“I knew we should have gotten an extra table,” I grumbled as I dodged another flying piece of meat.

  Vadeem, Noel, and the twins were engaging in another battle to see who could horde the most food in our BBQ session, and unfortunately, that meant that the rest of us were at the mercy of their bickering. Sauces, vegetables, and bits of cooked goodies were flying everywhere as their battle for conquest reached its climax, with neither side giving up an inch of ground. Noel was more dexterous with her chopstick handling, using both her hands skillfully, but she was up against three opponents. Her vain attempts to win over Yoona and I to her side remained fruitless, as we all tried to eat in peace.

  “Agreed,” the high schooler sighed, putting new slice of beef onto the grill. “I’ll book a larger venue next time.”

  “Good idea..." her brother said.

  "Anyway,” I continued, still doing my best to ignore the chaos to my side, “Isn’t someone going to fill me in on how we’re able to build Satan’s castle as our base?”

  “Did those two really tell you nothing?” Jae-Hyun asked.

  I shook my head.

  He sighed and pinched his brows. “Of course they didn't… Is the summary fine, Walter?”

  I nodded and glared at the two useless members of the guild; they didn't even notice my gaze. “Better than nothing.”

  Jae-Hyun stifled a sigh again before answering. “Remember those points we earned back in the fourth Trial?”

  “Yeah, the one where we got 500 each.”

  “Those are the main currency that’s used to promote each city-state’s development. The short point of it is that the elected ruler can use it to grow Pandora. It'll be our main form of currency going forth, at least on the city level.”

  “Hence the floating castle,” Marcus added. "Alas, we all must endure the circumstances so that we may better serve the Lord's final will."

  “Alright, so far so good,” I muttered, “I suppose it makes sense that we’d be able to customize the place that’s our base.”

  Jae-Hyun nodded again. “Right, and as you already know, we’ll be in constant conflicts in the future with the other cities, especially now that we’ve chosen our intended route. The system will start to give out tests and side missions in the coming months, ones that any city-state can partake in.

  “Ah, so they’re going to force conflict before we grow complacent.” I shook my head. “Guess we can’t treat our time in Pandora as a rest period between Trials for much longer.”

  “Exactly,” The Regressor continued, “Soon, as our Ascension grows, our activities here will outweigh the Trials we face.”

  “In other words,” I grumbled, “We’ll be targeted from basically everyone going forth, right? But what about other evil organizations out there?”

  Noel rolled her eyes. “Have you seen rival evil overlords work with each other?”

  I sighed. “Yeah, good point…”

  “Once again, there are pros and cons between the two paths.” The Regressor clenched his fists. “The Good alliances can join forces and fight as a whole, and while in theory, that kind of cooperation would output more force than any one individual faction…”

  “There’s no way that kind of cooperation would exist in real life,” I finished for him.

  “No,” the Regressor stated, “I have seen the world where good intentions are ruined by greed and pride.”

  “Hence we’re eeeevviiillll!” Noel added with gusto. “All we gots to do is survive the raids and stuff, and we get way more rewards as a bonus!”

  “Not to mention the fact that we’ll have to root out uprisings and civil unrest,” Vadeem added, “But I guess we don’t need to worry about that with Walter here.”

  Noel raised a chopstick. “All hail the shadow overlord!”

  “Okay, okay,” I grumbled, “I thought we established that we’d avoid praising me so much.”

  That got a few more chuckles before I gave them the side eye.

  “Anyway, I get that part, but is the freaky floating castle the best choice? We’d have a lot more time to prepare if we got something that wasn’t so…”

  “Awesome?” Noel chimed in, her eyes glistening.

  “Conspicuous,” I corrected. “We’d be on everyone’s radar the second those missions are announced.”

  “I would have chosen something else if I had the choice as well,” the Regressor conceded. “But I didn’t buy the castle with contribution points. This was something that I obtained with the privileges of coming in first, it would be impossible to acquire this soon otherwise.” He held up a hand. “And before you ask, the castle’s the best defensive structure around. With enough investment, we’ll be safe from all but the largest raids.”

  “All it’s missing is a couple of towers and a floating red eyeball…” I grumbled.

  “You jest,” Vadeem said with a smirk. “But apparently we can add one of those as well. It’s one of our long-term goals for surveillance once we grow our territory more.”

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  I shook my head, partly in disbelief, “They got huge volcanos and cursed rings as well there?”

  Noel’s eyes lit up again. “Actually-”

  I grumbled and kneaded my forehead. “Never mind, I don’t need to hear that answer.”

  “Boo!”

  I sighed and gave Noel another dubious look. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to send her in with me to the Hospital… and as if she read my mind, she pouted even harder.

  “Don’t think I can’t read your expressions, little bro! Gosh, I thought you’d learn to trust my amazing abilities by now!”

  “I do…” I said, honestly so far, “It’s just…”

  “It’s just you act like a goddamn idiot most of the time!” Vadeem answered for me. “But don’t worry, Walter. This is an official mission, and you’re our boss now. This idiot’s brain starts functioning properly once she’s on an official business.”

  “Hey! My brain-”

  I wasn’t totally convinced, however. While I trusted Noel’s ability to kill things, but for everything else…?

  Vadeem shook his head. “Remember when we were acting out that little play? The one where we dropped that ruby?”

  Huh, that felt like a lifetime ago, come to think of it. But Noel was acting rather unlike herself then. I had thought that it was because she was playing a role that she actually enjoyed the act. Even then, she never had to act like that for more than a few hours at a time, but this would be an extended stay for at least 6 days. Aside from that brief moment of competence, she’d been rather aloof and carefree.

  Vadeem saw my hesitation and sighed. “Look, if you don’t have confidence in the braindead idiot - not that I blame you of course - then at least have confidence in me. I promise you that Noel will behave in that strange Hospital you’re being sucked into.”

  Noel’s normal smirk eased and she gave me a rare look of… sympathy? Concern? “You’re my little bro, little bro. As a famous bald guy once said, we’re family. Trust me, I won’t screw around when so much is at stake. Not after all you’ve done for us.”

  I couldn’t help but shake my head when I saw her determination, so unlike her normal self. Well, maybe it was more like I trusted Vadeem’s judgment since he’d worked with her before. I’ll believe in their ability this time.

  “Alright,” I said, “I believe you, Noel. Let’s smash through this damned mission so we can do our actual work here.”

  Noel gave me a wide grin, which would have been lovely if there weren’t chucks of BBQ stuck between her teeth. “I knew you trusted me, little bro!”

  Vadeem chuckled as well. “And I’ll make sure that I smack some sense into her if she decides to stop using her brain halfway through.”

  “Just be careful,” Yoona added with an uneasy smile of her own. “Although I suppose I shouldn’t worry too much if it's you three going.”

  “Yes, sister Yoona,” Ev- uh, I mean Ana said.

  “Big Muscle will take care of the others like he does us.” Her sister added.

  Marcus, who’s usually silently in the background, decided to speak up as well. “And I know that Walter will keep everything organized and under control. Have faith, Yoona. I would pray for their opponents.”

  “Jokes aside,” the Regressor said, this tone back to being serious, “Are you all ready for the task ahead?”

  “Yup yup!” Noel said with the same carefree smile as before. “Little bro boss - huh, I really gotta think of a new nickname for him now, little boss bro or little bro boss is too much of a mouthful… what will-”

  “Focus, Noel,” Vadeem grumbled, jabbing his friend on the side with a finger. “This is why Walter thinks you're an idiot… even if it’s true most of the time.”

  The redhead rubbed her side. “Fine, fine. But Walter did in fact tell us what to expect. We go in, sign up with the receptionist and turn into super baddies, fight off the aliens and then we win and come back. Easy enough.”

  I gave the redhead a dubious look. “Uh… There’s a bit missing in there, but I guess that’s the gist of it.”

  My big friend sighed. “God, I swear she’s not that dumb.” He turned to me with pitying eyes. “Just… just trust me when I say that she did hear your explanations. She’s memorized it, even if her conscious brain can’t access any of that information.”

  Noel pouted. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Jae-Hyun seemed to be pleased enough with the explanation and nodded. “I know. Noel’s way of communication has always been…”

  “Awesome!” She chimed in, completely ignoring the mood of the room.

  “Like that,” he said. “But if Vadeem’s word isn’t enough, then I hope mine is, Walter. If she’s able to summarize the information to that extent, then she knows it. And if she knows it, then she’ll do her absolute best.”

  “D’aww, thanks, boss!”

  “Okay, okay,” I conceded, “I trust Noel. And to answer your original question, Jae-Hyun, I’ve made all of the necessary prep in the last few days. I already know the general layout of the Hospital, and roughly the nature of our enemies, so we’re fine.”

  “Good, then that’s the end of the official business,” the Regressor drank the last of his drink and grinned uncharacteristically. “Let’s feast!”

  * * *

  One of Q’s men came in the middle of the night to let me know that we’d be leaving at 8 am sharp the next day. I relayed that information to the others and made my final prep before departure. I wouldn’t be able to come back here until the 6 days were up, and although it’d only be around 4ish days here, I was still a little nervous about leaving everything behind for that long. I was sure that I made my intentions clear to my growing faction of rebels, including several fail safes and instructions to the Regressor should things go wrong, but I was taking away a large part of the Abyss guild’s key fighting force… What if-

  “It is fine, my Host,” Noe assured, “You have done everything in your power to ensure that your endeavors here are taken care of. It isn’t like you to worry so much about something so insignificant.”

  I sighed and realized that it was true. I’ve been dealing with so much more with so much less support, and I’ve never worried like this before. What was different this time?

  “It is because you are no longer on the back foot, dear Walter,” Noe answered for me, her voice soothing, “We are no longer the weak and confused Aspirant from before. This is the first time that you have true companions to depend on, and when your actions will have consequences outside our own existence.”

  Huh, I guess you're right. I never thought about it like that.

  “Remember that you are human, Walter.”

  Yeah… I guess I am. Out of all the infinite races Awake-Walter chose, it was this one. I’ll trust that I’ve made the right choice. Thanks Noe.

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