Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
There were a huge number of Ravi Guild members surrounding me, but I barely noticed them. I just glared at the Aman family with my spear held tightly in my right hand.
At that moment, Lagus fell to his knees in front of me and bowed his head. “I’m terribly sorry about this. I was the one who invited you… this is entirely my fault.”
“Ah…” Muskan dropped to her knees as well. “I apologize as well. I just…wanted you to help me free my friends and family from oppression…” she said, tears streaming down her face.
Watching them beg for my forgiveness somehow cooled down the anger that was boiling up to my eyes. The two people who pissed me off the most just threw themselves at my feet; it’d be wrong if I stayed angry and started killing everybody. The glass had already been spilt; what else could I do?
“Ha….” I sighed as I returned my spear into my inventory.
At Akashwi’s signal the guards left the tent and closed the flap. It wouldn’t be right to show the entire guild Lagus on his knees. I sat back down on my chair.
“Please forgive me. I was only thinking about myself. I just…”
A thought crossed my mind as I watched Muskan cry. How did someone like her obtain the Descendant of the God of Destruction? As far as I knew, random skills could only be received by devas who had fulfilled certain requirements. Random skills were something of a badge to prove to others just how strong someone was.
A random skill as powerful as the Descendant of the God of Destruction must have had some crazy requirements that only a powerful deva could fulfill, but I couldn’t see any sign of that powerful deva in the crying Muskan. She looked more pitiful than anything else.
Muskan’s will to better the lives of the Shudras and the Dilats was unchanging. I wasn’t scorning that will; I just disregarded it, as I was thinking only about myself. I put myself first, even though I had no idea what would happen to millions of people.
“Can you really not undo it?”
“No… I can’t.”
“Why didn’t you make a guild master of either the Sahtashwi Guild or the Beni-Kinant Guild a comrade?”
“They would have to be within three meters away from me… they would have also had someone else kill me, even if it meant they would incur a significant punishment. I am that much of a threat to them!”
I sighed heavily. “Then what’s this about a punishment.”
“I don’t know about that, either.”
A vein pulsed on my temple. “Then do you know about the reward?”
“I don’t…”
This woman was dead weight. Hell, she was useless from the start when she couldn’t keep quiet about her skill. She could have kept quiet about this whole thing and lived on a mountain in solitude until the skill was completely activated, and she would have been fine.
“I know what you’re worrying about, but I can assure you that everything will be taken care of.”
“You know what I’m worrying about?”
“Yes.”
I doubted she even understood why I turned her down in the first place.
“I won’t be able to do anything to you even after the skill is completely activated.”
“…”
“The same goes for Master Lagus here.”
“Because of the Comrade effect?”
“Yes. It is because of the Comrade effect and… anyway, it’s the truth. I won’t lie to you.”
I could see in her eyes a resolution I didn’t see before in her. It was pretty overwhelming.
“Mr. Lee, I trust Muskan with my life. If it turns out she is lying, then I will serve you for the rest of my life as your slave.”
“What are you saying, my son?!” Sandip shouted in shock.
“Brother, no!” Akaswhi stood up too, incredulous at what his older brother just uttered.
I was taken aback, as well. I knew the kind of man Lagus Aman was in the past. He would never go back on his word. It was only with that honor that Lagus could create and lead the Liberation Army to such greatness. It was that honor that made Lagus the Alpha and Omega of the Liberation Army.
“Our plan is to use the Manori Creek as the final line of our defense. We have nowhere else to go if we get pushed back farther than this point. We will hold out here until Muskan’s skill activates completely. It would be best if you leave this place now, Mr. Lee.” Lagus took a sip from his tea before continuing, “Should we lose, we will compensate you for whatever loss you incur from the Comrade effect. Should we win… well, you’ll get your reward either way.”
Lagus’s calm words made me feel a bit sheepish for getting that angry. However, I didn’t fully trust either of them yet. Muskan made a mess out of something so simple when she couldn’t protect her precious secret. Her head was too high in the clouds for something so serious.
However…for some reason, I was beginning to believe in her. That resolution in her eyes was strong.
After a few more words, I spoke up, “I’ll stay and observe the situation for now. I’m not… entirely convinced yet.” I wasn’t sure what I would do yet, but I didn’t want to miss history in the making. “By the way, there’s something I’ve been curious about. Wouldn’t it be better to leave India and go into hiding? I’m sure you have a Warp Scroll you can use.”
“No! That is impossible. If I do, then… the skill will fail,” Muskan quickly replied.
At the Manori Creek riverbank…
“All Ice Mages freeze the river.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Frozen Earth!”
A good chunk of the 20,000 soldiers were made up of Ice Mages. They gathered together and formed a solid bridge of ice across the four-kilometer river.
I crossed with the Amans and Muskan. Once we crossed, the soldiers made quick work of the ice bridge and destroyed it.
Unsure of what else to do, I ended up joining in on the Ravi Guild’s battle preparations.
“The Manori Creek is a strong river, but it won’t be enough to slow the enemy’s advances.”
“I know. They are definitely stronger than us; they won’t have much trouble crossing the river. But, should they form an ice bridge like we did, we can have our Fire Mages force them to lose a good chunk of their forces in the river. If we’re lucky, we can stop them for some time.”
“Agreed. It is the best option we have to hurt them, but if we want to stop both guilds completely we will need to deal with the two…”
“Hmm…”
“Ugh…”
I listened in as it seemed that there was a ray of hope for the Ravi Guild, but when they started talking about the two, whoever they were, the officers frowned and spat in annoyance. I kept listening in, but I had no idea who they were talking about.
In the past, the only famous person I had heard about n India, other than Gandhi, was Lagus Aman. I never heard about anyone else, even if they were part of the most powerful guild in India.
“It’ll be tough for Master Lagus to deal with both at the same time.”
“That Kiran bastard will be the more annoying of the two.”
“Damn that pest!”
The officers spat at Kiran’s name, but I noticed that they occasionally stole glances my way.
“Who is this other person, other than Kiran?” I was getting curious as to who these guys were now. Who were they that they could actually give Lagus a hard time?
“Kiran is from the Sahtaswhi Guild and Madadu is from the Behi-Kinant Guild.”
“Kiran is a deity who has the Equality skill.”
“Equality?”
“Yes. Equality is a skill that forces its target’s Stat points to be equally distributed across all five Stats. It can only be used on one person at a time.”
“It’s annoying skill for anyone, but it’s especially dangerous against mages. Fighter classes will lose out on precious attack power, but mages will completely lose their magic power if their INT and WIL are too low.”
-A skill like that actually exists?-
“There is a side effect to the skill. The user’s Stats all go to 1, rendering the user useless in a battle, but they’ll use it to take out our strongest player.”
That spelled trouble for the Ravi Guild. Lagus wouldn’t be able to use his Psychokinesis Random Skill to its full potential, and would become next to useless in the upcoming battle.
“Madadu is a summoner known as the Blade of Gluttony. He summons a giant, three-meter long sword, and knows how to use it, even though he’s a Summoner.”
“If Mr. Lee decides to join in, he will have to face Kiran. His Stats will be high enough to take that loss.”
“If you can take Kiran out, then the battle will be ours.”
“…” I didn’t say anything back as they fervently replied, as if they were waiting for my questions. I then locked eyes with Muskan, who was sitting off in the corner. Her eyes had no trace of nervousness or fear in them. They weren’t filled with malice, either. Her confidence… almost provided comfort for the upcoming battle.
“I’ll face Kiran,” I said to the officers.
I had no idea what the outcome of my decision would be. I did not know if I would come to regret this later, but a voice in the back of my head said that I had to fight. I had to help the Ravi Guild. No, I had to help Muskan, if I didn’t want to regret anything later on.
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