Godfather's System

055. Establishment - 02

I stood still for a moment as the camp burst into action, trying to decide what to focus on first. I was spoiled for choice. There was the young, panicking noble and his injured knight, the rest of their retainers gone; the Greens were acting suspicious enough to earn some of my attention; the camp was showing signs of chaos as the realization that they had just been conscripted for a dangerous mission…

I followed Karak, his balance ruined by the absence of his right arm, disappearing just an inch below his shoulder.

In this new world, I found myself in, the young man was one of the few that I might tentatively call a friend in this new world — a little fast for me, but the exceptional nature of my situation was enough to break my usual habits — and it was not for me to leave him to wallow.

And wallow, he did. His stoic attitude was enough to hide his attitude from most people, but I didn't need the benefits of the System to read the hesitancy of his steps that went further than the lack of balance. No, he clearly didn't want to face the others.

I walked to his side, and he turned, his mouth open, ready to answer my question despite his unwillingness. I just nodded, and started walking next to him in silence. He looked at me questioningly for a second, then responded with another nod, the tightness of his face getting slightly lighter.

We walked slowly even as the camp exploded into chaos around us. Refugees were not used to receiving orders from nobles, each carrying the weight of Charisma to add some compulsion.

Since I was walking next to Karak silently as mental support, I was free to examine the effect of Charisma. It wasn't the first time I was feeling the impact of the Charisma when used to order, but my increased Stats allowed me to get a better sense of the nuances. Moreover, I had been using my Charisma almost non-stop for the last few days to get a share of Experience from the hunter teams, which gave me some practical experience.

I could sense that the difference between the two uses was great. The way I used Charisma was a thin string, creating a connection between me and the others, an ephemeral connection that had no function other than maintaining a link — one that was enough to somehow convince the System that I played a role in the death of the beasts, and rewarded me with a percentage of the experience in turn.

Compared to the thin web of connection, the Charisma orders might as well be a sledgehammer, slamming against the targets without subtlety. And, as with everything else, it was skill-based, there was little variation between the blows other than the difference in intensity, always landing in the same metaphorical shape.

It was interesting to watch … and beneficial for me. The type and duration of the order didn't make any difference in the Charisma component, so it should be easier for me to decipher that truly as well.

"Karak!" shouted a familiar voice, his worry trick, distracting me from my pondering.

Jertann.

"Hey," Karak answered as he paused for a moment, then raised his left arm for a wave. Poor boy, he probably tried to wave with his right arm first.

"What happened," Jertann walked.

"We're ordered not to talk about it," Karak answered, the intensity of his tenseness suggesting that whatever happened hadn't been a pleasant affair — not that it was hard to guess with only a dozen people returning from hundreds that left for the mission of hunting the giant tiger.

I had no doubt that his order was reinforced with Charisma, and while the effect faded with time — another thing I had noticed — that didn't mean it was trivial to break the compulsion, especially when combined with the cultural expectations.

With Jertann here, I decided to give them a little space. "Why don't I go and oversee their packing. I don't want them to ruin things."

"Employees?" Karak asked, surprised.

"Since there was nothing to do, I decided to build a small enterprise to pass the time," I explained. "As a decrepit old man, I can't just run around constantly."

Karak nodded, chuckling a bit at the way I referred to myself. Still, he relaxed a bit, which was all I could do for him at the moment. His childhood friend would provide him better emotional support. Instead, I drifted toward the center of the Blues, ready to intervene in case of an emergency. I gave my employees a few orders about how to set up the cart near the edge so that they could still contribute to the defenses.

Some of them grumbled a bit, but the possibility of the Promotion was an excellent carrot to motivate them. I needed them fighting, as camping was dangerous enough. Moving without the other camps to distract the monsters would be even more perilous. Every little bit helped.

After that, I drifted toward the center of the camp, ready to intervene in case of an emergency in Jertann's absence. I didn't want their discussion to be interrupted.

And, I was quick to notice a potential source of interruption. Terma, who had probably just heard the news, dashing forward. I walked to interrupt him. "Hello, boy," I called.

"Euon! Is the news about Karak true?" he asked, panicking.

"About his arm … it's true," I said.

"No! I need to see him," he gasped, ready to dash forward. I grabbed his arm to stop him. He tried to pull away, but my grip was firm. "What are you doing, let me go!"

"Your brother is already with him, and they are talking. Leave them to their talk," I suggested.

"But —" he started, only to fall silent under my sharp gaze.

"I know how you feel, but it's for the best if they talked a bit. Meanwhile, why don't you patrol the camp to make sure no accident happens. That way, there won't be any emergency to distract your brother, and he can help Karak."

Terma gave me a petulant glare at my suggestion. Understandable, as he was still a teenager, and his most recent power-up didn't make him any easier to handle. Since his promotion, he was always zapping around the camp, distracting people. It was annoying, enough to make people dislike him strongly if he didn't use the same speed to intervene whenever a group was about to suffer against a dangerous beast.

Saving lives was more than enough to compensate for the annoyance.

"You don't want to cause problems for your brother, do you?" I asked, which was enough to earn his compliance. Though, that didn't prevent him from grumbling as he dashed away. At a distance, I could still see Jertann and Karak talking, but even with Perception, they were too far away for me to eavesdrop.

I could have walked closer, but I stayed at a distance, respecting their privacy, even when Zolast joined them temporarily, putting his hands on Karak's stump, no doubt checking his injury. I had no idea exactly what Zolast was looking for, but it wouldn't be the first time he revealed a mysterious ability.

Maybe he could fix the lack of an arm. Unfortunately, he soon shook his head, and Karak sighed in disappointment. Apparently, it was not the case.

Zolast must have shared my opinion about the situation and trusted Jertann to talk with Karak, and walked away. Instead, he walked toward me. As I waited for him to arrive, I continued paying attention to the camp.

Soon, he was next to me, his expression grimmer than I had ever seen. "You heard the news?" he asked.

"Which one?" I asked, chuckling darkly. "There are many. Karak's misfortune, the sudden order to defend the breach, the loss of the hunting team, the order to keep the nature of the event hidden…"

"I see," Zolast said, and he looked around a bit, before he raised his hand. Suddenly, the sounds of the camp dampened like we were underwater. And, since Zolast was the source, it stood to reason that it also prevented eavesdropping.josei

Another interesting ability from him, but at this point, not too surprising.

"I'm guessing you want to know what I want to do," I asked. Zolast nodded. "I don't know," I frankly answered.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Zolast answered, surprised.

"I need to understand the implications of the breach first," I said. "Only then, I could decide if it's a better idea to stay or leave."

"I see," Zolast answered, his face still blank. "And what if the breach is too strong to be handled?"

I shook my head. "That's not possible," I said, refuting it immediately.

"What do you mean?" Zolast asked, though he was not surprised, suggesting that he already reached the same conclusion. Or, even more likely, he knew enough what a breach was that reasoning about it was not necessary for him to make a decision.

Either way, it was clear that his question was a way to probe my attention than a genuine request. I didn't begrudge him for it. We helped each other, but both of our origins were shrouded in mystery, it would be stupid for him to trust me completely.

"It's clearly a political ploy to either saddle the young noble with some kind of responsibility that would ruin him, or a way to pin him in place so that they could deal with him through another method. If the task was impossible, whoever gave the order would be treated like an assassin," I explained. It was a guess, but I had dealt with enough political intrigue to know that it was mostly accurate.

"Makes sense," Zolast answered. "But how does it affect your decision-making? Why not just leave?"

"Slow down," I said, letting my smirk widen. "Before that, I have a question of my own. You have told me that the breach itself was very precious, enough to establish a dungeon. Why would they use such a precious resource to entrap a noble family that was in the process of being ruined?"

"Good question," Zolast answered. "Unfortunately, the answer is simple." With that, I tensed. Simple didn't always mean good news. For example, a meteor was a simple thing, a giant rock falling down at great speed.

It didn't make it any less deadly.

The way Zolast pronounced simple gave me that impression. "I'm guessing that's not good news," I said.

"No," Zolast said with a shake of his head. "They weren't talking about the breach," he said. I waited, letting him go with his dramatic delivery. Whatever the situation was, it was important enough that he stopped acting like a poor cook. "They were talking about a breach."

"One of many," I completed, and he nodded. It didn't take long for me to process the implications, meaning that the chaos god was continuing to attack the planet. It was not good news, especially if Zolast's explanation about the costs of such behavior for the god in question. It was supposed to be significant. Clearly, I had angered the god in question far more than I had expected.

Just what I needed. Like I didn't have enough problems.