I will always be on your side.
Susan Ferris
“Tomorrow is the day, right?” asked Julie. “Are we ready?”
We were gathered in the borrowed house on the eve of when the monster attack. I had finally convinced the others to let me scout out the enemy the previous night. It was easy to find the monsters as it turned out to be a horde of over a thousand wild boars. They were not really headed to the village in a straight line and were instead roaming over the area en masse looking for food. As if facing level 20 boars was not enough, each boar was about five feet high at their shoulder with large tusks.
“We are as ready as we can be,” I said. “Just remember to use the communication crystal if you are about to get overwhelmed and I will rush to help you.”
I had found the communication crystal while reviewing my item list several days previous and passed them out. It was a new experience for me to be able to use the tool to send voice and text messages but both Julie and Amanda said they closely resembled phones from before the Tower.
Everyone had managed to start cultivating in the time since we had arrived. Amanda had been a little bit slower than the rest and only managed to get her cultivation level ups today, while Julie and Sarah both finished a couple of days ago. Susan managed to beat my speed in learning and was able to start cultivating after five days.
As soon as they each had their breakthrough, I took them to the surrounding area to fight what little wandering monsters there were. I tried to teach them the best way to fight monsters but there was only so much that could be learned in such a short time. Luckily their level and titles helped them move faster than all of the monsters in the area and they were able to gain additional levels except for Amanda.
Susan was more than happy to follow my directions and fought any monster she came across and quickly started to venture on her own to level. This morning she had managed to increase her level to 20. Since she had a low quality mana gem, I was able to direct her on how to use it. Shortly before dinner she had reached earth grade cultivation. Luckily I remembered to have her strip down and cultivate outside the village. While she tried to have my watch over her naked form, instead the other women watched over her and helped her clean up the gunk poured out of her body.
The villagers were just as busy as us over the past week. First a trench was dug around the village. Then trees were cut down and a spearlike barrier was placed outside the trench. It would have been difficult to complete a trench and barrier in such a short time frame if I didn’t join in. I did more than twice the work of all the other villers combined. Add in the fact that I could work throughout the night without stopping and now the preparations looked amazing. The trench had a steep side and was a dozen feet deep. All the dirt removed had formed a berm on the village side to further protect the villagers. Young trees were sharpened into spears and older trees were made into barriers that held the spears. While humans could likely climb around the barriers, I doubted the monsters could.
“You said they were all around level 20, are you sure I can fight them?” asked Amanda. “I am only level 15. Won’t they be more powerful than me? Maybe I should just wait with the villagers in the town.”
“You have more stats than all of those monsters,” I said. “You have an additional ten stat point in each attribute from your ranks in the Tower Climber title and an additional three from the cultivation. You will be fine.”
“But there are so many. What if I get overwhelmed before I can use the crystal?” I could see the same doubt in the other three’s eyes. Susan may be trying to pretend she was not worried, but she was clearly afraid of the upcoming battle.
“I am going to be moving about keeping an eye on things,” I said, trying to sound confident and reassuring. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
“I could get injured or lose my communication crystal,” said Amanda.
“I could get overwhelmed by enemies and die,” said Sarah.
“You could get occupied helping someone and the other three of us are put in increased danger,” said Julie.
“The pigs could overrun the barrier, fill the trench, and storm into the town killing everyone. Then we fail the floor and all die.” Everyone stopped and looked over at Susan. “What? You asked for the worst case scenario. That is it.”
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“Hey Miki, how much experience do you think each monster will grant,” asked Julie.
“If they are like the other monsters I have come across that are similar level, between 80 and 100 experience points.”
“Won’t we reach bottlenecks quickly?” asked Julie. “I am level 16 and will only take about 3,000 experience to reach my next bottleneck or about 35 of the boars. Since you already plan to have us leave the battle to cultivate once we reach the bottleneck, why not just take us out to fight monsters individually? If you do that. you can keep an eye on us and reduce our risk since the others will be with the villagers.”
“Unless monsters overwhelm the opposite side of the town,” I said. “Then we will be in trouble and I will not know about it.”
“This is stupid,” said Sarah. “I agree with Julie. We can just act as lookouts around the village and use the communication crystal to let you know if there is an issue.”
“Then I would still have to leave the person alone on the outside of the wall. It runs the same risk.”
“It’s not the same risk,” said Julie with anger entering her voice. “Only one person would be in danger instead of three.”
“What if all four of us fight as a group?” asked Amanda. “Then you can wander around the rest of town and ensure none of the defenses are being overwhelmed and we can guard each other.”
“That is a horrible idea,” I said. “You four have not practiced fighting as a team and are frankly new at using weapons. If you fight in a group you will be a greater danger to each other than the boars.” I may have been getting a little heated in my words and tone as I grew frustrated with them.
“Just because you are a higher level does not mean you are the boss of us,” said Sarah angrily.
“I am not trying to be the boss,” I said. “I am trying to lead us. I am trying to direct us towards the greatest success.”
“This is not a dictatorship,” said Julie. “This is a democracy and we all get an equal vote.”
“Why are you not trusting what I am telling you?” I asked, looking at them. “Not only do I have a higher level but I also have more experience fighting both alone and in a group.”
“I trust you my love,” said Susan. “I will do whatever you tell me.”
“Shut up, you crazy bitch,” said Sarah. “I am tired of hearing your insane ramblings.”
“Sarah, that is uncalled for,” said Amanda, for once raising her voice.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Julie. “What matters is how we will attack the monsters tomorrow. Are you still going to refuse to fight them alone, Miki?”
“Is that what this is about?” I asked. “As I said earlier, each of you needs the experience more than me if you are going to get through the Tower.” I looked each of them in the eyes and I could see the doubt from Julie, Sarah, and Amanda. None of them really trusted my words. “Have I done something that makes you not trust me? I have made all of you stronger since the start of this floor and looked out for your best interests.”
“Who are you to determine what is in our best interest?” ask Sarah practically spitting the words.
“I am the only one who has the training in not only fighting but leading teams. I am the only one who has reached level 80. I am the only one to not only go to Climber Academy but also graduate with top marks.”
“Look Miki,” said Julie. “It is not that you don’t have amazing accomplishments. But we have all heard how you got through the first ten floors.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“It means you are dumber than a box of rocks,” said Sarah. “It means you think you can brute force your way through problems instead of thinking of the best solutions. We have presented you with an acceptable solution and you refuse to accept it because it is not your own.”
Was that really it? In thinking back on my time in the Tower, I knew there were times where I came to the wrong conclusions. The worst case was on the eighth floor, but only Amanda had heard the whole story of what happened there. I looked to Amanda for guidance. She had talked with me everyday since we arrived on this floor and had so far provided good advice on how to work through my thoughts.
“I will not agree with the crassness of Sarah,” said Amanda under my gaze. “But even you have to admit that you tend to leap before you look. Would it not be better to trust our collective judgment in this situation?”
I closed my eyes as I thought through the problem. The elephant in the room was that they could not force me to do anything. They may want to work as a group or hide in the village while I handle the rest of the monsters, but they could not force me to do it. On the other hand I could force them. With the difference in stats and levels I could easily force them to follow whatever plan I wanted. Is that the problem? Is it the power balance that bothered them?
What made a team? Certainly it was people coming together, but it was more than that. It was the ability to work toward a unified goal. It was a desire to achieve that goal. It was trust in your fellow teammates. We were all new to each other and had no reason to trust. Perhaps it was more important to work on trust than to win this argument.
“Very well,” I said. “The four of you can go out as a team while I cover the rest of the village. But I want you to remember my warning when you fail. It will not be from a lack of strength or stats that you fail, but from your lack of experience. I hope you will trust me more after this and listen to my advice.”
“Okay ‘dad’,” said Sarah sarcastically.
“You may mock me now but I am willing to bet that the first person will be injured not by a monster but by a teammate.”