Home Base

 

As the train pulled to a stop I came out with my bags and put them on a cart. Akeno came out first with her bags and I took them and added them. Jim was removing the sensors with a frown on his face. As the others came out I added the bags and I had Jim follow behind the attendant with Lisa, Suzaku, Mia, Akeno and me bringing up the rear. As we came down the steps the other escorts were there and surrounded us as we made our way out to the front of the station. They pointed to an SUV for us to load into. Lisa and Suzaku loaded in first and got in the back seat, Akeno and Mia got in next in the middle seat and then I slid in next to her. The driver was already in the seat and my father was in the passenger seat. Once everyone was loaded the SUVs took off.

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“Welcome princess. I hope you had a good trip.” Father

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“Yes it was nice, thank you. Carl handled any problems and made everything run smoothly.” Mia

 

“Glad he handled everything like he should.” Father

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The drive was quiet the rest of the way.

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The SUVs pulled up to the guest house and we unloaded. I walked the ladies up to the door and then helped with the bags. 

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“Have a good night, ladies.” Me

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“Thanks Carl, sleep well.” Akeno

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“Can you come by tomorrow? I am going to call my father and talk to him and I will let you know how it goes.” Mia

 

“Carl needs to come to my office in the morning for a briefing. I am not sure how long it will take.” Father

 

“Anytime will be fine, we won’t be going anywhere.” Mia

 

“Sir? Why are there people around the house? Are we not safe on your base?” Suzaku

 

“Just for safety, you can never be sure.” Father

 

“We don’t want them close to the house like that. Please have them move farther away.” Lisa

 

“Yes, of course.” Father

 

He lowered his head and turned around to leave. Told the man by the SUV to move the guards away from the house.

 

Then got in the SUV. I followed.

 

When we got home I grabbed my bags and headed inside. I hugged my mother who was waiting and started to head upstairs to my room. 

 

“0800 tomorrow, briefing in my office.” Father

 

“Yes, sir.” Me

 

I went to my room and started more research before going to sleep.

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May 15, 20222

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0800 Conference Room

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I walked in and saw my father, both uncles, and Jim’s unit was there talking.

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When I walked in everyone sat down. Yep something is definitely up.

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I took my seat as well.

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“Glad you could make it on time.” Uncle John

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“First Carl, congratulations on finishing your first assignment. Now that the princess has graduated you can move on to a new assignment. We are going to send you to a private school in Nevada to be the bodyguard of a highschool senior there. He is the son of a senator who has been getting threatening letters sent to him.” Uncle Charlie

 

“What about Princess Mia?” Me

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“Jim will take over as her head of security.” Father

 

“Actually, no he won’t.” Me

 

“That is enough, you are not in charge here and will do as I say.” Father

 

“I took this assignment because you had no one who could do it. I never signed on as an employee and I sure won’t go to another high school again. I have my own plans if Mia decides to go to college in Europe. You should also know her head of security is Lisa Reni, it will never be Jim. Also, since we graduated she knew I was not an employee of DPS and asked me to be her bodyguard when she was in the United States. Mia called her father last night and he agreed. He wants to make sure she is comfortable with her bodyguard. Since you don’t want me to guard her then I will continue with my plans. Jim, if they decide you will still be the head of her security from DPS then know you will be answering to me. You do nothing without getting it cleared through me. I will discuss everything with Lisa Reni and we will let you know our decision. Now that it is decided I have work to do for the princess.” Me

 

I left the office and headed to the guest house.

 

“I hope you enjoyed the speech.” Me

 

I was wearing an earpiece and the ladies were listening in on the entire meeting.

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When I approached the house a guard stopped me and told me I wasn’t allowed to enter. When I asked who gave that order and when, I was told last night by my father.

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“Those orders are no longer valid. I have been hired by the princess as her personal bodyguard and am no longer a part of Dragon Protection Services. Would you like Princess Mia to confirm?” Me

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At that time the front door opened, “Carl are you coming? I have some things I would like you to do please.” Mia

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I walked to the house and Mia closed the door behind me and everyone started laughing.

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“Well they did not like that. I found out there is a guild in town, so I will head there and get everything started. I would take one of you, but we know they would never allow it. While I am there I will get all the information I can about dungeons in the area.” Me

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“Alright, we will start learning anything we can online.” Mia

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“Don’t use the base online they gave you, here is the internet I had set up for me. They can monitor anything on their wifi.” I handed a paper with the name, login and password for them.

 

“Call if you need anything.” Me

 

I headed home, went upstairs and got my keys to my car and my wallet. When I headed downstairs my mom was waiting for me. 

 

“What happened?” 

 

“Father tried to remove me from the princess’s protection detail. He forgot to check with the target on that. She will be 18 in three weeks and already hired me as her bodyguard when she is in-country. He wanted me to go back to high school, again. I said no I have plans if she stays in Europe.”

 

“You work for DPS though.”

 

“No. I never signed on as an employee. You arranged for me to do this one job, I never agreed to stay after Mia graduated.”

 

“You call the princess, Mia?”

 

“She is a friend, so yes I do. Officially I followed protocol, but I am no longer working for DPS on assignment so I will call her how I was asked to call her.”

 

“I understand. Will you be moving out, you have enough money now. I mean you’ve been working for four years and all you bought was a car, your own phone and internet.”

 

“I am heading into town to get some things done. I will stop by the bank and see where my account balance is. I know I can’t buy a house, not around here at least. I also need to stay close to Mia, so if dad wants me out I will talk to her about what she wants to do.”

 

“Would you take her off base? It won’t be safe.”

 

“That is not my plan, but I am also her bodyguard so if dad wants me gone then I have no choice.”

 

“I will talk to him, if he wants you out of the house we have a cottage near the guest house you can stay in. You are still 17, at least for a couple of weeks.” As she smiled I could tell she was hurt.

 

“I am sorry mother. I love you both, but I need to do what’s right for me right now. Do you need anything from town?”

 

“I have an order at Johnson’s meat market, can you pick it up for me? It is already paid for.”

 

“Sure.”

 

I then headed for my car.

 

At the gate I told them I was going to town to pick up an order for my mother and headed out. It is about 20 minutes to get to town. I went to the guild first to register myself and the party name. 

 

As I walked in it is how I pictured it from the books I read. On the right there is a board, this one electric, that has the requests for items. There is a counter at the front with 4 windows, one says ‘Explorer Registration’. It had a young man there, so I walked to it.

 

“Hello, I would like to register.”

 

“Can you place your hand on this scanner? It will only scan your name, age and sex.”

 

“I can’t believe how fast these guilds got set up.”

 

“Oh, any city with a town hall is required to open a guild. The gods actually put most of it in the heads of town officials.

 

These scanners appeared in the new guilds, all we had to do is set up the reader boards and a counter. Also hire the people who wanted to work for the guilds. If you went through that door you would see we still have a long way to go.

 

We need to set up private rooms for consultations if a local puts up a request and the Explorer has a question. There are actually a lot of other things too, but we can register for now. I guess in bigger cities there are long lines to register, I am so glad we are a small town and the nearest dungeon is an hour away.”

 

I put my hand in the scanner and it showed my name and other info.

 

“Okay you can pull it out now. Your card will be ready in about 5 minutes, do you have any questions?”

 

“Can I register a party name here?”

 

“Oh, yes. Sorry this is all new still I guess I should have asked that. What will be the name of the ‘Party’?”

 

“The Red Dragons.”

 

“Oh, cool name. How many in the party?”

 

“There will be five to start, but they can't register yet is that alright?”

 

“Yes. The ‘Party’ name will be registered to you so you will need to come with them to add them to the ‘Party’. Now let’s make sure it is available…. Looks like it is, I will add the name to the card. I will call you when it is ready.”

 

I walked over to the board to read what was listed. Red Bison meat, Red Bison horn, Horned Rabbit horn… looks like monster materials. It must be monsters verified in the nearest dungeon.

 

“Carl. Your card is ready.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Do you have any questions?”

 

“Are those confirmed monsters from the nearest dungeon?”

 

“Yes. I was also informed that if it is 50 levels or less it is considered a dungeon, but if it is over 50 then they call it a labyrinth. Guess it is easier for Explorers, if they say dungeon then it would be better for younger Explorers, Labyrinth for more experienced Explorers. Also if you find a new one please inform the guild so we can add it to the list. Would you like to purchase an Explorer Starter Kit? It has a GPS so you know exactly where you are to make it easier to find when looking for it. It also has some basic items that might be needed. It is $30”

 

“Sure.” I handed him my Debit Card.

 

After I got the kit and my Explorer Card I headed for the car and then to the bank. Before I went in the bank I had to check something.

 

 

Status Open

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Name/Age:

Carl Adams 17

 

Race/Sex:

Human Male

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Occupation:

Explorer

 

Skills:

Identification (advanced) lv 1

Appraisal lv 1

Martial Arts lv 1

Short Sword lv 1

 

Titles:

God Zecks Blessing

 

Cool, my occupation changed. I need to remember to use my ID to try to level it up.

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Time to change my bank info. I walked into the bank and up to the female clerk.

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Name/Age:  

Cindy Lark 24

 

“Hello, how can I help you?” 

 

“I would like to move my savings account set up by my parents and to my personal account.”

 

“Sure, do you have your driver’s license and bank card?”

 

Twenty minutes later the accounts were linked so if a deposit is made to my old account it would transfer to my personal account. I left the bank and went to pick up my mother’s order.

 

After I got back to the base I dropped off my mother’s meat order and headed to the guest house.

 

“All registered. We need to remember to use our ID skill to try to level it. I remembered when I got to the bank and tried to use it as often as I could.”

 

“You're right, I forgot about it. Can I see your Explorer card?” Mia

I handed it to her and they all looked at it.

 

“Look, ‘Party’ The Red Dragons. My idea.” Akeno

 

When they were done we started the next discussion. We decided to stay locked up doing research for a while. It wasn’t like we could do much till Mia and I are 18 anyways.

 

When I got back home my mother was back and thanked me for picking up her order. 

 

“I talked to your father and he said he doesn’t want you to move to the cottage. He actually seemed a little proud of you by the way he talked, of course he would never admit it. I can tell though, we’ve been together long enough he can’t hide it from me. He knows you will be leaving soon and you have to live your own life. We both love you very much.”

 

Then she walked off to the kitchen and I shook my head and went upstairs to check my status and the help function some more.

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I went down after a few hours and grabbed some food and went back up to my room. 

 

“I see you made your choice, I will open a new dungeon near your current location. A dungeon you called a ‘tutorial dungeon’. Please do not inform the guild till the five of you have cleared it. Yes you are supposed to inform the guild when you find one, but we are giving you permission to hold off on that and we will hide its location from all but you five.”

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“Why are you doing this for us?”

 

“As I said before, I have taken A liking to you. I see great hope in you. The others all have the Blessing of a God as well. Next time you go over there you are given permission to talk about it among yourselves. Get Mia’s father’s permission to register in the guild, you will need that so she can enter the dungeon. We will guide you once you do. There are things we did not share with the guilds, we will share it with you so you can report it. They are supposed to give rewards for new info given to them that had not been reported yet. In the future they will set up banking within the guild so they can deposit money directly to accounts if you have one set up. I recommend you do that, then you can use your guild card to make purchases in the guild, they can also transfer directly to your bank if you want to control your balance in the guild. Your Identification is close to leveling up, remember to keep using it along with your appraisal.”

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“Can we talk about our skills with each other, too.”

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“I don’t see why not, it is your choice after all. The new dungeon will take a few days to form and will be just outside the fences surrounding your current location. Good luck young Explorer.”

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Why are they taking an interest in us? I called Mia and told her what the Zecks said about getting her father’s permission and told her I would be over tomorrow. Him being in Europe means she can call tonight and it will be morning there. I then started appraising everything I saw.

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