Hudson exited the car, surprised to see a familiar white building beyond the gate still intact.
"Well I'll be, maybe this damn system does have a sense of humor. Leaving this mudball of nanny backward silliness all in one piece."
"Sir?" one of the escorts asked.
"Nothing important, let's get going."
Hudson walked past the gate, an entourage of men and women in black suits escorting him the entire way until he reached the well-manicured lawn with patches of snow beginning to cover it here and there. Eventually reaching the few stairsteps leading to the entrance of the large building.
"The secretary is awaiting you inside sir."
Hudson waved off the escort and opened the door, going down the familiar hallways and scoffing at the past leaders painted on the walls.
After a few moments, he reached the main audience room that had two guards equipped head to toe in armor that looked like they were from the Middle Ages.
"Where in the sam hell are your standard suits and ties boys? Get lost in the laundry?" Hudson chuckled.
Both men stayed silent as they used one arm each to slowly swing open the double doors they were guarding.
The inside was revealed and Hudson stared back at an older man who barely resembled his long-time superior.
"The rank up seemed to have done you good, Mister Secretary," Hudson whistled.
The man with slicked-back silver-gray hair, a well-trimmed beard, and a finely-tailored suit at the large table stood up with a smile extending his hand, "Ah! Agent Hudson! You don't know how pleased I was to hear that you survived the tutorial. How was it?"
"Barely got out by the skin of my teeth. But ran into some stubborn idjit that was able to finish the whole tutorial himself."
The Secretary raised a brow, "You can lose the accent son, you aren't undercover anymore. You are obviously being reassigned," shaking Hudson's hand and fixing his suit, the man sat back down, "Now you mentioned someone helped you? Do you think they would be an asset to our operation?"
Hudson took the chair across the table, clearing his throat.
"I don't think you should consider him anything in particular sir. He doesn't go by conventional means and I highly doubt he would listen to any authority figure after how much power he gained during his time in the tutorial."
"What's this man's name, agent?"
"You have seen it already on the announcements, Drake Wallen," Hudson explained.
A look of surprise washed over the Secretary's face as he recalled the announcement.
"You mean the level 10?" he asked, pressing a button at the desk.
"No sir, he is far beyond level 10, I believe he had reached level 25 by the end of our respective tutorial, he must be using-"
Hudson was cut off by the door behind him opening up once again along with the gasping of the Secretary.
"Level 25? You must be lying to me, agent! There has only been a very few we have even had confirmation of being past level 20. Even the other species we have recruited into the service rarely go beyond level 15 right now."
The Secretary looked back at Hudson seriously, "Is that man a threat?"
Hudson unconsciously let out a laugh before covering his mouth, "Oh, no sir. As long as you don't provoke him, I don't believe he would hurt anyone. As far as I'm aware he has already begun establishing his own town. I was invited to join it as well."
Behind him, a woman with a tiger-like tail and ears walked in holding a folder, and handing it to the Secretary.
The Secretary thanked her, placing the folder on the desk and opening it, "Drake Wallen. It seems we do not know of his family's whereabouts but he has a family member named Atticus Wallen, who is also establishing a town. We have almost no information on him either, but the run-ins we have had with Atticus have been nothing but detrimental…"
"Meaning, Mr. Secretary?" Hudson asked.
"Oh, haven't you heard Hudson? It's no longer just Mr. Secretary. Commander and Chief hasn't returned, I'm the highest standing official so I've been sworn in. But don't worry you can still call me whatever you like, you've earned that. Now, Mr. Wallen's brother, Atticus, has been gathering fanatics as far as we can tell."
The Secretary flipped through the pages for a moment before continuing.
"He has also been burning and killing anything that is not human… And even some humans have not avoided his murderous gaze it seems, He is a Priority 1. If we can turn his brother, Drake, to a more favorable position for us it would be a big win. Can I trust you to make first contact with him?"
The sound of a cold familiar voice echoed in their heads as they all momentarily paused to listen.
[Drake Wallen is the 13th to complete the anchoring of their Honing Crystal]
[The city 'Reunite' has now been established and recognized by the system]
"I'll be damned… Idjit did it again…" Hudson scoffed, standing from his seat, "Sir, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm sure I can turn that stubborn bastard to our side."
—--------
"Claire! We're moving, you all packed up?"
A woman in a priest gown with a leather twined necklace around her neck, a small black ring dangling from it turned around.
"Yes. I'm ready whenever. I want to make good time getting to town. Now that it's established I'm sure there everyone will be gathering… I don't want to be the last to make it," Claire responded, gripping the ring, "It's already been a week. I'm worried he might be up to no good…"
The man across from her smirked, "Lucky guy to have you worry like that. Afraid he's going after other women?"
Claire growled and scowled at the man, Charles, "He wouldn't do that! No, I'm afraid he might end up getting himself killed. He's nothing if not a trouble magnet!"
Charles raised up his hands, "Jeez I was just joking. That tutorial of yours made you awful serious there Claire."
Claire sighed, "You don't know the half of it. It was a living hell… At least until Drake found me. That's why I need to get back to him as fast as possible, I know he will help everyone from our hometown like he did in the tutorial. I just know it."
She continued to play around with the ring on her necklace, images of Drake before they parted racing through her mind.
Charles placed more supplies into his inventory, looking at Claire with a lonely smile before turning to the rest of the group shouting for them to get ready as well.
Claire got up with the rest looking out into the distance before double-checking the location of where the system map they had gotten from the center marked Drake's town.
"He better not be hanging out with other girls… He wouldn't…" she grumbled, putting the necklace back under her priest gown.
—----------------
[Drake Wallen is the 13th to complete the anchoring of their Honing Crystal]
[The city 'Reunite' has now been established and recognized by the system]
"Oh, would you look at that! Has it been a week already? Wonder what kind of town he'll build," Bjorn shouted with a smile.
"What happened mister?"
Bjorn looked down at the boy, ruffling his hair, "Oh don't you worry, just an old friend being himself. We're ganna get to where he is. And he and I are ganna make sure you all are taken care of alright lil bro?"
The boy nodded, giving Bjorn a smile.
Looking back at the group he had gathered, Bjorn was reminded of the tutorial again and how he helped to build Shigure's camp. The many orphaned children pulled at his heart and was something he wouldn't allow himself to ignore.
Bjorn also knew Drake wouldn't be able to ignore them as well. But there was only one problem.
He opened his status glancing at it briefly.
[Bjorn Johnson]
[Epic Class: Keeper of the Bridge] Level 28
Bjorn had fought off many monsters as well as people with more devious intentions along the way to Drake's town. If he was alone he would have easily been able to forego the fighting and run, but now he had a group that was only growing in size as he traveled that didn't allow him the luxury of not fighting.
The closer he moved to level 30, his mind seemed to be twisted, as if the willpower he had before was slowly eroding away. The dreams he feared to find when he closed his eyes finding him more and more frequently.
He just hoped that by the time he arrived, he would still be himself.
Looking back at the group he raised his hand and gave them a wave with a smile.
"Let's keep going, yeah? I know a guy that makes great food to die for once we get there!" he shouted.
"He still owes me all the food he promised…." a small girl with broken glasses grumbled next to him.
Bjorn scoffed, "For all the people to run into while getting there, I didn't expect to find you, Sherry."
"Hey, I'm here too man…."
Bjorn turned slightly surprised.
"Tom, jeez Drake wasn't kidding, I really couldn't notice you sneaking up behind me. What the hell bro."
Tom sniffled, rubbing his nose, "Yeah well, as long as we get there sometime soon. You can talk to him about it… But why!" Tom shouted, kneeling down, "Do I have to get stuck with carrying her?"
Pointing with his thumb at Sherry he grumbled as she climbed up on his back.
"No one said you had to do that bro…" Bjorn laughed.
"What?! She told me you told her I had to do it!?" Tom yelled.
Sherry snickered and gave them both a victory sign with her hands.
"Tom is a good boy, he listens to everything I say without question," Sherry smiled, patting him on the head.
"I'm not a dog!"
Bjorn scoffed, "Then why is your tail wagging."
"I don't have a fucking tail!"
—--------------
[Drake Wallen is the 13th to complete the anchoring of their Honing Crystal]
[The city 'Reunite' has now been established and recognized by the system]
"It's been a week already has it?"
Around the man, many people in white cloaks kneeled in reverence.
"What shall we do about this man Emperor?" another man asked, raising his head.
"See to it that we send some missionaries to spread the word of the Sun to my dear brother," Atticus smiled, "Maybe a familiar face will make him more welcoming?"
"I will send her right away. There has been contact again with the new government on the border of the town. Would you like to speak with them, my lord?"
Waving off the man, "No, deal with them as per usual. I have too much to do if we are to clean this dirtied world, simple matters of birds flying too close to the sun should not be too difficult for you I imagine."
"Yes! It will be done! Praise the Sun! All hail the Grand Sun Mage!"
"Praise the Sun! Praise the Emperor!" shouted the crowd in unison.
Atticus smiled once more looking over the convenient list the system had provided them of the locations of the system-sanctioned towns, and the levels of the owners of said towns.
"May they be cleansed…." he muttered, his eyes thinning into crescents.
Thank you for reading as always!
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