Chapter 391

Seven(?) Greedy Ones Ascend (II)

Anth followed the middle-aged man into one of the central buildings. It was a low-rise, wide in frame, and as soon as he entered, he realized it was likely a dining hall as there were nearly twenty chairs and six tables strewn about. The man signaled that Anth sit on one of the tables as he began fiddling with some fresh-appearing meat and vegetables that he was pulling from the inventory.

“Tell me about yourself, Anth,” the man asked, expertly slicing the meat into thin portions while kindling the fire in the nearby stove with his mind.

“W-what, what would you like to know, Sir?” Anth asked cautiously.

“Are you married?”

“E-eh? No, no I’m not.”

“How old are you, anyway?”

“I’m nineteen summers old, Sir.”

“Ah. I remember my nineteenth summer,” the man spoke wistfully. “Em’ caught me watching lesbian porn. Wasn’t a fun summer.”

“Uh...” Anth remained silent, quite confused.

“You got any family, Anth?”

“A-a father, Sir.”

“Really?” the man turned toward him, pouring some oil on a plate. “What’s he like?”

“S-Sir?”

“I’m a father myself, you see,” he said. “To many children. They make fun of me, you know? All the time. Do you make fun of your father, Anth?”

“No... Sir?”

“Damn right you don’t!” the man threw a wooden ladle at the wall and broke it. “That’s how it’s supposed to be, no?! Them bastards have been cursing me out non-stop! Aah--but no. Children ought to be wilful. If you ain’t cursin’ out your old man, what good’s the old man for?”

“...” Anth grew calm slowly--the man was strange, yes... but in line with most of the experts Anth had met. Back in the library, half the Upper Masters were all eccentrics. Perhaps the man in front of him was on the... looser end of things, but still within the frame.

“What about your mom?” the man asked as he slowly began putting things onto the plate.

“She... she died when I was young, Sir. Lost a Fate’s Duel.”

“... shame,” the man looked at him with sympathy. “No boy should grow up without mother’s love.”

“...”

“No siblings?”

“No, Sir. Can... can I ask... why are you asking me these things?”

“Hm? To get to know you? I already said that, didn’t I?”

“Uh, yes,” Anth nodded absentmindedly. “Is... is that all?”

“Of course. It’s a very one-sided conversation, though. You haven’t asked me a thing yet. Well, except that last one. Aren’t you curious?”

“... very,” Anth replied honestly.

“In fairness, I’ll probably stonewall you with most of the burnin’ questions you got. Like, who are you guys? Why are you here? How’d you get here? Yada-yada, we skippin’ past all that, alright?”

“E-eh? Yes, yes, of course, Sir!”

“Anything else, though, ask away.”

“Uh... are... are you alright with the length of 100 years of servitude?” Anth probed.

“No,” the man shook his head while Anth bit his lower lip. Daniel’s probably a newcomer...

“Swear the oath that you will not divulge our existence to anyone, and you may go.”

“... come again?” Anth’s jaw dropped nearly to the floor upon the man’s words. At the same time, his nostrils picked up on a very inviting scent as the sizzling sounds began to fill the room.

“I’ve no use for slaves or servants, to be honest,” the man shrugged. “If you wish to stay here of your own will and chat with others, feel free to. However, if you wish to leave, please make the oath first. Ah, but first, you gotta eat.” the man suddenly served him a plate of still-steaming meat with some strange vegetables on the side. Inspecting with Mana, Anth realized that it was just... an ordinary meal. It wasn’t even infused with Mana.

“T-thank you,” the man sat opposite of him, eating the meat with... a knife and a fork. What... queer people... the last time Anth saw a fork was around fourteen years ago, when he visited Artifact Museum with his father. “What... what is your name, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“My name? It’s Cain,” the man replied casually, already busy with the meal. Anth noticed, however, that there was still a sizzling sound in the room.

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“Uh, what... is that?”

“That?” Cain quizzed. “Ah. Contingency.”

“Contingency?”

“In about thirty seconds,” he said. “There’s gonna be an onslaught of hungry hippos. Will be a good opportunity to meet ‘em all.”

Anth had forgotten to eat, filled with expectation instead. And, sure enough, not even thirty second later he heard a stampede of footsteps approaching. Eerily enough, just like with the man in front of him, he couldn’t read their Mana signatures whatsoever, as though they were mortal.

“Dammit bastard! Why didn’t you say you were gonna make some steaks?!” someone roared as they entered.

“Fucker said he ain’t got anymore of them! I’ll never trust you again!” roared another.

“Eh? Who’s the kid?” while some went ahead to grab the food, quite a few turned on their heels and walked to their table.

“Daniel picked him up in those weird, trunk-fuck woods in the south,” the middle-aged woman that walked out when Anth first arrived replied. “Kid swore he’d be a slave or something for a like century.”

“Pft. What a dumbass.”

“What do you know about slavery, boyo, eh?”

“Jamal, you ain’t got that power here, man.”

“Ah, right. Shit. Keep forgetting.”

“Gonna adopt another one, C’?”

“Well, new place, new kids. He’s gotta start somewhere.”

“Alright, shut up,” Cain brushed them off. “I’m chatting with the lad. Go stuff your fat faces elsewhere.”

“...”

“Don’t look so strange,” he said. “They mean well.”

“They do?” Anth smiled bitterly.

“What do you want to do, Anth?” Cain asked suddenly. “You can stay or you can go.”

“...” Anth was on the cusps of saying it--that he wanted to go. It was a no-brainer. There was no reason for him to stay. He had to return and see if he could do anything about Ion. But... he couldn’t. He knew that he couldn’t do anything, not on his own. And for some strange reason, as though a voice from beyond whispered into his ears, he believed that the man in front of him, as well as those surrounding the two of them, eating and merrily chatting, could help. “I... I don’t know.”

“Well, most well-adjusted lads would have bolted already,” Cain said. “So, either those woods drove you to madness... or, going back home ain’t exactly easy. Which is it?”

“... there’s a target on my head,” he said. “That’s why... that’s why I ran into the woods.”

“’cause they wouldn’t follow?”

“Uh, they would. It’s just, they’d be slower. They’d trek by day, perform the rituals, stick to the conventional path. I... I just dashed madly, mostly.”

“What’s with those woods, anyway?” Cain asked.

“There’s a reason it’s called Forest of a Thousand Deaths,” Anth chuckled. “If you reveal your presence even for a second... well, things will kill each other trying to kill you.”

“... it’s a fascinating ecosystem, to be sure,” Cain nodded absentmindedly. “So, you have a target on your head. Who put it there?”

“A spoiled fuck,” Anth growled. “But... a strong spoiled fuck.”

“... can you defeat him?”

“Hah. No way. He’s too connected.”

“Disregarding that,” Cain said. “If it was just the two of you. Could you defeat him?”

“... maybe? I don’t know. He rarely fights himself, and when he goes conquering, he never takes outsiders. There’s barely any info on how he fights.”

“Do you need help?” Anth bit his lip. He did need help. But... it was dangerous, seeking help--it was dangerous seeking it from friends, let alone some complete strangers that more and more seem like a dark cult. “It’s good to be distrustful. I’d have kicked your ass out if you just agreed, anyway. So, let’s play ball.”

“S-sir?”

“Consider these trade negotiations,” Cain smiled. “State your terms, I state mine, we haggle like a pair of old hags, start shouting at each other inevitably, and then have a toasty toast by the end. Here’s my first term: you probably didn’t notice this because we are extremely normal, but we ain’t from around here.”

“...”

“You could at least pretend to be shocked.”

“A-ah. Sir, I am very shocked!”

“Good. I like you more now. Anyway, we’ve been here for... some time. Just livin’, you know? But, well, my kids are going insane, Anth. I mean, just yesterday, they started biting at each other. That’s why I sent that kid out there. To find something. If I don’t get them an outlet... well, there’s no saying what those crazy fuckers will do. So, my first term: teach us about that place of yours and how we’d go about... Integrating. Just normal citizens, you know? So we can walk into a pub and have a pint of something new.”

“Uh, yes, that’s... that’s alright,” Anth nodded.

“So, what’s your first term?”

“... teach me the spell Daniel used to hide in the forest.”

“The spell?” Cain arched his brow. “Oh. Right. Yeah, no, that wasn’t a spell.”

“It... it wasn’t?”

“No, it was an item.”

“An item?”

“Yo, son-in-law,” Cain shouted at someone suddenly. “You got any materials left to craft another one of those rings for the forest?”

“Maybe two?” a voice replied from the group.

“Alright. I’ll have the lad meet you in the mornin’.”

“Of course, Master.”

“...”

“I saw that,” Cain said.

“S-saw what, Sir?”

“That look that screamed ‘who the fuck are these people’--and, in fairness, I get it. The relationships here are... weird. Not weird weird. But, ah. Whatever. Anyway, you’ll get the ring that will protect you in the forest. Here’s my second term: I wanna enlist a couple of my kids in the dungeoneering business. Can you help ‘em register and get them up to speed? You know, up-and-up.”

“Uh... y-yes. Anyone can register as long as they pass the Virdum Test.”

“... what’s the Virdum Test?”

“It’s, uh, it’s a standardized way of just inspecting people’s general information--their levels, classes, and so on. So that they can be assigned proper grade and position.”

“... yeah. Alright. I guess that’s fine,” Cain perused something for a moment. “A few should do fine. Some bullying might to them good, anyway. So, what’s your second term?”

“... can you... can you protect someone?” Anth lowered his head.

“From that spoiled fuck?”

“Him, his goons, his everyone.”

“Sure thing.”

“...”

“What? My confidence isn’t inspiring?” Cain cracked a grin. “If you can convince this person, they can stay here, with us.”

“No, impossible,” Anth said. “She’d never run away. No, if you can protect her--”

“Senna, come over,” Cain called out again, and the young woman in her twenties walked over soon after, a confused expression on her face. “Get her to befriend that friend of yours. She can protect her.”

“She? Uh...”

“Don’t worry,” Cain smiled faintly. “If you get her certified, you also get her bodyguard certified.”

“I don’t have a bodyguard,” the girl called Senna protested.

“Make a choice. One of the twins or Q’.”

“None. I can take care of myself.”

“See what I mean?” Cain sighed. “Would it kill her to just listen to her old man once? No! But, lo and behold. Yes, you can,” he glanced at her. “Think of it as a contingency. Anth here claims his little friend is connected. You know as well as I that people like that don’t like their pride stomped. And they’re quick to flap their fat lips to whoever will listen. Don’t worry too much. I’ll also circle about.”

“... how nuts can I go?” she asked, arching her brow.

“Anything short of killing him,” Cain replied. “If he goes too far, though, go nuts. As always, whatever happens, I’ll hold the sky for you.”

“I know you will,” she smiled lightly as her eyes turned toward Anth. “He doesn’t trust me yet. Come out.”

“Uh... w-why?”

“Why? So I can whoop your ass quickly and get you back to reality.”

“Uh...”

“It’s fine,” Cain chuckled. “But fighting you is a bit... too much. Where’s Ethan?”

“Pouting.”

“’cause I sent Daniel and not him?”

“Yup.”

“Perfect. He can vent a bit,” Cain said. “Get him out. Ethan’s a Shadowbender variant,” he turned toward Anth as Senna left. “Twice-Awakened, his level should be around 160. If you can withstand ten attacks from him, I’ll personally guard that friend of yours as well as you. How about it?”