Putting Oneself Forward [Intro/Open]

Shane was walking back towards the headquarters, dressed in his civilian outfit that consisted of a white T-shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans and sneakers. He had headed out for lunch instead of having it at the cafeteria in the HQ. It had been a very fulfilling one, having completely finished two bowls of Midian curry mazesoba down to the last drop. The restaurant owner had came from Midi and brought along his country’s take on curry and when eaten together with dry soba noodles, it was heavenly. In fact, Shane had always made it a point to visit the restaurant at least once a week, twice if he could.

With a cup of hot black coffee in his right hand, the General slowly moved down the sidewalk on the road leading up to the Rune Knights HQ. What was a peaceful walk became interrupted by a shrill scream. Shane’s eyes instantly locked on to where the scream had came from, watching a woman pointing at a fleeing man with a handbag in his right hand while she continuing screaming for the other pedestrians to help her. Two Rune Knights patrolling the streets reacted quickly to the commotion, the two of them racing to chase down the snatch thief.

Shane’s eyes focused back on the fleeing thief who was actually running towards the Rune Knight headquarters. With a small grin, the man resumed his leisurely walk as he watched the situation unfold. The thief, constantly looking back at the two Rune Knights who were catching up to him, bumped into a young man right in his way, the collision pushing both guys to the ground. The two Rune Knights covered the final gap between them. When the commotion had finally been settled and the thief brought away by the two Rune Knights, the Rune Knight General walked towards the HQ, surprised to see that the boy that was knocked down earlier ascending the steps as well.

“Is he here to report on incompetency?” Shane wondered in a whisper as he walked up the stairs silently behind the silver-haired body. Before the doors into the building could close, Shane snuck in and stayed by the doors. The officers at the front counter almost stood up and gave him a salute but the General held up his left hand to stop them before motioning to his lips with his index finger. He was grinning.

“Why do you wanna join the Rune Knights, kid? You look like you wouldn’t last long in our training,” Shane spoke up, as he took two steps forward and clasped his right hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Are you sure you can shoulder the responsibilities that come with the job?”

With a full stomach and time on his hands, Shane had nothing to do even if he went back to his office so the man decided to just fool around the front counter instead. Normally, he would have just walked away and leave it to the relevant department to handle the new recruits, but he had noticed how the young man, who was walking away from the Rune Knight HQ’s direction turn around towards the HQ after the incident with the snatch thief. It had made him curious.

[542 words]

Shane wished that he could have swallowed his words when he finally heard the young boy’s reply. What was originally a mischievous spin to a common question to be asked had scared the boy instead and instantly the Rune Knight softened. He didn’t like bullies and at the moment, watching the boy’s expression, Shane realized he was being one right now. But the same boy showed determination as his reply flowed out from his mouth, and that eventually brought a warm smile to the General’s face.

The last sentence of his reply reminded Shane of himself when he had first joined the Rune Knights. Shane would keep his hand on the boy’s shoulder even as he had turned around to face him. Shane gave it a little squeeze, as an encouragement to the boy.

“If that’s really what you truly want, then you have really found the right place,” Shane replied with a smile on his face before turning to look at the officer manning the counter. “Give this boy the application letter. Once he’s done filling it up, send him to the training field.”

“I respect your wish to protect the masses by joining the Rune Knights. Once you are done with the application, my colleague will bring you to the training field. I expect great things from you,” Shane said as he walked away towards the training field, in search of his own team to deal with some matters before Aiden would reach him.

Aiden slowly glanced up to look the man in the eye at the words of affirmation. He gave him a big smile “Thank you sir!” he said, bowing his head to the man before he left. He turned to the man at the desk who would hand him a pen and some paper.

Looking over the application it seemed like a pretty normal application. He wrote his name, date of birth, past experiences, and so forth. When he got to the part where it asked him to write down what branch he wanted to join he hesitated to write down the Combat Corp because he knew that his skills would be better suited for the Engineering branch. He rested his head on his hand as he leaned on the counter, pondering what the right choice to make was.

He groaned as he walked over to a wall and slouched down onto the floor, staring at the paper all the while. He shook his head; he had given up on leading that company a while ago. Too many bad things had happened there, and he didn’t want his machines and inventions to be used to potentially used to bring harm to people ever again. He put the pen to the paper finally and finished filling out the application to join the Combat Corp. After he turned it in, the guy at the desk led him to the training grounds before leaving him to go back to his station.

Looking around, Aiden could see many Knights training a multitude of things from new inventions, their own magics, weapons, and even themselves. He looked around for an open training area and saw a place with a hittable target. He awkwardly walked over and stood in front of the target before looking around again. “So. Do I just start training?” he thought to himself.

Taking a breath, he decided to hit the target with a punch. It wasn’t a very strong punch either, in fact it actually hurt him. He stood holding his hand and shaking it “Ouch.” He whispered to himself.

After he had walked away from the front counter and towards the training field, Shane used his Requip Magic to change into his Rune Knight uniform, the fabric swishing out slightly at the end of the transformation just as he turned a corner towards the training field. There were plenty of equipment available to the aspiring Rune Knights, with the area separated into outdoor and indoors. Shane’s heavy boots thumped on the ground as he made his way towards a corner where five Rune Knights were. The corner was particularly empty, the five of them giving off a nasty vibe that made the others steer clear of them.

Scarecrow was sitting on a chair with his body leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees and fingers interlocked in front of his face as he looked downwards. His trademark tinted goggles hid his eyes from the others as usual. The others were sitting around as well, Hawk and Black Knight having a hushed conversation regarding their firearm choices while Huntsman just sat there with a blank look on his face. The other one was Astro, the liveliest of the crew and Huntsman’s mentee, trying to beat the hell out of a nearby punching bag.

“Cap,” Scarecrow called out without even raising his head. While Scarecrow was usually composed and his voice firm, today his voice sounded haunted. Shane frowned at the man’s behavior and decided that the debrief could take place at a later time.

“Go take a break, team. We’ll do the debrief in five more hours,” Shane said, with a small jerk of his head in the direction of the barracks. The rapid-fire punches of Astro’s came to a stop when the rest of the team stood up from their seats and shuffled away, the youngest of the squad following with Scarecrow lagging behind them slightly as he stood up to look at his superior face to face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Shane merely clapped his right hand on his shoulder before he could even say anything. “It’s okay. Take a break. We’ll talk about it when you’re in a better condition.”

The silver-haired Rune Knight Captain closed his mouth and gave another a firm nod before following after his squad. Once they were out of sight, Shane turned around to scan the training field again and saw that the newcomer was already here, standing in front of a punching bag. Shane walked over to the young man with wide strides before pausing with a little distance behind him.

“You’ll get the hang of it soon enough after we’ve trained you. If that’s what you are really looking to pursue in the Rune Knights. Across the organization, all of us work with the goal of wanting to protect the populace but how each department does it is different,” Shane explained with a smile. He held up his right hand, and with a dark blue glow, a magic stamp appeared in his right palm.

“Now, where do you want the stamp to be?”

[506 words
[Total WC: 2407 words]