ROTLE- Chapter 231- Why Shouldn't We Kill It? (Patreon)

The question lingered in Aiden’s mind as he felt Valdan and Ted come to a halt somewhere not too far away. He guessed they were either at a dead end or on the edge of something and weren’t sure which way to go. Knowing them, they would probably be waiting for his decision.

Their reliance on his decisions didn’t bother him much. Why? It was like a man with a girlfriend who liked to hit him when they played and succumbed in surrender. The girl knew that she was not stronger often times, the man simply allowed her victory. In the same way, it was not as if Valdan and Ted could not make their decisions, they simply allowed Aiden to make them. Sometimes Aiden had a feeling Valdan did it to help him learn leadership while being curious of where his decisions would lead them, and Ted did it because it meant he did not have to deal with the burden of making decisions.

After drafting another enchantment on the wall of the mountain and sending a tremor through it, Aiden finally summoned a vial from his storage space. It was blue and didn’t give him as much boost to his mana as it usually would’ve.

He uncapped the vial and downed its contents, grimacing slightly at the taste. It was not bad, it was just not… right.

Rometo looked at him. “It’s not that bad,” he said.

Aiden did not object or disagree. When he needed to, he could take a full drink of the liquid with a smile if he had to. So, he responded with a shrug.

In a moment, Rometo looked behind them. Then he looked above them. Then his gaze panned around them.

“Do you sense anything?” he asked Aiden.

Aiden shook his head. He had been spreading his awareness as far and wide as possible. To the best of his knowledge, they were not being followed. “I think we are good. You?”

“I’d say so.” Rometo slowed his steps now.

Aiden followed and, slowly, their jog slipped into a quick walk, and then into a stroll. They walked now, like men in no hurry, as if they were not on a mission and trying to catch up to Ted and Valdan.

Rometo sighed a little, as if in relief. Aiden could not help but take note of it.

“You can’t tell me you were afraid of a level two hundred and four [Mage],” he said with a little curiosity.

Rometo gave him a flat look. “Did they teach you nothing of the deadliness of the [Mage] class in Bandiv, or has moving around with Estabel dulled your sense of fear?”

Aiden cocked a brow at that. “Aren’t you like level two hundred and fifty?”

“And what does that matter?” Rometo asked with a little touch of annoyance in his voice.

Aiden shrugged. “I just figured the level difference would be grand.”

In his past life, he had been forced to deal with a [Mage] or two on more than one occasion. He would not beat his chest or raise his shoulders with claims of triumphant victories, but he had held his ground against some of them. Victory had definitely ended up in his hands to say the least.

As if reading his expression, Rometo sighed. “You are an observant kid,” he said. “And I’m guessing you know a lot about spells.”

Aiden bobbed his head from side to side in consideration. He knew quite a bit about spells even if he could not cast them. He knew a few actually, an interesting few. In his past life he had spent some time trying to use enchantments to emulate the effects of spells. In the end, the enchantments had too many limitations. To achieve the effect of a single spell, he would often find himself having to use at least ten enchanted items. It was nothing but a waste of items. Then he had tried to cram enough enchantments into an item to emulate spells and had met utter failure there as well. After all, there were limits to how many enchantments an item could take. Spell Binder had been the perfect tool for his tests, however, while Spell Binder could carry an infinite amount of enchantments, it could not link them as if it was casting spells. Thus, to emulate a spell with Spell Binder, he would need to activate ten different spells in almost immediate consecutions.

“I know a bit,” he answered.

“Hopefully Bandiv or the [Mage] taught you a lot,” Rometo muttered. “With that in mind, how many spells did you count the [Mage] use?”

“I saw maybe three or four.” Aiden pursed his lips in an affectation of thought. “Man ran you through the head.”

Rometo seemed to shiver. In Aiden’s past life, he remembered something about Rometo taking too much time to get accustomed to dying whenever he ended up using his time remnant skill. Apparently, shaking off death was not an easy task.

“I’m guessing you felt that one,” Aiden added. “Must’ve been tough.”

Rometo’s head snapped to him.  “And you know this because?”

“Zen’s a [Time Walker].” Aiden looked around, confirmed they were still walking through the path created by Ted’s creatures. “Trust me, I did my research on [Time Walker]s. No offense.”

Rometo paused. “Why would I take offense?”

“Classes and secrecy and all that,” Aiden answered. “Nobody likes to find out that someone’s studying their class, especially when it’s a class that’s not that common.”

Rometo opened his mouth to speak, shook his head, and clearly changed the topic. “Back to the [Mage] and spells,” he said. “The [Mage] used at least nine spells. The fact that someone of your level and observance could only see four spells tells you how deadly the man is. There is a reason the [Mage] class is feared on my world. They can kill you without meaning to.”

Aiden knew that, but the caution seemed a little excessive on Rometo’s part. “I still feel like you could’ve taken him if you wanted to.”

“I’m a [Time Walker], Aiden. What my class is capable of doing in combat situations is significantly limited. I would argue that I do not have a single skill designed for offensive combat in my arsenal.”

“That’s interesting. Are you sure you should be telling me so much about your skills?”

Rometo shrugged. “I wouldn’t be bothered.”

“Really?”

“Yep.” Rometo gave him a smug look. “I could kill you before you played with your fingers and did something good. Anyway, be careful around a [Mage] with scars and no staff.”

Aiden ignored the smugness in Rometo’s tone because he knew the man, he was not so smug. “Scars mean deep battle sense. They fought something that was supposed to kill them and somehow survived. A healing vial could not heal them completely.”

Rometo nodded, then looked down at Aiden’s chest. It was where the [Hollow Grave] artifact the master had given him dangled from his neck, hidden beneath his clothes. “Considering the artifacts the master has given you, you might find yourself with a few scars of your own.”

Aiden hadn’t had scars in his past life. Some people said it was a sign of cowardice. That he ran from too many battles. Others, the master included, said it was a sign of intelligence. As a member of the Order, Aiden had nothing he needed to die for except the Order, so there was no reason to go fighting against something or someone that was strong enough to leave him scarred.

“I’m impressed you are aware of this,” Rometo continued, “I always assumed that Bandiv would skip out on that specific part of the training so as not to scare you off. Do you per chance also understand the value of no staff?”

“Considering the hype around the Mage Radiant and their staff, I’d say spell efficiency?”

“Correct, but not heavy enough,” Rometo confirmed. “A [Mage] without a staff is a [Mage] who has learnt to commit all his or her powerful spells to memory. And if a [Mage] has committed those kinds of spells to memory, you can only imagine what other kinds of spells they have committed to memory or what spells they have developed as skills.”

Aiden shrugged. It was not information that he did not have. However, it still did not answer why Rometo had been extremely cautious with the [Mage]. Was the gap between who Rometo was right now and who he would become in the next five years really that large? Aiden doubted the level gap was that large, but the experience and skill had to be. The Rometo he knew did not fear a [Mage] that was not of a level higher than him, [Time Walker] or not.

“I’m just saying,” Rometo continued, “just be careful around a [Mage]. If I have to teach you how to deal with one, I don’t mind doing it.”

He wouldn’t have to, but Aiden didn’t have to tell him that. In fact, Aiden didn’t have to say anything on that specific subject, so he changed it as they turned around corner, drawing ever closer to the others.

“How’s their training coming along?” he asked.

Rometo looked at him. It was clear that the man knew he was changing the subject. For a moment, he looked as if he was not going to allow it. “Zen has no talent for combat,” he said simply.

Aiden was not pleased to hear that. “Why is that?”

“He’s too indecisive,” Rometo answered. “And it does not come from a place of caution or timidity. The boy is also a coward. He fears pain, fears it terribly. He’s also not good at taking it. Sometimes, I am of the opinion that he only wants to learn how to fight because it feels manly.”

“Ever considered that it’s because he wants to protect his sister too?” Aiden offered.

Rometo nodded but still wasn’t moved. “Personally, I think his sister would make the better fighter among the two.”

“Nope.” Aiden shook his head, disagreeing. “She might make the better fighter, but there’s a fighter in Zen.”

“You know this because?”

“Because I have seen it.”

“Where?” Rometo sounded as if he was of the opinion that Aiden didn’t know what he was talking about. “In Dentis? Because I’ve seen the events of Dentis and he wasn’t much of a fighter. He wasn’t much of…” His brows furrowed and he fell into silence.

Aiden knew the look Rometo had when he just remembered something important. “What?” he asked. “What did you just remember?”

Rometo frowned slightly, and his steps stopped. He was contemplative, considering if he should say what he wanted to say.

“Just say it,” Aiden said. “I assure you it would be better than not saying it.”

Rometo still looked unsure. “Do you know how the monster that attack you people in Dentis came to be?”

Aiden knew, at least he and Ted had one specific idea. The combination of their manifesting skills. The question was if Rometo had an idea too. “Why?”

“Because if you do, I am of the opinion that maybe you should get him to come over again.”

“Sounds like an interesting concept,” Aiden said, not meaning it. “Care to tell me why?”

“There is a way a [Demon King] can get significantly stronger that most people do not know.”

“Another well-guarded secret?”

“Another well-guarded secret,” Rometo confirmed. “In the records my family once guarded, it taught us how the [Demon King] grew to possess such overwhelming strength.” He turned bodily to face Aiden now. “He had to go through portals that are not specified.”

“And what did he do in these portals?”

“He fought demons, actual specific demons, not the ones that play the part of foot soldiers.” Rometo paused, eyes focused as Aiden felt his senses spread far and wide. Perhaps sensing nothing, he said, “In the greater world, the [Demon King] is not the only one who could’ve become the [Demon King]. There is something called being a [Demon King], but there are also two steps before getting there.”

Aiden fought back a frown. Rometo was beginning to prove to know too much about the subject of [Demon King]s. Was it the Order’s knowledge he was peddling about or were his words truly the truth?

“What’s that?” Aiden asked.

Rometo’s senses spread farther. Aiden felt the man’s awareness envelope everything. He was checking again, making sure that they were the only ones listening. “According to the records to become the [Demon King] there are two stages you have to go through. The first is to be a [Demon King candidate].”

Aiden already knew about that. In his opinion, it was a miracle that all the summoned were not already [Demon King] candidates. “And the second?”

“You have to gain the title of [Heir to the Throne],” Rometo answered. “You will need to bring that monster back and kill it to grow. You need to—”

His words died, and Rometo moved so fast Aiden almost heard the sound barrier shake. His hand moved and a knife with a green blade went flying from his hand. It cut through the air and embedded itself in the wall with a sharp sound.

Aiden froze. The sound was not that of metal piercing rock. It was the sound of metal piercing flesh.

Then there was a shriek of pain before something that looked like a leech the length of his forearm appeared and fell off the wall with the knife in its body.

“We’ve been made,” Rometo spat in disgust and annoyance. “Run. I’ll hold him off.”

“Hold me off?” a voice laughed from out of nowhere.

Aiden didn’t recognize the voice as the ground molded upwards, taking a physical form. It took a while, and Rometo prepared for battle. If the person had been strong enough to escape his awareness, then the person had to be truly strong.

The mold took a final physical form, and they found themselves standing face to face with something that was not human. It had a human face and a human torso as well as a humanoid form, but that was where all things human about it ended. It had hooves for feet and what looked like the hind legs of a horse for legs and crab claws for hands.

“So,” it said in a soft soprano. “A being seeking to become the [Demon King] stands in our presence.”

It sounded too excited, but its excitement was overshadowed by the impossibility of what it was.

Rometo’s frown was hard, and Aiden knew why. Before them stood a [Chimera], and [Chimera]s were not supposed to be capable of speech.

“Why shouldn’t we kill it?” it asked.

Aiden had an answer to that. But Rometo looked at him before he could answer and paused.

“Lord Lacheart,” he said. “Your eyes.”

Aiden’s hand moved to his eyes, pausing just before getting to them. He already knew what the problem was before Rometo finished his speech, because the answer hovered in front of him, right above the creature’s head. It read one simple word.

[Prey]

Then his interface popped up.

[You are within attacking distance of an unnatural predator of your kind]

..

[Title Unnatural Hunter is in effect]