Irellia and Tenten got back into the car, and the driver closed her door and then flew off. The five of us were left standing on a small part of the ground outside of the castle, but Lavender stepped forward to lead the way. Once Lavender led us through a door in the twelve-meter tall wall, I was surprised again when we came out the other side.
Inside the walls was a house almost Identical to Miss Grace's house. As Lavender led us to the place, a man opened the door. He was older, and he walked out with a stern expression, but it melted away when Lavender ran to him.
"Grandpa!"
"Look at you now! I just saw you a month ago, didn't I? How have you grown so much in such a short time?" Duke Vistorm said after catching Lavender in a hug.
"That's because of him," Lavender let go of the Duke and turned to point at me.
"Dave, Right? Grace had mentioned something about picking up a young ruffian from the streets and taken him home. What is your place in all of this?"
"Well, I am the reason Miss Grace is in the dungeon right now," I explained and then told The Duke about everything that had happened since then.
"Hmm, well, I know about her, and you needn't worry. The Highmage council has always been at odds with the army and me, but this is going too far. Although, Reginold Styles doesn't know who Grace really is since she took over the Huntington name when her husband and Lavender's father passed away just after birth. I cant wait to see the look on his face."
Then, The Duke started to laugh, but it was short-lived, and he beckoned everyone to follow him inside. The Duke led us to a dining room where food was already prepared. My stomach started to growl at the sight of it all, and I felt Tilly's hand tighten in mine.
I looked over and wiped the drool coming from her mouth, but she bit my finger playfully and then smiled at me suggestively. Tilly had not forgotten about her plan, and she kissed my cheek and then went to sit down. I turned to Iona and to look at the other girls, but they all had the same drooling and gapping expressions.
Once we all sat down, The Duke told us to eat first and talk after. Meats of all varieties were served to us on platters, and so we had full plates. Each of us dug into the food like were starved, Urchins. Finally, after almost an hour of silent eating, everyone sat back in their chairs.
"So, I have brought you all here to complete a task for me."
"What kind of task is it?" I asked while grabbing a toothpick from the table to clean my teeth.
"The same one you just completed. I have five demons that need to be dealt with before Grismald tries to release them."
"Ok? That's all?"
"Yes, and no. Yes, that is all I need you to do, but I'm sure you can imagine with a place like this far up floating in the sky, just how powerful the demons will be."
"We dealt with Nemicoramus! I'm sure we will be fine."
"No, you won't. These demons are on an entirely different level from that lesser dragon demon. No, you will have to train here and then complete the Mage tower dungeon. Then you might be strong enough to defeat them possibly, but from the progress you have made so far, I think you will be alright with proper training."
"Who's going to train us?" Victoria piped up with a half mouth full of some kind of bird I was unfamiliar with seeing.
"Well, you will each be training with special instructors, and you all will be training with our special guest."
"Special guest?" Our voices called out the question in unison.
"I shall be your teacher again! We still have a score to settle!"
We all turned to the robotic voice of Professor MTK.
Chapter 55: The Game Explained
"Professor? When did you get here?" Lavender asked, turning around with shock.
I turned as well at the robotic voice and found the sleek black training robot Professor MTK. Calling him a robot was partially right. Inside was a race know as the Galaxsor Techknowledge, a race of small humanoids. No bigger than a fist, MTK needs us to defeat him at his highest level so he can attain the perfect form that will allow him to merge with the machine and become one.
"I came here today. I arrived before you at the request of the general. Looks like you have gained more members as well and levels! I am very excited to see the changes you all have undergone!"
"I also have one more surprise," Duke Vistorm put his hand up to signal a maid that left the room.
I turned back to look at Lavender, but she just shrugged. MTK came and sat down at the table and opened himself up. The robot put a small amount of food on the plate and then brought it down to the little Professor. Then he hopped out and started to snack.
Instantly the girls were huddled around him, and I was pushed back as they gushed over how cute he looked. I got up and took a seat beside The Duke. I was about to ask him about the surprise when the door opened, and the maid entered with an elf-like woman with blond hair.
Something looked too familiar about her face, but there was no way it could be her. I pushed the chair back and stood, my eyes locked on her, and then our vision's met. When her expression turns to pure joy, I knew it was her.
"Trina?!"
"DAVE!!"
She ran and jumped into my arms, squeezed her tight. I had been so worried that I wasn't gonna see her for a long time. Our shouts caught the attention of the girls, and they turned to us.
"Trinity?!" Lavender and Victoria exclaimed, and they rushed over.
Tilly and Iona followed, but Tilly had only met the fairy Trina but didn't know she was also the God of Transmigration, like the other girls. Trinity broke away from my hug to embrace Lavender and Victoria. The other two girls looked confused, so I tried to vaguely explain.
"Trinity, Is a friend of ours."
"How? Where did you meet her?" Tilly asked, walking over to me, with her finger on her lip and a puzzled look on her face.
Shit, now what? If I try to tell her ill just blackout again. I was about to risk it when Lavender beat me to the punch.
"There is something that we need to explain to you and Iona," Lavender explained to Tilly as she let go of Trinity.
"I will have the maid show you to the sitting room, and you all can talk there. I would like to have a word with the Professor. After you're done talking, a maid will show you to your rooms. While your training, I would like you all to stay here. This is the safest place."
"Hold on, What about the other noble houses with demons?" I asked.
"Don't worry, each noble house has increased security and are in the process of dealing with the demons."
The same maid that had brought Trinity into the room led us to a cozy sitting room with a fire going in the hearth. All of us sat down on the two couches facing each other. The vassal and two gods sat on one, and Tilly and Iona sat on the other with me.
"So to start with," but I cut lavender off.
"Is this really ok to talk about? Every time I have in the past, I have blacked out."
"It was a restriction placed on you by the blessings. I'm sure you have noticed that they are gone now because we both had our conditions met to join you and help."
"I didn't really notice until I got my class selection, and there was no legendary class."
"Ok, as I was about to say, Trinity and I are Gods. I am Destiny, and Trinity is Transmigration. Dave is a vassal of the faceless god, and Victoria is the God Valor's vassal."
"WAH?!" Both girls gaped in shock, but Lavender didn't stop there.
"I'm sure you have noticed that this city is bizarre, but do you know what is outside of the city?"
That question made me think, have I ever even looked outside of the city? Even flying through the sky, we only looked down until the floating castle appeared. What did that mean? I can't believe that I wouldn't have looked.
I looked at the girls, but they had the same puzzled expression, and when I looked at Victoria, she had the same look.
"There is no outside of the city. This world is only this city. It was designed to make you not want
to look outside the city since it all just white nothingness," Trinity added.
"World? Gods? How? Dave, what are they talking about?" Iona sounded panicked as she asked.
"They are telling the truth. It's a lot to take in, but I'm trying to have you become vassals so we can all continue to live our lives together. I have done the same for each of them."
"Then why aren't you a god? What happens if we don't become vassals?" Tilly asked, this time clutching my arm.
This was really shaking the girls up, but it was high time that everyone knew, so we didn't have to dance around the subject.
"My job is to find your girls and help you. If I can't make you a vassal, we will lose you and have to try and find you in the next world. Believe me, this is a tiny place. We have had rounds with multiple planets populated with people. Imagine trying to find one or two people that won't look the same or have any memories of their past lives."
"We have had past lives? How many?" Iona asked as she clutched at my arm like Tilly.
"We don't know, and that's the problem. All we can do is try to win to use the wish to make you vassals and Ascend Victoria and one other person. We found a loophole that allows us to use the wish by phrasing it as "I wish to ascend a pair to gods." Then when the new Gods ascend, they each chose a vassal, which will be you two."
"What is the whole point of it all?" Iona asked.
"As gods, we get to chose the games we play in, set condition for when we enter the game, and when we enter a game with our vassal. We also can bestow a blessing to them of our designated title. You get to enjoy the life you were promised before entering Reborn," Lavender explained.
The room fell silent, and I looked from girl to girl, but both looked down in thought. Neither let go of my arm and when I looked up at the other three, they all had smiles on their faces. I lowered one eyebrow and raised the other, but then all three got up quietly and left the room without making a sound.
Suddenly, I was left in the room alone with Tilly and Iona, who was still deep in thought. Tilly was the first to notice that the Lavender and the other two had left, and she looked at me. I looked back into her brown eyes and smiled.
"How long have you been doing this for? How many people have you saved?"
"Never enough, it seems. Every game I have played, except for the last, I have found more "Lost Souls," but they always more."
There was a pull at my other arm, and I turned to Iona, who had watering eyes and was shaking. This was visibly bothering her, so I gently pulled my arm from Tilly and took Iona into my arms, and she began to cry. Slowly at first, but then she started sobbing and shaking really bad.
Tilly kissed the top of my head and left the room. Iona was still crying, but it had slowed down, and soon she was only sniffling. She wiped her face on my shirt before pulling back to look up at me with puffy red eyes.
"How many times have I had to go through all that?"
I knew that she meant about how hard it had been to be in the slums and the distrust she seemed programmed with. After hearing this, she must have made her feel that she felt this way because she had often gone through this. I couldn't tell her if she did or not, but I had my suspicions.
"You will never remember those times. All we can do now is move forward and help other people after we help you cement your place in Reborn."
"Is this really all a game?"
"Yes, that's what it is, but we get a chance to lives unlimited amounts of lives. It was hard then, but it won't be like that anymore as long as we can win this game, and we will. I promise you that."
Chapter 56: Very Little Sleep
It didn't take long for her to fall asleep in my arms, everyone was exhausted, and this shock didn't help Iona. She had the most challenging life of us all, but I didn't know that much about Tilly's past, either. She hadn't been affected like Iona was, but that didn't mean it wasn't affecting her.
I picked up Iona and decided that tomorrow I would sit down with Tilly and see how she was doing. I left the sitting room with the sleeping girl in my arms and was escorted by a waiting-maid to Iona's room. Once she was in bed, and I tucked her in with a kiss that left her with a cute smile, the maid guided me to my own room.
Once in the room, I closed and locked the door, then turned around. The room wasn't huge like my other one, which was more than alright, but something about my bed caught my eye. There were too many pillows on the bed and a suspicious white tip of a tail sticking out from bed, and then I heard a giggle from the pile of pillows.
I took off my shirt and slip into bed, being careful not to crush her tail. Tilly's head pokes out from the covers beside, and I was able to partially see the sheer light green nightgown she wore that left nothing to the imagination. I leaned in and kissed her, and we tangle our arms around each, but soon I pulled away before I couldn't use sensible words anymore.
"Are you OK with all of this? It didn't affect you like it did to Iona, but that doesn't mean it didn't at all."
"I already had my suspicions. The way you and lavender changed when you got back from fighting Grismald, and then the way you two and Victoria all seemed to know something I didn't."
"Was I hard for you? Like in the beginning?"
"I don't remember my parents or anything before the seven, and that's when Darbon found me. He and the other dwarfs took good care of me and helped me meet Miss Grace. So It hasn't been that bad, but I do understand the way Iona feels."
"I'm just happy that your life hasn't been hard. It hasn't been the same for everyone, and I haven't been able to save them all. In the second last game I played, we lost two people because of a mistake I made in trusting a certain person. That's why I do this! I don't want you people to keep living meaningless lives! I want everyone to live and play together!"
Tilly's eyes were glassy from my impassioned speech, but she had a beautiful smile on her face. I pulled her into another kiss, and the two of us let go of the world. Even though I was exhausted, I still got very little sleep.
The next morning I woke up to the soft and warm press of Tilly's naked body into mine. Her head was one my chest, so I stroked her delicate ears, and she nuzzled her face further up my chest. Soon her face was up to mine, smiling and her naked body sliding along mine brought the excitement of last night to mind, and I wanted to try and rekindle that fire right now.
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
"DAVE! Let's go! You to Tilly! Enough screwing around in there!"
Why was it Trinity's voice yelling at us like a drill sergeant? I focused back on Tilly's face, but she had turned an intense shade of red, and she had a very embarrassed look on her face. Her entire body was getting hot, and it wasn't helping Morning-Man-Brain, so I kissed her and pulled her off me, then ruffled her hair.
"We are coming!" I yelled back.
Soon we both got dressed, and I admired her feline features with her unclothed body as Tilly got dressed, which made me want to barricade the door and pull her back into bed. After we were both dressed, we had one more long kiss before unlocking and opening the door. The girls were all waiting for us.
"Took you two long enough? Dave, you look pretty tired still," Victoria joked.
Everyone, including Tilly, even though it made her redder, laughed at this, and we all heading back down to the dining room we had eaten in last night. When we arrived, there was a stack of pancakes on each of our plates with some sliced fruit. The Duke was also waiting for us, but it looked as though he had already eaten.
"I hope you all had a good rest. Eat well, because today we will be starting training. Your first test will be to gauge your abilities against the Professor. After that, you will be split into two groups, one will train with me, and the other will train with Grace."
"Wah? How?" We all asked at once.
Instead of The Duke answering us, the door opened, and Miss Grace walked inside. She was wearing the same outfit as the day she was taken, but she looked like nothing had changed. Dungeon life must not have
been so bad for her, I thought to myself but dared not voice my opinion out loud.
"It's so good to see you all again! I heard you all have been very busy since I left. Doing the demon house cleaning and such."
"Grace will be training Lavender, Victoria, and Trinity, and I will work with Dave, Tilly, and Iona."
We all finished eating while talking to Miss Grace about the things we had accomplished in her absence. After, we were led to the house's back yard area that turned out to be a high-tech training facility with a closed-in roof. Inside was a single jet black robot, waiting for us.
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