Sword Rankers
New Life

"Ukhn... Mmmm... Where's this?"

Ran opened his eyes after falling asleep for quite a long time after the welcoming party that his new comrades in the Guild were having.

Ran finds himself in a room that is foreign to him, this is a luxurious room that is much different from his rundown house, there is no dirty wall full of cobwebs, he said, or a roof that has been leaking.

Ran's place awakens like a luxury hotel that he can only see through the blurry television screen he has in his home.

This room is very spacious as it covers half of the Ran floor. There was not much furniture in it yet, but there were already some simple interiors like flower pots and other plants in the corner of the room, and abstract paintings that Ran could not understand.

My artistic taste is low.

The mattress that Ran occupied was a mattress with a Double Bed type, this was enough to sleep together, and because Ran slept alone, he did not have to worry anymore about falling over because he rolled while sleeping. Unlike in his old house, Ran often fell because of a small mattress that had been rickety.

The mattress here is nothing compared to the mattress at home, very soft and smooth, plus the fragrant aroma, making Ran feel like he wants to stay asleep and not do any activities. Then next to the mattress, there is a wardrobe with a modern design.

In my old bed I always had a hard time getting up, somehow with this mattress.

Ran back to the mattress on his back, he saw the ceiling, a fancy-designed lamp hanging on top of it. The lamp was dead without the need for Ran to intervene, from what Ran heard, the lamp was set to turn on and off automatically according to the intensity of the light.

"Do I deserve all this?" Ran said with nestapa.

Ran had originally thought of getting into a wild Ranker Guild as his final form of escape. Ran had no intention of settling down for long, he only thought of staying for a while and leaving next year when the Ranker exam was held again.

But, seeing the luxury he got, Ran felt ashamed of already humbling the wild Ranker Guild before seeing it head-on.

"I guess his Guild headquarters would be in an abandoned factory or a rickety hut or something, who would have thought it turned out to be a luxury hotel like this."

Feeling their hospitality as well as the luxury he had never felt, made Ran doubt herself. Is he worthy of all this? Ran himself hesitated.

After suffering a grievous defeat in the Ranker test, Ran's inferiority taste grew even more. Increasingly distrustful of himself, he became doubtful of his abilities. From Ran's point of view, there was always someone who deserved this more than himself.

Ran hesitates that he will be useful, fearing that he will become a burden again, just like the group with William, where he can barely do anything when William is beaten by Tim. Ran took a long time to be able to advance to help William, because of his weakness, William had to suffer injuries caused by Ran's own weakness.

"What... Might as well... This me, is it not suitable to be a Ranker?" Mumbled Ran slowly.

Ran felt himself to be very pitiful, even after gathering the determination to join the Guild, he still had no confidence, even until now, he was still humbling himself.

Ran covered his face with both of his arms, as if wanting to cover up his frustration.

"Damn, I'm so pathetic." Ran said to insult himself.

Ran's inferiority and inferiority sense ironically destroyed himself. He's still not growing up.

Ran just fell asleep in his bed, he was still not interested to wake up, but a familiar voice sounded.

Ting.

An elevator? Who's on the ride?

Ran's question was answered instantly when the door to his room was breached without permission.

"Woi Ran!" A loud and carefree voice appeared after, it was the voice of someone known to Ran, they had not known for a long time, but that person always wanted to be familiar with Ran, "It was already this morning! Don't sleep, let's get up and have breakfast!"

"Pa-Pak Rodri?" Shouted Ran astonished to respond to the arrival of Rodri who was too sudden without permission.

"Hehe... Because you didn't come down, so I was asked by Mr. Bon to take you down."

"Wait, how did you get in? Isn't this room locked? You didn't break it, did you?"

"Of course not, there's no complicated way, it's just that I have a key master for this base, so I can freely enter anyone's room." Said Rodri while showing the key master shaped card to open the room with a face of laughter.

"Where's privacy!?"

"Ahahaha, take it easy, I never rummaged through anyone's room. Just for emergencies like this."

"What side do you think of this as an emergency?" Ran asked in frustration. He became uncomfortable knowing there were people who could freely go in and out of his room which was a privacy area.

"Already! It doesn't matter, now come down yuk, we have breakfast together." Take Rodri while waving his hand with a gesture like inviting him to the school cafeteria.

Ran is tempted to leave if he remembers the food he ate last night, it was the most delicious food he ever ate. But, he was still awkward to have breakfast together, an overnight case just because he was pulled by force alone. Indeed, Ran is still not brave enough to be able to be familiar with everything.

"No, I'm not hungry yet, I'll eat it later." Reject Ran politely.

But as if Rodri did not accept the rejection, he stubbornly pulled the blanket that wrapped Ran and threw it, "Sorry, not accepting the rejection, Yamaguchi has made breakfast since morning, it is not polite to refuse."

Ran started to get scared, but he still refused, "Ti-No need to bother, my share is for you."

Rodri also looked at Ran sharply, he looked still insistent, but did not want to argue anymore. So, without saying anything, Rodri pulled Ran's leg and directly brought her down.

"Uahhhhhhh!!!! He-Stop!!!!"

...****************...

Ting

The elevator goes down to Rodri's floor, where breakfast will be held at the same place where they hold Ran's welcoming party.

Coincidentally, Rose passed the elevator after picking up something.

It just so happened that the elevator arrived, together.

Hearing the sound of the elevator coming down, Rose intended to greet whoever came and went to the breakfast place together. But a puzzling sight just emerged from inside the elevator.

There was Rodri who smiled cheerfully, while dragging Ran's helpless legs, Ran was dragged in a supine position and looked like he was going to faint in a moment.

A murder? Rose thought as she looked at this scene while walking back a few steps.

"Oh Rose, what a coincidence meeting in front of the elevator. What's up?"

"Eeeeuu... I was asked by Yamaguchi to take a plate, by the way, what's going on here?"

"Hmm...? This it? It's nothing, don't think about it. Haha..."

Rodri laughed like there was nothing.

"Well, since it has arrived here, all of you just eat Ran? It's a pity to be here but not eat." Rodri said as he dragged Ran out of the elevator.

"Urffl... I feel like I'm gonna puke." Ran groaned softly, suddenly dragged violently like earlier was not a pleasant thing at all.

"It's okay, if you smell Yamaguchi's cooking, you won't throw up."

Ran who had been forced to come like this, finally gave up and accepted Rodri's invitation to have breakfast together.

"Alright, if you force."

"Hehe, well that's how dong should have been."

Rose was puzzled to see this, but she did not ask any further and walked first to the breakfast place.

"Eh Rose, don't go first, wait for us dong."

At the breakfast place.

The place used for breakfast is the same place used for the party before, but there are different. The roof became transparent, no longer showing a dark sky, but a bright morning sky.

Yamaguchi had just finished cooking, this time he used an electric stove to cook breakfast, he made a toast consisting of eggs, cheese, meat and some fresh vegetables. Although it looked simple, the fragrant aroma of his cooking filled the room.

Ran and the others were satisfied with just smelling the aroma of his cooking.

"Oh Rose, you're back anyway. Please bring the plates here well, uh it's a coincidence that you two are here too."

"Hello Yamaguchi, sorry well long ago, Ran was hard to build."

"Sorry."

"What's it for, sorry? I'm just kidding, just kidding, there's no need to go that way."

Ran remained down even though he had been told that. He was still thinking about what he was thinking this morning.

Looking at the moody Ran, Rodri could only scratch his head.

"Emmm... Yasudah, we better sit down first." Take Rodri to Ran.

Ran followed Rodri's invitation and sat on any chair, Rodri sitting next to him.

As usual, Rodri cheerfully continued to invite Ran to chat, Ran could only respond with a short answer, but Rodri seemed accustomed and continued to talk.

Food came and instantly stuffed Rodri's mouth who kept talking.

"Well steady, this time toast well. What's it all about?" Rodri excitedly grabbed the toast Yamaguchi had placed in front of him, and immediately enjoyed it.

"Please Ran." Yamaguchi placed a plate filled with toast in front of Ran.

After everyone had their food rations, Yamaguchi sat down and would enjoy his own breakfast.

With some hesitation, Ran took the toast in front of him, and ate it. The warm taste of the bread made Ran become calmer. At least he could forget for a moment about the matter he had been thinking about since morning.

After his mind was clear, only then did Ran realize something.

"Where else?"

There were only a few people who took breakfast, other than Ran there were only Yamaguchi, Rodri and Rose. There were only four of them at the dinner table.

There are no Bon, Madison, Aurelia, Ribben and Otto.

Rose replied, "Madison will follow later, she is currently busy with her research. While the others... They're busy."

Rose's reply sounded sad, as if they had all met infrequently.

Is that why Rodri forced me to have breakfast together? Ran thought with a guilty feeling.

Ran was upset in his mind, then accidentally, Ran instead said, "Are you guys rarely gathered?"

"!?" Everyone was surprised to hear Ran's question.

Ran was just as surprised, when it was just the thing he thought about, but accidentally the thought came out just like that.

Everything became silent for a while, no one said anything, and then, Rodri was the one who answered.

"Indeed, it's true, we rarely get together like this. It's hard to get everyone together because everyone has their own personal problems."

"Personal issues?"

"For details, you don't need to know, but we all joined here because we had our own problems. Therefore we all rarely get together because each is often busy with his own problems, only during special events so they want to come along, like yesterday. It is unfortunate indeed, though... It's better to eat together like this than alone."

Everyone was silent, no one let out the slightest sound.

Ran feels beaten by reality, although not willing to admit it, but Ran agrees that it is better to cancel food together than alone. In the depths of his heart, Ran longed for the times when he ate with his family.

I guess, because of the luxury of the welcoming party yesterday, they all really like to gather like yesterday. It seems, my understanding is indeed shallow.

Ran deeply regretted it, he regretted for previously refusing Rodri's invitation, then to fix it...

"Then, let's gather together more often, even if only the four of us, surely the others will eventually come along. I'll also ask Mr. Bon to attend." Ran said in a soft voice.

Although delivered in a low and slow voice, but everyone can understand what was conveyed by Ran.

Rodri smiled widely, he wrapped his arms around Ran's neck and pulled Ran close to him, "Well, it should be so dong, if invited to eat together do not refuse again well."

"Ehhh...Eee... I-I'll work on it."

"Mahaha......." Rodri laughed with satisfaction.

Not long after, Madison came and joined.

"Halooooooo.... I'm coming, hello Rose baby..."

"Uwaggh... Disgusts! Shut up!"

"Ofyyy!!! You two, don't be noisy at the dinner table."

"Come here, my dear!"

"Far there!!!!"

"Ahaha... Seeing you two is always fun."

"Rodri don't laugh, separate the two of them."

The room that was originally shrouded in awkwardness, became melted. It is like spring coming after all winter.