Godfather's System -
051. Crucible - 28
As we walked back to the camp, we stopped by Jertann and Terma. "Are you feeling fine already, old man?" Terma shouted the moment he noticed our approach, his excitement booming.
"Brother, be careful," Jertann called as he rushed forward and slammed his hammer, taking down the beast that was rushing towards Terma. A big mistake, one that Jertann was already admonishing him for, so I let that slide.
"How's it going, boys?" I asked.
"Excellent," Terma said. "Can you believe I'm almost about to get my second promotion so soon? It must be some kind of record. Unbelievable."
"What a great achievement," I said, smiling at his enthusiasm. I could have mentioned that there were many teenagers who had received the same help, probably earlier in their lives, enjoying much more significant support than a sole brother, but I kept my mouth shut.
No need to rain on his parade.
"How long until you receive the promotion?" I asked.
"We're still a bit far away," Jertann commented. "At least half a day, maybe a day if we're unlucky and not a lot of monsters attack."
Zolast sighed. "I don't think that it'll be unlucky if we don't experience a lot of monster attacks."
"What do you mean?" Jertann said.
"I'm sure that whatever was keeping the larger monsters away from us is finally gone, and from now on, we will be dealing with more attacks," Zolast explained.
Jertann frowned. "Are you sure? Even now, the number of attacks we're suffering has reached a point we have never experienced, and I've been hunting for almost a decade."
Zolast sighed again, a feeling that I shared. Watching him interact with the others like a natural leader made it easy to forget that, despite all of his natural talent, Jertann was still new to the concept of leadership, and his strategic thinking was nonexistent.
Zolast took it to himself to explain the problem. "Back then, the plains were filled with settlements, and, with convenient walls and endless hunting groups. Without them, things would be different." He stopped to shudder. "I won't be surprised if the land experiences its first beast wave in less than a month."
From Jertann and Terma's intense reaction as they had just seen a ghost, I guessed they were talking about some kind of disaster — though the name made it easy to guess its nature. These monsters were dangerous, and I could easily imagine thousands of them rushing forward relentlessly, covering the land and the sky.
Not a pleasant image.
"We need to set up larger patrol groups, then," Jertann commented. "Maybe we should reach for the other groups for cooperation. They should have already realized their mistake."
"Maybe wait until Terma gets his promotion," I commented. "The stronger we are, the smoother the discussion will go." I could have given him more advice, but I kept myself back, and this time, it was not just an effort to downplay my abilities.
My sudden inability to hear anything from some of the tents in the Green section made me suspicious. I wanted to stay free so that I could keep my attention in that direction. All I needed was to create an excuse for me to stay at the camp.
And, what better way to do that than starting a business close to the Greens, one that would give me the excuse to stay closer to the edge of the camp as well as to test my enhanced Charisma?
I looked at Zolast. "I'm going to start working on our urgent need for silver," I said, using that as an excuse for my new operation. I didn't want anyone to realize where I was poking.
Hiding secrets from allies was not a good feeling, but it was necessary. Even sharing it with Zolast — who I was convinced could keep secrets — would require revealing more abilities than I was comfortable with at this moment, and the less said about Jertann and Terma, the better. They could never keep a secret.
Oh, I was confident that, if I told them the importance of the secret, they would actually keep their mouth shut. Jertann in particular, might even keep his mouth shut under torture. Unfortunately, that was useless when their actions would reveal the situation. If they knew my secret, the way they act around me would change … and that would be transparent to anyone with an eye for the secrets.
Gathering information was an art, it was subtler than smashing knees until someone started to talk.
With that decided, I left Zolast with them to brainstorm about how to protect the camp better and walked back.
As I walked back, I expanded the web of Charisma carefully towards the fighters.
[+9 Experience]
[+6 Experience]
…
[+7 Experience]
Not particularly significant in any line, but the sheer number was enough to change the equation. Especially since, after the latest improvement, I was able to extend the web to a hundred people before holding it started to become straining.
A much better way to collect experience … not only it was more efficient than actually going a solo hunt, but also it had the added benefit of creating an alibi for me.
With that decided, I walked around the camp and saw two large gambling operations, one with the Reds, the other with the Greens. I decided to probe the Greens first. I strolled into their camp confidently. Too confidently, even, acting like a bruiser that had just been promoted, willing to use his authority in not-so-smart ways.
"Enough playing boys," I called as I sank my halberd on the floor, right in the middle of the game that was going on. "From now on, gambling is forbidden anywhere but the blue camp," I called. "Unless you want to get punished, of course."
I stood still, my chest out, my hands at my back, radiating intense confidence, bordering on foolishness. I was challenging them for a fight that I was — seemingly — unprepared for. Even with my earlier achievements, neither the Reds nor Blacks would have let a challenge like that go.
Yet, I noticed two of the Green fighters look at another, unassuming young man. It was a subtle move, one that I would have missed even with my Perception if I wasn't looking for it. The young man nodded subtly, and the fighters pulled back.
"If that's what the Blues want," one of them admitted. "Game is dispersed!" he shouted.
That shout didn't go well for most of the Greens. Quite a few started to grumble in annoyance, a few of them whispering about teaching arrogant old men their deserved lessons, but their leaders were quick to squish those murmurs before they could gather a dangerous momentum. This was a good sign of leadership, sentiments like that tended to grow dangerous.
I waited for a moment, still radiating the same confidence, waiting to see if one of them would react. None did. "Excellent," I said as I went and grabbed my halberd, not even bothering to look at them as I pulled my weapon and left, unafraid of any sneak attack. I was ready to react to any sudden movement, of course, but they didn't know.
Yet, as I walked towards the line that separated the Blues from the Greens, my smirk was more of an act than a genuine feeling.
I didn't like what I had seen in that camp.
Most of the Greens acted as I expected. Brash, was ready to challenge the interloper from a rival organization even if that rival organization was stronger. That part didn't surprise me. Most of them were too young to understand the risks of such a move in the first place.
No, what annoyed me was the very efficient their leadership had managed to recognize and defuse that danger. It was not a level of competency I had expected in a random refugee group. Worse, only a few of them showed that competency, and did so while trying their best to stay concealed.
It was only luck that I managed to identify their true leader in the first place.
Their competency combined with their reticence didn't tell a good story, especially when they're combined with their magical tents blocking sound. On the surface, there was nothing in this camp that would actually be worth their time.
Technically, they might be after the refugees. Manpower had always a certain amount of worth even back on Earth, and there, killing monsters didn't suddenly turn people into superheroes. Several thousands of adrift people with no real leadership had a certain amount of value.
Unfortunately, if that had been their objective, they would have already started establishing feelers towards other groups, and done their best to break our sudden growth of ours. With Jertann's sudden power and his proven ability to raise others to his level, the hold of the Blues on the camp would only get stronger. If they wanted the refugees, it was time for them to act.
The last thing they would do was let go of my direct challenge. It was the main reason I had chosen to challenge them first about gambling rather than the other two groups. I wanted an answer about their aims and objectives.
Their inaction gave me that answer. Too bad it only raised more questions.
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