Free and Unfettered 92 Sharing Fate

He and the various others in the room who were passionately discussing looked up halting their discussion of the formations, only to be greeted by their teacher and his wife.

"Teacher!"

Nine nodded at them, signalling that they should go back to whatever they were doing before he entered.

"Lucien, come with me," Nine sent to him via voice transmission.

Lucien looked at his Teacher in surprise but followed without a word.

Once they were in a secure location with no chance of anyone else eavesdropping on them, Nine decided to just get it over with.

She handed him the information report, watching as he took it curiously.

Lucien pushed up his spectacles, silently reading the report. The further in he got, the more his brows furrowed as if he was thinking hard. He seemed to struggle with something, not knowing how to say it.

"Lucien," Nine said, her face serious. "You know what they are, don't you?"

Lucien seemed to come to a decision when he heard his Teacher speak, knowing that he could trust the other. "Yes. They're 'Players'. You see, before I was reborn into this world -"

Nine cut him off there, inwardly pleased that he was responding exactly how she had expected him to respond. "I know," she said, pausing. "Or rather, we know."

Lucien's glasses flashed in surprise. "You know? Teacher, you too?"

"Yes," Nine said simply. "You aren't the only one to come here from Earth. As I presumed, you really are from Earth as well. Well, it doesn't matter much at this point, but we have to come up with some countermeasures now that these people are invading our planet."

Lucien fell silent as his mind rapidly processed the information given to him. The feelings of not being alone surfaced in his heart, and he couldn't help but feel happy and light that he wasn't the only one on this planet. Though he had been enjoying his life here, he couldn't help but feel slightly lonely at the thought that he was still alone in a sense. "Yes, I see. This could complicate things, but also give us so many more options."

"So, what should we do with these Undyings?" Nocturne asked, pondering over the problem. "We could hire them like mercenaries, if possible?"

"Oh, Undyings. That's a pretty good name to use for them," Lucien said, instantly adopting the label for players. "It's simple and direct and will allow the people here to understand it quicker than calling them Players, simply because there is no concept of video games here. I suppose we can do that, but what about those who cause trouble in our city?"

"I expect banishment would be quite compelling," Nine said, pondering over the pros and cons. "Knowing most people's mentality when playing and exploring, they will not be willing to give up an advantage over other Undyings should they be banished for their disobedience."

In this manner, the conversation flowed smoothly as the three discussed the problem that had cropped up with the emergence of Undyings.

They closed the discussion after a while. "I do want to tell the others as well, but until they see it with their own eyes, it's likely that they will have no idea nor concept about what we're talking about. Informing them can wait until then," Nine said, ending the discussion on this note.

"Alright," Lucien said, standing up.

"Lucien," Nine said, stopping him in his tracks. "Do you happen to have a System or anything similar?"

The bespectacled man looked at his Teacher with surprise. "Ah, I do. But it's unusable for some reason. Up until now, I haven't been able to use it, but with the emergence of Undyings, I expect that it's because of them."

Nine hummed, thinking about her System as well. What was the difference between the two of them? Nine had been able to use her System without a problem, but Lucien's hadn't even unlocked yet?

Was there some sort of scenario he needed that would allow his System to unlock? Besides the upcoming war, she could not think of anything else. Wait. Nine paused. If this was like other typical games, then could it be that the Undyings that were appearing right now were just part of the Beta test? Then, it was likely that Lucien's System functions would unlock when the game officially started.

"Fine. Don't worry about it, Lucien. It will unlock sooner or later."

Lucien nodded, leaving the room with a lighter heart.

Nocturne sat down beside Nine, hugging her. She looked at him, surprised. Why was he suddenly being clingy?

"Nox, what's wrong?"

Nocturne sulked slightly, but huffed and replied all the same, the tips of his ears red. "It's nothing. It's just that I got slightly jealous when I realized that Lucien has something in common with you that I don't have, nor can I ever experience. It just made me feel a little left out, that's all."

Nine's lips curved into a smile as she kissed his cheek gently. "How cute," she teased. "But isn't it fine? After all, the future will be made by us, so why does the past matter?"

Nocturne smiled at her, hugging her tighter. "I do know that. I just couldn't stop myself from being a bit jealous, that's all. I thought I already knew everything about you, but there's still so much more for me to discover."

Nine laughed. He really was adorable. "Isn't it the same for you? I still don't know much about your past, but every time I learn bits and pieces of it, I feel like I uncover a new part of you that I haven't seen just yet, and that always keeps me in a good mood."

Nocturne scowled faux angrily. "Does that mean if one day, you discover that you already know everything about me, you won't be in a good mood anymore?"

Nine scoffed, hauling him up in her arms, bridal style. "Of course not, my lovely wife. I'll always love you dearly, worry not."

Nine's abrupt actions startled a laugh out of Nocturne. "Fine, you win," he said, giving in to Nine's sweet talking. Nine was so sly! He could never get the upper hand from her in terms of flirting.

Nine casually carried Nocturne in her arms, walking back to where her students were located.

Nocturne hugged Nine's neck, his face still blushing, when he suddenly realized where Nine was bringing him. "Wait, put me down!" he said, struggling slightly.

Nine laughed, speeding up before he got the chance to escape from her arms. She opened the door with magic, moving so quickly that it almost looked like she teleported there with her cute Nox in her arms.

Nocturne covered his face with his hands, embarrassed beyond belief at all of Nine's various students staring at him being carried like that in shock. Ah, so embarrassing! He felt like they were flirting in front of everyone else.

As they were gawking at the couple, Nine smilingly called out. "Deltan, time for our daily spar!"

Deltan made a sound a mixture of disbelief and dismay. Not only was he being subjected to this display of dog food, he was also about to be tortured by Nine again! The heavens weren't being fair!

Deltan looked at the ceiling in desperation, but nothing could save him from his fate now. He barely restrained the urge to cry out as he was dragged out bodily by his younger brother.

Chapter end