The note has been removed after a few days of it being up, I don't like keeping non-story things as a chapter.
"Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous."
― Frank Herbert
-To War by Jingo-
-Away Down South: Chapter 4-
The multi-colored luminescence that filled the sky began to slowly clear as the wave drew to a close. It's champion had been defeated, and nearly all of the interdimensional monsters had been slain, but even as the wave officially 'ended', the fissure in the sky was still mostly open. It was closing, yes, but the sheer size of the wound in reality, meant that it would take quite some time to fully heal.
But as long as it was open, interdimensional energy, mostly in the form of harmless radiation, would continue to spill from it, causing the strange colors that filled the sky.
Harmless to living things, but to the glitched out branch of the system that governed Will's party?
It caused a few… minor problems. Various subroutine errors and feedback loops that tended to add up when you weren't looking, and manifest themselves in very odd ways.
-[Large Tenebrae: Lv.19]-
Skills: [Flop]
Attack: 19
Defense: 19
Magic Attack: 19
Magic Defense: 19
Agility: 19
HP: 19
MP: 19
Worm, or "Teeny" as Tanya had once called it, as a play on Tenebrae, slithered its way along the ground, more akin to a snake than the worm it resembled. It was unable to see, it was unable to hear, Hell, it's brain was so simple that it couldn't even really think.
It wasn't aware that a world ending threat was even going on, it just did what it always had: move forward and look for food.
It truly was perhaps one of the most pathetic creatures. Naofumi, the shield hero, often lamented about his lack of attack power- how he only gained a single point in the stat for each level up. Teeny had that issue for every stat.
It was, both literally and metaphorically.
A Worm.
Teeny's relaxing jont was interrupted by a sharp pain in its side. A red balloon monster had decided it was in the mood for a snack, and had bit into the worm. Of course the worm didn't know this, it didn't even know what was attacking it, flailing around helplessly… It really was pathetic.
The balloon continued to bite down, and the worm wrapped itself around it's unseen attacker and squeezed down in a desperate attempt to save its life. Luckily, by being almost 16 levels above the balloon, it's attack stat just barely managed to overcome the thing's defense and HP stats, and it soon popped.
But there was one thing going for the worm, because it was such a 'lesser' creature, the XP ratio it needed to level up was considerably lower than normal, even staying the same across it's evolutions- pitiful evolutions that just continuously made it an ever so slightly bigger worm.
[!Level Up!]
[Level 20]
Attack: up 1
Defense: up 1
Magic Attack: up 1
Magic Defense: up 1
Agility: up 1
HP: up 1
MP: up 1
[Requirements Met]
[Evolution Unlocked: Greater Tenebrae]
[Evolution in Progress]
-[WARNING]-
-[INVALID TILE ID]-
-[WARNING]-
-[ERROR]-
-[ERRoR]-
-[EROr]-
[]
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[]
[Processing…]
-[WARNING]-
-[AUTO DEBUG INITIALIZED]-
[Processing…]
[Processing…]
-[WARNING]-
-[CODE STABILIZED]-
-[UPDATING STATUS]-
...
-[TenebrA[ERROR]: Lv 20]-
Skills: [n% I = W]
The worm sat in the dirt, letting off noises of static, and seemingly glitching in reality itself.
But when the noise died down, and the sparks fizzled away, the worm sat just as it had before, without any noticeable differences.
...only the slightest bit bigger.
… as if nothing had changed.
-To War By Jingo-
Will glared at the giant crack in the sky as it slowly closed. Try as he might, he hadn't actually managed to find any shards of reality that they had seen fall to earth, the general consensus was that they had disappeared or 'evaporated'... he'd just have to be faster next time. Maybe have a search team teleported with him, and send them out on the onset of everything.
And so he began to ramble mentally to himself, imagining what he could do with a fragment of reality itself, pointedly ignoring the blond figure approaching.
"Hey, Will!" Motoyasu smirked smugly, "Guess who survived?"
"Ren?"
"Well, yeah," The blond laughed as he pulled Will into a shoulder hug "But also me and you! And you owe me a favor!"
"Favor?" Will questioned, his brain trying to dig up what random thing the Spear was probably talking about. "Wait, you mean the girl!? Oh, for Christ's sake Motoyasu, only you could survive the apocalypse just for a skirt!"
"What can I say, I'm a guy with priorities!" Motoyasu laughed even harder as the southerner shoved him off. "Sooo," He grinned, "How did you get all these gorgeous babe's?"
"What's it to you?" Will asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, no need to get rash, I'm not gonna poach, just curious- honest!"
Will glanced back at his group, all three groups had rejoined, and they were currently doing standard post operation procedures. Such as trending injuries, doing role calls, checking equipment, and going over the supply situation. And an uncharacteristic smirk grew on his face, one of mirth.
"Which one grabbed your eye? Same as before right?"
"That's the one! The flat chested cat girl!" The playboy grinned as he recalled the memory "She's got a dump truck of a rear!"
Will laughed, his smirk gaining a cruel edge "You sure about that? Out of all of them?"
"Yeah, absolutely!"
"Ok, then… Chocolate! Where are you?"
At Will's call, a teenage neko demi-human peaked her head over a crate, revealing the rich chocolate colored hair that she had been named after, and two sapphire blue eyes. Walking around to the front, it was revealed that she had stripped out of the heavy plates and treated leather, of her armor, and was in a cloth undertunic.
"Yup, that's her!" Motoyasu purred, "I'd tap that, she's juuuust my type."
"Well she's a guy, so."
…
"Wait, what?"
Will laughed to himself as he walked off, leaving a distraught Motoyasu behind, who was still trying to process what he'd just heard.
The Bow Hero sent one last smug look over his shoulder, before tapping the cat 'girl' on the shoulder, pointing at Motoyasu, and whispering something to her that the Spear wasn't able to make out.
But whatever it was, it caused the trap to blush madly, and carefully glance at the blond, before sending him a nervous wave and a shy smile.
'Cute' Motoyasu absentmindedly thought, before his rationality caught up with his hormones, and slapping himself as he realized what it was he just thought.
-To War By Jingo-
*Two Hours later*
The royal celebration for repelling the wave lived up to its title, with golden chandeliers, a banquet of the finest foods from around the kingdom, expensive champagne straight from the royal cellars, and an entire orchestra playing in the background.
But as grandiose as the ball was, the royal grounds were only a third of the way filled up- and half of that was servants!
This wasn't because only a few people were coming or invited, but rather because it was taking so damn long to get them all through the door.
Each and every noble walked through the door single file, stopped at the top of the stairs with their partner (if they had one), and waited as a servant loudly announced their arrival to the room, and read off their entire title. And considering some of the oldest and more exuberant nobles had so many titles that they nearly took up an entire page- getting everyone inside was taking a while.
And speaking of long titles.
"Now announcing His Royal Highness, The King, Altcray, Charles, George, Melromarc, Earl of Lerso, Duke of Cera, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrawick, Baron of Renafew, Lord of the Land, Great Steward of Melromarc, Royal Knight of the most noble order of the Kingdom, Royal Knight Companion of the most Ancient and most noble order of the Thistle, Knight Grand Cross of the most honourable order of the Beth, Member of the order of Merit, Knight of the order of Stone, Companion of the Queen's service order, Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Councillors, Aide de Camp to Her Majesty Queen-"
Will tuned out the introduction of the King, who had decided to wait until a sizable number of people had arrived before being led in, presumably so he could boast all his numerous titles (many self-given) to more guests.
Luckily his conversation partner didn't care much for the king either, and was more than eager to ignore the announcement and resume their talk.
Lady Anabella von Terman, the eastern bulwark of the Verssian mountains, sipped from her wine glass as she turned and walked away from the King's entrance, gesturing for Will to follow.
The Lady Anabella, like the majority of the women in this world, was extraordinarily beautiful. She had long twisting golden hair, decently sized assets, fair skin, and piercing crimson eyes that struck fear into the hearts of men.
But to be frank, Will didn't care about any of that. Instead he was much more interested in who she was.
The last remaining Terman had several titles to her name, but the one she was most well known for, the bulwark, referenced the territory she owned. The Verssian mountains acted as Melromarc's border to the east, and was the first line of defense against the neighboring county of Zeltoble. Over the course of almost a century, the Terman's had turned the mountain range into a sprawling expanse of fortresses, walls, and outposts. The border project had originally been funded by the royalty, but had been expanded upon by the vast wealth of the Terman's. A vast wealth acquired due to the natural riches of the mountains and the abnormally high amount of ore veins that could be found there, with everything from iron to mythril being dug up and sold.
But there was also something else that was frequently dug up in these mountains, something the locals called Dragon's Blood. Scholars had long since proven that it wasn't actually the blood of dragons, but no one could figure out where exactly the stuff came from, so the old wive's tale persisted.
Dragon's Blood was incredibly detrimental to mining, because the liquid was thick, sticky, and most importantly of all, it had a tendency to catch fire and explode when magic was used on it. (Hence its namesake). But as much as Will liked the name 'Dragon's Blood', he preferred to call it something else.
Oil.
"So you were claiming you had a way to remove the foul gunk from my beloved mines?" Anabella questioned once they had gotten away from all the noise.
"Why yes, I am."
"And what makes you any different from the other hundred that have tried before?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Simple." William tapped his hat. "Knowledge, I happen to know what I'm doing."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, my family happens to have a reasonable amount of experience when it comes to dealing with, and extracting this material, much more so than any of the snake oil salesmen you've dealt with in the past." Will ignored her inquisitive look, questioning the unfamiliar term, and continued.
"For instance, the reason you haven't been able to get rid of it for good, is that you're only cleaning off the surface as it leaks out, of course it would just come back. From what you've described it sounds like there are multiple, very large, blood deposits under your mountains. Deposits that will continue to leak through the rock and into your mines more and more frequently as you go deeper, unless they are drained and removed."
Anabella clicked her tongue, not liking at all the picture Will had painted. "How deep do you think these 'deposits' are?"
"Depends." William hummed. "Usually they're quite far down, with an average of anywhere from 5,700 feet to over 6,000. But with the amount you're seeing, still relatively close to the surface, we could be looking at something under 3,000, perhaps even 2,000 if we're lucky."
"Lucky?"
"Erhm, unlucky, sorry slip of the tongue."
The Lady rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything further, instead steering back to business matters.
"How are you planning to remove these deposits? I won't pry into business secrets, but I at least need to know the basics. I won't allow any sort of magic based removal that uses above tier 2 spells, I don't need my entire territory going up in a ball of flame due to unstable magic setting the blood off."
"Don't worry," Will assured her. "I'm not going to be using anything of magical nature, instead I'll be relying on a mechanical device that was frequently used to remove this material back home."
"Hmm… How long would this take? As you most likely know, we've recently stumbled upon a large vein of adamantite that we won't be able to excavate until this is removed." She 'tch'ed "It doesn't matter how many slaves I send down there, the blood is all over the place, and in such volumes that it gets them sick in their lungs and kills them in due time. And with how long it takes to extract adamantite normally, being compounded by the blood, on top of not being able to use magic for extraction, continuing just isn't economic with the rate I'm losing slaves."
An odd feeling washed over her, and she turned to her conversation partner, but the man's smile hadn't moved an inch.
"I wouldn't be happy about it, but I would be willing to split you a small share of the profit if you can get this done in a timely manner."
"Ah, Ah, Ah, my Lady, it isn't speed which counts in these matters, it's reliability."
"Then what's the catch?" Anabella eyed him warily. "Why are you offering this service of yours for such a low price? Even a temporary removal of dragon's blood usually costs an arm and a leg."
"Cottoned on, have you?" William hummed while swirling the wine in his own glass. "First is the work itself. Simply being accepted to work for such a prestigious organisation such as yourself, will cause others to seek out my services. The second is the land my company will be working on," Will paused to sip his drink. "A condition of my services is a temporary lease of the plot that we'll use for the Dragon's Blood extraction, one that lasts beyond our initial operations, say five or so years in all."
Anabella paused mid step, and turned to regard William.
"You want to open a mine in my territory." The Lady accused.
"How astute." Will smiled.
Anabella glared at him, but turned the offer over in her head regardless. He'd remove the source of the damn blood that had been interrupting her mining for a rather low monetary cost, allowing several important projects to resume ahead of schedule, as well as opening other areas for extraction.
Most of his profit would come from opening his own mine on her territory and exploiting the mountains' famous mineral wealth, but even five years was nowhere near enough time to exhaust a mine with the richness of her mountains. After the lease expired, he would leave, and she would be left with a brand new mine that had all of its initial expenses paid for, while he would receive more offers of work for having worked with her.
At first glance it seemed like an absurd deal, but it really wasn't. Both parties would walk away with more than they started with, and nothing of real importance would be lost by either side in the long run.
And that damn smirk on his face told her that he quite well knew all of this already! And that he'd already written her off as agreeing!
Lady Anabella von Terman eyed William Dixie over, and reevaluated who exactly it was she was dealing with.
She cast aside her expectation of a headstrong heroic, and extended her hand to a well educated entrepreneur.
"Only a single mine," She spoke as they clasped hands ."And we evenly split the profits of anything at or above the level of Orichalcum."
"Deal." Will said as they shook. "I'd expect nothing less."
-To War By Jingo-
In the back of the ball, far away from the dance floor, away from chattering groups of politicking nobles, and the endless buffets of food, sat Lord Ferdison. Lord Ferd was different from the other nobles, he stook out like a sore thumb, and it wasn't just his outfit- 'though his suit was far less ornate than any other at the celebration.
No, Ferd stood out for quite a few reasons, and it all had to do with the land he owned. Pure blooded nobles tended to try to own territory as close to the capitol city as possible, it was seen as prestigious, the closer you were to the source of power, the more power you yourself had- at least in theory. But Lord Ferd, despite being from an incredibly old lineage, only owned land far to the south. Not only was it far from the capitol, it was also in the same territory as those peasant lords owned.
His family had tried many times to get land grants further north, but they just didn't have the money to follow up on it. The Ferdisons were poor, always had been, after all they may have had numerous mines, but all those had in them was coal.
And who the hell wanted coal?
It was just the poor man's fire magic.
They had a few iron veins that they'd stumbled upon, and that was good, better than coal at least, but still it was just obsolete. Iron simply couldn't compete with the other metals out there.
Against things like Mythril, Light metal, Alixandrite, Fire Quartz, it just couldn't stand up- especially when you factor in the really good stuff like Star Metal, Orichalcum, and Adamantite. Coal and Iron were only bought by people who couldn't afford to buy the more expensive stuff, which meant he had to sell it for dirt cheap.
So to sum everything up, Lord Ferdison was a poor noble who would continue to be poor, and wasn't worth the attention of anyone important… or at least he shouldn't be.
"Lord Ferdinson." William Dixie, the Hero of the Bow and the King's esteemed guest, smiled and held out a glass of wine to Ferd. "How goes the industry?"
"Ahhhhh…" Ferd slowly lowered the turkey leg that he'd been gorging himself on, back down to the platter that was full to the point of overflowing with the best food he ever had, and most likely ever would, eat.
Taking a moment to compose himself, and wipe the grease from his face with a napkin, Ferd tried to stamp down on his nerves, and took the offered glass with a shaky smile. "Sir Bow! The industry goes, uh, good? Is there something I can do for you?"
William hummed to himself as he stared down at the man in front of him. "I see you're not in the mood for small talk, so I'll just cut to the chase." He pulled out a chair and sat across from him. "I would like to purchase your mines, all of them, territory included."
Ferd stared at the man slack jawed, but Will continued before he could say anything.
"Coal and iron will never get you above where you are right now, stuck perpetually at the bottom rung, one financial mistake away from losing your noble title all together. I," Will pulled out a rolled up parchment and slid it across the table. "Can give you a way out."
Cautiously taking the paper, Ferd's eyes grew even wider as he read what was on it, or rather whose stamp was on it.
"I have recently gained a permit to open a single mine in the Verssian mountains for five years." Will smirked and spoke what he knew was running through Ferd's head. "A mine in those mountains can make more profit in five years than all of yours could in twenty."
He leaned back in his chair, and allowed the information to sink in before continuing. "The only issue is that I myself don't have the experience, knowledge, or materials to properly construct a mine. You, however, do." Will paused to sip his drink. "So of course the obvious course of action is to trade my permit for other mines that are already set up, mines that I would only have to supply my own manpower for, but could be left as is."
"So," Will held out his hand. "Do we have a deal?"
Ferd glared at the man across from him, and tried to find what angle he was playing.
"You…" He narrowed his eyes. "I know what you're doing. If I sell my land, I won't technically be a noble anymore. You want me to go and mine in those mountains and get all that wealth, so that when I come back to buy my lands and regain my noble status, you'll jack up the price. Get all the profit without putting in any of the work!"
William just tilted his head, and hummed.
Ferd grasped the man's hand and shook it with a wide grin. "Deal!"
Like Hell he'd just go and buy back that worthless land once he was done, this guy's idiocy would have him stuck exactly where Ferd had been for so long! He clearly didn't know business!
At least, that's what Ferd's mind told him, but as the man took back the parchment and walked away with a smirk, promising to send over a deed for him to sign… Ferd couldn't help but feel in his gut that he'd gotten ripped off.
-To War By Jingo-
"Yo Will! How's it hangin'?"
William sighed, apologised to the noble he had been discussing a joint stock company with, promised to get back to them, and turned to the guy who was still standing out like a sore thumb despite Will's best efforts.
The Spear Hero was, for once, not wearing his overly gaudy armor, but instead a finely pressed suit and a nice coat, both of which Will had bought for him on their way to the ball as a gesture of friendship.
He had also bought something similar for Ren, but the fact he never actually got around to finding out the Sword's gender had finally come around to bite him. Given his lack of time, and that straight up asking would make him look like an idiot, Will had decided to just buy both a dress and a suit for Ren.
But giving both at the same time would still be a bit too on the nose, so he had devised the brilliant plan of "flip a coin, given one at random, and if Ren questions it, say there was a mistake in the order, and give them the other one".
And considering he hadn't heard anything from Ren, it looks like his coin had gotten it right.
Yet another flawless win.
"Dude, sit down and stay awhile! This food is amazing, you gotta try it!" Motoyasu had somehow managed to get ahold of two of Will's men, and was eagerly waving Will over to join them at their table.
He sighed, but sat down all the same, only half listening as Motoyasu resumed his exaggerated tales of grandeur, using his spoon to mime his fighting.
Will was honestly torn. Motoyasu, it seemed, in the absence of females, was actually a pretty decent guy- giving off an almost stereotypical 'bro' vibe. But honestly it would have been better for him to stick with his womanizing shtick for the entire ball.
Motoyasu might have only seen the laughing faces of his companions as he tried to eat a noodle through his nose, but Will most certainly saw everything the fool was missing.
He saw the disgusted faces of the nobility around them, saw the doubt that was forming in their heads the longer they watched the Spear.
Feudalism was a purely bottom up system, with the powerful only being so by standing atop others. Nobles were only as rich as the peasants that worked their land could make them, Kings needed loyal nobility to stay in power, and Emperors relied on regional kings to carry out their will.
Melromarc may have had a Queen instead of a King, and no Emperor above her, but the system was the same- granted it was a horrendously inefficient system, but a clearly defined one nonetheless.
The King needed the support of the nobility if he wanted to keep his grip on power uncontested, and this ball was the first time that the nobility had a clear first hand look at the Heroes the king had been championing.
And from the looks they were giving Motoyasu, they weren't impressed… not at all.
Will stayed and chatted with his fellow Hero for a politically correct minimum amount of time, before excusing himself and moving on to more important discussions.
-To War By Jingo-
"Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous!" Jameuson Polt, a short noble with a chubby body, thick moustache, and loud voice laughed as he grabbed Will's hand and shook it vigorously.
"You have the full support of the Banking clans behind you and these investments of yours! I see nothing but a glowing future of profit for the both of us!" He laughed and let go of the handshake after keeping it going just a few seconds too long. "And I must say, Sir Dixie, you hold a much better conversation than your acquaintances would suggest!"
"Why thank you Lord Polt, I happen to pride myself on my speaking abilities, hearing such praise from a man of your stature, truly means a lot." Will laughed along with Polt, but his eyes drifted past the chubby man, and towards the direction of the 'acquaintances' that Polt had mentioned.
The King's decree had announced the ball, and invited all the Heroes and their parties as honored guests.
Unfortunately, it was clear that the King hadn't known Will's party consisted of 30 or so mercenaries that he'd bought for the cheapest he could get, and a bunch of Demihumans who had previously been slaves that would have been sold to people at this ball.
Needless to say, the result was expected. Will's small army had avoided as much contact with the nobility as they could, and had instead completely taken over one of the guest rooms. The only time the more formal guests saw any of them, was when small squads of drunk soldiers would come out to the venue with large trays to ferry more food back to their private party. But even though they couldn't see them, the loud hollering, cheering, laughing, and banging of fists on tables made it very clear that they were having a much more 'commoner' party than the Nobles were comfortable with.
But Will couldn't find it in himself to complain or tell them to quiet down, for being such a rushed job, the small army had performed their duties extraordinarily well.
-but they were just that. Rushed.
He much preferred to have people loyal to him, or at least loyal to something that only he could provide, rather than to just lining their pockets. Money was a great motivator, but it was hardly something rare to come by, and there were plenty of people who had more than him.
The freed Demihuman slaves had really hammered that fact home, executing his orders without doubt or hesitation- including when it came to actual executions. They made the hired hands, who weaseled out of him the most they possibly could and frequently questioned him about things, look not only incompetent but almost whiny in comparison.
"Don't worry, those are just temporary, I've only had so much time to work with after all. I plan on drafting a much more… capable force, in due time."
Polt stared at him for a moment before a wide grin spread across his face. "A man of ambition. I like it! Imagine one of you Heroes leading a real army! Ha! Brings me back to Melromarc's golden days!"
"Oh! Lord Hoover! Quick, come here old friend! I'd like to introduce you to Sir Dixie!" Polt laughed and clapped Will's shoulder. "Don't let his company fool you, this young man has a good head on his shoulders, and a fine mind in it!"
"William Dixie, pleasure to meet you." Will shook hands with a man he knew full well he might one day kill, and smiled.
-To War By Jingo-
It was clear that William was flourishing in this environment, surrounded by incredibly rich and influential people, who were not only completely blinded by their own superiority complexes, but who were also several hundred years of education behind him, allowing him to run circles around them and essentially "business" them into giving him whatever he wanted.
Iwatani Naofumi was doing precisely the exact opposite.
He sat alone in a corner, angrily chewing on some food, while glaring at everyone who walked by, and waving off Raphtalia whenever she tried to talk to him.
The logical part of Will's brain told him he should be happy that a potential competitor was squandering this opportunity, and ruthlessly take advantage of all the business openings his opponent was inadvertently opening for him.
But a different part of him, something deep in his chest went against all that logic.
It was angry.
This was one of the fabled Heroes that would save the world!? He was dressed like a thug! And he acted the part too!
Motoyasu may have looked like an idiot, but at least he was trying.
And Ren obviously had obviously recognized social gathering wasn't their strong suit, and simply hadn't shown up, sending their party in their stead.
But Naofumi?
He had shown up looking like a barbarian, brought his slave with him, said the food tasted bad, and disrespected everyone around him.
It was a joke.
It was a direct mockery to the 20 years of work Will had put in to get to the level he was at.
And it pissed him off. Filling his vision with blinding hot anger, the same that had overcome him on the hill when they were summoned for the wave.
But the logical part of his brain was still strong enough to suppress this mindless anger, and do what it did best.
Think.
He wasn't usually an angry person, well, at least not this type of anger, this blinding rage. A cold anger can be harnessed, focused to a point and sharpened to a deadly blade. Cold anger, Fury, enhanced higher thought, it bred ever more ruthless ideas and ways of advancement. Hot anger, Wrath, was often said to give you greater strength, but that was simply not true. All it was is a blindfold, something that made you lose focus of the larger picture, and as such cost you any chance of a greater victory.
The former was something he was quite accustomed to from time to time, the latter was not.
And it was quite obvious what was causing it- and no, it was not Naofumi. He was a pest, yes, and someone who he did hold a personal grudge against, both for his crimes and how the Shield had somehow managed to deceive him. But at the end of the day, he was just that, an annoyance, nothing more.
When you take away all the glamour, the flashy magic, and the gilded setting, there was only a single real key difference between his life before being summoned and since.
The system. The Status Magic that allowed people to access it, belittled just how large in scope the system truly was, something that governed the very laws of reality in this dimension.
And there was little doubt in his mind that the thing could very easily mess with someone's head, if it wanted to.
He wouldn't let some bugged out, stupid system tell him how to think. He was better than that! And if it honestly thought he of all people would fall to such a blatant manipulation, then the damn thing was even dumber than he thought.
[Curse Series Value Updated]
[ID Value:"Cur-Wra"=46% / ID Value:"Cur-Wra"=5%]
[ID Value:"Cur-Pri"=39% / ID Value:"Cur-Pri"=67%]
[ID Value:"Cur-Gre"=24% / ID Value:"Cur-Gre"=24%]
Will paused, and looked around, almost certain that he'd heard some sort of chime. But he shook his head and put back on his professional mask as he saw Motoyasu shoving his way through the crowd of nobles, a harsh scowl on his face.
It was time to show the system just why cold anger was so much more useful than its counterpart. Brute forcing the issue with rage would never free that poor slave girl, but a well laid out plan? That might just do it.
"Motoyasu! My friend!" Will cried as he stepped into the Spear's path, holding out his arms to stop him. "Dreadful, absolutely dreadful news, my friend." He sighed deeply and dropped his arms. "It's Naofumi he- I just saw it- he- he's enslaved a girl! And he brought her to the ball!" Will tipped his hat down to cover his eyes and shook his head. "He has the poor girl running around with that damned slave crest on display! Showing her off, like- like some sort of trophy!"
He reached out and shook Motoyasu's shoulder. "I- I'm just the Bow, he won't listen to me! Please! You're the Spear Hero! Much stronger than I! Y-You must do something! Now, I have an idea, but-"
"Don't worry bud." Motoyasu brushed Will's hand off his shoulder with a dead serious expression, and nodded to him as he walked past. "Myne already told me everything, I'm going to fix this. Trust me."
William watched with no small amount of shock as Motoyasu walked away, looking, for the first time ever, like the Hero he was actually supposed to be.
But his mind was caught on one specific detail.
"Myne, Myne, Myne…" The southerner's eyes slid over to the royal balcony, where an unmistakable bob of crimson hair sat, only to find that she was staring right back at him.
"So… it seems that another player has decided to make a move." He narrowed his eyes. "Well then, Princess, let's play."
-End Chapter-
What? Did you think I was joking when I said I was gonna give Worm a bigger part in the story?
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
Also, shout out to: 'goofball305' who brought up "Hostis Humani Generis" from Admiralty law, before I got to mention it in the story.
You are well read, my friend.