Chapitre 60: You Are Princess Knight?!

After Toki "extorted" the officials, she then left the guild building. Apparently, she'll have to talk with them personally to fix the other details of the exchange. She's as busy as always.

Mina and Lily were both still curious about the Portal Gun, but since I still haven't finished testing it, I dissuaded them from trying it yet. "Well, I think we'd be the first to use it before the government, though."

After that, both of them followed Toki and went off. As they said, they need to clean up their things from their previous rooms and move to the guild building. Rather than paying rent, staying in a free building is better after all.

There, only the workers who were still coming and going to the basement were left with me.

It's been a while since I've been this idle... I guess the changes that happened after I changed classes ate up most of my free time, crafting and hunting whenever I could get the chance.

"But now, I've got nothing left to make..." Mina did ask me to make her a gun, but I'd still need to do some research for that. I haven't tried making a gun before, after all... Cannons, I do know, however.

Having nothing better to do, I went to the top floor, where all our rooms were reserved. At first, I asked for us to be on different floors, but the girls pushed the matter instead, claiming that staying on different floors was inefficient or something.

I walked down the hallway of the fifth floor, reaching the last room to the left. There, my name was hanging on the door like a tag. By the side of the knob, an electronic card lock was set, with the card placed inside it. I quickly retrieved it before opening the door and entering the room.

"Woah...!"

I guess it's as expected with Toki's ideas, but the room wasn't losing to the penthouse rooms from before. It is a bit smaller, but the facilities were mostly the same. I walked past the entrance, through the living room, and into the bedroom. There, a simple bed and table were set, with a lampshade by the side.

"This... is in the way," I judged before moving the lampshade out of the tabletop.

Now that the table was clear, I opened my World Storage and placed the lampshade there before pulling out a nostalgic item. "Welcome back, my Little War Machine!"

On top, I placed my 30-inch curved monitor, while I placed everything else by the side of the table below. Setting everything up, arranging the wires, and finding an outlet took me roughly half an hour. Although it was plain work, it took quite some time. As soon as I finished, I wiped the sweat over my forehead and smiled. "Nice!"

I was so busy that I kept forgetting about it, but my PC was actually right with me all the time. Now that we have a base, I could finally set it up without worry! I quickly sat down on the chair as I pressed the power button. The sound of the cooling fans could be heard in the silent room, making me smile automatically.

"Wifi~, Wifi~," I chanted as I moved through the control panel, entering the password for the wifi around the entire guild building, and connecting my PC to the world wide web.

After that... I lost track of time. I believe I have been searching through the usual bulletins, then finding some rare info somewhere, and looking for useful references for more weapons. When I noticed the time, it was already nearing midnight.

Before I turned in for the day, I didn't forget to check our usual chat group. It really had been a while since I checked it, after all. As soon as I opened it, a few messages that were sent by other members could be seen. Toki, Mina, and Hailey were chatting there too, as usual. The date of their last chat was marked 3 days ago, so it's been quiet for a while.

"I wonder what the others are doing..." I couldn't help but worry.

Anyway, other than those three, the ones who chatted were Cavallier, Herihero, Marionne, and Tiamat. They weren't as active in the chat but were still some of the ones I was extremely close with back in Lost Age.

Especially Cavallier and Tiamat. I'm 100% sure those two were guys, after all! If they turned out to be girls too, then I'd probably lose confidence in my judging eyes when it comes to guessing the other party's gender through their in-game characters.

After thinking for a while, I decided to leave a message for them. I notified everyone about how we made a guild and that we now have a guild building, including the address. After some roundabout way of asking them to come, I ended the chat, closed the window, and stretched.

*Yawn!*

I guess crafting the portal gun took its toll on me too, making me tired. Although I skipped lunch and dinner, I wasn't really hungry. So, without further ado, I decided to just sleep.

---

*Ting!*

The sound of a notification could be heard clearly in the quiet night. Himeji Alice, more widely known as QUEEN, pulled her phone from her pocket and checked it immediately.

"..."

After a while of silence, her face turned a mix of sadness and expectation, hidden behind a wry smile. She started tapping on her phone, sending a reply, before placing it back in her pocket.

The wind blew hard, making her hair wave wildly. However, she kept her gaze forward, watching as the numerous soldiers worked tirelessly, moving materials and weapons around.

"Hurry up! If the testing went well, then we'd go straight and set up an advance camp within the enemy lands!" One of their leaders roared as if to boost their morale.

They were moving around busily because of the arrangements made by the three city councils. Something about a portal gun that could connect to another world.

"Prometheus..." She mouthed the name of the crafter who was rapidly gaining fame.

Her eyes flickered as a tinge of joy could be seen in her expression. Right then, someone knocked on the door of her room, prompting her to leave the veranda and resume her usual cold demeanor. "Enter."

"Lieutenant Alice! The major has called for a meeting in Briefing Room 3 at 0100!" The soldier said while sending a salute her way. He looked stiff, as if he were scared of QUEEN.

"... Got it. Tell her that I'll be coming," she replied before turning around and heading for the simple bed in her room.

Just as the soldier left, she plopped down the bed face-down, murmuring words to herself that were so muffled they couldn't be understood. "When will all this end..."

---

"Wake up..."

"Ugh... 5 more minutes..."

"We have no time for that; wake up now, Mahiro!"

"Ruin; we'll be late if you don't move!"

"...?"

I slowly opened my heavy eyelids, surveying my surroundings. There, beside my bed, two angelic figures stood. "... Am I being attacked...?"

"Should I?" one of the two, who had silvery white hair, asked with a sinister grin appearing on her face.

"Stop joking around, Toki! I told you we should've woken him up earlier!" the other figure, one with black hair, reprimanded the other with a stern tone.

The one who was being scolded, Toki, shrugged her shoulders as she continued. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. Then, Mahiro, are you awake now?"

"... Yeah..."

I'm not really a morning person, but with them chatting around for that long, I already woke up fully. I scratched my head, looked at the time, and saw that it was only 6:30 a.m. "Isn't it still early...? What are you waking me up for?"

Toki's face turned a little serious, as if she were about to say something important. "The military will come to pick us up for the Portal Gun at seven sharp."

"... That's it?" I asked, confused. "Alright, then I'll go prepare..."

"And Marionne is coming with them."

"...!"

Marionne! Princess Knight! "You mean, he's finally coming to our guild?!" I asked excitedly, jumping up from the bed.

"Not he, but she. And no, apparently, she's still too busy with the military and couldn't join us yet."

"Oh..."

Although I was a little disappointed, I quickly started preparing to meet them. I changed clothes to a more comfortable one that wouldn't look weird even if we went with the military. In short, I wore my school's uniform. It felt like a long time since I wore this thing.

After I was done changing, I dragged Toki and Mina, who were still blushing for some reason, down to the first floor to have breakfast. I couldn't remember what I ate or how it tasted, but we finished eating a little before the designated time came.

*SCREEECH!*

The sound of a vehicle stopping nearby was followed by heavy footsteps and a ring on the doorbell at the gate. I quickly went to welcome them with a smile, but the appearance of a certain individual surprised me. "QUEEN?!"

Two women appeared, one with the insignia of a Major, while the other was a schoolmate, QUEEN.

"Major Selena, welcome!" Toki greeted as she pressed a remote to open the gates. The two visitors entered, marching with steady steps.

"This one here is Major Selena; she's in charge of everything regarding the Portal Gun from hereon," Toki explained with a smile. "And here, we have Marionne."

"...?"

I titled my head, doubting my ears.

"And Marionne, this man here is Ruin, Giza Mahiro."

Similar to me, QUEEN scrunched her brows, as if unable to believe Toki's words.

"You... QUEEN, are you really THAT Princess Knight?!" I roared in shock.

However, Marionne was faring worse than I was. Her face turned blue as she muttered something under her breath. Toki, watching the entire exchange, was smiling from ear to ear like some devil, while the Major was looking at us with question marks on top of her head.

Soon, Queen recovered some of her wits and asked with a shaking voice. "You... are you really Ruin?"