Chapter 156
Truth Be Told
It took her some time, but Erin was able to tell her whole story. She made sure not to leave out any necessary details. The way she saw it, her friends deserved to know the whole truth. The redhead had told them about how she was from a different world completely, who she had been back there, who Stacey was and most importantly who the Five Overlords used to be. She even told them about how the world they were in was actually a game in their world and that was why she knew about things in this world, even if her knowledge was mostly of the distant past.
Erin was more than aware of the risk of telling them the truth about how she was essentially responsible for all the terrible things that had happened. After all, she had already been betrayed twice by people who knew the truth, so she fully expected it to happen once again to some degree. Even if no one physically attacked her, they might just walk away and leave her behind. Still, whatever punishment they had in mind, she was willing to take it.
Having finished her story, the redhead looked at her friends and tried to analyze their reactions. Zeldana was obviously the calmest, as she already knew the things Erin had told. However, the rest of them were all in varying degrees of shock. All of the were looking at her with wide eyes as their minds were processing things.
“I… I can’t believe this,” Arkay said, finally breaking the silence. “You mean to tell me that the Overlords came here and destroyed everything… just because of a prank!?”
“Well, from what I understood about this whole tale is that it wasn’t just a simple prank. What happened was that they were essentially ostracized from the rest of society. For a lot of people, that might even be a fate worse than death,” Lexton said thoughtfully. “What I’m more perplexed over is the fact that our world is simply a game in her world. It makes me wonder about a lot of things… But it also explains how Erin knows about so many things, yet her information always seems to be outdated.”
Ryle suddenly turned around and walked a few steps away from the rest of the group. Just from her body language alone the others could tell that the blonde was very angry.
“...Is it that much of a problem, though? The whole thing about our world being a game there,” Durge suddenly asked. “I mean, I might not be the right person to say this, but I feel like getting your head wrapped up in that sort of stuff is just pointless. All I know is my life and how I’ve lived it, and it sure doesn’t feel fake to me. I’m sure there’s some form of an explanation to all of this, even if I’m not the one to figure it out.”
“You’re not the least bit bothered by that whole idea?” Lexton asked.
“What can I say? These sort of existential and philosophical questions have always gone way over my head,” the orc replied with a shrug. “All I’m saying is that I’m going to live my life the way I think is best to and leave such things for others to ponder.”
Erin was watching the conversations happening between her friends over what she had just told them unfold with a few drops of sweat falling down her face. She was waiting to find out what they thought about her, but the fact that they seemed to only be interested in other matters was making her nervous.
“...So what do you guys think about me, now that you know the truth?” the redhead finally asked, having grown tired of waiting. “You all know that it was me who was responsible for sending the Five Overlords over the edge. In a sense, everything that has happened through their actions is also my fault. What is your opinion on me?”
Silence fell over the group, as they all began to think about it. It looked like Erin’s fears were becoming a reality, when Ryle suddenly walked over to her. The blonde had a furious look on her face, as she glared at the redhead.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ryle asked while trying to hold back her anger. “Why didn’t you tell the rest of us about who you and the Five Overlords are!? Why did you hide it for so long!?”
“...I was scared,” Erin replied as she looked down in shame. “Before I met any of you, I told two other people the truth about myself. In the end, they betrayed me and tried to kill me. I… I couldn’t bear the idea of having any of you hate me, so I did my best to hide it. Even if you ultimately deserved to know the truth…”
Most of the others seemed to soften their gazes in sympathy at least a little. However, Ryle still looked completely furious, as she glared at the redhead.
“And what exactly changed!?” the blonde asked. “What has become so different now that you feel the need to come clean and tell us everything!?”
“Because the fact that I tried to keep it all a secret had such severe consequences,” Erin explained. “Stacey threatened me with telling you all the truth, which scared me into treating her the way I did. There were also other reasons, but that doesn’t matter… In the end, I found out that me keeping this whole thing a secret was only causing-”
The redhead’s explanation was cut off, as Ryle suddenly punched her right in the face. She fell to the ground, as the others let out shocked gasps in response to what the blonde had done.
“Ryle! What the hell are you doing!?” Lexton shouted.
“Stop it! She’s not the one you should be attacking!” Durge also shouted.
“DON’T!” Erin suddenly yelled while holding up her hand, putting a stop to the pleas. “This is fine. Let her do as she wants. I deserve that much.”
“You sure do, you asshat!” Ryle said angrily as she grabbed the redhead by the front of her shirt and lifted her up. “I’m going to make you pay for what you did to us!”
“I know. It’s your right to do so,” Erin said in a sad tone, heartbroken over the person who was essentially her best friend getting this angry with her, even if she had expected it. “After all, you’ve suffered a lot because of me.”
“You goddamn right I have! All of us have!” the blonde yelled. “How could you betray us by not simply telling us all of this and keeping it hidden for so long!?”
Silence fell over as all eyes were on Ryle. Everyone was wondering what the blonde meant.
“Umm… Didn’t I already tell you that?” Erin asked, confused over the question. “I was worried that you all might-”
The redhead was cut off once again. This time, by a painful headbutt.
“I heard that already and it sounded like total bullshit!” Ryle shouted, as Erin held her head in pain. “What I want to know is what made you think so little of us!? Did you honestly think that we would betray you over something like this!?”
“B-But it happened to me before!” the redhead argued. “Two people that knew about me, tried to-!”
“AND THAT’S SUPPOSED TO BE ENOUGH OF A REASON!? ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?” the blonde practically roared in fury. “Aren’t we your friends!?”
image [https://i.ibb.co/2cZYdcJ/Ch-156-Pic-1.jpg]
The last question took Erin by complete surprise and left her speechless. She stared at Ryle, wondering if there was some sort of a hidden meaning to what she had asked, but saw nothing like that. The blonde had asked a very simple and straightforward question with no hidden meaning.
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“Don’t get me wrong. I do think that t he things you and your buddies did back in your world were wrong. Hell, had I been there, who knows what I might have done in response to it!” Ryle said. “But that doesn’t give those guys an excuse to come here and wreck the lives of everybody else! What did we ever do to them!? Seems to me like they are just a bunch of brats throwing a tantrum!”
The redhead stared at the blonde in utter shock, trying her best to process what had just happened. Ryle had gotten angry at her, like she had expected, but the reason for it was completely different from what Erin had anticipated. She thought that the blonde would blame her for everything bad that had happened to her, like the death of her brother, yet all she seemed to be upset about was the fact that she simply hadn’t told her the truth.
“Ryle has a point. It wasn’t you who forced them to do the things they did,” Durge said thoughtfully. “In the end, every one of us makes their own decisions on how they go about life. That also applies to when bad things happen to them. Even if what happened to those guys was terrible, it doesn’t give them an excuse to whatever they want here.”
“As someone who has been treated like crap by pretty much everybody around me, I can somewhat sympathize with those five,” Lexton said. “When you’re put in a position where it feels like everybody is out to get you, it’s easy to view everybody around you as an enemy. That’s pretty much why I became the way I was. I was certain that the people I was selling my stuff to wouldn’t hesitate to use me for their own good, so I might as well do that to them first. It wasn’t until I met you guys that I started to ease up on that sort of worldview.”
“What’s this? You seem to be agreeing with me!” Ryle said. “And this time you’re not making any snarky comments about being surprised by it! Have you perhaps come to understand that even I hold some level of divine wisdom?”
“No, I’ve just come to accept that even an absolute moron like you can be right every once in a while,” the kobold replied. “You know what they say about broken clocks being right twice in a day and all that.”
“SCREW YOU!” the blonde shouted angrily.
“Uhh… I’m honestly not sure if I understood all of those things that were said. I mean, it was a lot to take in with different worlds and all,” Arkay said awkwardly. “But I do know two things. What the things that the Five Overlords are doing are wrong and they need to be stopped. And I don’t want this group to break up, no matter what.”
Erin looked at her friends in shock, having expected that at least some of them would be angry at her, but it seemed like none of them were. Instead, it seemed like they were more than willing to still stay as her friends, despite the things she had done.
“I guess you were worried over nothing at all,” Zeldana said with a smirk. “You could have told these guys the truth about yourself long ago and you wouldn’t have had to go through all those pains over hiding your past.”
“Just to be clear, you knew about all of this, didn’t you?” Ryle asked while glaring at the elf. “The conversation between you and Erin that Arnie heard pretty much gave it away.”
“Guilty as charged,” Zeldana said playfully as she put her hands up. “I’m still not fully aware of all the details, but Erin’s been letting me know them during our travels.”
“And you never felt like telling us any of this?” Durge asked with a raised eyebrow.
“That was not for me to tell, I’m afraid. It was Erin’s secret, so I figured that she should be the one to tell you guys, when she was ready,” the elf explained. “Besides, where’s the fun in just giving you guys the big reveal?”
“...You’re a real asshole, you know that?” Lexton said as he glared at Zeldana.
“I prefer the term thrill seeker myself, but I suppose your term is just as fair,” the elf said with a shrug.
“So… You guys aren’t mad at me?” Erin asked, getting the others’ attention. “You’re not going to blame me for what happened to you all?”
“Well, I think we’re all a bit mad over you keeping the whole thing a secret, but- Oof!”
Ryle’s explanation was cut off as the redhead suddenly hugged her without any warning. The blonde felt something wet on her shoulder where Erin’s face was pressed against and soon realized that she was crying.
Realizing that she needed to give her friend comfort, Ryle awkwardly put her hands around the redhead and gently patted her on the back, hoping that it would make her feel better. The others stared at the scene with smiles on their faces, happy to see that Erin was unloading all the weight that had rested on her shoulders all this time.
image [https://i.ibb.co/PmHbHT7/Ch-156-Pic-2.jpg]
However, the moment was soon broken.
“Guys, what should I do?” Ryle asked while looking at the others as she continued to awkwardly hug Erin. “I’m not sure what I’m doing is working.”
“Are you serious?” Lexton asked. “Didn’t you say you had a little brother? Did you never do anything like this with him?”
“No, our roles were opposites from this!” the blonde replied in a slightly panicked voice. “He was always the more mature one of us, so he often had to lend me a shoulder to cry on!”
“Oh my God… You’re so pathetic!” the kobold said in a frustrated tone as he shook his head. “Okay, imagine that it’s Arnie, who is hugging you and crying! Do what you would then!”
“I don’t wanna do such things with Erin!” Ryle cried out in a horrified voice. “Besides, even if it was someone I could do those things with, I don’t want all of you watching!”
“I wasn’t talking about that kind of things, you stupid piece of crap!” Lexton shouted angrily. “What is the matter with you!? Were you dropped on your head when you were born!?”
“What kind of things would she be doing if that was me?” Arkay asked innocently.
“It’s better if you don’t know,” Durge said with a sigh.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing right now,” Lexton said as he massaged his temples to get rid of the headache he was feeling. “You’re offering her comfort during an emotional time and that’s really all she needs right now.”
“Oh! Well… I think I can do that,” Ryle said before turning her attention back to Erin and continuing to pat her on the back. “There there… It’s all going to be okay. You feeling any better?”
“Actually, I stopped crying some time ago,” the redhead replied as she pulled away from the blonde. “Your argument kind of put an end to it…”
“Uhh… Okay… Sorry,” Ryle apologized awkwardly. “This type of thing isn’t really my specialty, so I was a bit unsure as to what I should do…”
“It’s okay. I feel better already,” Erin said with a smile. “Even if you’re not very good at it, I could still tell that you really wanted to help me feel better. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome!” the blonde said with a grin. “I think…”
“So… What do we do now?” Zeldana asked. “From what I could tell, nobody here wants to break away from the group, so I’m guessing we’re still in business as usual?”
“I’d say your assumption is correct,” Durge said with a smile before looking at the others. “Wouldn’t you all agree?”
The others nodded in agreement, confirming that there wouldn’t be any changes to their little band. This made Erin feel even more relieved, as she still had some worries over some of her friends wanting to leave. Now those fears had been completely crushed.
“Are we still going to stay here?” Lexton asked. “I don’t mean to sound heartless or anything, but we are in the need of a place to stay and we were invited over here…”
“I get your point and I agree,” Erin said. “We don’t have the luxury to be picky right now, so we need to take what we can get.”
“But isn’t this still a bit messed up?” Ryle asked. “I mean, we knew the people who lived here and they just died. Don’t you think that’s a bit wrong?”
“Trust me. I don’t like it all that much either, but we have to be realistic. We need a place to stay and this here is the best we’ve got. We can’t act all holier than thou right now,” the redhead explained before looking at the graves of the two elf sisters. “Besides, they wanted to help us, so I’m sure they would be fine with it. By staying here for the night, we can at least give them a proper goodbye before leaving.”
The others agreed with Erin. Even if they did have personal issues with staying there, they had to face the fact that looking for a new place was most likely going to lead to them sleeping in worse conditions. At times like this, they needed to be realistic.
It took some time for them to clean up the blood from the house and properly dispose of Stacey’s body. Once they were done, it was already nighttime and they needed to go to bed. Most of the group used the same sleeping arrangements they had last time, except the rooms that used to belong to the two elf sisters were now being used by Zeldana and Lexton, with the elf taking the older sister’s room and the kobold taking the younger sister’s.
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With a long day behind them, most of the group fell asleep rather quick. However, Zeldana had trouble sleeping and she decided to go outside to get some fresh air, hoping that it would help her. As she was standing outside the house, she noticed a figure walking towards the building. Wondering who it could be, the elf decided to walk up to them.
“Hey there, pal!” Zeldana called out to the stranger. “What brings you over at this hour?”
Now that she had gotten closer to him, the elf could see that this new arrival seemed to be an older gnome carrying a large backpack. He was also using a long staff to move around.
“Oh, hello, miss!” the gnome greeted Zeldana. “I’m sorry for coming so late, but I have business at that house!”
“Business? This late?” Zeldana asked. “Just what sort of business are you talking about?”
“You see, there’s a little girl who lives there that is extremely ill and I need to bring her the medicine to help her,” the gnome explained. “Her sister asked me to bring an extra large amount and come as soon as possible. Apparently, she has made enough money to buy medicine for a couple of months!”
The expression on Zeldana’s face froze to hide her true feelings. This was apparently the healer that had used Julianna and Silvia to make a quick buck.
“Mind if I see the medicine?” the elf asked, keeping herself calm. “I’m their cousin and I want to make sure that what you’re saying is true. There are all types of con artists and scammers going around these days.”
“Of course!” the gnome replied, unaware of the danger he was in as he handed a bag of his medicine to Zeldana. “Here you go!”
It only took one quick look for the elf to confirm that it was the same medicine that Julianna had been fooled into giving her sister. This was the healer that she had been looking for earlier.
“It’s the same medicine! How wonderful!” Zeldana said with a smile, masking her true intentions. “I can take you to where those two are! You see, the younger sister wasn’t feeling very well and went outside with her sister. Just follow me and you’ll see them soon.”
“Oh, thank you!” the gnome said with a smile. “Please lead the way!”
Just as Zeldana took the gnome away from the house, Durge walked outside. He was still dealing with his personal demons that had woken him up and he needed some time to clear his thoughts.
As the orc as beginning to relax, he heard a horrifying scream coming from nearby. He was about to go and investigate what it was, only to notice Zeldana walk towards him.
“Did you hear that scream!?” Durge asked to which the elf nodded. “What was it?”
“Nothing to worry about,” Zeldana answered with a smile. “I just happened to find the healer I was looking for earlier today.”
“...Did you kill him?”
“Please, I’m nowhere near that merciful.”