Snow was trying to understand why Mr. Zack wouldn’t back down on this dungeon dive. They were other dungeons out there that could accommodate their low levels, which could boost their abilities to a higher level. This was a complete suicide mission.
Mr. Rogers cleared his throat, bringing everyone's attention back to him. “Let the man do what he wants. It’s not like he’s going to change his mind.”
“But still…” Jonet said. “The amount of death will increase.”
“Which is why your people need to be responsible for watching over us,” Mr. Zack spat out, “My people need to get out of there alive.”
Snow was disgusted by the words that he said. He was acting arrogantly as if they were obliged to be watched over. If she didn’t know any better, she would assume that he would be asking for all the loot next.
“You’re out of your mind.” Snow spoke, which drew Mr. Zack’s attention to her.
The usual dagger-like expressions were aimed at her.
“You think, just because you have just awakened, we are obliged to hold your hands all the way?” Snow said sarcasm. The anger in her body was slowly rising. “Even I did not get such hand me outs.” She spat.
“Hand me outs?” Mr. Zack narrowed. He glared from under his bushy eyebrows to make sure there were no interruptions, “My people are just awakened. You must keep us safe.”
“Enough with the bullshit. New chicks need to fight where they can learn on their level. Not dungeon diving in a dangerous level that could kill you in a heartbeat.” Snow slammed her hand on the table. The energy around her started to increase, raising the pressure.
The others felt the uncomfortable rise in light energy—especially Mr. Rogers, who tapped his fingers on the table even harder.
“New chicks? If it wasn’t for all of you guys, this so-called dungeon wouldn’t happen.” Mr. Zack spat back. “We need remunerations!”
Mike whispered under his breath, “Doesn't he sound like a spoiled child?”
Audrey caught Mike’s words, “Yea, an obligated fool.”
“I’ll give you some common sense instead,” Snow pushed off from her chair.
Both Mike and Audrey grabbed each of her arms. She pulled away, trying to get loose from their vice-like grip. But she didn’t jump on Mr. Zack.
“Look at this lass. She thinks she knows everything about this so-called dungeon dive. Ready to use fist instead of words.” Mr. Zack scoffed at her actions.
“Mr. Zack,” Mike calmly spoke out, gritting his teeth so he wouldn’t jump out and punch him himself. “Out of all the people, we have been dungeon diving with. Snow has fought with the strongest monsters, lead the fight at the forefront, and even put her life on the line numerous times that you would never understand.”
Mr. Zack snorted at Mike’s statement. “A girl will be a girl. You must have saved her every time by the way you are protecting her now.”
A fist flew overhead, punching Mr. Zack across his face. Mr. Zack slammed into the ground, bleeding.
“Anyways,” Snow wiped the saliva off her fist, “Is that all that we are talking about here?” She glanced at the other three before her, completely ignoring the man on the ground.
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Before he could get up and say anything else, his voice was muffled. Zack rubbed his throat, trying to figure out what was going on. Mr. Rogers smiled, enjoying the scene before him, while the others didn’t really say much back to Mr. Zack.
Snow had a feeling that if she didn’t hit him, the others would. Plus, the feeling of her hand knocking Mr. Zack out was relieving.
Mr. Rogers thought it through but shook his head. While Emily Clairson raised up her hand.
“I heard a strange rumor,” Emily said, her ears going up and down. “That the people are calling you the Saintess.”
Snow wasn’t sure how to explain it to them. She knew that this topic would come up one day, but didn’t think it would be this soon. If she could stop the people from calling her that, she would, but it was too late. They spoke it behind her back and in front of her everyone every day.
“Did you tell them to call you such a name?”
“Absolutely not,” Snow replied, offended that she would ask the people around her to call such a name. She sometimes felt like it wasn’t the right nickname to call her because she could use extra abilities that a normal priestess and priest could use. “I have asked people to stop using it, but they don’t listen.”
“Still, to be labeled as a Saintess isn’t something that would normally happen.” Emily crossed her fingers, she seemed to stand up a bit straighter than before. “I heard you can resurrect people. Is this true?”
Snow didn’t hesitate. “Yes,” she said with a bit more confirmation than before. There was no point in hiding such ability as it was a widely known fact.
“Could you show it to us here?”
With a frown, Snow didn’t like where this was going. Mostly because she didn’t feel like her skill was something to test. But if she did say no, she had a gut feeling that they would hound her to the end of the world.
“Look, my ability is not some parlor trick,” said Snow. “It’s a gift.”
“Which is why I would like to see if this gift is real.”
Snow brought up her hand. She shook her head, no. “It is up to you if you want to believe me or not, but I am not going to do party tricks in front of everyone to show you if my ability really resurrects people. You can find the people who had gone through death and ask them.”
Emily wasn’t phased by Snow’s words. Instead, she retaliated. “It seems then the name of Saintess is a false narrative, but a hoax.”
“You can believe whatever you want. I stand by what I mean. I am not going to use my skills in front of you as if it's entertainment. Now, I personally would suggest we dive into the next dungeon in the following two weeks from now without Mr. Zack’s people. They aren’t ready for it as you all silently know just as well as I that it is suicide for them.” Snow said strongly. She didn’t want to stay any longer. “With that being said, please enjoy your night and have a good day.”
With a sharp turn, Snow left them behind. Every step she took, she cursed in her mind. She wanted to fight all of them and maybe punch them a few times but knew that wouldn’t solve anything. Mr. Zack was an exception. An exception as his disrespect for the magical community and for females in general. It wasn’t like she wanted the dungeons to appear.
There were times when she had thoughts of wanting to be saved like a damsel in distress, but such ideas were thrown out the window because it was highly unlikely and hoping for such a save was low. She wanted to be able to pull out of any difficulties if there were no friends or family nearby to help her, as there were higher chances of her needing to look out for others' safety as they were not physically strong as her.
Her mind crowded with if, buts, and then, she stormed out the building.
“Snow!” Mike called out from behind, waving his hand down for her to slow down.
Snow snapped out of her own little bubble, she turned around and noticed Mike was breathing a bit hard.
“Yes?”
Mike answered a bit enthusiastically, “Snow, you alright?”
“Yea, thanks for asking.” The pent up emotions were washed away. “I just had a moment and showed everyone a bit of an ugly side.”
“Not at all,” Mike grinned. “If you weren’t going to hit him, I would. Mostly because he seemed to be preoccupied with the thought of being owed something after hell broke loose. People are like that usually, when things don’t go the way they want, they blame others and say it's not their problem. But in reality, they don’t own their own words and actions and strive for a better tomorrow. Even if the events of life and people can’t be controlled, the one that could is your own. It’s why half the world is like this.” He shook his head.
“You seem like you have gone through this scenario before?” Snow was curious about what his thoughts were.
“Yes. Something like that.” Mike sighed. “It’s another story to tell another day.”
Snow nodded. She could tell it wasn’t something that he wanted to delve into.
“Anyways, do you think that Zack is going to stay out from the dungeon dive?”
“Absolutely not.” Snow knew the answer to the obvious question with the way Zack acted. He was a pompous, arrogant man who wanted his way. “There is going to be a lot of death, and he won’t understand the terrors behind a high-level dungeon raid until he goes through it himself.”
“I suspected as much,” muttered Mike.
This was a serious problem, and Snow wasn’t sure how to handle such an obvious question that wouldn’t quickly go away. She didn’t know anybody in the higher authorities on the government side, plus offending Mr. Zack was bound to have tension between two factions.
“Let’s just go and take a nice nap. Worrying about it is not going to solve the problem,” Snow yawned. She finally realized the much-needed sleep was catching up again.
“I’m with you on that.”
Both of them headed straight home as the silence of the city night was a lot more calmer than before.
Snow silently prayed that everything would go alright in the dungeon dive that was going to come.
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