"Corporal Crayon V. Wyatt, Field Medic!"
I stared at my garrison reserve enlistment letter in my grimweb card, repeatedly reading my rank and role. What bothered me most was that I had joined at the soldier rank; it would be hard for me to get into the officer rank even if I were to reevaluate in the future. Unless I had achieved some significant merit, there was simply no way.
Though I was disappointed, honestly, I should be grateful for the rank and role assigned to me. If my exam had ended like usual, ten points would only have landed me a private rank. But since this exam ended unusually fast, fewer people passed the exam. Combined with my ultimate undying body and medical capabilities, I was enlisted as a Corporal and a Field Medic.
Apparently, a field medic didn't require a medical license, as they were not full doctors but the ones who kept people alive when everything was on fire, loud, and very inconvenient. Basically, jumping into the line of fire, dragging the wounded out, and patching them up. These guys usually operate using basic first aid cards and potions, the basic stuff.
"Wyatt, stop worrying. It's not like staring at it hard enough will magically change your rank and role," Mary complained as we were seated at a table she reserved in a fancy cafeteria. It was one of her favorite spots in the city, the desserts here were to die for. She dragged me along, even though all I wanted was to wallow in my own pity in my dorm—cut off, tucked away, and safe from the outside world.
Getting no response from me, she was mad, but swallowing her anger, she tried to console me, offering, "Medics fall under a separate chain of command. What I'm saying is, I will get you assigned to my medical unit, so you don't have to worry about being sent to the battlefield if, God forbid, the need ever arises."
Listening to Mary, I finally stopped staring at my grimweb card and glanced at her with teary red eyes, declaring, "I love you, you know that, my guardian angel. If not for the table, I would be kissing your feet right now."
"Stop being gross and loud. People are staring. I like this place; I don't want to be banned," Mary remarked, feigning sternness, flustered by my words, but she was enjoying every bit of my flattery and admiring gaze. Her eyes screamed, 'Praise me more,' giving her away, and I didn't spare any, as she deserved it.
But her delighted eyes narrowed into a frown, and her dangling feet paused when I asked, "I know you are a lieutenant colonel, but you can do that, right? After all, it's only an honorary rank."
Then her eyes wandered, avoiding mine, as she said, "So, what? I can put in a request for reassignment when we are called for duty. But, even if they approve reassignment, my hands will be tied if the higher command orders all medics to deploy."
"I take back everything I said, you phony guardian angel. If not for the table, I would be kicking your shin right now," I snapped at Mary for trying to cheer me up by selling me a false hope. She didn't lie to me, just wasn't completely honest.
"How dare you? Just for that, we are splitting the bill. I'm not paying for you," Mary immediately went on the offensive, hitting right where I was weakest.
"You can't do that. I can't even afford water here. Twenty G-coins for a bottle of water? Does it come with gold or something?" I shouted, waving my grimweb card displaying the cafeteria menu, and looked at the unsealed bottle of water on my side of the table and wondered if it was too late to return it.
"Then wash the plates to pay, for all I care," Mary mocked me, and the smirk on her face grew wider. "And that's gion-infused, mineral-rich water. Twenty G-coin is cheap for it."
"I would, but I don't think they would let me clean their plates by hands," I spouted the truth; a high-end place like this used cards for that stuff, as it was simpler, easier, cleaner, and more appealing.
Our eyes locked in an intense staring contest before we both burst into laughter.
…
"Harrison, do you know who it is this time and why they are here?" Col. D. Blade asked the city's Grimmyth Research Institute's chief director, Harrison Hawthorne, upon arriving at his lab.
"The same old, another one of the big organizations that want me to use my grim cypher to test their findings, theories, or hypotheses," Harrison answered with a helpless sigh as he poured his friend a glass of his finest liquor.
These big organizations were willing to pay big bucks for his help, but the problem was he had already abused his grim cypher enough and was suffering from its side effects. That was why he left the high-paced life of the Starox Prefecture and moved to Skyox City to be with his family. Yet, people wouldn't leave him alone. They all wanted to use his grim cypher and were willing to pay any price he named, even willing to do anything to get him to help them, failing to understand the risks.
"Let us hope they get deterred by the city commander, or this might turn ugly fast," Mark Payne's voice sounded as he walked into the lab, having overheard their conversation.
The reason both deputy commanders of the city were here guarding Harrison Hawthorne and not at the conflict site with the city commander was that, in the past, a squad of legendary grimlocks tried to kidnap him and almost succeeded, if not for the city commander running interference.
"I don't understand why these guys keep doing these pointless attempts. They can never change my mind. Even if they kidnap me, I can't give them what they want. I'm old and demented. I no longer have it in me," Harrison said nonchalantly, speaking like a person had accepted his retirement. His true fear lied elsewhere, that the world might discover Crayon V. Wyatt.
Chief Director Hawthorne had never intended to take Crayon under his wing. He had only helped him during their first meeting on a passing whim, unwilling to let the kid endure what he once had. He had simply done what he wished someone had done for him when he first became a grimlock. No measure of wealth, fame, or authority was worth the fast paced, self-sacrificing life he had lived. He never expected the kid to bloom into someone with so much raw and extraordinary potential. And that only made him more worried for the kid.