Chapter 148: ***********************
An hour after the conversation with Toshinori, Evellyn, Nikolai, Rodrick, and the other irregulars met in the central courtyard of the castle that was the Hana no Nagame guild.
Some of the irregulars still looked quite thin and haggard, and even those who already seemed to have recovered their strength enough, still didn’t look remotely fit to fight a battle against the New Dawn guild.
Let alone against the Ishir, who would certainly welcome them with the heat of a war.
"Former students, kids... Friends..." Rodrick said, when everyone quieted down. "I’ll be brief about this. Kurt is sick, and his only chance for a cure lies with a doctor who, as far as I’ve heard, specializes in irregulars, but is hidden, or missing, within the United States." Some nodded, others looked at Rodrick seriously. "I think you can already imagine that the boy Blake could well be our best alternative against the threat that the Ishir and New Dawn pose to us. And so, I want to ask who of you volunteers on a rescue mission."
Everyone except Nikolai and Evellyn looked at each other, murmuring and exchanging a few words among themselves.
Cinthia raised her hand, wanting to ask.
"Cinthia...?" Evelyn called.
"I think you already know this very well, but I don’t trust Blake, much less do I think he can be all the hope you see in him." Some irregulars looked at her with a gleam of agreement in their eyes.
Others, however, shook their heads, vehemently disagreeing with his words.
However, she didn’t seem to have finished speaking.
"However, he is an irregular, like us. And so far, he has shown nothing that would be worthy of distrust on our part. So I say, if he is sick, and we need to make a war effort to bring him back to the world of the living... So be it. Let’s go!"
The girl sounded upset.
But it was obvious.
A person who had to fight against their own pride, and against the ghosts of the past, to admit that someone was, in a certain way, more special than them, would certainly need to make a titanic effort, to be able to go against their own truths, to in order to admit a truth that was not hers.
Nikolai approached the girl and held her hand.
Cinthia’s face became hot and red, and Nikolai said, looking deep into her eyes.
"Thank you, Cinthia. And I’m sorry... If it seemed like Evellyn and I left you aside since we met Kurt... Someday, I promise I’ll explain all of this to you, but we have a history that’s a little more complicated than that." It’s like Kurt... But that doesn’t make us like you any less. Understand?"
Cinthia stared back at Nikolai, feeling her face burn.
"I... I accept your apology." And letting go of Nikolai’s hand, he continued. "But that doesn’t mean I feel any less angry. Maybe when you explain this to me, I’ll understand, but not yet. Not now..."
Nikolai nodded, and returned to Evellyn.
Rodrick continued.
"Okay, since it seems like everyone here is in agreement with what we need to do, we need to decide who will volunteer to accompany us. Since not everyone among you has completely recovered from the years you spent in hiding."
They spent a few minutes discussing the choices, but after a few more minutes of consideration, they prepared the team with Rodrick, Nikolai, and Cinthia at the forefront of the irregulars.
Robby and Caleb would go between the vanguard and the rear, and Evellyn would accompany four other irregulars to the rear, where she would be able to use her skills to help coordinate the movements of the entire group.
When they finally finished organizing themselves, they met with Toshinori, who had already assembled his own advance strike team.
The jaws of all the irregulars dropped, when they saw the amount of attack power the guild master had gathered in that single hour.
Although, some of the irregulars scratched their chins and the back of their heads when they saw that the special attack force was no more than three wielders, in addition to the guild master himself.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to my special attack vanguard." Toshinori said, greeting the young people.
There were some of the most powerful wielders in Japan.
Watanabe Asahi, the genius strategist behind all the raids on Nests of the Hana no Nagame guild, Hikari Shinsuke, a master in hand-to-hand combat, and Nakamura Daichi, a very powerful wizard, capable of conjuring barriers, and, at the same time, time, cast large-scale offensive spells.
"I know it seems little, for me to bring before you only three wielders from my guild." Toshinori apologized, noticing the disappointed looks of some of the young people on him. "But others will meet us when we reach the border. And then, my friends, that is when the real battle will begin."
Toshinori’s look was so determined that the young people’s disappointment soon turned into enthusiasm.
"When do we leave?" Cinthia asked, shaking her fists.
Toshinori smiled playfully.
"As soon as we properly equip ourselves."
Ten other guild employees entered the main courtyard shortly after Toshinori said those words.
Each of them carried a black metal box with buttons on the lid.
"Open up, and choose the equipment you want. You’ll need everything we can put at your disposal, if we want everyone to come back from this mission alive."
The guild master’s words were ominous, but at the same time, the irregulars understood that this was not simply a field class.
They weren’t about to enter a simulated Nest.
No.
They were about to invade the country they had practically just fled from, to kill as many Ishir as they could, as well as as many New Dawn members as they could.
For all the irregulars there, it wasn’t just a matter of rescuing the doctor who could cure Kurt.
It was a matter of doing as much as possible to recover the country that had been their home for a long time, and rid that land of the threat of purists and aliens that were spreading across the world.
Once ready, Toshinori took the irregulars and his advance strike team to the airport, where a private jet, specially prepared by the Japanese armed forces, was ready, waiting for them, to begin the mission.
The wind hit everyone’s faces, and the warm sun seemed to caress their skin.
"From here, there’s no turning back, kids." Rodrick said, looking at the determined faces of those who, in his eyes, were simply the future of the North American wielders. "I won’t be sad if any of you want to just turn around and go back to the guild. You don’t have the field experience for such an act to be considered shame-worthy, so if anyone else wants to, you can raise your hand, and return to Hana no Nagame."
Nobody raised their hand.
And Cinthia, contrary to what many there thought, spoke out loud, for everyone to hear.
"Let’s take back what’s rightfully ours!"
