Akira woke up from his deep sleep feeling fully rested even though he had slept in the rocking chair and not his bed.
Mileena was still sleeping next to him in her rocking chair. After such a long night of trying to take care of Wyt and Silvy, she looked like she would be out for several more hours.
He gently picked up Silvy who was still sleeping soundly on his chest and placed her in the crib next to Wyt. There was now a large damp spot on his chest where she had drooled all over while sleeping forcing him to have to change into different clothes.
He quietly exited the nursery room and entered his room to change. The sunlight was already starting to enter the room through the window and since there was much to do today Akira was forced to hurriedly change his clothes and wash his face before heading out to his first meeting.
Akira ran through the castle’s hallways with two pieces of buttered toast in his mouth.
“I’m late!” said Akira between bites of his tasty toast.
“Yap!” said Fluffball as he ran alongside Akira.
“AH!” “Waaaa!!!” The two nearly ran into several servants and maids as they rushed down the hallways and past several corners.
Akira abruptly stopped at the castle’s front entrance as a thought popped into his head.
“Why does this morning feel like I am the main character of a romantic comedy…”
“Yap!” said Fluffball matter-of-factly.
“My life is not a comedy! You know… Fluffball… you have been gaining some weight lately… I should have Mileena, Azura, and the other girls stop sneaking snacks to you. They can give them to Stubby and Pii’per!”
“Yap!” said Fluffball aghast at such a threat.
Dolph, Vilkas, and the other royal guards that were already waiting for Akira in the courtyard did not pay attention to the energetic and odd conversation the two were having as they had gotten used to their odd behavior.
Without much chatter, the guards all saluted Akira as he joined them. They surrounded Akira and exited the castle jogging through the early morning streets. The only other people that were already up so early were the shop and restaurant owners, farmers, and fishers who were all haggling over the bulk selling price for the fresh vegetables and fish that would be sold and used today.
At the docks, a flatbed boat was waiting for Akira and his guards, with skilled ease the boat took them to the south fort where his first meeting was to take place.
“Roar!” Grarr greeted Akira as he jumped off the boat and onto the fort’s small dock.
“Good to see you as well. Enjoying your free time now that you’re back?” asked Akira.
‘I have no time to play since there are so many young pups that I have to properly train and keep in line,’ said Grarr through his mental speech.
“Have the guest caused you or any of the cavalrymen any trouble?” asked Akira as he climbed onto Grrar’s back and headed towards the temporary tent camp that had been set up near the fort.
‘Nothing unusual, just a lot of gawking at us like the other people from nearby towns like to do.’
Sister Teresa and the recently converted demigods were all standing near the tents waiting for Akira.
Although they had several hours of rest, they still looked tired and worn out from the drastic changes that had happened to them the night before.
Akira walked up to the gathered minor lycans and held out his hand for sister Teresa to shake, which she grabbed and shook lightly. Akira did not care about the formality of differing ranks between him and her and tried to keep everything as simple as possible.
He sniffed the air and received an entirely different scent that normally came from the demigods, it was a more earthy wolf scent. Along with this change, Akira sensed a faint aura coming from each of them, it was definitely different from the day before, and would be hard for others to mistake them for enemies based on smell alone.
“Let’s head into the fort where we can have a proper breakfast to re-energize you guys while we catch up on everything that has happened and discusses important matters,” said Akira waving his hand towards the fort that had opened its gates.
Akira and his guards commandeered the officer’s cafeteria and seated the demigods who started to ravenously eat the food that had been prepared for them. They acted like a pack of wolves that had starved for several weeks during the harshest time of winter. Akira was a bit embarrassed watching them as they shoved large cuts of meat and eggs into their mouths.
Sister Teresa, unlike the rest of her followers, kept her calm and cool composure while eating and chatting with Akira, who was now unsure if feeding demigods was even necessary since they were semi-immortal.
“We need to eat just like anyone else,” said Sister Teresa as she watched Akira staring at the others.
Akira only raised an eyebrow as he continued to eat his egg and toast breakfast.
“I have already finished creating the guild and everyone here has joined it. I took inspiration from last night’s ceremony and named it the [Full Moon] guild,” said Teresa between bites of the gooey oatmeal that she was eating.
“That simple? No hoops to jump through or committees to decide if you can or can’t make a guild?” asked Akira.
“It’s too complicated to explain. You wouldn’t understand the explanation as it had to do with demigod stuff. Let’s just say it cost us a lot of gold.”
Akira nodded in understatement and then asked, “How is the size of the guild compared to the other guilds?”
“We’re little more than a hunting team compared to the other guilds. A weak one at that, with only Rondie and the few others strong enough to somewhat hold their own in a serious fight,” said Sister Teresa as she blew on a spoonful of hot oatmeal. “With the large influx of demigods coming here for the major current events, the small guilds and hunting parties that once ran roughshod all over this continent are being dismantled or swallowed up by larger guilds that are forming and fighting for territory up in the north. In short, as I have said before, don’t expect us to be able to fight head-on with the major guilds in the north. The best we can do is help keep the area safe as well as support Kodria’s main army if there comes a time that it is mobilized.”
Akira understood all of this even though he had spiced up his speech a bit for the grand elders and clan chiefs. The majority of the new minor lycans were even weaker than Kodria’s soldiers.
“What can you tell me about your experience from last night and any changes you have noticed?”
“Besides the obvious changes to our bodies. All of our previous…,” sister Teresa paused as she tried to think of a proper way to explain what she was thinking. “… occupations have changed.”
“You all have day jobs? I thought you just roamed around and did whatever you wanted.”
“Yap!” said Fluffball agreeing with Akira’s assessment while he chewed on a large bone which was now cleaned of the large chunk of meat that had been attached to it only a short time ago.
“It’s not like that. It is a system of classification we demigods use to differentiate the type of skills and fighting techniques we each use. Like differentiating between craftsmen such as an armorer or a swords smith.”
“Oh… I see,” lied Akira, “and is this a big deal? Or…”
“Of course it is! Normally we are stuck with our… occupation forever. I was a Cleric but now I have become a holy shaman! There have only been a few random encounters where someone was able to change it and all of them can be counted on one hand. In each one of those events, it was only 1 person. I am telling you now, rumors of last night’s ceremony where a small guild’s worth of demigods was able to change their occupation has already taken the demigod community by storm.”
“And you’re warning me of this because…?” asked Akira.
“With such news, Kodria will be seeing an uptick in encounters with demigods. I am not entirely sure how it will all play out for good or bad. But you can be sure that there will be several … interesting people that come here.”
“Noted, I’ll have the patrols strengthened and made aware of the possibility of meeting more demigods in our territory. Is there anything else that you have noticed that has changed?”
“Several, the main one that comes to mind above the others is this constant connection in my mind that I feel while near you.”
Akira looked at her with an odd expression but as he thought about it he realized the constant itch he was feeling in his mind was probably from the many connections with the minor lycans. If he focused on one of them he was able to get a basic and primitive feeling of the target’s emotions they were currently feeling.
This was quite troublesome to Akira as he realized the significance of what the connections meant.
“Now that you mention it I also feel a connection to everyone. Do you feel any emotions or thoughts on your side?” asked a worried Akira.
“No,” said Sister Teresa shaking her head. “It is more like a stern will that we can not go against. If we are to help you with this issue we will need your permission to set one of your villages, towns, or cities under your control as an anchoring point.”
“… and this does what?”
“It will allow us to return to that spot if we are to die during a fight. Right now many of us are anchored to various places in the north and they are all slowly getting taken over by enemy forces. If any of us who went through such a thorough transformation by changing into a demon race ended up in their territory, we would be captured and held by the guilds for interrogation and likely never be able to escape them easily.”
“I’ll talk to the grand elders about this.”
Akira and sister Teresa continued their talk for nearly a half hour before Akira was caught off guard by a system message interrupting their conversation.
Ding!
-
New multi-phased mission received! Full moon guilds rise to the top!
-1. Build up the guild with a minimum number of at least 20 members.
-2. Level the guild members to at least the average level of Kodria soldiers.
The reward will depend on the final results.
Do you accept: Y / N?
“What is it?” asked Sister Teresa.
“Yap?” asked Fluffball, his head cocked to the side as he stared at Akira who was acting weird and had several expressions crossing his face.
“The previous plans for you and the others have changed. In a few days after I get everything set up, the [Full Moon] guild will be starting hell training.”
