Watching the guards leave the mountain was a bitter feeling, especially since, even as I watched them disappear, I wasn’t sure whether I did the right thing by letting them go. A part of me wanted to imprison them … and a darker part of me wondered if it would have been better to just kill them and be done with it.

I hated those voices.

But, whether I let them go or kept them back didn’t change the nature of my mistake. I had screwed up big time, and without the looming threat of a rebellion, I was free to process it in its entirety.

One thing was apparent: I had been arrogant. Despite knowing that their classes affected their personal perception, I simply believed that the occasional displays of power would have been enough to keep a lid on their discontent, not understanding the possible impact of their leveling.

And, I should have. Even without leveling somehow increasing the mental manipulation that the classes exerted, it still would have caused a problem. I knew from firsthand experience that the power boost from leveling up several times in a row could give a sense of invincibility.

Failing to predict that sense of invincibility would destroy the authority I had displayed on them was an abject failure on my end. I might have not wanted to be a leader, but it was not an excuse to do such a terrible job.

I needed to be better.

And, I needed to start that by focusing on the people behind me, their fears already growing as they watched the departure of our strongest fighters.

I turned to them, and looked at them. “You are free to leave with them if you want,” I said to them. With Wisdom, catching the flare of panic at my words was easy, which still felt weird. “It’s not a trap.”

One of them raised his hand. “Not unless you order us, sir,” he said. “We know how we will be treated with them. Beast wave or not, we would like to stay.”

“Good. I’ll make sure that you all are strong enough to deal with the beast wave,” I said, which seemed to be enough to gain their acceptance. “Now, take your posts. It’s almost evening, and the beasts will soon start their attack.”

“Yes, sir,” they said in concert before dispersing, leaving only Harold, looking tense.

I took a deep breath at their obedience. Their quick acceptance didn’t surprise me. I already knew that Farmer class came with its own set of mental suggestions, and a certain meekness and obedience to authority was a part of it.

“Do you have a minute for a private chat?” I said as I gestured toward the dungeon entrance. He nodded, disappointment rolling off him in waves, but didn’t say anything.

I walked to the dungeon, and he followed, until we were half a mile away from the dungeon gate, his sense of disappointment turning into rolling waves, suffocating, overlapping with my own sense of inadequacy. I was disappointed with myself enough, and what I could sense from him was making it even worse.

“What a failure of leadership, right?” I asked. As much as I wanted to avoid the topic, I didn’t deserve it.

“True, sir,” he said, his expression stony, but his sense of disappointment was getting stronger.

I took a deep breath, not sure what to say. It had been a long while since I had failed to this extent. My failure to expect the disaster despite having all the necessary pieces not only compromised our defenses, but also risked the lives of hundreds of guards needlessly. “I’m sorry I have been such a terrible leader,” I said.

I expected Harold to look even more disgusted, but his expression turned to shock. “Wait? What?” he asked, shocked. “You’re sorry, sir?”

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“Well, yes. I should have predicted what was going on.”

He caught my gaze. “Respectfully, sir, that’s bullshit.”

“What?” I asked, surprised.

“You trusted me and put me to lead them while you dealt with more important matters. I’m the one that failed.”

I paused, surprised by his declaration. I had expected him to insult me, not act like he had just committed the greatest crime.

Also, absentmindedly, I took a note not to trust the emotional empathy I got from Wisdom too much, as it was clearly not an infallible indicator. Just because I knew what someone was feeling didn’t mean I could read their thoughts accurately.

“As much as I appreciate the thought, there are some details you’re not aware of,” I said.

“Like what, sir?” he asked. I gave him a relatively condensed breakdown of what I had been suspecting about the System and how it affected our mind, limited to five minutes. “Is this why people never think about the old world?” he asked.

“That’s my theory, at least,” I said. “I still don’t know how it affects us truly, and why it’s stronger in some people than others. I didn’t think that rapid leveling would have an impact.”

Harold paused. “Is this why you let them go rather than imprisoning them,” he said.

“You don’t approve?” I asked. “Are you also afraid that they won’t survive the wilderness?”

To my surprise, Harold actually spat on the ground at the idea. “God no. I couldn’t care less about a bunch of cowards that didn’t blink before betraying their promises and risking thousands of lives just because they are afraid of a beast wave.”

“Even if their classes affected their thoughts?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Frankly, sir, I think you’re overestimating the impact of their class on their final decision. Most of them were too used to living in their little corner of the world, too concerned with their little benefits. The only reason they signed up for this mission was because it was safe and lucrative. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have waited until the perfect opportunity to get away. The moment they heard about the beast wave, they must have started packing.”

“Is that why we have been surprised by it?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, ashamed of his lapse. “I had been too busy arranging the supplies to realize that they had been packing for their own travel rather than preparing for the beast wave. Their decision caught me unprepared.”

“You don’t have to feel guilty about it,” I said. “I know from experience how overwhelming trying to handle several critical tasks at once could be. Hell, I almost killed myself multiple times in the process.”

He sighed. “It still doesn’t lessen the impact of my failure, sir. They are privy to a lot of secrets, and I know you wanted to keep them under wraps. And, now, I ruined it.”

He had a point, but not as much as he believed “Not much we could do on that. The moment I had given that speech, I was ready for those secrets to be revealed. There’s no such thing as a secret that could be kept by thousands of people. And, as far as reveals go, this is not the worst case.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you believe that they could keep their mouth shut enough to sell this information to the highest bidder?”

“No. Assuming that they could return safely, they’ll probably babble their woes to every listener that’s willing to buy them a beer, and how unfair it was that they were not the top dogs as they deserved.”

“Exactly. That’ll help us.”

“How?” he said. “The more people know about the potential profit, the worse for us, right?”

“Not necessarily,” I replied. “It’s certainly better than just one city lord learning about it. If it was a secret, they might send a strong force in secret to take over the dungeon, hoping to monopolize the production.”

He paused for a moment. “But if there are multiple parties….”

“They will have to make sure their rivals aren’t the ones that take advantage of the situation, meaning they have to factor in other risks like a potential ambush. That way, we might find a way to turn it into a negotiation.”

“You don’t sound too sure,” he said.

I sighed. “I’m not, because it’s equally likely that they’ll destroy us first before they start bargaining. We might end up like the Occupation of Czechoslovakia.”

“I’m not familiar with it, sir,” Harold said.

“To summarize it somewhat inaccurately, before the second world war, the nazis tried to annex a significant part of Czechoslovakia, and after some events, German, French, British, and Italian representatives gathered together for a conference, which they didn’t invite Czechoslovakia government. They just took the final decision, and forced it upon them, carving their country in several pieces.”

“You’re afraid that various guilds and cities will decide on how to split the dungeon without consulting us,” Harold said. “Do you think that’s likely?”

“It’s certainly on the table. Unless, of course, we can show them such a deal is worse than the alternative.”

“And, for that, we need more power,” Harold admitted, his expression dancing between hope and disbelief.

“Yes, but that’s enough discussion about future stuff. Let’s discuss this beast wave. None of the other stuff will matter if we can’t survive it.”