Chapter 217: Strange Servant

At military base 6, a group of teachers were discussing the meeting they had with one of their Generals. Namely, it was about the inter-base tournament that was coming up soon.

Since Vicky and Pai weren't homeroom teachers, only extracurricular teachers, they weren't in charge of nominating first years for the event. Still, that didn't mean that it wasn't an important topic to them.

Sitting in their club room after hours, Vicky was practicing her kicks on a punching bag, while Pai was reading over a holographic display on his watch regarding the event. Even though they weren't the ones in charge of nominating students, they could make suggestions. After all, they were a pair of fighting teachers, they would've seen a large variety of students with all kinds of powers come their way.

"Honestly, I'm surprised the boys didn't stop visiting us after you've broken their limbs," Pai commented, "Several times in fact."

Vicky smirked, "Maybe I kicked their heads so hard they don't have any brain cells left. Either that, or all that sparing made their blood rush down below."

Pai stared, "Your mind is truly an enigma."

She threw an extra hard kick on the punching bag, knocking it into the walls. Then she dusted off her knees, and sighed, "One thing I do really miss about home is the better training material. These ones only last 5 minutes before they need to get replaced."

Pai rolled his eyes, "It's a miracle they keep us on their pay roll. In fact, how did our family even convince the military to let us in?"

Vicky pointed a finger up, about to respond, then paused, "I… Well… Good point."

As far as they knew, the Blade family was a secret to the world, except the leaders of the Big Four. However, despite being backed by Jack Truedream, the military wasn't aware of who they were, and they were sure they would've done proper background checks.

"Perhaps their background checks aren't very thorough," Pai said upon reflection, "We have seen quite a few people openly use their power on those clearly weaker."

"Maybe that's just some sort of strategy they use?" Vicky wondered, then punched her fists together, "Makes them tougher."

"I suppose so, but they certainly have a strange way of going about it," Pai then glanced out the windows where he could see the rest of the school, "Either way, convincing the military to bring both of us on so suddenly is one thing, but everyone in the inner castle at the same time?"

No one said anything for a few moments, then Vicky scratched at her eyebrow while thinking really hard.

"Could it be because of our butler?" Vicky brought up, "I know we have a different person in charge of outside communications, but he just has a weird way of convincing people. I mean, remember back when we were all banned from leaving the island?"

Pai thought back to that day, a few months prior to the present, where everyone was eating at the family dinner room. He remembered it like it was yesterday, due to the strangeness of the incident.

He was sitting alongside his sister, Vicky, while his parents sat opposite to him. At the end of the table was their youngest brother, and on the other was their grandfather, Hilston.

It was a normal evening. Everyone was slowly pecking at their food while grandfather ate his usual giant chicken leg. However, the meal shifted into strange when the butler, Brock, hurriedly walked up next to Hilston, and whispered news of some sort of scuffle.

Pai would later come to find out that it was from one of their family members having a scuffle with a Truedream traveler. One of the things the Blade family did was send members out to work as travelers, gaining money to fund the island, as well as scouting out for any potentially interesting abilities.

Of course, due to the secrecy of their family, most common members of the Big Four didn't know about them, except their leaders, so scuffles like this were bound to happen at some point.

The problem was, the Truedream member stole an expensive advanced tier beast crystal from a Blade member. A deathbat crystal.

As Hilston chewed on his chicken leg, contemplating what to do next with this information, Pai watched him closely. This was a level of disrespect that grandfather would never tolerate.

He stood up, casually, and with a relaxed look on his face.

"Those Truedreams are a little too green for my liking. It's about time I stretch my legs a little, wouldn't you agree?"

Brock, upon hearing his words, quickly walked up to the large man, "If I may make a suggestion…"

Hilston glared at the shorter man with a raised eyebrow, "You may continue."

Everyone else at the table stopped what they were doing to pay closer attention to the conversation. It wasn't very common for someone to make a suggestion to him and expect the man to listen.

Brock cleared his throat, "The Truedreams have a strong connection to the military, and we wouldn't want to reveal ourselves just yet. There is no need for such acts of violence."

Hilston crossed his arms, "And why would I allow myself to bow down to such a new group?"

Everyone at the table began to look much more closely now, not hiding the fact that they were eavesdropping.

"We could let the situation die down— they are a new member of The Big Four after all— but consider the nature of their group. They collect many rare and unique abilities just like we do, most likely have many that we haven't even discovered. We back down, but let the Truedreams continue to collect for us."

"Hmm…" Hilston simply hummed.

"Not only that, but due to the circumstances of the situation, they wouldn't even know it was us," Brock added, "They would take it as a random attack, not as retaliation from the Blades."

There was a long quiet pause, one that was so intense, Pai could've sworn he heard everyone's heart beat. At the same time, Pai was curious how the butler was handling the situation, but he couldn't see his facial expression as Hilston's large body blocked his field of vision.

"… I suppose that's true," Hilston finally responded, before returning to his food and everyone else did the same, "But I'll keep the island on lock until they bother us again."

"What!?" Vicky cried out, slamming her hands on the table, "Come on, do we really all have to be stuck here?"

"I've already decided, and besides—" Hilston took another bite out of his large chicken leg, chewing it, then finishing his bite, "I would not like my food to get cold."

"Ugh….." Vicky sighed, slumping down on her chair.

It wasn't just Vicky who was in a bad mood, as even their youngest brother gained a dour expression. Pai had come to the conclusion that this was because this was his one chance to get away from the island, something that he would later do of his own accord.

—

"That man has always been kinda strange, being able to convince grandfather to stay home. Even the whole island lockdown was odd," Vicky concluded, "but I dunno, maybe that's his job? Like you're always making sure I don't end up killing someone again."

"Vicky…" Pai spoke through gritted teeth, "Not so loud."

"It was an accident, and it's been years!" Vicky rolled her eyes, "But we're going to be heading home soon anyways. When we find him at the inter-base tournament, we'll take Sil back with us, and if we don't, our parents will."