I give up on lying. "Fine, I'm level 26!"

A voice from behind the wall says, "She’s telling the truth."

I scream, staring at the dark cockroaches crawling all over me. "Now get rid of them!"

The president blinks a few times before saying, "Say that again? What do you mean she's telling the truth?"

"I am telling the truth, you fucker!" I shout. "Get them off me, or I'll burn this place down!" I'm not lying. The only thing holding me back right now is the chance they’ll break my spine or something.

I know they wouldn’t kill me, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t cripple me for a while.

The woman behind the wall speaks again. "She’s telling the truth. I’m as shocked as you are."

The president partially covers his mouth to hide his surprise but nods at the ceiling.

The cockroaches disappear.

Bloody hell. I can still feel their disgusting legs all over me. This was a violation worse than being waterboarded.

I swear, if I were more powerful, I’d kill this man.

The other three give their honest levels.

The president then turns to Yamanda. "You did an excellent job... Damn, Too good of a job. Holy... That's some... Damn."

She stands at attention, fist to her shoulder. "Thank you for your praise."

I can't deny she deserves it. She only gave us one lesson on skills, but it was a game-changer in how we fought.

It was brutal, but it worked. We got powerful quickly.

The president addresses the four of us. "You’re all dismissed for today. You’ll be assigned to other missions to grow stronger. But if an incident like today happens again, I’ll make your lives miserable. I swear it on our ancestors."

I give a thumbs up. "Got it."

I know I screwed up, but being threatened by this guy still annoys me.

He then says, "Give them the communication rings and dismiss them."

And just like that, we're back in our living quarters. The kitchen part, anyway.

Communication ring… I guess that's what’s on my finger.

They look like ordinary rings except they are white and have rectangular lines overlapping each other.

I’m betting they’re incredibly expensive if we’re only getting them now.

“Resurrecting them, then killing them again?” Hessien asks, sounding disappointed.

“I... yeah. I messed up. The good news is I’m not going to jail, even though I deserve it.”

Vacinay leans against the wall. “Why bring them back as zombies, though? That seems weird and cruel.”

“I didn’t mean to. I wanted to bring them back normal, but the proper resurrection skill was way too expensive. So I thought if I got a pseudo-resurrection, I could tweak my wants and desires to make it a full resurrection, but it failed miserably.”

“I’m guessing it needs practice. At most, with that desire, you might bring people back from the dead for a limited time,” Vacinay responded.

I sigh. “ Hell no. I’m sure I could make it work better, but after screwing up like that, I don’t want to try it again.”

“I still think you should practice. You never know when you might need it.”

“No way. I’m not touching it again.”

"But--"

"No."

"Useless."

"I'll kill you and turn you into a zombie."

She stepped forward. "Thinking you can even kill me is bold."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"I touch you, turn you to fire, scatter the flames, turn the flames back to flesh, game over. You can't even say that I can't touch you, time freeze."

"Let's test that theory. Right now."

"No."

"What, why."

"I don't feel like it." I am tired from everything that happened today, I don't wan some boring useless fight.

Vacinay rolls her eyes and leans against the wall.

Hessien rests his arm on my shoulders. “I should probably come up with something sympathetic to say right now. But yeah, you messed up big time. If I were them, I’d be hunting you down like a mad fox.”

“Okay, okay, I get it.”

Ghomas yawns. “It is what it is. I'm going to sleep.”

Vacinay follows, saying, "You should have mind-wiped them."

"Vacinay!" Hessien says, disappointed.

Hessien sighs. "How are you feeling?"

"Between kinda fucked up and normal, I guess. But mostly normal."

"If you feel shitty, tell me. Don't want you doing something risky like that again."

"Yeah, you too?"

"What you mean?"

"If you're feeling shitty or whatever, tell me."

"Oh... I'm always happy though."

"Eh... I don't know. You shot me in the head back in the mountain, and then when you went mad trying to kill that rabb--"

"Okok! I'm almost always happy."

I smile. "Yeah."

"Go take a shower, then head to bed."

"I... yeah, thanks."

"I thought you were going to say, 'Stop treating me like a child.'"

"I was going to, but I want to start being nicer to you since I’ve put you through a lot already."

He looks surprised and, for some reason, picks me up like I'm a child. "You're starting to act like a grown-up!"

"Put me down, or I'll set your skin on fire."

"No."

"I'm serious!"

"No."

***

I didn’t set him on fire.

I lay in the bathtub, the water up to my neck, not really thinking about much—just what happened today.

I’m not going to jail, so that's cool. Amazing, actually. But at the same time, it sucks that there will be no justice for the village I burned down.

I can’t even joke about it. I could fix things, let them have their justice, but I’m selfish. I want to live. I want my life to be un-impacted by my actions.

I take a deep breath and stare at my reflection in the water. I’m so very selfish.

I should hate myself for it. I should hate myself for being okay with how I feel, for being okay with how limited my guilt is. But I don't.

And these feelings of regret won’t last long. It sucks, but that’s me.

I stand up, feeling the water drip down my body. Pallisos chose well.

Anyway, enough with the sadness and guilt.

I’m Lumine, and I live a selfish life. There will be destruction and death in my shadow. Despite that, I'll keep going, laughing wildly until the day I die.

I jump out of the tub and grab a towel. I dry myself off and put on a simple white long-sleeve shirt and a red skirt.

I head to the bedroom. The three of them are fast asleep on the same bed. For some reason, Ghomas is right at the edge.

Vacinay is curled up at Hessien’s feet, while Hessien is snoring, flat on his back.

I climb on top of the bed, planning to fall asleep.

But then the ring starts vibrating. I look down at it to see a small 2D hologram of the president.

I didn't know their tech was this advanced. Anyway, my ring isn't the only one vibrating.

All of ours are, but the others are still fast asleep. I take my ring off and throw it on the floor.

Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow. I’m beyond tired.

I lie back down on the bed.

Three seconds later:

“Get up, you lazy fuckers! You think I’m letting you all escape like that? You’ve got work to do. Up, up, up!”

Arghhhhh!

I bolt upright, screaming, “What is it?! It’s night. Can’t I sleep at night now?”

“Find your little friends and bring them back.”

“What? They’re right here on the bed.”

“No, they’re not. I got a report that they were spotted somewhere else. I’m guessing it’s Ghomas’s cloning skill.”

“But the rings…?” They must have dressed the clones and given them rings.

The fact that Ghomas can clone others now is both scary and impressive. But the big question is, why did they leave me behind?

Could it be that they’re ashamed of me?

I think about it for two seconds before dismissing the idea. Vacinay’s solution to the village was getting rid of the witnesses, Hessien wanted to claim I was innocent even though he knew I was guilty, and Ghomas… he just accepted I was going to jail.

In short, they’re all just as morally questionable as I am. So, they must be sneaking out because they want to keep wherever they're going a secret.

I jump off the bed and salute. “I understand. I will deal with them with the full power of the law. A public hanging!”

“Wait, what? No, no! You can’t kill them!”

“Yes, I shall deactivate them from life.” I dash out of the room.

“Stop! Stop!”

“No mercy for traitors!”

I slam the door shut and use time freeze. I assume he’ll send Yamanda after me, so I want to get ahead of that problem. I run down the steps, fling open the door, and stand there.

I have no way to track them. Getting a tracking skill isn't an option since I don’t have any skill points left, and it would be a waste since that’s Vacinay’s job.

Why did they send me anyway? I find it hard to believe they don’t have a knight with a tracking card.

I place my hands on my hips, frustrated. Maybe the president has a clue. It would be hard to describe them to people around here—

Someone pokes my shoulder from behind. I turn to see Hessien, wearing a brown cloak. I wonder if he stole it since we don’t have a dime to our names.

I ask, “I’m guessing Ghomas created clones of you all in the streets too?”

He grins. “Yeah. You want to come with us?”

“To where…?”

He pulls out a poster that looks worn and torn. I assume he took it from a wall or something.

It shows a street where everyone’s chatting and drinking.

“To drink…?” I ask.

“Of course not. It looks like it's going to be some kind of party.”

“Oh. But I want to get drunk.”

"..."

"What."

"Let's just go."

"I don't get how you said you weren't going to drink. Who goes to parties and not drink?"

"I didn't want to make it seem like you have to drink. And I have never allowed you to drink at any parties we went to."

"I'm 18."

"And I'm superman."

"Oh my god..." I pull on my hair.

“We have to meet up with the others. Let's go,” Hessien says and moves forward.

I sigh and follow him.

It’s taking too long, so I use time dilation, speeding us up fourfold.

It doesn’t take long before we meet up with Vacinay and Ghomas, who are lurking in a dark corner like drug dealers.

Once they realize its me and Hessien, Vacinay smiles and points in the distance. “Let’s get drunk!”