Sen averted his eyes and laughed. “Sorry, what? I’m a guild guy. I’ve never been in a combat situation. I shouldn’t be fighting.”
“You showed good reflexes earlier when you fought against that Demon.”
“It was just a stray shot, nothing special.”
Ezra sighed. “It saved my life, and the lives of a few other people.”
Sen reached up and picnhed the bridge of his nose. “Look, Sir One-Eye… I appreciate the offer, but why me? I promise you that I won’t be nearly as useful as you’re thinking.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Ezra said. “The Snow King has some sort of barrier surrounding its core. I don’t trust our mages to break through it. Someone with such a high Dispel ability, though? Maybe you might have a chance.”
Sen opened his mouth and shut it. “I don’t know—“
Ezra slammed the table between them. Sen jumped backward, a scared expression on his face.
“W-What the hell was that for!?” Sen said.
“People are going to die.” Ezra leaned in. “Let me make that clear. People will die if you don’t help us. We need you, Sen. So put aside whatever petty insecurities you have going through your head so that we can get some work done.”
Sen gulped. He looked down for several seconds before he shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
----------------------------------------
Ezra walked out of the guild hall, furious. How could Sen be so selfish? Did he not give a single shit about the people around him?
A flicker of wry amusement trickled in from his connection to Filamenta.
“You were listening in on that, huh? What are you even laughing at?”
More wry amusement. The connection went dark and she fell back asleep. It was a reminder to Ezra of how close she was to disappearing. He couldn’t afford to waste any more time. They had to get moving as soon as possible, and Sen had to join them. He’d blackmail the bastard if that’s what it took.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a glowing arrow of light zooming into the trees. Curious, he walked over to inspect it. He walked on for several minutes. When he saw what it was, he blinked.
Pete was surrounded by arrows, strewn all over the ground. He pulled back his bowstring and released another one. It flew out and crashed into the tree with a loud rip, tearing through the bark.
“What crawled up your ass and died?” Ezra said.
Pete stiffened. “One-Eye.”
“Yup, that’s me. One-Eye.”
“You were injured earlier.”
“So I was.”
Pete squeezed his fist around his bow and arrow. “You and Yuki.”
“True. Are we just going to be stating facts to each other all day? Cause I’m gonna leave if that’s so.”
“You’re not curious about why I’m doing this?” Pete gestured at the arrows embedded into the tree trunks.”
“Not really.”
For a few seconds, Pete was still, then he let out a few chuckles.
“God, you remind me so much of a friend of mine.”
One-Eye tilted his head. “Who?”
“Well, you wouldn’t know him. He was an old friend of mine from my schooling days. Ezra.”
Ezra’s mouth went dry. “A friend?”
“Yeah.” Pete laughed and rubbed the back of his head. “Although he probably didn’t see me the same way. He was a lot like you. Really uncaring, at least on the surface.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Maybe he had an aversion to idiocy. It’s a chronic condition, or so I’m told.”
Pete pointed at him. “See, that. That right there is exactly the sort of thing he would’ve said.”
Ezra really, really needed to learn how to shut up.
“Well,” Pete said. “He was pretty much my only friend. Everyone else avoided me. I was weak, you know? It made me a target.”
Ezra remembered those times. Pete wore dumb t-shirts and had all the spine of a weed in the wind. Even people who were supposedly ‘kind’ thought it was funny to mess with the guy.
“But Ezra was different,” he said. “Yeah, he poked fun at me, but he also spent time with me. And despite what he always said about not caring, he always kept an eye out for me.”
Ezra paled. No, he was doing that for himself, not because of Pete.
“M-maybe you’re reading the situation wrong,” Ezra said. “How do you know that? Maybe it was just a coincidence.”
“Nah, I doubt it,” Pete said.
Ezra ground his teeth together.
“Where’s this friend now?” he said.
Pete shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. He vanished. And I don’t blame him. I failed him, just like how I fail everyone.”
Ezra crossed his arms. “Is this about Yuki?”
“If I’d been faster, if I hadn’t hesitated, she’d be fine right now,” Pete said. “But I always hesitate. I’m always just a second behind. That’s why my friend left.” He looked at the ground. “Sorry to dump all this onto you. Like I said, you remind me of my friend, so it’s just a little hard to remember sometimes.”
Ezra turned around and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He looked up at the chilly sky.
“You are such a goddamn asshole, you know that?” Ezra said.
“W-what?”
Ezra rolled his eyes and turned around.
“You the hell do you think you are?” he said. “Some kind of god? A super human? Seriously, I’m kind of curious.”
Pete’s jaw flapped open and shut. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“You aren’t the center of the world,” Ezra said. “You aren’t responsible for every single thing that happens just because you happen to be within five feet of it. So get your head out of your ass. Yuki doesn’t blame you—hell, I doubt she’s even thinking about you—and as for your friend? Maybe the reason he left had nothing to do with you. Did you ever think about that?”
For several seconds, Pete’s mouth opened and closed. He looked up at the sky and smirked, then sighed.
“Well, when you put it like that, I guess it kind of sounds pretty arrogant, huh?” she said.
Ezra stayed quiet. He couldn’t believe he’d spent this much time chatting with Pete—there were other things he really should’ve been doing. It was kind of a waste of time for him to be acting as Pete’s therapist.
Pete nodded. “Right. I’ll try to remember what you said, One-Eye.”
Ezra turned around and walked off. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
“By the way,” Pete said. “You really should consider getting a better disguise.”
Ezra turned around sharply.
Pete had disappeared.
Ezra’s mouth went dry. First Yuki, now Pete? This had to be some sort of cosmic joke.
He shook his head. No. Pete was probably talking about something else. And there was no way Yuki knew for sure. It was probably just a slip of the tongue.
Right?
----------------------------------------
Ezra went back to his hospital bed. Yuki was still asleep, thankfully. He didn’t think he had it in him to have yet another emotional conversation with someone. He spent the day focusing on subtly applying [Stitch Wounds] to all of his many, many internal problems. The medic had only gotten things kickstarted. He couldn’t be healed all the way. It was up to Ezra to try to fix himself.
[Weave Flesh] - Lv. 2 > 5
He worked his way down, stitching together the ruptured muscles, the fractures, and anything else that seemed off. By the end of it, his body was in an enormous amount of pain. He groaned and fell asleep.
[Please select your class immediately! If you don’t select it within the next 26 days, the system will be forced to disconnect to prevent your death!]
He woke up that morning pale, tired, and sore. Despite this, he forced himself out of bed and into the forest. He practiced his hand-to-hand combat abilities, getting them up a few more levels.
[Cortian Ironflow] - Lv. 10 > 13
[Titan’s Fists] - Lv. 7 > 10
[Basic Grappling] - Lv. 23 > 27
[Basic Striking] - Lv. 13 > 16
Ezra breathed out, sweat pouring down his face in huge rivulets. He was exhausted on every level. Despite that, he forced himself over to the guild hall. It was time to try again.
----------------------------------------
“I’ll pay you,” Ezra said.
Ezra dropped his entire stack of coins onto Sen’s desk.
Sen blanched. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me,” Ezra said. “You’ll get all of this if you just come along with me and help to kill the Snow King.”
Greed sparked inside Sen’s eyes. Ezra could tell that he was on the verge of saying yes. Then the greed drained away.
“I—I’m sorry. I already said no.”
Ezra sighed. “Well. I tried this the easy way.”
“Easy way?”
Ezra jumped over the counter and slammed Sen into the wall. Sen’s eyes shot wide with fear and he opened his mouth to scream. Before he could, Ezra placed his hand over his mouth and summoned Filamenta to his other hand. He pointed her at Sen’s stomach.
“Scream and I’ll gut you like a pig,” Ezra said. “Don’t try to get out of this. I’m a B-rank, remember?”
Sen nodded slowly.
Ezra pulled his hand away. Sen screamed at the top of his lungs. “Help!”
Ezra slammed Sen into the ground and covered up his mouth again. A shadow flickered under the door outside. Ezra put Sen into a chokehold. After a few useless kicks, he slumped over.
The door opened. Ezra stayed still as a stone. It would be a rather awkward position to explain himself in.
A moment later, the footsteps retreated and the door shut.
Ezra breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up and slung Sen’s body over his shoulder. The fireplace crackled from the side. He walked over to the back, opened up the window, and hopped out.
In the dead of the forest, no one could hear you scream.