Ezra’s survival instincts kicked in and he leapt back. Under his breath, he whispered a quick ability and his needle increased to the size of a dagger. Charles didn’t make a move. Ezra’s heart pounded in his chest.
Charles - Otherworlder - Lv. 25
Charles had outpaced him. How? Shouldn’t he have been splitting EXP with other party members? That made no sense. Yuki had her staff at the ready whilst Pete had fallen onto his butt and was scrambling upwards again.
“Ezra,” Charles said. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
His tone was stiff and formal. It seemed that the time they’d spent apart had allowed Charles to gain back some of the nobility that used to characterize him.
“Can’t say the same,” Ezra said. “I’d much rather we never saw each other again, quite frankly.”
Charles sighed.
“Oh, you wound me, Ezra.”
They were both quiet for a moment.
“You got stronger,” Ezra said. “Level 25. Not only that, but you haven’t changed your title when I’m sure you’ve gotten one. Why?”
Charles adjusted his collar and sleeves.
“Many reasons,” he said. “The main one is that I get amazing benefits just for being an Otherworlder. Do you know how much this country fawns over us? Of course, you don’t. You’ve kept that information locked down as tight as possible.”
Ezra let a smirk play across his lips. His legs tensed and his fingers twirled his weapon in his hands.
“I’m not a narcissist, like you,” Ezra said. “I don’t need the false validation of others to make myself feel good.”
Charles’s jaw clenched and his hands twitched. The expressions disappeared as quickly as they appeared.
“Indeed, indeed. Well, how have you been, Ezra—?“
“Okay, let’s cut to the chase,” Ezra said. “I’m not interested in the small talk. Are we here to fight? Are you gonna kill me? Capture me? What’ll it be?”
“I’m not going to kill you, Ezra. Nobody truly wants you dead, as hard as that might seem to believe.”
Unbidden, thoughts of a blade piercing his heart, and the brink of death flooded his mind. Sweat dampened the back of his shirt. He flipped on [Calm] and the emotions went away.
“I find that hard to believe,” he said. “Given that there’s been a kill order put on me.”
“How did you—“ he stopped, then turned toward Yuki. “Ah. She told you, didn’t she?”
“Or I’m telepathic.”
Charles held his hands behind his back. “Well, you’ve been misinformed. Idia informed me that it was not a kill order. It’s just a formal thing. Everyone knows that you’re not supposed to die.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t buy that story.”
Charles shook his head and spread his arms out into a shrug.
“It’s the truth, whether you believe it or not,” he said.
Ezra dropped his ready stance entirely.
“Look, what are you doing here, Charles?”
Charles glanced at Yuki and she pulled her cloak tighter around herself. He looked back at Ezra.
“I would’ve captured you,” he said. “But the deal I made explicitly said I wasn’t to do so. Not yet, anyway.”
“What deal?” Ezra said.
Charles tapped his foot. “Dorian. She unlocked some kind of teleporting spell recently. One that links to people she met? “ He shook his head. “I didn’t understand it, to be perfectly honest, but it let me come here. She didn’t want you three to be captured, though.”
“Awful confident of you,” Ezra said. “There are three of us here. And last time we fought, I’m certain I won.”
Charles’s eyes widened. There was a flicker of raw outrage in his eyes before it disappeared.
“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” Charles said.
Still the same old hot-tempered guy he knew.
“So if you’re not here to capture us,” Ezra said. “Why are you here?”
Charles held up two fingers.
“Yuki and Pete, first of all. I don’t understand why they’ve fallen in with you. I’m going to try to talk them out of whatever this is.”
Yuki drew backward while Pete shook his head rapidly.
“Second,” Charles said. “Well, I’ll let you find out later.”
Charles turned to Yuki and Pete. Instantly, his demeanor changed. The hardness disappeared from his eyes and his voice softened.
“First,” he said. “I want answers. Why did you leave?”
Yuki clenched her fists. “Oh, so now I get to talk? I thought you two were still yapping.”
Charles laughed. “Oh, well—“
“Pete, you go first,” Yuki said.
Charles frowned but nodded.
Pete glanced nervously from side to side.
“Well,” he said. “I guess I just didn’t feel comfortable.”
Charles furrowed his eyebrows together. “What, like… you weren’t ready for the constant fighting?”
Pete shook his head. “No, no! Not like that! I just—something felt off the whole time we were there. Everything felt too neat. Too perfect. Besides that, Ezra’s usually right about these sorts of things. If he says that these people are hiding things and that we should be cautious, I think he’s probably right.”
“Ezra doesn’t believe in goodness, Pete,” Charles said. “He’s not someone you should follow as a role model. He’ll always believe that everyone’s out to get him. That’s just the kind of person he is.”
Pete bit his bottom lip. “No, I don’t believe you.”
Charles clicked his tongue.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Fine, what about you, Yuki?” he said. “Surely you can see this is ridiculous.”
Yuki sighed and glanced at Ezra.
“I don’t think Ezra’s right, if I’m honest. The queen didn’t strike me as a cruel ruler or as a liar.”
Charles looked at her, wide-eyed. “Then why did you come here? Why follow after him?”
Yuki folded her arms behind her, staff still in hand
“No one deserves to be alone. Not even Ezra,” she said.
Ezra made a vomiting motion, then straightened his back and pointed at Yuki. “Cut that crap out, You’re lucky I let you come along with me!”
Yuki looked at Charles with a dry smile and brought her staff back in front of her. “This is exactly why he needs us.”
Charles looked down, his posture impeccable as always. He adjusted his sleeves with meticulous care, but his fingers lingered just a moment too long. A faint sigh escaped his lips as he smoothed a nonexistent wrinkle from his sleeve.
“Don’t you understand?” He looked back at Yuki. “You’ll eventually get into trouble, just like he did. I can’t cover you much longer. Eventually, you’ll become hunted like him.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Ezra clenched his jaw. Truly, Yuki’s pity extended for miles.
“Fine then,” Charles said. “I guess there’s only one person I have a chance at getting through to.”
He turned to Ezra.
Ezra gave him a deadpan look. “Are you serious?”
“I am obligated to try.”
“Fine then. Be my guest.”
Charles was silent for a few moments.
“Well,” he said. “Ezra, how do you see this ending for you?”
Ezra grinned, turning his nose up at Charles. “Simple. With myself at the apex of this world and everyone else underneath my foot.”
“What a lovely dream,” Charles said. “Well, let’s say you’re wrong. What happens then?”
“What do you mean?”
Charles raised his hand to his chin and turned his gaze downward.
“Let’s say you give it your best shot,” he said. “You trample over the Kingdom of Cortia’s interests. You steal bonus skills from boss monsters and generally act as a wild card, disrupting their operations in this region. And then you fail. You’re caught by Synica or by Idia, or by any number of the adventurers who will surely come out to take you captive. What do you think happens then?”
Ezra didn’t say anything.
“Let me tell you what happens, Ezra,” Charles said. “Your execution.”
The words fell like a thunderbolt. Pete and Yuki glanced back and forth between Ezra and Charles. Ezra had an unreadable expression on his face. He looked down at the ground, hiding his eyes behind a layer of hair.
“If you join back now, I’m sure that you won’t be touched,” Charles said. “We’ll figure something out. Just come back—“
Ezra started laughing. It was a slow chuckle at first but slowly grew until he was clutching his stomach, tears building at the edge of his eyes.
Charles took a step back and leaned his head away. “What the hell?”
Ezra straightened his back, his laughter dying down. He wiped a tear away. “Yeah, I needed that.”
Charles sucked in a breath. “What are you—“
“Charlie, buddy,” Ezra said. “Even after all these years, you don’t understand me a bit, do you?” Ezra stepped closer until he was almost nose-to-nose with Charles. “Life in fear—life where death is an inch away from your neck… That’s no life at all. I’d rather die reaching for a world I can tolerate rather than live in hell.”
Charles took several steps back. “Are you insane?”
Ezra spread his arms out, a wide grin on his face. “Perhaps I am! If this is insanity, then let me enjoy this delusion. Better this than that cold reality you speak of.”
Charles shut his eyes for a moment.
“My time’s almost up. I can see that there’s nothing I can say to you. I can’t argue against the ramblings of a madman, after all.”
Ezra tilted his head up, looking down at Charles past the bridge of his nose.
“Next time we meet, Charles, we won’t be dueling with words,” he said.
Charles’s lips twitched.
“The next time we meet, you’re going to be lying on the ground, defeated.”
There was a flash of light.
Charles vanished, a breeze blowing through the area he’d been in not so long ago.
----------------------------------------
Yuki looked at Ezra, then reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“What were you two even on about?” she said. “And what was up with that over-dramatic villain monologuing?”
“Well, I figure I should lean into the role a bit, you know?”
Pete grinned and clapped his hands together. “I thought it was awesome! The lines and stuff were super cool. Like, I mean, that whole ‘Life in fear’ stuff was so good!” Pete shuddered. “Gave me chills.”
Ezra nodded, shut his eyes, and crossed his arms.
“Pete, despite everything else, you can at least appreciate a good monologue.”
Pete smiled and nodded, then stopped suddenly. He furrowed his eyebrows together. “Wait, what do you mean everything else—?”
Yuki sighed.
“We need to have a long talk, Ezra—“
“Oh look, Suppota.”
Suppota walked over, three young men trailing her. Each of them was carrying a bag of food.
“Um, I heard shouting? Was everything alright?” Suppota said.
Ezra nodded. “Yeah, it’s all fine.” He pointed at the three men. “Is that our food?”
“Yes. Six weeks worth of food, as requested.” She paused. A red ember crept up her neck and she looked down. “Are you certain there isn’t anything else you’d like? You should know that I—”
Ezra marched forward and took the bag full of food.
“Nope. Thanks anyway.”
Suppota shriveled up a little, slumping. “Yes, of course…”
Ezra turned to face Yuki. “Say, can you store this stuff in your dimensional storage thing?”
Yuki winced. Suppota perked up,.
“Did you have to just spill it like that?” Yuki said.
“Realistically, we’re not gonna be able to keep that secret for long, Yuki. It’s fine.”
Yuki stopped, then nodded. She motioned for the three men to come over. “Please bring it over here.”
They dropped the bags in front of Yuki. Ezra joined in and dropped his bag. She curled her lips down before raising her staff toward the bags. A moment later, there was a ripple in the air, as if it were water. From the top, the bags disappeared until they’d been consumed by whatever the heck Yuki was using. She nodded.
“There we go,” she said.
“Perfect,” Ezra said. “Now then, it’s time to get going.”
Pete turned toward him. “Sorry, what? Already?”
Ezra nodded quickly.
“I don’t fancy meeting up with Charles. Not yet. Not now.”
Yuki narrowed her eyes, drumming her staff with her fingers.
“You don’t fancy your chances?”
“I’m not sure how, but his level has changed. The last fight was close, and I don’t want to risk it now that he’s surpassed me. Not until I have more levels.”
Yuki hummed and looked up at the sky. “Yeah, if only you had a way to get more levels really quickly. That would be helpful.”
Ezra’s eyes bore holes into Yuki’s head as if he were trying to extract the information manually via telepathy.
“Yuki? Is there something I need to know?” he said.
Yuki shrugged and poked the ground with her staff.
“Oh, I ‘m sure it’s not actually that important.” She shrugged her shoulders. “You don’t need it.”
Ezra’s lips curved upward into something resembling a smile if you looked at it from far away.
“What do you want?” he said.
“Simple. I want your word that you won’t try to fight Charles if you can avoid it.”
Ezra backpedaled, his eyes widening. “What?”
“You heard me,” Yuki said. “I think that this feud between the two of you has gone on long enough. At the rate you’re going, it’ll eventually escalate into something deadly, especially considering that he’s out to hunt you. I think it’s best if this gets buried.”
The words from Yuki seemed reasonable to him. In theory, Charles was supposed to eliminate him if there were no other choices. It was difficult to imagine that Charles was capable of taking such action. But then again, Ezra would have believed that a week ago, the idea of them killing monsters would have been impossible to believe as well. Now, it’s just a fact of reality.
But on the other hand…
“I wanted to kick his ass,” Ezra said.
“Oh well, I suppose you don’t need that EXP after all—“
Ezra held up his hand. “You win.”
Yuki grinned. “Perfect. So basically, there’s a sub-boss.”
Ezra raised an eyebrow.
“A subboss?”
Yuki nodded her head. “You didn’t get to hear about it because you left before you could be told, but there’s a sub-boss with similar abilities to that of the main boss.”
“What’s the reward?”
Yuki grinned. “Well, first, there’s the information. The sub-boss has information on the location of the main boss, and then there’s the tons and tons of EXP you’ll get.”
Ezra nodded, adjusting his armor.
“Well then, let’s get going. You have the location?”
Yuki shook her head up and down. “Yup! It’s not too far from here. We’re actually ahead of the pack.”
Ezra held out his hand. “Lead the way.”
Pete glanced back and forth between the two.
“We’re going?”
Ezra looked around the village. “Well, you could just hang out here if you want. That’s fine with me.”
Pete chuckled nervously, then shook his head. “No thanks! I’m sticking by you.”
“What loyalty,” Ezra said. “Thanks, pal.”
Yuki slapped Ezra over the back of the head.
290/300
Ezra grabbed the back of his head and rubbed it. He shot a glare at Yuki who glared right back.
“Honestly, Ezra, be kinder!” she said
Ezra was about to respond when Suppota slowly approached them.
He stopped.
“Excuse me, sir Ezra. You are leaving already?” he said.
“Yeah, I am.”
She bowed her head.
“Please know that the city of Riverwood,” Suppota said. “Will stand by you for the service and generosity you have shown her. If you ever need shelter, we will provide it. If you need food, we will harvest it. If you need water, we will collect it.”
Ezra glanced at Yuki, his eyes wide.
Yuki smiled and nodded. After a few moments of this, her smile slowly disappeared and she started mouthing something.
You’re webcam?
What was she saying?
Yuki gestured at Suppota with her head. Suppota was still bowing.
Ezra’s eyes widened and he nodded, giving Yuki a thumbs-up.
Yuki let out a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, don’t bow,” Ezra said. “Also, leave me alone.”
Yuki slapped her palm into her face while Pete visibly winced.
Suppota unbowed, her eyes squinted and her eyebrows furrowed while she smiled.
“Sure…?” she said.
Ezra looked over at Pete and Yuki. “Let’s get moving, already.”