Chapter 834 Barracks Trip: Roll Call

Knock, knock, knock! Lee Seng's eyes fluttered open. Keng's arms and legs were wrapped around him as he pushed Keng away from him. Keng rolled over to the other side of the bed, hitting the wall. Lee Seng slipped on his shirt and opened the door. Fae and River stood outside. The young teenage Fox spirits glanced behind Lee Seng and noticed Keng was quietly snoring away. Lee seng stepped outside, closing the door.

"Um…" River was the first to break the silence. "T-thank you for taking us home. When I woke up, I was confused on where I was… so Fae assumed Leader must've taken us back home."

"Don't mention it." Lee Seng smiled. "You two are finally starting your journey. I guess that means we have more work to do."

"More work…?" Fae asked. Lee Seng nodded. He glanced down the hallway and noticed a bunch of soldiers filing down the halls.

"Once you get two tails, you'll need to prepare a journey into another Realm. It's a Rite of Passage, so to speak." Lee Seng answered. "Everything you've been taught will help you with that journey. You'll need to see your way to the finish line. Once you do, you'll be met with a… How do I phrase this? 'Old friend?' No… They're more of an old acquaintance."

"An old acquaintance? What do you mean by that?" River asked. Lee Seng shifted in his spot.

"All soldiers report outside for roll call!" Rudy's voice boomed. The three of them glanced down the hallway, noticing Rudy moving the opposite direction of the soldiers. "All soldiers report outside for roll call, please!"

"What's happening with them?" River asked. "Is everything all right?" Fae and River turned to Lee Seng for an answer as Rudy noticed them and jogged down the hall.

"Leader Lee Seng, we'll confirm who's all here. Captain Zixin told me to tell you, the Saviors don't need to come to roll call." Rudy saluted.

"You don't need my help?" Lee Seng waved. Fae and River split, greeting Rudy.

"No, sir. We'll count and make sure our people are here. There were some soldiers who got in late last night, so we've accounted for them already."

"Who's on kitchen duty?"

"Miss Lily has volunteered along with Miss Liz and Mr. Ritsuka. Your friends have opted to help in any way while we figure this matter out." Rudy answered. Lee Seng nodded and looked at Fae and River.

"Alright. Let me know what I need to do once you guys figure things out. We'll try to help wherever we can." Lee Seng responded. Rudy bowed and saluted before heading off. Fae and River turned back to look at Lee Seng.

"Is this… about the incident yesterday?" Fae asked, shyly.

"Yeah." Lee Seng folded his arms together. "There's an odd number of soldiers, so Captain Zixin and his men are working on figuring out who's lost. We'll need to help them on our end."

"What about the journey, sir?" River asked.

"Keng and I will sit down with both of you and go over what needs to be done, later. For now, let's try and help wherever we can." Lee Seng answered.

"Alright, sir." Fae nodded.

Lee Seng followed the two Savior rookies to the main living area. It was completely empty and the quiet voices of Zixin's men calling names.

"Hello, we're back." Fae greeted everyone.

"Hey!" Ritsuka greeted them back.

"Do you guys need help, Mr. Ritsuka?" River asked.

"Ah, we could use some hands for cutting meat and veggies." Ritsuka pointed. "Go over to Lily." The two wandered in, leaving Lee Seng. Lee Seng peered out the window. Ritsuka glanced over, noticing Lee Seng. "You gonna come help?" Lee Seng peeked over his shoulder and smiled before turning to look back.

"I'll help in a bit. I just want some time to wake up." Lee Seng answered.

"Want some coffee? Tea?"

"I'll come grab some in a bit." Lee Seng yawned. He watched from the corner of his eye as Zixin and the others walked in and out of his view. "How's the patients?" Lee Seng turned and planted a seat on the couch.

"Manny's busy checking up on them. Dude looks like he hasn't slept in a bit." Ritsuka replied.

"I did tell him I could take over." Liz shouted. "He refuses to let me do basic maintenance on them because 'he can heal them.'"

"In between helping the patients, Manny has been reading on herbal remedies in the library." Ritsuka added.

"He has?" Lee Seng asked, impressed. "I barely even started reading those books. I know Keng's been through them."

"He's probably read almost all of it." Lily commented. "I see him there every night after you go to bed." Lee Seng sighed, putting a leg over the other as he rested his head on his propped up hand.

"I feel like I should spend some time learning about curses, monsters and herbs." Lee Seng sighed. "I gotta learn 'em at some point…"

"Especially since you're the Leader." Ritsuka chuckled. Lee Seng rolled his eye and unfolded his legs. He stood up and walked over to the kitchen, fixing himself some tea. The kitchen worked quietly. People moved with purpose, handing off things, grabbing more things, dumping things off in the sink, etc. Lee Seng quietly took a sip of his tea, turning around and finding a seat.

"Here, peel these for me." Liz set some bowls of potatoes down on the table. She set a peeler next to Lee Seng and walked away.

"Alright." Lee Seng took another sip of his tea before starting.

Lunch came and the soldiers all filed in. Lee Seng and the group could tell they were quieter than usual.

'Did Zixin tell them what happened?' Lee Seng wondered. Soldiers lined up for food, grabbing their plates and utensils and quietly grabbing and/or scooping food into their plates.

"Hey." Keng tapped Lee Seng.

"Hm?" Lee Seng glanced over to Keng.

"Did you go to the roll call? What did they say?"

"Oh, Zixin didn't need us there. I've been helping in the kitchen all morning preparing lunch."

"Ah."

"We'll probably be told who's missing and have to send out search parties for that." Lee Seng sighed. Keng nodded and smiled at some soldiers. They looked disinterested. Lee Seng turned to look further down the line and noticed Gio. "Ah, he's here."

"Who?" Keng followed Lee Seng's gaze.

"Gio." Lee Seng pointed out. "There."

"Oh. Where's the rest of them?"

"Probably not staying with him." Lee Seng shrugged. "Anyways, I should probably tell Manny there's food." Lee Seng excused himself, heading over to the infirmary. He peeked through the doors, finding Manny sleeping and sat down on his desk with a book open. "He fell asleep."

Lee Seng moved into the room and grabbed a blanket and put it on Manny. He turned, smiling, and quietly closed the door.

"Where's Manny?" Keng asked.

"Sleeping," Lee Seng answered. "Wake him up later." Keng nodded.

"C'mon, let's get in line." Keng motioned. The twins stood at the back of the line outside and waited. "After the fight yesterday, I tried to read up on void creatures. Apparently, void magic is as old as time. It's a form of ancient magic that transcends Realms. Ritsuka having a void weapon really makes it all the more rarer."

"True… I've seen darkness magic more than void magic." Lee Seng nodded. "What else did you find?"

"Mmm, the Saviors that were studying it, didn't really say much else." Keng shrugged. "There were mentions of void creatures, but they usually kept to themselves, deep underground or off the Realm. Void creatures were relatively so rare that slaying one was a feat in of itself. There were mentions in the texts I read that void creatures might contain void crystals that could be harnessed to create void storages."

"So, Void Storage literally became a thing because of that?" Lee Seng asked.

"I didn't see that in the section I read, but I'm pretty sure I'll have an answer tomorrow for you." Keng smiled. The twins slowly moved forward, feeling the gentle breeze on their skin.

"Lily said you read every night. Is it true you've almost read the entire library?" Lee Seng looked at Keng. Keng nodded his head and looked at Lee Seng.

"There's a ton of stuff you'll need to know in order to do our jobs right." Keng replied. Keng patted Lee Seng's shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry though. I'm pretty sure I'm drip feeding you knowledge every time we do become one for a short time."

"True… I guess all those times I wanted a clone to go to school came true." Lee Seng smiled. Keng pushed Lee Seng's face away and shook his head. "What? This would've been so useful. I could've sent you to school and went out to do guild missions… But, sadly that can't happen anymore…" Lee Seng shook his head and stretched his arms. "No use in thinking about the past. Focus on what's in front of us now and once this is all done, we'll figure out Earth."