“Who wants to test out their abilities on the orc next?” asked Widnes the healer.
“Me!” A tough-looking boy with a mohawk stepped up. “I’ve got the Battle Surgeon title, so I’m going to amputate his fingers and his toes, and then I’ll put his toes on his hands and his fingers on his feet.”
“That’s so messed up.” The crowd was ready for the show. They whistled and cheered.
I pushed aside anyone in my way to get to the orc. I wasn’t going to allow this brutality to go on. I had to put an end to it. When I stepped passed the surgeon, he pulled me by the shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going? It’s first come first served. Get in line.” His grip on me tightened.
I pulled out a needle and stuck it into a pressure point in his wrist which caused his hand to release me. I was in no mood to waste words on people that could not be reasoned with.
I got close to the orc and placed my hand over him. First, I decided to use Cleanse. No part of me knew if it would help. Maggots were not a status effect, so it probably wouldn’t, yet I did it anyway. His body illuminated with light and then returned to normal. After that, I activated Spare Monster to save him from any further torture at the hands of my fellow Earthlings.
[Banished: Level 22 Orc]
[-0 XP]
[Reduced reward due to negligible contribution to the monster’s defeat.]
The orc vanished in front of everyone. The mood of all dampened. I had clearly rained on their parade.
“What was that?” asked the surgeon who was holding the wrist that I had pierced. He repeatedly opened and closed his hand to make sure it was ok. “Where did he go? What did you just do?”
“I still hadn’t had my go yet!” someone else complained.
The surgeon grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. “You gonna answer me?”
“I teleported the monster back to the Demon Kingdom,” I stated honestly.
“Why the hell did you go and do that for? I wasn’t done with him yet.”
“It’s appalling to watch a creature being tormented like that. Don’t you find it lame to bully someone weaker than you? Why don’t you pick on someone your own size for a change?” I stared at the battle surgeon dead in the eyes.
“Oh, what’s this? Are you volunteering, tough guy?”
“What, me? No, no, no!” I shook my head violently. “I’m weak as heck. I meant you should go pick on someone strong like Loftus over there.” I pointed out the blond boy who considered me his friend. He was examining his face with a pocket mirror.
The surgeon let me go. “Whatever.” He seemed to have successfully calmed his own rage. I internally applauded his temper management. “We can always capture more monsters. It’s not like they’re in short supply.”
Once people realised that the event was over, they went back to their own activities. Some made food, and some ate food. The next event that many sat down for was the nightly meeting.
Around two-thirds of the people in the crowd all occupied a large table to discuss important matters.
I stood alone in the centre of the hall and wondered what to do. No one paid me any mind.
What mainly occupied my thoughts was pure hatred for my peers. I despised these Earthlings. I wished them all nothing but misery. Never had I ever hated anyone as much as I did them. Which was strange. Why did I hate them so much? Did I have any greater reason to hate them over the other inhabitants of this world?
Just like these Earthlings, Newmill and Penrin believed in slavery. I didn’t hate them.
I had mercy on a goblin that killed humans. I didn’t hate him.
A half-demon tried to kill me multiple times and even still, I didn’t hate her. No one in this building had set my soul on fire or tried to cleave my head off with a scythe like Erith did. So why was it that I loathed these Earthlings? Why did it make me angry to just look at them?
I was happy to try and convince the humans of this world of the cruelty of their actions. I was also eager to meet and speak with monsters, so I could convince them not to kill humans. But in this scenario, I had a severe aversion to persuading these Earthlings to give up their immoral ways.
It was odd that I was willing to go so far to change the minds of others, but I could not spare even an ounce of that consideration for my peers. Maybe I thought that the Earthlings should have known better, that it was an insult that I needed to teach them right from wrong.
I stepped over to join the nightly meeting. None were keen to welcome me. None but Loftus, who excitedly tapped the seat next to him with his palm. I reluctantly placed my bottom in the offered seat because I had something to ask.
“Loftus, may I ask you a question?” I said.
“You just did.” He giggled in a manner that made me want to crush his windpipe. “But you can ask me another if you want.” He winked at me and I desired for a moment to have Penrin’s Eye Gouge skill.
“Why do you treat me so well, and others so poorly?” It was the bitter truth that Loftus had been nothing but nice to me for the entire time that I had been in this world. It was true of the others too. No one here had personally done anything wrong to me.
He brought me into an undesired hug and swayed me back and forth. “Because we’re the main characters, duh! You need to realise that the people in this world are just NPCs. They don’t matter. We’re the ones who matter. We’re the chosen ones. All of us here are heroes handpicked to save this country. Who cares about some stupid townsfolk? Rob whatever you want from them. We’re saving them from annihilation so the least they can do is let us have their belongings.”
What the heck was an NPC? Was Loftus telling me that he didn’t even view the people of this world as human? “What about those two girls you were with? Do they matter? You like them, so you must consider them as people.”
“I dumped those two bitches already.” Loftus waved his hand dismissively.
He didn’t seem too torn up about it. “What happened?”
Loftus stretched his hands out on the table and groaned as he fell into them. “Ugh, let me tell you. I just cannot find the type of girl that I want. Everyone I’ve found so far has hobbies, and opinions, and goals, and annoying emotions. It’s so frustrating.”
I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and index finger. “So let me get this straight. You’re complaining that they have personalities?”
“Exactly! I’m glad that someone gets it. Where are all the shy and submissive girls? I need waifus that only care about me and nothing else.”
It surprised me how Loftus could say all that and then look at me as if I agreed with him. His ability to read social cues was as weak as his conscience. “Loftus, do you think I could ever convince you to be kind to the inhabitants of this world? Do you think I can persuade you to be a nice person?”
“I am a nice person!” he retorted. “Just today, I helped a little girl find her lost cat.”
“You did?” That was surprising.
“I did make her pay me a finder’s fee. She didn’t have enough money, so I was kind enough to let her pay in instalments. Now, I’ve helped someone and I have a source of passive income. It’s a win-win.”
If I met with every being on this planet, I was sure I would not hate any one of them more than I hated Loftus. Occupying this building drained my mood. I was so happy hours earlier. I loved spending time with Newmill and Penrin and Mimic. That happiness seemed like a distant memory when surrounded by devils posing as Earthlings. I wanted to leave this place and never return. If I sold the Wall Compass, I would have enough cash to do that. Was it worth parting with such a valuable item to leave this place?
“By the way, everyone,” an Earthling said loudly, “do not kill humans!” The speaker had a small frame with lean muscles. A belt was slung over his shoulder and around his waist. Along the belt were many small daggers. “You lose so much XP when you kill humans.” He was addressing everyone at the meeting. “It’s so not worth it. Don’t do it, if you can avoid it.” His name was Ascot.
“You killed a human?” I asked. What kind of circumstance would force him to do that, I wondered? “Was it in self-defence?”
“Yeah, it was. I was passing through the slum district, and some mugger tried to rob me, so I killed them,” Ascot said with a pained expression on his face. “If I knew that killing the scumbag would cause me to lose levels, I would have never done it.”
“You had a choice not to kill him?”
“He was weak, so I could’ve easily just knocked him out and handed him to the guards, but he pissed me off. The audacity to try and steal from me made me angry.”
I struggled to stay seated. “You could have easily disarmed the mugger, yet you chose to slaughter them instead?”
“Disarm? What do you mean disarm? They didn’t have a weapon or anything.” He wiggled upturned eyebrows at me.
“They were unarmed? You killed an unarmed man?” I asked with a despairing voice.
“Man? No, the mugger wasn’t a man. He was just some skinny kid. He told me to hand over all my food to him or else. Can you believe that?”
With one swift motion, I drew a sturdy needle from my bag and leapt over the table at Ascot. “I’ll hand you something right now!” I was going to stab him. Before I had the chance to attack the vile scumbag in front of me, Loftus grabbed me and pinned me to the table.
“Stop it, Yarm. You always do this. You need to learn to control your temper.” His grip on me was tight but not painful. He was trying to gently hold me back as a friend. That only served to make me more furious.
“Let me go! I won’t be able to rest unless I teach this guy a lesson!” I struggled against Loftus. His body was far superior to mine in terms of strength. I craned my head to look at the others. “Is no one else going to do anything to this piece of filth? He just admitted to murdering a child!”
Everyone was perplexed. They had complete indifference to the story that was just told, but my aggression confused them. “Why are you mad at Ascot?” somebody asked. “He’s the victim.”
“Are you going to blame him for fighting back when getting mugged?”
“He gets mugged, loses a bunch of XP, and now this guy wants to attack him? Man, when it rains it pours.”
“Shut up!” I screamed. “All of you shut up! You have no consciences. You have no ethics. No compassion or empathy. You have nothing.” I grinded my forehead into the table while Loftus held me down. “Mark my words, you’ll pay for this. If there really is no justice in this world to punish you, I’ll be the one to create justice. As long as I live, I will never allow you to escape your wrongdoings. All of you will answer to your crimes, one day! One day!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ascot rolled his eyes and got up. “You really are a party pooper. Total mood-killer. I’m off to bed.” He walked away to his room and others slowly joined him.
“One day!” I kept screaming as people left, one by one. Some people shot me a sympathetic look but mostly I was ignored and the nightly meeting was brought to an early end.
The table fully cleared until only Loftus and I remained. “One day…” My voice had become hoarse from all the shouting.
Loftus tenderly rubbed my back. “It’s alright, Yarm. They’re gone now.” He slowly released me from his pin. I had hurt myself quite badly from struggling against Loftus. My body felt sore and my throat felt like sandpaper.
I lied on the table and made no attempt to get up.
“It’s nighttime. We should both go to sleep like the others.” Loftus tugged on my clothes in an effort to stir me to action.
I chose to wallow in misery instead. It all felt so hopeless, everything I was trying to achieve. What could I accomplish, really? Because I had wasted all my points into Mind, I couldn’t stand up against anyone here. Not with brute force or with magic. I could do nothing. If Loftus hadn’t restrained me, Ascot and the others would have torn me apart.
I closed my eyes and my psyche pictured Newmill and Penrin. Remembering them, the faintest glimmer of hope sparked within me. I got up and trudged to bed.
“That’s the spirit.” Loftus patted me on the back and then headed to his own room.
After opening my bedroom door, I locked it behind me and jumped into bed. The mattress was soft enough to be comforting but firm enough to support my aching body. The blanket I pulled over myself was nice and warm. The pillow absorbed my consciousness and dragged me into slumber.
The next day, I heard a banging on my door. A familiar voice shouted from the other side. “Wake up, Yarm!” said Thaxted. “A bunch of scary high-level soldiers are looking for you. Sneak out of the window or something, bro. Quickly!”
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