After getting away from the zombie wave that continued to chase them after a while, Maria and the rest of the surviving scout team stopped to rest at a nearby river. Only a few team members were left in the group, as not everyone had been able to get away, even after they took off with their horses.
The zombies were very persistent and chased after them like rabid animals. If it wasn’t for the sacrifices of a few members, it was doubtful that anyone would’ve made it out of there alive even on horseback. They hadn’t even been able to rest properly before the zombies attacked, so the horses were still a bit exhausted. Thankfully, they had already set up camp, and the items those horses were carrying had been unpacked and unloaded, so there was nothing burdening the exhausted animals.
However, due to their exhaustion, they couldn’t run as fast as usual, so some of the zombies managed to keep pace with their speed and due to that, a few of the escaping scouts had been killed when a zombie or two struck one of the horses’ legs or toppled the riders over after throwing their bodies onto them.
Once the zombies were distracted by their new prey, they stopped chasing after the few that were further ahead. At least half of the scout team had been killed while making their escape and more would have died if Rio hadn’t thinned out their numbers.
A few of the scouts that survived who weren’t too amiable with Rio started blaming him when they arrived at a safe place. They thought that it was because of him rampaging around like a maniac that stopped them from running away even earlier.
Richard even motioned to hit Rio when they stopped running, but he didn’t try it because his gut feeling began acting up again. This gut feeling saved his life because Maria was on the verge of breaking character and flipping out at this MC because of the way he hoisted her over his shoulders earlier and dragged her away. This part was unexpected and Maria was close to bashing him but when she saw him lift a hand at her, that was when Maria’s murderous intent truly peaked. She didn’t move from her spot and just glared at Richard.
Even though her face was covered by her helmet, Richard had the illusion that he saw a pair of glowing red eyes staring daggers at him, so he stopped. This wasn’t an illusion, as Maria was seriously pissed and her [Nephalem’s Eyes] were responding to that anger.
If Richard had struck Rio right there and then, Maria wasn’t just going to take it lying down. She may be playing her character, but she wasn’t going to completely become immersed as him. She was here just to have fun and if she was to be hit for having that fun, then all of her plans would be thrown out the window in anger.
Thankfully, Richard was perceptive enough. Richard felt that if he had struck Rio just then, the kid would’ve definitely retaliated. Even though Rio appeared to be calm, Richard could tell that underneath that helmet was an extremely enraged boy. Although he didn’t feel too threatened by the young kid’s attack, Richard was reminded of Rio’s bout of rage earlier where he split many zombies in two with just a swing of his sword.
Those vicious attacks and that unrestrained hate would be directed at him if he tried to discipline Rio, but that was something he didn’t want. So, instead of hitting Rio, Richard knelt in front of him and put both his hands firmly on the young boy’s shoulders.
“I know that you were angry earlier, but please listen to me. There was no sense in you trying to kill all of those zombies. Eventually, you’d be overwhelmed and you would die. Is that what your parents would have wanted? Is that what you would have wanted?”
“...”
“Dying in the middle of nowhere like that without even being able to completely resolve your hatred and take proper revenge…is that the kind of ending that you want?”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Maria was still a little pissed at Richard, but it was entirely for a different reason than what the NPC was thinking. The show must go on and Maria rationalized the unwanted treatment from earlier as good footage for her video, since everything happened spontaneously and naturally. She took a deep breath to calm herself before saying, “I’m sorry…”
Richard released a sigh of relief after seeing that Rio was calming down, “We have to deliver the information about the undead’s newest activity to the City Lord. I fear that our city won’t be safe if those monsters start moving in Dor’ian City’s direction.”
The unappeased scout members were glaring daggers at Maria but she didn’t care about their gazes. If they wanted to settle something with her, then she wouldn’t mind making them disappear when they returned to the city. It was all fun and games until someone tried to attack her. Even if she was roleplaying as Rio, Maria wasn’t going to make her character a submissive pushover.
From an audience’s point of view, they would also think that Rio was in the wrong this time around, but that was fine. Rio was still just a child whose sole purpose in life right now was his narrow-minded revenge. Even if it did come at the cost of anyone, he shouldn’t care because his only focus was to completely annihilate all of the monsters that killed his family.
Maria had read a lot of fantasy novels before and many that had MCs whose goal was driven by revenge due to some tragic backstory were always pretty enjoyable to read. The MC’s slow character development from a pretty ‘stupid’ MC to one that was relatable and understandable later down the line as the story progressed could spark empathy from the audience.
This was the kind of MC that Maria wanted Rio to be, so although most people would likely criticize Rio when they see this bit of the video, Maria already had a long string of plans that she would use to focus more on Rio’s character development.
She had spent those few days holed up in Melu’er not just to rebuild her base of operations but also to thoroughly mete out the details of the story that she had laid for her character, Rio. The group continued their journey after resting for a few minutes. They couldn’t be complacent and rest for too long because the undead’s marching trajectory remained unknown to them. They also didn’t want to stick around to find out, because if they were caught, they’d definitely be killed and the important information they had to relay back to Dor’ian would be lost.
No one wanted to volunteer and stick behind to see where the dark army was truly heading towards. Rio did volunteer for this role to stick behind, but Richard didn’t let him much to everyone’s chagrin.
“If the kid wants to seek death, then why stop him?”
“So you’re willing to put this boy’s life in danger just because you think he’s the one to blame for the lives of those we lost today?”
“And shouldn’t he be blamed?! If it wasn’t for that little bastard’s rampage, we would’ve–”
“Let me stop you there, Martin. Did you really think that I didn’t see the predicament that you and a few others were in when we tried to make our escape?”
“What?”
“You, Henute, and one-eyed over there had been surrounded by those zombies! If the kid hadn’t killed them for you, do you think you’d still be alive? Or would you have wanted us to abandon you and flee on the horses because you were ‘beyond’ saving? Hah?!”
“...”
“Idiot, if I wanted to hastily escape from that place, I would’ve had to leave at least half of you back there! Do you think this is just because of the kid?! Stop trying to pin the blame on anyone when there’s no blame to pin!” Richard glared at everyone before saying, “If you want to blame anyone, then blame me! I’m the leader of this team and I put everyone in danger by camping out in the middle of the enemy’s territory! We all could’ve easily died out there today and yet some of you want to pin the blame on a kid? Where’s your goddamned sense of shame?!”
A part of the scout team still blamed Rio for the others’ death, but was it really his fault? Even though his rampage did delay them, the conditions they were in were already pretty dire. They were lucky and they just wanted to pin the blame of this horrific outcome onto someone due to circumstantial reasons that couldn’t even be properly pinned on the person they wanted to blame.
Many factors were at play earlier and when Richard brought this up, it immediately silenced the discontent in the others there. They were only human and they wanted to justify the tragedy that happened back there to console themselves.
The people that had died were those they could call friends and, even if they weren’t, they were still acquaintances that they had just been talking happily to just a few moments ago, but they were now dead. Even Maria couldn’t help but feel a bit sympathetic for the NPCs’ feelings. A few of the people that had helped her out on the journey had also been among those that had been killed. It was tragic but Maria didn’t feel too bad for them. They were now going to be part of her dark army and the footage she was obtaining because of their sacrifice was completely priceless.
After quelling the discontent of the team, Richard had everyone prepare to set off again because they couldn’t linger there any longer. His vice-captain, who had luckily managed to survive, had just reported that he caught sight of the dark army in the far distance.
“Let’s go. Unless any of you want to stick around and bravely find out the direction that dark army is heading in.”