“Cheers, everyone!” Bena said. “A toast, to newfound riches!”

  [Collective Academy Funds Account]

  [$1209.71]

  The four members of Landsknecht, finally recovered from their devastating centipede induced marathon, were gathered in their favourite gathering spot– the noodle restaurant.

  Each of them had a huge bowl (large size!) of premium, freshly made noodles. It was the most luxurious thing they ever experienced at the academy.

  The group was all smiles and laughter, a stark contrast to the rest of the noodle shop. Frankly, everyone else seemed kinda pissed off. For one, the Landsknecht was being very, very loud. Actually, it was mostly Bena. For another, everyone knew who they were now.

  The centipede fiasco ended up on the interacademy news. ‘The centipede incident’, they were calling it, was trending at the top of the academy’s social network and showed no signs of dying down.

  “Thats them,” a whisper said. “The Landsknecht, they’re called.”

  “They don’t look very strong. Aren’t they still ranked in the tens of thousands?.”

  “It doesn’t matter. There's rumours they’re secretly backed by one of the guilds.”

  Similar rumours floated around the group wherever they went, but to the Landsknecht, they didn’t care. Any publicity was good publicity, and ‘destroyed a guild base on orders of another guild’ was a much better reputation than ‘the guys that ran around killing people’.

  Bena was recalling the story of how Thomas threw his sword at the big bird. Lucian was talking about Bena’s perfect deflection of the icy feather barrage. Viviana was curious too. How did she do that? Just what kind of skill does Bena have?

  The conservation continued to flow as they ordered more drinks to the table. They made fun of how Viviana barely threw out any frostburst organs to slow down the centipede, but instantly threw that Ferric Meridian girl (Viviana didn’t remember her name) at it.

  Viviana sipped her drink. She never had alcohol before. She found it pleasant. Alcohol and noodles. What a peculiar combination. In any case, she was having fun, she thought.

  I can tell that we’re all happy. Yes, it’s normal to be happy for accomplishments. And we completed our contract. This makes sense.

  Landsknecht kept talking as Bena made a list of all the things they were going to buy. “A mattress! Maybe even a bedframe!”

  They laugh at the stories. The jokes. I don’t really get them.

  Viviana smiled as they talked. “I’m gonna get some air for a bit,” she said. Nobody stopped her.

  She left the restaurant, stretching as walked out the door. She turned a corner, just a quick step away from the facade of the little noodle shop tucked in a dim corner of the academy campus.

  “Hey, Selenne.”

  The girl leaning on the side of the building blinked, black eyes catching the light of a street lamp nearby. “You saw me?”

  “You’re not very conspicuous.”

  Selenne placed her hands on her hips, frowning. “I literally just walked by, taking a glance through the window.”

  “Yeah, but you’re easy to recognize.”

  Selenne blinked. “Thats not true. I’ve been watching you guys for quite some time, and this is the only time you’ve seen me.”

  “That makes you a stalker.”

  “What? No, I’m just…You’re weird, Adler-Stern. You weren’t supposed to see me. My own brother didn’t,” Selenne said. “So, what? You're gonna ask me why I was watching?”

  Viviana nodded, not caring about the change in topic. “That, among other things. Why did you leave? Why are you a part of the guilds now?”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “All those things are interconnected. I can’t tell you.”

  “...Then, from what you said back then…what do I owe you? For taking out that centipede monster?”

  Selenne laughed. “That’s not how you’re supposed to negotiate, Adler-Stern,” she said. “But I’ll be honest, you don’t owe me anything. I was going to kill that centipede regardless of whether you or Lucian or any of the Landsknecht were there. Just… a request. Take care of my brother, alright?”

  Viviana raised a brow. “Of course. He’s a part of Landsknecht. My group.”

  “Keep it that way,” Selenne said. “Things are about to change, for the worse. Watch him. Watch your people. Watch yourself.”

  Viviana turned away, trying to comprehend what she was saying. Selenne was part of the student guilds. That meant the guilds were moving. A student guild war. “You’re gonna have to explain more.”

  Viviana turned back to where Selenne was, but she was already gone.

  “Hey! You can’t just spew cryptic bullshit and run away!” Viviana yelled into the empty alley.

  Viviana didn’t see her, but she knew that Selenne had a stupid grin on her face.

  The home base was now livable. For one, they were able to straight up buy the entire building. The previous owner didn’t want it, and given that Landsknecht were the only ones living there, they were a shoe-in for ownership.

  Of course, the owner drove a hard bargain. Landsknecht's reputation was growing among Pact and the unaffiliated. The owner argued about their newfound popularity. Viviana shut that down real quick. They were popular, not rich.

  So they acquired the building for a measly sum of three hundred academy credits. About two hundred credits were allocated to fixing up and redecorating the place. The other credits were split among the four group members evenly.

  It didn't amount to much, but their living conditions vastly improved. They had beds. Bed frames. Actual furniture that wasn’t just fifty office chairs and a big table.

  Thomas suggested a lounge for the clients, and that opened the floodgates. Bena, Lucian, and Thomas started decorating it. Plants. Lamps. Aesthetically pleasing couches. Only the best for the clients of Landsknecht.

  That idea devolved when Lucian brought in a cheap holoTV. Thomas had the bright idea of plugging in his games console. He booted up a game, and soon enough Bena joined in, and then Lucian did, and then Viviana was peer pressured into it.

  Their client lounge turned into a living room. If a client walked in, they’d have to pack up the console real quick and try to look professional.

  For now, it was their living room. It was where Landsknecht spent most of their time.

  Viviana sighed as the character she was playing died again. It wasn’t like she was bad at video games. In fact, for a person who has never touched a controller before, she was remarkably passable. Her real life combat skill and fast reaction time made up for her lack of experience. It was just unfair, because somehow Bena, Thomas, and Lucian had all played the game before.

  Bena and Thomas mashed their buttons, trying to kill each other, but Lucian's character was sitting in the corner and waiting. As soon as Thomas defeated Bena, Lucian swooped in to win the round.

  Bena groaned. “Rematch!”

  Lucian put down his controller and picked up his phone. “...Bena, we’ve gotta go now. It’s five o’clock. Clients are waiting.”

  “But I don’t wanna!”

  Lucian picked her up and walked away. Bena kicked all the while.

  Thomas put down his controller. “I’m heading out as well,” he said. “Need to negotiate a minor subcontract.”

  Viviana nodded. Everyone was busy now. Landsknecht’s centipede fiasco had the inadvertent effect of making them popular. They had their advertising cut out for themselves, so they were getting requests left and right. Small, informal requests, mostly from low-ranked guild employees or the occasional unaffiliated that could afford to hire them.

  Annhilating a guild base may have given then a bad rep with the student guilds.

  So the Landksnecht was stuck on small jobs. Most of them involved Bena’s scout skill. Lucian went with her as protection. Viviana wasn’t needed for these things, so she spent time doing solo missions or training with Thomas.

  Each member grew more and more in confidence. Soon, they’d all be able to do jobs on their own.

  Today’s a free day, Viviana thought. How odd. She powered off the console. She already had her combat jumpsuit underneath her casual clothes; always ready for anything. She had her sword as well.

  Overall, Viviana felt that her progression was going along fine. Landsknecht had notoriety and infamy. They had money, and they were slowly but smoothly leveling up.

  But slow and smooth wasn’t good enough. Fine was not good enough. Viviana hadn’t forgotten her mission; to take over the academy and kill her father.

  At this stage Landsknecht needed to expand. More members, higher ranks, more influence. And above all else, Viviana needed to get stronger. She needed to use the academy to level up as much as possible, before graduation. At least here she was protected from the machinations of Adler-Stern. But as soon as she graduated, it’d be a different story.

  She had to use the free day wisely, and what better way to use it than to explore another terrarium? Stronger monsters, for faster levels. More strong people. If we can get a foothold there…

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