"W-what was that?" Jacob did his best to hold back a sigh as sounds of fear spread throughout the people around him- of course, he miserably failed to do so, and when he made what felt like a tired sound just caused the people around him to panic even more. In reaction to everything, Jacob simply stood still and eyed the mushroom cloud forming on top of the forest, growing ever larger as the dust began to spread, he raised his thumb and placed it over the cloud, then sighed in relief.

"Good, we're not in the danger zone," he said, muscles relaxing as everyone around him calmed down and the tense atmosphere began to disappear, "they're all gone now," he said to the rest of the villagers, "so we can probably rest easy until the men of the Capital-" because who else would come in reaction to this? "- come and take me away for questioning or something inane like that,"

"Are you gonna be fine?" Alexi asked from beside him, the assassin's clothes were soaked with blood, which she didn't seem to mind one bit- a completely opposite reaction to what some of the villagers felt about the sight.

"I should be," he replied, "right as long as I prove that I'm here to live in peace and even be willing to help with the war-" And isn't that a scary thought? He honestly never expected to be someone capable of wiping out entire armies but here he is, standing with a class that can only be described as destruction incarnate. "- then they should be willing to leave me alone, I mean, who doesn't want someone capable of that to help them?"

"Paranoid nobles," Alexi replied with a tilt of her head, her unconcerned tone reassured Jacob enough that if there's ever a fight between assassins, then the one aiming for his life would probably fall before Alexi's blade. "though I doubt that they can do anything against you with me around,"

"Good," Jacob smiled softly at her, "Thank you,"

"You are welcome, master," Alexi replied followed by a bow.

"Should we worry about that danger zone you were checking earlier?" Heas asked as he trotted over to Jacob, his chubby cheeks pale as a ghost. The man had seen better days, that's for sure. "We're not gonna die are we?"

"We wouldn't, no. Things are gonna be fine." Jacob replied, trying to feign the confidence that he wasn't feeling at the moment. Truth be told, he doesn't know if putting your thumb over the mushroom cloud is a viable way of checking for a nuclear bomb's area of radiation but it's the only method he knows and a positive response did come out after he did so... things should be fine. He hopes.

"That's good," Heas sagged as a deep breath came out of his lips and Jacob wasn't really in the mood for... the mayor's flirting so he simply gave him a smile and internally vowed to avoid him for the rest of the time the village will spend to recover.

Despite that though, the more he looked at the sight of the mushroom cloud, the more guilt he felt. What he did just now gnawed at him, reminding him of... what happened to him in his past life. The feeling of burning is still there, alive at the back of his mind and he could feel his skin start to cook as his blood boiled-

He started walking away, though not towards the direction of his house, when Alexi noticed this, she grabbed his shoulder, stopping him from walking any further. "You're going in the wrong direction, master." she said while pointing behind her, "Your house is that way."

"I know," Jacob replied while eyeing his new Frequency Bar. If the bright idea he got just now is correct, then he should be fine when he walks around radiated areas, if not, then there are two scenarios: One, he gets cancer (which honestly is the best case scenario) and two, he becomes a literal skin walker, which is the worse case scenario and he hopes that his skin doesn't start to peel off by the end of the first hour or even halfway through his journey towards the center of the explosion.

Just to be sure though, he walked over to what he thinks is the edge of the radiated area and activated his [Shield], when sparks flew out of the thing and he felt his widely increased Amp bar regenerate quickly, he was sure that he would be fine walking through the radiation- or at least in theory.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He turned to Alexi, "you should go back," he told her, "you can die if you go here,"

"And you won't?" She asked, concerned, "I do believe the two of us are humans of the same breed and capability- and though we have our own specialties that pertains to our [Class]es, I do not think that those are enough of a difference that you would be fine walking through what you called a "Death Zone","

"Danger zone." Jacob corrected, "And I'm gonna be fine, my body can absorb the toxic energy that had been released by the blast,"

Alexi narrowed her eyes, "if you say so, master. I'm gonna take care of the house in the few days that you are gone."

"Hours." Jacob corrected again, "I would only be gone for hours."

Alexi bowed in response before jumping away, moving back until she was a fair bit of distance, during all that, she kept her eyes trained on him like a Hawk would its prey. Jacob nodded at her and he saw her return the gesture just before turned his head forward and started walking in the direction of the forest.

It was eerily quiet- and not in the 'there are no sounds of animals, not even the birds' kind of way, that sort of thing should be expected when a Nuclear Explosion goes off in an area, no, the silence around Jacob was somehow worse. The only thing that he knew for certain is around him is the mana, as it constantly fueled him but even that felt like a small candle compared to the burning pyre that he usually feels it as. And, it seems, the silence will only get worse the more he moved forward.

Until, that is, Jacob started hearing things- 'murderer,' a soft spoken voice entered his ears and wormed its way deep into his brain, the words embedding themselves into his memory like how hot plastic would stick to skin. A childish giggle, followed by words that sought to correct the first ones, 'No-no, slaughterer, that is what he is.' Jacob ignored them as best as he could, but the whispers only got worse as he went forward, their whispered intensity increasing as they accused him of being a slaughterer that can only bring death and destruction.

He didn't... really mind the voices at first, of course, opinions will always be subject to change and the trigger for the shift in his feelings about the voices and their accusations changed when his ear caught something that opened up a memory, 'Now, now, children, what he did is nothing more than what happened to him, and if he lived through that, then why shouldn't everyone else? We shouldn't accuse him of something that's natural for him.'

He froze.

What?

No- he- why-

His breath hitched as the memory of burning forced itself to surface to the forefront of his mind, the split second of pain where he felt like the world was on fire had been the worse thing that has happened to him, and he- he-

He didn't... just subject those people to the same fate did he?..

No... What-

'What he did is worse,' Argued the voice of a male, mirroring Jacob's own thought process as he felt his knees get crushed under his own weight. He sobbed, then wailed once the voices turned into harsh glares that sunk deep beneath his skin, judging him for slaughtering not just the 300 Bandits, but trees, and animals. 'He got out lucky because he died to what most would consider an inferior form of what he unleashed upon us,'

Us. He was part of that, wasn't he?

... he should be... but why are they talking about the time before he got here? And why- why was the the one who's being called out for ruining things?-

'He poisoned the land!' Said an excited, childish voice, followed by a giggle. There was contempt behind all of it, and an inkling gave the impression that the voice was only happy because it was the owner's default state, as though happiness was deeply rooted in their very being and cannot leave. Even when they want to.

'Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.' Three tongue clicks, each one made Jacob flinch as he waited for a punishment that would never come. 'Why oh why did you think this was a good idea?' He didn't reply and simply listened, the voice felt like it surrounded him, choking him with its sheer presence over the surroundings and making his head throb in pain, 'Do tell me~~' Jacob flinched for the fourth time, the whisper felt like it was right next to his ear, and as the echoes disappeared from his head, he felt something press at the top of his neck, something cold and uncaring- the sharp edge of a blade, 'or else you're gonna die~~~'

Jacob sobbed from guilt and thought about all the words he could say to please the voice so that he could live but...

None of those came out of his mouth, instead, what he choked out was- "I'm sorry."

The blade disappeared but relief didn't come to him, not when the feeling of pain from radiation is constantly itching at his skin. At the blade's absence, the voices went with it, and peace came down to the forest once more, and as the pressure lifted from the surrounding environment, a wind carried a whisper, 'If you are, then lament by fixing what you've done.'