Shortly after Vahn finished healing the woman who belatedly introduced herself as Ranfan, Gandr’s ears perked up from his position on the floor. This caught the attention of everyone else who was seated around the same table, interrupting their boardgame as Anak adopted a serious expression and asked, “Is it an enemy…?”
Hearing Anak’s question, Jung and Serra immediately became more focused, but, before either girl could express their willingness to come along, Gandr just shook his head, explaining, “Nah. Master just gave me an assignment. One sec.”
Following his brief explanation, Gandr performed a few quick hand signs, perfectly imitating Chakra thanks to the teachings of Hinata. Her internal energy had taken on the form of a refined version of Chakra the moment she received her True Name, and, while it might be a little difficult for others to emulate, Gandr benefitted a lot from being Templated from Vahn.
While it might not be nearly as potent as Source, Gandr was able to manipulate a form of energy they had decided to call Origin. This energy was effectively the ‘origin’ of all energy systems within the Records, so, while it was ultimately derived from Source, it was able to emulate all other forms of energy ‘except’ Source. This made Gandr into a super prodigy, as, with just a bit of effort, he was able to emulate both Chakra and Reiatsu. The former allowed him to live out one of Vahn’s dreams from childhood, pretending he was a Ninja, while the latter allowed him to drastically increase the amount of pressure he was able to exert onto others. He had also learned how to execute Yoruichi’s Shunko, but, as he was currently trying to develop the Flying Raijin Jutsu alongside Kushina, he had yet to truly master it.
With a quick eruption of shadowy black smoke, there were suddenly three Gandr’s present within the room. This surprised Jung and Serra quite a bit, especially when two of the three suddenly sank into their own shadows and disappeared. As for Anak, she had witnessed the technique several times by this point, so, while it always made her feel a little ‘strange’ to see multiple Gandr’s, she was already used to it.
Never one to restrain her curiosity, Jung performed her usual act of ‘accidentally’ bumping the table whenever she was in a losing position as she shouted, “There were three Gan-chans!? Let me fight one of them~!”
Since the game they were playing made use of numerous pieces and required a lot of setup, Gandr couldn’t help issue a small sigh as he shook his head and said, “Denied. Now, return to the board to the way it was or you won’t be getting any ice cream later.”
Though his refusal to fight made her feel annoyed, Gandr’s threat to take away her treats caused Jung to adopt a very fretful expression, paling slightly as she muttered, “You can’t take away my treats…” in an uncertain tone. Gandr, however, just smiled back at her with a very confident look in his eyes before crossing his arms in an, ‘Is that so?’ manner.
With sweets being the second most important thing in her mind, Jung began to feel a considerable amount of panic as she looked between Anak and Serra, asking, “Do either of you remember where the pieces were?”
Seeing the duo shake their heads, Jung felt like her world was beginning to collapse when a voice similar to a benevolent god’s suddenly emanated from the surroundings, stating, “I have an image that shows the board state. You can fix things while I discuss something with Gandr.”
Looking towards the voice’s origin, Jung found a blue-haired boy smiling back at her with a tiny blue cube in hand. Lighthouses had the ability to separate into smaller cubes that served a similar function to Observers. This reduced the processing power of the Central Lighthouse, but, at times like this, it was a very convenient function to possess.
After thanking Khun rather spiritedly for his assistance, Jung began scavenging around for missing pieces so that she could restore the board state. While this was going on, Gandr, shadowed closely by Anak, stood near Khun as the latter ask, “What happened? Can you tell me?”
Waving his hand as if it wasn’t a big deal, Gandr didn’t hesitate to casually explain, “Master wanted me to keep an eye on some girl named Ranfan. She has another companion, a Light Bearer named Fumiko, so I produced two Shadow Clones to keep an eye on them. If anything happens, I’ll let you know.”
This wasn’t the first time Vahn had Gandr protect a random Regular so Khun issued a relieved sigh before replying, “Thanks. We’re in the final stages of our plan so it makes me uncomfortable when things are happening without my knowledge.”
Nodding his head in understanding, Gandr took advantage of Anak’s propensity to stand within perfect petting range, habitually stroking her head as he said, “Yeah. No worries. I’m not going to do anything that might compromise your plans. Besides, I’m certain Master is feeling the urge to move on after healing people for the last thirty-five days. He gets antsy whenever he is in one place for too long, especially in a world like this…”
Getting the impression that Gandr was telling him to ‘hurry up’ with his plans, Khun adopted a wry smile as he said, “I understand. The Lo Po Bia Faction was really the only troublesome group left to deal with. We just need to negotiate with the Bo Pidau and Tu Perie Factions. As for the Ari Faction, you can always ask Serra to help mediate. The Arie and Ari Families share a common ancestor and they have always had strong ties with each other. The only reason I haven’t dealt with them before now is that they haven’t really been engaging in the same antics as the other Factions. They have always been a Family that disdains war and violence, so, while they are not entirely innocent, they are the Faction with the largest number of ‘unaffiliated’ Regulars.”
Though he was already aware of everything Khun was saying, as he was the one to gather most of the information, Gandr still listened until the end before saying, “I don’t mind asking Serra for help, but does that mean you’ve already made your decision…?”
Hearing the troubled undertones within Gandr’s voice, Khun couldn’t help but chuckle at the boy’s expense before explaining, “I’ve realized that your Master isn’t going to simply erase the Ten Great Families from existence. With that being the case, I figure it will be prudent of us to cultivate a few seedlings from each of the Ten Great Families. Besides, even if Serra is a bit cold towards others, it’s not like she doesn’t have-”
Before Khun could finish his explanation, Gandr adopted a somewhat accusatory look in his eyes as he crossed his arms and asked, “I guess that means you’ll be inviting Yihwa to come with us then?”
Appearing as though he had suffered some kind of mental attack, Khun seemed to lose his balance, hand rubbing his temples as he said, “No way…that woman is completely unhinged…”
With his expression morphing into a perfect deadpan, Gandr denied Khun any chance to run away from his own troubles, stating, “There is only one woman from the Yeon Family born every hundred years. Yihwa is around the same age as you so we’re unlikely to encounter another member of the Yeon Family without climbing much higher up the Tower. Besides, it’s not like that Ran kid is any less troublesome. Don’t play favorites just because he is family…”
Unable to refute Gandr’s words, Khun released an exasperated sigh as he realized the hole he had dug himself into. He would now have to tolerate the existence of an unstable woman who couldn’t even control her own flames for the next fifty to a hundred years. This didn’t even account for their interactions after climbing up the Tower…
Fortunately, though Yihwa was currently obsessed with ‘getting even’ with him, Khun was pretty sure she would mellow out after becoming a member of Vahn’s Familia and living inside the Little Garden for a few years. She had also shown an interest in Baam and Hatsu, so, while it annoyed him a little that she might aim for the former, Khun felt it was better than leaving him to Rachel. As for Hatsu, it was pretty difficult to make the man care about anything other than swordsmanship, but, as Vahn so often said, ‘anything is possible’.
After quickly formulating a couple of plans to dump Yihwa onto someone else, Khun began to feel a little less disheartened about the immediate future. He was also seriously considering becoming a woman in order to make some of his future plans easier to carry out, so it wasn’t like she would be able to force his hand. Rather, once she actually got to know him, Khun was confident that Yihwa would want very little to do with him. As for Ran, he might be a little unstable, but he was pretty easy to manage so long as you provided an opportunity for him to become stronger.
Approving of his own thoughts, Khun lightly nodded before adopting an ‘evil’ smile and saying, “I’ll make sure to convince her the next time she visits the House of Miracles. To that same end, I’ll leave Jung and Serra to you. I can’t imagine them refusing so good luck dealing with all their fans…”
Though neither Jung nor Serra particularly cared about their Factions, largely ignoring them ever since their defeat, that didn’t mean they were without allies and supporters. After all, while Jung might appear a little young, both she and Serra were girls with an extremely high pedigree. It was only natural for them to have a considerable number of fans and a team of their own.
What Khun seemed to be overlooking was the fact that both girls were insatiable battle junkies. He needed only to promise them that they would have plenty of strong opponents to fight. After that, they would be more than happy to ‘deal’ with their former teammates. This was especially true for Jung, as, prior to her defeat, she had been treating most of her stronger allies as punching bags and sparring partners…
Returning a smile of his own, Gandr retracted his hand from Anak’s head, evoking a frown from the latter as he turned back and casually asked, “Jung, Serra, do you want to climb the Tower with me? I promise you’ll have plenty of strong people to fight against.”
Hearing Gandr’s question, Jung immediately raised her hand, smiling as she exclaimed, “I want to go~!” in a cheerful tone. As for Serra, she actually averted her eyes to the side, a very subtle blush on her face as she muttered, “If you’re inviting me…I won’t refuse…” in a far more reserved manner.
Though the latter’s response made him feel a little helpless, Gandr managed to continue smiling as he explained, “You’ll need to inform the members of your faction. We’ll most likely be departing in a few days so make sure you wrap everything up before then. If you need any help, I can come along with you.”
Shaking her head, Serra gracefully rose to her feet, replying, “I will handle this on my own…” before turning around and promptly departing the room. This prompted Jung to consider doing the same, but, fearing she would lose out on her chance to obtain sweets, she haphazardly lifted up the edge of a sofa in order to search for the remaining pieces to the board game.
Finding the girl’s reaction rather amusing, Gandr couldn’t help but chuckle before deciding to give the girl some clemency, musing, “I’ll find the rest of the pieces. Go and take care of your business. Don’t worry, you will still be able to eat Phae’s ice cream.”
Like a wild animal that had just been freed from its bindings, Jung immediately bolted for the door with extreme speed, giggling childishly as she shouted, “You promised~!” while running down the stairs. This left only Khun, Gandr, and Anak left in the room, the latter still pouting until the shorter of the two boys smiled wryly and asked, “Want to watch anime with me?” before continuing to pat her head…
(A/N: Alternate Titles: ‘Jung thinks she’s sneaky, but she ain’t xD…’,’Two big names appearing out of nowhere!?’,’RIP Ha and Arie Factions…’)
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