"If you're so good with this, how come you don't have a girlfriend yet?"
Calyx felt a hole forming in his stomach as he began to doubt his mentor's claims of boundless charisma. Perhaps it was just from the unfamiliar territory of talking to women, but regardless, Calyx was regretting signing up for this.
"Relax." Yaman O'Harrison said as he raked a hand through his hair dramatically. "That's not because I can't get a date. It's because I don't settle for a woman who doesn't meet my love for the art of crafting. Few women are worthy."
The comment came off as slightly narcissistic to Calyx, but he paid it no mind. At first, Calyx found the blacksmith's occasional gloats to be annoying, but in the past month he realized that while Yaman talked big, he had the evidence to back it up. The kind of man who wasn't humble, but wasn't wrong.
Ever since Calyx arrived at Ragon, he had trained harder than he ever had in Profectus. Monday through Friday had them training all day, and there was optional (but heavily encouraged) training on Saturdays.
It had been around four and a half weeks, and Calyx felt like the meat equivalent of an overcooked noodle. He was used to school teaching him by a clear metric, not pushing him to do as much as he could.
Since Tharon had opted to train on Saturday, Lania was a nag, and Ana was too busy to ever pay any attention to someone as far below her as he was, he spent his Saturdays with Yaman, the only person he had met so far in this world who seemed laid back.
"Look over there."
Calyx turned towards where Yaman was looking, and he saw a trio of young women chatting. Yaman started moving towards them before Calyx even had time to assess the situation, leaving him stumbling behind to catch up.
"Hello, ladies." Yaman stretched as they noticed him, and Calyx tried to adjust his posture to be more natural.
"Get lost." The girl in the middle said apathetically, turning back to her friends.
"Pardon?" Despite the sharp rebuke, Yaman seemed completely unfazed by the development.
"You're Elna's ex, right?" The girl asked, annoyed.
"Ah." Yaman took on a more sympathetic tone. "I'm sorry."
Yaman turned around and sighed, gesturing for Calyx to come along with him. Not knowing what else to do, he followed.
"What was that about?" Calyx asked the moment they were out of earshot of the girls.
"I was not always as much of a ladies' man as I am now." Yaman sighed, leaning against the wall. "Hearts are quite fragile things. Elna was the first girl I dated, and the one I fumbled the hardest."
"What did you do?" Calyx began to become concerned.
"Well, I led her on too much, I'm afraid." Yaman's sighing was beginning to feel repetitive. "Back then I didn't know how to do otherwise. When we broke up she didn't take it well, and since she was quite the social butterfly she had many friends who now loathe me."
"You could have told me a bunch of people hate you before you went and brought me along for this." Calyx said, annoyed.
"I don't worry about things I can't change."
"Well, we should do something else then."
Truthfully, Calyx was happy to jump at the opportunity to ditch the activity, and led Yaman down towards the blacksmith's own shop.
It was closed on Saturdays, so the shop was empty with the exception of the two guys wandering in. Since the guards that were usually there were off duty, it was locked up tight, showing the blacksmith's dedication to security (or paranoia).
"Hey, look." Yaman looked back and saw a note that had been passed underneath the door while they were gone. "That's a hazard."
"The note?" Calyx said as Yaman began to examine the crack under the door, likely looking for a way to patch it.
"Oh, yeah." He picked up the piece of paper, reading it. "It's from your cute servant lady."
"Cute isn't how I'd describe her." Calyx came closer to try to see the note. "But if you want to take her off our hands, I have no objections."
"Nah, she's too uptight for my taste," Yaman read the note. "And it seems like you have a meeting to attend."
"Huh?" Calyx grabbed the slip of paper.
Sure enough, in overly fancy handwriting, Calyx was instructed to be at a meeting with the general soon.
"Great." Calyx groaned halfheartedly. "They could have told me beforehand."
"You should feel lucky." Yaman said. "Very few people get to meet with the general."
"My brother has met with her like… three times already?" Calyx folded the note and put it in his pocket. "At this rate he's going to be promoted to her right-hand man or something."
"Ana's curious, not stupid." Yaman patted him on the back condescendingly. "She'd never give an undeserved rank just because of her curiosity. Besides, her boss wouldn't allow it."
"I was being sarcastic." Calyx rolled his eyes. "Didn't know she had a boss, though."
"Technically, everyone in the army reports to the king, but field marshal Clyde is higher than her. He's a scary guy."
Calyx thought to himself for a minute, blankly looking at the note.
"Well, I should probably get going." Calyx said, turning towards the door. "See you later."
"I will, given you didn't do something to get you executed." Yaman waved. "I'd give it a fifty-fifty."
~=~=~=~=~=~
The meeting room Calyx was led to was strange, to say the least. It had the same brick structure as the rest of the fortress, but everything was completely bare, which wasn't what he'd expect from a meeting room.
The dull wooden table in the center of the room was rectangular, and both ends had small, wide brick cylinders. Tharon and Lania were both waiting on seats at the far end of the table with Ana at the very end.
"You're late." Lania said as he came into the room with a smug grin on her face.
"Only by a few seconds." He sighed as he went to sit down on the seat beside Tharon.
"Impunctual nonetheless."
Ana cleared her throat and Lania quieted down.
"Thank you all for coming." Ana said, as if they had a choice. "I received a request from Lady Hiva of Profectus to have you three meet with her."
"Lady Hiva's here?" Calyx asked, surprised.
"No." Ana turned to the cylindrical object in front of her, cupping the top as it began to emit a small light.
"What's that?" Calyx asked as she took her hands off of it, and it began making a slight windy noise.
"A portal to Profectus." The general angled it towards them, revealing an eye staring through the other end. "Portals cost an incredibly high amount of energy to create, so we only use ones small enough to let noise through for communication."
"It's been some time." Hiva's familiar chilling tone said through the small device, the only visible part of her being her lips. "Firstly, I'd like your report, Lania."
Lania took a rolled up piece of paper out of her pocket, and slid it through the small opening.
Calyx remembered Hiva saying something about Lania reporting back to her when they left for the army, so he wondered what she could have possibly written about them.
"Now, Ana dear." Hiva said as Ana put the device down on the table, "I would like to speak to these three in private."
"I'm afraid that wouldn't be possible." Ana leaned closer to the portal to make herself clear. "All meetings held in this room must be supervised. Don't mind my presence."
"Tsk. Strict as ever, Ana." Hiva's finger reached through the portal towards Ana's chin, but she jerked back before it made contact, eliciting a slight laugh from Hiva.
"No matter." She said, "You may also be important in this conversation."
"And what conversation would that be?"
"The one about bringing the brothers back to Profectus."
Calyx's chest dropped. He didn't want to have to relocate again.
"That won't be happening." Ana sighed. "I'm sure you find their situation interesting, but I've found that they don't have much new information."
"All the more reason to return them." Hiva said. "Both are very remarkable, especially Calyx. He's more proficient at handling Vitei than some spirits I've seen."
"They're still important for finding out the truth behind these bizarre reincarnations." Ana argued.
"And that investigation could be done by me at Profectus."
"Ladies, ladies." Calyx piped up, trying to ease the tension. "I know that me and my brother are a hot commodity right now, but shouldn't we get a say in this?"
"You aren't wrong." Hiva said. "They should have autonomy to decide whether they stay with you or return to Profectus to work closely with me and discover their origins. Besides, the army isn't an organization well suited to someone like Calyx."
"We should send Calyx back." Lania suggested. "Ana can keep Tharon, and Hiva gets the rat. It's a win-win."
"We're a package deal." Calyx folded his arms. "If I go, he goes."
"And we're staying." Tharon said with a sense of conviction he rarely showed. "We're better suited for the army, and we've already moved around too much."
"Are you sure we should jump to that without considering the option first?" Calyx whispered to Tharon. While he dreaded the idea of reconditioning himself again, Profectus had a much less rigorous schedule, and much more measurable work.
"You can consider it." Tharon whispered back. "I'm staying regardless."
Something about that answer ticked Calyx off, but he didn't linger on it.
"Their answer is final." Ana said as she looked through the portal. "For the foreseeable future, the brothers will continue learning at Ragon Fortress."
Ana closed the lid to the portal before Hiva could answer, finalizing the decision.
"That was short." Calyx noted after a beat of silence. "This meeting could have just been an email."
The joke only served to get Ana and Lania looking at him funny, so he shrank back.
"Aside from that," Ana cleared her throat, "I also came to give you your first official mission into Gluttony's domain."
Calyx sat up straighter upon hearing that. He had been doing so much empty training that he was aching to do some productive work.
"We found a camp of demons on the outskirts that needs taking care of." Ana told them. "They're all one or two-eyed, so you should be able to handle them."
"Eyed?" Calyx wished people would be more clear before throwing out terminology he wasn't briefed on.
"Demon rank." She said, "Every eye indicates a higher level."
The brothers nodded.
"The camp is obstructing the path we're making into the domain." She explained as she showed a small map of the discovered areas of hell. "Demons aren't smart fighters, so you should be able to out-strategize them."
"Are you sure we're up to it?" Tharon said as he looked at the map. "We almost got overwhelmed by a single one-eyed guy last time."
"I've seen you in training." Ana said. "You've improved greatly since you last went there. Besides, I'd like Lania to accompany you two."
"Yes, ma'am." Lania curtsied for the general the second Ana glanced towards her. Be it Profectus or the army, Calyx supposed Lania would always fold faster than a sheet of paper at an origami class in the face of authority.
"I trust you to keep them alive." Ana came closer to Lania and looked deeply into her eyes, as if assessing her, before backing up again, leaving Lania fidgeting, flustered, and insecure by the time she finished.
"Just hope none of the demons look too deeply into her eyes." Calyx scoffed.
"Her presence is just overwhelming, okay?" Lania whispered angrily at him as she regained her balance.
"How'd you work with Hiva if overwhelming presences are your weakness? That lady could stare down a dragon!"
"Shut up." Lania rolled her eyes and poked Calyx's forehead. "You're the one that can't take a single thing seriously."
Ana cleared her throat, and they all looked back up at her. Despite their quips and banter, she didn't seem in the least bit annoyed. Instead, she shone with detached thought, staring straight through them.
"You two don't have time to not get along. The mission starts early tomorrow morning, and it will only end once every demon in that camp is dead."