The Lone SF Transmigrator in the Otherworld Forum-Chapter 164: The Guardians (1)

“Right, so I doubt you came to critique my house. What’s the matter?”

“What else could it be? It’s about the new recruit we’ve been keeping an eye on.”

“It’s not even confirmed yet, is it?”

The man tilted his head. If people could join just by being recommended, this gathering would not have lasted this long.

All this fuss just for being a candidate for recommendation?

“Have you met him? He must look good? I guess it is about time for you to get married—“

The woman frowned deeply at the man’s casual yet vulgar words.

“Sshd-up... Bfrr-ikillyou...”

“Hm? Ahaha. Alright, alright.”

The man chuckled at the woman’s ventriloquism but did not completely ignore it.

“So? Is there a special reason you’re staying quiet after hearing such words from me?”

Why was this woman, who usually did not care about anything other than tending to her divine dragon, so anxious?

The woman regained her serious look and responded.

“How much can you trust my clairvoyance?”

“Mm? So suddenly?”

The man admitted her clairvoyance was not something to be taken lightly as a joke.

“They say nothing in this world is 100% perfect, but your divination is trustworthy.”

“Hm. Of course, it’s not divination. It’s closer to intuition.”

“Oh?”

“You know divination doesn’t work on those above a certain level, right?”

“Oho. Then I guess we can assume the new recruit has passed the minimum criteria.”

“That’s right. That’s certainly fortunate, but...”

“Then why?”

The woman’s eyes flickered with anxiety.

“?”

“I’ve been feeling uneasy for the past few days.”

“What?”

It seemed her sincerity got through as the man also began to consider the matter seriously.

“Is it that serious? Besides, if it’s intuition, it might not be because of the new recruit, right?”

“...That’s, well. I’m not sure.”

“?”

“...”

Their gathering, also called the Guardians, was by no means ordinary. It was not just because of their power.

“Is it related to fate?”

“...”

Moreover, they were not ordinary, naturally selected users. There was a reason they did not reveal their actions within the Community.

They were bound by the concept of fate, which was all too natural to them.

At present, they were preserving themselves as part of the Community’s dimensional army, but the more they revealed their existence, the more they might get entangled in the fate of the Community’s dimensional army and be unable to escape.

Hearing such ominous words just when they were considering whether to accept a new member or not, even the man using the nickname DimensionalMercenary became a bit anxious.

“Damn... Is it because of that guy called Cosmic Emperor?”

Cosmic Emperor was clearly a natural user. If they got involved with him, they might not be able to escape anymore. It meant being tied to the dimensional army and sharing their fate. It meant they couldn’t deviate from fate like they were doing now, existing yet not existing.

Recently, as Cosmic Emperor showed signs of drastically expanding his sphere of activity to all dimensions, they were discussing the future while also deciding to accept a new member.

“Ugh.”

“Perhaps this was destined from the moment he revealed the Three Thousand, Chaos, and Sephiroth.”

“Who doesn’t know that?”

The man was irritable, not that it changed anything.

“Well, it’s not like your intuition is always right, so for now, let’s not worry about it and—“

“Interesting conversation you’re having.”

“—!”

“!!”

At the sudden voice, both the man and woman froze.

“Oh? Can’t I join in? It sounds fascinating.”

“...!”

“...”

They turned their heads stiffly to look at the figure that had appeared without a sound.

How did he get here?

There was no presence at all.

In contrast, the intruder was smiling brightly with his ears perked up. Wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, his face was covered in black flames.

Fwrrsh-

“I’m glad I came here after grilling Platty. I almost missed out on the fun. What are you doing? Aren’t you going in?”

Spouting incomprehensible words, he tried to walk past them into the palace of light. He did not hesitate as if entering his own house.

“You!!”

In response, DimensionalMercenary impulsively summoned a sword of light and attacked from behind. It was typical of his character to draw his sword first when facing an unknown entity.

However...

Bang- Psss-

A gust of wind blew in DimensionalMercenary’s face, and the sword of light was unsummoned.

“Hm? Is this an initiation?”

“...!”

DimensionalMercenary was speechless as the intruder casually picked his ear, while the woman frowned at DimensionalMercenary’s failed attempt.

That idiot! There was no need to attack rashly...

Since the intruder seemed to want a conversation, they could have acted after talking.

The woman forced a smile and approached the unidentified man.

“First, let’s talk inside. There’s no need to have an uncomfortable conversation out here.”

The giant dragon’s eyes were watching the man from above the palace of light.

After casting a glance at the dragon, he chuckled and walked inside.

“Oh, right.”

“??”

“...?”

But the atmosphere froze suddenly as the man paused for a moment.

“Shall we start with establishing the hierarchy?”

Hearing that, DimensionalMercenary rushed in with swords of light in both hands, and the mouth of the giant dragon above the palace opened, unleashing a tremendous blast of energy.

***“So... you’re called the Guardians?”

“...Yes.”

“...”

The woman carefully answered Karlstein’s question as he sat casually on a chair. The fellow called DimensionalMercenary was still unconscious.

“What do you guard?”

“...”

Karlstein’s clothes were torn and cut, and the tips of his hair were slightly singed. But considering the earlier clash, he was pretty much completely fine.

The woman answered his questions diligently, her shoulders trembling slightly. After Karlstein literally settled the ranks between them, there was no need to maintain appearances.

“Anyway. So there are people like you among the Three Thousand and Sephiroth too?”

“...Yes, that’s right.”

“Are they strays? Mercenaries?”

The Guardians were a gathering of those who lost their dimensions and had nowhere to go, trying to avoid getting entangled with fate as much as possible.

“Rather than avoiding, we’re waiting for the right time...”

“Hm. And that right time is to push out the original master and—“

“N-not necessarily but...”

“Ahh. Well, I get it for now.”

The woman was desperate to hide her confusion at Karlstein’s blunt words.

“To be honest, I don’t understand it at all... But I don’t think you’ll succeed anyway.”

“...”

The woman had a lot to say, but hesitated to speak. After all, his words hit the core of the matter.

“I mean, putting that aside, what were you planning to do?”

“Sorry?”

“I’m asking what you were going to do by gathering.”

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In truth, Karlstein was amazed there were people capable of even performing dimensional travel, albeit in a limited way. So he asked about their goal, which should reveal their principles of action.

“Er...”

The woman could not answer properly. The Guardians were extremely conservative. It was more accurate to say that instead of setting grand goals, they curled up defensively according to the situation. This made it hard to give a clear explanation.

“Um... Mr. Karlstein?”

“Yes?”

“Do you... really have to start a dimensional war?”

Still, the woman wanted to make sure about this point. In fact, if Cosmic Emperor had not declared a dimensional war, there would have been no need for them to get involved like this.

“Mm.”

In truth, Karlstein had not been that passionate regarding dimensional conquest before. He had left it as a long-term plan and intended to proceed slowly as time went by.

But after reading part of the future in CGH Volume 53, it could be said that his mind changed.

“Yes. There’s no going back on this.”

The woman broke out in a cold sweat at Karlstein’s definitive answer. He was more stubborn than she had expected, unlike the image he had shown so far.

A sigh threatened to escape her lips, but she could not afford to show it. She had to persuade him somehow...

“We’re temporarily calling ourselves the Guardians, but we’re not a force to be taken lightly.”

“Hm?”

From Karlstein’s perspective, the Guardians seemed like nothing more than a group of cowards on a cosmic scale.

“Er... I’m just specialized in clairvoyance, and that guy lying there is specialized in dimensional travel and...”

“Is that right?”

The woman tried to explain that the dimensional war was by no means trivial, but when Karlstein seemed to welcome it instead, she sensed that something was wrong.

“N-no I—“

“Mm.”

The air suddenly became heavy.

Only then did the woman realize that this was not a situation where she could deceive Oradge with a few words. She could not undo what had already happened.

“Very good. And here I thought you weren’t ready to talk.”

A drop of cold sweat rolled down the woman’s back.

Alright. I’ll spit some information even he will be interested in, then—

“First, the Guardians have also established themselves in the Galactic Empire—“

“What?”

“There’s a group called Mighty Corp—“

“Them huh?”

Perhaps driven by her clairvoyance, the woman was compelled to spill all the information she knew and did not know according to her intuition. Everything about the Guardian forces that had been rooted in the Galactic Empire for a long time, their past actions, their member profiles, and so on.

Upon learning that the Guardians were not as small in scale as expected, Karlstein came to a certain decision.

“Alright. I can listen to the rest slowly.”

“Is-is that so?”

“Uh-huh. So who’s the strongest in the Guardians again?”

“Ah?”

“Start by telling me where the strongest one is—“

“Er, uh...!”

As a rule, most problems are easily solved by smashing heads.