By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 9

Chapter 7, Episode 47: The Security Company Meeting Room

“Another fire up north. Let’s call it North-4. The first responder team has finished the rescue at North-3, and the follow-up team is now on the scene. Still, evacuation in the area is falling behind.”

“East-5 was just extinguished.”

“South-8 too.”

“More and more fires in the north... Send a cleanup crew and observation team to each spot that was just extinguished. Have them send the firefighters at East-5 and South-8 out north. We can help with evacuation by sending officers on spare carriages. Will two squads do it, Jill?”

“That should be enough to call for evacuation. The follow-up teams will do the same. Send as many carriages as we can. I’m concerned with the occupancy of the shelters. How are they?”

“The north and west shelters are doing fine. Plenty of room. South and east shelters aren’t full yet, but are starting to fill up.”

“Then, all evacuees up north should go to the north shelter. Call to set up the temporary shelter too. On the empty lot in the former slums, like we’ve planned.”

“An arsonist responsible for a few of the fires has been apprehended in the west. The constabulary has already taken him into custody.”

In contrast to the commotion on the streets of Gimul, the meeting room within the security company headquarters was occupied by a task force exchanging quiet reports and commands. A large desk stood in the center of the room, and a detailed map of the city sprawled across it. Surrounding the table, one team was moving markers and pieces all over the map according to each report. At every turn, the president and vice president of the company—Hughes and Jill—gave orders. An employee standing behind them swiftly wrote down their commands and delivered them to one of the cages that housed small monsters tasked with delivering these messages. Tension was heavy in the air; the gravity of the situation hushed the operation.

Presently, three of the Duke’s maids entered the room. They pushed a small drink cart into the room and began handing out beverages to the teams.

“Thanks, Lulunese,” Hughes said. “Take one, Jill. We’ll be here awhile.”

“You’re right. We all have to take a breather sooner or later.” Jill’s expression remained stern as she took a drink for herself.

Hughes tasked Lulunese to take over the room temporarily as he took Jill aside and whispered, “What’s with the grim attitude? I know it ain’t no picnic in the woods, but we’re dealing with this better than expected.”

“Right... We have the comms team of tamers who can synchronize with their familiars, a message delivery web utilizing synchronization, and our bases to keep watch and communicate with each other. Thanks to those tools, we can work closely with the guilds, constabulary, and the government.”

“What did Ryoma call it, a ‘phone operator’? Whatever that means. I can’t cast any taming magic, but it’s impressive stuff,” said Hughes.

“Phone... That’s a method of communication used in ancient times, said to connect even distant lands with each other. It’s assumed to be some sort of magical item that utilizes space magic, but it’s doubtful the thing ever existed. Ryoma must have taken inspiration from the legend of it. We only have this setup thanks to Ryoma’s funds and all the free time on the hands of the tamers who’d be delivering the post if it weren’t for the snow. It’s scary to imagine how worse things would be without this network,” Jill said.

“I don’t wanna think about that either,” Hughes agreed. “But why do you keep looking like that, if you know we got a system we can rely on? Breathe a little.”

“Maybe...it’s because I’m disappointed in myself.”

“Disappointed?” Hughes repeated. “Oh. You’re still thinking about what Serge’s bodyguard said to you?”

After the assassination attempt on Serge, the group had returned to the meeting room. Hughes’s team had rushed to join them, and they had held another meeting to decide their next move. Since the team had already planned out as many emergency action plans as possible, the meeting had concluded quickly once the group had reached the consensus that the enemy was changing to more direct, dangerous tactics—that the enemy was no longer trying to conceal their presence.

After the meeting, the group had gone on to discuss how they would prioritize their safety. Serge would return and remain in his shop while the Sionjis would leave the city as soon as it became feasible. At this point, Jill had suggested Ryoma find a safe location for himself and had tried to convince Yashuma to temporarily protect Ryoma...and had been immediately shut down.

“Can you tell me why?” Jill had persisted. “Not that I think money is your sole motivator, but I am ready to pay a proper wage. Isn’t there any room for negotiation?”

“I’m sorry, but my answer won’t change. It’s for three reasons. First, I must adhere to our organization’s code. We are currently protecting Mister Serge and his company at large. Some mercenaries handle more than one job at once, but we forbid it. This job is about trust. We fully commit our resources to every contract. Second, while we don’t pick and choose whom to protect as long as they can pay, there are some clientele that we prefer not to guard for various reasons. Chief among them are those who are unaware of our protection. If they have more than a healthy sense of confidence in their mediocre abilities, it makes matters far worse. Not that I think he would fit that bill, but I doubt he shares your sentiment. In fact, he is preparing to tackle whatever danger may come his way head-on. It’s incredibly difficult to protect someone who wants to jump into danger.” Yashuma had given Jill time to respond, but she had only remained silent. “Lastly, we have decided he does not need our protection.”

“Doesn’t need it?” Jill asked.

“During the attack just now, he handled himself as well as any of us—he even spotted the assailant before any of us did. After getting a good idea of his abilities, I’ve reached the conclusion that he’s certainly skilled enough to protect himself. His abilities are not at all mediocre, which would make our protection obsolete. And...” Yashuma turned to Ryoma. “You have little experience fighting in a team, so you prefer to fight alone.”

“Yes,” Ryoma answered. “I’m impressed you figured out all that in a matter of seconds.”

Yashuma returned his attention to Jill. “There you have it. Not only would our protection be obsolete, we might even get in his way if we tried to fight alongside him without properly training together first. I never thought I would say this about a child half my age, but...if he ever wants to join the Golden Wildhawks, I’d welcome him with open arms. He wouldn’t even need to go through the entrance trial we hold for recruits. That’s how much I believe he doesn’t require anyone’s protection. Of course, I understand that those close to him still can’t help but feel concerned for his safety.”

Jill sighed and said, “That’s not all. Remember how Hudom said I was overprotective?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it,” Hughes agreed. “What about it?”

“I thought...Ryoma could live his life like a normal child. He is a child. So I thought he should rely on us. Be protected by us. And I still believe that. But maybe I was subconsciously forcing Ryoma to be a ‘normal child.’ It’s not like Ryoma doesn’t understand that we worry about him.”

“Yeah, Ryoma did seem apologetic when he rejected the idea of having guards on him or waiting somewhere safe.”

“Ryoma can put out fires with his magic far faster than we can, and it’s not even close. If I were only considering our situation and the abilities of those on our team, not using his skill set would not be an option. I’m sure Ryoma would agree. I don’t think it was wrong for me to be concerned for him, but I regretted that I made a suggestion contrary to what Ryoma wanted. There’s no time for any of that now, though,” Jill said.

“So that makes you tense up when you’re concentrating.”

“If that’s what you saw, it must be. I can’t think of any other cause for it. I’ll try to be more relaxed.”

“Good. Like I said, we’ll be here for a while. It’ll be a real problem if you run out of steam before it’s over. Just talk it out with Ryoma once the dust settles. That’s gotta be a lot easier than trying to get a solution out of a parenting book— Hey, why are you looking at me like that?”

“How did you know I’ve been reading one?”

“Huh? Wait, you were reading one too?”

“What?”

The couple stood there staring at each other for a few moments until Lulunese joined in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt. I believe Hughes is talking about the book I was reading just to prepare for the future. He took a peek and said that he didn’t really ‘get it.’ Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah,” Hughes answered and turned back to Jill. “Sounds like you were reading one too, just to figure out how to face Ryoma.”

Jill’s face turned bright red.

Hughes continued, “Jill... Maybe you are overprotective.”

Jill was speechless at this, but then a quiet guffaw came from the center of the room. Jill turned to the sound to find the shoulders of several members shaking. Clearly everybody could hear their conversation, relieving some of the tension in the room.

Jill cleared her throat. “Excuse me. While being too stressed won’t do us any good, neither will being too distracted. Let us stay focused on our task.” The tamers in the room snapped back to the map at once, but the air in the room remained lighter than before. Still blushing, Jill muttered to herself, “Should I be happy that I ended up relaxing the room...?”

Meanwhile, the very dignified communications department carried on with their tasks.