บท 10: 10. Meet The Family

When Captain Tatsuo led me into the main residency of the compound, we had to stop as we were welcomed by the sight of an intense staring match between two men.

The taller of them was a teenager, about 16 maybe, with a scar on his chin and his auburn hair tied into a knot on the back of his head. His face was determined as he held a camera behind his back. He was wearing the standard black haori, however a large red, braided rope looped over his torso and set on his left shoulder.

The other was fairly short, falling on the smaller side of the average range for a man in his early 20s. He was clean shaven, with long wet black hair tied up into a towel. Unlike the other, he was shirtless which allowed me to see his toned and hairless body, save for his waist which also had a towel wrapped around it, a clear sign that he just got out of the shower and judging by the water still dripping from his skin, in a rush too. He was the first one to speak, his appearance cold and stoic with his voice holding a level of deep agitation.

"You really got me good last year, but did you think I wouldn't notice!?"

"They are all waiting, everyone, for the perfect picture of a man who embodies strength and the ability to protect everyone," the other spoke, his voice deep for a teenager and unwavering in his conviction, "The men, the women, the masses have all unanimously agreed that there is only one man of our generation who lives up to that title here in Himura."

The taller grabbed the shorter by the shoulders and pulled him, forcibly butting their heads together as his voice resounded around the room, "You have to do this, Akihiko!"

Seconds of tense silence passed before the shorter, Akihiko, started to climb the tall teenager in an attempt to grab the camera by force from the teen who tried to push him off and keep the camera away from him.

"Give me the damn camera, Taiyo!"

"Stop screwing around, get off of me!"

"Delete the photo!"

"It has to be you, Aki! As a man, you should get it, right!? It's for the ladies! The ladies!"

"You just want the money, you little weasel!"

From beside me, Tatsuo chuckled quietly to himself.

"I suppose it is that time of year."

"W-What is happening, exactly?"

"The yearly calendars featuring the hottest people in the brigade. It's a way for us to raise money alongside the newspaper to help provide funds for charities. Vice-Captain Aki is one of the most desired bachelors in Himura, and is always a favourite when he's in the calendar. However, he's a little camera shy so it means getting a picture comes with a high paying reward from the newspaper."

"I am not camera shy!"

I look back at the two only for my eyes to be covered by Tatsuo in the next instant. It did nothing for me though, perfect memory being the curse it's been, as I had to witness the bachelor's naked form as his face was getting pushed by the other's hand. As revenge, I spoke my honest words to get back at the buffoon who couldn't keep his towel on.

"Pretty small for the "most desired bachelor" aren't you?"

"Huh? Wait, why is there a kid here!?"

The sound of laughter from the teen and Tatsuo heralded the shuffling of a towel as he tried to cover himself up. When the large hand covering my eyes was removed I saw a blushing bachelor and a chuckling teen. Akihiko, seeing that Taiyo had let his guard down, threw a ball of flame from his finger and destroyed the camera.

"No! My camera!"

"Hmph."

The adult walked back through the hallway that presumably led to the bath. When he vanished, the teen started chuckling and pulled a small lacrima from the broken camera with a face splitting grin on his face.

"Idiot. I can still pull the photo from this just by transferring it to another camera."

As if the universe set out to spite him, another ball of fire rocketed down the hallway and destroyed the lacrima before the teen could react.

"NO!"

"AHAHAHA! That's what you get for letting your guard down, Second Lieutenant. Should've known better after doing this for a couple years."

I just stood there as the teen silently cried and the behemoth laughed. My brain struggled to comprehend what was happening.

'What am I getting myself into?'

Taiyo stood up and took a deep breath, looking down the hallway before smiling and pulling out a second lacrima.

"Gihihihi! My victory! I swapped them out before he caught up to me! See ya later kid, I have a 100,000 Jewel reward to nab!"

Taiyo then ran out of the residency, followed shortly by a sprinting Akihiko who was now fully clothed.

"You can't run from me, boy!"

"How the hell!?"

I didn't dare turn around as the sound of explosions drowned out the bold laughter of the highly amused Tatsuo.

'I need to get out of here.'

— * —

The rest of the day passed by unceremoniously after I was guided to my room.

A couple of the other girls in my hallway came by to talk, but it was mostly questions about me. Questions I didn't have any satisfying answers to, much to their dismay. However, I was able to get more information about where I was living for the foreseeable future.

The compound itself acted as the home for over 100 residents, while the entire force is of comprised somewhere near 250 in active number. The Ouroborus Company acts as the primary force of security and aid for the city of Himura, comprising three distinct units.

The doctor I had met earlier today is the captain of the medical unit, Captain Ophelia Lockheed. She leads all the hospitals and medical research within the city, giving access to any and all who need it to all the doctors being specially trained in a form of fire magic that allows them to read the anatomy of the body and help it heal itself. It's an effective practice that allows them to get patients in and out quickly. This dedication to their practice isn't rigid, however, as they keep trying to find ways to better their magic of practice as well as finding better and better medicines with each couple of years. My sprained arm, for instance, should be healed fully by the morning due to this dedication so it's evidence that they have reason to follow it, as ordinarily it would take a week or longer with lasting pain. Even during surgeries they can use the magic to better navigate their way through the operation without dealing any long lasting damage. They don't do these operations alone, however, as that's where the second unit comes in.

Captain Himura Ohta leads the smallest but just as vital enchanters unit. They utilise a variety of enchantments to assist the other units while also acting as the lead investigators of the city. The main caveat with this squad is that most of their strength comes from the city itself, something that they are forced to become increasingly familiar with so that they can use enchantments to mould parts of the city to assist the fighters and healers. The main tasks assigned to this unit are so specific that there are even smaller units within this unit so that teams can focus on one task with undivided attention. The first is infrastructure, a team that works with architects to reinforce, fireproof, and change the layout of the city and surrounding mountains. The second team focuses on body enchantments. They work in tandem the most with the other units, enchanting the bodies of fighters and patients so that the loss of life is reduced to a minimum. The third works with the police team of the third unit, using their enchantments to interrogate, investigate, and detain suspects and crime on a deeper level that fireballs can't. The fourth is the agricultural team. They work with farmers and hunters to make sure that they can keep farming even in the winter and trouble seasons so that the village has a constant stream of food. At the same time, the fourth squadron also works with the first and third to help organise everything for festivals and events.

Lastly there's Captain Ito Tatsuo's security unit, the largest and simplest of the three. The compound this unit uses as its base of operations also acts as the training base for all three units, a way to encourage the three teams to get to know eachother better before they become field ready to smoothen teamwork as well as a way for the security unit to protect and supervise the trainees. It's framed as a beneficial thing, a way for new recruits a chance to get advice from veterans, but this also allows them to weed out potential threats and correct potentially harmful behaviour that fire mages tend to exhibit. This unit consists of three teams, the police which deal with internal threats to the city, the guards which deal with external threats to the city and help hunters and fishermen safely gather as much food as possible, and the officers which train new recruits and manage both of the other teams.

All three teams are expected to become proficient in the three practices each unit specialises in, allowing the strength of each team to become monstrous. Afterall, if you fight a mage that can heal themselves, strengthen their body and weaken yours, all while turning the surrounding area into a deathtrap of flames you can expect your chances of succeeding to gradually vanish with each second that passes. A technique I plan to abuse wholeheartedly.

And I owe all of this knowledge to my roommate, a 17 year old girl named Mia. The brunette is apparently friends with Taiyo and Akihiko, the 3 of them having come to be known as the 3 Blazing Prodigies.

She's a first lieutenant for the body enchanters, Taiyo is the second lieutenant of the field medic team, and Akihiko is the vice-captain of the security unit, leading the police team. The high rankings of them all surprised me considering their youth, but she told me that when it comes to the world of mages the only thing age does is allow you time to hone your strength, and that tenacity determines most of your actual strength since magic is so intrinsically tuned to our emotions. Fire magic especially since those that use it tend to be as wild as the element they control, a facet of fire mages that Tatsuo tries to train those here to control, and likely what he brought me here for instead of sending me to an orphanage.

When night came I once again found myself gouging onto a heavy helping of food, mostly several large bowls of rice and eggs, and the filled stomach led to me falling comfortably asleep on the futon Mia rolled my unconscious body onto.