Chapter 436: ‘Wouldn’t you Like?’ [April Fool’s Bonus]
’Maybe I should allow her to meet him one last time?’
He thought that as he looked up at Rachel who was trying to hold in her tears, once again thinking that he really wasn’t good at dealing with this kind of situation.
Arthur had never had to comfort someone grieving at the loss of a long-time friend so he was at quite a loss here.
Thankfully, Rachel didn’t start a full-on crying session here and calmed herself before speaking with a strained smile.
"I’m happy to see you’re okay, Arthur."
"The feeling is mutual."
Rachel was Arthur’s first Aramisian friend so he had a bit of a soft spot for her. This was something he noticed when he was speaking with Ger and even now as he genuinely felt happy to see her again.
For Rachel, Arthur was her first friend in the Army, and though they were only together for barely two weeks, she had grown very fond of him.
Hence, she was very heartbroken when she heard he had ’died’ and now, she was joyful he was not dead.
"Oh yeah, give me your contact details so I can call you up sometime later."
Arthur suddenly spoke as he dipped his hand into his inventory, almost pulling out his phone from the Hell Universe, before changing it to the less advanced Aramisian one.
’I haven’t charged that thing in days now. And all Celestia does is use my tabs to watch movies.’
[Master, why do I feel like you’re thinking something rude?]
’Your Sixth Sense is totally off.’
The boy shut the Sword’s voice out of his mind before returning his focus to Rachel and asking her for stories of her ’adventures’.
"Adventures? I was fighting a war where I almost died."
"Still technically an Adventure. Just a near-death one."
"..."
The girl deadpanned him and Arthur only chuckled before picking up a chocolate bar and pushing it to her lips.
"Eat and talk. I wanna know what you’ve been up to."
The two talked for a while, not even realising that two hours had gone by. It was only when his watch alarm rang that he realised the time.
"Oh shit! It’s lunchtime."
Arthur got up and grabbed Rachel’s arm before dragging her out of the room along with him.
"Wait, Arthur?! What happened?!"
"We’re going for lunch."
"...lunch?"
With the way the boy was pulling her towards the Elevator, she thought they were running from an attack or something.
"They serve this really nice Lunch set in the Second Floor Restaurant. You should definitely take part."
"Wait, I need to get back to Starlight!"
"Don’t worry, Military Protocol says you have till 6 pm."
His reply reminded her that Arthur was once in the Aramisian military along with her.
She gave up and let him pull her to the restaurant, but when she saw the price tags on their menu, her eyes widened in shock.
"I don’t have this much money on me..."
"Don’t worry, it’s free."
"Ha?"
"I paid for a Suite; the meals were included. And I can have up to two companions with me."
Just as he spoke, the Restaurant waiter came by and Arthur showed them his Suite key for identification.
They placed their order and the food came not too long after and Rachel had to admit that it was quite delicious. She even considered coming all the way to Tolgue once more just for it.
When she looked up at Arthur who was happily wolfing down his food with a smile on his face, the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
’He’s the same as ever.’
◇ ◇ ◇
Starlight Fortress
Sloklens
North Eastern Gledea
December 19th
530th Divine Year
"Just barely made it in time..."
Rachel muttered aloud as she walked out of the office block, having just signed in a few moments before the limit. Her fast promotion wasn’t liked by some people, especially those who felt she had used her family name to pull some strings.
They could use something as simple as not reporting on time to make a mess so she really didn’t want to give them any openings.
"Still, to think Arthur had left..."
Words could not be used to describe the feeling of relief that washed over her when she saw Arthur. It was a simple coincidence that she separated from the group she came with and wanted to get something to drink.
It was then she heard that line: ’I’m pretty good at concealing stuff’.
Hearing a familiar sounding voice say a familiar sounding line, she abruptly turned and saw the back of a silver-haired boy amidst some mercenaries.
Calling out his name was an involuntary action, but it was this that made him turn around and spot her.
"Sergeant Cassowar."
Rachel’s head snapped in the direction of the voice that called out to her and when she saw it was a Lieutenant who spoke, she saluted and greeted him.
"Your attention is needed at the Administrative Office. Report to the Situation Room."
"?"
She was confused as to why her attention was needed there, but she nodded and made her way over to the destination.
When she got there, a secretary opened the door and told her to enter and she walked in to find the Aramisian Generals in charge of the Starlight Fortress in a heated discussion.
"I’m telling you, it’s too early for her. Let her at least get to the Superior Stage first."
"That’s what I planned if Duskhand hadn’t happened. Now it’s even worse. The Triton Ark has fallen, Zefesh has become the second Gledea and the gods are barely answering us anymore.
We have to take matters into our own hands, Lieutenant General."
One of the powerful Transcendent Divine Humans spoke to countered his Elven counterpart with a deep voice. The man took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking up once more.
"If we have a promising soldier, we put them to good use."
His eyes then turned to Rachel who had been standing silently in the corner as he continued.
"And you, Sergeant Cassowar...are the promising soldier in this scenario."
"...me?"
The girl only reacted with confusion, not surprising considering that the ten Generals present here who were calling her a ’Promising Soldier’ were all Intermediate Stage Transcendent Divine Humans, Elves and Flugels.
"I agree with him. I also believe we should allow her to get to the Superior Grandmaster Realm first.
As she’s currently an inferior stage, we can grant her some Levelling artifacts and deploy her in more frontline battles and she’d be a superior stage in no time."
"Or she could die at the hands of a Demon! The High Ranked Demons aren’t sitting on their laurels anymore. They’ve begun moving in earnest.
Two Four Star Generals and a Demon Admiral attacked the Triton’s Ark and with them were over a hundred High Ranked Demons.
Not too long ago, the ’Demon of Darkness’ led another group of High Ranked Demons on the North-western front and we lost three Transcendent Divine Humans.
The ’Frost Demon’ also led a detached force and took down another one of our Fortresses, killing the descendant of a Flugel Lord in the process.
With the Demons making big moves like this, putting any young and promising soldier on the frontlines is sending them to their early graves!"
"But if we don’t send them to battle, how would they grow stronger?!"
Once again, the Generals began arguing and Rachel tacitly remained silent while this happened.
’What is even going on? Why am I here?’
Rachel didn’t want to be the one witnessing the Generals argue like drunkards at a bar, but she couldn’t leave without being told to so she had no choice but to remain here.
Eventually, they all came to a compromise about what they wanted to do with her and the Divine Human from earlier spoke.
"Rachel Cassowar."
"Sir."
"We want to make you an offer. It would only take effect once you reach Level 450, or even better, surpass the Level 500 barrier."
"..."
His words had Rachel curious and though she wrecked her mind thinking about what he could be offering, she came up blank.
"You are someone skilled at using offensive Holy and Light magic. You have good Earth and Wind magic but I’d be honest, we don’t care about that much."
The man opened a file which Rachel recognized as her military record. He flipped through to the end before speaking.
"You showcased your skill in five different battlefields and raked up a high kill count. On your own, you took out a squad of 16 low Lower-Mid Ranked Demons.
That’s why you have your current rank.
As you have the strength to take out a squad on your own, it’s only natural we give you the rank of one who controls such a Squad."
Shutting the file in his hands, he leaned forward and spoke with a deep undertone.
"If you can distinguish yourself once more, then this offer we have is yours for the taking.
While your Holy and Light magic are strong, wouldn’t you like..."
The man’s eyes lit up with a golden glow as a powerful burst of energy surged from his being.
Despite the ’holy’ feeling this energy gave her, she couldn’t help but feel his words were like the temptation of the Devil.
"Wouldn’t you like to wield the power of Divinity?"
