"Eugene? Why'd you call me?"

"Why did I call you?! WHY WEREN'T YOU IN CLa.s.s?!" He shouted from the other side.

I held the phone away from my ears speechless.

Bro, that almost burst my eardrums.

"I didn't feel like going. I just skipped."

"Yuri, you can't just...whatever, where are you right now? I'll go pick you up. School's almost over anyway." Eugene said after calming down.

"I'm at home, where else?" I lied.

Damian and Tania suppressed their smirks while listening to my conversation.

"What a shabby home you have, Milady," Damian whispered under his breath and Tania chuckled.

Well, they seem to be getting along fine. That's a relief.

"Really?" Eugene asked again with suspicion.

"Duh. Where else would I go? Some secret club to gamble?" I confirmed while rolling my eyes.

"Yeah...I feel like that's what you would do, actually."

As expected of Eugene, he knows me well.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me. Did I miss anything important?"

"Not really. The school gave a small update on the dorms and also about some event happening soon. I wasn't really listening."

"Alright, see you later then. Don't tell my family I skipped cla.s.s."

"But your fath-"

"Ah, sorry I'm about to dive into Sapphire. Contact me in the game."

I hung up.

I really don't like being reminded of how overprotective my father is.

I don't like the feeling of being caged up. I understand that he's worried about me and everything but it's suffocating.

I mean, Joker already knows anyway right? Nothing I can do about it, I might as well just do what I want. j.a.pan is a safe place for me for now.

I'm not that naive to believe that it's all over. I'll prepare for any possible unexpected occurrences accordingly.

I turned to Damian and Tania.

"I'll be leaving. I need to get back home. Tania, contact me if you have any problems okay? Here's a card, use it as you wish. You don't need to worry about it running out."

I handed Tania one of my never used bank cards. It should have at least a couple hundred thousand yen in it.

I never use the money in the first place so I don't care about giving it to someone else.

Yeah yeah, the privileges of being born into a rich family.

Although, the money in that card was from when I was playing around with stocks.

"T-thank you very much!"

I smiled and quickly left the building. I checked the time, the final school bell would ring soon. I need to make sure I arrive home before Eugene.

I made my way to a more populated area of the city and hailed a taxi. I made sure to pay him extra to speed up a bit.

As they say, money makes the world go round.

The driver gladly did as I asked, he seemed weirdly excited as well.

I can never understand taxi drivers.

-----------------------------------------

I arrived home in just a couple of minutes thanks to the lack of traffic. Eugene hadn't made it back yet so I changed and dove into Sapphire.

I'm excited to see Whit okay? I definitely didn't do this to avoid Eugene. Yup.

My surroundings changed and I materialized in the middle of the village where I had logged off.

Huh? It was oddly quiet.....

I rose my guard and scanned the silent village. Not a single soul was in sight.

Shouldn't things be busier since the deserted knights were going to be implemented?

Suddenly a loud roar resounded from further away. I immediately started running towards the sound.

I hope nothing happened to the villagers...

Don't misunderstand me though.

I don't want to fail my quest.

And if you call me a tsundere then I WILL kick you.

I got closer and closer to the sound. It wasn't that far away so I arrived quickly.

For some reason, the sound seems less like a roar and more like...a cheer?

Arriving at a clearing, I saw all the villagers crowded around a circle where two men who I recognized as the deserters were standing within.

Hm? Are they having a duel?

The crowd suddenly fell silent again.

The two men created some s.p.a.ce between themselves and wore grim expressions.

"I'm totally finis.h.i.+ng you here, Rocky." The handsome man with fiery red hair and blazing eyes stated with a grin.

"Oh, just try your best Vanir." Replied the buff black-bearded bear-like man facing him.

Ohhhh! My blood is getting pumped up. I've never actually seen NPCs duel before! And level 40s at that!

I held my breath as I watch the two men flash and charge at each other. They were so quick that I could barely see their figures.

As expected of those with higher stats.

Speaking of stats, I haven't used my skill points yet huh.....I need to do that soon. Keeps slipping my mind.

I threw those thoughts out of my head as the two men simultaneously drew their fists back mid-leap. The crowd of villagers and deserters was cheering again.

"Rocky! You got this! Avenge me! Be the captain!"

"Oi Vanir! Don't embarra.s.s me now!"

"You got him Vanir! Show him your guts! You deserve to be the captain instead!"

"I bet 10 gold on you Rocky! Show that pretty boy who's boss!"

They're using a duel to decide the new captain? I guess that makes sense. These two must be the strongest ones.

With a large shout, the two men struck out their fists and...

""ROCK. PAPER. SCISSORS!"" The two men roared.

I fell from the tree.

Vanir had his hand wide open while Rocky had his fist clutched.

The crowd went wild as Vanir held up his open hand in victory and was stormed by his friends. Rocky could only look on with a helpless smile.

"That's our boy! Hahaha!"

"Hail captain Vanir!"

"YEAHHHHH!!!"

"Hey, you owe me 10 gold by the way."

"Screw you."

...

I'm speechless.

I don't understand anymore.

My eardrums hurt.

This village really just...surprises me all the time.

To think I was worried about them when they were all cheering about a rock paper scissors fight!

I feel betrayed! My pure emotions have been wasted!

Where is justice?! What am I supposed to do with this built-up excitement?

"Oh? Isn't this Little Lynx over here? Hahaha! When did you arrive, boy?" Whit guffawed after finally noticing me sprawled out under the tree. "Taking a nap? The weather is indeed quite nice!"

His loud voice immediately attracted the attention of the others in the clearing. I instantly became the center of attention.

"Hm? That's the guy who killed off the ex-captain?"

Yes, that's me.

"Seems like it, he looks pretty weak though. Skinny....."

Why thank you.

"Well, he did use poison after all. It's a bit cowardly...."

...

"Hey, shut up. He's still our benefactor nonetheless. None of us could have beat the ex-captain. He still saved us from that h.e.l.l. I would have been willing to use poison as well."

I ignored the whispers, got up, and dusted myself off.

"You managed to successfully convince the deserters?" I asked Whit.

"Indeed! Everything you said was spot on! A few of them resisted but were quickly wiped out by the willing ones. These people here are now part of our village's first-ever defense group. They were choosing their new captain just now."

I hummed in response and check out the knights. The majority were men but I saw a couple of females as well.

"Didn't you find the duel thrilling?! I've never seen anything like it before, to be honest." Whit said with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Ah, yeah. I've never seen anything like it before either...."

And I don't want to.

Since the duel was over everyone started heading back towards the village. Many of the younger children were happily challenging each other to 'duels' on the way back.

I really hope this type of duel doesn't become a tradition.

Mark my words, I'm ditching this place if it does.

Whit proceeded in telling me about their plans for the knights.

"So far we've managed to squish in a few for every household, but we'll need to create a barracks soon. Not to mention, we'll also need a training ground for them and also find a way to get a stable food supply. Also, squads should be organized, ranks, patrol schedules...the villagers also want to create a wall around this place. Now that the village population has doubled we'll also need a better-organized system to make decisions faster....."

...Don't tell me....

"So then, Little Lynx, we'll be counting on you!"

...I had a feeling this was going to happen.