The rest of the exchange went off without a hitch, a few large men coming by to carry the meat and bones wherever it was they stored that stuff, the officials welcoming them to explore the city while they waited before departing. "So… thoughts?" Greg asked the others as they settled down after everyone left. "They didn't seem bad, right?"
"Eh?" Victor shrugged. "We'll see. That was them on their best behavior, and I gotta say, not impressed."
"That was them after you purposely antagonized them!" Tessa growled.
Victor threw up his hands. "Who gets pissed off over a random dude spouting bullshit?!? He should have just brushed me off, not gotten so worked up over it."
Tessa rolled her eyes. "Just because someone is sensitive doesn't mean they're a bad person."
"Feh!" Victor waved his hand dismissively.
Tessa shook her head. "But you do have a point. We can't make any judgements based on their behavior at this point. We'll have a better idea once their artificers see how much meat we really have."
Greg chuckled. "I was gonna say. They only asked for like a shelf. Not even a percent of what we have. And you even talked them down! Why?"
"Because if I hadn't, they would have been suspicious. If we don't care about that much meat, then the odds are we have even more meat." Tessa replied.
"But… we do have even more meat. And don't we want them to know that?" Greg asked, confused.
"We do, but we want them to think they somehow figured it out. That we were trying to hide it, but failed." Tessa explained. "Like, if you see someone walking around with a wad of hundreds sticking out their back pocket, that's suspicious. You're going to think they're up to something. However, if you happen to catch a glimpse of a wallet full of money while they pay for a hot dog or something, what's suspicious about that?"
Greg nodded slowly. "Okay, that makes sense. We want them to find out, but we don't want to make it obvious."
"Right, so when the artificers come by, we'll have them work by the freezers first, and at some point one of us will go down and grab some meat for lunch or dinner, giving them a glimpse of what's inside." Tessa nodded along. "Someone who looks like they wouldn't think to hide how much meat we really have… probably Sarah."
"In the meantime, I'll explore the city, see if I can get in touch with the… shadier element." Victor commented. "They're either the people we need to deal with, or they know who the people we need to deal with are."
"Once it gets around that we have meat, I'm sure the shadier element will get in contact with us." Tessa replied. "They aren't going to want to miss out on this deal any more than anyone else."
Greg sighed. "I think the bigger issue is figuring out what we actually want. That one lady asked if I could make her a ship, but what would she even give me for it?"
Tessa gave him a serious look. "Greg, you aren't making anyone a ship. Not until we are well established, at least."
Greg shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm aware. This ship is our biggest advantage and there's no way I'm just going to throw it away like that. However, even with the meat, it's still going to be an issue. I mean, we're essentially living in a post-scarcity society, right? The only valuable commodity is power, and that's what we're selling. So what do we ask for?"
"Oh, we could get a turret!" Debbie exclaimed. "One of the ones off the walls!"
"Eh. Those things are useless without pure mana and it takes forever to fill one of those cells up." Victor groaned.
"That's it!" Tessa exclaimed. "That's what we need! Power!"
"Didn't we just establish we have the power?" Greg asked, frowning.
Tessa shook her head. "No, we have the means of developing personal power. Meat grows your mana pool, which helps you be more powerful. What we need are external forms of power. Turrets. Pure mana cells. Artifacts. There isn't much available now, but based on what we've seen from the republic, artificers can create some amazing things. Just look at this city! That's what we should really be looking for. And a few turrets would be a good place to start."
Victor chuckled. "This ship is going to turn into something terrifying, isn't it?"
"Intimidating." Rachel interjected. "We should go for intimidating. Respect, not fear."
"Well, maybe a little bit of fear." Greg grinned. "Enough that people are afraid to piss us off, but not necessarily afraid of us."
Tessa sighed. "This is leading back to that damn organization idea, isn't it?"
"Just think of it! An entire fleet of ships, armed to the teeth, patrolling the wilderness for ne'er do wells!" Debbie exclaimed excitedly. "Of course, while exacting a modest protection fee from the surrounding cities."
"We are not becoming a mafia!" Tessa declared, glaring at her.
"Awww." Debbie pouted, crossing her arms in disappointment.
"Yeah, we're more like hunters who just happen to hunt bad guys as well." Greg added. "Mostly for ourselves, and any profit is incidental."
"Though we should absolutely turn this ship into a full on fortress." Victor commented. "Maybe even figure out how to make it actually fly."
"Would you get off that?" Greg clicked his tongue. "Floating is good enough!"
"Nothing is good enough!" Victor retorted. "I won't be satisfied until this thing is a full on spaceship!"
"Space pirates!" Debbie declared excitedly.
Tessa sighed. "I'm going to regret ever getting involved with you people, aren't I?"
Greg chuckled. "I'm surprised you don't already."
*
As it turned out, New Haven was just a regular, boring ass city. The government wasn't great, but they weren't evil either. There were some criminals lurking around, but on the level of theft and exploitation, not murder and torture, which could be left to the local government to sort out. When they realized how much meat they actually had, the government did try to get a bit more out of them, especially when they asked for turrets on top, but they ultimately left only two hundred kilograms of meat and a hundred of bones lighter. It turns out Tessa had a bit of a gift for negotiation.
Greg was a bit disappointed they didn't run into any assholes, but ultimately he decided it was a good sign. The less eventful things were, the less the World was fucking with him, which Greg saw as a net positive, even if it was a little boring at times. Plus, he figured he might as well enjoy the peace, because if Narita was right, eventually the World would draw him back in. So he made sure to download a bunch of spell schematics, all based around psyche, enhancement, binding, and projection, in particular focusing on a spell called psychic barrage, which essentially created a field that gave everyone inside a massive headache. He figured he had killing people covered for the moment, so he should probably focus on incapacitation.
The next city, New Eden, was about the same, though part of that was because they hadn't figured out another way to spill the beans about how much meat they actually had, so after negotiating for some pure mana cells and a few interesting artifacts, they were at a loss. The place seemed fine though, so ultimately they decided to move on. However, in the next city, Victor had the brilliant idea to spread the rumor that they were willing to trade a couple tons of meat and bone in exchange for a functioning mana core. Which, honestly, they would absolutely trade a couple tons of meat and bone for a mana core. Mana cores automatically gathered pure mana, which meant they could power even stronger enchantments, like the shield the cities had. It would be pretty much their entire supply though. And Greg wasn't sure a couple tons of meat and bone was even worth a mana core. Still, it definitely got people's attention, and finally, they got their first bite.
A coarse bag was ripped off 'Jake's' head, revealing a dark room with a single light illuminating a small area. A man sat in a chair in front of him, playing with a knife. "Now I'm gonna say this real slow, so you understand, aight?" The man grinned. "Currently, your wife and kid are safe." Well, he was right about that. "My men are taking good care of them." They were not, actually. Got a little too handsy with 'Meredith'. Greg was handling that though. "However, if you want them to stay that way, you'll do exactly as I say, capeesh?"
'Jake' nodded. "Okay, what do you want me to do?" He asked calmly.
The man blinked. "Uh… we- we need you to disable the teleportation barrier on your ship." He pulled out a small artifact. "This device will disable any barrier as long as it's activated from the inside. You just go in, activate the device, and your wife and kid are returned the moment we're done. No harm, no foul."
'Jake' cocked his head. "That's it? You won't harm anyone? You just want to steal the meat?"
"Y-yeah, just- hold on, what's wrong with you!?! Why aren't you scared?!?" The man demanded, waving his knife at him. "We have your family! Shouldn't you be at least a little nervous?"
'Jake' blinked, before frowning. "Shit, I should be, huh? Hold on, let me try." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, before pausing and opening them again. "Uh… what does nervous look like?"
The man just stared at him for a moment. "Is this some kind of joke?!?"
"Nah, I'm some kind of Jake." 'Jake' retorted.
"Look kid, I'm serious! We will hurt your family if you don't do what we say!" The man growled, sticking the knife in his face.
'Jake' clicked his tongue. "I don't think I'm very good at this. Look, all I need to know is if you're majorly evil, or just a little evil, okay? Your men sucked, which doesn't reflect well on you, but maybe you're just a poor judge of character, who knows?"
"The fuck are you talking about?!? What is wrong with you!?!" The man screamed in frustration.
"Fuck it." 'Jake' sighed as a Greg formed behind the man and smashed him over the head with a brick, causing him to instantly crumple. "I need some acting lessons. Seriously, how do I pretend to be nervous?" 'Jake' frowned, turning to smoke and slipping out of his restraints as Greg picked up the limp body.
"My question is, does this count as eventful?" Greg asked. "Or did we just get what we were asking for?"
"Plus, these guys seem more like bandits than assholes." 'Jake' muttered. "Well, I mean, they're definitely assholes, but the 'the government should be taking care of this' kind, not the kind we're worried about."
"Not that taking care of them isn't a good thing." Greg shrugged.
"Man, I kinda miss that purity of purpose that came with the World fucking with us." 'Jake' shook his head. "It always felt like we had something to do… this just feels lazy."
Greg nodded, sighing, before pausing and cocking his head. "Do you hear fighting?"
Stolen story; please report.
"Boss, we're-!" A man burst into the room, before freezing as he caught sight of the two of them, along with the presumed 'Boss' draped over Greg's shoulder, his eyes widening.
"Yo." Greg greeted him, flashing him a piece sign.
"You-" The man began, before letting out a cry as a spell hit him in the back.
'Jake' turned to Greg. "I think this might be an event."
"No shit." Greg rolled his eyes.
Suddenly a group of four burst into the room, hands raised threateningly. "Release the hostage and stand down!" A man demanded.
Greg blinked, before pointing at Jake. "But… he's already released?"
"Put him down!" The man yelled, fingers beginning to glow.
"I think he means the evil dude." 'Jake' leaned in to whisper.
"Oh, no, guys, this is the bad guy." Greg gestured to the unconscious man. "I was the hostage. Well, he was. But he's me, so same thing."
"Put him down or face the consequences!" The man demanded once again, his fingers starting to glow even brighter as whatever spell he was preparing powered up.
Greg rolled his eyes, putting the man down. "Fine, fine. But again, I'm the good guy here. He's the bad guy."
"My question is why they're here and not rescuing 'Meredith'. Shouldn't the woman be the higher priority?" 'Jake' frowned.
"Maybe she's in a hidden room?" Greg shrugged. "She is pretty far below us."
"Or they just forgot to check the basement." 'Jake' replied.
"Step back!" The man demanded, which Greg complied with, because why not? He was more concerned with who these people were, rather than whatever happened to this dude. Sure, he sucked, but he couldn't exactly do much with his entire organization gutted, now could he? As he did, 'Jake' turned to smoke and returned to him, since there was no real reason to keep him around anymore. Plus having another him around to voice and answer all the rhetorical questions he regularly asked himself got annoying after a bit.
The four, who had begun to approach the unconscious man, suddenly froze as it looked like Greg had just dissolved and absorbed a man. Which he had, but not on the way they thought. Instantly a white bolt shot from the man's hand, shooting towards Greg, and with a *pop* he was gone. At least, his body was. A cloud of smoke reformed into Greg, who just blinked at the man. "Did- did you just- where did you send me?" His other body was… somewhere. He wasn't dead, that was for sure, but he didn't think he was in the universe anymore… more of a void? Except it was white. And very empty.
"Stay back!" The man demanded, his hands raised as they slowly began to glow again.
Greg raised his hands, backing off with a gulp of genuine nervousness. This guy could do the one thing that genuinely worried him: he could move him. Worse, it appeared he could move him into some kind of empty void… Greg shuddered at the thought of getting trapped in that place just like he'd been trapped in the transmutation chamber. "Okay, let's just… calm down and focus on not sending anyone into a dark oblivion, alright? Or, in this case, a bright oblivion I guess?" Okay, Greg wasn't that nervous. He rather specifically made sure he had smoke in some very hard to reach places just so something like this wouldn't lead to the same circumstances as the transmutation chamber. Plus, the ability obviously didn't work on his smoke, at least not when it wasn't… solidified? Materialized? Yeah, materialized. Still, he didn't want to get any more of himself trapped in that place.
The man eyed him cautiously. "Who are you? How did you absorb that other man? How did you-" He frowned. "No, you didn't escape… I can feel you in there… How are you still here?!?"
Greg blinked. "I- you saw me reform out of smoke, right? That's- that's my thing. I'm a smoke person. Plus, that other guy was me, see?" Greg split off some smoke and made another 'Jake', who spread his arms in presentation. "Well, not me me. It's a copy of my friend Jake. I made copies of him, Meredith, and their kid whose name I'm blanking on right now, so that they'd be obvious targets to kidnap, like they were, so I could find the bad guys, like him." Greg gestured to the unconscious man on the floor. "You guys showed up right as I finished dealing with him, leading to this whole misunderstanding. Seriously, not the bad guy, and very interested in not getting trapped in voids."
"Do you have any proof of that?" One of the man's companions asked, who turned out to be a woman.
Actually, now that Greg was paying attention, all the others seemed to be women… *Ah, shit, this better not be who I think it is.* Greg groaned internally. Glowing white power, perfect counter to Greg, surrounded by women… fuck, this guy was the hero, wasn't he? "Proof… I mean, we could go to the ship? They'll vouch for me there. Though, you'd have to trust them in that case… Wait, hold on. Why are you here? You guys must have a reason to raid some random hideout, right?"
They shared looks. "We… witnessed a small family being kidnapped and followed them here." The woman explained.
"Of course you did." Greg frowned. "Huh, this is a tough one, isn't it? I mean, I can prove I can transform into the others, but that doesn't prove I was the others. Maybe I stole their forms after I kidnapped them. Proves nothing. I could take you to see the real ones, but I've already shown that I can be in multiple places at once, so who's to say anyone I show you isn't just another copy? Hell, I could be everyone in this entire city for all you know." He paused as their eyes widened. "I'm not, it's just a possibility. Though, I guess that's what I'd say either way, huh?" Now that he was thinking about it, Greg as a villain was objectively terrifying. Literally anyone the hero met could be him in disguise. Greg sighed, shaking his head. "Fuck it, I got nothing."
The man continued to study Greg for a moment, as if debating whether to shoot him again or not, before lowering his hand. "We're going to search the rest of this hideout. You wait here. If- If we don't find anything suspicious… we'll believe you."
Greg gave him two thumbs up. "Sounds good. Though, be warned, the basement is a little… messy."
He blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Well, they took 'Jake' up here, but 'Meredith' and the baby were kept in the basement. Or at least what I assume is the basement. Meredith is a rather attractive woman, a few of them got some ideas in their heads, and well… I 'took care' of it. Rape is a big no-no in my book, so I may have gotten a little… enthusiastic in my punishment. Don't worry, I made sure their deaths were quick, but I'm going to need to wait for their mana to settle down before I can start cleaning up." Greg explained with a shrug. Mana was such a pain when it came to his smoke. Thankfully he'd learned it was just the active, or 'free' mana that was the issue. Once it was just sitting there, his smoke could handle it, like in dirt or dead bodies, but living bodies or anything with an active mana flow, like that damn transmutation chamber and most of the buildings in the city, were still an issue.
The man seemed to struggle as he processed Greg's words. "You- you killed them?"
Greg cocked his head. "Yeah? What else would I do?"
"Not kill them! Because human life is sacred!" The man exclaimed, huffing indignantly.
Greg's eyebrows shot up, glancing towards the man lying on the floor by the door. "You mean he's not dead?"
"Of course not! We use non-lethal spells to incapacitate our enemies! We don't kill them!" The man retorted.
"Huh… weird." Greg muttered. "Seems like something that'd bite you in the ass later on."
The man just shook his head, turning to one of his companions. "Sophia, go down there and see- see if you can save anyone."
The woman nodded, rushing out of the room, while Greg scratched his head with an awkward expression. This… wasn't going to go well. He'd made the deaths quick, but he hadn't made them pretty. If they had this much of an issue with death… *Getting along with this hero might be harder than I thought.* Greg sighed internally. He winced slightly as a scream echoed from below, followed by a retching noise. "Man, she stepped right into that puddle…" Greg muttered to himself.
The man paled. "Go check on her!" He waved to his other companions. "I'll- I'll keep a watch on him." He spat in a tone of sheer disgust as he glared at Greg.
Greg sighed. This really wasn't going well. "Sorry… I didn't realize anyone would be coming, you know?" Greg offered tentatively, the man just continuing the glare at him. "Uh… I'm Greg, by the way." The man didn't reply. "And you are?" Greg asked leadingly after a few moments. "Come on, you could at least tell me your name, right? I can't keep thinking of you as 'that guy', right? Well, actually, I'm terrible with names, so I probably will just keep thinking of you as that guy…"
"Why would you kill them?" The man asked through gritted teeth.
Greg sighed. "Because they were bad people." He replied. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating wholesale slaughter over stealing a loaf of bread or anything, but… look, there are certain lines that if you cross, you're irredeemable in my book. Rape is one of them. Particularly with how well our culture makes the point that rape is one of the most horrible things you can do to someone. Once someone crosses that line, they need to be dealt with. Now, if we still had prisons, I'd probably be okay with sending someone there, because I know people can change, but with magic and all that, how effective would prisons even be anymore? Though… that ability of yours could work pretty well. But I didn't know about that when I killed them." Greg shrugged. "Anyway, my point is that when dealing with someone who's willing to cross certain lines, the priority can't be making sure their rights are perfectly preserved. The priority is making sure that they can't hurt anyone else, and the only way I know how to do that is by killing them. Death is a tragedy, I know, but when people refuse to play by the rules… It's necessary."
The man frowned. "You can't just kill whoever you have a problem with. People deserve a chance to be better!"
Greg shook his head. "No, they really don't. A chance to be better is a gift, and it'd be great if we could make sure everyone got that chance, but are you willing to pay the price? Is the murderer worth more than his next victim? Because that's what you're saying. That this man's life is worth taking the chance he'll kill again. A chance he's already wasted to get to this point! If you can be sure he won't kill again, at least as much as you're sure anyone won't kill someone, then sure, let him go, but otherwise? You aren't being merciful, you're just ignoring a problem because it makes you feel good."
The man sneered. "So shouldn't I just get rid of you?"
Greg grinned. "Nope. If I'm wrong, then you should give me a second chance, even though I can tell you right now that I'm going to kill again. But, if I'm right, then all my killings are justified and I've done nothing wrong, so why would you stop me? So which would you rather it be? That you can't stop people from doing wrong, or that you can?"
The man frowned. "That is a gross oversimplification."
Greg shook his head. "You know, people always say that, but you know what I think? I think people over complicate things so that we get confused, when really, life is pretty simple. Everyone has a chance to be good, to not be a complete and utter asshole. But some people haven't taken that chance. They've made the decision to hurt the people around them. So why shouldn't we hurt them back?"
"What if they were forced into it?" The man retorted. "What if they had to kill, to survive?"
"First off, that negates your argument that it's never okay to kill, because if it's okay for them to kill, then it's okay for me to kill. Which is honestly my whole argument. This isn't about killing because you want to, but killing because you have to. These people are a danger to others, and if I want those others to live safe and happy lives, then they need to be put down. Maybe not a matter of my survival, but it's certainly a matter of the survival of society as a whole. Secondly, it's the same reason we put down a rabid dog or a starving wolf. It isn't their fault they're hurting people, but it doesn't change the fact that they are hurting people, and it needs to stop." Greg replied.
The man frowned at the ground. "It still seems wrong." He muttered.
Greg shrugged. "I mean, yeah? It should seem wrong, because taking a life isn't something you just do. You have to be sure it's the right decision. Like say, for instance, you're in the form of an attractive young woman and all the men around you start taking their pants off, despite your vehement protests. Hard to argue against that one. Unless you're suggesting that a pretty young woman shouldn't defend herself?"
The man's expression twisted. "No, but… urgh, fine! I won't- I'm not going to hold ki- that against you. But I still don't like it."
"Fair enough. I don't like it when people whistle in public, but I don't hold that against them." Greg replied with a slight grin.
The man frowned at him. "Those are completely incomparable!"
"Except I just did compare them so they're comparable by definition?" Greg retorted, cocking his head.
"Oh, for the love of- fine, they're comparable!" The man groaned. "Already gave me a fucking headache. Stupid, argumentative…" He muttered under his breath, trailing off as he turned to leave, going to find the girls.
"Wait, you never told me your name!" Greg yelled after him as he followed. "Ah, fuck it. I'm just going to call him Hero. Hero McBitchface… the third."