Jiji no. 8

First Attack

“What is happening?”

That is the first question that Holder threw as he opened the door of the headquarters of Sankt Vessel users. The sound of horn was now ceased, but the tension and the sense of being in-emergency was still present. He saw that all of them was there, already inside, preparing. Each of them took a space in the small headquarters—Benny sitting on a desk, Duthor at the Sofa, Baba Karma and Channie at the floor trying to wear brown type of boots, Lalaine near the window, Benedict near the door where Professor Zen’s office is, and Holder is sure that Professor Zen were either at her laboratory or inside her office—and they were minding their own business of wearing something.

It was a uniform.

“You’re finally here,” Duthor said. He then grabbed an item covered in brown paper. He threw it towards Holder. “Quick, wear that. We’re going on a savage.”

“Huh?”

“Seriously? Are you always this kind of slow-witted?” Lalaine asked, annoyed.

“We’re going on a small war, Holder,” said Channie. She was trying her best to fit her left foot towards her shoes. “We’ll be leading the armies in this fight.”

“HAH?! But… I am not yet prepared enough!” he exclaimed. Panic started to invade his chest.

“But that is okay, young man. Everyone is not prepared in this fight as well. Kingdom of Guion are good in doing these kind of surprise attacks,” said Baba Karma. She was wearing a triangular, yellow cloth embroidered with the Kingdom’s symbol, and she was placing it on her left arm.

“What I mean is… At least all of you had sufficient trainings and preparations for any fight. But I am not.”

He heard Benedict, the scarf-wearing man, uttering a ‘Tsk!’

He felt offended. But he pushed his anger on the back of his mind.

“Will you please stop being whiny?” Lalaine asked, annoyed. “Can’t you see? In this group, we have a kid preparing for the battle. A small, sweet girl who was just obsessed with dolls. And now, she is preparing for a war. And then what about you? A grown up man who keeps on whining that you’re not yet ready?”

Holder felt embarrassed. He scrunched the covered paper of the item thrown by Duthor towards him. He was also sure that his face suddenly turned dark and blank.

The moment that Lalaine saw the darkness on Holder’s face, she quickly decided to stop giving him offensive words. She immediately felt instant fear that she wasn’t sure, nor aware where has it came from.

“D—Don’t worry, Holder,” that is the moment that Duthor again interrupted. He would attempt to calm the heated situation, because he too, was bothered by Holder’s dark expression. “We are there to protect you. We will try our best to guide and protect you, so don’t worry.”

“That is right, Holder,” said Channie. “The first time I went into war is my first day of being a Sankt Vessel user. I have way no better idea how to fight compared to you. But then I am still here, kicking.”

Duthor secretly looked at Channie and signed her to stop and be silent. The kid was confused with the actions of Duthor but when she realized what she had said, she quickly covered her mouth with her small hands. She provoked Holder more in an attempt of calming him.

“Hey, Holder, everything is fine. We’ll help you there.” Benny Flick told.

“Don’t worry young man, I will just play the enemies with my curses,” said Baba Karma.

“Stay calm. We are comrades and family here in this group.”

Holder sighed. “I guess not,” he said. He then turned his back towards them. Then he walked, out, away of the head quarters.

“W—Where are you going, Holder?” Duthor asked. He did not answer.

Duthor was about to follow Holder. But, the man was serious to walk out and left them hanging. When he was finally gone in the alley, Duthor quickly went back inside the head quarters. There is a rush in his movements as he entered back to the room.

“What was that, Lalaine?!” he tried his best to hide the anger in his voice, but with too much rage, he cannot help.

Lalaine was surprised from Duthor’s question that is filled with rage. She looked away of the man’s eyes, for he cannot meet it. “I—I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s not my intention to offend him.”

“Girl, Duthor once told you, right? If you know that what’s about to go in your mouth is awful and degrading, better stop it. You’re just making complications.”

“But… I didn’t know that I have offended him!”

“With your tone and the way you spoiled those facts?” Duthor asked.

“Young lady, you seem having no enough assessment about what is utterly offensive or what is not,” Baba Karma said.

“But, I just want to compare him to Channie. She was a brave girl who went into the war while he was just a… a winy man saying he’s not prepared!”

“But you forgot to tell, Lalaine, that I have been crying the whole time in the war. That the whole time, I was in the custody of Baba Karma, hugging her because I am afraid of the war. You forgot to tell him that Baba Karma decided to pull me back from that war, and just let me rest in the palace because I cannot contribute anything in the fight.”

Lalaine cannot think of any reply. Instead, she said, “I’m sorry, then. It was my fault.”

Duthor sighed. “You do already know that he is highly the man in the prophesy. And you have been mistreating him as if he is just a weakling.”

“But he is indeed a weakling,” she reasoned.

“I know, you know that it is not like that, Girl,” said Benny. He is wearing the uniform-gloves in his hands. “You’ve seen him, right? How he successfully managed to make his Sankt Vessel work in a short period of time? How the girl Nameless told us a surprising thing about his Kohn summoning and emotion manipulating which took us three painful months to execute. You do note how Professor and the Princess was kind of shaking as they tell us about the Golden Kohns that calmed the raging Jiji. Golden Kohns that we didn’t know existing. You all know that.”

Duthor sighed. Now, he managed to calm his self. “We need him in the fight. You know that. Not because we cannot defeat the enemies that was attacking the Kingdom, but because we would want to familiarize him everything that is happening in the war. Because at the end, he would be our only hope.”

Lalaine bit her lower lip. Anxious thoughts started to kick in.

“Should I follow him?” she asked.

“That won’t change anything. Let us just trust him that he would join the war. After all, it was his decision and rights. Even though we are running out of time.” Duthor looked at the opened Doorway. It was empty. How he wished Holder would appear on that place.

But he never.

“For now, let’s start and prepare. We need to check what is happening outside the wall,” said Benny.

And then they went back into wearing their uniforms.