Chapter 75

I was in a room, with terraced chairs on either side and a dais in front, on top of which was a lone chair. It wasn’t ornate enough to be called a throne, but it was clearly made to stand out, signifying its current occupant as someone special, important.

He was a middle-aged man, but I knew that he was older than he looked. He was dressed neatly, same as the rest of the occupants of the room, resting in his chair with all his attention focused on me.

I tore my gaze away from him as I perused across one side of the room, and then the other.

“Justice without power is useless. Power without justice is nothing but true violence. Our kingdom is currently suffering from such violence. The citizens of our kingdom are being trampled under money, power and corruption. The conglomerates live like kings and their lies become prophecies in a world that has grown more ridiculous by the second,” I said.

“A battle with one side representing the corporate world, and the other side representing the working class. Me likey,” someone to my right exclaimed. I had the inkling that I knew them, but I didn’t pay them any mind as others began raising their opinions.

“We cannot let them get away with this. She’s challenging us, and she’s is doing it right in our faces. Let’s get the enforcement squad—” a short stout balding man exclaimed as he stood up from his seat, but he was quickly cut off by a tall lean woman with a wizened face. I couldn’t tell whether it was from age or experience, not that I thought it would make a difference.

“And what? Treat them like beasts and stomp on them? While all those people are watching? They are bound to get burned eventually, as long as they continue to dance so close to the flames. And when they finally do, we’ll be right there to step on their necks and teach them a lesson. That’s how grownups take care of things.”

Karen, a name popped up in my head, and I assumed it belonged to her.

“Bolson? Then the brains behind Molloy is the former director of our strategic team? Maher, you have been getting chewed out by your own guard dog?” an average looking guy said, looking at a thin-looking man who I assumed had been the first speaker.

The balding man spoke up, this time staring directly at me, “From this moment on, you need to back away. When it’s all said and done, I’ll let you give the winning speech to save face with the chairperson, so don’t make a peep.”

“Bald!” the thin-looking man exclaimed, looking ready to get off his chair and physically confront the balding man. Is that his name? I thought to myself, quickly squashing any other thoughts beyond that one.

“It’s not a surprise that people think that all politicians are good for nothing, but then you were seriously played with by a rich conglomerate’s guard dog. And that shouldn’t have happened.”

“Retract that statement, sir!” the thin-looking man was clearly fuming now.

“It seems that many people are under the impression that you could do more for the people of the kingdom as an activist, rather than being a king,” Karen spoke, and this time, I knew it was clearly directed at me.

“That’s just your personal opinion. We must let loose of all the anger we have! Every challenge we face now is because of the greed, corruption and recklessness of these corporations. Their greed knows no bounds at all. And I promise you that they will be quickly brought down.

“The issue I’d like to bring to your attention today is the uneven spread of income and wealth in our kingdom right now. What do you think about the disappearance of the middleclass?”

What was I even talking about? It felt like I was completely off kilter with my statements. Why was I talking like there was an audience? I mean there was an audience, but this kind of talk was what I would expect from politicians on old earth during their political rallies, doing their best to sway voters into voting for them. In closed rooms, with so few people, I expected more tongue biting remarks. I cannot believe I am the reincarnation of this guy. I was fine with the fighting skills, but clearly, we thought differently. Mayhaps, we might have completely different personalities altogether

And as I kept on talking, I more and more wished that someone would just kill me already.

“Can we really call the world we are living in a just one? Working from the break of dawn to try and make a living for your family, and barely having anything to show for it? You have become victims, and you’ll continue to burn. Since they are unable to solve this issues because they are incompetent! So they put down these regulations to block the redevelopment here.”

The average guy took over as I paused my ramblings. “If Agare County redevelopment ends, then we will lose several millions of gold per day.”

“And the other Counties?” Karen asked.

“Sonju is worse, as far as we are aware. The loans we have received from the royal treasury under the Developers Guild were all spent in the construction of the duty free market. If they were to conduct an investigation—”

“So put a stop to it before it starts, huh? Since when have we listened to peasants complain as we do business?” baldy spoke again, and I could have sworn the top of his head got a bit redder at the end of that statement.

“Public opinion or the media is secondary. It’s our foreign investors who are getting spooked. They have been threatening to withdraw their investment in the duty-free market, worried about the kingdom’s government pulling away from us,” Karen said.

Silence reigned in for a few long seconds, only broken by the murmurs running through the rest of the occupants of the room. At first I had thought it would run like a parliament, with the guy in the dais maintaining order. But there hadn’t been enough bickering to warrant that.

It was the average guy who broke the silence. “We will certainly get resistance from the poor who will not be able to afford that lifestyle. I’d have to say that building the market requires us to first kick out all the people living there. We’ll have some issues.”

It was Karen who responded to that. “You see, hope is all that’s needed. There is no one that can refuse the notion that perhaps someday, no matter how poor you are, fate will give you an existence of extreme wealth and riches, where the world is right there in your hands, if you join us.”

That statement bothered me somewhat, but for my current body, it was infuriating, and I could feel the anger simmering, just barely controlled. Now that I became aware of it, it became obvious that I had been suppressing it since, well, as far back as the not-dream began. “You don’t even seem to know how the average person lives. You are just parasites.”

“The commoners can be won with assurances that they, too, will become rich,” Karen smoothly said, as if she wasn’t affected by the death glare I was sure I was throwing at her.

“We might end up losing the public’s support,” I warned her. “There’s more at stake here, ma’am. A whole lot of us will be at risk, should we lose. It would mean a death blow to everything we’ve worked towards. For all the elders, and all the people in the lowest places in the party. For me, who supported you, and the pride that unites the party. These people here, they’ll only support the victor.”

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But Karen was undeterred. In fact, it looked like she had been waiting for me to make that statement. “My support doesn’t hurt, does it? And if it weren’t for that, there is no way that you could have served three terms in the assembly when you were nothing but a pretty figurehead. This time, I intend to see how capable you really are. You win this alone and without my help. Let’s see what you’re made of, my dear.

“I think it’s time to put this to an end.”

…

How had things come to this so fast? In retrospect, I should have known. All prior not-dreams had ended the same way, with my death. How could this have been any different.

The room was deadly silent, everyone calmly seated in their seats, waiting.

I lost him into the aether, but my [Mana Sense] followed him as his burst of speed carried him behind me. Hmm, I guess this current iteration isn’t one for speed, I thought as I threw out an attack even before I landed.

He didn’t get into my reach, instead, throwing his own [Fire Ball]s at me. Two white hot balls streaked my way. I’ve not seen that kind of fire in Mesily. If knowledge serves right, them being white should mean that they are hotter than the orange flames I was used to.

I almost didn’t react in time, summoning a shield at the last second. The balls hit with such force that I slid back a couple of paces before I came to a halt, the heat they were emitting searing into my hands. I could feel the Mana in me boiling, as if the heat was seething through.

I cracked the shield in half and tilted the halves to the side, allowing the [Fire Ball]s to wash past me. We can do that!!? As I thought that, I was already on the attack, going for his head. He brought out his shield, knocking the sword aside, while throwing something that looked eerily like a ball of darkness with his other hand at me.

I slashed through it, resuming my attack on him. I kicked his shield out of my way, bringing the point of my sword straight for his throat.

He moved nimbly, slipping through my attack, evading the follow-up attack, anticipating and blocking my counterstrikes with his shield. It was plainly clear I was overmatched. Had I not trained to fight at all? Had this reincarnation not been aware of what was in store? Not that I had accepted that I would be hunted down to be killed in the future; but I wasn’t completely ignoring it.

Before long, I found myself on the ground, scrambling to get my bearings as he rained attack after attack on me. The meager shield I had protecting me was beginning to crack. He created what looked like a Mana spear and stabbed at my chest with it.

I managed to renew my shield in time, but the spear still went through it like it wasn’t even there, plunging through my chest and setting my Mana on fire. Pain raced through my Mana channels as the foreign Mana shredded through them; it felt like I was burning from the inside.

Seriously, why the torture if you are trying to kill me?

…

I woke up in excruciating pain, feeling like millions of fire ants were feasting on my pain nerves, and it took me several long seconds to realize that it was my own Mana that was attacking my Mana channels. It hadn’t managed to shred them like in the not-dream, but I was sure it would soon enough if I didn’t regain control.

I quickly began circulating my Mana, going through all the steps I had learnt in [Mana Cultivation]. By the time I had a degree of control that allowed me to come back to my senses, I found myself drenched in sweat, my beddings too. I couldn’t tell whether that was from the not-dream, or my efforts to regain control of my Mana.

I slowly got up and began my preparations for the day. I had a training session with Artina, who I was sure would bring the other Sjuma finalist.

I couldn’t believe the reason for the death in the not-dream had just being a difference in political opinions. It was the first time I had a reason, it just seemed so mundane, and totally unnecessary. What kind of world had it been that such extreme measures were warranted?

Or had I actually been on trial? Was that why I was the only one standing in the middle of the room? What exactly had I done? Remembering all the names I had heard, I wished I had somehow picked up my own name; then maybe I could dig up in the library and try and understand what kind of life that reincarnation had lived.

I had been thinking that the not-dreams were about previous reincarnations, maybe of myself, but the last not-dream had me doubting whether that was really the case. Were we really the same person? What about the bodies? Were we carbon copies of each other? The last not-dream had raised so many questions, and my resident Daemon was a little tight-lipped on the subject.

I arrived at the Ithima Training Facility before them, like always, and began a series of light exercises as I waited for them.

…

“It’s like you knew that you would meet her in the finals,” Artina said as we took a much needed break.

“I still have my staff with me,” I countered. Hours of sparring with the both of them had left me nearly spent.

“She has brought down opponents with much deadlier weapons,” the Sjuma finalist said. Was she talking about herself? And my staff was a very deadly weapon, if used right.

“Still, we are poor substitutes to what she can do,” Artina said as she glanced at the Sjuma finalist, who nodded in agreement.

It’s not that I didn’t already know that; I regretted not having gone to watch at least one of her fights. The only thing I was relieved about was the fact that she hadn’t said anything that implied she had seen me fight. As far as I could remember.

“When we were watching your semifinal, she said it wouldn’t be easy to win against you,” Artina added.

Dammit, there went that thought. Couldn’t she have let me live in my euphoria for a while longer? I couldn’t blame Sunshine for doing that though, I had done the same during the Baronies. Why didn’t I recover fast enough to watch hers?

I had only been training [Unarmed Combat] with Artina for what? A week? Maybe less. I wouldn’t lie to myself and claim that I could go toe to toe with someone whose fighting style relied heavily on unarmed combat.

If I were to guess, I would say that Sunshine’s [Unarmed Combat] Skill was as high as my [Staffs] Skill was. Maybe higher, way higher. If I intended to win the finals, then I had to avoid engaging her at what she was best at. At all costs.

“How does she fight anyway?” I asked. The little I could garner from them might be all that I need to actually win over her.

“She is like you, she mixes up both physical and Mana attacks,” Artina said.

“Everyone does that!” I said, then thought better of it, adding, “Well, most people do that.”

I looked at the Sjuma finalist for her opinion only to be met with a shrug. What was that supposed to mean? She had fought her, hadn’t she?

“You guys are completely useless. You can’t even think of anything that could help me tomorrow.”

They stared at each other for a while before they turned to me, and the Sjuma finalist said, “She is good.”

“Of course she is good, she is in the finals!”

After resting a while, we left for the Competitors Inn. I had a light meal, before retiring to my room for cleanup. I tried going to sleep after, but even with how much tired I felt, sleep still eluded me. I thought of doing [Mana Cultivation] but gave up on it when circulating my Mana felt more like torture than training.

I walked aimlessly through the streets as I thought about what was next for me. As much as I wanted to sightsee the city, with the finals looming over me, all my thoughts were focused on what to do after the fight. Win or lose.

After walking aimlessly for what felt like hours, I found myself outside Xan’s place of residence for our stay in Choska. How long had it been since I last spoke to him? Two? Three? Four days ago? The last time we talked, I was after new staffs. After I got my staffs, I hadn’t talked to him again. I was a bad… friend? Was that what we were? Friends?

Looking up to Xan’s floor, I wondered whether he was in his room or out in some errand. What exactly did he do while I was being beat up in The Grand Competition? I didn’t think he spent all that time just watching the fights.

If only I had a phone, it would easy to figure out where he was. A simple text, maybe a call. I really did miss the technologies of old earth. Most of the time I tried not to think too much about it, but sometimes things that would have been solved easily inconvenienced me, making me wish that I had access to that technology.

“How long do you plan on staying here staring at the hotel?”

I nearly jumped in surprise when I heard that. Turning to my left, there was Xan, staring at his hotel like there was something new about it.

“At least you didn’t try to hit me this time,” he said as he finally looked at me.

Nearly. “Where did you come from?” I asked.

“I’ve been here for a while, I just got tired of standing here doing nothing,” he said.

I must really have been out of it. Just how long had he been standing next to me before he spoke? I decided not ask that, scared of what he might say. I followed him as he walked into the hotel.

“So, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Can’t I just pay you a visit when I feel like it?”

“Ah, so you do care about me?”

“Don’t get full of yourself. I’m finally guaranteed enough gold to get out of your debt, I thought it prudent to let you know.”

“Investment. So, we’re cutting ties after?”

“I didn’t say that!” I said, following him up the stairs to his floor. “I still need you as a guide. And for other things.” I whispered the last part. With how things had been going, I knew that sooner or later, I would find myself in a situation where I might need him to bail me out.

“Well, glad to hear that. Only the Duchies remain, if you get past that, you will have fulfilled your promise.”

“It wasn’t exactly a promise. Besides, I’m not sure I’ve qualified for the Duchies yet.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked as he turned to look at me. “You are in the finals, aren’t you? There has never been a round where only one competitor qualified to the next round.”

I stayed at Xan’s until nightfall, when I left for my room after another free meal.