Waking up was as awkward as you could expect. Neither Cecily nor I could look at each other at all as we all got dressed and went to eat breakfast. It didn’t help that the wingmen kept making jokes about us all the way to the quarters.

Eating our bland food was a moment of reprieve, to be honest, as they couldn’t talk with their mouths full, lest they choke. After our little feast, the lad seated next to me from yesterday struck up a conversation, since he noticed my aversion to the wingmen.

“Doesn’t seem like you get along with them.” He noted.

“Oh, no, they’re my friends. They just seem to be caught up in a misunderstanding regarding me.”

“Is that the case?” he asked, “In that case, I wouldn’t worry about it. Friends are meant to tease each other at times.”

Looking at him, he was about a couple years ahead of us. He had a bit of a stubble, and had bags under his eyes. He seemed friendly enough, and he was quite interested in our journey, so we had a lot to talk about.

“A stray wolf!? But didn’t you say you left your weapons at home?”

“Exactly, I had to fend it off with a rock that I picked up in the moment.”

I was regaling him with our story so far, but he was particularly interested in the stray wolf encounter Anna and I faced back in Wheats.

“You really expect me to believe this?” he asked with a slight grin.

“I think these will be sufficient as proof!” I said proudly as I lifted my sleeves up to showcase my scars to the world.

Some people seemed off-put by the scars, they were in the middle of their breakfast after all, so it was reasonable. Even still, others gawked at the scars, and even more so at the fact that I sufficiently backed up my story.

“You’re kidding?! That’s amazing! You’re the new recruit, right? You planning on joining?”

I suddenly looked at the other three, who seemed to be listening in on our conversation. They silently nodded in agreement, so I answered back:

“Yep! We want revenge on The Blue Lions, and this community is our ticket to that future.”

“Great! Just a question, though.” He stopped to ask, “Y’know who I am?”

“Uhhhh….”

I had no clue who this guy was… Did I need to know? Why is it important?

“…………..” I couldn’t think of an answer before he burst out in a fit of laughter.

“Phahahahahah! So you really don’t know, that’s perfect! I’ll recommend you to the generals.”

After that, he offered me his drink, but I still didn’t feel comfortable drinking alcohol at my age, so I refused. We chatted for a bit more, and after that he left the quarters, leaving me and the other three members of our little gang.

“Who was that?” asked Ed.

“We got lucky,” Cecily answered back, “thank goodness Maxwell decided to talk with Lune and not me or Carter.”

MAXWELL?! LIKE, GENERAL MAXWELL? One of the five generals at BBG? That really was lucky! Although…

“Why couldn’t he talk with you or Carter?” I asked them.

“Max has ‘n eye fer’ liars! Th’fact that you genuin’ly didn’ know ‘im proves yain’t entered here ta’ backstab ‘em!” Carter elaborated.

“I see, that does make sense. But wait, doesn’t that mean you guys ARE planning to backstab them?”

“Of course not! Do you take us for fools? This community is our haven, our jumping board. But since we knew him, we’d get overly self-conscious, which would add suspicion.”

Neither Ed nor I were 100% convinced, but we chose to leave it be for now, instead heading off to the gym to let off some steam.

***

Ed and I mostly talked about the books we saw in the library instead of actually working out, with Ed slyly mentioning what he and Carter did during yesterday’s fiasco.

Apparently, there’s a place that sells really good crepes, and they went there without us! After I chastised him for not taking us with them, he suggested I take Cecily there with a humuhumu. Looking away with a flushed expression, I happened to notice the person in question practicing her knife work on a wooden target. It was almost hypnotizing looking at her repeatedly spinning around it, but didn’t she say a knife should only be used in self-defense? These swings seemed way more… purposeful.

She noticed me staring, so she finished up her training and walked up to me with her chest held high.

“Impressive, huh?” she asked with a smug look on her face.

“Uhhh, yeah. But is a knife really better than a sword?” I asked honestly.

“Phah!” she laughed audibly, “a sword he said! Seems like you don’t know the basics of knifesmanship!”

“Knifesman…ship?”

Apparently, knives are way faster to pull out than a sword, and were a lot easier to wield and swing around. I refuted by noting a sword has a larger range, and wasn’t that different than a larger knife.

We kept talking about our preferred weapons for a while, before we suddenly ran out of topics to talk about. We stood there awkwardly, I didn’t want to suddenly leave because it’d be rude, and she seemed to have the same thought.

Before long, she blushed a bit and whispered something under her breath. I didn’t quite catch that, so I asked her to repeat it.

“Did… Did you… Really like the book?” she looked up at me.

This quickly changed the mood, in trying to start another conversation to avoid awkwardness, she actually made the situation way more awkward!

“I… Did. It was different than what I usually read, and I had a bit of trouble reading some of the more haughty parts. But it was a fun read.”

“What was your favorite part?” she asked out of curiosity.

“The finale, when Jane and Jeff finally meet at the bridge and share a warm embrace!”

Her face lit up after I mentioned the ending of the book.

“I know, right?? The scene where Jane visited him in the hospital, I cried my eyes out!”

“Right? Jeff is such a cool character!” I chimed in, “He made Jane blush with every line, I swear!”

“No wonder her catchphrase is Oh, you! or You always make me blush!” she mimicked a line from the female lead of the book, so I followed suit for the fun of it.

“That’s because you’re always brimming with life, how could I not tease this lovely maiden?”

We spoke line after line before eventually running out of the impactful ones, leaving only the actual story parts, which weren’t that interesting, to be honest.

“I think I love you!” I finished my part off, with a slight tinge of embarrasment.

“I love you too!” she jumped with joy, almost perfectly imitating the image of a young maiden finally confessing her love after many tribulations.

After that, we burst out laughing together, sharing the joy of the moment we created. That is until we looked around us and noticed Ed, Carter, and the rest of the gym bros staring at our little play.

“…… So is this the part where you guys kiss?”

“NO!” We screamed out in unison.

We desperately tried to explain what we were doing, but since none of them read the book, they apparently thought we were just genuinely confessing to each other. Some even clapped at the end, for Gods’ sakes! As we were getting congratulated over a misunderstanding, a strong voice suddenly called out to the four of us, making the room go dead silent.

“The heck did I stumble upon? The recruits are getting all lovey-dovey now? Well, that’s sweet and all, but the honeymoon will have to wait, I’m afraid. I need Lune, Edward, Cecily and Carter to report to the generals’ quarters immediately.”

The person who came into the room was none other than Maxwell himself, which explains the sudden change to quiet we just experienced. Looks like he wants us to officially meet up with the generals and state our business. This can’t be good…

***

Looking at the four figures standing before us, we couldn’t help but gulp at the situation. All of these men were renowned gang leaders, strong enough to not only take control of an entire part of the country, but also lead it into the right direction. This is not something to make light of, especially in our case.

The leaders, from left to right were: Julian, Leonard, Jorgen and Quinn, with Maxwell standing adjacent to them, next to us. He seemed to be serving as the intermediary between us.

“These are the guys I told you about, they’re amazing in combat and seem to have quickly gotten accustomed to the rules of The Fort! They do their duties and pull their weight, the other members love ‘em!” he praised us endlessly.

“*sigh* Max... Listen, you’re too naïve.” Said Julian, “what if they’re spies from The Blue Lions Gang?”

“They’re not!” he refuted, “They passed the lie test given to them by yours truly!”

He seems to be the childish one among the group, even though he’s older than all four of us. Julian (the person suspecting us), on the other hand, remained adamant on his stance.

“Does it matter? What can four pipsqueaks even do that’s gonna be oh so dangerous for The Fort?” Leonard mocked.

He was quite bulky, I think I even saw him in the gym during these past few days since entering The Fort. Certainly, why would anyone be so cautious of four newbies?

“Understandable, although you have to realize where they come from.”

This question posed by Julian confused even us, so we looked at him as if waiting for him to answer his own rhetorical question.

“They’re the tykes that subdued The Depot…”

Suddenly, everyone donned a serious expression, some being surprised at the revelation, while the others that already knew smirked at us with a Gotcha now! expression. I guess looking back at the situation, we spent way too much time twiddling our thumbs instead of raising the tensions between the two gangs, leading to BBG higher-ups figuring out we instantiated the attack. This was truly checkmate, but if we were to lie our way out of here somehow…

“Right!” Ed exclaimed, “We won against them with our heads still on our shoulders!”

Looking at his expression and tone, he was definitely boasting. But why? Why would he choose to boast instead of denying it?

“But,” he added, “the next time we stumble upon their turf accidentally, we won’t be as lucky. We need this community’s protection.”

The generals listened in calmly, and it appears they had been split into factions: Leonard and Maxwell were on our side more or less, but Julian wasn’t having it. Jorgen still hasn’t spoken a word, I have no idea what his stance is…

“Everyone in Bilgam knows the turf territory layout! You can’t just ‘accidentally’ stumble upon their base of operations! And even if you did, they’d obey the civilian peace treaty we signed!”

Crap, to think they even had all their bases covered against this type of plan! I underestimated gang generals. Damn it, these siblings are just averting their gazes from the generals’! I knew their ‘trust us’ approach would come back to bite us in the ass!

“You have to understand,” Cecily chimed in, “Edward and Lune over here are foreigners, they kinda… accidentally agreed to granto.”

“…………”

Suddenly the room went silent, and everyone looked at the two of us with a face that screamed Now it all makes sense…

“Pffft-HAHAHAHAHAHAH!” An obnoxious laugh broke the silence.

“You guys’ are real idiots, y’know that? Calling granto means demanding a Brawl!” mentioned the man that was silent up until this point.

The person was none other than Jorgen himself. Everyone stared at him for a moment before turning their gaze back at us.

“Listen… I don’t believe y-”

Suddenly, the door slammed open. A young chap screamed out for everyone’s attention.

“Will?” Ed spoke up, “What’s going on?”

“The Lions! They declared war! These daft fellows are approaching us with great haste even as we speak!”

After Ed’s guard friend was caught up to speed with our recruitment situation, he almost singlehandedly resolved the entire situation.

“Just have them join the squabble, won’t you? That way they can prove their loyalty to us, and even you folks know we need the fighting power. It is quite literally two birds with one stone, although in my opinion, they are more than trustworthy.”

The generals quickly diverted their attention to the Lions’ attack, with everyone running to their squads. Turns out Ed’s kind heart really saved our skin this time, if it wasn’t for the guard’s eloquence and outsider’s (yet favorable) stance, we wouldn’t have been given this chance.

Time to prove ourselves to the BBG, we’ll protect this community…