ROTLE- Chapter 36- The Right Thing (Patreon)

The air echoed with the chaotic sound of footfalls, each possessing of its own cadence. Aiden and Elaswit ran at full sprint in a desperate need to escape their pursuers.

Aiden couldn’t believe he’d been caught in such a situation, babysitting a princess, so to speak. He ran, knowing very well that he was fleeing. Beside him, Elaswit was a fast equal, her legs moving twice as fast as his yet keeping in touch with his speed.

“Left!” she called out.

Aiden’s eyes took notice of the cave and the turns in front of them. Their path divulged, one turned left while the other turned right.

Aiden had been calling the shots since discovering the natural enchantment, but when you were fleeing almost certain death, anyone could lead. Especially when no one had an actual map of the place.

Aiden skid to a quick halt, a drifting man. With all the momentum accrued from running at full speed, he failed to stop himself on time. It mattered very little as his shoulder bumped into the cavernous wall with enough force to almost knock the wind out of his lungs.

He capitalized on it, ignored the pain as the wall broke the speed of his sprint. Then he darted left. How Elaswit did it was not something he took notice of, but she had survived the sharp turn to the left as he had. Perhaps better than he had.

“There’s a turn up ahead!” she called to him as they continued running.

Aiden swore in his mind, cussed at himself. He’d made a stupid mistake and it was backfiring terribly.

Not entirely your fault, he tried to console himself as he sprinted, his stamina ticking down very slowly. As a man with a Class, he could jog for almost forever, but at a full sprint, the stamina stat worked a little differently.

“How are there so many of them?” Elaswit asked as they drew closer to the next turn.

Aiden wasn’t entirely sure how to answer her question. Personally, he thought it wasn’t really a bright question. If what he remembered of their quests was correct, they were to kill almost fifty gargoyles combined. He didn’t get how she could be so hung up on the fact that they’d run into ten gargoyles at once.

The more important question, Aiden thought as he turned down the road, was why he had allowed Elaswit follow him in the first place.

What were you going to do, tie her up and stash her in the forest somewhere?

He would be lying if he said the thought hadn’t crossed his mind at the time. But there had been too many issues with that line of thought that he hadn’t even cared to give it any kind of attention.

For starters, he couldn’t knock her out, not while they had been in the manor. At the door, with the guards, she had de-escalated what had seemed like a volatile situation. If he had stood against her there, then there would’ve been no silence of any form to his departure from the manor. In fact, he would probably have never left the building.

He clearly couldn’t put her down anywhere between the manor and the stables because there were watchful eyes. The jepat ride all the way to the gate was also a no brainer as well. If he had done any wrong thing during each period, he would’ve been public enemy number one. The friendship of the Naranoff men wasn’t something he was looking for, but he wasn’t stupid enough to actively seek out their enmity. Especially when it would be justified on their part.

As for ditching her outside the estate, that too had been a no brainer. She no doubt had the jepat riding skill so he couldn’t outrun or outmaneuver her, no amount of human skill outclassed a system skill. He would not have outridden her even if his life depended on it.

As for putting her down and stashing her away, that would’ve been significantly stupid. Why? Because she was a princess. No. She was quite literally the princess.

And as easily as Bandiv was a peaceful kingdom, in the same way it had its problems. Just as easily as someone could find the princess lying helpless on the ground and help her as a loyal subject, someone could find the princess lying on the ground and do her harm as a disloyal subject, a bad person, or one of different rebel groups that lived in the grand delusion of being able to topple the monarchy for one reason or the other.

Lastly, even if for some stroke of stupidity Aiden hadn’t considered any of the pros or cons to this, there was the final glaring fact that he hadn’t been anywhere near as strong as her as at the time they’d left the estate.

With skills and artifacts and God knew what other trinket she had on her person, she was more likely to knock him out than achieve anything of sufficient effect.

Besides, this was meant to be an investigative outing, he groaned.

“Right!”

Aiden raised his head at Elaswit’s voice, eyes darted ahead and to the right. They’d come to another turning point where the path headed forward, right, and left.

At times like this, Aiden was definitely not going to argue. Behind him, he could here the chaotic footfalls of their pursuers and was beginning to worry that losing them was going to be impossible.

He and Elaswit were quite comfortably caught in a state of being able to run but not being able to hide. The problem was that at their current speed, they would eventually run low on stamina, and he didn’t remember gargoyles ever having an issue of stamina.

What they needed was to be significantly faster. Truthfully, if not for how narrow the path was, the gargoyles would’ve caught up to them ages ago. The width allowed only two gargoyles run side by side, which left the other gargoyles running at the pace of whichever ones were in front.

We need to buy more time, Aiden thought as the parts drew closer. So when Elaswit ran faster, he slowed his pace.

Elaswit turned to look back at him, flabbergasted. “What are you doing?”

Aiden said nothing. Personally, he’d never been a fan of explaining what he was doing in the heat of the moment, unless he had the time. And they definitely didn’t have the time.

He placed a finger on the wall and started drawing.

You have used Class skill [Unarmed Engrave]

The wall glowed a soft blue, revealing a very quick enchantment. And while he would’ve loved to make it a more complex one with a more complex effect, Aiden didn’t have the time. The heavy footfalls of their chasers were already too close. So he concluded his rune, slapped on an activation delay and darted off.

Barely three seconds away from the engraving, he reached for one of his soldier’s belt’s pockets and retrieved two items. One was a short length of thick rope. As thick as two thumbs and as long as his middle finger. The other was a simple cube. Channeling mana into them, he tossed them into the fray.

Then he was gone.

He caught a glimpse of a gargoyle face before he darted right, as Elaswit had commanded. His exit was followed by a loud pop so low he wouldn’t have heard it if he wasn’t listening for it. In fact, he half-thought the sound was imagined.

The pop was followed by a loud boom that shook the ground beneath his feet.

A hand snapped out to grab him by the wrist, pulling him to the side. Aiden reacted to it on reflex, he twisted, turned his body at the waist so that his hand went high and he ducked beneath the other person’s hand.

He was almost free of the hold went he was tugged violently. Elaswit’s strength as [Butcher] overrode his reflexive skill and Aiden was tugged to the side.

She was already running, and Aiden automatically followed after her.

“What the hell was that?” she asked, head darting from side to side, obviously seeking out their next turn.

“We need to hide,” was all the answer Aiden had to give.

“Will that slow them down?” she returned, saying nothing of the fact that she hadn’t answered him.

“Let’s hope.”

He had cast an enchantment of lesser lightning using [Unarmed Engrave] delayed it by a few seconds, before adding an enchantment of lesser methane finished off with an enchantment of lesser flame.

The electricity would stun the gargoyle’s ahead of the pack once they stepped into its reach and the explosion would ground them for a while.

Hopefully.

The enchantment of lesser methane would actually read as [Enchantment of Lesser Gas]. Why? He had no idea. All enchantments of gases on Nastild read as enchantments of gas. It didn’t matter what gas it was. The only differences were air, breeze, wind and smoke. Then there were the more volatile enchantments like hurricanes which stood out very much.

Regardless, any enchantment of gas was gas that had no business being in the human body. And Nastild had a lot of those. He suspected they had all the same gases earth had and a few to extra with more magical properties.

There were some that propelled and didn’t affect the air around them. When ignited, they ignited alone without affecting the air around them. They still left an area of heat in their path, though.

Most armies inculcated them in their ranged attacks in one way or the other.

Another loud bang exploded in the distance, shaking the ground once more. Aiden did his best not to think about it. Among the possible reasons for it was something other than his enchantments happening, and he wasn’t ready to think about that.

Five minutes and four turns later, Aiden and Elaswit were rested against a wall, catching their breaths.

Aiden watched the slow trickle of his stamina out of the corner of his eye. The escape had run him ragged. A full sprint for almost thirty minutes would’ve been complete madness without a Class. As a simple human, it was the impossible as far as he was concerned.

But they had done it.

[Stamina 48%]

Not for the first time, Aiden wondered if it was a good thing that life stats on Nastild worked in percentages instead of actual figures. So far, the only disadvantage to percentages was that you couldn’t tell your growth without actually testing it.

Elaswit’s breaths were coming heavier. She was failing to pace her breathing properly. Though, Aiden wasn’t sure failing was the proper term. Maybe it was safer to say that she didn’t have as good a control over such things as he did.

This is a mess.

Here he was panting, and breathing heavily. He was stronger. He could feel it. Stronger than he’d been when he’d stepped into the cave. His body knew he was stronger but his mind… it was still stuck comparing himself to his past—

Aiden shook his head, dispelling the thought. You’re beginning to sound like a broken record complaining about being weak.

But he was weak.

He looked at Elaswit and found she had all but caught her breath. She was staring at him now, a displeased look in her eyes.

Aiden knew the look, the reason for it. But he was in no mood to address it right now. Instead, he pulled up his interface, moved his attention to his scenario.

[Unique Scenario: Advent of the Demon King 1.]

You have found the first known point of invasion of the Demon King into this world. The young followers, eager to make a name for themselves, have found their way into this world ahead of time. They are paving the way, raising an army. Vanquish the early signs of the Demon King’s arrival before it is too late.

[Scenario objective: Defeat Gargoyle 8/18.]

[Scenario objective: Defeat Gangnar the Starter 0/1]

[Reward: Unique skill.]

…

[Optional Quest: Kind Adventurer.]

You have found an unfortunate adventurer, dead in his quest for greater heights. Identify dead adventurer’s and inform the adventure society of their passing so that their families may have closure.

[Quest Objective: Collect adventure tags 11/???]

[Reward: Adventure society designated.]

“How far has your quest gone?” he asked Elaswit, dismissing his notifications.

Elaswit’s displeasure dipped her face into a frown. It still wasn’t anger Aiden was seeing on her face. The displeasure seemed born of something akin to confusion. It could’ve easily been something else, but Aiden was sure that it wasn’t anger.

“Why did you say no?” Elaswit’s voice was confused, her soft tone worried.

Aiden stood to his full height and stretched, not that he needed it. “Does it really matter?”

The look in her eyes told him that it did.

She had asked to be a more trustworthy party, to put all their cards on the table and show each other their skills and levels so that they could create a better strategy and he’d said no.

Elaswit had been flabbergasted then, and she was flabbergasted now.

“I don’t see what the problem was,” she continued. “It would’ve made everything better. If I’d known you could withstand far more damage than your level implied, I wouldn’t have had to step away from the gargoyle to save you.”

Aiden did his best not to inform her that she hadn’t actually saved him.

“And that cost us,” she pointed out. “I had to use a potion because of that.”

Aiden almost shook his head.

Was she listening to what she was saying? In a more established party where the bond was strong enough for each member to consider themselves friends, there was arguably nothing wrong with her words. In fact, they could even be mistaken for banter.

But they were practically strangers, and she’d just told him that she would’ve rather allowed him take the pain than use a potion.

Powerful as she was in comparison to him, she was still young.

“It was a solid plan.” Elaswit ran a hand through her hair, let out a frustrated breath.

She looked frustrated with herself.

That she couldn’t convince me to trust her or whatever plan the queen set her to do has become something she can’t complete?

“What do you do when your teammate just won’t see reason?” she muttered to herself. More words followed after that, but they came out as mumbled gibberish, like a student trying to remember steps in a book they’d read.

Maybe if they muttered enough gibberish, their brain would stumble on the correct piece of information like some kind of muscle memory.

Considering the lack of footfalls in the distance, maybe they did have the time.

The time for what?

Aiden almost scoffed at his own thought. He didn’t owe the princess anything. How she felt was hers to deal with. But he also couldn’t just leave her to wander around the cave on her own. Because that was the best option for him if she couldn’t get her head in the game.

She’s still a kid.

The thought changed very little. She was still young, and perhaps it was normal to have her thoughts all over the place in this kind of situation, but Aiden could not risk his life on it. If he entered a battle with the named gargoyle and her head wasn’t a hundred percent, somebody could very well die for reasons that could’ve been avoided.

And as much as he would’ve liked to tell himself that he would go with her and leave her to face the boss alone, this wasn’t some video game were this was a dungeon and there was a boss room. Some places in Nastild were like that, but he couldn’t very well count on that here.

For all he knew, they could suddenly stumble upon the named gargoyle and it would decide to keep the princess in its sight. What did he do then?

And he very well couldn’t leave her wandering around on her own, that was just going to be an entirely new kind of problem. It wasn’t like they had some kind of map that marked where the named gargoyle even was.

Aiden ran a hand through his hair.

“Do you even know why?” Elaswit asked. The question sounded rhetorical.

Aiden let out a resigned breath.

He wasn’t good with women. Understanding women wasn’t his forte. So there was only one way he knew how to address this: the way you would address an adventurer.

Let’s just rip the band aid off and hope for the best.

Aiden looked Elaswit straight in the eye and answered.

“I know why.”

Elaswit paused, surprised, as if she hadn’t expected the answer. But she schooled herself almost immediately, cleared her surprise and took up a mature visage.

“Then why?” she asked.

“The simple truth?” Aiden folded his arms over his chest and stood straight. “I don’t trust you that much.”

Elaswit’s jaw dropped. “What the actual fuck?!”

Her hands tightened into fists and Aiden unfolded his arms.

Maybe ripping the band aid right off wasn’t the way to go.

Aiden almost scoffed at himself. You think?

Elaswit’s attention moved to his unfolded arms, then she took a calming breath. It took her a moment, but her fists unclenched.

“I’m not going to hit you, Lord Lacheart,” she said.

To Aiden, she sounded like a child who’d stopped themselves from doing something simply because it was pointed out and now they were saying that they weren’t going to do it.

“I didn’t say you were,” he replied with a shrug.

“You look like you think I am, though.”

With a sigh, Aiden folded his arms. “So are we good now?”

Elaswit shook her head immediately. “No.”

Aiden grit his teeth. It was all he could do not to groan. “Why?”

“I need to know why you don’t trust me.”

“I haven’t been here very long but there are parties that don’t know everything about each other. In my world even married couples were known to not know everything about each other.”

“This is different.”

“Because it’s a life and death situation?”

“Yes.” Elaswit nodded emphatically. “We quite literally depend on each other not to die.”

“Then you could’ve just suggested that I tell you what I’m capable of and you tell me what you’re capable of. That sounds like a simpler request.”

Elaswit opened her mouth but nothing came out. It hung open a little longer before she closed it.

“I was stupid,” she said, finally. “For that I apologize.”

Aiden couldn’t say he had been expecting that, which led him to believe she was playing an angle, trying a different approach.

“You look surprised,” she added. “I don’t see what’s so surprising about this. I made a mistake which happened because of me. If someone asked me to tell them what I was capable of, I would keep somethings out. I certainly wouldn’t tell them everything. And since the interface doesn’t hide anything, showing someone your interface is the greatest form of trust. It quite literally eliminates the possibility of doubt.”

Now Aiden really wanted to know what her mother wanted her to get out of him. Was she simply trying to figure out what he was capable of?

Would you really be surprised? He asked himself.

Ever since his arrival on the throne room floor he’d been abnormal. He displayed skills none of his peers possessed. He’d been a certain level of audacious. He’d displayed a level of knowledge he wasn’t supposed to possess.

He’d been abnormal, and most of it had been from his inability to completely control himself.

Clearly, no one would sit down and think he was from the future because no one came from the future. It simply wasn’t reasonable. Even time spells that turned back time were viewed as controversial in some way.

The school of thought on the time spell and enchantments that worked together to create a time chamber in the Order was that it didn’t turn back time but projected the future, collective or not, to a nigh perfect calculation.

So you didn’t come back in time, your brain merely had an experience of a nigh perfectly accurate prediction of the future.

A normal person wouldn’t think he was from the future, and someone who believed that time magic was actually capable of sending people back in time, wouldn’t be inclined to believe that someone who was just summoned from another world would possibly be from the future.

But someone accustomed to suspicions and schemes would believe I was suspicious and either scheming or a part of someone’s scheme.

The more Aiden’s mind explained the scenarios, the more he understood why the Order had never sent him on any spy missions where he had to assume an identity.

Zen always did say he couldn’t keep a lie to save his life.

It seemed it was time he stopped worrying about the future and how many things his actions could possibly change, disrupting his knowledge of the progression of events and just take advantage of the things he knew his actions couldn’t change.

“Are you listening to me?” Elaswit asked, pricking his line of thought.

Aiden wasn’t. He nodded, regardless.

“So the interface will show everything,” she continued. “I’m sure the teachers at the palace must’ve covered that. So what do you say?”

“It’s a lot to take in,” Aiden said. “I need to give it some thought.”

“Sure.” Elaswit looked to the left, then the right. “I’m sure we have the time.”

Sarcasm wasn’t present in her voice, but Aiden wasn’t really listening. His mind was busy recalculating his plans.

If the queen had her eyes on him due to one suspicion or the other, it was only a matter of time before he got into trouble, which meant he couldn’t remain in the palace much longer any more.

The moment they returned, Elaswit would make her report, and he doubted there was anything in it that would endear him to the queen.

So what are we doing?

The first part of the answer was simple. He would still follow everyone to the town of cannibals. But the Library of Living Truth was going to be a problem.

All he needed to do now was gather all the money he’d saved from staying in the palace and make his way out of the kingdom. The only thing that would delay his plan was waiting for his information broker to get Ded the location of the remaining names on his list.

New plan, he thought, happy that he could make one quite easily. Talk Ted into running with me, and get a few trusted mercenaries.

There weren’t that many, but he knew a thing or two about a few strong mercenaries who kept to their contract and couldn’t be bought off.

Once he got his hands on enough of them from beyond the kingdom’s reach, he would go for the Crystal of Existence in the ruined city of Onvoth.

Then it’s Nosrath’s heart.

Even as the words crossed Aiden’s mind, he felt himself shiver. But for Nosrath, he would definitely need to be over level fifty at least.

“That’s a lot of thinking,” Elaswit said. “I know I said we have time, but we don’t have all the time in the world. So what do you say?”

Aiden looked up. “And the interface hides nothing?”

Elaswit nodded.

Aiden nodded back. “Then my answer’s still no. If meeting your father and his advisor has taught me anything, Princess, it’s to always keep my cards as close to my chest as possible.”

He dusted his pants randomly.

When his eyes returned to Elaswit’s, he found that her disbelief had returned. So he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And—

“Will it make sense if you explain it?” she asked. “Will you even be able to explain it?”

Aiden sighed. Lie after lie after lie.

“You all seem to have forgotten something,” he said, turning to walk down the road. Elaswit followed. “A month ago, I was a boy living a simple life in a simple world doing simple things. It might not have been the best, but it was a world I knew, with people I knew. I don’t act like the others but I still came from the same place. Drawn here by forces beyond me without a say in the matter.”

He stopped, turned so that he could look Elaswit in the eye.

“I do not hate you people because I know this is the effect of your gods and not you, a decision they have made to save you. We have religion in my world, and what your gods have done is something ours would for our sake. But while I don’t hate you, would you really expect me to trust you without question?” He took a step towards her and she took a step back. “Do you expect me to be all loving and accepting?”

Tension filled the air as they stood there, staring at each other. Aiden needed to admit that while this was all a ruse, he had allowed deep seethed anger and hate from eleven years of betrayal pour out into his words.

The hate was deeper than he’d expected, so deep he could almost taste it. As for his sense of sound, it was picking up something else from ahead of them, something close enough to turn the corner very soon.

Aiden ignored it, kept his eyes on Elaswit. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a slight tremor in her hand.

He was scaring her.

The sound was also drawing closer, faint scratches on the ground. Countless in the way you would describe too many things moving at once.

“A… and you said nothing,” Elaswit stammered. “All this while you said nothing.”

“Because there has been no one to say it to.” Aiden’s hand moved gently to his belt. He doubted Elaswit even noticed it. “And there still isn’t.”

“But you acted like you were fine.”

“I was fine.” His eyes looked away from her, darted to the corner and back. “I still am. Lashing out at you guys is unfair and unjustified. In my world it is called a transfer of aggression. My beef is with your gods not you people. You people need to be saved. And my friends and I will do everything in our power to save you.”

With his words said, he took a single step away from her.

“Why?” she stuttered, genuine curiosity in her voice.

Aiden shrugged, retrieved an orb from his soldier belt’s pocket, channeled mana into it, and threw it down the path. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

He sword sang free from its scabbard and his finger moved in a quick motion at the end of it. All the point he’d put into dexterity was really effective. In moments he was already done casting.

You have used Class skill [Unarmed Engrave(U)]

…

You have used [Enchantment of Lesser Gas]

…

You have used [Enchantment of Lesser Flame]

The creatures he’d been listening too turned the corner just in time, small and many, like a lot of Chihuahuas running at them if Chihuahuas had ugly faces and talons with short stubby wings on their backs.

The item he’d thrown burst into life, leaving a perfect shimmering dome. As the creature’s charged into the dome, they crashed to the ground as if they’d lost function of their limbs.

You have activated [Enchantment of Lesser Madness]

Elaswit staggered back in shock, her flight or fight response in a moment of suspended battle for which one would win.

But Aiden was already moving into action. Swinging his sword, he scraped its tip along the ground. Gas spilled from the enchantment, shot out in a straight line towards the crashing creatures and the flames trailed behind it, igniting every single one as rushed forth.

Aiden didn’t give it any time. He didn’t wait to see or stop to think. Sheathing his sword was a forgone alternative. Turning, he grabbed Elaswit’s arm and ran in the opposite direction.

“Run.”

Elaswit did not struggle.

They fled in the company of rising notifications.

Congratulations! You have slain [Gargoyle Lvl 12]

Congratulations! You have slain [Gargoyle Lvl 11]

Congratulations! You have slain [Gargoyle Lvl 05]

Congratulations! You have slain [Gargoyle Lvl 13]

Congratulations! You have slain [Gargoyle Lvl 09]

Congratulations! You have slain [Gargoyle Lvl 10]

…

[Congratulations! You have Leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled up!]

[Level 26--> 28]

[You are now Level 28]

…

[Unique Scenario: Advent of the Demon King 1.]

You have found the first known point of invasion of the Demon King into this world. The young followers, eager to make a name for themselves, have found their way into this world ahead of time. They are paving the way, raising an army. Vanquish the early signs of the Demon King’s arrival before it is too late.

[Scenario objective: Defeat Gargoyle 14/18.]

[Scenario objective: Defeat Gangnar the Starter 0/1]

[Reward: Unique skill.]