Chapter 25 - An Unwelcome Promotion

[Three months ago, In Tanshy]

“So, what do you say?” Rael asked, still waiting for Tiberius to accept his deal.

"I don't know," he said, lowering his eyes. “I do not approve of killing someone, even if it sends me back.”

“So you don’t want to go back?” Rael pulled his hand back and scratched his head.

"I'm not sure," he said. "Look. I'm happy here, aside from what you've shown me. I mean it. For the first time in my life, I was able to work and enjoy life in the past two months. In my world, I have to work a minimum of eight hours a day in a room for a salary that prevents me from getting a good night's sleep. I don't even include shitty boss.

“But here, you are in danger,” Rael added. “This world may look like a better place, but as long as you are alive, there is always risk of danger. Especially if they find a way to use you.”

“Maybe there is a way to explain this to people, huh?” he questioned.

“Explain what?”

"That I am of no use. I am an anomaly. I'm not even regarded as a threat to Tanshy or the people of this world. Maybe they would understand, wouldn’t they?” He raised his eyebrows with slight excitement.

“Too naive,” Rael said, turning back and walking. “I don’t know how it works in your world, but here, talking to people doesn’t solve issues. You should shove it down their throats. If necessary, suffocate them with it so they can understand. Here, strong rules, not the one with hope.”

“As if either of them works in my world. Your strength is irrelevant. Your influence is the only one that does. And it is not something you can gain from zero and surpass those at the top. Because the second they feel threatened by your existence, you will disappear without a sign. Your strength only matters in video games.”

Then, with a look on his face as though he had a brilliant idea, Rael stopped moving and turned around. “Do that here.”

“Do what here?”

“The video game thing. You said that only your strength matters there, correct? Do it here. Whatever type of game it is, let’s do it here, in this world.” He explained.

“That is not how it wo—”

“Do you need to get stronger to beat the game?” Rael interrupted him.

“Yes.”

“Is there an end goal in your video games?”

“Most of the time, yes. There are missions to complete.”

“Great. This…” he showed the crystal again, “…will help you get stronger and I will give you missions. You get stronger, protect yourself, and maybe go back to your world. And I get what I want.”

“I—”

"And we will not kill anyone," Rael stated.

Tiberius only took a brief pause now. For two main reasons, he has been rejecting this idea: first, he feels compelled to harm someone, and second, his life essence is being drawn. The first one, though, was more difficult for him to handle. And something clicked in him when Rael said that they wouldn't kill anyone.

He held out his arm and said, "Only if we don't kill anyone."

Rael immediately shook his hand. “No killing it is,” he smiled. “It is a deal then.”

“Yes,” Tiberius smiled back. “But I have no idea what we should do.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I am here to help with that. Let’s go back to Jack.”

“Okay,” he replied, and followed him.

It took them half an hour to arrive where Jack was. At first, though, they were unable to see him. They searched the area for him, but he was not there. Out of the bushes nearby, they heard him call out to them. To keep himself and the carriage safe, he had temporarily made himself invisible to others using Illusion.

When he saw Rael and Tiberius, he showed himself and asked if they could return to their camp. He appeared tired from all of the events and the constant high use of mana.

…

Nobody said a word on the way to camp. Rael was napping again after eating some fruits, and Tiberius was still examining the crystal. To learn as much as he could on his own, he would occasionally collect mana on his hand, finger, or entire arm. In his brief training, he was able to maintain his identity and did not feel as though he was drowning. So Rael’s words of ‘essence drawing’ seemed a bit exaggerated.

After a few attempts, he became bored and looked out the carriage window. He did see a similar view. Absurd and dangerous monsters, hunting or just silently enjoying their meal. But none scared or amazed him anymore. The scene he saw a while back, the bodies in the pit, all the murdered, tortured children’s bodies… They were carved inside his mind. Every time he was closing his eyes, he would see them. He realized it would take some time for that scene to fade from his mind, if it ever did.

…

"We are about to land," said Jack, informing Tiberius, who was aware that they were approaching camp.

They slowly landed a bit away from the camp tents, since everyone was outside.

“They are back,” screamed some, informing everyone at the camp of their arrival. Hearing this, everyone slowly gathered around the carriage.

“Hey,” Tiberius poked Rael. “Wake up, we are at the camp.”

Rael murmured and lifted his head a bit, “Already?”

“Yes, already. You are being a bad example to the kids by sleeping too much.” Tiberius joked.

“As if you would understand,” Rael said, getting out of the carriage.

“How was your trip?” asked Luke, one of the camp members.

“Good. Matter of fact, better than I expected.” Rael said.

“How come?” Luke questioned.

“Well, listen here, everyone.” He called, “From now on, Tiberius will be living in this camp.”

“Wasn’t he already doing it?” Jack said this as he got down.

"But not as a guest anymore," Rael replied, patting Tiberius' back. "From now on, he will serve as our camp's vice captain. He'll be in charge of everything after me."

“What?!” The crowd erupted in disbelief.

"You gotta be joking," Luke said, drawing closer.

"Yes, he must be joking," Tiberius said, looking at Rael with wide eyes. "We did not discuss this."

"We did not have to. I just decided that, and I think everyone will accept it as is." Rael added.

There were many who disagreed with this. People who had been in this camp for more than a year knew how their system operated, so they found it ridiculous when someone jumped into the vice-captain position out of the blue.

However, before they could say or complain about it, their attention was drawn to something else. An arrow flew over them, fast enough to be barely visible to the naked eye, targeting Tiberius, who was unable to react.

As the arrow was about to hit him, with just an inch left, Rael caught it barehanded and broke it before the eyes of Tiberius.

“What was that?” Tiberius stepped back.

Rael did not respond but instead smiled, as did everyone else when they realized who had shot the arrow.

"They're back!" they screamed, rushing toward nearby trees, where a few people were seen standing on top of them.

“Who are they?” Tiberius asked, with a slight fear in his voice.

“Our explorers,” he replied.

They both felt their bones tremble a little as he spoke. When they looked ahead, they noticed a large ice platform appear out of thin air from the trees where the explorers were standing. Rael and Tiberius were only a meter away from where the platform ended.

Explorers suddenly jumped out of the tree and slid through the ice platform, all of them standing in front of Rael.

“So you say this guy is gonna be the captain?” the girl said with an insulting tone. She stood in front of Tiberius, looking directly at him in the eye. “This guy doesn’t even have mana, from what we heard. No mana, no magic, no specialty, no martial arts. What makes him worthy of being captain?”

“Everyone starts from somewhere, right?” Rael got between them, feeling the high tension.

"However, not everyone starts as vice captain... What is the reason?” she asked.

"That is something I'd rather not tell you," Rael said, returning her gaze.

"I barely tolerate you, and now you expect me to accept this guy?" She continued to stare at him, and Rael did not seem to respond.

"Hey," said Felix, "calm down a little. There is no need to rush things." He stepped in between them.

“He is right, Layla,” said another explorer. “Since when have we cared about the captain’s orders? Vice-captain won’t matter anyway,” she added. She did not sound annoyed or mad, unlike Layla, but did not seem to be happy about the decision either. However, she abruptly shifted to the side when she spotted Maria running toward her. "Maria, how is my favorite girl?"

Layla looked in her direction, "Can't even focus for more than a minute, can you?" She muttered annoyedly. Then he turned back, saying, "I will not accept anyone like him as my captain."

“You said you wouldn’t accept me either,” Rael smirked.

She let out a loud breath and turned back. “He better have use, or the next arrow will go through his heart.”

Only after hearing her words did Tiberius realize who had shot the arrow. "I don't wanna be vice-captain," he said, placing his hand on Rael's shoulder. "It is not a title I can take simply because I accepted your offer."

"What's the deal?" inquired the explorer, who had just gotten between Layla and Rael.

“I didn’t wanna say it here and now, but anyway. Tiberius will help us to end all this God bullshit.”

‘Language!” all the explorers said at once.

“Is that how you talk next to kids when we are not here?” she said, holding Maria’s ears.

“Anyway,” Rael continued. "Our agreement states that, as long as we don't kill anyone, Tiberius will assist us in defeating gods. Also, if possible, we will send him back to his own world and restore everything to its original state."

“Then why should we or he trust your deal when you did not even keep yours with us?” The explorer next to Maria patted her head and walked toward Rael. “We made a deal that your actions would not involve any of the kids here. We give you info and you save kids. That is all there is. But you couldn’t even keep your word. Had to go for something, putting kids in danger?”

"Let us not discuss this in front of the children," Rael said. Then he turned to Tiberius and said, "Let's head to my room."

“Classic Rael.” she said, “When things doesn’t go in his way—”

“My room. NOW!” he ordered, raising his voice.