Chapter 56: Day in the Life

Peace blinked his eyes open, staring straight into a blinding light.

Squinting and raising a hand to shield his eyes, he turned his head left, catching sight of a stunned researcher scrambling out of the room, past the guard.

A new guard, fairly short, whose golden eyes watched him intently through the slits in their visor.

’This is my new life, huh?’

Sitting up, Peace patted his stomach as he wandered to the washroom and washed up. Despite being in clear view, he couldn’t have cared less what they did or didn’t see.

’I still smell like shit...’

Apparently, they had washed his hair at some point while he was out. It didn’t reek of blood and piss anymore. But the rest of him didn’t smell all that good. Something quite difficult for an elf to achieve, given that alluring pheromones were a trait of theirs.

Peace sat back down on the bed and waited.

He could have talked to the guard; he hadn’t been expressly told not to, but he felt little desire to make friends with his oppressors.

In time, someone arrived and presented him with a meal, which he scarfed down, gazing up at the one-way mirror between bites.

"Tch."

A few boring hours later, the door swung open, and a short, stocky man entered, wearing a lab coat that dragged along the floor.

’A Dwarf?’

Adjusting his glasses, the crew-cut dwarf smiled, then said:

"Hello, Pax. I’m—"

"It’s Peace."

Scratching the back of his head, the man choked on his words, but managed:

"Ah ha... right. Ahem. H-hello, Peace. I’m Geronimo."

Instead of greeting the small man, Peace slid off the bed, folded his arms across his chest, and cast a deadpan stare down at him.

Placing one hand on the pommel of their blade, the guard began tapping it.

’I know, I know.’

"So, Geronimo... I assume you’ve been sent here for a reason."

Shivering, the dwarf gave a little start, then said:

"H-haha, yes! You’d assume correctly. I am going to be your w-writing instructor."

Peace knelt to meet the dwarf’s eyes, causing the small man to audibly gulp.

’Hmm...’

"Is there a reason you’re dressed like that?"

The guard, in a soft yet stern tone, ordered:

"Stop intimidating him."

’That counts as intimidation?’

Peace scoffed, then straightened his back, meeting the guard’s golden gaze through the narrow slits of their helm.

Geronimo waved frantically at the guard.

"N-no, it’s okay. An inquisitive mind is j-just what a s-student needs!"

’Uh-huh...’

After a light cough and a deep breath to calm himself, Geronimo answered:

"It’s customary to wear these in this f-facility. They’re known as ’lab coats.’ T-they help prevent harmful chemicals from coming into contact with the skin. B-but don’t worry! We’re not near that wing!"

Peace glanced up at the incandescent light overhead.

’Chemicals...? That wing?’

’What exact type of facility am I in...? And where the hell is it?’

Sadly, he knew those questions wouldn’t be answered. They wouldn’t have drugged him and brought him here otherwise.

The dwarf reluctantly turned his back on Peace and gestured toward the door.

"F-follow me."

’Not here...? And they’re not blindfolding me?’

Although confused, Peace did as asked and followed the tiny scholar.

Upon stepping into the hallway, however, he found himself in a place that bore an uncanny resemblance to a hospital.

A sight he knew all too well...

White walls stretched in either direction, broken by identical doors and branching corridors. The three made their way through the winding hallways, only occasionally passing a researcher or two, who hurried away at the sight of Peace.

’Seriously, what do they think I’m going to do... bite their heads off?’

Eventually, they stopped before another door. Peering inside, Peace found a room nearly identical to the two he’d already occupied. A single light, a one-way mirror, and padding covering the walls and floor. Except this one contained two wooden tables, parchment, and a strange utensil that resembled a pencil, but not quite.

’Ah, I see.’

They didn’t want to bring anything remotely sharp into his sleeping quarters.

Peace entered and sat down, and before long, the dwarf began his lesson.

Oddly enough, it proved rather engaging. Geronimo grew increasingly enthusiastic as Peace demonstrated how attentive he could be. It seemed the professor in him outweighed whatever preconceptions he’d formed about his new student.

After about an hour, Geronimo was sent away, and another researcher took his place. This was his dungeon instructor, a retired Diver named Alexandra, a human woman in her late forties.

She went over the four quadrants, landmarks, spawning zones, and mini-bosses. All the most elementary knowledge concerning the first floor. He didn’t learn anything, but he had to pretend otherwise.

Next on the itinerary was a combat assessment.

Led by an Imperial Knight...

With a scar on his chin, short black hair, a scruffy beard, and weary eyes, the man greeted Peace:

"Hello, bastard, I’m David. Captain David. Have we... met somewhere before?"

’I didn’t expect to see you here.’

But...

’Have you met the previous owner of this body...? Or perhaps you can sense the same Spirit?’

The man touched the scar on his chin as he studied Peace.

Taking a long breath, Peace examined the stocky man in turn. Without his armor, dressed instead in casual clothes, the captain’s muscular build was all the more apparent. Still...

"Would you really forget someone of my appearance?"

"I suppose—"

Peace cut him off:

"And my name isn’t ’bastard’; it’s Peace..."

Captain David clicked his tongue.

"...Is it now?"

Unsheathing the sword at his side, David tightened his grip around the hilt and angled the blade toward Peace, then ordered:

"Come at me."

Peace surveyed the room they’d brought him to. This time, there was no guard stationed inside, leaving only him and ’Captain’ David.

Unlike the others, this room wasn’t entirely padded. The walls and ceiling were cushioned, but the floor was bare concrete. Along one wall stood a rack of assorted weapons.

Peace crossed the room toward the rack and selected a one-handed sword.

He’d barely taken a few steps away when David spoke.

"Your left shoulder is hurt?"

Without turning his head, Peace shifted his eyes toward the Imperial Knight Captain.

"Yes."

David shook his head.

"Why show it?"

"Huh?"

David kicked off the concrete floor, crossing the distance between them in a near-instantaneous blur.

"Why show such weakness?!"

Before Peace could even process what had happened, the cold edge of iron grazed his shoulder. A faint trail of smoke marked the captain’s path, the fading residue of a Resonance.

Peace’s red eyes flicked toward the blade resting against him.

"How is this testing my combat capability?"

David clutched his head with his free hand, his sword trembling in the other.

"The fact you have to ask that is simply appalling." Looking away, he grumbled, "I can’t believe they’re forcing me to do this... can’t they let me rest, if only until after the funeral?"

Peace twisted at the waist, driving his sword toward David’s exposed neck.