388: Nostalgia

Nostalgia

"Hey, guys!" Goki called as he approached Ultima and Vortex. "You're the mercenaries from the barracks, right?"0

"Yeah," Ultima replied and Vortex just nodded as he was gasping for breath.

It was a lie if Vortex said that battle didn't scare him to the bone. For real. His heart was still racing even now. But he had to put up a brave front because even someone like Ultima who should've been his junior had a relaxed-looking face even after that life or death battle. He wondered what made this man develop to that extent. Perhaps it was because of his life-threatening adventure inside the Underground Channel in which he became the demon's vessel for a short time. Though, it was only his speculation. Nonetheless, Ultima was way above him in terms of Mercenary Rank.

"Thanks for what you did earlier," Instructor Goki said when reaching them.

With an amiable smile, "Ah don't mind it, Instructor Sir. We did it because we had to." As he said that, Ultima beckoned on his System Deity that was on his hands.

Goki understood what he meant. He said, "I see. Well, it's also true that you helped a lot."

Initially, Goki didn't have a good impression of the mercenaries in the barracks. All of them were just a bunch of loiters who had nothing else to do. Some of them were not originally from this city. They were travelers who decided to settle in this place and went to work in the barracks.

The barracks was originally a private firm owned by a businessman from the Outerworld. But after the academy decided to partner with it, the barracks became one of the facilities for the students to work with and gained additional grades, in short, it became an additional curriculum to the academy students.

They could register as their members and acquire missions to further their real-life combat experience. Some people joke that it was more like a real-life-danger experience. The reason was that each mission was no doubt dangerous and life-threatening to accomplish, especially the higher-ranked ones.

Even after the academy became a partner of the barracks, Goki still didn't have a good impression of it. But recently, he had a change of heart. There had been a good improvement in that place, especially with their mercenaries.

Goki also heard Ultima's contribution in regards to the dungeon and rescuing the academy ace. He also heard Ultima's promotion in the barracks. After that incident, from Silver Rank mercenary, he became a Silver II Rank mercenary. After several heroic deeds inside the dungeon, he once again received a promotion. Now his actual rank is Silver Rank III. One more promotion and he would be at the Gold Rank.

With these achievements, Ultima easily became the favorite mercenary by those who wanted their service. 

From Goki's words, Ultima said, "If there is someone to who we must say our thanks, it should be him." He glanced at Yman at the end of his words. Goki also glanced where he glanced. Ultima continued saying, "If not because of him we surely can't do anything against these people... or should I say these vigilantes."

"Right. Of course. We are very thankful to him." After saying these, he looked back at Ultima. His expression was more serious now. "As you already heard, it seems like the whole town is in a dire situation at the moment. By the way, can I ask for your service? We need extra forces."

"Ah don't worry it won't be a free service. Of course, it'll be in my tab. I will also be the one to explain this to the barracks management," Goki added.

He needed to give protection to the students and civilians who were about to depart to the Evacuation Facility.

"That's— uh, there's no need to go that far. We will do it without the need for payment. Just treat it as a one-time-free service from us."

Well. Actually. It wasn't only the city that was in danger, his commission in the dungeon was also in great danger. How could Ultima let a group of vigilantes ruin his income! No. He could not let them! One more thing, he was also a student of the academy. He was a second-year student. So there was a sense of duty lingering inside him, especially after seeing the freshmen willingly cooperate.

How could someone like him who was a year above them just sit without doing anything?!

"R-really?" Goki was glad upon hearing Ultima's reply.

"Yes."

"In that case, thank you very much."

"So when are we going to kick those fools' ass?" Ultima asked excitedly.

"Uh right. Your mission will be to come along with the group who will lead the civilians to safety," said Goki.

"Oh. I thought we're going to hunt those vigilantes." Ultima rubbed the back of his head.

"Securing the civilian's safety is one of the most important tasks."

"I see. You're right. Okay, let's do it!" Ultima said as he made a fist.

Goki nodded. He felt relieved that Ultima was easy to talk. It saves him the effort of convincing them.

Besides them, Vortex wanted to disagree with this free mission, but since Ultima already agreed to it, he could only sigh.

Before departing, Ultima decided to approach Yman first.

"Yow!"

Yman, who was talking with Yana and Rea with serious faces, suddenly heard a call. He glanced and saw Ultima raise his hand as he was coming towards them along with another person, who he thought was familiar to him.

"Yow! RatSlayer!" Called the other person.

Yman's mouth stretched to both sides upon hearing that nostalgic alias, RatSlayer. After coming to this world he was affiliated with random aliases, and RatSlayer was one of them. It was the name they bestowed on him after doing a 'Killing Gross Rats Mission' day by day.

"Mr. Ult! Mr. V-Vo..." Yman replied but soon he couldn't remember the other person's alias. He could remember his face since he was present in the barracks every day as the great loiter, but it seemed he forgot his alias. He tried to recall, but. Alas, he couldn't.

"It's Vortex, you know! Vortex!" Vortex shouted as he said his alias twice. Although he shouted, he was actually embarrassed.

"Oh, I see, Mr. Vortex. Ahaha…" Yman laughed wryly. He actually didn't have a friendly connection with Vortex. In fact, Vortex and his friends usually looked down on him every time they were drunk.

Although Vortex and his friends were a group of grumpy guys, they weren't as irritable as Kiko and his group. Also, it wasn't only him who became their target of mockery, many other students became their targets. He was just one of the many.

While Ultima and Vortex went to talk with Yman, Goki, on the other hand, went back to where the other instructors were. They needed to discuss what to do next. They must draw a plan.

Right at that moment, "Instructor Goki sir!" Two students approached Goki and the others.

"Yes? Uhm, you guys… you are the students who are part of the security team who are tasked to secure the plaza's perimeter, right?"

"Yes, we are, sir!"

Goki squinted his eyes. "How did none of you notice these vigilantes?"

"Uh." One of them opened his mouth but closed it again. It seemed like he wanted to say something but was uncertain.

"Speak," Goki urged him to continue what he was going to say.

"T-The truth sir… uh! First, we're very sorry for the negligence in our duty!" The two bowed 90 degrees in front of the instructors.

"We'll talk about that later," Goki said.

"Don't beat around the bush! We have no time to waste!" Instructor Torr said in an annoyed tone. 

The two slightly trembled. "Uh yes! The truth is before the commotion, the military soldiers who were patrolling with us suddenly received a message from the faculty. They were asked to patrol in the farther area. We on the other hand were asked to remain in our position. However, because of the departure of the military soldiers, it puts a gap in our security."

"That's right sir!"

Goki and the other instructors furrowed. "Hmm… are you sure about that?" Goki asked to ascertain.

"Yes sir!" 

Goki glanced at Instructor Musk. After seeing his nod, "I see. Let's talk about that later. For now, you two help the group who was putting away the corpses!"

"Aye, sir!"

After the two left, Goki and the others fell silent for a moment. "Well, it isn't enough to assume that someone from the faculty tried to mess with the security team," Instructor Musk said after a while.

"Hmn," Instructor Torr just made a thinking gesture.

Goki, on the other hand, sighed and said, "Right. You have a point. Let's put that aside for now. As you already know, it seems the vigilantes' target is the VIPs. And it seems like we can't expect help from the military. We are on our own in this. We needed to draw an immediate plan!"

The two instructors agreed with him.

After Ultima and Vortex left, Goki and the other instructors asked Yman to join them.

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