Emilio was forced to take a longer route to the base after the experience he had at the red-light district. He really wished he would never meet with the man and his college ever again. It had started drizzling. While shaking off the memory of earlier by shaking his head, Emilio dashed forward as he neared the base which took a couple of hours worth of aimlessly running around the city in a cold early night. He finally reached the barrack's gate which surprisingly looked normal. He expected to see some weird signs on the gate but he found a perfectly normal barrack gate. As he walked towards the gate while gazing at it, a soldier at the gate called out;
"Hey, what business do you have sticking around here with on this rainy night young one? If you have none could please fuck off back to your home."
Emilio took no offence. In stead he answered, "I have been referred to a man named Jebal; Jebal Rodrick."
"Oh you mean the general. Are you a messenger?"
"More or less."
"Am sorry but the general doesn't give a shit about people like you. So could please fuck off before I... "
"Hey Fred, enough with the bullshit. The general wants to speak with that young lad." A feminine voice interrupted the soldier from inside the gate. On hearing this, the soldier was pissed off. Holding his anger back, he signaled Emilio to enter. Emilio did so where he saw the origin of the feminine voice. It was a woman with pink hair and pink eyes, the same one from red-light district except this time she was dressed in a black suit and a white shirt together with a skirt that was barely below the her knees though it firmly held her skin. He looked at the soldier who was in plain clothes and back again at the lady. The lady said to him;
"Follow me. The general awaits your presence."
Emilio silently followed her while asking himself allot of questions.
'What is happening here?' He thought to himself, 'Whyis' she here? I remember the man saying that they were colleges, does that mean that I'll met with him here? No! I can 't meet with that idiot here again. I bet he will just be a random soldier around this place. Besides, who the hell is this woman! Unlikeearlier when I couldn't detect any chi from her, I now detect a hell amount of chi. Nevertheless, I wonder where she is leading me. I haven't seen any soldiers yet but I'm already nervous. Why did they even have to put the base beside the forest at the edge of the city. Did they lack a better place in all of Ishgar?'
The lady kind of read Emilio's mind.
"Don't worry, all your questions will be answered soon. The general will get some soldiers to guide you," she said. Emilio was dumbfounded by this. He had a lot of questions to ask but decided to keep quiet. The duo entered another gate where the woman exchanged pleasantries with the soldier at the gate. Here Emilio noticed that they wore black uniforms which had white stripes at the edges. After this Emilio couldn't remember the way well as his gaze was fixed on the sea of soldiers that engulfed them. His mind returned to him when they stood in front of a door in a certain building. On it were the names: THE GENERAL.
Behind the door, he could detect an enormous amount of chi. The lady vanished into the room after telling Emilio to wait a little at the door. Emilio looked around the room. There was another door beside the generals door that claimed to be the general's secretary's office. 'The woman,' Emilio presumed. Other than that, all the other doors claimed to be 'masters' offices'. The woman respawned from the door and called Emilio in. On entering, the lady excused herself and left the room. Emilio bowed slightly to show respect. In front of him was a man who was about fifty years of age and with a jungle of hair on his face in place of his beard. His uniform had a ridiculously more badges than that of other soldiers. He was checking some reports and only stopped on seeing Emilio and looked up. Other than files and documents that were pilled on one side of the desk was a name tag that announced his name; General Jebal M. Rodrick.
"You can have a seat," the general said stretching his arm to shoe the chair in front of him.
"Thankyou sir." Emilio said accepting the chair. He felt his stomach warm up.
" I believe you've come here to obtain information about your brother. Is that right?"
"Yes sir."
"I see, then let me officially welcome you to the HQ of all chi-bases in all of Ishgar."
"Thankyou sir."
"You do realize that your brother was a soldier in this base and ranked just below the masters. We lost contact with him during a mission in Florennum but we believe he is sill alive cause there has not been any cases of Florennum killing its hostages especially those with a high chi level. I believe your mother said so before you came."
"Yes sir, she did."
"How is she fairing?"
"Am sorry sir, but she passed away not more than two weeks ago." Emilio said quite tormented by the memory.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That means that the most efficient way of recovering your brother is through fighting Florennum with us. That way, you will be able to increase your strength for future battles to come that you cant avoid."
"I am well aware of that sir. That is why I want to join this base as a soldier under your command."
Jebal chuckled slightly. "I like your conviction. Are you prepared to face whatever is thrown your way?"
"I am sir. I will do what ever it takes to fulfill my mother's dying wish," Emilio said so firmly. He was ready and had set his conscious free to do whatever it took.
"I see. Then there is no reason for me to object. Here, sign these papers. your uniform will be ready in one week." Jebal said handing him some documents. Emilio did so. As he was returning the documents, Emilio felt someone approaching the door by detecting their chi.
"You may enter." The general said.
Two soldiers entered the office, one male, one female. The male was a bit taller than Emilio. He had green hair, green eyes and rather bushy eyebrows. He was a bit thin and one could tell he was in his early twenties. He didn't emit much chi, neither of them did. He introduced himself as Neos James. The girl was in her late teenage years and and a bit younger than Emilio. She had light blue hair and navy blue eyes which sparkled whenever she would blink. She had perfect feminine features and a smile beautiful enough to make a man fantasize. In Emilio's eyes, she was a beauty. She introduced herself as Alfazeck Peters. 'what a weird name,' Emilio thought.
The general continued, "Number 16348 and number 16347," he said the numbers number by number(one-six-three- four-eight) take care of Emilio and make sure he is comfortable. Also make sure he understands how things work here."
"Yes sir!" Both said. Emilio stood and faced them. He then bowed slightly and said, "I'll be in your care." The general then stood and stretched his arm for Emilio to shake. He took it.
"Welcome to the army Emilio. Number 16349." The general said.
"Thanks sir."
Neos took Emilio's suitcase and headed out. Emilio followed him as Alfazeck followed behind them closing the door. The general resumed with his work.