Chapter 66
Doubts
Back with Erin’s group, things were looking up, as Lexton was no longer in danger However, he was still weakened from the whole ordeal and couldn’t move properly. It was obvious that if he was left on his own, he wouldn’t make it through whatever the next challenge was going to be. Even if the kobold put up a strong front, the others knew that he was simply bluffing.
“Guys, I’m telling you, you don’t need to worry about me!” Lexton said with a small smile, hoping to convince the others of his condition. “Now that the antidote has taken effect, I am in no danger of losing my life. You can trust me to handle myself!”
“Yeah, I’m calling bullshit on that. No way are you in any good shape at all!” Ryle said, calling out the kobold’s bluff. “Honestly, with the way you look, I’m not entirely sure if you haven’t turned into a ghoul yourself!”
“Well, it doesn’t really matter even if I’m not in good shape, because I have to keep going, don’t I!?” Lexton argued. “It’s not like I can just ask those Laughing Ogre goons to let me leave because I’m not feeling too good. Like it or not, I have to keep going with this damn game of theirs!”
“We realize that much. What we are worried about is the idea of you going on your own,” Erin said. “If you try to go at it by yourself, your chances of surviving are very low. That’s why I will continue to carry you, like-”
“LIKE HELL YOU WILL!” the kobold yelled at the redhead. “I appreciate the thought, but have you taken a good look at yourself!? You’re honestly in a worse shape than I am! No way am I going to put you through that again! Got it!?”
“But Lex, we can’t just-”
“Lex is right, Erin. You’re already in a pretty bad shape, so putting him on you isn’t exactly the best idea,” Ryle said. “Instead, as much as I don’t like the idea, I’ll carry his scaly ass for now.”
“Not a good idea, Ryle,” Lexton said. “Not only do I doubt I’d be able to survive the way you handle me, having you carry me is a bad idea in these circumstances. Both you and Erin rely on your speed and quick movements in combat, and having me hang on your back will slow you down considerably. You would end up just like Erin, so I refuse to take part in such a plan.”
“What the hell do you mean you doubt you’d survive my handling!?” the blonde asked angrily. “Look whatever the case is, your scaly ass isn’t in good enough shape to move on its own, so somebody needs to-!”
Just then, without saying a word, Durge walked up to Lexton and picked him up with one hand and placed him on his shoulder.
“There. Is that better?” the orc asked.
“I… guess this could work,” the kobold said a bit awkwardly. “Are you sure you won’t be hindered by me hanging onto you, though?”
“No worries. You weigh practically nothing,” Durge said. “As long as you don’t cover my eyes or grab my ears, this should go well.”
“Hey, now wait a minute! We never agreed to this!” Ryle shouted. “There’s no way we can trust you to handle Lex! Put him down right now!”
“Seriously, what is your problem?” the orc asked with a sigh. “Look, he couldn’t move properly on his own and we needed someone to carry him. The two of you weren’t exactly the best choices, so I took up the job. Problem solved. What’s the issue?”
The blonde was about to yell at Durge to tell him just what her problem was, but she was stopped by Erin, who stepped in.
“Thank you for your help, Durge. I’ll trust you to keep Lex safe,” the redhead said.
“I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to him,” the orc replied. “You have my word.”
Erin smiled at Durge’s response, before being suddenly pulled by the back of her shirt. Ryle dragged her a small distance away from the others in order to talk to the redhead in private.
“Erin, what the hell!?” the blonde asked angrily. “How the hell can you just trust that guy so easily!? There is absolutely no reason for us to do so in the slightest! What are you thinking!?”
“Look, do we have a better option?” the redhead asked in a frustrated tone. “One of us needs to help out Lex, but neither one of us can do it. With Durge’s help, the problem is solved and we can keep moving forward. The way I see it, we found a solution to our problem.”
“The problem is that I’m not sure the problem has been solved! I actually think that it was just made worse!” Ryle argued. “How the hell can we trust that guy to look after Lex!? For all we know, he might drop him the first moment he can! We can’t just blindly trust him and act like this is all just freaking perfect!”
“Ryle, enough of this. I get that you have history with Durge and that makes you distrust him. You have made that very clear to me,” Erin said. “However, you seem to forget that people can change, and I don’t see Durge as this horrible monster that you claim he is. Besides, unlike you, I think we can trust him.”
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“Oh really!?” the blonde said in a tone that didn’t hide her disbelief at all. “By all means, thrill me and give me just one reason as to how you came to that conclusion! I’d really like to freaking hear it!”
“I will happily give you several,” the redhead said. “First, he was willing to help Lex, when he tried to bargain for our release when we got captured.”
“Come on, that’s not a good reason at all and you know it!” Ryle argued. “Even if it was about us getting released, he would have still kept Lex as their gang’s prisoner! I bet he was just trying to better his status or something!”
“By putting himself at risk of angering a boss that openly dislikes him? Doesn’t seem very likely to me,” Erin said in return. “Second, he tried to save Arnie, remember? Durge was more than willing to risk his life to save him.”
“Well, that might have been a legitimately nice thing of him to do, but how do we know that he didn’t have an ulterior motive even then!?” the blonde kept arguing. “I mean, he could be like that pervert gangster girl, who made poor Arnie into her personal pet! Did you ever think about the possibility that Durge is just like her!?”
“I sincerely doubt that Durge is anything like her,” the redhead said as she rolled her eyes. “Or you for that matter…”
“What was that last part!?” Ryle asked angrily.
“Never mind. Let’s just move on,” Erin said with a sigh. “Besides all the examples I’ve given you, there are still two that happened during these games. First, he helped Lexton by trying to get the antidote for the ghoul venom. You saw it for yourself that he tried his best to help him.”
“Again, he could have an ulterior motive!” the blonde kept arguing. “Seriously, I cannot believe that you’re unable to see that! Durge could be hoping to use Lex as bait or a shield to ensure his own survival! Hell, he might even use him as a weapon of some kind! Why else would he volunteer to carry him around!?”
“Okay! Since YOU are so stubborn and unwilling to accept any of the good things he has done for others as proof, maybe you’ll finally listen when it’s about YOU specifically!” the redhead yelled, having grown tired of her friend’s stubborn attitude. “Remember that HE saved YOU at the start of this whole thing!”
“W-What!?” Ryle asked, taken aback by the point now presented to her. “When did that happen!?”
“For the love of-! When this whole game thing started, we were at that one arena with the different doors, remember!?” Erin reminded her friend. “Back then, Durge had to pull you through the one you were at, otherwise you would have been left behind! You would have been forced to go through the same thing Lexton and I went through at best! At worst, you might not have made it to the door and the guards patrolling the walls would have killed you! So how about you get real, stop being childish and start trusting him!? Especially when he has been nothing but a truly great ally so far!”
With their argument seemingly over, the redhead turned around and was about to walk back to the other members of their group. However, Ryle’s voice suddenly caused her to stop in her tracks.
“...If you had seen Durge mercilessly massacre innocent people, including kids, just because they happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, would you still have such a positive look on the guy?” the blonde asked in a solemn tone that Erin would have never expected out of her. “I have. And that is why I refuse to blindly trust him.”
Erin turned around to see if there was any sign on Ryle’s face that she was lying even a bit. She was shocked to find no such signs on the blonde’s expression. In fact, if anything, she was being completely serious.
“You have no idea of what kind of horrors he’s capable of. So don’t start judging me like you know everything,” Ryle said as she walked past Erin. “Just remember that the moment he turns on us, the blood will partially be on your hands as well. So think carefully before you take that risk.”
The redhead wanted to argue and attempt to deny the blonde’s claims, but found herself unable to utter a single word. It was true that she didn’t know Durge at all, she just felt like she knew him in a way. The way the orc had been acting so far had given her an impression of someone with a good nature and a trustworthy personality. That’s why she had been able to trust him with taking care of Lexton.
However, what if she was wrong after all? While she hadn’t given it much thought at first, it was still possible that Durge had just been putting on a show the whole time. Even if he had been acting like the nicest guy in the world so far, it wouldn’t be that far from the realm of possibility that he was actually a homicidal maniac on the inside. Back in her world, Erin had heard stories about the most vile serial killers, who were able to appear as the nicest people on the outside, only to be monsters in disguise. There was no telling if that’s what Durge actually was.
With somewhat shaky steps, Erin walked back to her group. She could feel the stares she got from the others. The glare from Ryle, the somewhat concerned look from Lexton and the completely confused stare from Durge. The redhead could only wonder what they were all thinking.
“Erin, are you alright?” Lexton asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
“I’m… I’m okay,” the redhead quickly lied. “Just got some stuff on my mind. That’s all.”
The kobold decided to let it go, as he didn’t want to possibly make things worse by being too pushy. While it might have looked like the issue had been averted for now, Erin couldn’t help but still have her doubts, as she kept glancing towards Durge, wondering who he really was in the end.
“Is something wrong?” Durge suddenly asked, surprising the redhead.
“W-What? No!” Erin quickly said. “What makes you ask something like that?”
“Because you keep looking at my direction in a way one would stare at a dragon that hasn’t noticed them yet,” the orc explained before turning his gaze towards the redhead. “Now, I might not be sharpest tool around, but I can easily tell when someone has an issue with me. So would you mind telling me what it is, so we can go about solving it?”
Seeing as how she was caught, Erin’s mind started to work overtime in finding the correct way to approach the issue at hand. On one side, she could try to pass the thing as something that didn’t matter so much and simply let it slide. This would ensure that Durge would still be on their side as far as she knew, but it would also put Lexton into possible danger. On the other hand, she could tell the truth or some variation of it and request that the kobold was given back to either her or Ryle, thus ensuring his safety. However, this could also break the temporary alliance they had with Durge and even turn him against them, which was a prospect the redhead didn’t like at all.
In the end, Erin had to face the facts and decide based on what was truly important to her.
“Durge… I would like you to-”
Just as the redhead was about to ask the orc to hand her friend back to her, a siren suddenly blared, signaling the continuation of the games.
“Whatever it was that you needed from me, it’s going to have to wait,” Durge said. “Looks like we just ran out of free time.”
Erin could only give a weak nod in response. Her only opportunity to take back the trust she had placed on the orc had just slipped away from her. The redhead could only hope that she was worried over nothing and that Lexton would be okay with Durge.
“Attention to all contestants!” a voice spoke from the speakers. “We had some trouble setting up the next game, but the preparations for it have now been completed! So get off your asses and start moving! It’s time to continue!”
Suddenly, the sound of machinery starting up and moving could be heard from one of the walls of the room. The contestants close to area immediately moved away, afraid that whatever was getting set up there might kill them.
Stairs began to rise up from the floor, as a large door opened one the upper part of the wall where the new stairs led. It didn’t take much for everyone in the room to figure out that this was the place they were expected to go for the next game.
“Well, what are you all waiting for!?” the voice from the speakers said to the contestants. “Get your asses moving, before our people come in and blast your sorry asses away!”
Right away, all the contestants began to run to the stairs. It didn’t take long, until they had all reached the top and went through the open door. Once there, a sight that surprised and confused all of the contestants opened up before them.
Right in front of their eyes was a large room with small tables set neatly to cover the entire floor. The tables were set in such a manner, that one could comfortably walk between them without bumping into one. On each table was a small plate with a piece of cake on it.
The sight was so unexpected that the same question going through the minds of every contestant was easily voiced out by Ryle.
“...What the hell is this?” the blonde asked bluntly.