Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (33 page)

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The next day, the entire city was out celebrating. All the residents were in the streets singing songs of their victory over the Brandals.
Although there was little food involved, the merriment still continued on. It was as if a long ban of sorrow had been lifted from the city. Centzo was on its way back to its salubrious state.
Yet, another more intimate celebration was being held in the royal throne room of the capital. There, Smoke and Incitant, along with their personally selected members were all dressed in their fanciest attire.
"I see you're still going for the warmonger look," Incitant said to Smoke as he pointed to the DarkElf's battle-worn clothes.
"I haven't bought anything fancy," Smoke tried to explain his appearance as he didn't want Incitant to know of his hidden Job.
"You should at least have it repaired," exclaimed Incitant. "I know the best artisan here. I'll—" the Archbishop was cut short as they heard the loud tapping of the royal staff.
TAP TAP TAP
Prosjak holding a thick staff tapped the floor. "Everyone, please welcome, Duke Jeune of Centzo."
The ten-year-old ruler appeared in front of the crowd in his own modest robes. He had called Smoke and Incitant here for their awarding ceremony.
"In the presence of everyone here, I would like to commend these two individuals for their efforts in freeing Centzo," said Jeune.
"Incitant, please step forward," said the Duke.
"For your alliance's services to Centzo I award you and your group the villages of Arm, Elend, Gering, Mager, Mau, Minder, Labil, Hin, Trostlos and Braucht Hilfe," proclaimed Duke Jeune. "Of course, the last one may still have some of the invading forces. So, I need you to take care of that yourself."
"Also, I award Incitant the title of Centzo's Lord Defender," added Jeune.
Incitant remained speechless and simply bowed down at the Duke. The Archbishop stepped aside as Prosjak signaled for him to do so.
"Smoke, please step forward," ordered Jeune.
"Your guild and your leadership with the Avendre Mercenaries have been a crucial factor in our victory over the Brandals and Duke Burmistrz," began Jeune. "As agreed upon, any business transactions that you or any of your representatives would have in Centzo will be exempted from taxes."
Smoke was taken by surprise, the original agreement was only to be discounted with 75%. Yet, now they were now tax free instead.
'I'm sure our Merchants from Verbrannt will make a killing from all the earnings that they'll have from this,' thought Smoke happily.
Duke Jeune resumed speaking and brought back Smoke's focus.
"Also, it is officially declared that the free state of Verbrannt and the city of Centzo are now and forever will be, allies!" added the Duke.
Smoke looked at Sierra and saw her smiling face. He knew that the economist in her was already scheming up ways to exploit this tax exemption.
Prosjak then ushered him out of the way and the Duke addressed the entire room.
"Citizens of Centzo. We are now free, but this freedom was won with blood. Let us all learn from this experience. From this day forward, I shall implement an obligatory military draft on all citizens, aged sixteen and above. No one is exempted from this rule," the Duke spoke with strong conviction. "Let it be known throughout Wysteria that Centzo is a city that will not fall, and it will never fall as long as we stand together!"
The crowd applauded the young ruler. Despite his youth, he showed talents of great wisdom, understanding and compassion.
Prosjak then dismissed the gathered crowd and led Duke Jeune away from the royal throne room.
Smoke went over to Sierra as she was the only other Vigilantez there with him. Everyone else of his core members were already out enjoying their free time in the city's celebrations.
"I can't believe we're free of taxes," said Sierra as he got closer to him. "You're not bummed that you didn't get a title, though are you?"
"No, I don't need a title. I'm just sad that not all of our members got any form of reward from all of this," said Smoke as he thought about his men.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure that their allowances will increase, and they'll have better equipments. In fact, all of us should have better equipments after we rake in the money," said Sierra excitedly.
He clearly saw Sierra's eyes dazzle. He couldn't begin to imagine what she already had planned in that short amount of time.
"Anyway, let's head over to them," said Smoke to Sierra, and led her to where the Vigilantez were gathered.
 

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The Vigilantez had made themselves comfortable in the cleared up city block. None of the fallen buildings were restored. Instead, there were several benches placed in a large circle, and fully grown trees were transplanted in the area.
Many of Centzo's children were seen inside the spacious city block as they were drawn in by Laernea and Gandiva's playful nature. Apparently, their work in finding the lost family members worked out perfectly. They all found the missing family members reported.
The Maneators and Tikbalangs were alarmed to see the children at first, but none of the children were scared at the sight of them. In fact, they even played with them.
Smoke smiled as he watched them having fun. 'What a spacious place. I think the residents could easily have picnics here if the Duke won't build anything here,' thought Smoke to himself.
His curiosity got the better of him and asked Espion. "Do you have any idea what's going to be put up here?"
"From what Prosjak told me, the Duke plans to build a park here in place of the tall buildings from before," explained Espion.
Smoke looked around and was impressed by the work of Centzo's Gardeners. The park had quickly taken shape. Flowering bushes were planted around to give the park a fence-like facade. The trees were trimmed to give them a much cleaner look.
Despite the city's celebrations, most of the Vigilantez stayed in the newly created park. They enjoyed watching the work of Centzo's Gardeners.
Then, a new group of people arrived, they were Centzo's finest artisans. They brought large objects, over five-meters tall. They were all covered in white sheets. 
The artisans placed the mysterious objects right at the center of the park. There, the hidden items were lined up right next to each other.
Smoke, Sierra and the rest of his core members got closer to see what was going on. Slowly more of the Vigilantez members and the Avendre Mercenaries joined in to observe the artisans.
Suddenly, a group of golden armored Knights arrived. It was Duke Jeune, the young ruler of Centzo. The group stopped in front of the covered object. He was also accompanied by Prosjak, who was carrying the same thick staff in the royal throne room.
The golden armored Knights all moved to the side and gave the Vigilantez a clearer view of the Duke. Prosjak stepped forward and tapped on the ground.
TAP TAP TAP
"Members of the Vigilantez, Duke Jeune wishes to speak with all of you."
Prosjak stepped aside for Jeune.
"I can honestly say that without your bravery, this city would have fallen. Without your consideration, this city would have starved. Without your friendship, this city would have been lost," said Jeune gratefully.
Jeune then pointed to the covered object behind him. "Allow me to present to you, this monument of your bravery."
A statue of Smoke, Sierra and the rest of the Vigilantez was revealed before them. There were Elemental Knights, Maneators, Tikbalangs, Werewolves, Werebears, Centaurs, Ranseurs, Arcus and even the Avendre Mercenaries.
All of the Vigilantez applauded and cheered. Some of the were able to hold back the tears, while others cried out. They remembered the comrades they lost, but were also happy that the Brandals were no more.
"Come, examine it for yourselves," said Jeune and gave way for the Vigilantez to take a closer look.
Many wanted to shake the hands of the young Duke, and he gladly accommodated them.
Prosjak, who stood beside the Duke the whole time, was slowly guiding him to where Smoke was.
Away from the rest of the Vigilantez, Duke Jeune called Smoke to him.
"We still have unfinished business, you and I," said the Duke calmly.
"Huh? What do you mean? You already awarded me in the throne room," replied Smoke.
"There was one other reason we were successful in freeing Centzo, and that was because you slayed Horrabelle and disabled her Therianthrope army from joining the Brandals," stated Jeune.
Then, a notification window popped up.
 

Smoke was pleased to see that he had increased his Intimacy with the Duke to such a high level, but he was intrigued to see the new title he acquired.
He wanted to inspect the title, but Jeune was not done talking. "With your recent accomplishments I would like you to go on another assignment for me."
"If it's anything within my power, then I'm yours to command," replied Smoke as he got into the role of Centzo's Assassin.
"I imagine that Burmistrz won't be happy with his utter defeat here. From what Prosjak told me, I think we wiped out almost all of the Brandals in the last battle," began Jeune. He spoke with such consideration for the future that Smoke wondered why they made this Zectian into a young boy instead of an old wise Duke.
"However, I am sure that Burmistrz won't stop. I know that he will assemble more people under his banner and try again," added Jeune.
Smoke nodded as he completely agreed with the young boy.
"Therefore, I wish for you to save us from such a foul event. I want you to kill Burmistrz," said Jeune without blinking.
A notification window popped up instantly.
 

"I gladly accept," replied Smoke solemnly.
"Very good. Well, let me meet some more of your people. I wish to know more of the Vigilantez and hear stories from them," said Jeune and walked away.
Prosjak remained behind and spoke with Smoke privately.
"I'd like to personally thank you. I'm afraid I don't have any rewards to give you, but I would have liked to give you a recommendation," said Prosjak mysteriously. "But you aren't at the stage to accept it yet. Maybe, next time. When you've reached the right level."
"Huh? What do you mean? What right level? Is my level still too low? Is that it?" Smoke pestered Prosjak about the requirements for getting his potential reward from him, but the middle-aged adviser never spoke another word about it again.
 

Swiveling his computer chair back and forth, Nash sat on the edge of his seat as he double checked his latest video about to be uploaded. He compiled the recordings from his battle for Centzo's freedom and showcased Incitant and the Sonstwelter Alliance who defended the city.
After Tristan lost Tonaci City, he stopped posting videos and kept a low profile. Nash decided to follow his lead, in the sense that he stayed out of the limelight. He extended this to Prosjak and the rest of Centzo's residents as well. He kept their real abilities hidden from his video, most especially their iron-curtain defense.
Centzo's Blacksmiths, Tailors, and Seamstress were currently working double time in order to complete an iron-curtain that covered the entire capital.
Due to his high Intimacy with Duke Jeune, they were also tasked to make a large portion to give to Nash as a sample, and included the instruction manual on how to create one. Given these items, he was sure Verbrannt's own Blacksmiths, Tailors and Seamstress could reproduce the iron-curtain.
He uploaded his latest video, and watched the results of his previous video. It was of how his Vigilantez went against Horrabelle's Therianthrope army. He figured it was pointless to hide those scenes from the rest of Zectas' players as many of Macher's army were Sonstwelters, and saw most of the battle.
However, he stopped the video when Horrabelle was trapped inside the earth-dome. As he did not want his true abilities to be publicly known. Unknowingly, this stirred the comment section of this video.
 

Nash did not mind most of the comments, but was intrigued to see that Amahan had done a similar cliffhanger post. He quickly searched through the Zectas website and found the Exorcist's latest video.
It started with the Decane guild entering the last temple of Gahoul Comataz, Djinn of the North.
Nash then saw an ice orb float in front of Amahan.
After a few seconds the ice orb spoke. "You have reached your destination. Now, we shall see whether you are worthy to possess my master's powers..."
The video skipped as Amahan edited out the ice orb's trial before him. Nash knew from personal experience how difficult a Djinn's trial could be, and completely understood why Amahan decided to remove it. This was exactly what he would have done as well.
The next scene then showed a five-meter tall statue of the legendary Djinn, Gahoul Comataz. It was made of ice crystals with an array of vibrant colors, which gave it a life-like impression. The Djinn had a sharp, feathery humanoid body with the color of the night. Its head was that of a black falcon with a silver beak. Comataz had long talons for fingernails and storm colored wings that was twice the length of his entire height.
As he continued to watch Amahan's video, he then saw the Exorcist walk slowly towards the statue with four sapphire crystals, which Nash recognized as Comataz's four essences.
Amahan then placed all of the precious stones on the foot of the statue and uttered these words. "Je te convoque, Gahoul Comataz!"
A blinding blue light appeared in front of Nash's monitor. When it cleared up, a notification window popped up.
 

Nash then remembered that Gahoul Comataz was not only the Djinn of the North, but was also the keeper of Aquilo, King of the forgotten Northern Kingdom!
As soon as the notification window vanished, Nash waited with anticipation to see what the actual Djinn looked like. He imagined that it would be similar to its intimidating five-meter tall statue, but Amahan's video abruptly ended.
'So, that's how it feels,' thought Smoke to himself after he finished watching the video.
Nash smiled as he was genuinely happy for Amahan. The Exorcist to the North may have gotten a Djinn before him, but he would not be far behind.
"Nash? Are you done, yet? Mr. Cacoy is already driving up our street!" shouted Donny from below.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming. Hold your horses," answered Nash and locked his computer screen.
His youngest brother was excited to leave as today was his second Amateur Unarmed Tournament Open Martial Art Techniques Association, or as it was commonly called, AUTOMATA.
Whereas, Seth decided not to join this year as he wanted to focus on his extra lessons for advance computer studies.
Nash ran down the stairs, and saw Seth drinking a soda while watching television. It was a live broadcast of Zectas' CEO. She looked like to be in her early fifties and had short hair. She was receiving a humanitarian of the year award.
"What's going on, Seth? Why is she being awarded?" asked Nash curiously.
Seth shrugged while he finished his soda. "Not really sure, I just tuned in myself. I think it's because of all the positive things Zectas has done in society for the past two years since it's been up."
Nash watched the coverage a little bit longer when he heard Donny scream out his name from Mr. Cacoy's silver suburban.
"You take care of Mima, okay? You know how she's been feeling under the weather almost everyday now," reminded Nash as he walked out their front door.
"Good Morning, Mr. Cacoy," Nash greeted his Eskrima master.
"Shut up, and get in. Donny's almost late as it is," said Cacoy.
"But, you were the one who just—" Nash instantly stopped talking when Cacoy sped out of their street, leaving tire marks all over the place.
"What were you saying back there, Nash?" asked Cacoy meaningfully, as if trying to bait a prey into a trap.
"Nothing. I said I hope we can make it on time, that's all," hurriedly explained Nash.
"Don't worry, we'll get there in time, and he's going to win the nationals this year!" declared Cacoy.
"But we need to win the city-preliminaries first," humbly said Nash.
"Come on, Nash, you don't think I can win the city-preliminaries? I even trained harder this year. You don't have to be so pessimistic about it," said a hurt Donny.
"Oh, no. I didn't mean it like that, Donny," added Nash quickly, but he already spoke such thoughtless words.
Nash kept his mouth shut. He took out his phone and placed his blue-tooth headset on, and watched the live broadcast of Zectas' CEO receiving the award.
Since he already missed the live broadcast, he settled for her trending video on her acceptance speech.
"As some of you might have heard from the news. Zectas' strict requirements on their game pods entry to the virtual reality world has made quite an impact on ours. Their players have to exercise, and they even ban players who do drugs," began the presenter. "Not only that, but they also offer real opportunities for people to earn money."
The presenter paused and smiled at Zectas' CEO. "But they didn't stop there. They even opened several free game centers where people could use their game pods for free. This selfless act allowed people who couldn't afford to play their game, gain access to its limitless opportunities."
"To the person in-charge of giving our citizens new lives, new jobs, new hopes, we award the Humanitarian of the Year to, Dr. Lisa Zuckerman," said the presenter and clapped loudly.
A short-haired brunette classically walked up to the podium.
"Thank you, Harvey," she began, and received the award from him. "Thank you also to the governing body who thought that I deserved this award. But I would be a liar if I said that I did this alone. First off, I would like to thank the core developers. You know who you are. So, I will not mention your names."
Despite her years, Lisa half-giggled and half-cried. "Sorry, I apologize for that. I just remembered what one of them said. He said that we are surely changing the world and someday soon we're going to get rewarded by it. And now I'm standing here in front of you."
The Zectas' CEO tried to recompose herself and took a deep breath. "Anyway, we also have our investors who gave us an overwhelming starting capital, but of course you got a lot richer from that investment, right?"
The audience laughed loudly as it was well known that the stocks for Zectas had more than quintupled over the last two years.
"But I must say that this award also goes out to all the Sonstwelters out there. That's Zectas' slang for its players," she explained to the audience briefly. "You've channeled so much of your time and effort into the virtual reality world of Zectas that it truly has become a different world to live in. Because of you, we now have our monetary system where almost everyone could earn and live out their dreams."
She smiled and looked at the gathered crowd. "I also urge parents, who could pass the physical and mental conditions of the game to join your children inside Zectas. Our demographic for people who are in their forties to their fifties have increased as well."
A song was then played by the orchestra to signify that her time was up.
Lisa then paused and stared into the camera. "Lastly, I would like to thank, Darius, for convincing all of us of Zectas real existence. I used to feel my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I wasn't living, but you were the key to lifting that burden."
'Did she just say Darius? It couldn't be the same one I know from the game. Could it?' Nash wondered to himself.
After the video ended, Nash placed his phone inside his pocket as they were almost near the tournament.
As soon as they got off the silver suburban, Donny immediately spotted a young black-haired teen, who was about the same age as himself.
"Why is Kurt Santos here?" asked Donny loudly.
"Who's Kurt Santos?" asked Nash.
"Donny, Donny, overhear!" called out the smiling boy whom Nash thought to be Kurt.
Nash and Donny slowly made their way to him while Cacoy parked his car.
"I was so looking forward to our next fight that I registered in the city you were in," said Kurt excitedly. The kid then offered his hand to Nash. "Oh, you must be Nash. Donny and Seth spoke highly about you. My name is Kurt Santos. I actually live in Virginia Beach, but there were no rules that said you had to live in the city to participate in its preliminaries."
From Kurt's lengthy and rapid manner of talking, Nash thought that he was very energetic and friendly. "Nice to meet you, Kurt," he smiled and shook the boy's hand.
"So, you really did come here after all," interrupted Donny icily. "I thought you were kidding about wanting to fight as soon as possible."
Kurt smiled and playfully slapped Donny's shoulder, but Donny easily deflected it with his right hand, and stepped back.
"Come on, Donny, don't be like that. Even though I won the championship, I told you, you're the strongest opponent I've ever faced," explained Kurt eagerly. "I've been training ever since I was two years old. Honestly, practicing Eskrima everyday got boring for me, until you came a long. After we fought last year, I practiced even harder and even had my older brother train with me."
With a hurt expression, Donny looked at Nash briefly and turned back to the boy.
"Good for you, Kurt, now why don't I register and we'll see each other in there," said Donny flatly and entered the building.
Nash shamefully followed Donny inside. He would have wanted to help Donny prepare for this competition, but he needed to be inside Zectas as much as possible.
As the two of them walked farther in, Nash tried to defend himself. 'What is he still mad at me for? I'm already giving up an entire day of Zectas just to be with him,' he reasoned to himself as he carried Donny's things.
Donny then went on to get his pairings from the officials. As it turned out, he wasn't scheduled to fight with Kurt until the finals.
"You got this in the bag, Donny, you can do this!" said Nash energetically as he cheered his brother on.
Donny looked at Nash skeptically. "Really? Just a while ago you told me I had to pass the city-preliminaries first, and now look who appears?"
Without answering, Nash proceeded to help his brother wear his protective gear.
"Just two wins and you'll finally get your revenge for last year," encouraged Nash.
Donny bit his mouthpiece and paid him no mind.
Cacoy then grabbed Donny's shoulder. "Remember, Kid. Don't do anything fancy. Stick to the basics and finish it quickly."
Donny looked at his master and bowed to him respectfully.
Obediently following Grandmaster Cacoy's instruction, Donny breezed through his first two opponents, and found himself waiting for Kurt to face him.
A few minutes later, Kurt had also won his second victory and earned the right to face Donny in the finals.
It was as if destiny called out to the two of them. These two young teens met in the finals, and the audience were enthralled to see their fight.
"Good Luck, Donny," said Nash and offered his fist for a bump.
Nash smiled widely when Donny met his fist.
"I'm bringing home the bacon!" declared Donny to Nash and Cacoy.
Donny and Kurt faced each other from the opposite sides of the square rubber mat. They bowed to each other, to the referee and finally to the judges.
Nash could clearly see Donny's seriousness and determination on his face, but he saw the same expression on his youngest brother's opponent.
Donny dashed out from his side and lead with a right jab. From Nash's standpoint, Donny moved fluidly. He had clearly improved, but Kurt caught it and bent it backward into Donny's body for an arm lock.
However, Donny calmly performed a backflip and got out of Kurt's hold. He then delivered two quick kicks to Kurt's left shin and which made him out balanced.
As soon as Kurt lifted his arms in the air, Donny's fist rapidly delivered a series of combinations to Kurt's solar plexus, and armpit.
Kurt fell down on the mat and stayed there. Normally, Donny would have mounted his grounded opponent, but this wasn't just anyone else.
Despite being grounded, the last year's champion grinned at Donny. Both his hands clutched the places where he was struck as they were all in pain.
Donny remained in a fighting stance and waited for Kurt to get up. As the younger Smoak expected, Kurt got up without a problem.
This time, Kurt charged in with a jab and Donny swiftly countered with a right cross. However, Kurt snapped back his leading hand while pulling hard on Donny's arm. Kurt lifted both his feet in the air and caught Donny in an arm bar.
The two boys were on the mat with Donny's right arm hyper-extended. Donny struggled to break free. His left leg was going up and down a few times, when suddenly it hit Kurt's right arm and loosened his hold on Donny.
The young Smoak quickly rolled away, and moved his right arm in a three-hundred-sixty-degree motion. Staying away from Kurt, he made quick jabs with his hand to check the damage. It made loud cracking sounds, but he was able to do fast and powerful jabs with it.
Kurt then moved to the center of the mat and planted both his feet firmly while assuming a wide stance. He then motioned for Donny to step in front of him.
Donny shook his head, but moved toward his opponent anyway. He then assumed a similar stance to Kurt.
The two of them then performed blitzing attacks with their fists, while parrying and blocking one with the other. Then, Donny started kicking at Kurt's legs, but his opponent easily evaded his attack and countered with kicks of his own. Their arms and legs continued hitting each other and bruises began to show.
Nash whistled loudly as he watched their match progress. Their stalemate lasted for a full minute, and the referee had to jump in between the two of them as the round had already ended.
Donny returned to his corner where Nash and Cacoy were waiting for him. Nash quickly offered for Donny to sit down, but his brother shook his head.
"No. I'm not sure that I could stand up again if I did," explained Donny and drank the water offered by Cacoy instead.
Nash quickly proceeded to lightly massage Donny's legs with ice packs. He looked at the bruises on Donny's legs and couldn't help but be impressed at his brother. He looked over to Kurt and found the young boy standing up as well.
He glanced at the people in Kurt's corner and found that one of them looked familiar to him, but Nash couldn't place him from where he knew him from.
"Seconds out!" ordered the referee.
Only Donny, Kurt and the referee were on top of the mat once more.
Kurt was slowly walking towards Donny. He was limping but his eyes still clearly showed his perseverance to win. Whereas, Donny himself waited for his opponent while preserving his strength.
The moment Kurt got into his range, Donny lunged out with a strike.
Unfortunately, Kurt caught Donny's hand and pinned him to the mat while quickly pulling his arm over to his back. Donny cringed in pain as he was caught in another arm lock.
"Aaaaah!" screamed out Donny, but he would not surrender.