be encrypted as it is against ship policy to use crypto for anything not work related, the owner may find out and ask if she notices it in her random audits, but I will handle that. I'm sure she'll understand, and even support it. But should I also let the three men know about this?"

"Hm..I'm leaning towards no," Lulu held her chin again with her eyes closed. "I remember Jerad decided to leave it all to Claire, so…just us girls for now. Nothing against our men, but rather just for secrecy."

"Very well," Amy replied. "Hmm, maybe I should confide in Jerad, anyway. He is Phym's daddy, so I believe he has the right to know."

"I don't think I'm in a position to simply disagree," Lulu murmured. "It's mostly up to you."

"Then it's settled," Amy smiled. "Shall we begin shopping? I can also help choose your kind of fashion for a start."

"Very much appreciated," Lulu smiled.


"Alright, five shirts, and five shorts" Zeke held two bundles of hanging clothing in his hands, shirts on his left, and shorts on his right.

"Whoa, man. Five of each of them?" Keith's jaw dropped. "Why that many?"

"Are you kidding? There are seven days a week, plus I don't think I'll be wearing these all week," Zeke replied. "Also, there might be times where we have to be alert for Aragami that I have to stick with this battle gear I've been wearing all day. Remember how Aragami killing ramps up that we had to fight more until it slows down back in prison? Can't wear these during that time."

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry that I wasn't in touch with the fight life," Keith murmured. "I was in a dark room all the time fixing stuff."

"Well, that's why I've been taking you with us on missions," Zeke grinned. "At least you're now starting to see how it's really like. How about you, bro? You're not buying any clothing?"

"Uh..," Keith glanced at his light blue jacket. "I think with this, it's also fine for civilian use."

"Yeah, but you could always at least have some extras," Zeke furrowed his eyes. "How about we have a deal? You pick a couple of civilian sets on my tab? Capisce?"

"Wait, what?" Keith stepped back while waving his hands. "You mean, you're gonna pay for what I pick?"

"I mean what I just said," Zeke began grinning. "Now get to it. I wanna see your fashion taste."


"You seemed..pretty interested in browsing coats," Claire commented.

"Not to mention..they're quite popular for the higher class," Levin chuckled. "Like Port governors."

"I'm just simply checking out of curiosity," Jerad murmured as he grabbed a black leather coat. "Oh…that's interesting."

Then he started snickering.

"What is it..?" Claire leaned closer to him for a peek.

"Hugo…Boss," Jerad said this with an amused grin. "That's quite an interesting company name."

"Ah, I see," Levin laughed. "It is a prestigious company that was founded in Metzingen, Germany in 1924."

"That's a very long time," Jerad raised his eyes before glancing at the coat again. "About a century, and a half?"

"Indeed, surviving two historical World Wars, and even endured the Aragami outbreak," Levin explained. "It was amazing how resilient they were, but unfortunately, we do not know of their headquarter's fate in Germany after the calamity. However, their few branches survived here in Finland and continued manufacturing apparels."

"Wow..prestigious, huh..?" Jerad glanced at his coat in hand again.

"It was also the designer of Fenrir, Gleipnir, and even our family's military uniforms," Levin smiled. "Just to inform you on that."

"Oh yeah..just thinking about Lt. O'Brien, and Gunther's outfits, I think they look pretty badass," Jerad faintly smiled.

"Indeed," Levin nodded with a smile.

"Heh, I'm gonna have fun with Hugo with this a bit," Jerad made a short cackle. "Since you said owners also like these."

Then Levin laughed again.


"Hmm, I guess I'm buying two of these," Hugo held a black and orange jacket.

"Aren't those the same as you're wearing?" Misha grimaced.

"But I love these," Hugo protested.

"Why not try these versions for a change?" Misha held a black and white jacket to him.

"Again..?" Hugo rolled his eyes. "You showed me these two weeks ago..like even here."

"It's different, yet I think it also looks good on you," Misha blinked her eyes while smiling.

"No, thanks. Black and orange suits me better," Hugo forced his smile.

"Heyy, perfect timing, brother-in-law," Jerad grinned while holding a black coat up. "I figured you should try this."

"A black coat..?" Hugo blinked his eyes.

"Levin told me this is popular for the high class," Jerad kept smiling. "Including governors. Don't you want to be one? I'd say give this a try."

"That coat does look impressive.., and also imposing," Hugo took the coat.

"Yeah, go try it on," Jerad chuckled. "I think it looks good on ya."

Then Hugo stared at Jerad for a bit out of his suspicious gesture, but remembering how genuinely good this coat seemed to be as he said, he figured he should follow along. "Alright. I'm gonna put it on in a bit."

"I'm gonna hold your stuff," Jerad took his bundle.

"Thanks, buddy," Hugo nodded before he began removing his jacket.

"That was a bit out of nowhere, brother..," Misha furrowed her suspicious eyes at him. "What are you planning…?"

"You'll know once he's done wearing it," Jerad whispered back with a smirk.

"It can't be anything bad like a prank, right..?" Misha hissed while squinting at him.

"Kinda, but I also meant what I told him..," Jerad unfazedly smiled. "That is a coat popular for male owners, but the real stuff is the company that made it, and a prestigious one at that from what Levin told me..."

"What company..?" Misha asked in monotone.

"You just wait..," Jerad started grinning. "Ohh, there he is."

Then Misha turned to Hugo's direction, and her jaw began dropping. "Oh..! My..! Gah..!"

While her urge to clamp Hugo tightly in her arms was intensifying, she felt a hand lift her chin back up, and saw that it was her brother laughing.

"Hey, keep your mouth closed before you swallow a fly," Jerad snickered.

"Hey!" Misha slapped his hand away.

"Oh, jeez. I did NOT expect you to react that far," Jerad rubbed his wrist from his sister's hard slap. "Careful not to let your clothes drop."

"T-that's inappropriate!" Misha slapped her brother's shoulder as he continued laughing, and then Claire just simply sighed.

"Ooh, lookin' good, brother-in-law," Jerad clicked his tongue with a grin. "Governor Hugo Alexander."

And he laughed as Misha fumed at him, resisting her immense urge to strike him again.

Levin also laughed at this. "Right, it truly looks good on you."

"Yeah..," Hugo glanced at his sleeves. "Feels a bit stiff yet still feels also comfortable. I like it. You said this was made by a prestigious company earlier. What is it so I can remember?"

"Take it off, and then look at the sewn label inside," Jerad began smirking.

"...Alright," Hugo removed his coat, and while forgetting to wear his coat back, he looked at the white label. "Huh…Hugo..Boss..?"

Then Jerad exploded with laughter, who forgot to keep himself quiet inside the store. "You'll definitely remember that, Hugo Boss."

And Levin, Frida, and Claire also laughed.

"Oh, jeez. I knew there was something else behind this," Hugo chuckled. "Thanks for the find for me, anyway. I really like it."

"Ohh, yeah, and just now, I had to stop my sister from dropping all her clothes, and pouncing you like a lioness in heat," Jerad laughed as he anticipatingly braced himself from his sister's imminent wrath.

"Shut up, already!" Misha began slapping her brother's back.

"Ow, ow, hey! Not too hard..!" Jerad kept using his arms to brace his sister's swings. "We're in a store, you know? No horseplaying..!"

And heeding this, Misha snorted steam from her nose with her face flushed while Frida, and Claire giggled.

"How much is this, though?" Hugo examined the coat. "Oh.., that's very pricey. 40,000 FCs? But that's to be expected out of a quality outfit like this."

"I wouldn't worry about it right now, if I were you," Jerad shrugged. "By the time you become an owner, or even close to it, you'd be damn rich, and that price tag would be like paying a dime for your bank account."

Then Hugo chuckled at this. "You're right. For now, I'm gonna put this on hold, and then will consider buying one, someday."

"But you know? In addition, you can consider commissioning the company to design an outfit solely for you, just like our family did," Levin said. "However, that will cost higher since it is uniquely designed instead of being one of their main product lines."

"I see. I'll take note of that," Hugo affectionately glanced at the black coat again. "Or maybe I could use this one, and ask them to add some features on this at a higher price. Maybe starting with sewing our Port's emblem on it."

"Ohh, that's interesting," Jerad grinned. "Have you thought of your Port emblem, already? What would it look like?"

"Not yet, and it all depends on what I'll name ours once we have it built," Hugo shook his head. "I hate to admit that I haven't thought of this yet since it feels a bit too ahead, but I definitely will once we're close enough."

"Mm," Jerad made a slight nod. "Think about earlier…Amy."

"Hm?" Hugo blinked his eyes.

"Amy is an artist, so maybe you could hire her to design your Port emblem?" Jerad rubbed his chin.

"Right," Hugo furrowed his eyes with intrigue. "I actually started worrying about that since I can't draw myself, but would she be in business for that?"

"Good question, but I'm not sure, to be honest," Jerad shook his head while shrugging. "But for an extra cash on top of her salary, I can't see why she would refuse, especially when she has to put her talented hobby for profit. The only issue I can think of, though, is that she's also a busy girl, probably doesn't even have much time to do her hobby herself. It also took us a while to find out that she's got a thing for it."

"Right, but I'll ask her when the time comes," Hugo replied. "And see what we could do."

"Sounds about right," Jerad murmured before instinctively glancing at his sister. "Dammit..I wanted to find one for you next so I can see what a beauty you are as Hugo's first lady. Mm, imagine that. But too bad I can't because I don't want to look like a creep browsing around ladies' clothing."

"Don't even think about it, brother," Misha blushed with a pout as everyone chuckled. "Yeah, too bad you can't..!"

"What? You're not excited about what you'll look like as Governor Hugo Alexander's wife? Seriously?" Jerad shrugged while chuckling.

"No, thanks," Misha's blood started boiling.

"Claire, how about you pick for her?" Jerad turned to her with a grin.

"I'm sorry," Claire shook her head with a smile. "Fashion is not one of my highlights."

"Ouch..," Jerad sighed.

"Thank you, sister-in-law," Misha latched on to her.

"Hey, please..! Too tight!" Claire resisted, albeit not defiantly, Misha's hug with her arms as she kept nuzzling on her cheek to cheek.

"The sis code, huh?" Jerad murmured in monotone while watching two women clamping on each other.

"Daddy, I'll pick for auntie," Phym raised her hand.

"Sorry, you don't qualify yet," Jerad shook his head.

"Aww, why?" Phym frowned.

"Because it's adult clothing," Jerad explained. "You gotta grow up, first."

"Here, please put it back," Hugo held the hanged coat to him. "I hate to let it go since I really wanted it, but.., you know? Not the time right now."

"Heh, at least you have an idea for your owner uniform," Jerad took the coat, and gave Hugo's new coats back to him. "I'll be right back."

Then he left.

After Hugo watched his friend heading back to where he found the black coat, "Hm, did you say your family commissioned Hugo Boss to design your military uniforms?"

"That's correct," Levin nodded. "Need something..?"

"Does that coat have a..white version?" Hugo began rubbing his chin with a smirk.

"Hugo..?" Misha also smirked with him. "Are you cooking something?"

And Hugo nearly burst into laughter for this. "Yeah..as a fun counterattack."

Levin also laughed. "I believe you are in luck, my friend. A white one was nearby where Jerad picked up the coat from, actually."

"Perfect, then I have to hurry," Hugo began power walking as he slipped his way through the stacks of hanged clothes as if he was walking through a forest shortly after seeing Jerad walk around a wall.

"Hey, guys," Zeke waved at them followed by Keith, Lulu, and Amy. "We just finished, but what's up? There was a bit of noise here, and then Hugo being on a hustle?"

"You guys missed something funny," Misha smirked. "My brother just had Hugo wear a coat that made him look like an owner."

"Oh, my," Amy giggled. "That looks like having fun. I wish I saw that."

'Saw him..?' Misha almost glared at her.

"Oh, damn. I think we missed out," Zeke held his head.

In only a few minutes after Jerad hung Hugo's would-be coat back, he heard a rustle from his right side, and snapped his head to its direction like being in the battlefield to see Hugo grabbing a white coat.

"What..?" Jerad raised his eyes. "Hugo..? What the hell were you..?"

"Hey, I figured maybe you should try this, too," Hugo held a white coat to him with a grin. "Why don't you try it, future owner?"

"Future owner..?" Jerad took a few steps back with his eyes wide. "You guys still taking that seriously? I just did that to answer that She-Wolf's question. How many times do I have to say that?"

"Right, but who knows?" Hugo persistently twitched the coat in front of his friend. "Levin just told you you can't see the future, did he? That only you can make it? I honestly think you might become a good owner, so you might as well think about it, just in case."

"Just in case, huh..?" Jerad groaned, and sighed with loss, a reaction Hugo would not dare to miss.

"Come on. Just wear it," Hugo urgently twitched the white coat again. "I genuinely want to see how you'll look in it. It's a payback prank, I'll also admit, but I'm also just as serious as you were to me."

"OK, OK, it's only fair," Jerad groaned as he took the coat. "Let me ask you one thing before I put this on, why did you pick white..?"

Then Hugo resisted his urge to smile. "It's the opposite color, so I figured it would be better for a change."

"Bullshit, but whatever. Hold my scarf," Jerad began lifting his scarf up with one hand.

"No problem, buddy," Hugo held his black scarf, and watched his friend slip his right arm inside the coat's right sleeve, and then his left in the other. Hugo entertained himself by watching his friend fixing his sleeves, and then pulling his collar down a few times to straighten his coat.

"There, you happy now?" Jerad made an awkward smile.

"Definitely," Hugo could hardly hold his chuckle. "You look very dashing in that, and even better with your bluish shirt inside, and then white on the outside. Very complimentary color themes."

"Blue..ish?" Jerad grimaced as Hugo finally burst into laughter. "White, and blue, huh? Oh hell, no! Your stupid pun ain't getting through me!"

Then Hugo stopped laughing. "And on top of that, your headband also adds to your menacing figure. It definitely commands authority..in a rightful way."

"Like a king, right?" Levin laughed.

"Kinda," Hugo chuckled. "Maybe I'll suggest printing a shiny golden emblem of his Port in front of his headgear.., and make his headgear a bit larger, too."

"Hey, you two stop right there," Jerad glared at them.

"Oh ho ho, look at Jerad here," Zeke grinned after slipping himself through a forest of hanged apparels. "Is that what you gonna look like as an owner?"

"Oh, goddammit. You, too?" Jerad glared at him before sighing. "I'm so tired. I'm not gonna keep repeating myself."

"Repeat what?" Zeke kept his grin as the rest arrived.

"In telling you guys that I'm not interested in being an owner," Jerad murmured.

"Whatever, you still look so badass in that," Zeke gave him a thumb up.

"...Thanks," Jerad curved his lips before raising his eyes as soon as he caught a glance at Claire. 'Oh, crap…'

"Daddy looks so cool!" Phym loudly giggled.

"Oooh, Claire! What do you think of him in that suit?" Misha gleed while holding Claire's shoulders. "Don't you think my brother looks so dashing looking like an owner like that?"

"Um, I suppose," Claire began blushing. "Imposing as well…"

"Imposing..?" Jerad also began blushing before noticing several figures from afar approaching behind his sister, and Claire.

In both sensing, and hearing several footsteps approaching behind them, Lulu turned back as a caution, and seeing a few familiar figures approaching them, she raised her eyes… 'Sofia..?'

"Um, not in a bad way..!" Claire started biting her lower lip.

"Indeed, he certainly looked imposingly handsome in such an outfit."

Then Misha, and Claire froze from that mature yet soft voice behind them before turning.

"Sofia..?" Misha murmured.

"It's good to see everyone again," Sofia smiled. "I already spoke with your owner, and Mr. Sforza."

"Oh.., I..see," Jerad hesitantly replied as he started glancing at his coat, and wished he could freeze time to remove his coat, and wear his scarf back. "We're just..trying clothes out."

Then Sofia giggled. "Your coat does suit you. Please do not feel embarrassed."

"Yeah..," Jerad almost replied with a yelp before watching Claire's aunt giggled again.

A red haired man seemingly in his late 30s laughed. "So, these are the first ones who have slain an Ashborn? Wow, these people are young."

"Indeed, I was expecting them to be quite..older," A blonde woman beside him commented. "I cannot believe such people so young could already do this much."

"I agree, love," The red haired man turned to her.

Amidst of this, Jerad and Hugo glanced at each other.

"Let's not forget to introduce ourselves," The red haired man chuckled after noticing the two young men's gestures. "I think we are starting to confuse our new friends. I am Lord Dimitri Victorious."

He reached his hand.

"I'm..Hugo Pennywort," Hugo shook his hand.

"It was nice to meet you, Hugo," Dimitri smiled.

"The pleasure is mine, sir," Hugo smiled back. "And this is our ace, Jerad Pennywort."

"The ace..?" Dimitri paused before turning to the white haired AGE. "Are you the Demon of Ms. Henriquez's Port?"

"Yes..sir?" Jerad timidly replied.

"He's the Devil..?" A blonde female teenage God Eater with a sharp tipped bob cut covered her lips with her clenched hand. "Wow…"

Hearing her murmurs, Claire sharply glared down at her flushed younger cousin.

Meanwhile, Dimitri laughed. "Please don't be too modest. I am Lord Dimitri Victorious."

"I'm Jerad Pennywort," Jerad firmly shook his hand back with a smile.

"That's the way. I like that sincere handshake," Dimitri complimented him with a grin. "And this is my wife, Lady Eleanor Victorious."

"Greetings, it was an honor," Eleanor reached for a handshake.

"Likewise, milady," Jerad shook her hand back.

"Oh, my. To properly address as such," Eleanor giggled. "But please feel free to simply call me Eleanor, and likewise for my husband. In all honesty, we are not very fond of too much formalities..especially among friends trusted by my cousin-in-law."

"In law..?" Jerad murmured before Sofia cleared her throat.

Then Dimitri chuckled at this. "My cousin has already told us a lot about you. You are going to lead Gleipnir's Reclamation Initiative, right?"

"That's correct," Hugo nodded.

"Such a noble goal," Dimitri commented. "Fighting for the sake of humanity, and I truly respect that. I would like to hope that one day, we'll combat Aragami alongside you, shoulder to shoulder."

"Likewise," Sofia smiled at her second cousin. "With my reunion with Ms. Henriquez, I see this as a likely possibility."

"Huh..," Jerad blinked his eyes at this, and felt a welling excitement inside.

"Dear, isn't it time we let our children introduce themselves?" Eleanor glanced at her husband.

"Oh..yes. I'm sorry, but please do," Dimitri chuckled. "I would like to meet the rest of your group."

"I'm Lulu Baran," Lulu stepped forward. "And this is Zeke, and his brother, Keith Pennywort."

"A pleasure to meet you, young lady," Dimitri shook her hand. "So..you are formerly from Port Baran?"

"Yes, sir," Lulu smiled back.


"I apologize. My husband enjoys meeting new people," Eleanor smiled.

"I noticed," Jerad chuckled. "He's very approachable."

"I'm glad to hear that," Eleanor smiled before turning to the two young God Eaters. "Richard, Charlotte, please come forth and introduce yourselves."

"Yes, mother!" Charlotte excitedly dashed toward Jerad, which made him feel a bit uneasy. "You are the famed Devil of Chrysanthemum?"

She held his hand with both hands which began making him feel more nervous.

"I guess I am..?" Jerad forced his smile.

"I'm Charlotte Victorious. I just became a God Eater!" Charlotte grinned. "Can you teach me how to fight? I want to become stronger, so I can slay Ash Aragami, too!"

While Claire was sharply watching her second cousin's interaction with him, Sofia glanced at her older niece, and seeing her distaste for this event brought her a sense of amusement. She began slowly smiling.

"What God Arc do you use?" Charlotte continued asking, still holding his hand.

"I use..a charge spear," Jerad kept smiling.

"A charge spear?! Oh, my," Charlotte's jaw almost dropped. "I also wield one. Please mentor me, instructor!"

"Uh, that depends on your parents," Jerad awkwardly chuckled. "Please ask them, first, and also..I'm not going to be…"

"Dear, I understand you want to converse with him, but please save it for later," Eleanor sharply glanced at her daughter. "Allow your older brother to also introduce himself."

"Oh, y-yes mother..!" Charlotte finally released his hand. "Um, I want to talk to you more later…"

"Mm," Jerad stiffly nodded before glancing at the next blonde person next to his sister who seemed younger than him. Perhaps even a bit younger than Levin, who was now standing behind him. "You're Richard Victorious? I'm Jerad Pennywort."

"Oh, yes! It was nice to meet you," Richard shook hands with him. "Wow, like my father said, you are incredibly young, and you can already slay Ash Aragami?"

Then Jerad chuckled. "Yeah."

"I was already involved with them slaying one," Levin held his younger cousin's shoulder.

"Heh, and he landed a last blow on our last one, too," Jerad snickered.

"Levin?" Richard froze.

"Yes, indeed I did," Levin chuckled.

"You have to tell me the story of that," Richard almost exclaimed. "I have only been fighting for two years. I have to hear this."

As he initially thought, Jerad quietly confirmed that this boy is very likely 16 years old, if the minimum age for both regular God Eaters, and AGEs remained to be 14. Only 1 year behind Levin.

"I'll save the story once we feast tonight, so aunt can also hear it," Levin smiled.

"Then it's a deal, cousin," Richard smiled at his senior relative.


"I am sorry for how Pennywort has treated you," Dimitri murmured. "Your skills, and work definitely deserve more recognition."

"Madam Henriquez already planned to eventually place him in a chief engineering position," Amy smiled.

Then Dimitri chuckled. "I see now. Then you definitely have a good future ahead of you, Keith. Just keep studying hard, and you will eventually reach it. The Ashlands would need more engineers such as yourself, but also keep focusing on your combat skills, even if it may not be your forte, and also understand that nobody is perfect. It is always better to have more skills than what you already have. You are also an AGE, you are built better than us older generation God Eaters, and you still have quite a lot of potential waiting for you to find, so don't settle. I believe you are a late bloomer."

"Jerad recently told him the same thing," Zeke chuckled. "I've also been taking him out on missions with us so I can train him up."

"You're a good brother," Eleanor smiled. "You reminded me of my eldest who always looked after his sister, especially during her first field mission with him. He still lacks experience fighting for only two years, but he already protected her like a veteran. I expect more from both of them."

"I also heard family members among AGEs rarely stayed together, so you two are very lucky," Dimitri smiled. "Stay close, and look after each other."

"Right..," Zeke frowned.

"Zeke..?" Lulu leaned towards him.

"It's alright. Sofia already told me, anyway," Zeke chuckled while rubbing his backhead. "I can't give up on finding my other one…Not until I'm sure."

"Ah..," Dimitri paused while his wife covered her mouth. "I'm sorry for reminding you. I was genuinely encouraging you, but I have no excuse for not being thoughtful enough, but I also agree with my cousin. He may be still out there, and I pray that you will eventually meet him again."

"Thanks, sir," Zeke grinned. "Yeah, I have to keep my head up. It's the only way forward, no matter what. It's what Hugo also told me."


"Hmm, why do I have the feeling that we are missing someone..?" Sofia murmured.

"Your Grace?" A blonde man turned to her.

"Oh..two of them. A captain, and a vice captain from Chrysanthemum," Sofia continued. "They must be shopping in some place else…By the way, what is that commotion over there?"

"I see. Will you excuse me, Your Grace?" Sofia's aide said. "I would like to investigate, and since it is near us, it might be them."

"Please do, Elias," Sofia nodded. "I am starting to feel worried."

"Then I shall leave at once," Elias sharply yet formally pounded his chest before he left.

Sofia closed her eyes for a moment. "Isaac, Beatrice, please come to his aid. I want a safe measure to de-escalate the situation, and Elias must be tired from his recent endeavor. I don't want to strain him any further."

"With pleasure, Your Grace," Beatrice pounded her chest as a salute.

"Gladly, Your Grace," Isaac also responded in kind.


"Ohh, I see," Dimitri grinned. "I had no idea you had a sister, Jerad."

"I did not know they were twins, even," Charlotte commented.

"I understand. We don't really look like it, but we are born at the same time," Jerad chuckled. "My…dad also told me."

'Dad..,' Dimitri mused. 'That reminded me of someone almost 20 years ago... A God Eater who fought under my late cousin, and proudly spoke of his newborn twins once. White hair..green eyes.., and a wife with blue hair…I am starting to notice the resemblance the more I stare at him, and then ultimately his sister. Is this some miraculous coincidence..?'

"We also had people who mistook us as lovers," Misha's lips curved. "I've gotten used to it, but still…yuck."

"You're telling me, sis..?" Jerad also curved his lips as Zeke and Hugo laughed.


A few minutes earlier.

"Hey, look at this. A real ninja kid?" A young God Eater wearing white and black uniform mocked him. "Can you show me some ninja stuff? Watahh!"

Then Shin, now in his black suit, remained quietly unhinged with his sharp glare towards him while being mocked with awkward eastern martial art 'attacks.' He was bothered not by his stereotyping, but rather his near unbearably condescending and obnoxious stupidity.

"Hey, piss off, alright?!" Trista stood against the two men. "We're just minding our own business, and you came looking for a fight?"

"Heh, what're a couple of rabid dogs without a leash doing here, anyway?" A young male God Eater grinned. "Maybe for public safety, we should take you back to your owner, and have you cuffed again. Why don't you come quietly like good dogs."

"Good dogs..?!" Trista began growling before provokingly stepping closer to him. "Want me to show you how hard I bite?"

"Back off, woman!" Another Gleipnir God Eater shot at her. "This guy's gotta show me some ninja moves for a treat first. So, step aside for us men, and don't ever speak..!"

Just as he was about to shove Trista aside, he instantly felt a tight grab on his left wrist.

"DON'T touch her!" Shin gritted his teeth before he pressed a pressure point in his wrist with his middle finger, and in an instant, the Gleipnir God Eater felt a strong numbing jolt in his arm and cried.

"There, I just showed you some ninjutsu," Shin abruptly tossed his arm away. "Happy now..?"

"You bastard..!" The Gleipnir God Eater held his numbed arm, grunting. "What the hell did you do?"

"Did I stutter?" Shin tilted his head slightly to his right side. "Want another one..?"

"Asshole!" The other Gleipnir God Eater snapped. "You worms aren't supposed to..!"

And just as he was about to charge at the two while Shin straightened his index and middle finger he was hiding behind his rear to prepare to strike him…

"Gentlemen! Is there a problem here?"

"Huh?" The two God Eaters turned to him.

"I ask ONE more time if there is a problem here?" Elias imposingly glared down at them.

"And who the hell are you? You're not from Gleipnir," The pained God Eater grimaced.

"You dare disrespect an officer?!" Beatrice stood beside Elias, and began cracking her fist. "House Victorious service members wear white and blue, and work closely with Gleipnir, in case you greenhorns don't know . Also, House Victorious..don't like troublemakers."

"House Victorious..? What?" Both men froze.

"Hmph, looks like you young ones need to be taught some education and manners," Isaac crossed his arms.

"And about that sexist comment you made that I can hear from miles away," Beatrice began cracking her other fist. "Can you try convincing me why I shouldn't smash your heads with just my bare hands for disciplinary action? You got five seconds to respond. Five..!"

"Ah, we're sorry. Please don't punish us, ma'am!" The two God Eaters stepped back, and unbeknownst to them, closer to Shin and Trista. In that distance, Shin had to grudgingly resist his urge to strike one of their back's pressure points, but also knew this would not help their situation.

"You boys are lucky I'm not in a mood to reprimand others right now," Elias coldly glared at them. "So, just go on about your day, and do not come back to this store..at least not in our watch. Am I clearly..understood?"

"Y-yes, sir..!" The two began shuddering.

"Then you are dismissed," Elias said in monotone.

"You are both such eyesores," Beatrice hissed. "Go away..right now before I change. My. Mind…"

Then the two fled with a whimper, and after a few minutes, the three sighed.

"Are you both OK?" Elias smiled.

"Y-yeah, thanks for covering for us," Trista replied. "I was at a loss being here, but different story if we're anywhere else. I was on the verge of dragging their faces across the ground myself."

"Jeez, I was a fool to think we wouldn't end up like what almost happened to Jerad a few weeks back," Shin facepalmed.

"Jerad..?" Elias blinked his eyes. "Wait, was it..?"

"Yeah, remember that kid you snatched that bastard Inukai from?" Beatrice chuckled.

"Ah, that person? I haven't introduced myself to him yet," Elias also chuckled while rubbing his head. "But yeah, being AGEs, you two have to watch your backs. It's not usual to see them around here without their armlets linked together, and while most people would rather not be bothered to ask when they see it, few might be petty enough to start anything..like those two idiots."

"Sorry, I think we both got a little careless," Trista frowned. "We really should have waited, and stuck together until everyone was ready to pay up. It's just that Shin needed to change to his new outfit as soon as possible after buying it, so we decided to get ahead, and pay right away. Then those punks followed us."

"Oh..I knew there's something different about you right now," Beatrice squinted. "Weren't you the white ninja from earlier..?"

And Shin made a short laugh at this. "Yeah, I had to change before leaving for the Reclamation to suit the dark area of the Restricted Ash Zone Hugo told me about."

"Hugo..?" Beatrice rubbed her chin.

"I spoke a lot to him earlier," Isaac explained. "That tall young man with black and white hair who is speaking to Lord Dimitri, and Lady Eleanor right now."

"Ohh! Yeah, the guy with a black and orange jacket," Beatrice replied. "Sorry, I was still trying to remember everyone. You guys are a huge team."

Then Trista chuckled. "Yeah. Big family."

"So wait, you're..a ninja..?" Elias paused.

"You're not gonna believe it at first," Beatrice laughed. "Even Sir Levin would tell you that, if you ask him, and by the way, these two? They're a unit captain, and vice captain of their Port. Also an elite one at that."

"What..?" Elias froze before turning to the two AGEs. "Please forgive my rudeness..! I am Lieutenant Elias Sebastian, Intelligence Officer of House Victorious. A pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Trista Chrysanthemum, Captain of Chrysanthemum's second unit, the Wolves," Trista shook his hand. "And this is my trusty vice captain, and right hand man, Shin Tachibana."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Shin shook his hand. "But please excuse me for a bit..! Trista, don't use that last name for formal introductions."

"Huh? Ain't that what your last name really is?" Trista furrowed her eyes. "You just told us this morning."

"True, but I'm still Shin Chrysanthemum in our Port's registry, and my ID still has my name written as that," Shin explained.

"Ah, I got you now. Sorry about that, lieutenant," Trista smiled.

Then Elias laughed. "It's perfectly fine. Chrysanthemum or Tachibana, I'll accept either way."

And he turned to Shin. "And you must be from the Far East?"

"Not exactly, I grew up here," Shin shook his head. "I only know a fair bit of the native language I learned from talking to my late dad as a kid, and I have no knowledge at all about what my people and country were like."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Elias murmured. "I also lost my parents when I was so little. Long story short, I ended up in an orphanage, became friends with Beatrice and Issac, the head of the family found and took us three in, and we grew up with them, still proudly serving them. I know it must have been hard."

"Yeah..," Shin murmured.

"But we're still alive, so let's both keep going, alright?" Elias smiled

"Right," Shin smiled back.

"You know..? I've already sensed in the first place that you aren't ordinary warriors," Elias chuckled. "Your officer ranks just confirmed that. Maybe I could also say..we saved those fools from you."

And the five laughed.

"By the way, Shin. What did you do to that bastard's arm?" Trista turned to him. "Is this one of your thousand ninja antiques? I don't even think you broke it."

"I didn't, or that would have put us in Gleipnir's firing squad," Shin explained. "He was mockingly telling me to show him my..'ninja stuff,' so I gave it to him when I had the chance. I just simply pressed a nerve in his arm which would hurt and numb it for a few hours."

"Like what you once did to Lulu during your bare handed match with her?" Trista froze.

"Oh, you guys do unarmed combat training?" Beatrice smiled. "That's interesting."

"Not all of us," Trista shook her head. "But after that match, we know Shin, and Lulu are not going to be the ones any of us would want to mess with in a fist fight, trust me. Their match was a bit brutal."

"Yep, exactly like that with her," Shin nodded. "And just like her, he'll be fine…I hate to say it."

"Incredible," Elias commented. "So that means..you may have extensive knowledge of the human body that you can weaponize?"

"Heh, that's correct," Shin closed his eyes while smiling.

"That's terrifying, and I mean that as a compliment, mind you," Elias smiled. "You're just like Miss Claire. She spent a few years studying human anatomy for medical reasons before enlisting in Gleipnir as a medic."

"Oh! Speaking of that, now is the perfect time to tell you," Trista said. "Shin, I'm gonna let you in on our gossip about you last month, but during that same night after you, and Lulu fought, we took her to the Medical Ward to physically examine her since she was still hurting a bit and couldn't walk straight. We found some small bruises around her which Frida herself confirmed that it was coming from you."

"Whoa, my little Frida was involved in this?" Beatrice smirked. "She's studying some medical stuff, too. Trying to be like Miss Claire."

"Right, she helped us with it," Trista replied.

"Then I'm more proud of her applying herself," Beatrice smirked again. "But please keep going. This sounds very interesting."

"Yeah, continuing on," Trista turned to her vice captain. "After Frida confirmed that those were from your fingers, Claire looked into a computer, and checked some human..nervous system thing. Can you guess how shocked she was?"

"Huh, so she got me figured out," Shin chuckled.

Then Elias chuckled. "Miss Claire has spent all her adolescence reading hundreds of books. She may not appear like it, but she is more knowledgeable than anyone would think."

"Right, I admit I underestimated her a bit," Shin murmured. 'And Jerad might have been right about hiding my chemicals from her…'

"And in spite of that, I still don't think so because she couldn't get how you were able to hit people's nerves, even if they had muscles on top of them," Trista explained. "Worse, she said it's inhuman to hit the right spots, especially when fighting. Do you have an X-ray in your eyes or something?"

"I have to agree with Miss Claire," Beatrice raised her left eyebrow in bewilderment. "You've got some killer dexterity."

Then Shin laughed at this. "No, it's all knowledge, and estimations on strike locations, and I could still miss pressure points. And as for why I can still hit them through muscles? It's simpler than you think. Why can a body part still be injured even if there's protective equipment on it? It's because there was still enough force to damage it, and protections can only do so much. It's the same thing. I just need more finger strength to tear through the muscles protecting some pressure points, consequently also damaging that tissue, and in addition, pressure points are extremely sensitive which is why they easily hurt. There is indeed a reason why some of them have muscles to protect them, and I'm sure Claire knows that."

"She did," Trista murmured. "And no wonder why you've been doing two finger push ups."

"What?" Isaac blinked his eyes. "A total of just four fingers with your body weight?"

"Yep, part of the reason why I did those exercises," Shin forced a smile. "It was no joke, and I even had to start slow, first."

"Wow, so it means you know as much of the human body as Miss Claire does," Isaac murmured.

"Yep, but that's about it," Shin shrugged. "I don't know anything medical wise..no, I suppose I could use a few. Some of my techniques can slow blood flow like what I once did to Lulu to quickly tire her faster as our match continued until I gained the advantage in strength to beat her. Like say, hitting a pressure point to slow blood flow to stall blood loss until someone grabs a tourniquet."

"Clever," Isaac commented.

"What you did to Lulu? That was plain dirty," Beatrice chuckled.

"It's what we know to survive, including how to defeat opponents stronger than you. We know no honor," Shin shrugged. "But you still have a point. I decided not to use these again in spars, and it's just for real stuff now. Plus, I need to better my basic hand to hand fighting skills, anyway."

"You're already the top dog of that in Chrysanthemum," Trista argued. "Even someone bigger than you like Captain Edwards can't beat you."

"True, but Lulu is still a better fighter," Shin answered. "I'm going to insist on that."

"Alright, I'm not gonna force you to change your mind," Trista shrugged.

"We probably should come back to everyone, as much as I want to keep our conversation going," Elias murmured. "Her Grace has been worried, and in fact, she sent us here."

"Oh, great. I don't wanna have to tell Sofia, or the owner that we ran into trouble," Trista slouched.

And Elias laughed. "It's fine. I believe Her Grace already knew, anyway. Not your fault."

Then they began walking back to their group.

"So, I would assume that Captain Edwards is another unit captain?" Elias turned to Trista.

"Yep, before us, and our Port's first," Trista replied. "Also a Fenrir veteran, and I think he's just like you. How old are you, if you don't mind?"

Elias laughed. "I'm 28."

"Heh, I'm the youngest of the Three Stooges," Beatrice grinned. "25, and Isaac is 27."

"I see. Daris is also 28," Trista replied. "With a retired God Eater wife who now works as an orphanage doctor, and then a 6 year old boy with them."

"Wow, that's great," Elias chuckled.

"And all three of us still single, or unmarried?" Beatrice laughed. "I don't know if it's just me, or do we God Eaters rarely marry and have kids, or do we just generally marry late?"

"Well, being a God Eater is simply a busy life," Elias replied.

"Oh Elias, I know you had a..more special reason than that," Beatrice smirked.

"OK, enough," Elias gave her a joking yet cold stare.

"Isaac, why don't we tie the knot already?" Beatrice grabbed his arm.

"Hey, no PDA on duty," Isaac leaned away despite his now revealed significant other persistently grabbing his arm while giggling.

"You two are actually an item..?" Trista paused. "That's some top notch professionalism until now, I'll give you that."

"Partly because of what I just said. We can't do PDA while on duty," Isaac chuckled.

"Mm, and we have our.. 'good times' already, if you catch my drift," Beatrice winked at her. "He was so good…"

"Beatrice, don't even talk about that!" Isaac exclaimed while Beatrice giggled. "You're going a bit too far, already."

"We're all adults. Who cares?" Beatrice smirked. "How about you two..? Have you done it..?"

Then Trista, and Shin froze.

"D-don't ask us that!" Trista grimaced.

"It's one of the best things you can do in life, and moreover, I think doing it between military officers is hot," Beatrice smirked again.

"Trust me.., if my girl here is how God Eater women are, your life is going to get sucked dry," Isaac curved his lips. "Take some energy drinks, if you have to. Your superhuman strength alone probably won't be enough, and beds could break."

Beatrice snickered in response. "Also…wear protection once you do, OK? A whole pack or two because we God Eaters are indeed..pretty wild. Take it as a senior adult's advice."

She giggled while staring at her flustered partner before letting his arm go. "Damn, I was hoping Elias would be the only one with us who still has his V-card."

"I knew it was just a matter of time until you two finally did, but please stop," Elias tried to hold his chuckle as Beatrice and Isaac laughed together. "Whatever you, and Isaac do in your personal lives is none of my business just as you shouldn't be meddling with mine, OK?"

"Gotcha," Beatrice chuckled.

"Crap.., why does this feel like deja vu?" Trista whispered to Shin.

"Heh, it's kinda obvious," Shin shrugged. "Jerad, and Elias could definitely become good buds."

And Trista quietly laughed.

Then they finally arrived back to the group.

"Your Grace, we have returned," Elias said.

"Thank you, everyone," Sofia smiled. "Are you two OK?"

"Yes. Thanks, Your Grace," Trista murmured.

"Could you tell me what has happened there, truthfully?" Sofia murmured.

"Yes, Your Grace," Trista glanced back at her. "Here's how it went."

And after a few minutes.

"I see. I will accept your account in full faith as testimony," Sofia turned away. "In case I need to tie up loose ends with Gleipnir…if they follow with it, that is."

"Hopefully not, Your Grace," Elias murmured. "Otherwise the odds will not be in those men's favor, if they report the incident to their commanding officer, and in addition, we made them realize their misconduct towards an officer."

"And Disrespect towards any Superior Commissioned Officers regardless of affiliation is grounds for severe punishment in accordance with the Ashland Navigation Law," Sofia added. "They would be indeed wise to simply forget about this, and move on."

"I was more than ready to teach those kids some serious manners," Beatrice held her fist. "But good thing they quickly folded."

Then Sofia chuckled. "Ever so eager for…violence for a lack of better word, are you?"

"Also partly because I simply hate troublemakers," Beatrice grinned. "And more importantly, I won't tolerate anyone disrespecting members and friends of House Victorious. Not on my watch."

"Thank you. My brother chose the right people," Sofia smiled. "Elias, I believe it is time for your introduction?"

"Gladly, Your Grace," Elias enthusiastically pounded his chest.

"Ah, eager to meet the Devil himself, huh?" Beatrice teased. "This isn't about what happened with Inukai, right?"

And Elias chuckled. "Can't help it, but that's how I first met him. I'm definitely open to more conversations with him."

"Please do," Sofia nodded with a smile. "He is..quite an interesting young man."

"Great, I guess Shin, and I will have to report an incident to our owner," Trista sighed. "I wonder how much in a big pinch we might be."

"Hmm..I have an idea. Do not worry about it," Sofia smiled. "Just meet your friends again. I will handle it once she arrives."

And Trista paused in shock. "Thanks.., but as a captain, I…"

"I understand your thoughts, but sometimes, it is better to let the higher powers handle certain situations such as that," Sofia smiled again. "It was beyond your control, so you're not at fault, and it was very fortunate that we intervened before it worsened to a certain point. To give you further assurance, I will also tell your owner that I can tie up loose ends with Gleipnir should their authorities follow up with us later. I have my ways, and we also have three witnesses, so in the worst case scenario.., I have connections with those who can deal with even the most major legal issues."

"I see..," Trista paused before closing her eyes with a smile.

'Lawyers..?' Shin mused.

"Thank you very much," Trista bowed.

"You are welcome," Sofia nodded with a smile. "I will always lend my hand to good people. It is something the world currently needs."


A few minutes earlier.

"I've been a God Eater for 24 years, and enjoyed every second of it," Dimitri proudly grinned. "Eventually becoming the 5th Battalion Commander in Gleipnir at 19, just about a year after my cousin became 3rd."

'A battalion commander at 19, huh..?' Jerad's eyes fell before turning his head away from others. 'And yet here I am..nothing done. NOTHING compared to Lord Dimitri! NOTHING I could have for Claire so she won't have to worry about being a laughing stock with some lowly piece of shit like me! If it only wasn't for this FUCKING DISASTER that took mom, and dad.., and then having these goddamn armlets PUT ON ME, I would have made myself a man she can be truly proud of! God fucking dammit! What the hell am I still alive for? Nobody will ever care, and I'm still gonna be a goddamn dog in the end! FUCKING pathetic..!'

Then he began gritting his teeth, and clenching his fist tightly, also hiding it from others…

"I didn't even stop after my marriage, and even as an old man, I can still fight as much as my young one..with a big sword at that," Dimitri laughed.

Then Hugo, Jerad, Zeke, and Keith chuckled after.

"Brother, you can definitely..," Misha froze as soon as she turned to him, and felt a dreary atmosphere. "Brother..?"

And then she stood in front of him, and clasped his shoulders. "Brother!"

She shook him before Jerad gasped. "What?! Sis..?"

"Are you OK?" Hugo stepped closer to him.

Then Jerad glanced at everyone around him, Hugo, Misha, the brothers, Amy, Phym, Lulu, Levin, Richard, Frida, Charlotte, and their parents, all worriedly staring at him in silence which made him feel bitterly embarrassed, and seeing Claire approaching his peripheral vision as his head was scanning the crowd, he dared not make direct eye contact with her. "I'm fine…Sorry I got carried away."

"I'm not worried about it at all," Dimitri shook his head. "But..was there something I said that bothered you..? Please talk to me. I'm all ears."

Then Jerad embarrassingly stared at him for a moment before forcing a chuckle. "I'm just..envious of you, that's all. Becoming a battalion commander at 19, an age I'm at, and yet I haven't done anything..special. Nothing…"

"Oh.., I see now," Dimitri murmured.

'There is more to this,' Hugo furrowed his eyes. 'You wouldn't feel so glum over that.'

"But I don't quite understand," Dimitri shook his head. "You earned your reputation as the Devil of the Chrysanthemum for your ferocity and bravery in battle, and to the credit of you, and your friends, becoming the first to slay an Ash Aragami. That will already become a huge mark in humanity's history books."

'That's bullshit,' Jerad kept his plain face while listening to him. 'Gleipnir will simply take that credit from us, and then we'll all fall into obscurity. Always has been..! So many of us in Pennywort died, forgotten, and life just simply goes on. Who am I to even think I would make history?'

"Then now you'll play an important role in a sacred mission that could become the turning point of humanity's survival," Dimitri continued. "Once you succeed, you will become a hero, and no one could ever challenge that. If you still feel that you haven't accomplished anything at the age when I became a battalion commander, then so what? Perhaps, you are just a late bloomer. You have heard of this, right?"

Then Jerad chuckled at this. "I told Keith the same thing before.., after all what I saw him went through, and then got to where he is now."

Amidst of this, Zeke chuckled at his brother due to the humorous theme of it this morning. "Late bloomer, huh..?"

"Zeke..be quiet," Keith tugged at his brother before sighing. "I want to add that your consolation for me this morning..did make me feel better. I was also constantly afraid of not being able to do anything useful."

Then Jerad blinked his eyes.

"I didn't know what a late bloomer was until you told me about it, I admit," Keith smiled. "Thanks. It's what I want to be, and with that, I'll keep working."


And behind the crowd, Shin puffed his lips while covering them.

"Shin, what the hell is so funny..?" Trista hissed.

"Don't worry about it," Shin whispered.


"Your encouragement meant a lot to him, did it?" Dimitri turned back to him. "It's what seniors are for, helping their juniors grow, and with that, you are doing good things for others already. You cannot believe, and tell yourself that you haven't accomplished anything yet. You are still young, and have yet to build your own. But even if no one acknowledges your work, including your success in the Fenrir HQ Reclamation Initiative that only you can do, I will nevertheless be forever in your debt, because as a father of two children myself, my wife and I can rest easy knowing that they can still have a future in this once dying world."

"Father..," Richard murmured.

"I met a few people like you. You may not have interest in helping the society that wrongly condemned you.., and I think that's only fair," Dimitri murmured.

'What..?' Jerad paused.

"But I would like to ask you as a father myself," Dimitri stepped closer to him. "Once you reach my age when you have your own family and children, and you reflect back on the time you paved hope for humanity by helping reclaim Fenrir HQ. To rid the world of these ashes and Aragami in spite of what you believed, would you also be proud of what you have done now knowing that they will live better lives than you did, and that they will carry on the legacy you left for them?"

Then Jerad raised his eyes while taking the time to try processing this unthinkable future of himself. "I..I could care less about legacy..! I just don't want them to go through the same hell I did..!"

"...Of course..that's what good parents believe," Dimitri murmured. "Please do not compare yourself to others again. It is the most poisonous thing you can inflict on yourself, so do not allow that devil inside to tempt you again, for it is only there to become a thief of your joy, and eventually tear you down. My cousin became a 3rd Gleipnir Battalion commander at 18, and I did not ever allow that to bring me down, then I became one myself only one year later..while my wife who was my squadmate at that time supported me before that. I had mine, and I believe you will eventually have yours. You're about to undergo a deed that would make you accomplish something greater than all I did at your age, and with that, you might become something bigger than me by the time you reach mine. You only have to be patient, and keep working."

"You just volunteered to become a recruit instructor in our Port, right?" Hugo held his friend's shoulder. "It's a step forward.., and I'm honestly happy you did."

"Oh, Elias," Dimitri turned to his back much to his wife's surprise. "How long have you been here..?"

"Only for a few seconds, my lord," Elias smiled back. "Please do not worry."

Then Dimitri sighed with relief. "OK, I'm glad to hear that. I would like to introduce you to these great people. This is Lieutenant Elias Sebastian, one of our family's most trusted officers."

"I'm Hugo Pennywort," Hugo shook his hand.

"A great pleasure to meet you," Elias shook his hand back with sincerity.

"I'm Jerad Pennywort," Jerad timidly raised his hand.

"I'm Elias Sebastian, very nice to meet you," Elias gave him a big smile before shaking his hand firmly, much to Jerad's suspicion.

"Elias, huh..?" Jerad murmured.

"Oh..have we met before..?" Elias blinked his eyes.

"I..don't think so, but rather Levin told us about you," Jerad chuckled. "You were his trainer, right?"

"Ah, I see," Elias glanced at Levin, which he returned with a wave. "That's correct. I taught him his swordsmanship. How did he do with you?"

"He's good," Jerad smiled. "A bit short on experience, but he definitely had impressive techniques. Just needed more time in the field."

"I fought him before myself," Hugo also smiled. "I've been fighting for 6 years, and yet he almost beat me. His techniques frightened me, and not to mention we wielded the same type of God Arc."

"Thanks for looking after him," Elias smiled back before turning back to Jerad. "By the way..nice coat."

Then the Hounds, including Levin, and Frida chuckled.

"That was quick, but thanks..," Jerad forced himself to smile.

"I see..so you were trying on an outfit when we introduced ourselves," Dimitri chuckled. "We apologize for interrupting."

"Please do not worry about it, sir," Jerad bashfully closed his eyes.

"Look at Jerad here, trying to be formal," Trista smirked.

"Dang, that looks good on you, buddy," Shin gave him a thumb up while grinning. "Buy it."

"Hey, Hugo just forced this on me, OK?" Jerad curved his lips. "By the way, Shin. Nice new outfit."


Author's Note: Shin now wears a full base Dark Sentinel with Headgear color: Black or 3/4.


"Ooh, look at that! Shin finally a true ninja," Zeke and his brother laughed.

"Come on, guys. I already told you this morning I'll be doing this," Shin shrugged while chuckling.

"Still, though. I still find your outfit super surprising," Zeke cackled.

"A ninja..?" Eleanor blinked her eyes.

"My lady, he genuinely practices an eastern martial art," Elias explained. "This is Vice Captain Shin Chrysanthemum, and Captain Trista Chrysanthemum of Port Chrysanthemum."

"Oh, my. They are unit captains," Eleanor turned to the two. "I am Lady Eleanor Victorious. A pleasure to meet you, and this is my eldest, Richard, and my daughter, Charlotte."

"Likewise, my lady," Trista shook her hand back.

"Please just call me, Eleanor," Eleanor giggled. "Too much formality is something I could never completely get used to."

"I'm Richard. Nice to meet you, sir," Richard reached his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Shin," Shin shook his hand back. "But..sir?"

"Oh, yes. You are a vice captain," Richard murmured. "I'm only a two year junior God Eater, and my younger sister recently became one. I believe it is only natural that we address you as our senior."

"Ah, OK. Just call me Shin, anyway. I'd prefer it," Shin chuckled.

"Understood. Thank you," Richard also chuckled.

"Wow, you have strong arms," Charlotte squinted at Trista's arm while still holding it in both hands.

"Uh, I did not hold too hard right..?" Trista hesitantly asked.

"Not at all, but..," Charlotte began stroking her wrist. "They are quite..muscular. Like Beatrice's…"

"That is quite rude, Charlotte," Eleanor grimaced. "Please improve your etiquette when meeting new people. Show a bit more respect."

"I-I'm sorry, mother!" Charlotte bowed. "But you said you don't like too much formality."

"That is true, dear. But you have to remain professional as well," Eleanor explained to her. "And stroking an arm of someone you recently met even in admiration is..intruding on that person's personal space. You have to find that line, and not pass it."

"U-understood," Charlotte nodded.

Then Trista laughed. "It's perfectly OK. I actually felt flattered since I exercised a lot."

"I highly respect that," Eleanor smiled. "You are just like Beatrice. Have you gotten acquainted with her?"

"Yes, I did," Trista smiled. "She looks..pretty strong. Quite intriguing."

Then Eleanor laughed. "Indeed, she is formidable in spite of her being behind her two other childhood colleagues. She occasionally collaborates with Gleipnir to train their AGEs in simulators, so they can be better prepared."

"I heard," Trista replied. "Being a captain myself, I've had my share of training my unit, and you said childhood colleagues?"

"Oh, yes. Beatrice, Isaac, and Elias have been together since their youth," Eleanor explained. "My late cousin-in-law once found them in an orphanage, and adopted them. They have been serving us faithfully since that sometimes..I forget that fact. It always felt like they are part of our family by blood, and it was strange of me to feel this, because I am quite similar to them since I was married into House Victorious. My husband was once my captain, and then my commander before we wedded, and blessed ourselves with our two children."

"Wow," Trista paused. "You have come quite a long way. Those three also reminded me of myself, and Shin with the Hound crew. With the exception of Lulu, we also knew them for years until we got split up in Pennywort. Lulu had her own story of joining us. I heard before our reunion, the Hound crew just found her stranded in the Ashlands on the way back to our Port, and took her in. Shin, and I had our own story."

"Fate must have blessed you to be reunited again," Eleanor commented.

"Here's how it happened with me, and Shin," Trista murmured.


"Were you the one who grabbed that crooked Inukai by the collar this afternoon?" Elias chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess," Jerad murmured.

"Hoo..! You know how glad I was that you didn't hurt him?" Elias squinted at him. "That would have been trouble for you, if you did."

"I wasn't planning to, anyway," Jerad shrugged. "I thought I was done with him until he decided that I wasn't, so I gave him my piece of mind. I think he wanted it."

Then Elias laughed at this. "Alright. I get it now that both you, and I despised him, but what was your story behind it?"

"Long story short, he broke into our ship while we hunted an Ashborn down, and took my little girl from us," Jerad glanced at Phym. "Then we had to chase him down to get her back."

"Your little girl..?" Elias glanced around until he saw a white haired girl raising her hand. "I see. What's your name, little one?"

"I'm Phym," Phym grinned. "And this is my mommy."

She nuzzled on Claire's arm which began making her a little nervous.

"Mommy..?" Elias slowly glanced at Claire in shock before blinking his eyes in confusion. "Miss..Claire?"

"Um..it's complicated," Claire blushed.

And grateful for her aunt's save, Sofia walked close to him, and leaned over for a whisper. "Please play along for now. I will explain to you tonight…"

Then she giggled.

"...Understood," Elias almost stuttered.

"Phym, come here, little one," Sofia reached down for her. "Grand auntie already missed you."

"Yay!" Phym cheered as Sofia lifted her in her arms.

"Isn't she so adorable?" Sofia smiled at him.

"Certainly," Elias smiled.

"Phym? Do you know who he is?" Sofia smiled at her. "He is Elias Sebastian, and he has helped me very much."

"Then is he my grand..uncle?" Phym murmured.

Elias suddenly froze from her comment before hearing his two childhood colleagues chuckling behind him, and then turning to them. He saw Isaac facing away, puffing his curved lips while Beatrice was covering her mouth before also facing away, both trying their best to suppress their outburst.


"Oh, great..," Jerad awkwardly curved his lips. "Is this..?"

"Deja vu..?" Claire almost whimpered in embarrassment.

"Yeah..," Jerad stiffly curled his lips.


"Yes…I suppose he is," Sofia giggled.

"Grand Uncle..!" Phym reached her arms to him.

With enthusiasm, Sofia tried to pass Phym to him, and not daring to be hesitant, Elias carefully took her in his arms.

"How are you, Phym?" Elias smiled while also knowing that Sofia had been enthusiastically watching him. "Could you tell me about yourself?"

"I'm a good girl, grand uncle," Phym replied.

"I believe so," Elias chuckled before giving her a light cheek pinch which made her giggle. "Your mommy, and daddy have been teaching you, right?"

"Yeah, and mommy and daddy always protect me," Phym grinned. "And daddy once scared the boogeyman away."

"A boogeyman, huh?" Elias and Sofia glanced at each other as they chuckled.

"The scary old man..," Phym murmured.

Puzzled by this, Elias and Sofia glanced at each other again, and remembering Jerad's short story earlier, he was able to see a connection from what he heard in Inukai's demands from Chrysanthemum in his bridge a few days ago. "Don't worry anymore. Your daddy scared the boogeyman off, and when he came for you again, now grand uncle helped your daddy take that monster away. I'm sure he won't be back again."

"I believe I understand now..," Sofia murmured before smiling. "How keen of you…"

Then Elias simply smirked at her.

"Really..?" Phym murmured.

"Definitely," Elias patted her head. "We are here for you."


"That is just cruel," Eleanor grimaced. "Your commander simply abandoned you two to your deaths."

"I thought Shin, and I were done for," Trista murmured. "Had we given up a little earlier, then yeah, we definitely would not be here."

"It was simply your will to survive alone that did," Eleanor commented. "You never gave up."

"Right.., but partly we were just lucky," Trista closed her eyes. "The owner happened to be close by chance, and sent Ricardo and a few medical guys to save us. I still can't believe I survived; I even still had that scar in my chest."

"I had no idea you AGEs heal incredibly faster," Eleanor shook her head. "In a sense, I believe you were blessed to be one. It would be impossible for any older type of God Eater such as myself to survive such grave injury."

"Heh, I appreciate it, but I don't think any AGE would ever consider themselves blessed," Trista turned away. "We have always been treated as scourges. A bane to humanity's existence, but that's fine. I don't care anymore. I live in a good place now, Chrysanthemum, and working for the owner is all that matters to me. It is a place I will grow old, and lay my bones in."

"You developed a good mindset through your hardships," Eleanor stepped closer. "But there is something I want to tell you. Humanity's unjust cruelty against you, it will not last forever. There have been oppressed minorities in history who eventually gained freedom, and have stood arm to arm with others. It will take time, but people will understand you, someday. Your turn will eventually come."

"I guess in the end, we'll just have to survive," Trista chuckled.

"My, don't we have a huge crowd here," Hilda smiled with Ricardo behind him.

"Ah, hello owner," Trista waved.

"I heard what happened from Sofia earlier," Hilda murmured. "I'm not angry in any way since you, and Shin did everything you could. She'll deal with it if it comes back to us later, but I also doubt it will. House Victorious is something Gleipnir won't easily cross, so I think we're mostly safe."

"Mm," Trista nodded.

"Even so, no one can touch the She-Wolf, anyway. She could have sent their heads into the ceiling," Ricardo chuckled. "And especially Shin, the champion of hand to hand combat? He would have knocked those two boys out before they could blink."

"Ricardo..," Hilda grimaced. "I would rather they not engage in such meaningless violence. Now speaking of Shin, where is he?"

She glanced around until she saw him in black outfit. "What? Did he already buy his new outfit? Ooh, he forgot, did he?"

"Oh, I also forgot," Trista facepalmed. "Sorry, ma'am. Otherwise I would have reminded him."

"That's fine. I'll just ask him for the receipt later, and reimburse it to his account," Hilda chuckled before turning to Eleanor. "This morning, I told him I would pay for his new set of outfits as a reward for his excellent work earlier."

"I see. That is very kind of you," Eleanor smiled.

"I just simply don't believe in this 'no good deed shall go unpunished' nonsense," Hilda murmured. "I believe everyone should be rewarded for good deeds, and never to be ignored."

"I wholeheartedly agree," Eleanor nodded. "The same goes for our family, and we need this more than ever..when the world has become insane."


"Amazing. You are a fast learner," Elias smiled with bewilderment.

"Yeah, mommy and daddy teach me writing, and reading so much," Phym proudly replied. "They taught me ABCs."

"I'm so proud of you, Phym," Sofia caressed her cheek. "But make sure you always thank your mommy, and daddy for teaching you, OK? Hopefully, I'll have a chance to start teaching you soon. You'll eventually be as educated as your grand uncle."

"Yay!" Phym cheered. "But..what you'll teach me?"

And the two adults chuckled.

"How about how to properly take care of your God Arc for a start?" Sofia smiled. "Did your mommy, and daddy already teach you that?"

"Um, only to make sure it works, and..," Phym paused. "Remi-deal actions for..stuck boo-lets."

"Remedial actions already for solid rounds?" Elias chuckled. "That's quite above the basics. So, most of the time, what do you do if a bullet gets stuck inside your God Arc, and you cannot fire?"

"Daddy said pull the..handle back, and eject bad boo-let," Phym replied.

"That is mostly correct," Elias chuckled again. "Indeed, generally you assume the round is bad when it fails to fire, and simply dispose of it. It does not happen often, but it is still very important to know. I also teach our juniors those."

"Daddy said the same thing," Phym added. "He said nothing lasts forever."

"Correct. That is why taking care of your God Arc is very important," Sofia smiled. "That way, they last longer."


"Hello, Shin," Hilda smiled. "Good to see you in your new outfit?"

"Thanks, ma'am, and uh..," Shin paused. "I forgot. Sorry about that."

Then Hilda chuckled. "Just retain your printed receipt, and give it to me tonight. I'll reimburse you."

And she turned to Jerad before blinking her eyes. "Oh, my. Nice new outfit."

"Uhh, please wait, ma'am," Jerad nervously waved his hands. "Hugo just had me try it on. It's not mine."

"Oh, that's quite a shame," Hilda teasingly smirked. "It definitely looks good on you."

Then everyone chuckled.

"It's getting a bit late, so..should we finish this, and pay for the rest of our merchandise?" Hilda smiled.

"Uh, yeah. Let's wrap this up," Hugo glanced at everyone. "I still gotta pay for my new jackets."

"Aww, you still not buying the black and white?" Misha furrowed her eyes.

"Please, I'm not your dress up person," Hugo chuckled.

"I gotta get this coat back," Jerad began removing his white coat. "Hugo, my scarf?"

"Here you go," Hugo held his black scarf before his friend took it, and wore it back. "It's been fun. Hopefully you wear that same one, if you do become an owner."

And Sofia glanced at them.

"Heh, who knows?" Jerad hung the coat back to its hanger, and straightened it. "Only time will tell…"

Then the crew spent several minutes paying for their new clothing before finally finishing.

"So..we're now off to Claire's manor," Zeke chuckled.

"Yep, but be mindful of your eating manners, OK?" Hugo whispered.

"Daddy," Phym reached her hands to him.

"Phym," Jerad called her back before Elias carried her down, and he carried her to his arms.

"You already taught her some good stuff, huh?" Elias smiled. "Good job on that. I didn't even think she would know about remedial actions yet."

"Oh.., yeah," Jerad leaned back. "I did that to everyone the other day."

"I had no idea you can be quite knowledgeable about God Arcs, particularly the firing system," Sofia teasingly smiled. "I would like to know how much you know."

"Uh, I only know as much as that," Jerad nervously murmured while Levin behind him chuckled. "Based on old small arms."

"Oh, my. Are you a small arms enthusiast?" Sofia's smile only grew wider.

"Not..really," Jerad shyly winced. "It's not like we AGEs can own them, even as a vintage collection. Someone just taught me when I was a kid."

"...I see. Nevertheless a good knowledge conversion to God Arcs," Sofia kept her smile. "Indeed, they work similarly."

"I don't want you beating my God Arc's mechanism for your lessons again," Claire curved her lips.

"I was just simply rough cycling," Jerad chuckled.

"Wait a moment. Did you just say you held Miss Claire's God Arc..?" Elias raised his eyes.

"Yeah..," Jerad slowly nodded.

"Whoa, are you serious?" Beatrice also raised her eyes.

Then Sofia giggled. "One day after you left to infiltrate former Dr. Inukai's crew, we toured Ms. Henriquez's vessel, and her crew told me that their AGEs can hold other God Arcs. Jerad demonstrated this by holding his sister's variant scythe. I was also in awe with that discovery, but if you also think about it, AGEs possess adaptive Oracle cells in their bodies."

"Wow, I have never heard of this," Beatrice commented. "I've trained young AGEs for the past few years, and none of them ever talked about it."

"We speculated that Gleipnir has never tried this yet for safety reasons," Hugo added. "I mean, I am starting to notice that they do treat their AGEs better. Being able to shop around here even with their hands cuffed, and with their supervisors? That's something we cannot do at all in Pennywort."

"That is thanks to our family," Dimitri added. "We pushed to lessen the Draconian mandates of AGEs for the past few years after Gleipnir imposed them. We wanted more freedom for them, but we couldn't afford to push for more since it could gravely damage our reputation at that point, because the freedoms we managed to succeed on passing..were already unpopular."

"I see," Hugo nodded.

"I'm really amazed," Elias smiled. "Have you considered wielding other kinds of God Arcs besides your spear?"

"Not really. Though, I did a few swings of my sister's," Jerad glanced at Misha. "But that's about it. I mostly stuck with my spear."

"I would encourage doing so as part of self-improvement, even just a few others," Elias smiled. "I wished I could wield other God Arcs, and use them against Aragami. Besides my short blade, I would have liked to take a long blade with me as my two handed weapon, and then maybe a spear or a variant scythe for a totally different style of fighting. Most, if not all, martial arts instructors also do not favor being proficient with a single type of weapon, because the whole point is, wielding different kinds of weapons would allow you to experience different strengths and weaknesses, and adapt to them. Whatever you learn from those will carry on to your main weapon."

"My, Elias. I had no idea you were interested in using a charge spear," Sofia smirked.

"Ah, I get what you're saying. Think about it," Jerad rubbed his chin. "I did it once with training weapons..when I trained a couple of kids."

"Which kids?" Trista furrowed her eyes.

"Remember Marr, and Lil?" Jerad turned to her. "I did it to them one morning before we got to Chrysanthemum, and grabbed two swords..knowing I'll have them coming at me at the same time, and try hitting me. I was untouched."

"Ah, so you're into the biting edge, too?" Shin smirked. "Lulu, and I can teach you about that. Have fun trying to block four swords against you."

And Trista, and Lulu laughed.

"I just did it for that situation, OK?" Jerad chuckled. "I had two opponents at the same time to deal with. One sword for the hotheaded Marr, and then the other sword for the sneaky Lil."

"So, you definitely knew that it was better to dual wield shorter weapons to defend yourself against two opponents," Elias chuckled. "That is exactly why. Granted, pole weapons like the charge spear and the variant scythe are also excellent for defending outside of using our shields, but mostly for one direction. If those two children become more experienced and work well together, one can distract your front defense while the other..will very likely strike you from behind."

Then Jerad laughed. "That's what Lil tried to do to me when Marr attacked me once, but she was too slow.., and frankly too scared..too hesitant. I had to yell at her to start attacking me soon, or her partner Marr would end up being Aragami food. And speaking of that, I once told Lil she had no reason to hold back on Aragami because if one sees her out in the field, the only thing it will think of is dinner time."

Then the two men laughed.

"You're pretty old school, are you?" Elias chuckled. "Throwing humorous insults at trainees to motivate them?"

"I can't be too nice, but at the same time, I want them to keep going," Jerad explained. "And hesitation in my watch is almost a taboo because Aragami don't. It takes less than five seconds for most of them to attack after seeing you, so I made it my training policy to punish anyone who holds back for more than five seconds, and I make it known to them that each time this happens to them, it is death in the real scenario."

"A solid point," Elias commented. "I'm sure with your way of guidance, she will eventually learn."

"I can't fault her yet, anyway," Jerad replied. "She is not even close to her teens yet, so she has time. I'll just keep reminding her why she wanted to fight in the first place, and Marr wasn't that much better, either. Just different. He blind rushes me while Lil thinks too much about her approach. Two puzzle pieces who will eventually fit together, I'd say. I just need to keep fine tuning them."

"You seemed to have good affinity for children, Jerad," Sofia smiled. "That is wonderful."

"I wouldn't say exactly," Jerad scratched his backhead. "I just couldn't leave them be. They tend to count on me, and..I can't say 'no' to them."

"I fail to see any difference at all," Sofia shook her head while giggling as they entered the high class district. "You nevertheless cared for them."

"I..guess you're right," Jerad chuckled.

"How old were those children?" Sofia asked.

"I think those two are just eight," Jerad replied. "There's another one who is a bit older named Sho. I think he might be around ten."

"They are so young," Sofia murmured. "Yet already quite ambitious. Do you also spend time training Sho?"

"Not yet as of now," Jerad also murmured. "He doesn't seem to be the warrior type, but he is a smart kid, only second to Phym. He even easily outsmarted Lil in their tic-tac-toe game."

"Tic-tac-toe..?" Sofia blinked her eyes.

"Oh..that must be the Noughts and Crosses, Your Grace," Elias chuckled. "I remembered during my junior years in joint missions with Fenrir that Americans called it that. In spite of being mostly played by kids, we still played them during our few expedition campaigns to pass on boredom by using wooden sticks we can find, and drew our grids on soil."

"Ah, my old battalion did the same," Sofia murmured. "Whenever Gleipnir traveled to far distant lands to exterminate Aragami for people to rebuild in, we would occasionally stop somewhere for ship's maintenance, and they would play these games when not in training or missions. Though, the governor-general at that time did not take kindly to that since he believed it to be a waste for our troops' productivity."

"The governor-general..?" Hugo raised his eyes.

"He was my division commander," Sofia explained. "A stringent man, and I did not always take kindly to him. He used to occasionally beat our members, including my own 3rd battalion one time before we briefly trained Fenrir's 14th Division led by Captain Erina der Vogelweid."

'Erina..,' Hugo mused. 'Who is she..?'

"Wha-? He was that much of a hard a- I mean, man?" Zeke almost exclaimed.

"Yes, partly because life of being a member of Gleipnir was never easy," Sofia giggled. "He simply had to keep everyone in top form, and it is also difficult to be accepted. One must pass a series of rigorous tests to become a member."

"I didn't know Gleipnir existed before then," Hugo murmured. "And you guys must be elites."

"Indeed, in some sense," Sofia nodded. "Not in the same nature as special forces units. Expeditions are naturally dangerous when humanity must begin their second frontier again after the Thorns of Judgment changed our world."

"I understand. Thanks," Hugo smiled.

"Erina der Vogelweid…I haven't heard that girl's name for a long time," Dimitri turned to his cousin. "How was she..?"

"Last I have known.., she and her division transferred to the German Branch," Sofia replied.

"I see..I hope she is fine after the calamity," Dimitri closed his eyes. "Her family has been long friends with ours. I still feel for the loss of her brother in the Far East Branch…"

'That also makes me wonder now..,' Sofia frowned. 'Tiona..how have you been..?'


"Since you called that game tic-tac-toe," Elias turned back to Jerad. "I'm curious, but..are you an American?"

Then Zeke chuckled at this.

"Yes, I am," Jerad shyly chuckled. "Just by blood. I was born here."

'A silver haired American. I've been feeling something familiar about you since we shook hands,' Elias mused. 'Commander Emilio of Fenrir..the Deathscythe?' "Heh, back in my young days, I've known the ones from the North American branch for their reputation. Fearless, yet orderly disciplined. Some even hunted Aragami for sport."

"Yeah..?" Jerad curved his lips.

"Ha, you don't wanna tell him you fit into that, right?" Zeke laughed. "About how you enjoy fighting?"

"Shut it..!" Jerad hissed before hearing Claire behind him giggling.

"I used to envy their elites for having such skills to toy with Aragami," Elias chuckled. "It's like trying to chase, and catch dinosaurs in some movie I watched long ago. I once witnessed a group of them in their vehicles surround a Vajra they chased away from a nearby satellite base, and I almost thought they were trying to capture it because they were throwing lassos to restrain it. At first, I thought they were trying to capture it so they could extract its CNS core, but that still didn't add up since you generally don't have to, and you can just slay it and extract its core with your God Arc before it dissipates. So once they had their ropes lassoed on a couple of the Vajra's legs, they tripped it, and then a couple of them rushed in to finish it off while it was still laying on the ground. They claimed that they can't let any Aragami escape by roping them since it would come back to them stronger later if allowed to, which was right, but I still don't think lassoing it was necessary. They just simply wanted to have some enjoyment of slaying it with style since they were hollering around while in the moment, and then even more so after it was killed; it's almost like watching a frat party. The whole group even took photoshoots of themselves with their kill, very likely to post their glory on social media. Some American God Eaters are so crazy, I tell you. Unbelievable."

He laughed. "Before then, God Eaters having fun with Aragami was unthinkable to me. I always thought they were too dangerous to meddle with, and that hasn't changed even now, yet in the end, my growth has humbled me over the years. I would rather not play with fire, mind you."

"Well, that's not exactly how I have fun with Aragami, just saying," Jerad snickered. "I'm a different monster."

"I heard during my youth that the North American branch has been trying to revive their culture," Sofia chuckled. "Including their…wild west ways. I have even seen a few of them wear cowboy hats while on mission."

And she made a short laugh.

"There is nothing wrong with having a bit more enthusiasm in the field," Dimitri chuckled. "I still enjoy fighting just as much despite my near mid-age. It's all about keeping a sharp judgment, and as long as you stay on top of that, you can still survive. You can have both, and in fact, I believe enthusiasm helps with quality work. Gives you more energy."

"Understood, my lord," Elias nodded.

"Mm," Dimitri turned to Jerad. "So, you also love slaying Aragami?"

"I have fun like a madman.., sir," Jerad forced himself to smile.

Then Dimitri chuckled. "I am rather amused. Hopefully, we have a chance to fight with each other side by side in the future after the Reclamation."

"Speaking of photographs, that just reminded me," Sofia held her chin. "We also had one share of that when we slew a Vajra together. It was with you, me, Eleanor, my brother, the governor-general, and…"

She made a quick glance at the twins. "A couple of our friends. Unfortunately I lost mine during the disaster, so I wonder if the governor-general still has that picture so I can make a new copy of it."

"We can only ask..," Dimitri smiled. "The only problem is..Abraham is a very busy man."

"Right..," Sofia sighed.

Then they finally reached the House Victorious manor gate, and saw a white haired man in black coat waiting for them.

"Oh, Ein," Sofia stood in shock. "Have you been waiting for us?"

"Not that long," Ein smiled. "Just less than five minutes. I hurried back to my ship to deliver our goods, and then came here."

"I apologize, nevertheless," Sofia murmured.

"No problem at all. It was a perfect wait time," Ein smiled again. "Hugo, thanks again for selling your info about Ashborns. We just recently uploaded it to our database. You have anything new?"

"Unfortunately, not yet," Hugo closed his eyes. "But we'll contact you, once we learn anything new."

"Sounds right," Ein nodded.

"Ein, how have you been?" Dimitri enthusiastically greeted him. "It's been a while. How is Dusty Miller?"

"Been getting better. We built our fourth ship only a few months earlier," Ein shook Dimitri's hand.

"Moving up in the world, huh?" Dimitri chuckled.

"Yep, and my next project is expanding Dusty Miller to accommodate more people," Ein smiled. "I have to start looking for a suitable contractor."

Then he turned to Dimitri's wife. "Good afternoon, Lady Eleanor."

"Good afternoon, Ein," Eleanor smiled back. "Good to see you well."

"Likewise," Ein nodded.

"Good afternoon, Your Grace," The two God Eater guards placed their God Arcs straight up along their shoulders, and saluted.

"Good afternoon," Sofia greeted back. "Did anything happen during my absence?"

"The governor of Dusty Miller asked us for you, but he decided to wait, Your Grace," One of the guards replied. "Other than that, there were no incidents in our perimeter to report."

"Good," Sofia nodded. "These people behind me are our guests."

"Understood, Your Grace, we shall open the gate," The guards placed their hands down while glancing at the Chrysanthemum crew before moving to open their gate. Sofia, and the crew proceeded through. Maintaining security, the guards glanced around before closing the gate behind them.

"My, seeing this for the second time, your security details are very impressive," Hilda commented.

"They are our loyal people, and House Victorious maintains order, and discipline in our ranks," Sofia smiled. "Good morals, and professionalism are expected of them at all times."

"I see. I could learn a thing or two from you," Hilda chuckled.

"Good to see you again, you two," Ein smiled. "How have you been?"

"Feeling fine," Jerad replied.

"Ditto," Misha made a short wave.

Once they are inside the manor.

"Now that we are inside, Beatrice, there is something I want to tell you," Sofia murmured.

"Yes, Your Grace," Beatrice quickly attended to her. "What is it?"

"For now, I do not want this fact about AGEs being able to adapt to other God Arcs to be widely known yet," Sofia replied. "We do not want Gleipnir to begin placing their AGEs' lives at risk for the sake of experiments for verification. Since you train them, do not speak publicly of this whenever you are with them during training sessions."

"Fully understood, Your Grace," Beatrice pounded her chest.

"Keith, and I can already do them," Jerad cautiously murmured. "There shouldn't be many issues."

"That is true. While AGEs have been known to have the highest overall compatibility, Gleipnir nevertheless applied their God Arc safety protocols to them as well," Sofia explained. "In addition, compatibility levels for each individual have never been equal. Considering the volatile nature of God Arcs, a currently existing AGE with the lowest compatibility could be possibly still at risk, if Gleipnir conducts experiments on them with that knowledge. I only want to be cautious for their sake, and I do not want them to make any sacrifices, intentional or not."

"Understood," Jerad slowly nodded.

"I also have a story to share about that," Ein added. "One time, one of my AGEs accidentally held another's God Arc while doing maintenance together, and while there was no major injury involved, the AGE in question did experience some pain, but since then, that same person never experienced it with that same God Arc again. I told them to nevertheless be more careful with them. It is indeed an untested theory, and I share with Her Grace's concern for this."

"Who was it, if you don't mind me asking?" Jerad murmured.

"It was Asher," Ein chuckled. "I highly believe you have met him this morning. He spoke a lot about you."

"How is he doing?" Jerad also chuckled.

"He's in my vessel. We had our reasons..," Ein glanced at the middle-aged man in black formal suit approaching them. "I'll follow up with you on that later."

"Your Grace, it is good to see you have returned," Their butler bowed to her.

"Likewise, Graham," Sofia smiled. "So, how is the meal?"

"I sincerely apologize, but our chef and the culinists are still cooking," Graham bowed to her again. "However, I made sure our servants have completely prepared the dining table for our guests. Our culinists are also almost finished preparing our meals. Please give us about 15 minutes."

"That is perfectly fine. Good work," Sofia smiled. "Please continue to tend our cooks. I will handle accommodating our guests to the dining room."

"Understood, Your Grace," Graham bowed again. "Please excuse me."

And while still maintaining his formality, he hurried back towards their kitchen.

"He seemed quite nervous," Hilda smiled.

"I would not blame any of them," Sofia smiled back as they entered the dining room. "Since I told them to cook in large quantities…"

"That much, Sofia..?" Dimitri paused.

"With no intention of demeaning our guests, AGEs have quite an enormous appetite," Sofia giggled.

"Sorry..," Jerad almost murmured in high pitch. "I was the most notorious one last time…"

"I also agree with that from experience," Ein chuckled.

"Oh, my," Eleanor covered her mouth. "I had no idea."

"I know we God Eaters have higher intake than normal people," Charlotte murmured. "But I still never imagined AGEs would have it..worse, for a lack of better word."

Then Dimitri laughed. "It makes sense now that I think about it. AGEs are the most powerful God Eaters we currently have. More power just simply means more fuel. One of the rules of biology."

"Please do not be embarrassed," Sofia smiled at Jerad. "I would not want any of our guests to remain hungry after our dinner this time. Please enjoy yourselves, and in addition, it would be nice if you could finish all of it together."

"Then you can probably count on us," Zeke grinned.

"Zeke, make sure you also eat your vegetables," Lulu whispered almost to a leery hiss. "Do not embarrass us, and also watch your table manners..at least just for here."

"Yeah, yeah, I got you," Zeke whispered back. "Plate clean, I promise."

"I'm going to like seeing how this would unfold," Dimitiri stood behind his seat adjacent to Sofia's right with his wife beside him.

"I think you will still be surprised, Uncle," Levin chuckled. "I have eaten with them many times."

"Is that really so?" Dimitri grinned. "I think our dinner is about to become more amusing."

And after Sofia sat, everyone else followed with Hilda adjacent to Sofia's left followed by Ricardo, Ein, Elias, Isaac, and then Beatrice behind her.

After ten minutes of casual conversation, Graham entered the dining room. "Your Grace, we are ready to serve dinner."

"Yes, please begin," Sofia replied before Graham bowed again, and brought their maids in, surrounding them with serving carts on both sides of their dining table, and began carefully placing large bowls in the center.

"French beef stew," Dimitri stared at the bowl placed in front of him. "Me, and my son's favorite."

'Stews, steaks, soups, and curry?' Misha observed the maids placing each serving dish across their table. 'They seemingly have it all. Wow..! How can I keep up?'

'I don't think I can cook this much..!' Lulu also mused.

"I figured you would want one after returning from a long voyage," Sofia smirked.

"With that, you have my heartfelt gratitude," Dimitri smiled back. "Do any of you boys, and girls love beef stews?"

"Oh, definitely," Hugo chuckled before noticing a maid place a glass, and filled it with water. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Happy to serve," The maid bowed.

"It's one of the easiest ways to fill our stomachs," Jerad grinned. "I liked souped or sauced foods in general..like ramen."

"Oh..it's nice to meet people with cultured tastes, at least in my opinion," Dimitri drank his water. "Even better that you like Far East foods."

"I mainly cooked those for them," Lulu smiled.

"Ah, it's good to see young women who can cook these days," Dimitri commented. "Because they're rare now outside nobility."

"This is one of the reasons why you chose to marry me, right?" Eleanor smirked.

"Among the millions," Dimitri, and his wife made a light toast. "Thank you for always supporting me."

"I will gladly continue to," Eleanor smiled.

"Mm," Phym licked her lower lip. "Tasty…"

"Phym, just wait a little longer..," Jerad whispered. "And please don't hold your silverware until you're about to eat. Remember that as part of table manners, OK?"

"But I'm hungry..," Phym whispered back.

"I know..me, too," Jerad curved his lips. "Just…"

"I see that my grandniece is very excited," Sofia giggled.

"Yes, I'm hungry grandauntie," Phym excitedly replied while Jerad sighed.

"So, is everyone ready to dine?" Sofia also smiled. "Please help yourselves, first."

"...Alright," Hugo hesitantly nodded before everyone began their dinner.

After one hour of dining, and casual conversations, mostly about the crew discussing their hobbies.

"I see you guys like playing games," Dimitri smiled. "Poker, huh? I used to occasionally play that during my youth in old Gleipnir. I would even play with my subordinates for it, and it's been a while since I last did..after that disaster."

"So, what happened to your battalion?" Hugo asked after swallowing his bite.

"They split up. Some transferred to new Gleipnir while others joined our family under my command," Dimitri replied. "They are currently among the crew members of my military ship, the Flamberge."

"Whoa, that name sounds bad a..I mean good," Zeke commented.

Then Dimitri chuckled. "Bad ass, right? Don't worry about slangs. I'm used to it, and it puts me back to my youthful days."

"Do you know what that is?" Lulu smiled.

"No idea. I just think it's a cool sounding name," Zeke replied.

"It's a flame sword," Dimitri explained. "Basically a great sword with a wavy blade, and in spite of lacking the cutting ability as a straight sword such as the claymore, it is nevertheless more difficult to break due to its scientific design of distributing force well on impact, and in addition, it was known to create vibrations on impact against an opponents' weapons, unnerving them. I thought it was a perfect name for my ship after her completion, and then myself as well."

"Hm," Hugo continued listening.

"I like breaking through Aragami lines with my buster blade during horde attacks like a juggernaut," Dimitri continued explaining. "In addition, the curvy design of its blade makes it ideal for parrying your opponents' weapons. They more easily get caught inside the curves, especially against spears."

"Heh, I bet that's making Jerad worry right now," Zeke grinned.

"I'm not sure, but interesting to hear, though," Jerad drank his water before trying to finish his last serving.

"I'm probably glad I never literally crossed God Arcs with Garret," Trista chuckled. "Because with that saw-like buster blade he had, he could clash against mine, and possibly try yanking my moon out of my hands, if he knows better enough to do it. I can't underestimate him, either way."

Then Ein chuckled. "Right, but those models can still cut through Aragami easily, not to mention it being supported by its own weight especially for cleaving. I've parried a few Havakiris' bladed arms, and struck them myself a few times, so Dimitri was exactly right about the flamberge in my experience."

"It also doesn't help that I wield possibly the weirdest weapon ever created," Trista added. "I don't think it ever existed in history. We few heavy moon users right now are the firsts."

"That's right. It's why not many people use it," Beatrice replied. "Let alone to be proficient at it. You must have good back muscles to swing one around."

"You nailed it," Trista placed her glass down. "It's why I spent a lot of time working my arms and back out. A lot of sit ups, and reverse sit ups."

"I'll take note of that for a couple of AGEs I know using them in Gleipnir," Beatrice murmured. "It could probably help them out when I tell them, but as of now, I haven't seen any of them who can proficiently wield it. Truly a difficult looking weapon."

"Mm, maybe I'll be the first pro you'll see," Trista smirked.

"I've been curious, actually," Beatrice smirked back. "Maybe we should have a spar sometime later?"

"Done deal," Trista flashed her eyebrows. "Name time, and place."

"Oh, my. You are becoming close friends already," Sofia teased before drinking her water. "Perfect, I was already planning to tour you around our training grounds to help our intake settle before tea a little later."

"Interesting," Hugo murmured.

Then Jerad sighed. "Finally done."

"So…how many servings did you eat?" Claire smirked.

"Eight servings," Jerad smirked.

"Eight?!" Claire froze. "I thought your maximum was seven."

"I lost count earlier, but..," Charlotte paused. "Eight servings? I can only eat four!"

"Wait.., you were watching me?" Jerad also paused.

'What?!' Claire furrowed her eyes.

"Um.., yes," Charlotte bashfully tipped her two index fingers. "I-I was just curious about your claim..that's all."

"Ah.., well your food was good," Jerad lightly rubbed his belly. "Can't help it."

"You are unbelievable," Claire murmured.

"I feel a bit envious..," Charlotte also murmured.

'You, too?' Claire grimaced at her younger cousin.

Then Sofia chuckled while leaning on their table. "Thank you. I am glad I was able to serve you better this time, and I certainly have no regrets, but I will find better ways for our next dinner night."

"Sofia, you do not have to go that far," Hilda giggled. "We are happy enough with your family's company."

"Then all the more reason," Sofia chuckled again. "I truly enjoy your company as well."

"Aunt, there is something I would like to ask," Levin spoke.

"Oh, what is it?" Sofia sat straight up.

"Out of curiosity, we looked up the origins of our family name, and learned that it was from New York, North America," Levin explained. "Do we have American ancestry?"

And Sofia paused for a few moments out of bewilderment before chuckling. "I am amazed you have learned that, not that I was intentionally hiding it, but yes, we are from me, and your late uncle's grandfather."

"Ah..," Levin blinked his eyes.

"Anthony Victorious, he was a retired military colonel from the United States Air Force turned businessman who left his homeland during difficult economic times, and civil unrest," Sofia explained. "If my memory still correctly remembers, he told us that he grew weary of North America's fall of values, growing decadence, and their government's more stringent policies and higher taxes on people, more so against business owners."

'Could this be prior to their second civil war..?' Jerad mused. 'I'd say he was a smart person to have foreseen the worst early enough to leave. It was a losing battle for everyone below their elites. I don't blame him…'

"He settled in England, and restarted his entrepreneurship there. It was also when he eventually met our grandmother, Elizabeth Chamberlain, his secretary," Sofia continued. "But in spite of his current occupation, he still encouraged his family, including our father, to join the British Royal Army at that time. Our father was also in the British SAS before the Thorns of Judgment, and Fenrir became the new governing body, and military against the Aragami. It was also around that time when I was born that the Managarm Project was completed."

And Ein glanced at Sofia.

"Your late uncle became a God Eater at 13, and then I followed him almost a decade later," Sofia murmured. "Our family lineage of God Eaters is still new. Me, your late uncle and aunt, Lord Dimitri, Lady Eleanor, and..the rest who passed on during the disaster were the first line of God Eaters. You, Claire, Richard, and Charlotte are our second generation. It was also tragic that our father had to make his early retirement from the British military elite due to Fenrir's dismantlement of the global conventional military because he was truly proud of his work, and yet was too old to convert into a God Eater. He settled into working with Fenrir as one of the administrators, but his two children, me, and your late uncle, carried on his legacy with our God Arcs. He was happy in the end."

"I understand now," Levin sat back.

"That was quite a story," Hugo commented.

"I never met him," Claire murmured. "Grandfather."

"He passed away peacefully in his bed three years before you were born," Sofia smiled. "He also married quite late…"

Then Dimitri glanced at his cousin.

"Due to his busy life in the SAS," Sofia finished.

"What is an SAS..?" Jerad asked.

"Special Air Service," Sofia replied. "A special forces unit that specialized in counterterrorism, hostage rescue, direct action, and reconnaissance. Not much more was known about them due to the secrecy of their nature."

"I see. Definitely respectable," Jerad commented.

"Very similar to the Crimson Queen's Intelligence Division, just for a better picture," Sofia added. "Unconventional tactics such as surprise attacks, rescues, infiltrations, and assassinations in some cases."

"What?" Jerad raised his eyes. "Assassinations?"

"The Intelligence Division had some history with it. A few Port military commanders, and even once a Port owner were felled by them," Sofia explained. "A Port commander inside a vessel who was on a mission to scout a suspected Crimson Queen hideout was found decapitated once."

Then everyone froze.

"These guys are really dangerous," Trista commented.

"We highly believe we ran into a problem with them, albeit indirectly," Hilda said. "It was during the time Inukai was sending us coordinates to locate this so-called traitor of Gleipnir, and then the problems started once we're close to the location. The first few routes we tried to take to reach the area were always blockaded with rubbles as if the walls naturally collapsed, some even used archways which started making me a bit suspicious. Last time we ran into a blockade, Shin and Ricardo decided to investigate further past the rubble, and then we found evidence."

"Tire tracks from off road vehicles, likely from a trailer," Ricardo added. "One even did a burnout of his rear tire to dig it into the soil with a bike. It was obvious that they were telling us something."

"An offroad motorcycle..?" Elias murmured. "I haven't seen those for years."

"They definitely still existed, and somehow, the Crimson Queen guys still managed to keep them running. It gets better from there, Amy eventually found them in our resonance radar leaving the area after all this fiasco with Inukai when Gleipnir finally arrested him. She couldn't report them because we were too busy fighting a horde of Aragami driven to us by Inukai's Ash Storms to lock us in place, and hand over Phym. Then finally, we killed another Ashborn, a Ra."

"Hm," Dimitri intriguely raised his eyes.

"Heh, it was worth noting that Levin landed the final hit to it," Jerad snickered.

"Levin..?" Dimitri turned to his nephew.

"It is..true, uncle," Levin closed his eyes while smiling.

"I don't quite understand, but isn't an Ash Aragami's skin hard to penetrate with God Arcs alone?" Charlotte almost gasped.

"That is true, but I also activated my acceleration trigger to help," Levin replied. "However, it was at that time when Ra already suffered major damages, so I heavily speculated that its Oracle cell bonds were already weakened, making it easier for God Arcs to penetrate its skin. Also at that time before I leapt to it, I made a quick yet educated guess that Ra's CNS core might be in its upper chest, so I gambled the risk by clinging on its chest after it was stunned by Misha's Burst Art, and thrust my blade straight down to its chest. Fortunately, as I guessed correctly, Ra ceased to move after its fires burned out."

Then Dimitri clapped before everyone followed, including Elias.

"Also, it was funny seeing you after you recovered from that daring rush. Now that I think about it again," Jerad grinned. "The way you pulled your sword out of Ra's chest with just one hand. For a moment, I thought I was watching King Arthur pull his Excalibur out of an anvil."

Then everyone laughed.

"The English legend, I see," Sofia commented between giggles.

"Right, Frida?" Jerad flashed his eyebrows. "Do you agree how majestic Sir Levin was?"

"Absolutely," Frida hesitantly answered who knew his obvious tease, and then hearing Elias, Isaac, and Beatrice quietly chuckling at her.

"Also, atta girl before that, Misha," Jerad grinned. "You did Ra good with what you like calling your favorite Burst Art? Heaven or Hell, or something? You almost tore that poor thing's arm off before Levin finished it."

"Right, it is my favorite," Misha crossed her arms.

"I don't know much about AGEs, but a Burst Art can actually maim even Ashborns?" Charlotte murmured.

"Right now, she's the only one I know who can do it," Jerad replied. "No Aragami less than large ones has ever survived it, and imagine a group of small Aragami caught in a giant chainsaw. That's what it looks like."

"Eww, that's really gross," Charlotte murmured as Jerad chuckled.

"Get used to it, dear," Eleanor smiled. "It's all part of a God Eater's career."

"What do you use?" Charlotte turned to Misha.

"I use a variant scythe," Misha replied.

"I suspected as much, just like Master Sergeant Sinclair," Dimitri drank his water. "Variant scythes are excellent for crowd control. Besides myself, my soldiers wielding those are vital in breaking Aragami lines, and keep them at bay as my sniper supports pick them off from a distance. I've known a few who were proficient with them."

"Wholeheartedly agree, sir," Jerad smiled before turning back to Charlotte. "She's also the Grim Reaper. If you go in a field with her, watch her leave dead Aragami around her in seconds."

"Brother, please stop calling me that," Misha pouted.

"I don't see what's wrong with it," Dimitri said. "It perfectly fits your reputation for your ability for swift mass kills. Your presence to Aragami as the Harbinger of Death."

"But sir, I just think it just looks creepy," Misha murmured.

"It's good to have a little intimidation in your reputation," Dimitri replied. "Just like your brother as a Devil, it demands respect."

"I see," Misha murmured.

"Take it for what it is," Dimitri patted her shoulder as consolation. "Your title could be more helpful to you than you think. Some of my men called me a juggernaut commander, and I'm proud of it."

Then Sofia chuckled. "Indeed, that is how I also think of you."

"That's funny, because that's what Asher described you as well, Jerad," Ein smiled. "Someone who fights like an angry demon. He said it was a humbling experience for him after you upped him with Vajra kills. He was my best, and now he wants to practice more. You became the new threshold he wants to reach."

"Really, huh? I don't think he was bad," Jerad commented.

"So, to finish the rest of that story," Hilda spoke. "We decided to retreat knowing that the Crimson Queen was likely behind it, and then that's when Inukai triggered the Ash Storms to ensnare us. A few hours later after my crew returned safely, Inukai contacted us through radio, and made demands to hand over Phym."

"Boogeyman..," Phym shuddered.

Then Sofia, and Elias chuckled.

"But you are glad the boogeyman is gone now thanks to your granduncle, and daddy, right?" Sofia smiled.

"Mm," Phym nodded.

"Of course we weren't about to submit to his demands, partly because of our plan with the governor-general," Hilda continued. "And that's when our battle against the Aragami horde driven by his Ash Storms began as we recently discussed. However, here's the kicker. As Ricardo mentioned earlier, Amy detected three Ashborns approaching our location."

"Three Ashborns?" Dimitri almost gasped.

"I couldn't imagine even us taking on three of them at the same time," Trista commented. "But listen to more of this. It gets even more interesting."

"The two of the three Ashborns were halted by a group of people coming from a nearby cavern," Amy added. "Just a few minutes before our crew took their Ash Aragami down, the other two also disappeared from our radar. I would also note that one even tried to flee from the unknown group, but they managed to surround and corner it before eliminating it, and I immediately decided to put this whole scene on record to show the Hounds after they returned."

"When Amy showed us in zoomed detail after we came back, we were able to see their vehicles, and just as I speculated, there was one trailer, and two people on dirtbikes leaving the area," Ricardo finished. "It was very likely them who had been our route saboteurs. We haven't seen them again in our resonance radar since, and the rest was history. Inukai was finally arrested, and then we began heading back here."

"It was still a mystery to us what their motives were," Hilda murmured. "First, they were sabotaging us, and yet avoiding any contact. Then they blockaded, and eliminated two Ashborns heading for us as if…they were also trying to protect us. Some of these still do not make sense. They would have definitely attacked us if we were really encroaching in their territory as Sofia said, and yet that did not happen. I would also consider ourselves lucky in a weird way, because we were prepared for the worst with them. The Crimson Queen..was the only group we can think of doing this."

"And considering their sneaky patterns, it was likely their Intelligence Division. They are their elites," Sofia replied. "However.., I never once imagined they would be already capable of slaying Ashborns. I was greatly astonished."

"And two of them at the same time? Not even a whole Gleipnir battalion could slay one. They're always sitting ducks when they encounter one, and already lost a few ships to them," Dimitri sighed. "I was also shocked by this fact. What would Gleipnir do if they learned about this? For me, I don't think it's a good idea, because that could hurt their morale knowing that their enemy's strength of killing Ashborns towers over theirs, and it's not like they'll go knocking on their enemy's door, and ask their Ashborn slayers to go help them reclaim Fenrir HQ."

He laughed. "Least I can say those guys will just laugh at them, and tell them to kick rocks. At worst? Shoot their messenger."

"I agree with this. This discovery is something I do not think should be public yet..for many other reasons," Sofia sighed. "But now I have further realized how much more dangerous the Crimson Queen has become, and at a fast rate at that."

"It's been about seven years since Werner founded it," Hilda murmured. "But if I remember correctly, he wasn't alone. He took several other AGEs who were around as old as he was with him who luckily survived Gleipnir's first forced conversion of AGEs before escaping from this very Port in a ship, and I even remembered seeing one of them carrying a barely conscious female AGE in his arms. Those were definitely former Gleipnir God Eaters, because I still remembered the uniforms they were still wearing, which meant that those veterans very likely trained the younger ones joining their ranks over the years. That's the only thing I can speculate, but if you think about it, it only makes sense why their strength would grow quite rapidly."

"Wait. Jerad, do you remember the time you met one of them in the thick ash?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah," Jerad replied.

"Can you describe him again?" Hugo leaned forward.

"Light bearded, fiery red hair color, green and black suit, and now we talked about this, he did look too old compared to most AGEs I've seen," Jerad murmured. "Before that, the oldest AGEs I've known were you, Trista, and Iris, I think."

"That was definitely Werner," Hilda murmured.

"If you don't mind, how old was Werner during that time he converted..?" Hugo asked.

Then Hilda stared at him for a few moments. "He is 30 now, so 7 years back..Werner was about 23."

"He became one that old?" Zeke almost exclaimed. "I thought only little kids can become AGEs."

"He gambled his luck to forcefully convert himself into one to save lives..," Hilda murmured. "However..at this point, it won't be a good time to continue further in this topic. It's not pretty at all, I guarantee you…"

"Yeah..," Hugo nodded.

"I'm curious myself, but..," Jerad paused. "Understandable."

"Thank you," Hilda smiled again. "I promise I will tell you at the right time, and I believe you also have the right to know. At least now, it makes sense why the Crimson Queen became so powerful. They had their seniors besides Werner to train and share their experiences with their young. They have definitely been ahead of us."

"I'm not worried about it," Hugo sat back. "It's not like Gleipnir will count on them to help reclaim Fenrir HQ as Dimitri said, anyway. We still have the market."

"Indeed, that would be as ludicrous as standing in front of an Aragami, and asking them not to eat you," Dimitri chuckled before he began pouring water from a serving pitcher to his glass.

And Hugo turned to his friend. "Right, buddy?"

"It is what it is, that's all I'm gonna say," Jerad shrugged.

"Just stay focused on yourselves. Not everything in life has to be a rat race," Dimitri drank his water. "You'll be happier that way, plus self-improvement is still possible without being too competitive."

"Right," Jerad smiled.

"That's the spirit," Dimitri grinned.

"Wait..! I just remembered something that I think might be related to those senior AGEs," Claire leaned forward. "Do you remember our bias factor usage logs?"

"Oh, yes. That," Levin nodded. "How you, me, Shin, Jerad, and Misha would not require as many bias factor replenishments as others?"

"Exactly," Claire murmured. "Not to mention, I happened to look at everyone's database profiles while I was studying logs, and..I noticed another pattern."

"What did you see?" Jerad murmured.

"That the same five of us..also had the highest compatibility levels," Claire replied.

"That is very compelling," Sofia also leaned forward. "Let's restate in summary. Based on your logs, you, Levin, Shin, Jerad, and Misha require the least frequent bias factor replenishments, and also that your compatibility levels are the highest."

"Yes, aunt," Claire nodded.

"Hm," Sofia closed her eyes.

"...Do you have the answer?" Claire furrowed her eyes.

"I am not entirely certain yet, but first I would like to ask the other three," Sofia turned to a vice captain. "Shin, if you would not mind, but was one or both of your parents God Eaters?"

"Yes," Shin nodded. "My father was."

"Thank you," Sofia nodded before turning to the twins. "Are any or both of your parents God Eaters?"

"...Yes," Misha replied.

"Both of them," Jerad followed.

'Both of them..,' Dimitri slightly raised his eyebrows.

"I think I'm starting to see where this is going," Hilda raised her eyes. "Not long ago, I told my crew that Werner is the governor-general's son..who was also a God Eater, and I'm starting to think his luck alone did not help him survive his conversion, but also his blood that he inherited from his father. It was very likely the same case with the rest of them."

"Precisely, I already began speculating the same," Sofia murmured. "Levin's parents were God Eaters, and Claire's father was also a God Eater. I only have one possible answer to that. Those senior AGEs in the Crimson Queen..were very likely God Eater Children considering their naturally high compatibility to Oracle cells from birth, and the fact that their bodies can naturally produce their own bias factors. Also with their naturally high compatibility, that could likely explain why they were able to convert into AGEs, and survive even in adulthood. I do not see any other equally solid speculations."

"God Eater Children..?" Hugo glanced at his five friends. "I had no idea God Eaters can pass their bias factors to their children."

"To my best knowledge, it was a phenomenon first discovered in the Far East Branch roughly more than two decades ago," Sofia murmured. "She was the first documented child born from a God Eater mother. Through examinations, Fenrir has also found her compatibility to be immensely high, however, her internal bias factor flowing in her bloodstream was found to be much more potent that it was nearly unstable, hardly within the tolerance limit, so they had to monitor her stability to make sure her internal bias factor does not lose control. That was all in Fenrir's records because as they continued studying the child, her mother eventually deserted the Far East Branch, and took her child with her. They have never been heard from again since."

"There must be something that might have frightened the child's mother," Hilda suspected.

"It is a possibility in order to protect her. Fenrir researchers at that time grew more obsessed in studying her," Sofia replied. "In my experience also, God Eater Children can exhibit superhuman strength at a very young age."

Then she turned to her niece with a giggle. "Claire, did you remember when you were only six years old that you moved the couches around in the living room alone?"

"Yes.., I still remembered," Claire forced a smile. "I struggled at first.., and then I felt sudden surges of strength in me every time I exerted myself. I even remembered frightening our maids when they saw me."

Then Sofia laughed. "I'm glad you still did, and how in disbelief your mother was that you moved those large pieces of furniture on your own before your father consoled her."

"Even I had my story with our own kids," Dimitri laughed. "My little girl Charlotte was able to easily do 30 pull ups when she was 6, but Richard's was an interesting one."

And Eleanor took a deep sigh. "My god. I still remember that, and can still have a heart attack thinking about it..!"

"Please bear with me a bit, honey," Dimitri chuckled. "It was when he was also 6 when we were overseeing our ship's unloading of surplus supplies. Our boy tried to imitate one of our workers carrying large crates before lifting one himself in our ship, and was just beside me when I was reviewing one of our workers' inventory reports. Then in only a few seconds of taking our eyes off him, we saw a crate that was…floating."

Then everyone chuckled.

"It took us a few seconds until my wife realized it first, and just zoomed and snatched that crate from his hands while I swooped our boy out. Ooh, that was so dangerous..!" Dimitri laughed.

"How heavy, and large was the crate?" Hugo chuckled.

"About the chest height of an average adult, yet too wide for him to put arms around it," Dimitri replied. "It was also on a pallet with two slots for forklifts to insert their forks under it before lifting, so with that being said, the weight could require even an athletic normal man to use a forklift to move it around. Richard simply put his hands in those slots, and lifted it up..all by himself."

"I still vaguely remember, and feel quite proud of it, if I may say so, father," Richard chuckled.

"Richard..," Eleanor sighed with her eyes closed while her husband simply chuckled.

"It was amazing how humanity has been evolving by being more able to adapt to Oracle cells, don't you think?" Sofia smiled. "During my youth before becoming a God Eater, people with high enough compatibility were rare, and now they are much more numerous than ever, especially after a population boom in 2072. Today, 60% of children can become God Eaters, and now with the existence of God Eater Children, I would be thrilled to know the children that AGEs will eventually produce. What they could be capable of."

And Ein quietly glanced at her.

"Hm," Jerad forced a smile. "Will that be possible even with the way things have been for us..? Not a lot of us were ever given a chance to raise our own families, let alone even think about it. We're only taught to fight, and many of us die before becoming married adults. Fighting, and surviving is all we know..nothing else."

"Of course. Life will always find a way," Sofia smiled again which made Jerad raise his eyes. "You have a right to think about it as much as everyone else, and no one can take that away from you."

"I don't even know if we can have kids..," Misha closed her eyes. "Let alone even be safe enough to give birth to them..considering what kind of bias factor we have in us, we could…"

Then Ein stared at Misha for a few moments. "Taking bias factor inhibitors might help…"

"Hm..?" Misha turned back at him.

"I created them about..five years ago. It is meant to temporarily inhibit the instability of bias factors whenever it happens, if that's what you're afraid of," Ein explained with a faint smile. "If my theory is correct based on its purpose, then it could help your safe pregnancy, and delivery. I'd say remember to see me at some point in the future when you might be expecting. The sooner, the better."

"Oh.., thanks," Misha began faintly smiling.

Listening to this, however, Jerad furrowed his eyes mainly because of the fact that despite claiming it as a theory, he seemed quite overconfident with his answer…

"I have never heard of this," Sofia murmured. "Why would you create them?"

"I once helped a God Eater couple who were expecting, and had the same worry as Misha five years ago," Ein replied. "So I simply made the bias factor inhibitor, and not only did I believe it helped with the safe child delivery, but it also kept the child's internal bias factor stable with its periodical dosage for the first few years until his body fully adapted."

"I see..," Sofia slowly nodded. "It's just that..I never recalled any God Eater mother who needed any medications concerning their Oracle cells. All the past expecting mothers in our family had safe gestation periods, and delivery."

"That may be true, but we still have to take into account that the level of safety for each mother from pregnancy to childbirth was never equal just like with regular people, and some delivering mothers can still be at risk even with today's medical technology," Ein explained. "The couple I helped was also unsure, but I nevertheless developed the inhibitor as a safe measure to ensure that the mother and child will be safer until labor. I believe it worked in the end, but I needed more results to confirm this. Once I do, and perfect it, I will introduce it to Gleipnir's medical department, and patent it. Nevertheless, it should better help expectant God Eater mothers in the future."

"I see… I'm sorry that I might have jumped to conclusions too quickly," Sofia nodded with a smile.

"It was worth it in the end.., and needless to say, I also had a personal reason behind it," Ein sat back. "It also helped a couple of God Eaters in my Port who were reaching retirement, and also bought them more time to undergo the process of sealing their armlets."

"That's..very wholesome of you, Ein," Hilda smiled.

"I can't refuse them as long as there is something I believe I can do to help," Ein waved his hand with a smile before turning back to Misha. "So yeah, trust me on this, but don't worry about it. I'm sure AGEs can have children, and raise their own families, too. You'll be fine."

And Jerad kept quietly watching.

"Thanks," Misha blushed with hope.

"Life finds a way. I just said it," Sofia giggled.

"I've been noticing that you've got some muscles in your arms, Rich," Zeke chuckled. "What God Arc do you use? Gotta be heavy."

"I use a boost hammer," Richard replied.

"Like father, like son," Dimitri proudly grinned.

"Whoa, I use one, too!" Zeke also grinned. "Nice. I can probably teach you a few tricks about hammering later on."

"Heh, did you miss one word?" Jerad raised one eyebrow. "What happened to 'Mad?'"

"Hey, I'm not in the mood for flexin' right now, alright?" Zeke gave him a light glare.

"Mm," Lulu stared at him with bewilderment.

"Oh? I thought you always loved it,' Jerad snickered. "Mad Hammer Zeke."

"Mad Hammer?" Dimitri, and Eleanor laughed. "You must be ferocious in the field. Interesting," he commented.

"Uh, that's kinda true," Zeke shyly chuckled while rubbing his backhead.

"I'm always willing to learn," Richard smiled. "I would appreciate it."

"Good answer, son. He may be only one year older than you, but I already sensed a seasoned warrior since I met him," Dimitri noted.

"Sense..?" Richard blinked his eyes. "I..don't quite understand, father."

"You will fully understand one day as you become older, and stronger. Warriors tend to resonate with each other, friend or foe," Dimitri answered. "For a start, I can see small scars around him, and those tell a warrior's life."

"Now I'm feeling a little embarrassed..," Zeke slouched.

"Why? I just said scars tell about your life," Dimitri shrugged. "In other words, you should consider them as your medals for all the hardships you have endured, and survived. Needless to say, women like men with scars."

Then Jerad made a light whistle.

"Hey, be quiet," Zeke pouted before shifting into a grin. "Oh, I got an idea for revenge. Jerad's also got his own story for this God Eater kid thing."

"Huh?" Jerad turned to him.

"Hey, come on. Tell us your story again," Zeke cackled.

"...Fine," Jerad sighed. "When Misha, and I were in a playground, there was this bully older than us who shoved her out of his way while in line for that sliding thing. I confronted him, and then we ended up in a fist fight."

Then everyone chuckled except Sofia, who did not seem to like the story's direction.

"We slugged each other for a bit as the other kids were screaming at us. The guy eventually won the upper hand, and pinned me against the structure by my shirt while insulting me," Jerad continued. "I got desperate, so I gave him the hardest punch I could to his face, and before I knew it, he was rolling a few yards from me. He was out cold while the crowd suddenly became quiet."

"Brutal," Dimitri commented. "Was he OK?"

"He lived, but I also got in trouble for it," Jerad sighed as he sat back. "My mom knew some medical things, so she took care of him in our local orphanage while my dad lectured me a bit. He just told me to watch out for myself next time because..I apparently have this gifted power that normal people don't, and I have to be more responsible for it…"

Then Dimitri chuckled. 'A mother with a medical role and then looking at Misha being his sister, her resemblance has been becoming more apparent as well, most notably her hair color. Lieutenant Commander Catherine..? I could almost no longer be mistaken…Has Sofia already noticed this?' "Being one of the most powerful families in Northern Europe, I remembered Claire's father also once mentioned that, so I totally agreed with your dad. Great power does come with great responsibility, right?"

Then Jerad stared at him for a few moments before deciding to drink his water.

'Interesting,' Dimitri observed him.

"It was a shame it came to this," Sofia murmured. "Violence among children is one of the most terrible things to happen, mind you."

"That is true, but sometimes between men, it would be the only way to teach each other a lesson..with their fists," Dimitri explained. "He did try to confront him at first, and then it escalated."

"I wasn't entirely proud of it, anyway," Jerad sat back.

"At least you stood for your sibling by any means," Dimitri consoled him. "Nothing makes fathers more proud of his sons defending their siblings than that, I'm sure of it. It was one of your first steps towards manhood, but he also made sure to give you a good lesson with it as well. It is a gift from your parents, so take it as it is, and listen to him. He was protecting you with that lesson."

"Mm," Jerad calmly nodded. "Also, like what Claire experienced, I also had the same thing. It was when my right hand finally landed on his cheek, and as I kept pushing, I suddenly felt a huge power surge in my arm as if I could lift a ship. I even thought my hand was going buff itself, but it happened so fast that I didn't have time to think about it, so I just kept pushing on until I saw him tumbling a few yards on the dirt. Thinking about it again, that feeling was comparable to using an Acceleration Trigger."

"I heard Sir Levin mention that earlier," Charlotte leaned forward. "What is that..?"

"From what I least heard, wasn't that Baran's prototype?" Dimitri asked.

"Yes, and all of my crew combatants, including our God Eaters currently stationed in Chrysanthemum, already have them as Keith once told me," Hilda replied.

"But weren't those still undergoing trials?" Dimitri further asked. "How did you acquire them?"

"I will tell the story," Lulu leaned forward before spending a few minutes telling them.

"I see now," Eleanor smiled. "Captain Trista told me earlier that you had your own story about how you joined them. Now I fully understand."

"Luckily it was easy to reproduce, so I was able to quickly share it with everyone," Lulu continued. "And in addition, it was thanks to Keith's fine tuning the night before that they became perfectly usable to us."

"You did this overnight?" Dimitri raised his eyes.

"Yes, sir," Keith proudly nodded. "It's a remarkable technology with its simplicity. I would like to…"

Then he glanced at Hugo after pulling his tablet out of his pocket.

"Go ahead," Hugo chuckled.

"I have zero objections," Jerad added. "Please do."

"Alright, thanks guys," Keith smiled before tapping his screen a few times, and passing it to Dimitri.

Then Dimitri borrowed Keith's tablet, and began reading as his wife also glanced over it.

"Huh, all of this with a simple chip installed in our God Arcs…This does seem easy to manufacture…It strengthens you by stimulating your Oracle cells," Dimitri murmured. "This sounds quite frightening. Losing control of your Oracle cells is one of the worst things that can happen to you as a God Eater."

"My safety tune thresholds are somewhere deeper," Keith noted.

"Understood, let me see," Dimitri continued scrolling with his son and daughter now glancing over. "These notes are impressively organized…"

He chuckled. "It is tempting me to start reading this thoroughly…There, I found it. Minimum, and maximum numbers…"

"That's the one," Keith smiled. "Those haven't failed yet from what we know so far. Captain Daris back in Chrysanthemum also sent me an email that their trials were a success with a few further tunings needed for a few of his unit members. Other than that, there were no incidents. He even noted that him, and Trista's unit under Garret's single handedly fended off a large horde only a few miles from our Port a week later. There were no casualties."

"Oh, my. I will certainly congratulate them for a job well done protecting our Port," Hilda giggled.

"Go Garret, go Amber," Trista flexed her arm before chuckling with Shin. "Of course, Captain Daris, too."

"Are those two your acting officers?" Sofia giggled.

"Yes, Your Grace," Trista proudly replied.

"This is tempting..," Beatrice smiled. "Single handedly handling an Aragami horde with them, huh?"

"Oh, I can almost guarantee ya, you're gonna love it!" Trista flashed her eyebrows with a grin. "Wanna feel like Superman?"

Then Beatrice loudly laughed before muffling it with her hand as Elias and Gunther managed to keep their laughter quiet. "Your Grace, please excuse us."

"There is no need to. I find it humorous myself," Sofia chuckled.

And Beatrice turned back to Trista. "I didn't see that coming, but absolutely yes."

"When did Daris email you?" Hugo asked.

"He did last week," Keith replied.

"If you want, we will share that information to you for free," Jerad suddenly said.

Then everyone at the dining table became silent.

"Jerad.., are you certain of this?" Sofia murmured. "We would gladly pay you for this information. This is too valuable."

"It is..thanks for being nice to us..," Jerad smiled. "I figured that it would be the best way to help you back. It would also help your military."

And amidst this, Claire began smiling at him, and Sofia froze for a few seconds, unable to properly decide her response. "Thank you." 'Emil's son.'

"Then speaking for the behalf of all our loyal men and women in arms," Dimitri softly said. "You have our utmost gratitude. This will keep them safer."

"I've been also thinking about it, actually," Hugo smiled. "Yeah.., I wholeheartedly also agree to share it with you. Free of charge, and Ein?"

"Ah, what is it?" Ein sat up.

"You, too," Hugo smiled. "I wasn't there at that time, but I also know you sent your people this morning to help us. We want to at least help your people in return."

"Ah, thanks, Hugo," Ein slowly nodded. "Then in return on our part, we will not fail you in your endeavor to reclaim Fenrir HQ. You have my word."

"Mm," Hugo nodded. "Keith, make sure you forward that to Ein, too."

"Gotcha," Keith began processing his tablet.

"Looks like we will have some reading to do before holding a class for our engineers to train them for this," Dimitri returned Keith's tablet to him after being sent a digital copy to his, and viewing it. "I will launch this technology as soon as possible, and hopefully by our next voyage, all trials have been safely done. Thank you again. I promise we will put this to good use."

"You will love it," Jerad smiled. "I used mine a lot, and it also helped Levin claim his first Ashborn kill."

"Hopefully, I'll eventually have a chance to claim my first one," Dimitri smiled. "That way I can retire happy."

"Dear, that's not very important," Eleanor shook her head. "You have already done enough."

"Of course you three are much more important," Dimitri chuckled. "If only an opportunity comes."

"And uh, just for the note, but please do not tell anyone we gave you this for free," Jerad scratched his head.

"Fully understood. I heard you have been planning to sell information about Ashborns, and new safe routes, especially near the Restricted Ash Zone," Sofia smiled. "I agree that could harm your new business, if disclosed."

"You definitely got it," Ein nodded. "As a businessman myself, I'm taking your side in this."

"In the meantime while we keep tight-lipped about this, I will find an excuse for an explanation if Gleipnir would somehow, get wind of our Acceleration Triggers," Dimitri chuckled. "But leave it to us, and Sofia and I have our ways. We are not unfamiliar with covert things."

"So, Ein. About Asher..," Jerad murmured.

"Oh, yeah as promised. So, there is an important reason why I had to keep my guys inside my vessel here as much as I wanted to bring them with me earlier," Ein began explaining. "First, and foremost, Captain Asher Smith, Captain Cayden Rogers, and the rest of my AGEs you have met..are living under their second names."

"What exactly do you mean..?" Hugo furrowed her eyes.

"All of them were escapees from various Ports before we found them roaming the Ashlands, and took them in," Ein continued explaining. "Each one we find, we have to help them lay low for two weeks until their respective Ports would have to presume them dead, and be written off Gleipnir's roster by name because there is a rule in the Ashland Navigation Law stating it. With that being said, they have to assume new identities, but at the same time, they have to remain unregistered in Gleipnir's roster because that could obviously raise questions for their new names considering their current ages which in other words, Gleipnir does not know they exist."

"So, in a sense you helped them fake their deaths," Ricardo said.

"Correct, and they'll pretty much stay with their new names for the rest of their lives," Ein further explained. "As for why I couldn't allow them to roam around here is to avoid the risk of exposing their hidden identities if Arrowhead's Port security asks them for their identifications for any reason, plus considering this current event, some people from their former Ports around here might recognize them, and I also took notes on which Ports did each of them came from. This case is only exclusive here, fortunately, so next time I stop by your Port, you'll definitely have another chance to meet them."

"This is also exactly why I avoided bringing Trista, and Shin with me whenever I snooped around Pennywort after I took them in," Hilda murmured. "I was afraid that they might get exposed, somehow. The Hounds weren't as lucky, but we still managed to find ways to keep them."

"I must say that is quite clever, Ein," Sofia chuckled. "Even for me, I don't think it is legal nor illegal to do so."

"A gray area," Dimitri commented.

"Sometimes, laws are meant to be broken," Ein drank his water. "But I'm also not an outlaw by all means. I just simply want to do what I can to help others, that is all."

"I know you have stopped by our Port a few times," Trista said. "But I don't remember meeting Asher or Cayden..more so any of your AGEs."

"They have been with me each time," Ein chuckled. "Especially Asher who was the first AGE we took in, and it's just that you never met. My few AGEs spent their time overseeing the offloading of shipments inside your hangar while the rest stood security inside my vessel, and not to mention, I only stopped by your Port for only a few hours due to the time crunch of us having to meet our deadlines for deliveries to other Ports. Because of this, they also couldn't afford to tour around, and the chance of them meeting you would be quite small."

"Oh.., I guess that's on me, then," Trista facepalmed. "I admit, I never get to see your vessel inside whenever you stop by for work reasons."

"Work reasons..?" Zeke raised his eyes. "But your only job is to fight Aragami, right?"

"Not if you're a captain, or even a vice captain," Trista replied. "Besides training when not on a mission, and taking care of collateral duties, we also have paperwork to do on some admin stuff. Shin could tell you that."

"Right," Shin smiled.

"Before we do a tour, I believe Lt. Sebastian might have an interesting story to tell," Sofia smiled. "Would you?"

"Gladly, Your Grace," Elias smiled back before turning to everyone. "One month before we executed our plan to arrest former Dr. Inukai, Her Grace informed me that Gleipnir had decided to finally begin a ploy to apprehend him on the act so even legality loopholes cannot protect him, but first we needed to figure out a way to infiltrate his crew. Luckily in Gleipnir's end, Inukai recently lost many of his God Eaters from an Ashborn they narrowly escaped with his ship..albeit by sending his men to their deaths to cover his escape."

"Cowardly bastard..," Dimitri grimaced.

"To make sure their deaths weren't in vain, Gleipnir took that as an opportunity to refill his soldiers, and as you may have guessed it, with several elite God Eaters as their undercover agents," Elias smiled. "Inukai said he wanted better skilled soldiers, and Glepnir decided to give him the spoiled child's treatment.., or so he thought. However, in our part since we are not completely part of Gleipnir, Her Grace and I had to secretly discuss how to infiltrate Inukai's ship on our own, also part of the main reason was Inukai knew me well since as one of Her Grace's bodyguards, I have been mostly the one who told him away whenever he pesters Her Grace to financially invest in his experiments, and with that, he would obviously recognize me. In three days, however, I found an opportunity."

He drank his water.

"Beatrice, Isaac, and I frequent a public house not very far from here whenever we're off duty, and I noticed there was a man who had been drowning himself in his drinks with the barista manager. I overheard his problem a few days prior," Elias continued. "He was having an immense financial struggle to cure his sickly daughter, and it's even better that his uniform had a patch that revealed his attachment to Inukai's crew. It was at that time that I realized that I might have found a safe back door to Inukai's ship."

"So, this is why you suddenly went quiet with us for several minutes while Beatrice, and I talked one time," Isaac murmured. "You were eavesdropping."

Then Sofia chuckled at this.

"I also heard that Gleipnir is quite versed in their disguises," Elias added. "So the next morning, I requested a private meeting with Her Grace to discuss what I might be planning, and then we figured out a plan together to make him cooperate with us."

"And after agreeing to offer the man in question for it, I contacted the governor-general about Elias' claim to confirm it," Sofia also added. "And when he did, we arranged a secret meeting together to propose our infiltration plan to Inukai's ship using their service member. Without hesitation, the governor-general ordered one of his agents to procure their materials for me that same day. A small jar, and an aerosol canister. The small jar contained a gelatin meant to be applied on a person's face while still wet, and begins hardening as it dries up in 30 minutes at most before removing it. The canister is a latex spray applied to that dried substance, and also becomes solid upon drying, replicating that said person's face with that dried gelatin."

"That's some James Bond stuff," Dimitri commented. "Not even I knew about this."

"I'm sorry. This had to be kept as secret as possible," Sofia murmured.

"It's understandable, anyway. Not that I have a need to know," Dimitri sat back.

"And after Her Grace returned, I knew it was now possible to begin my plans in motion, hopefully succeeding," Elias continued. "But first, and foremost, I cannot disclose the name of this man to protect his identity. You will understand by the end of this."

"Mm," Hugo nodded.

"And in addition to that same secret meeting I had with the governor-general, I told him about that man in question," Sofia added. "I was shocked to learn that he was already in Gleipnir's criminal list to be tried in court for knowingly failing to report Inukai's covert crimes to proper authorities after our plan succeeds. One of them was illegally acquiring Ash Storm generators from what we highly suspect was from Port Baran, and that is to say, while it was still in Baran's trial phase, Gleipnir already rejected the technology because it was deemed too dangerous and inhumane, having to be installed in AGE armlets and sacrificing their lives to trigger artificial Ash Storms, but somehow..Inukai was still able to acquire them in his hands. Also, another grave crime he committed…was willingly working with him to eventually sell Specimen One to the Crimson Queen, and he would face serious penalties as an accomplice for embezzlement, and theft of government property. With our plan in mind, I negotiated with the governor-general using that person's family and financial situation. You'll learn more of this as Elias continues his story. Though with that being said, I kept wondering at that time..what was Inukai planning with them?"

"Your Grace, I am afraid I have the answer to that," Elias murmured. "I will explain further in this story."

Then he drank his water. "To continue on, Inukai's next ship underway was scheduled to be in three weeks, and I informed Her Grace that I will begin observing the man's routine patterns nightly from the shadows. I also noticed beforehand that he doesn't always come to the pub at night, so I also began observing his routes to it, going as far as following him to know where he exactly lives in the residential district, and memorizing them."

"Jeez, I've known you for being smart," Beatrice raised her eyes. "But NOT this smart, and no wonder why sometimes you tell us to head home sooner. You were spying on him."

"Observant as an owl..," Jerad chuckled. "Wow…"

"Isn't that right..?" Sofia giggled.

'An..owl? Quite interesting,' Lulu thought. 'I'll look that up later.'

Elias simply grinned at her before continuing his story. "And when the time finally came, I waited for him about halfway between his residence and the pub by anticipating his usual route on his way home in one of the isolated dark alleys. I also had to wear casual clothing instead of our uniform at that time to avoid revealing my affiliation to House Victorious..just in case."


At 2200, the man was walking across the alley, and he drank from his bottle before sighing.

"Just a little more..Leena," He murmured. "I'm sorry that daddy has been failing you, but soon…"

"Times have been tough for you, huh?"

Then the man gasped before staring at the direction of the voice. "Who are you? What do you want?!"

Trying his best to clear his eyes during his intoxication, he could roughly see a man in the dark leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Relax. I'm here to try helping you," The man in the dark calmly said. "But that depends on if you'll agree or not. Why don't we have a talk?"

"I don't need your damn help," The man swung his hand in his direction. "I already have one. Someone I'm working with promised to pay me enough to cure my daughter. Now leave me alone!"

"Was it Dr. Inukai..?" The silhouetted man finally stood from the wall, and began walking towards him.

"What? How did you..?" He paused as the man in the shadows finally revealed himself in one of the Port's high ceiling lights.

"Do you honestly think a crooked person like him will keep it?" Elias stood in front of him with a plain face. "I'm sure you have been well aware of his shady practices, and that you are obligated to report them to Gleipnir authorities. In spite of that, you knowingly failed to do so, particularly Inukai illegally acquiring Ash Storm generators from Baran, and having a secret dealing with their enemy, the Crimson Queen, to sell Specimen One which is Gleipnir property. I'll have you clearly know that Gleipnir has been aware of your involvement in Inukai's criminal conspiracy as one of his accomplices, and once they apprehend him, you could go down the same road to hell like him and the rest who will be found guilty once tried. In the worst case scenario, you could be punished with the death penalty. Have you thought about what would happen to your child, if you keep letting this be?"

"So, you're here to have me arrested now?!" The man exclaimed. "I simply no longer had any choice! GODDAMMIT, YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD!"

He threw his bottle against the wall, shattering it. "I'm just doing whatever I can to help my daughter, and not even Gleipnir's health benefits are no longer enough! They just keep telling me that I had to accept her death if the worst happens, and do they actually think I was just gonna sit by and let this happen?! Fuck them after all I have done for them!"

Then tears began flowing from his eyes as he collapsed on all fours, clutching his head. "Fuck! Just what was I supposed to do now..? Leena..I'm so sorry..!"

He continued crying for a few moments before Elias sat down in front of him. "There is only one way out. That is, if you agree to cooperate. I'm Elias Sebastian, Intelligence Officer in House Victorious."

"House Victorious..?" The man slowly stared up at him. "What is..? What is House Victorious got to do with this?"

"I need your answer first," Elias smiled. "Will you agree, or not? Her Grace has the financial means to cure your child, and has already agreed to provide you asylum from Gleipnir..if you cooperate. I came to you as Her Grace's representative for that offer."

"Then please..!" The man clutched Elias' shoes. "I'll do anything to be with my daughter! Please help her! I'll do anything..!"

"Very well, we have an agreement," Elias smiled again. "I will report your answer to Her Grace once I return to the manor tonight, and in the meantime, do not speak of this conversation to anyone..including your family. In addition, continue to work with Dr. Inukai as you were until the day his ship departs. Come to House Victorious manor tomorrow at 1900, and we will provide you further details in everything you need to know, and what exactly you need to do. We are not asking much, but your cooperation is very important."

"Yes..I promise I will," The man sniffled before lifting himself to a kneeling position.


"And he showed up," Elias finished that section of his story. "Albeit being nervous, we nevertheless began our discussion of the plan to him, and that same night, as awkward as it was, I had to ask for his consent to apply that substance on his face before I sprayed it with latex after drying it up. I can already tell he was a good man, and with a bit of a sense of humor at that which made that situation easier for me, especially after I tried that new mask on myself before I had a few artists I knew carefully fabricate for the mask; hair, and eyebrows, all exactly done as that person himself. I also decided to borrow his Gleipnir uniform as part of my planned disguise, and luckily, my physique was able to fit in. Before that, I was worried that I might have to buy a new uniform set, and have House Victorious' supply department sew his patch in. In the end, I was saved from the trouble."

"And as soon as he fulfilled his end of the bargain, I instructed him to move his family to our employee housing as soon as possible to begin his asylum, and bring his daughter to our medical care," Sofia added. "I also informed the governor-general soon after that he agreed to cooperate with us, and as per our agreement, he resigned him from Gleipnir's roster. He is now in our employ to continue providing for his family, but I gave him a one week grace period to settle in with them before his employment began, and his daughter still remains ill in our medical facilities' care, but her condition is certainly improving. Though needless to say, he swore his oath to serve us for the rest of his career..as one of our God Eaters, and I gladly welcomed him."

"Heh, I'll probably eventually learn who he is, anyway, since he's with us now," Dimitri chuckled. "But I won't bring up the topic to him. At least not at first. A father's love for his children is something that should never be undermined. He was rightfully desperate."

"In spite of not having a family myself, I still felt sympathy for him, somehow," Elias murmured. "I didn't imagine I would more than I thought, and was quite close to threatening him to put more pressure on him to agree, but also thought it wasn't necessary seeing how genuinely desperate he was. I was glad he did, nevertheless."

"Having children and being a father is great, Elias. I'm telling you as one myself," Dimitri made a split second glance at his cousin. "Don't miss it, and you'll understand how he felt, someday."

Then Elias nodded. "With the hard part out of the way now thanks to his help, I eventually infiltrated Inukai's ship, using his uniform, and as well as his Gleipnir ID, I was able to pass their security checkpoint without any problems, shortly after Master Sergeant Sinclair and I set out to find Sir Levin during Balmung's attack."

"Oh, that one time I met Levin?" Jerad murmured.

"Yes, I highly believe so," Elias smiled. "It was strangely unfortunate we didn't meet yet even when Sir Levin ordered us to cover your battle against the Ashborn. Continuing on, a few days before I did, I went on to privately interview him for any information that night that I needed to blend in well with the crew. It was also awkward of me to ask what his personality was for as long as he was with them, and what people he believed have been thinking of him, but he was more than happy to tell me everything I asked for. He told me that some people thought he was a little too depressed, and I took a heavy note on that. I have to act like it, starting by being a bit less social, or the crew might get suspicious of that change of personality of that person they knew. Some of them still asked me things like how his family is, and all that, and that's when I learned that some of his fellow crew members have been at least a bit worried. I simply kept the facade by saying that 'my' daughter is currently stable, basically making everyone think that he's been feeling a bit better. However, little did I know that in spite of trying to impersonate him as best as I could, one of Inukai's God Eater crew members has been watching me, and I thought my cover was blown. I only lasted a day."

Then everyone raised their eyes.

"So..what happened?" Ricardo hesitantly asked.

"I was lucky the one who saw through me..was a Gleipnir agent," Elias sighed. "I was so scared when he confronted me while we're alone during my midnight shift to guard his AGE vault in Inukai's security detail, the place where he locked them in. My task was simply to prevent any of them from slipping out of the hold, and during that time, he asked me who I was since it was already a bit obvious to him that we're on the same mission. I continued to keep my facade until he was annoyed enough to show me his ID, revealing himself as the captain who was in charge of the other agents with us, and then finally telling me about what his commander briefed him as ordered by the governor-general, and the rest of his fellow agents on board which matched what Her Grace also briefed me earlier, so I finally fessed up. Since then, he started showing me a few more ropes, mainly how to keep a poker face regardless of conversational situations, which I was a bit lacking of since this was my first mission in disguise and that my specialty was somewhere else. He understood that, and then advised me of my mannerisms when answering to Inukai himself. He also gathered from the crew's gossip that the person I was disguising as would never question anything Inukai would order him to do, and actually had a reputation for it. Be simply told, and carry out the order without question, which only made sense to me considering his situation. He also revealed that there were nineteen other agents onboard with him, all pretending to be crew members until the governor-general sends his signal. There was one part that began concerning me, however, which was with Inukai having a reputation for his immense disgust for AGEs as he never added any combatants of such in his ship, I started wondering why he would bring them onboard this time, and I can hear them inside as well..they were all little kids. Some were quietly talking to each other, and others seemed to be crying."

Then remembering what happened earlier, Hilda quietly raised her eyes.

"On the second day, Inukai began stopping his ship from place to place, but I couldn't understand why due to me having to stay in my security posts in various areas each time when not being busy performing the man's duties between shifts and then sleep," Elias continued. "I also thought I couldn't afford to snoop around considering the agent captain's warning to avoid leaving any more hints of suspicion, and then I eventually noticed that Inukai no longer tasks anyone to guard that vault. I still couldn't piece everything together about why he brought those AGE kids in until the time I was assigned to stand guard in his bridge in another midnight shift with the agent captain. Their ship was stopped at that time, and I watched Inukai pull a small remote device out of his pocket before pressing that button. I heard several explosions outside as if large bombs exploded far away, and they were strong enough to shake our ship. Then I began hearing gusts blowing past our vessel in only a few seconds, and now realizing what those Ash Storm generators were, and what it required in order to do its job, I finally realized..what those kids were for…"

"My god..," Eleanor covered her mouth while slowly shaking her head in anguish.

"They were..," Zeke froze in shock.

Amidst of this, Jerad closed his eyes, and trying to control the fury erupting inside of him, clenched his hands on the table until he felt a warm hand hold his. Startled, he opened his eyes to see that it was Claire, and watched her slowly shaking her head.

"I became so angry," Elias scrunched his face. "It wasn't only that he facelessly sacrificed those…people. He even laughed, and I'll never forget what he said after that. That he finally found use for those crippled kids. I was so sick..! How low will this animal keep sinking? I still remembered what my duty was, and had to resist planting a bullet in his head so I can put an end to whatever more heinous things he will do later on. I didn't even realize I was shaking in anger until the agent captain tugged me, and saw him quietly shaking his head. I felt guilty finding a bit of comfort that he also looked pained, and we were already close enough to execute our plan to apprehend this bastard, so I had no choice but to keep moving on to complete our mission. A few hours later, this is when Inukai contacted another ship, which I believed was you."

"That's right," Hilda murmured. "While we were escaping the Ash Storms, I ordered Amy to switch our radio transmission to general announcement speaker to be heard throughout our ship as the governor-general told me earlier, anticipating with how the Ash Storms unnaturally came to be, I knew Inukai finally decided to make his move, and the governor-general brought a vintage recorder with him to record our transmissions once Inukai contacts us. It was just a matter of time…After we decided not to submit to his demand, this was when our story we discussed earlier took part."

"I was even shocked to learn that Inukai had another Ash Storm in his sleeve. I was about to have had enough," Elias almost grunted. "I wanted no more of those children to be sacrificed, but that was also when the governor-general finally sent his signal for us to seize the whole ship. It was done in mere minutes. He did send many agents by design to make sure of this as prior to our midnight watch, the agent captain ordered his men to get in their positions as planned, and that's when me, and him finally executed our move. We quickly rushed to Inukai, and put him in cuffs before he even knew what was happening. I was still so angry at that time that I wanted to repeatedly batter his face on a console until there was nothing left. We forced him down, and had him face the screen as planned. That's when the governor-general finally spoke to him, and ordered us to take him away and throw him into a cell until one of Gleipnir's ships arrived."

He sighed before drinking his water. "But shortly after that transmission…"


"How dare you betray me, Mikael?!" Inukai tried to struggle himself free as the two agents continued dragging him with his arms. "I promised I would pay you so you could finally heal that sickly spawn of yours. Fine! Without me now, your little rascal is as good as..!"

Then Elias suddenly paused before quickly clamping his left hand around Inukai's neck, and slammed him against the bulkhead with a snarl, lifting him up against it until his feet were floating a few inches above the deck. "Even in your situation, you still can't have a shred of dignity?! Murdering innocent children into Ash Storms, and then laughing at them?! You MONSTER! What did they do to deserve that?!"

"They're all useless filthy dogs!" Inukai grunted. "And I finally found use for them. Is that hard to understand?"

"Soulless piece of shit..! Prison is too good for you!" Elias began murderously glaring at him, gritting his teeth. "You should burn in the deepest part of HELL, instead!"

He growled as began resisting his urge to tighten his grip. "Mikael was so desperate for money to save his child, and you sank low enough to exploit him by promising to pay him after you sell Specimen One..which I don't think you will considering your snarky complaint about Gleipnir's "meager budget" for your wicked experiments, anyway. Yet you still had the audacity to insult her?! An innocent sickly child?! How low are you still going to keep sinking?! I dare you to throw that insult again to Mikael's face himself..!"

"What?!" Inukai grunted before Elias finally began peeling the mask off his face from his neck with his right hand.

With Elias finally revealing himself, Inukai stared at him in shock. "You! What business did Sofia have to do with this?!"

"SHUT UP!" Elias exploded as he began allowing his restraint to slip by gripping Inukai's neck until the former scientist began gagging. "How dare a rotten shit like you MENTION HER GRACE'S NAME so casually?! From now on, I talk, and you WILL shut your filthy mouth, or I could simply keep squeezing your neck RIGHT here until we return to Arrowhead to make sure of that. At this point, you have a right to be SILENT, and EVERYTHING you say may be USED against you IN COURT! I WILL HEAR NO MORE OF YOUR WRETCHED VOICE! IS THAT CLEAR?!"

Then Inukai made a small whimper.

"Heh, look at him, I think he's about to piss himself," The agent captain chuckled. "It ain't so fun when power is no longer on your side anymore, huh? That's enough. Let's throw him into the vault where he kept those kids until Gleipnir's ship arrives, and hopefully their ghosts will start haunting him. Keep an eye on him, and don't let this snake slither out."

"Yes, sir," Another agent saluted him.


Elias sighed. "I have never been so angry in my life that I even lost control. I simply have had enough of him, and I never imagined there would be someone so heartless that they would sacrifice children, and then laugh at them? I used to think I would only see such villains in movies. I've been feeling so sickened until we finally threw that bastard into the brig…"

He drank his water. "I know we are all supposed to be relaxing after dining together, but please know that in spite of my bitterness at the end of this, I still believe arresting that scum of the Earth was the best thing I have done in my career. I've done what I could to make sure the deaths of those children weren't completely in vain, and while I reflected about how unbecoming I was as an officer and a gentleman by losing composure to indulge myself in my rage, I also dared not to regret any of it because otherwise..I'll just end up insulting them. I can only pray they have a peaceful rest..after I..no, we brought an end to that madman together. Moving on, I also fought along with the agent captain, and his unit in the western front during the Aragami blockade right before we finally returned to Arrowhead. Then, that's when you saw the rest of it after Inukai confronted you, and I had to show who's the one in power for the last time before we threw him behind bars. That's the end of it."

"So, what happened between you, and Gleipnir's agent captain?" Sofia asked. "You were alone when we met again."

"We shook hands, and parted ways," Elias replied. "He had to attend a debriefing to his commander with his unit, but that did not come with another few constructive criticisms of my undercover skill shortcomings, albeit few."

He chuckled. "He noted that while my disguise was.."top notch," I also acted a bit too openly..socially speaking because I thought that could prevent any suspicion, but that also almost backfired on me. The person I impersonated was depressed and quiet most of the time from all the gossip the agent captain gathered from the crew during chow times, and actually, that was when he finally learned who I was. He told me that before they finally began their mission, his commander informed him that we were also involved in this infiltration separately with them, and to find me and work together, so he secretly started looking for me by observing any God Eater on board who weren't his members as soon as he boarded. That gossip was what eventually led him to me while I was in a midnight security guard duty for the AGE vault entrance alone while the off duty crew members were asleep, and warned me that some people believed that I had been acting a bit strange, but it was a good thing I told them earlier that my 'daughter' has been feeling better. I do remember that same person was there when I did."

He made a short laugh. "He also admitted that he hadn't noticed me yet at that time, and then in his part in pretending to be a new, yet senior ranking member, he discouraged further gossip by warning them that it could eventually cause a rift between old and new crew members, if this continues, just to protect me from possibly getting caught. I realized he was already looking after me before I knew it, as embarrassed as I am to admit it, and while he understood that this was my first time disguising myself to infiltrate, he also warned that I cannot afford a single mistake despite that, and if I do, I must think fast and pacify them immediately. Granted, he also told me that he didn't think anyone was suspecting me as an espionage agent yet, he nevertheless decided to eliminate any potential of that idea eventually coming out. Nobody has ever gotten aware, including Inukai himself until it was too late. Finally, he told me I should have gathered more information from whom I was impersonating as, and prior to the operation, have gone as far as to begin roleplaying as him if necessary, both in his style of speech, and most importantly his personality. That advice surprised me the most, but was also a very solid one. I think I should have thought farther."

"I'm sorry. I will also take fault in this," Sofia sighed. "We do not have a program nor agency to train for this kind of covert operation yet."

"In the end, I learned a lot, Your Grace," Elias smiled. "I will remember them. The whole ordeal was terrifying, I admit, but it was also..thrilling. A life of a spy is rightfully fraught with fear, but also must be stoically suppressed. Definitely roleplaying as him would have helped me very much had I thought of this idea sooner."

"But in the end, mission..accomplished," Dimitri smiled. "Excellent work, nevertheless. You truly outdid yourself, but honestly, I think you should give yourself a bit more credit. Remember, the one who caught you was the captain of those agents, a professional who was highly trained in that field you were first practicing, and in addition, he knew about your involvement from his commanding officer. He probably would not have noticed you at all, if he didn't tell him."

"Point taken, my lord," Elias smiled back.

"Disguising..? That is something I don't think I can do," Jerad chuckled. "I definitely won't last long until I get found out. I'm too honest to try putting up facades."

Then Misha, and Hugo laughed.

"Definitely not for everyone," Elias replied. "But you know what? I think I might have found myself a new hobby."

"A hobby..?" Sofia paused. "You mean..?"

"Disguising myself..but without wearing masks," Elias grinned. "By wearing casual civilian clothing instead of my military uniform so people would not see me as Lt. Elias Sebastian, but rather..as just an average resident."

And Beatrice laughed at this. "Seriously?"

"I am," Elias smirked. "Another reason is.., I believe this might help me…"

"Hm," Ricardo furrowed his eyes.

"I..see," Sofia murmured.

"I've been having this itch of wonder," Zeke also murmured. "I thought as an intel guy, you wouldn't have any problems sneaking into people's ships. Sorry, I can't find a nicer way to ask."

"I get you, but that is something you shouldn't be asking him, either," Ricardo warned him. "Because intel stuff is sensitive."

"...It's fine. I will tell you in good faith," Sofia said. "I do have a solid reason why I appointed Lt. Sebastian as my intelligence officer. During our youth as junior God Eaters in Fenrir HQ before my late brother founded Gleipnir, he assigned Elias as both my partner, and bodyguard, so we were often together during duty. After eating together often enough in Fenrir's chow hall, I began noticing that he had a strange habit of listening to everything around him, and then conversing with me about them, from people discussing their casual plans to even what their next mission is. I thought it was an interesting way for him to begin, and maintain our conversations, but soon I was starting to think that he actually seemed to like observing and processing information all the time, a sign to me that he had the aptitude for intelligence."

"I..cannot help but admit you are right, Your Grace," Elias curved his lips as his two other officers quietly chuckled. "I just like exercising my curiosity, and knowing what's going on around me all the time."

"I sincerely apologize, but please bear with me. I will eventually reach the point," Sofia giggled. "Years later, shortly after I became the duchess to fill my late brother's position as head of the family, I learned a grim fact that our family is not without enemies."

"Huh..?" Claire froze.

"Do you remember House Albert, and Eyre?" Sofia turned to her.

"Yes," Claire replied.

"Then I will tell you the truth that House Albert..may not likely become the only family who schemed against us," Sofia murmured. "Because eventually, I learned that other families were also harboring contempt for us for various reasons. I began noticing this during my first few grand assemblies in Gleipnir's hall with your father, and this became more apparent after his passing..when House Albert began its move by sending Eyre to befriend you, likely exploiting my inexperience in your father's position. I'm sure you still remembered that."

"Yes," Claire nodded. "They did so in order to infiltrate us.., so they can eventually access our treasury."

Then Jerad furrowed his eyes.

"That was..pretty low," Hilda hesitantly commented. "I have known that you have been avoidant of other families, but also had no idea that the cause was this kind of magnitude."

"House Albert suffered a severe financial ruin after the calamity," Sofia explained. "In order to restore themselves, they targeted us using their adopted child Eyre, a young girl who eventually grew up to become a God Eater in Gleipnir. Over the years, she grew increasingly weary of being used by her family until she was involved in a murder case. She was on a mission, and was leading a unit of young AGEs at one point who quickly grew fond of her. Due to an Ash Storm in their path to their operation area, Eyre wanted to urge her commander to abort due to the danger it posed, but he remained unhinged. According to Eyre's testimony during her trial, her commander was also a key family member of House Albert who was seeking glory by traversing dangerous routes, and taking credit in surviving them to increase his family's reputation..at the sacrifice of his subordinates in some cases."

"That was insane," Hugo grimaced.

"Also a serious crime in Gleipnir, if caught," Sofia added. "Continuing on, Eyre kept on insisting until he drew his gun at her, and frightening the AGE children with her, they struck him, and made their escape together, but not without Eyre first editing their bridge surveillance camera footage to make it seem like she committed the murder alone in order to protect them..since in Ashland Navigation Law, any AGEs who raise their God Arcs at their superior officers would be swiftly punished by death. Gleipnir authorities began searching for the fugitives until they were apprehended."

"I was there," Claire murmured. "After we brought her back to the infirmary, Eyre confessed that she was indeed tired of being used by her family, and in addition, she was also tasked with the espionage to leak sensitive information from Gleipnir to them."

"What would House Albert want from Gleipnir's confidential information?" Ricardo asked.

"I remembered how that family had a reputation for being money grabbers besides being glory hogs," Elias replied. "Likely to sell them on the streets."

"Her confession in the court was why I took her side and also pleaded with the governor-general to spare the AGE children, or they would have been sentenced to the death penalty," Sofia added. "They were just protecting her from a life threatening malicious officer. She also amended her wrongs in the end, so instead, she was expelled from Gleipnir, and then exiled from their territory. It was the least I could do, and I haven't heard of her since."

"She settled, and built her Port far away from here," Claire replied. "I still keep in touch with her."

"Is that so..?" Sofia raised her eyes. "How has she been?"

"She has been living well with her AGE children," Claire faintly smiled.

"Then I sincerely wish her well, please let her know," Sofia smiled back. "Happy to finally know that."

"Been wondering what happened to those kids," Jerad murmured in monotone before Claire smiled at him. "Also, a Port? Where did she get all that money from..? Could it be..?"

"With Eyre's confession, Gleipnir launched investigations into the Albert family, and even discovered more crimes in addition to her confession," Sofia replied. "The last key members were arrested, and imprisoned, ultimately stripped of their titles and dissolving the family. With Eyre being the only legal key family member left, the rest of their assets were very likely transferred to her as inheritance, and spent that to build her Port."

"How ironic..," Ricardo chuckled.

"Money built with blood best spent," Elias commented. "I see no better ending than this."

"In spite of not holding any malice to her, I nevertheless considered her family as a warning to begin being more watchful," Sofia murmured. "As I became more experienced in my position, and participated more often in legislative debates over the years, I began observing that other Houses do not view us kindly. There were many reasons, mainly politics, where they viewed us as a major obstacle for their heinous political ambitions since I was often the one who shut them down. You may have already noticed that AGEs here were treated better than the Ports you have been from. That's because as Dimitri mentioned earlier, we pushed for them, and knew it would become unpopular, but we did so for the sake of human rights. This, I am certain, would further make us targets as many people, especially the elites, want to exploit AGEs for more profit with little to eventually no repercussions. They were also unhappy that we held the highest influence in Gleipnir, and I knew they would not stand for it forever. Arrowhead has always been permeated with schemes among other Houses, and I never dismissed the possibility that there might be ones brewing for us. This was when I felt the necessity to begin intelligence gathering, albeit quietly, and Elias became my first candidate for this task."

"And I gladly accepted it, Your Grace," Elias smiled.

"I have been thankful. It was also your habit that found 'him' to recruit to our side, and help infiltrate Inukai's crew," Sofia chuckled. "It was very clever on your part. I truly chose the right person."

"I am honored," Elias smiled. "And I will continue to be up to the task."

"I'll add that attempts to infiltrate House Victorious still remain quite prevalent," Dimitri chuckled. "As if they did not learn from House Albert, but I had a few people from other Houses try asking me for my son, and daughter for marriages not long ago."

"I remember you told me," Sofia curved her lips.

"Wa-what?!" Charlotte froze. "That's disgusting!"

"Of course, your mother and I politely turned them down," Dimitri smiled at his daughter. "Besides that obvious scheme.., we would not force any of you to marry someone you don't even know, and in fact, we are not obligated to, considering our top dog position. With that being said, we also won't gain anything from it. Such fools."

"That must be..quite exhausting," Hilda smiled.

"It is," Eleanor nodded with her eyes closed.

"I honestly find it both annoying, and amusing," Dimitri chuckled. "The amusing part was them trying, and failing."

And he laughed.

'I wonder if Claire..,' Jerad shook his head, and continued listening.

"So, Jerad. I would like to hear your opinion about political marriages," Sofia made a light smirk. "Do you agree with Lord Dimitri?"

"Uhh, well..," Jerad paused as Claire stared at him.

"What if say, you are Dimitri, and you're in that situation where another a few key family members from a few other Houses asks for your son and daughter for their marriages," Sofia further smirked much to Claire's chagrin. "What would you think?"

"...I'll definitely agree with him," Jerad forced himself to smile. "I also don't want to force my kids to marry people they don't know, and I don't think that makes sense at all. With that, I don't even care what their statuses are, they still have to first prove to me that they're worthy of taking care of my kids given that they already like them, and also considering what Lord Dimitri said, I'll say on my part that House Victorious doesn't need political marriages. They do."

Then Dimitri, Hilda, Ricardo, Sofia, and the three officers suddenly laughed with amazement.

"Marvelous answer!" Dimitri almost cried. "Perhaps I should consider telling them that next time."

And he continued laughing.

"So, you being an officer, that means you also have people working with you, right?" Ricardo smiled.

"That's correct, I have a handful of boys and girls I secretly hand picked based on their aptitudes to work for me for intel gathering, and with Her Grace's approval," Elias replied. "Most of my people have these stealthy traits one way or the other, like for example, some were former thieves in the Ashlands before being brought here. I've also looked at their profiles, and began looking for suitable candidates before I privately spoke to them. But that is not to say, I forced them as I also wanted their service to be voluntary, but we offered them incentives to do so..starting with higher pay. Nobody in our ranks also knows who they are because on the outside, they still perform their main duties as God Eaters, and then behind the scenes, they become our passive spies. They report to me any public rumors circling around Arrowhead that might concern House Victorious, sometimes even in secret, and then I pass them to Her Grace. Our intel gathering, however, is not limited to the family's concern, and we also try sniffing out any potential crime conspiracy that might be detrimental to Gleipnir's law and order as we both want to keep Arrowhead as civil as possible. You can say in a sense, we also operate as a police force, albeit quite secretly rather than institutionally since law enforcement is still Gleipnir's jurisdiction. I also report these kinds to Her Grace, and then she informs the governor-general. Gleipnir takes care of the rest, and we simply continue pretending to be bystanders."

"When you said boys, and girls, did you mean..?" Hilda paused.

"Yes, ma'am. Youngest being 14," Elias answered. "It was perfect that they are since adults generally do not take children, and even young adults seriously enough so they are more prone to be more lenient in their conversations, which..consequently cause them to inadvertently leak information they may not want us to know. One example was when one of my people followed a couple of military officers from another family in a lowly populated alley while pretending to be a passerby, and managed to snoop up a corruption scheme from them. Also, I forgot to mention that these kids like dressing up in civilian clothing, and the fact that Gleipnir's service members also do the same when off duty, it will make it more difficult for anyone to determine which off duty God Eaters they were affiliated with. It's also why I decided to start doing the same whenever I roam public areas alone. Intelligence officers in that field generally just secretly collect information from their agents, and I simply decided that maybe I should start doing the same."

"Wow," Hilda blinked her eyes.

"Your last operation in disguise truly gave you inspiration, did it?" Sofia smirked.

"I truly enjoyed that thrill, Your Grace," Elias chuckled.

"You know? You're making us want to start to do the same when off duty just to help you with that," Beatrice complained. "Not that I mind. I think a little more incognito might be better. What do you think, Isaac?"

"I don't mind at all," Isaac murmured. "A little change would be nice."

"Just remember, no one told you you have to change when off duty," Sofia chuckled. "On the more positive side, at least in civilian casual clothing, you do not have to formally carry yourselves as officers as much in public..as long as not many people could recognize you."

"I guess I have to start thinking about my sense of fashion," Beatrice grinned.

"Enjoy yourselves," Sofia giggled.

"Then I want to tell you something in return..," Ricardo turned to his governor. "If you don't mind, ma'am?"

"Please go ahead," Hilda nodded.

"What I do as an intel officer is to inspect conditions in various Ports," Ricardo explained. "But in actuality, it is to look for crimes they might be hiding from Gleipnir, and Pennywort was my most recent mission for that. It's a solo job for me. I also dig information flowing around the Ashlands as the owner would want, and I have my secret channels."

"So, your intel gathering leans quite more on the cyber side?" Elias murmured.

Then Ricardo chuckled. "Somewhat. I'm a jack of all trades between digital, and the field. I also snoop around social media."

"I have to say..your network is quite interesting, sir," Shin chuckled. "Reminds me of my homeland's history. My kind used to gather information all the time by disguising themselves in different ways: beggars, monks, and even women. Also any kind of troubling incidents such as crime scenes would attract them because those are where rumors tend to start."

And Elias chuckled. "That's right, my people also do the same. These Houses we discussed earlier who might have malice against us..were not exactly friends with each other, either. It's an ongoing circle of vie for power."

"And we do not want any part of this," Sofia added. "House Victorious did not rise at the expense of others. We simply only climbed our way up with our work alone, but I doubt they would ever understand that, and this is also why we have been avoiding most formal parties sponsored by other nobles despite their invitations. I suspected they were likely attempting to lure us into their traps to embarrass us, and damage our reputation."

"I was right to have speculated that," Hilda smiled.

"We're not interested in participating in petty feuds with other elites," Dimitri explained. "We have better things to do..such as helping the needy, and protecting this Port."

"I'm curious, but I would speculate that the reason your people gather information is to know their targets?" Elias smiled.

"Not exactly. Most of the time, it's to report any vital information to their clients, usually feudal lords, for strategic planning since they were living in the warring states period at that time," Shin explained. "In spite of that, they hardly did so for assassinations, and in fact unlike popular culture, assassinations are not actually our forte."

"Whoa," Elias sat back. "So..wait. Do your people still fight, then?"

"They still did, but only when necessary," Shin replied. "They avoided direct confrontations, but rather undermine enemies first, and then strike after they shift the tide of battle to their advantage. The worst they did, for an example, was infiltrating fortresses in groups either by disguising themselves with...fake 'IDs' for a lack of better word or sneaking in, and once the time comes, they will strike from the inside, causing a lot of chaos and panic since well, most commanders generally expect their enemies to attack from the outside. It's like playing rock-paper-scissors, but the shinobi would only attack if they know they will win, no less. Also, to add more panic for the people inside, they committed arson very often by using the torches inside the facilities they infiltrate since they often did this at night."

"Oh..that totally reminds me. We just did that," Elias chuckled.

"Yes, sir. That definitely reminded me of that while I was listening," Shin made a short laugh. "You guys infiltrated Inukai's ship undetected, blended in for a while, and when the time came, you struck. No one definitely saw that coming, and not to mention from what I remembered, it was a little past midnight when you did, so a lot of people must be asleep. It made a LOT of sense why you guys seized that ship within a few minutes, and on the combat side, we do better at sabotaging than trying to take one person out. I also barely had a chance to apply my ninjutsu techniques on Aragami, and then most I have done is silently and quickly kill them by hitting their CNS cores in first strikes whenever I'm alone. Sometimes, I even set traps beforehand to prevent them from escaping us."

"Speaking of that, you assassinated two Psions this morning," Jerad laughed. "Might be a good time to tell us."

"Psions..?" Sofia raised her head. "Do you mean Marduks? They're currently the only existing Psions reported after the calamity, and have been infamously called the Commander Aragami. Their threat level is only second to Ashborns..though far below them."

"We dealt with two of them before our battle this morning on our way back here," Jerad replied. "Like it was at first, the Aragami horde attacking nature was just as suspicious. I saw the same pattern, which was being too coordinated, and I knew this was uncommon. Aragami aren't normally that smart, and cooperative."

"We were also suspicious of that while we fought the western front together," Elias added. "Though, we weren't able to think of a connection to Marduks as you pointed out since we had our hands full, but that explains why in the end. I'll hold it for now to avoid spoilers."

Then Sofia chuckled. "The idea of assassinating Aragami was something I have never heard before as the common tactic against them is to keep slaying their minions until the Marduks show themselves. They tend to eventually grow impatient before personally appearing to deal with us, but I am intrigued to hear how this assassination tactic was executed since in hindsight, it would be difficult because they very often command Aragami from afar."

"Then here's how we did. As soon as I became suspicious, I contacted Amy," Jerad continued. "I requested her to do random focused resonance radar scans 10 miles around us, and then she found something. If I remember correctly, there was a dense Oracle presence in two areas, one south of us, and the other in the southwest."

"That is correct," Amy nodded. "After a few scans, our resonance radar did pick up dense Oracle activities south of us, and then accounting Jerad's claim that there might be two of them, I ran a few more scans near it before I found it. In addition, I also detected Aragami originating from them traversing through the nearby ravines, and despite my objections beforehand in order to maintain my support for our defense line, I realized that Jerad's suspicion was spot on, so I confirmed this to him."

"As soon as I learned this, I told Captain Smith that we had to regroup," Jerad continued on. "I already had a plan in mind, and had to get a hold of Shin as soon as possible. Asher ordered one of his squadmates named..Gab?"

"That must be Gabriel Ellsworth," Ein chuckled. "He used a variant scythe, right?"

"Yeah, exactly," Jerad grinned. "So..Asher ordered Gab to start sweeping Aragami left, and right while Asher, and I killed any Aragami that got through."

"Heh, sounds like you have a match, Misha," Zeke grinned.

"Really, huh?" Misha smirked.

"He's the one I warned you about," Jerad noted. "For a moment, I thought he was you. Anyway…"

He drank his water. "We finally managed to regroup, and I wasted no time talking to Shin. After I told him what my plan was, I also..ordered Amy to forget about us for now, and direct Shin to his targets using our resonance radar since we can still hold off this endless horde for a while longer. Shin finally sonic boomed out here while we kept holding them off."

"Sonic boomed? You must be fast as heck," Elias turned to Shin. "How fast were you running?"

"I..don't know to be honest," Shin shrugged while chuckling. "But that's only possible when using acceleration trigger. So at this point, I ran through the ravine, slaying any Aragami that got in my way until Amy informed me that I was only a few miles close to the target's location. I slowed down, and then shortly after..I heard Aragami coming towards me from the front. I quickly jumped behind a nearby boulder, and then I noticed there were a couple of Kongous with them. I dared not move a single muscle.., not even breathe. Amy even asked me if I was alright a few seconds earlier, but I didn't respond."

"Ooh..!" Elias slowly shook his head. "Yeah, those things can hear you miles away. Nice move."

And he chuckled.

"I'm sorry about that," Amy murmured.

"It's perfectly fine. You didn't know, but at least you waited until I contacted you again," Shin chuckled. "So, after those things were gone, I finally took a deep breath, and contacted Amy again to verify if I was in the right place. She confirmed it, and then I told her to radio silence right after I made sure the coast was clear. Then I finally snuck into the cave, and it got scarier from there."

Then a few people, including Dimitri, chuckled.

"As I slowly snuck deeper from hiding spot to hiding spot, peeking around each time as the cave got darker, I finally found my target," Shin paused. "But I was only able to see it by its fiery glowing tendrils, and my eyes were still adjusting from the light outside. After I was able to see it better as I creeped closer, this was when I realized that Jerad was spot on. Luckily for a weird reason..it turned around and faced the dead end of that cave. I suspected that it was likely directing its resonance to where it was commanding its minions, so I took the chance to start sneaking closer."

"That is likely true," Sofia added. "Marduks are highly believed to use resonance to control other Aragami."

'Oddly, I didn't get headaches when I fought one last time,' Jerad mused. 'Why is that..? Is there something unique about the Psions' resonance?'

"I see," Shin nodded. "So..I eventually managed to get close enough for a kill, and started thinking about a plan. The first thing I wondered was where its CNS core is, and I guessed it was either in its chest or its head. I was tempted to hope it was in the chest since it's a softer spot, and that its head was protected by its exoskeleton-like armor. The problem was..most Aragami I know had their CNS cores inside their heads, so I had to guess it was in there, and part of me was blaming myself for not reading its database about it sooner. This could have been my fatal mistake, but it was do or die from here, and I'll just have to keep going forward."

He sighed. "I started planning my attack while still hiding, and eventually decided to use smoke bombs with bias factors to grab its attention to face me, and then lure it into my snare traps. I began setting my plan in motion by field crafting three of them, and rigging them with explosives with bias factors. It was a good thing they're a bit easy to make. After quietly making them, I peeked again to make sure it was still turned away from me, and then I snuck around to place three traps behind it. I was too in a hurry to go back to my hiding spot to take a little break, and pull my smoke bombs out when I accidentally tipped a rock that fell into the ground, and that caught my target's attention…"

"Ooh..," Dimitri murmured.

"Like earlier, I laid completely still, not daring to move a limb except my eyes as that thing started checking around," Shin continued. "I was so quiet that I could hear my heart beating as that thing's head was only about 10 feet above me while staring at it with just my eyes, and with that, I found a weak spot. Luckily, I wasn't caught, but earlier I noticed the corner under its lower jaw was unprotected, and I figured I should strike from there using my glaive's length. After the monster decided to resume its work again, I took a quiet deep breath, and pulled three smoke bombs out of my pouch. I was ready, but had to hurry up a bit while everyone was still fighting. I left my hiding spot, and threw smoke bombs above my target. The Marduk panicked from the bias factor poisoning as I had hoped, and as it tried to get out of the cave to avoid getting suffocated, it stepped on one of my snare traps which activated others since they're close enough. In only a few seconds, it also exploded with bias factor smog, choking it while it was stuck in place. I turned my dual blades into a glaive, jumped to that thing's chest and held on, and then activated my acceleration trigger before I thrusted it straight up to that lower jaw's weak spot. My guess was right when that monster froze shortly after I skewered its head from below, and then it fell as I jumped off. I also forgot to mention that the bias factor smog also helped soften my target for the kill, and I intended that in the first place."

"Splendidly executed!" Dimitri chuckled as he began clapping his hands before everyone around the table followed. "You had me on the edge of my seat there like watching some thriller movie, and I had to keep reminding myself that you're still here."

"Hoo, it was really scary, sir," Shin laughed.

"Amazing work," Sofia finished clapping.

"So..I took a break just enough to recover my breath, and left the cave," Shin continued. "As soon as I got out, I reported to Amy that our first target was killed."

"Target eliminated," Amy quoted him before giggling.

"Heh, I heard that part on my radio," Jerad grinned. "And heck yeah, it worked. In a few seconds, a bunch of Aragami paused in front of us like people who just broke off from a mass hypnosis while I cheered on like a football fan, and then we even bagged a couple of free kills while they're still frozen on the spot. We just kept going to sweep off the rest, and the horde actually started thinning."

"Then I took off to my next target under Amy's navigation, doing the same thing," Shin continued. "Just took out any Aragami on the way until I reached my target area. This one here, while not as scary, was more complicated. There was a cave like the last one, but it had two Vajras guarding it."

"Mmm," Dimitri slowly nodded in anticipation for Shin's next strategy.

"I already knew in the first place that squaring off against two large Aragami up close, and possibly the Marduk joining them, if I fail to kill the two fast enough..would be almost suicide," Shin continued. "The chances were just extremely low, and like I talked to Lieutenant Sebastian earlier, I generally avoid engagements when I'm at a disadvantage..more so with this."

"A wise assessment," Sofia commented.

"I can only resort to the other way by taking them out at long range," Shin continued. "I shifted to my sniper gun, and placed it on a corner surface to rest my gun on it, like having a bipod. This situation wasn't that much better for me since if I take one of them out, the others will find and come after me. It also didn't help that I was near my limit of my acceleration trigger usage, and my arms were already shaking a bit. It's like lifting weights in a gym with your arms to the limit, and having them numb after. I had to do everything I could to succeed and survive, and my estimated target distance was about 800 yards. I had to make every shot count by aiming at their heads, and it was then that I remembered that sniper God Arcs have a special feature that it has a camera as its scope, and a right side one eyed piece stored inside where that camera will transmit videos to it. I quickly took it out, wore it, and made sure it was still working."

"That one..?" Jerad blinked his eyes.

"It's been a long time since I last used it," Lulu commented. "We rarely ever had to since most Aragami have always been well within eyesight, and you were spotting for me about a week earlier that our last 800 yard targets were also large ones, but we never worried about more precise shots. Shin was definitely smart to have used it."

"I even forgot where my eye piece compartment in mine is," Jerad murmured. "I gotta look for it next time I get a hold of my spear again. I'll probably need it in this big campaign we're about to go through."

"I used mine all the time in my first sorties, even while fighting," Charlotte added.

"It's a good way to start, but you might start relying on it less and less as you get better," Jerad noted. "I got to the point where I eventually forgot mine."

"Next, I loaded a custom round Jerad, and I recently made. An explosive piercing bullet that we made as high caliber as possible. We could only fit two rounds in," Shin continued on. "And while I was still loading two rounds in my gun, Lady Luck decided to give me a bit of it. I saw their boss coming out of its cave, and not a moment did I hesitate to see it as a chance to shoot straight to it and worry about what happens after."

"There was a point when we pushed the western horde back a bit," Elias noted. "That must be the time when that Marduk started feeling frustrated."

"That made more sense for what it was about to do next," Shin replied. "Because on my end, I noticed it started raising its head, and I knew it was going to howl to summon more Aragami before it personally leaves with them to attack you. I couldn't let this happen, so I took aim while my arms were still shaking, and it was almost impossible to stop, but I remembered what Jerad taught me years ago in Pennywort."

"Hm..," Jerad furrowed. "Oh..that slow exhaling technique before shooting..?"

"Yes," Shin smiled. "As soon as the Marduk howled, I aimed a bit above its head to compensate for the arcing trajectory since I had to remember that I was using a solid round, and as soon I was ready, I blew slowly while easing my grip on my God Arc, and once I saw my camera was still even after that 0.3 second transmit lag, I fired. I was just simply glad there was also no wind to worry about, and in 2 seconds, my shot landed into its head, and the bullet exploded. Nothing was left of it."

"Never knew what hit him," Elias laughed before he began clapping his hands, and everyone followed. "I haven't told you yet, but I'm also a sniper. I knew how Shin felt in that situation."

"You?" Jerad, and Lulu raised her eyes.

"Mhm," Elias proudly nodded with a grin. "Only the sharpest, and smartest God Eaters are chosen to be snipers. It's been a selection protocol since Fenrir, and in fact, I heard in the old ways of military recruit training, instructors will start looking for candidates based on their marksmanship skills in their first training in small arms to be selected in sniper schools after graduating boot camps. When I heard that you three were snipers, I already knew you're the type to become hyper focused when needed to, and it also helped that Jerad was the one who devised that unconventional strategy."

"As for what went on after, those two Vajras, and as well as the Aragami the Marduk summoned went after me," Shin chuckled. "I was scared even when I was prepared for that worst, and then quickly reported to Amy that our last target was dead. Having one more custom round in my gun, I also headshotted the Vajra closest to me, and then not having time to reload for the last one, I quickly switched to NORM, and took out the last Vajra with three headshots. With only small, and medium Aragami left which were slower, I managed to barely find enough time to load two custom cluster bullets before I rained them down on them. I knew some Aragami would still get through, but with all the dust and smoke caused by the bomblet explosions, I took advantage of it to conceal myself, and killed the rest of them as they came. After that, I told Amy that I was fine, and then I quickly ran back to our ship after she ordered me to. I was miles away, but good thing I recovered enough from my acceleration trigger usage to get back fast. That's the end of it."

"That was an excellent shot, Shin. I must give you that even when it's quite late," Dimtri clapped a few times. "And with that, you saved lives including our own."

"Shin, the real MVP," Jerad chuckled. "Ninja assassin…I bet that Marduk was still trying to figure out who shot its head."

Then everyone laughed.

"MVP..?" Sofia chuckled. "I have been trying to think if that is an acronym I might have forgotten from my past career…"

Then Elias paused for a few seconds. "Oh…Your Grace, it is a..terminology for people who play video games."

"Hm..?" Sofia blinked her eyes.

"It stands for Most Valuable Player," Elias chuckled. "I haven't heard that for a long time myself. It was an old saying during the pre-Aragami whenever people would play together in online cooperative games, which was also something Beatrice, Isaac, and I also used to say when we played together as kids in our living quarters. It is meant to be a praise, a compliment."

And Dimitri chuckled. "Most valuable player, huh?"

"My, I had no idea you three played video games," Sofia smiled. "I used to see my battalion members play them..if the division commander wasn't around."

"We don't play together anymore, but I still occasionally do for two hours or less before sleeping using my personal computer that I built," Elias chuckled again. "Sometimes I play with my portable device before I finally fall asleep."

Beatrice suddenly laughed. "I still do that, you know?"

"Me, too," Isaac slightly raised his hand.

"So, you guys like gaming?" Elias smiled. "I should have suspected it since you guys like playing poker, and noughts and crosses."

"I used to," Jerad murmured.

"Never got into it," Misha shook her head.

"Haven't tried yet," Hugo smiled back.

"Never tried it," Lulu closed her eyes. "And I don't feel interested at all."

"Will try it once we get back home," Zeke grinned.

"I definitely do," Shin grinned.

"And the majority of our unit," Trista waved her hand. "They do it all the time when not working."

"I see," Elias nodded. "So, Jerad. What kind do you used to play?"

"Generally 3rd person action games," Jerad replied.

"Gotcha," Elias grinned. "Since you're military oriented, have you played war strategy games?"

"War strategy..?" Jerad blinked his eyes. "I don't think so."

"Being an officer, it's my favorite," Elias grinned. "There are two kinds of them. There is turn based where you command and move your units in a grid map, and there's a real time one where you build your own military base, and conquer enemies."

"Huh, interesting," Jerad murmured.

"I agree," Sofia commented. "A game about military war tactics. The turn-based part reminds me of chess."

"Yes, Your Grace," Elias grinned. "Very much like chess. I think you should try it, Jerad. Can you imagine devising a strategy against your enemy, and watch it work against it? How about anticipating your enemy's movements after having your hidden scouts watching them, and setting up ambush points in their paths to see your enemy's army fall into your traps, and get decimated? Oh, based on what you recently did, creating a stealthy unit to sneak around enemy sights, and causing a lot of damage at the heart of their base?"

Then Jerad laughed. "That does sound fun. Making your enemy commanders look like idiots? Kicking them out of your territory by force if they intrude? Or making your enemies' defenses useless with artillery after spending all their money on them. I'll think about it."

"Hah, I like that last part you said," Elias also laughed. "I think you like siege weapons."

"I would think so..," Jerad murmured. "Read a bit about them. They can attack at long range without having to worry about enemies being able to fire back, plus that saves my army."

"In the field, I was fond of long range support fire like Dimitri when we were battalion commanders," Sofia chuckled. "You are absolutely right that siege firing conserves your army because of their range and firepower, minimizing the losses of your forces, and though not completely applicable to anti-Aragami warfare yet due to somewhat conventional ammunition still ineffective against large ones, but siege weapons have been historically used effectively against the most fortified structures such as castles and fortresses. As a commanding officer, it would be foolish to overlook the value of siege weapons, and as one myself who still commands a military ship, siege firing is still one of my favorite strategies against Aragami."

"I see. I'll take note of that," Jerad chuckled.

"Also, another note, but if you find yourself interested in real time strategy games, you'll be better off using a personal computer, particularly a mouse and keyboard," Elias said. "Because micromanaging your base and army can be really difficult with sticks and buttons. Trust me, you'll need as much precision as possible."

"Got it," Jerad nodded.

"I can help with that, just so you know," Shin smirked. "I have a gaming PC myself."

"Interesting..," Keith murmured. "Building a computer?"

"Not as hard as you might think," Shin replied. "Just need to know a few components, and what they each do."

"I heard Gleipnir is still working on large ammunition that will be more effective against large Aragami," Hugo said.

"That is absolutely true," Sofia nodded. "We are currently using bias factor coated projectiles, but they were not enough to weaken their Oracle bonds. God Arcs are still the most effective against them."

"Didn't you once say you love dreadnoughts?" Shin laughed. "I love how you liked battleships, especially."

"Dreadnoughts, you mean those military ashcrawlers?" Elias paused.

"Heh, it was fun listening to you talking about building a lot of dreadnoughts as an owner," Hugo chuckled. "So you could easily scare off intruders out of your territory."

Then Jerad paused for a moment. "...Yeah."

"Hm? What's wrong with liking them?" Elias paused. "I mean, it's a good piece of mind to have. Military power is also very important."

"I just remembered something earlier..," Jerad murmured. "I saw one of them kill a bunch of kids."

"What..?" Elias froze.

"I still remember that story..," Sofia also murmured before Elias turned to her. "But please do not allow that incident to misjudge them because a weapon can only be as good or evil as its wielder. It is indeed a good strategy to build large powerful military ships as a way of deterrence, and as a matter of fact, battleships have been historically used for diplomatic reasons. I will guarantee you that none of our ships have spilled innocent blood, and hopefully not ever in our family's history."

Then she slowly started smiling. "Perhaps, I could arrange a tour with you in our flagship, the Gladius, to hopefully further inspire you."

And Jerad suddenly chuckled. "Then I guess I'll gladly take your offer."

"And I promise I'll eventually find the opportunity to arrange for it in the future. It's our family's pride, and my personal vessel," Sofia smirked. "Might eventually become Claire's."

"Aunt..," Claire glanced at her as Sofia giggled.

"If you ask me, my beloved Flamberge has only killed Aragami, and saved children's lives," Dimitri flashed his eyebrows before drinking his water. "I could never forget the awe of admiration the kids had as we safely walked them in."

"I still can't believe that humanity created such behemoths that can obliterate landscapes in the past," Jerad chuckled. "Three large rotating turrets with three 12 inch cannons each. Definitely a way for a country to show that they aren't messing around when they send them in front of an enemy. Those ships can easily obliterate a military ashcrawler or a few more in a single full salvo..no offense."

"Not taken. I think it's simply the truth," Dimitri also chuckled. "I'm also impressed that you even know the caliber of those giant cannons."

"Dreadnoughts are also my favorite type of ship in war strategy games," Elias snickered. "Perfect to use as a backbone for your army advancement, and not to mention, extremely hard to counter against if you have a few of them with escorts. They're literally moving fortresses."

"Just like in real life, dreadnoughts often needed smaller, faster ships as escorts due to their slow movement and firing rate as an offset for more firepower," Dimitri noted. "They'll be vulnerable, otherwise. I often deploy my God Eaters broadside to fire at Aragami, especially if they get too close, and if time permits, send our military vehicles out from our ship where my crew members will mount their God Arcs on top of their vehicles, and shoot away. My people also enjoy those things."

"Considering you have been practicing your field commanding in games, maybe I should promote you to lieutenant commander?" Sofia smirked.

"Mmm..," Beatrice, and Isaac also smirked.

"Uh, well. That will be entirely up to you, Your Grace," Elias slightly waved his hands.

"I might eventually need a field commander myself," Sofia continued smirking. "Plus with your recent work, I'll definitely start thinking about it."

Then Dimitri suddenly laughed. "Just like me, and my wife, eh?"

He turned to their guests to explain. "For us, I'm the field commander. I leave our ship to fight Aragami with our troops while my beloved wife remains inside to command our crew."

"That's very impressive teamwork," Hugo smiled.

"My husband and I have gone a long way," Eleanor smiled back.

"I guess it is time to begin..helping our intakes settle?" Sofia smiled again.

"Probably perfect because I think there is a nightly training session right now, including my crew," Dimitri added.

"Don't they need rest after returning from a voyage?" Sofia furrowed her eyes.

"That's what I told them, but they're also terribly loyal," Dimitri shrugged.

"You guys ready?" Hilda smiled.

"Yep, I'm actually excited to see people training," Hugo smiled. "How about you, Senior Master Sergeant Jerad? Excited?"

Then Sofia laughed at this while Claire, and Misha giggled.

"I suppose..," Jerad chuckled.

Then everyone stood from their table while a few of them neatly placed their silverwares together.

"Good job, Zeke," Lulu almost whispered.

And Zeke paused for a few seconds. "Oh..yeah. All I did was copy what Charlotte did…Plus we're in a high class house."

"Right," Lulu whispered back. "You left your silverware scattered on your plate for a while, and I've been worried. Glad you have been thoughtful."

Then everyone began leaving the dining table, and as if their servants knew the process, they found them waiting outside the dining room, bowing.

"Wow, these maids are really..respectful?" Zeke shyly commented.

"Courteous, you mean?" Lulu giggled. "I agree. I've never been given this much courtesy before, either."

"So, Jerad. You ready to see some bootcamp?" Zeke suddenly asked.

"Bootcamp..? It's not like I'll be grilling them," Jerad shrugged. "They're not ours, so we can only watch."

Then Sofia quietly glanced at him.

"I don't think it hurts to show them just a thing or two," Hugo smiled. "Not like we're interrupting them."

And their casual conversations continued as they made their way to their training grounds.