Chapter 10 – Full House

In a giant lecture hall, used mostly for the gathering of guards or the youth of Regnum’s royals, sat a measly eleven people, including Kuno’s party. The lecture hall was filled with rows of seats, rising up with each row. Down at the bottom lay a desk and next to it a microphone, with almost the entire wall behind it a black screen. The eleven people were divided into groups – two groups of four and one of three, being Kuno’s party without his presence.

One group consisted of four girls - an older one with black hair in a pixie cut and a scar from the side of her mouth to the middle of her left cheek. One with a brown bob-cut and glossy lips in a permanent smile. A ginger haired one, with a pale as snow face, apart from her freckles. Her hair swooped straight down to her waist, and perhaps even further. The last one had her eyes closed, and shoulder length wavy hair with blonde tips. The lower half of her face was wrapped in black bandages, and if it wasn’t for her sitting with the others, no one would think they were in the same party.

The other four had two women and two men. One overweight man with a beard and short brown hair, his nose heaven-bound as he slept in his chair. The other man had no hair, seemed around the mid-thirties in age, and whispered something incomprehensible to himself as he waved his fingers in front of him. The two women held a conversation with each other, smiling with each word. One of them wore a colorful dress with different kinds of fabric on it, from flannel to silk, like something you’d see in high fashion magazines from the 80s. The other girl had large round glasses, dressed more modestly, with her curly hair sitting in a bun on her head.

Don had his arms crossed, sitting between Sammy and Walt with his eyes closed and a growing frown. He sighed at the thirty-minute mark of Kuno’s absence.

‘I’m actually surprised,’ Walt said with his head between his arms as he lay over the foldable desk in front of him. ‘He seemed like a guy who’d be late, but the guards were supposed to bring him, and I don’t think he can boss them around like some others…’

‘He is the Shitman. The people seem to love him a lot,’ Sammy softly spoke. Don had heard her, but Walt lifted his head, saying: ‘What? I didn’t hear you.’

She turned her head away from him without repeating herself. ‘No offence, but you need to speak up, Sammy,’ Walt said, digging his head back. ‘Did you pick a quest already?’ Walt asked.

Don cracked his neck. ‘If Kuno’s gonna act like this, I don’t think I can pick anything higher than beginner.’

‘He’s more dependable than he looks,’ Walt said, a rare occurrence to see him back anyone up, especially someone he only knew for two days. ‘I don’t think we’ll lose him like Tristan or Harry.’

The party fell silence, hearing the names of the fallen. Those who wanted to live like they do, but had been let down by fate, or themselves, or, like Don thought, by him. ‘What makes you think that? Both Tristan and Harry were ranked much higher than Kuno,’ he said.

Walt sat up straight, stretching his back. ‘Kuno’s insane. Both of you’ve sensed it, I’m sure.’

Sammy turned back to Walt, with Don opening his eyes. ‘He’s willing to throw his life away. That’s not a good thing,’ Don said. ‘He’s not like you, Walt. He’s too easygoing for this world we live in.’

Sammy agreed, giving a tiny nod. But Walt was sure he knew Kuno better.

‘He’s fearless. Exactly what our party needs,’ he said. ‘Maybe you can learn from him. He’s gonna nag your head off once he realizes his mentor only picks low tier quests. You need to risk-.’

A loud slam of the door grabbed everyone’s attention and cut Walt’s sentence short. The party turned to the door, along with the other eight people in the lecture hall.

‘Hey!’ he shouted with a giant smile at his party.

‘S-Sir, we’ve been over this. Please calm down, or we’ll get in trouble!’ one of the guards Kuno had escaped from said, the others swiftly nodding their heads in agreement.

‘Yeah-yeah, don’t worry about it,’ Kuno said, giving the guard two taps on the shoulder, after which all three let their heads hang with a big sigh.

Kuno immediately joined his party, completely ignoring the other eight in the distance, who still stared at him, curious about this new member who seemed way too energetic.

‘Boy, do I have some things to tell y’all. Oh my God, you guys have no idea!’ Kuno said enthusiastically.

‘Sit down,’ Don said, still with his arms folded. ‘Where were you? Seeing from the guards, you must’ve done something stupid.’

‘I was at the summoning of the Brain,’ Kuno said, shocking every person in the room. Everyone behind the party had their eyes wide open. Even the sleeping big man woke up and looked at Kuno. He wanted to continue talking, but Don quickly placed his hand on his mouth to stop him. ‘Are you out of your mind?’ he whispered.

‘I know, it was pretty risky, but I wanted to know more, and oh boy do I-,’ Kuno said from between his fingers, causing Don to tighten the hold on his mouth. ‘Stop talking, you madman! They could’ve killed you!’

‘Don, what did the new guy say? Did I hear that right?’ the big man asked through the room.

‘Hey, I’m Kuno. Nice to meet you!’ he said with a wave after moving his head back. Seeing that the man just blankly stared at him, not greeting him back, he turned to Don. ‘It’s not that serious.’

Don shouted back. ‘This is my fault,’ he said, looking down. Kuno wasn’t really sure what the issue was. He wasn’t dead and sitting with all of them now, anyway, albeit late.

‘It’s not your fault,’ Walt said. ‘It’s his third day. Who could’ve known… I mean, maybe we could’ve guessed it, but…’

Even Sammy slowly waved her head no, softly saying: ‘Don’t do that again, Kuno. You’re lucky to be alive.’

Kuno put his elbow on the desk and rested his left cheek on it. ‘Fine, jeez, they seemed less upset than you guys,’ he said as he thought: ‘Do I really owe OppaLovingWaifu16 my life…? The shame alone could kill me.’

Don gave him a smack against the head. ‘You know what? You’re right. Why should we even care about you?’

‘Ouch!’ Kuno said, holding his head. ‘Fine, I get it. I’m sorry… but it was worth it, baby. Hehehe, I’m slyer than a fox – believe it.’

All three of them sighed as they returned to their original posture, mentally tired by Kuno’s character. Although they only knew him for a few days, they’d already determined Kuno had good intentions, and a primal sense of camaraderie within them wanted him to keep on living.

‘Who are the other peeps? Kuno asked, looking around him at the people who minded their own business again. ‘Are these the ones from Earth?’

‘Yup,’ Walt said. ‘The ones that aren’t late.’

‘Hah, must be the bad students!’ Kuno said, as if he himself wasn’t late. ‘How many are we waiting for?’

‘Two,’ Don said.

The number surprised Kuno. He wasn’t expecting the room to be filled, but only two? With everyone in the room, and Brain combined, that’d be only fifteen people. ‘Our group is that small? That’s not even your average classroom!’

‘It’s plently. They’re strong enough to get the job done,’ Don said, with Walt continuing: ‘The first summon they ever did contained close to a hundred people. They just kept summoning until every part of the human body got taken up. Nowadays, they don’t go over twenty. Currently we have fifteen, which seems to be the amount they aim for.’

Kuno rubbed his chin. ‘Why would they do that? Wouldn’t it be better to have more people…?’

Walt didn’t answer him, raising his shoulders to let him know he had no idea. Kuno turned to Don, who said upon meeting eyes: ‘I don’t know… We get bits and pieces here and there from guards and locals, but their knowledge is limited, and so is ours. I’ve asked high-ranking officials plenty of questions. They usually don’t mind answering. The stuff the Order really doesn’t want people to know, they don’t know. I’m guessing they don’t even dare to tell Brain…’

All three of them saw the irk in his eyes. Kuno didn’t like it either. It’s not a surprise that a nation’s leaders don’t tell the people about everything. It’s even less of a surprise they don’t tell these foreigners. But the fact that they’d been brought to this realm and forced into this shit, pissed them off. Their situation could be worse, but they essentially didn’t have real freedom, and everyone shared the same sense of distrust towards the Order. A guttural feeling telling them to beware, telling them to doubt everything they’re being told.

Kuno hadn’t spoken to them yet, but even the other parties were on their guard when it came to the Order. But among the people from Earth, there were two black sheep. Two people who didn’t even want to go back.

When he saw Don’s gaze moved to the door, Kuno wanted to follow, but a figure beneath him drew his attention as he spoke into a microphone.

‘Now that you’re all here, we can begin the presentation,’ a man Kuno had seen before said.

‘How did he get there?’ he thought, not having seen or heard anyone approach the microphone. He squinted his eyes and recognized who it was: the man he saw walking in with Don at the initial assessment – Cooper Grayson. He was dressed in a gray three-piece suit, with a red handkerchief in his chest pocket.

While Kuno stared at Cooper, a figure suddenly blocked his view with his crotch. He looked up, seeing a giant of a man. He wore white long sleeves, which could rip at any time due to the size of his muscles. They were tucked into his black slacks, with in the middle of his waist a bronze belt with a symbol he had seen before on it - a circle within a circle.

Next to him stood a girl taller than him, with pure white hair and a pair of sunglasses on her face. Although he couldn’t see her eyes, Kuno knew she gave a disinterested look at him.

‘So you’re the new guy?’ the man spoke with a wide smile, yet open eyes.

‘I’m Kuno,’ he said, offering him his hand.

He accepted it, completely wrapping Kuno’s hand with his own as he said: ‘Jean,’ lifting him up until they were at eye-level. Although the man stood lower than Kuno, due to the rising rows and his short height, he still got lifted into the air.

Don and Walt immediately stood up. ‘Watch it, Jean,’ Don said as the tension grew.

‘Problem, Donny?’ the woman asked, upon which Jean lowered Kuno back to his feet. Kuno wanted to say something, but feeling the grip on his hand made him know one thing for sure. ‘If he wants to… he can crush my whole hand like a rice waffle…’

‘Oh, no. We wouldn’t want a problem with the Mr. Jackson,’ Jean said, blatantly sarcastic as he went on his way to sit in the middle of the row.

Having released his hand and seeing him walk away, Kuno shouted after him: ‘yeah, you better run! You wouldn’t want to mess with me!’

Jean turned his head, still carrying the same smile.

The very next thing Kuno saw was the back of Don’s hand, an inch from his face. Behind it, the fist of Jean. He smiled at him, like he didn’t just try to crush his face in, a chuckle escaping from his mouth.

‘Donovan’s shadow is a comfortable place for people like you, Kuno,’ Jean said. ‘With a mouth like yours, don’t let me catch you outside it.’

Kuno didn’t say another word. ‘In a split second, he turned around and attacked me… He could kill me without me even knowing it…’ Kuno thought.

‘Those are the Kingdom’s most loyal dogs,’ Don whispered.

‘The S and S- ranked – Muscle and Bone.’