V.Vizard! 17

Palchou has a son.

Palchou has a son.

That bastard, Palchou, has a son.

Unbelievable.

... Well, whatever. That's that in the afternoon. Homei should have the liberty to do as she wishes. I'm her cousin, not Uncle Sarsan. I should respect her decision.

... I don't think I can rest easy after seeing that poor boy's face, though. I did encourage him to confess, but not everything in life is that smooth. He would have to learn that himself.

So be it, I guess.

*** In the darkness of the church... ***

"I demand a status report. Start from my right."

A lady with beige hair tied in a ponytail wearing a deep green robe spoke with a commanding voice. Her voice was supposedly crisp and clear in the silent of the night, but the church walls rebounded and echoed her voice, making it all muddled.

"A total of 2203 rats have been bred, my liege."

"A total of 2587 rats have been bred, my liege."

17 other people report out their current status. They were breeding rats in order to release them all at an underground coliseum named the Trash Arena for True Atheists, abbreviated as TATA.

...

"A total of 2489 rats have been bred, my liege."

"Good. The invasion shall begin next Sunday. Remember to increase the amount of food as the numbers propagate."

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "YES, MY LIEGE!!!" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "

"Today's session is adjourned then. We shall meet again next Friday night, when the v.vizards are having fun in their little playground."

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "YES!!!" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "

The 19 men storm out of the room.

"Ariel. How are things?"

An old man in his fifties walk into the room, his sideburns white and his beard black. Wearing a brown robe, he's easily around 180cm tall.

"Lord Albus... We will be fully able to attack in 5 days."

"Good. Very good. And how is Lady Etria?"

The woman in a deep green robe named Ariel averted her gaze for a bit, almost in shame, and replied.

"Lord Albus... Lady Etria has successfully mastered Divine Armor and has attained a remarkable proficiency in Divine Weapon."

"And what of Divine Shield?"

Ariel refused to speak of the matter, hinting that the results were not of pride at all.

"I see. Well, Lady Etria has yet to be involved in an actual grave situation. Given her talent, I am sure she will be able to use Divine Shield then, but just to be sure, I would like you to give me a deadline."

"A... deadline, Lord Albus?"

"Yes. A deadline. I want her to be able to use and master Divine Shield by an acceptable date. I will give you that long to train her, until I deem you... expendable. Is that clear, Ariel?"

Gritting her teeth, she can only accept the ludicrous offer of awakening a person's innate power prematurely.

"... Yes, Lord Albus."

"Good. I expect you to give me spectacular results, Ariel."

"Yes, Lord Albus."

And so, the woman in a deep green robe left in misery.

*** ***

With a simple vanilla-flavoured Swiss roll in my mouth, I headed to work.

Today's sky is clear, the sun hurts my eyes a bit but I can get over it.

I always wonder why the railroad had to be built in such a direction, where every morning I have to look down to avoid my eyes being burnt by the sun. I'm lucky that I head home in the afternoon, and avoid staring at the sunset on my journey home, or my eyesight would have deteriorated horrendously. Who designed this landmark?

Well, it's bad enough that I can't see anything 20 meters away, but it's good enough for me to look around and enjoy the scenery without having itchy, uncomfortable glasses over my eyes.

I wonder how all the geeks can stand wearing glasses without that annoyance above their nose.

... ?

Hey, it's Ariel! That beauty I met while I was still looking for work 12 years ago! That distinctive beige hair tied in a ponytail is unforgettable. It makes her look really beautiful. Well, appearance wise she's splendid, but personality wise she's a pretty tough nut. She's now eating some cup noodles on a bench.

"Good to see you again, Ariel!"

"?"

She's looking over at my direction. Well, at least she looked up and acknowledged me as a human being, so I'm actually a bit glad she still thinks that people exist.

"Oh. Hello again Vance."

"I see you're as beautiful and stern as ever."

"Don't flatter me. It will never work."

"I know. If I didn't know that, I would probably say something ridiculously mushy and disgusting. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"No."

"Good. All according to plan. Keheheheh. So, what are you up to recently?"

She's so strict.

Come to think of it, she could be on par with Homei on the Cold Attitude scale. Well, Homei's cold because she doesn't open up to anyone else but Uncle Sarsan and me, while Ariel's coldness comes from her strictness to regulations and rules. I've admired this trait of hers, but it's the one thing keeping me from asking her out. I don't want to have to deal with a strict girl like that, setting my dress codes and my walking posture, my behaviours and the like. She might as well date a programmable cyborg at that rate.

"I have worked as a secretary for almost 12 years now. I've been tutoring young children privately these days, if you want to count that too."

A secretary? Those girls who take notes, arrange files and split your work for you? She is so supportive, but her strictness is on the level of Homei getting mad at someone, like that young boy yesterday.

"A secretary? Seems befitting for you."

Ariel silently nodded in agreement as she slurped the last of her cup noodles.

"So, how's your luck these years?"

"I found work as a management and repair engineer. I'm now the Assistant Chief Engineer of my team, and well, I'm enjoying myself."

"A mere assistant chief engineer? Hmph."

... That's really rude...

"You shouldn't disrespect my position like that. I can work more than twice as fast as my Chief Engineer, but he's a big-time bootlicker. He always has been the 15 years he's worked there. Eventually I just gave up because it's too much work to fight for a position with him."

"Well, you do stink of trash, so I suppose you have worked hard in your own way."

She can never saying a compliment without an insult, can she.

"Thank you. Well, time's ticking. I have to head over to work soon. It's been nice stopping by to have a chat with you, Ariel."

"I suppose you want my number now?"

Her number? If I take her number- No, if Homei sees her number on my phone, that would be big trouble. As much as I'd like to, I might really have to pass on this one.

"What, you think every guy would automatically want you for wearing that sexy crisp black jacket and squarish glasses that make you look motherly? I'll... pass."

Oh my lord. I just listened to myself and I almost got enticed by that.

"As crude as usual, aren't you? Well, you're still honest, I'll give you that. Take my card."

? She has a card? I thought... I thought secretaries take the cards of their companies, so why would she have her own card?

As I took the card into my hand, I realised - Oh, she's giving private tuition as well.

That makes sense. She did mention that.

I tucked the card into my wallet snugly, and closed it shut.

"Don't just keep a person's business card without looking at it, idiot. That's so unprofessional."

"It's not like I'm interested in getting private tuition or anything, and it's not like the card would automatically grant me a special, private session with you. Well, unless, you wanted that to happen, in which case, I'm sorry for not noticing the subtle details."

"Hmph. Crude." With that, Ariel stomped off in her noisy high heels.

At least she's alive. I hope she finds a husband whom will take good care of her. She's been with me through the tough times we haven't found jobs yet, after all. I'd at least like to see a kindred spirit like her do well in life.

I know this is very idealistic of me, but actually, I'd like to see everyone happy and living life wholeheartedly. It's kind of impossible, because of the economy's work structure, but if I can make as many happy as I can, then it was worth living thus far.