Chapter 354 - Expectations and consequences (Patreon)

"Are you sure?" I ask Tess, my curiosity growing even bigger. I want to see how she will act and deal with it.

"Yes," she says simply.

"Do you have the right to decide that?" I don't even care what will happen to the guy. I'm just curious what the blonde young woman in front of me thinks.

"Who cares if I have the right?"

Oh, a good answer.

So I ask again, pushing it, "I almost killed a real human, I threw that guy on the 1st floor to the Cinderbear."

"Yes, you did."

"Soph and Hadwin also killed the guy who wanted to kill Soph after his friend died."

"Yes, they did."

"And Izzy probably burned a group of people from Hard difficulty who entered the Hell difficulty back on the third floor. Are you going to punish all of us as well?"

"I will not." A simple answer.

"That's hypocritical."

"Yes, it is."

"So you want others to follow the rules you set, acting like a judge while not following the rules yourself?" I continue to push her.

"It's not about rules I want them to follow. As I told you before, I will be leading this round of the tutorial. I will take over so our group will be safe after we return in four years. Yes, it's still far off but it's better to start right away."

Gareth is just listening and the murderer tied to the chair is forgotten. Only when the tied man tries to say something I hold his mouth shut with [Redistribution].

"No one will want to follow a woman who sets rules she won't follow herself," I note.

"They will have to," another simple answer I like.

"So this man is an example?"

"Yes, he will be made an example. A lot of them think they can do anything they want during the tournament because they can't die. A lot of them also know about this murderer, rumors have been spreading for a long time and he even bragged in Community."

"Sounds good," I find myself being fascinated by this version of Tess. But this can't be all that is there to it.

Her subclass is Chastity and now she is so greedily trying to get everyone under her control. Gareth, other difficulties, and later even people from Hell. All in order to protect her friends and keep up the camaraderie she always wished for. It feels greedy but pure at the same time. Such a twisted combination.

So I don't mind helping, "I could forcefully inscribe a construct inside of his body. The kind that would trigger gradually a few days after he leaves the tournament. I could make it so it constantly disrupts his mana or maybe something like make his heart explode? Things impossible for someone of his level to deal with. With a bit of help from Grumpy or Soph and some testing of what system allows, I should be able to do it fairly easily."

"We can't do that," Gareth finally joins in. "I know where you are coming from, Sset, but this, this is too much. You won't fix anything if you become the murderer as well."

"I’ve told you before Gareth, but you’re too soft. We saw it all over during the floors, there was always someone strong keeping the others in check. The second floor with Champions. The third floor where they had a king. Fourth floor where lynthari kept the order and no one dared to do anything too egregious. Even what we learned about the fifth, the Absolute, the Champions, and powerful guilds," she gestures around.

"I know where you are coming from. But I'm sure there is another way."

"Probably? Maybe there will be a utopia on higher floors. But Gareth, Soph and me looked into his mind briefly. I felt flashes of his emotions when he killed people. This man is nothing but a rabid dog to be put down."

She takes a step towards the tied man and looks down at him, her voice turning darker, "All of us did things we are not proud of and I'm sure we will do more of them. A lot more. We will kill natives, we will kill even people from Earth. Hell, some of us might end up like this man. But right now I want him dead because of what I saw in his memories. Later I will learn more about the way I want to walk. Then I might regret it, or maybe not."

Instead of talking to Tess, Gareth turns to me, switching his strategy, "And how about you? You accepted the idea of killing him so easily."

"I did," I agree with him.

"Would you kill so easily no matter who asked?"

"I agreed because it's Tess who asked," I clarify. "I trust her." I don't look towards Tess and instead return Gareth's gaze.

The man just seems to be distraught. But he doesn't feel weak or indecisive. It's like he is honestly trying to find a better way.

Gareth takes a step closer to me, his voice more urgent, "What if she’s lying? You only have her word, and it's a big decision. You should think about these things more. What if she’s using you or will do it in the future? Twisting truths to make you do what she wants."

"I'm not fully sure, but I think I would kill her."

That makes Gareth shut up with an expression of pure shock. He keeps looking between me and Tess.

When I look at the blonde, she is smiling at me, gently and understandingly.

"How can you say it so easily, isn't she your friend?"

"I do not say this easily," I tell Gareth. "Her betraying me like that is a good enough reason, isn't it?"

"Even if she is your friend?" Gareth just refuses to let go.

With a sigh, I continue, "Wouldn't her being my friend make it much worse then? I do things she asks of me without questioning her. I gave her my trust and she knows it and can use me. But it comes with expectations from my side and consequences in case of betraying them."

Stepping closer to the tied man, I collect my mana and touch his head, sending it through his natural barrier. I break through easily and place an anchor directly on him, infusing it with enough mana to last for days. It might disappear if he enters the event, but I already remembered his mana signature so I can find him quite easily.

Turning to Tess, I reach to the anchor I placed in the common area, "I will return home and will later come up with something."

"See you later," Tess throws in.

"Sure," I activate the anchor and disappear, appearing in the middle of a crowd.

My sudden appearance makes some people jump, while I continue further towards the house where I felt Min-Jae's signature. Walking for a minute I reach the patch of trees and start cycling my mana to hide it all. Min-Jae has become better at detecting people lately.

Silently I enter a small patch of trees and when I hear his voice I slow down, carefully stopping when the view opens. There I can see him. Min-Jae is around 16 years old I think and right now he faces a few men from Hard difficulty. Three of them.

With Min-Jae there is Lootenant or Jakub if I want to call him by the name Gareth doxxed.

The Korean boy seems to be excited about something while Lootenant looks like he doesn't want to be there.

"We told you you are wrong," one of the men from Hard difficulty group tells Min-Jae threateningly. "We cursed at that lightning bit... woman, but so does everyone else. So what do you want."

"I don't like that you call her that. She is my friend," Min-Jae doesn't seem to be impressed at all and faces the three men easily.

It's something I'm sure he wouldn't be able to do without the powers he now possesses. Thanks to them even a thin boy can face three adult men.

They seem to realize it as well. They aren't exactly weak, but people from Hell difficulty are just different so they hesitate.

"Look," their leader says in the end, "I got it. I'm sorry, okay? I understand that she is your friend so I apologize." The man is surprisingly reasonable.

Min-Jae, on the other side, seems to be disappointed. I can see how he watches them. The stance he takes is something that reminds me of mine and I could swear the expression too. He is even releasing bits of his mana.

I can see a thrill in his eyes as three much older and bigger men apologize to him, but immediately I can tell it won't be enough. I knew people who acted like Min-Jae does just now.

"That's not enough," Min-Jae calls to them as they turn to leave.

His skill activates and his gravity field surrounds the men, slowing them down as they fight to keep standing.

"Enough Kim, we don't…" Lootenant tries to stop him, but Min-Jae shakes him off.

Taking a few steps towards the men he says, "I don't think you were honest enough. As you said, she’s my friend." Even as he is saying so, I can see a tenuous smile on his face.

That smile and the way he pushes away their efforts to escape his gravity field tell me enough. I don't even have to watch as he uses the excuse of defending his friend to put these men under him.

As Tess said before, Min-Jae is young and because of his past, it's no surprise he turned out this way after getting all these powers.

Seeing all I wanted to see, I use another anchor I left in the common area and teleport there.

Bored and wanting to take my mind off useless stuff, I gesture to the young boy who watches me from nearby to come closer.

"Do you want something?" I ask. The boy was following me for a good minute.

"Are you Noname?" he asks.

The boy sounds even younger than Isabella and unlike her, he feels much weaker. Easy difficulty probably.

"Yes." I say.

"The Cheater Noname?" he asks curiously.

Damn, some people just really lack survival instinct.

"Why cheater?" I ask just in case, knowing it's most likely Channeler's job.

"I heard your group got an arcane item and you stabbed them in the back to take it for yourself. And even then you lost against Savant who was tired because he already defeated like 20 people from Hell difficulty."

Oh. My. God. I love you, Channeler dude.

The boy doesn't let my silence stop him, "During the second event too! You have some leech skill you used to cowardly steal mana from other people. Mom said its impossible to have that much mana otherwise! You also stole mana from the mines and the natives. All while you waited for the others to weaken the monsters and because you were scared!"

"Be careful." I add with some urgency in my voice. "I don't want people to know about my cowardly [Mana Steal] skill." I sneakily hand him a single candy I traded for a common item.

"I knew it! The nice lady did talk to my father about it and I listened! Is it true that you also have higher than arcane item but to use it you have to sacrifice 10 years of your life?"

This is getting ridiculous.

The boy doesn't stop, "And you are such an asshole that you are sacrificing the life of your group instead!"

There I pause him, "Kid, wanna learn something funny?"

The weird kid nods and steps closer.

How the hell can you talk about me in such a way and then just listen?

I lower my voice to add more dignity, "There is one word I heard the most powerful Absolute I met say. That word bought her the respect of her enemies and the love of her friends."

His eyes expand, "There is such a word?"

"Yes," I gesture him to come closer and whisper. "Don't tell it to anyone. You promise?" I hand him another candy.

"I promise! My dad said to never break a promise!"

I nod and look around, as if checking if someone doesn't listen, "That word was 'nya.' She added it to the end of every second or third sentence she said, gaining the respect of everyone who heard it."

Then, unable to resist, I flick his nose and teleport away.

Silly kids.

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