Once, my biggest wish was to become a fierce warrior. This would be an administrative position, nothing involving conflict or actual fighting. But it would allow me to learn more, potentially find out how to advance my own spiritual energy.
The downside, however… I could be found out.
My hand hovers over the Archive position. The safe option.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes as I make my pick.
“Congratulations and welcome to the War Department,” Jacobo intones.
I gulp down uneasily. It seems my instinct chose danger over safety.
8
The Strategy group within the War Department’s job is to take note of all the Houses’ private armies, have a data base for their warriors and their skill level, and observe any abnormal activity.
Every consultant is assigned to one of the ten Houses, and once every two weeks, we must compile a report with the findings and present it at a meeting.
There is no way tochoosewhich House I get assigned to. Since I and a couple of others are the newcomers in this group, we are specifically assigned which House to monitor by the Chief.
For once, my luck seems to not have abandoned me, as one of the other new employees gets House of Jubal, while I get the House of Memnon.
I am given a packet with the relevant information regarding the House of Memnon and a checklist of tasks I must perform by the second week mark.
There is one rule, however. None of the information can leave the Central Administration building.
Whereas this would not have normally been an issue, as I read through the material, I realize I have a lot of gaps inknowledge, particularly when it comes to warriors and their skills, and I would have loved to take the files home to pore over them.
All my knowledge is general and comes from publicly-approved textbooks—nothing resembling the terminology used within the Strategy group.
For example, each warrior that has the official status as a Son of Tenebreis has his own file. In it, there is basic information such as the date of birth, location of birth and general remarks regarding upbringing alongside a picture of the warrior.
But as I scan further the more confused I become. Under the general information is a table, and each row has a some acronyms I’ve never heard of.
DOM: Fire CUL: ASC-I. LVL: IX. EXP: 1390.
PHY: 59. VEL: 44. FOR: M. WIL: M. VIT: 154
SRV: 101. ER: 78/h. DPT: 34. ARM: Brahim Sword
DEF: Brahim Shielf. RES: Fire. PSN: N. MIR: N
I can wager a guess for a few of them. LvL is definitely level, a technical term sometimes used interchangeably with gate, and the warrior is at nine, meaning he’s opened his ninth gate—though this is standard of any titled Son of Tenebreis. EXP is probably experience in battle, so this individual has 1390 years of battle experience.
The others are a bit more fuzzy. ARM could be weapon, and DEF defense, and the report says he has the Braihm attack/defense set. I’ve read about that in textbooks. These weapons are extremely expensive and can only be found in Northern Tartareia, forged with the fire of the Nunco Volcano.
The other acronyms are a mystery to me. But seeing how I am a beginner at this job, I can ask for guidance, no?
Arranging the files in my desk and placing them under a mystical case flowing with spiritual energy to guard them, I get up and look for an experienced member of the team.
We’d done the introductions earlier, so I vaguely know who could help me, a fellow named Elysand.
“Excuse me,” I say after I find him in one of the other surveillance rooms. “I have a question regarding the statistics sheets for the warriors.”
His eyes widen and a big smile spreads across his face.
“I knew you would be curious about it. You’re probably not the only one. Let me get the other rookies.”
Before I can even explain my quandary, he calls up all the rookies and takes us to a locked room down the hallway.
