CHAPTER 40

A cube comes out of the ground. A white dot appears on one side of the cube. The dot moves in a circle. It tries to form a circle but it ended up making a spiral. The spiral grows and grows until it reaches the edge of its square. Underneath the cube, white roots grow. A white stalk grows from the roots to hold the cube. It grows taller and taller and it stops. The spiral turns into static.

So that’s how a Contractuary grows.

Wait! That means that Submissing Freedom on the catatonic knights should be dispelled by now!

As I descend further into the bunker, I can hear screams. Something is wrong. Based on the two sources of information I have, the target of Submissing Freedoom can remember everything they experienced during their enslavement. The first possibility is that they can’t take it anymore. They simply end their suffering permanently. Second, they are actually loyal to the empire. That would imply that they’re killing Nostramounts that are overseeing them. Third, they hate Nostramounts because to them, the Nostramounts don’t belong in this world. That’ll still lead to my troops died.

We had a discussion about this within my group. We called the catatonic knights as Remaining Dough. You can thank Nostrades and Nostreidon for that. One one side, they didn’t go through Sorcerous Lake for us to check their intentions. Therefore we cannot determine whether they are an enemy or ally.

However, there is another side. My side. We will need to see the effects of Contractuary ourselves. There was precedence to the case but the results are inconclusive. Each victim will be unpredictable for weeks. Some won’t even survive that. They might be too conflicted between their slave lives and free lives. We should let the Remaining Dough decides for themselves. We’ve already disarmed them, but if they ever decided to be violent, we’ll meet it with equal force.

Whichever the result is, I should be in battle mode. Helmet covers my head. Arms itching to pop the blades from the gauntlets. Nostrades, Nostreidon, and the rest are prepared too.

Here we go.

It turns out that the first possibility is the correct one. More than half of the former knights have fatal injuries. Self-inflicted too. I hope that their suffering is truly over. By my headcount, 30 remains.

“Thank you,” says one of the former knight. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I say. “I hope that you don’t mind eating only vegetables for a while. That’s all we have.”

“We’re sorry. We’re sorry.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

“What’s going on right now?”

They should know. They can remember everything that happened during their slavery. Other than the destruction of the obsidian wall and the growth of a Contractuary, there’s nothing left to say to them.

“We are going to stay inside this bunker until Tyfobius stopped.”

“Tyfobius? Tyfobius?”

“Yes. Tyfobius. This is the only bunker in this area that should be able to withstand it. You may live with us or you may leave. You’re free now. The decision is yours.”

The Remaining Dough looks at their unbreathing breathrens. They still have the option to stop their own lives. I won’t stop that as long as they won’t turn their back on us. They discuss the options among them. If they’re planning a coup, we’ve already took the Lapis Lazarus armors and locked it up in this bunker. From where they’re standing, they won’t reach it without going through us. They can’t win without it. All of them are also Ambrousian. They have an extra life but they can’t summon any weapon to fight like Nostramount. All of them have the red streak on their hair. They can’t do the purple beam. They have no offensive option right now.

The discussion is over. The verdict?

“We’ll go,” says the leader of the Remaining Dough. “We’ll go out.”

They walk out of the bunker. They must’ve known how to operate this bunker during their slavery time. Goodbye it is then.

According to my suit, it’s almost dusk. Everyone in my team already knows what they should do. My shift for today is to lock the bunker. If this is fiction, this is the time for the Remaining Dough to betray us. They could be waiting to ambush me near the entrance. My cubes are ready. Steam is waiting for my order. My suit is preparing the blades from the gauntlets. Bring it! Bring the plot twist!

Nothing.

They’re not there to ambush me. They’re out there living in the ruins of Bread Village. That’s their decision. I lock the bunker as usual. After that, I can go to sleep and wait for—

It’s the sixth day. Time to follow routine.

Headcount, 15. At least we’re not ambushed during our sleep. Vertical farm is also fine. Armors untouched. We eat vegetables as usual. Checking information. It seems that the Tyfobius will be ready to launch tomorrow. The armies is already near the expected blast range. They are ready to swoop in tomorrow. Bunker’s entrance, locked. Maybe the Remaining Dough does stay out of our way. There’s no report in the empire about any refugees. That means that the Remaining Dough should still be in the blast radius. They picked this lifestyle. There’s no point in stopping them.

I open the entrance. Nothing so far. As usual, 10 of us will be outside. Although for today, we don’t exactly have anything to do. The obsidians have been destroyed. We can just take the day off and enjoy the scenery. The Contractuary is still fine. In fact, there’s two of them now. The third one is still growing. At least this means that the Remaining Dough didn’t chop them off.

Rumbling. Something is moving.

Our bike-turrets! The Remaining Dough is riding them! They were hiding behind Contractuaries!

“Give the bunker. Give the bunker to us and no one gets hurt.”

You will die on this hill huh? Bring it!

I’m the only one that has the suit since no one else can disable the tracking system. I’m the only one with Steam Sapien to make steam. I’m the only one that can see through my steam due to my helmet. My team have survived the battle against Ambrous Knight while having lesser number and equipment. I believe that they can survive the odds here. 10 against 30. 6 of my bike-turrets. The other 24 only have makeshift weapons from this village.

The turrets start the shoot. I take the center stage by putting my body in the crossfire. Two of the turrets are shooting at me. My steam clouds the stage. Remaining Dough cannot find the rest of my team. Therefore, they focus all of their shots to me as I’m the star of the show.

My solid steam breaks. My armor breaks. My body breaks. My will to fight still goes on.

The shooting slows down. 5, 4, 3, 2, none. The remaining Remaining Dough run away. Pathetic! Are all Ambrousians this worthless? First there’s that purple beam knight that wouldn’t even have a talk with me. Now this Dough running away? I’m ashamed that Ambrousian is one of my species.

Ouch! It’s hard to move in this body. Time for a revival.