“Welcome to Hellsgrog! Congratulations on reaching the last city! It must’ve been so hard to reach this place,” she said, lightly clapping as if having finished watching a show.
Glancing towards Leo, Diego asked, “Leo, what is this?”
Equally confused, all he could do was shrug. “I’ve got no idea, let’s just listen for now.”
“What a rush to get here today, too! That demon was quite something for our newcomers wasn’t it?” She said as she shifted her attention to us.
Slowly lifting his head, Leo looked in pure horror as he realized they had been watching what happened the entire time.
The same was for the others.
As the realization sank in, Leo couldn’t help but just stare at the smiling figure. ‘What’s going on…?’
From the corner of his eyes, Leo could see Diego restraining an enraged Anthony, keeping him from getting him and running at her.
Seeing our reactions, she nodded her head a few times “Mm, mm. If your reactions were any different, I’d’ve had to put you down right then and there! It is unfortunate what happened to that barrier fellow, he would’ve been a great addition.”
“But I’m afraid your troubled times haven’t officially ended just yet! Allow me to expla-”
“Hey, what the hell are you saying, lady?! Who do you think you are?”
Looking forward, Leo could see a big guy angrily push through the crowd, gripping a metal bat.
“Hm? Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t introduce myself.”
Saying this, she adjusted her uniform and quickly saluted with a smile.
“I am Major Sina Wegerer of the 1st Internal Security Division of the Northern Gate. This gate is under the protection of the Seventh Castellan. Today, I’ve been assigned to oversee your trials!”
Hearing this, the crowd stirred as a barrage of screams and panicked voices filled the room. .
“Huh? What do you mean trials?”
“After all this!? What gives?!”
“My baby’s starving!”
Seeing the confusion around her, she added “Now sir, if you would please go back down and let me finish my statements, I’ll let you on your merry w-”
She was quickly interrupted by a grab to her collar as the man repeated, “Who the hell do you think you’re t-”
Silence.
Confused, Leo looked a little closer and saw a glint near the man’s nape.
The crowd, equally confused, stared in wonder. Until the sounds of choking broke the silence.
Pulling away from Sina’s blade, the man struggled with his arms flailing in front, mouthing a few words, blood gushed from his neck, some of it spraying onto Sina’s cheek.
Sina, unfazed, took out a handkerchief from her breast pocket and wiped the knife clean of blood, handing it off to a nearby guard.
Her face, with a more neutral smile now.
“Ahhh… It seems I wasn’t loud enough” she said with a sigh.
Wiping some blood off her face, she pushed the man aside, making him fall on his back, gasping for air, as blood began to bubble out of his mouth.
Leo saw Amanda quickly cover her mouth as she watched the man slowly choke to death, as the bubbles stopped, and the body turned limp.
“Now then, it seems I’ve got your full attention, let me say it again! I am Major Sina Wegerer of the 1st Internal Security Division, and I’ve come before you to ensure that your Immigration Trials proceed without a hitch!”
Hearing this, the crowd quickly seemed to panic a bit as people whispered to one another, unsure of what to do. Especially having witnessed one of their own die at her hands.
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It seemed Sina was letting the crowd digest the information as she stayed silent.
‘What the hell is this? Nobody mentioned such a trial.’
Conflicted on what to do, Leo quickly ran to his group mates who were frozen in shock like the others in the crowd.
“Leo. Do you have any idea what she’s talking about…? What’s going on with this place?! Wasn’t it supposed to be a safe haven?!”
Anthony asked, growing more frantic and panicked.
“Guys calm down, I have no idea what the hell she’s talking about. Look around, nobody does” Leo said, trying to calm everyone.
Seeing them all afraid like this had him feeling guilty. He had been the one that wanted to come here… he brought them to this. So he’ll get them out.
“Look, I’ll think of something. But for now, we gotta just follow along with them, got it?”
“What else can we do…” Anthony said.
Looking at him, Anthony looked lost as his eyes were unfocused and his body seemed lifeless, holding on by strings connected to the skies.
‘I can’t have him do anything rash…’
“Look Antho-”
“Okay! I think that’s enough time!”
Suddenly, Sina’s voice overpowered the crowd’s sound as everyone grew quiet.
“Wow, y'all got quiet real quick. Nice! Then this will go quickly. As I’ve said before, all of you will be put through trials! Why you might ask? Because we can’t just have useless people like him…” she kicked the man’s corpse “...just enter the city now can we? So, we’ll only be bringing in the most useful of you bunch! Just follow our rules and all will go well!”
Waving her hand, a screen above the gate flickered to life. And words began to be displayed.
“If you’d all please look up here, you’ll see our rules for the trials overall. Of course you’ll have different rules moving forward depending on your choices but these will remain for all 4 choices.”
Reading the rules, Leo saw
1) Assaulting any of the guards will result in immediate execution or repurposing.
2) Please follow all directions from the guards. Refusal to do so will result in a strike. Once the participant receives 3 strikes, the participant will be repurposed into a drone worker.
3) Challenges can be requested to anybody to receive the person’s position. However, the challenged will choose the challenge method.
Methods include:
- One-on-one fights until the opponent either concedes or is killed.
- Quiz corresponding to the position being challenged
The loser will be retried or sent to be repurposed.
‘A drone?’
Luckily, someone in the crowd had the courage to ask, “What's a drone, Ma’am?”
“I’m glad you asked! Drones are those who have been deemed as obsolete and are repurposed into productive workers for more menial tasks such as cleaning or storing unimportant things. Although the way that drones are made I’ll have to say they are classified for you unfortunately. Any more questions though?”
“Um, no Ma’am.”
‘Right, great. No breaking those rules, got it.’
Looking around, the crowd seemed to also have the same thought as him. Except for a couple who smirked a bit.
‘I’m gonna guess they’ll ask for that duel there…’
Clapping her hands to get our attention, Sina announced, “Alright, looks like you’ve all read these rules. Easy to follow right? Keep these in mind through your trials whatever you choose. Speaking of, it’s time for you guys to choose your trials! Flip the screen please!”
Looking up, Leo saw the screen’s text change from the rules to four categories.
Production Administration Demonic Frontier Internal Security
“As you see above, you will all choose four different sectors. Each has a different trial method according to its job requirements. Allow me to make these clear.”
Pointing at the “Production”, she explained, “Production is everything regarding food or resource production. So jobs under this area would include farming, mining, manufacturing, processing, and a bunch more that I don’t wanna say. So pretty much the hands-on work for everything here, very important, we can never have too many!”
“As for Administration, these guys are pretty much the ones that do all that boring paperwork for people as well as work in government positions such as lawmaking and recording. Like I said, very straight forward with the names.”
“Now, the Demonic Frontier is absolutely important as they stay outside the city in that big forest you guys went through. This force makes sure demons stay away from this city as much as possible. They are the first and last line of defense for humanity. Very exciting work for people looking for a fight!”
“And last but not least, we’ve got the Internal Security. While the Demonic Frontier fights external threats such as demons and their contractors, the Internal Security’s gotta deal with people inside the city. A good example are the people you see around you. We ensure no threats get in or out of the city and maintain public order in the city, for instance, putting down any violent riots.”
Clapping her hands together, she looked back to us and from behind, four more uniformed soldiers stepped forward from behind her holding signs that had each of the sector names.
“Now, your first choice begins here, you will now choose your sectors. Once you’ve decided, please form a line in front of one of these people according to your choice, they will be the overseers. Once you’ve chosen, please await further instructions.”
With an eerily bright smile, she added,
“And please… take your time.”