The Central Military Base

32:17

For the moment, we are going back to the Central Base to witness the Leader walking around the "busy" hallway, that is actually just full of people fooling around and from which only a few actually bother to greet the ruler of the building. If it was for this to happen in other buildings, those people would've been put to do training until they've learnt their lesson. But here, for some reason the Leader seems pretty used to it, giving that it has been like this for years. Even so, used to it or not, he does seem rather annoyed by this idea, but he also doesn't do anything regarding it.

Not long after, he manages to reach his final destination that looks to be a room in which someone could rest, maybe with the idea behind being of him taking a sleep. Technically speaking, it is a hour in which the day rest should be put into action, though it does look like the soldiers of this base only want to play games rather than follow the schedule. But before he could enter the room, one of the Officers calls his name from a bit far away.

[Officer]-Master EM3RY!

Though he got a bit annoyed again as if he truly wished to not be bothered at this hour, he takes a deep breath and looks behind, only to see the Officer that speaks to him.

[Officer]-Master! The EZR4H Clan Leader is here to discuss with you!

He doesn't say anything though. Instead, he makes a move with his hand for the Officer to understand that he can bring the Clan Leader at him. So not long after the Officer went after him, EM3RY found himself with Mr. EZR4H and his assistant in front of him.

[EM3RY]-...So? What did you want to discuss with me this time? I wished you waited until the rest schedule ended, but you are already here.

[S4DA5HI]-Don't be disrespectful, Mr. EM3RY! You know very well that we have business to do for months!

[EM3RY]-And why exactly am I at fault here? We've been working on the weapons you have requested my people to create for a while now and we still didn't manage to find a proper sketch that could actually meet its requirements. If anything, why didn't you study the demons yourselves instead of letting me wonder how would they get possibly hurt? It would've saved us some time.

[S4DA5HI]-Do you really believe it is as easy as it sounds!? You really get on my nerves now! Our people can die every day because of these creatures and you want us to study them!? How do you even suggest on doing that?? Hug them and see how they respond??

The assistant sure got mad, but the EZR4H Leader was still pretty calm in this situation, pushing her elbow slowly to understand that she needs to calm down. Then, he begins to do a few moves with his hand to talk. EM3RY seems at first to even try and understand what EZR4H wants to say, but he gives up in the middle of the sentence.

[EM3RY]-*sigh* That won't work, YANIS. I am too tired to even try and read the signs. I know a bit of Sign Language since we speak every day, but you know that I am not understanding it fully so that we can speak at any given moment.

[S4DA5HI]-He said that he wants to see what have you been working on, bastard!

Though he is still not mad at all, EZR4H only gives such a big sigh as if he regrets his choices in his life when having to deal with his assistant's anger issues. Even so, EM3RY just looked a bit annoyed before continuing.

[EM3RY]-Right... Well, as much as I would like to show them to you, we are still working on them as I said. Just a few days ago we've got another advice on what to build against the creatures from someone that used to work here. Before that, we've created a weapon that has a powerful shot which we have thought of being capable of terrifying the demons since it might produce pain, but it seems as the advice says that the creatures won't get scared and will only become more annoyed, leading them to attack more aggressively than before. Besides that, the idea brought to us later was to create bullets which will serve as light emitters once they get attached to the body of a creature, but we are still testing that out. We've managed to do the sketches and all, but we can't really find a way of attaching the bullets without causing actual physical injuries. As a consequence, now we are trying to find a way of making a thorn that will help with attaching the specific bullet, but which will also be able to get into the creature's skin. So far, we've tried to put Ynash'saveghtah in its solid form right besides the thorn, but it seems as the solid form doesn't have any effect on any being's body without waiting for minutes and to stay in touch with the skin permanently during that time. Then we've tried to put the thorn into some Histvorh combined with Ynash'saveghtah and see if it works, but with no effect. It seems as the Ynash'saveghtah Gas loses its effects completely if combined with that liquid. And then we had today our third try, which consisted in putting the thorn in a small jar full of the gas, let it absorb the gas for a day or two and then test the bullets again. We've had many thorns made this way so that we can test how long it takes for the effect of the gas to disappear, but no matter how quickly we've used the bullets, the effect was gone by the time the thorn could even touch the skin of a being. Now I'm having troubles with a few soldiers since I've commanded for them to be test subjects so that we can see the real effects on a living being and they've started to demand better salaries, more breaks or higher titles. I had to work until now just to calm them down and make them understand that we needed to do these tests, in which they've also agreed on participating.

[S4DA5HI]-And do you believe that these bullets you work on are going to be released in a few days?

[EM3RY]-That would be impossible even if we work all day. We've ran out of ideas of how to make the thorns get attached to the demon's body and even if we get new ones, we still need to test them out. At best they will come out in a few months, though I'm betting more in a year or two.

[S4DA5HI]-A YEAR OR TW... EM3RY, you have to understand that our city needs supplies from the outside quickly! We are running out of ores for the shelters and we already cut some of the transportations to the barmen and merchants!

[EM3RY]-And I ask you again: Why is it my fault? You gave us no details on how to make those weapons that should help you out with the demons, so we needed to come with our own ones just so that we can satisfy you. Need I remind you that the sketches were made while we still needed to work on other projects, so instead of using that time on what we already had to do, we used it to think of a proper design?

[S4DA5HI]-And why exactly do you complain about time?? You do realise that you are the ruler of the base that has the most soldiers registered every year in this whole city, right?? At that number of people, you shouldn't even put into a conversation the problem of time!

[EM3RY]-Just because we have many soldiers, doesn't mean we have many working people on the weapons.

[S4DA5HI]-Then why is it our fault that you cant even put your own people to do their job!? You are the Leader so you should make the rules here!

[EM3RY]-Just because I make the rules, doesn't mean that everyone respects them. That goes the same for my title.

[S4DA5HI]-...Then why do you still let them work in your base?

[EM3RY]-Who am I to step on a being's dream, S4DA5HI? If they wish to work here, then they do what they please. But don't you think that I do not punish those who get in just for my money alone. After all, one of my rules says that if you do nothing, you will get nothing in return. Why do you believe that I have so many conflicts with my people whenever you come during the working schedule? Not to mention that there is a small issue with some of the high titles which profit off the lower ranks by taking all the credits, and when I give them their salaries worth of what they've done for the base, they come to me angry, saying that they deserve more. Do they, really? When they let me lose the actual good people in this base, making them leave for other ones? Just a few days ago I have lost around twenty soldiers, including a newcomer, just because of this reason alone.

[S4DA5HI]-EM3RY, you are simply unbelievable sometimes... I will ask you again. Why aren't you disciplining your people in order for them to understand that they need to work for the city, not for the money? Many citizens want to join the military to actually help us, yet you still let those that have nothing to do with the job remain?

[EM3RY]-I have already lost my respect coming from the other Leaders and even my own soldiers long time ago. Why does it matter so much what I'm doing now? At least this way I can just give others what they wish to achieve in this life. If their dreams is to enter my military space, then so be it. The thing that matters the most is that I am doing my work in this base and I still provide warriors the necessary equipment they need, with or without the help of my own people. This conversation is over. You can go back to your residence. I need some time to rest myself after all.

04.09.1642

The Council of the Underground City

25:02

Everything seems the same as the day before now. Every action that has happened in this room at that time is happening again, with some of the members already being present and the rest coming one by one through the door. But it feels weird now. Though they hate each other as if they are actual enemies, you can still sense that they care if someone has a problem that concerns them. R4YMOND and M4EK0 are discussing silently while staring deadly at M1SH4M, who doesn't seem to really care as he continues to look over his papers. Though S4DA5HI seemed pretty mad and still refuses to care about what's happening besides work, EZR4H on the other hand knows that EM3RY has his problems as well. N3MES1O seem as he discusses with his assistant though, probably hiding his own complaints regarding his experiences. And XANTH3 only seems to be in a rather... bad mood these days, not complaining that much as he used to at every meeting.

And though they are the most important people in this whole city, even they seem to have their own problems which are obligated to endure until better times come. For a room full of idiots that everyone questions how they got to be rulers, they actually do seem as they are ordinary people at the very end, just like everyone else. Sure, they have the obligation to help this city till they give their lives or let someone else take the title...

[RY4N]-...Alright. I think we can start the meeting now that everyone has arrived. Any problems encountered so far? Or maybe you guys have any news?

[R4YMOND]-So far, my base hasn't managed to find anything new, but we did our best to remain and protect the entrances.

[RY4N]-I know that, Mr. R4YMOND. We still have the collaboration with Mrs. M4EK0's base and we do manage to talk in the meantime. I was rather asking if anything happened our city? We didn't bring that discussion for a while and it's not the best to avoid problems that might involve it.

[N3MES1O]-I am sorry to break your hopes, Master RY4N, but nothing is really new. There are some old matters my base needed to solve, but I do not believe they are as important as they sounds. On the other hand, I had a discussion yesterday and we have thought of another rule we might need to implement, with the approval of the Great Leader, of course.

[RY4N]-Oh? Can you tell me more about it, Mr. N3MES1O?

"...but they still remained victims of this cruel world."