[STT] Chapter 59: This Is A Bad Idea (Patreon)

Ben barely took a single step forward before his path was blocked.

Standing directly between him and the first step of the stairway was Clarissa. Crossing her arms, she glared at him.

"Give me my staff back."

Ben sighed, not bothering to hide his reaction. He tightened his grip on the wood of the staff in question. It was technically hers, since he had swiped her entire holding bag.

But they had established clear terms for this exact situation.

"We had a deal. Go talk to Thomas, score more points than me, and you get your stuff back."

Scoffing loudly, Clarissa completely ignored his logic and closed the distance between them. She reached a hand out to aggressively snatch the wood right out of his grasp.

Ben stepped back and instantly shifted his weight to point the staff at her, preparing to blast her. He was not about to lose his only good weapon right before climbing the monolith.

She gave him a look full of contempt.

"You can't shoot me, commoner."

Keeping his face completely blank, Ben leaned forward slightly.

"Oh? What makes you so certain?"

"Your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"The eyes never lie, commoner. You don't have the gall to shoot me."

Ben stared right into her haughty glare.

Ben frowned. She was right.

Catching his frown, she smirked. "See? Now, give me my staff, or you will not like the consequences."

"Nope, I acquired it ethically."

"…Ethically?"

"I think I made a deal, and deals get honored. Wild concept, I know, for someone who's never had to keep one."

"I keep every deal I make."

"Then make this one. Beat me. Score higher than me with Thomas. I'll hand it back myself, no complaints." He shrugged. "Or keep standing here trading insults with a commoner. It's kind of your choice."

Suddenly a third voice sounded.

"Stop."

Ethan casually strolled between the two of them, startling Ben as he hadn't detected anyone coming to them with [Mana Sonar]. But then again Ethan had bypassed his perception before.

Looking mildly annoyed, Ethan glanced from the staff to Clarissa's scowling face.

"How much did that staff actually cost? I will repay you right now, so either honor the established deal or please leave."

Squaring her shoulders, Clarissa didn't back down an inch from Ethan's imposing stare.

"Or?"

"Or you will force my hand to act."

Smiling a bit, Ethan let a suffocating pressure leak out of his body.

Wait, why is it colder so suddenly…

Ben froze in place as his [Hunter] title pinged in the back of his mind. He was not being figurative, the surroundings had quite literally gotten colder!

Staring at the two of them, he kept quiet as his eyes bore into Clarissa who met his gaze without a blink.

Clarissa finally broke eye contact with a scoff. Turning on her heel, she stormed away from the stairway without another word.

And Ben was left standing there with his staff still in hand.

Relaxing his posture, Ethan simply gestured toward him. He acted like he hadn't just threatened someone into complete submission.

"Come with me."

Frowning deeply, Ben stared at the staircase, then back at Ethan. He really wanted to start climbing the monolith right now and get this over with.

But Ethan was already walking away and shooting him a look that brokered zero arguments. And considering how good he had been to him, Ben decided not to argue.

Ethan led him away from the monolith and around the perimeter of the area. They quickly met up with Alice, bypassing a bunch of other groups who were getting ready to either climb or heading out to hunt some monsters in the Tide.

When they met up with her, Alice looked bored out of her mind, tapping her foot impatiently. She gave them both a flat look as they approached.

"So what's up?" She asked.

"I have a hypothesis." Ethan said.

"What?" Alice asked, perfectly voicing Ben's exact thoughts.

Was this related to what had been bothering Ethan lately.

Ethan looked between the two of them with utter deadpan seriousness.

"I think we have the sub-objective wrong."

"What do you mean?" Ben asked.

"So I am going to sound crazy, but I believe the sub-objective wants us to protect the monolith from the rift divers, not the monsters. The monsters are a way to protect the monolith."

Ben stared hard at Ethan to see if this was some kind of joke.

But Ethan was entirely serious.

"What?" Alice blurted out, throwing her hands in the air.

Shaking his head slightly, Ethan gestured back toward the massive structure looming over the staging area.

"It doesn't want us to climb. The monolith. The system wants to protect it from us."

Well then.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Ben tried to wrap his head around that massive curveball. So basically, every single person here was doing the exact opposite of what the system actually wanted them to do.

"But what does the system want us to do, then?"

"Do you guys trust me?"

Blinking a few times, Ben looked over at Alice.

Catching his gaze, Alice stared right back with the exact same unimpressed expression he was currently wearing.

Shrugging in perfect unison, they both turned back to Ethan.

"No."

Ethan slumped. Sighing heavily, Ethan rubbed the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath about difficult party members.

"Look, just humor my theory for a minute. If the Tide monsters are supposed to protect the monolith, then killing them is exactly what the system expects the regular divers to do."

"So?"

"So, if we want the actual sub-objective points, we need to do the opposite."

Frowning deeply, Ben crossed his arms.

"You want us to protect the monsters?"

"I want us to find the source of the monsters and protect it."

Staring at the guy like he had grown a second head, Ben quickly reevaluated every single life choice that led him to teaming up with this lunatic.

Because protecting the giant, terrifying monsters from every single noble sounded like a fantastic way to get murdered by both sides.

"That's stupid."

"It is counterintuitive, Alice. But the system rewards the counterintuitive."

"It rewards not dying, mostly."

"Just follow my lead."

I am definitely going to die today. Please know what you are doing, Ethan.

Accepting his fate, Ben just nodded along to the lunatic's plan. So they were going to protect the monsters from the entire army of nobles currently prepping for a massive hunt. And then they were going to help the monsters invade the barrier… For what?

It was a terrible idea.

"Do you guys have any people we can recruit to our cause?"

Tilting her head, Alice tapped her chin in thought. "Well, no… but yes, I have a few I can tempt with my House."

"My thoughts exactly. I have a few things I can leverage."

And then both of those nobles slowly turned their heads. They stared expectantly right at Ben.

Taking a quick step back, Ben threw his hands up defensively. "I have nothing, I am a commoner you guys."

Seriously. He didn't have a giant vault of family money or political favors to hand out like candy. He barely had a stolen—ethically acquired wooden staff to his name.

But instead of looking disappointed, Ethan and Alice just exchanged sneaky glances. They both looked incredibly amused.

"He has no one, he says." Ethan chuckled.

"A lone wolf without a pack. How sad." Alice mirrored the smirk perfectly.

Frowning, Ben looked back and forth between the two nobles and their weird inside joke. He really hated them right about now.

"What are you guys talking about?"

###

"This is a bad idea."

Ben told Alice and Ethan.

Grabbing Ben by the shoulders, Alice and Ethan practically pushed him toward the edge of the camp without responding.

Traitors.

Spotting the big guy resting near the trees, Ben dug his heels into the dirt and tried to resist. Cassian was a massive battle junkie who had already tried to fight him before.

But Alice just shoved him harder.

"Go on, ask them."

"Why me?"

"Because they already know and like you, commoner."

Catching sight of their clumsy approach, a tiny figure suddenly popped out from behind Cassian. Sera beamed brightly the second she recognized Ben.

She waved her hands enthusiastically, tapped her wrist, pointed at Ben, and then made a wide, sweeping motion with both of her arms.

Frowning deeply, Ben tried to decode what she meant as they all stopped near them.

"You... want to know what time I went swimming?"

She shook her head.

Sighing heavily, Ben watched her repeat the gesture, this time pointing specifically at his chest before tracing a giant circle in the air.

Ben didn't get what she was trying to say.

Frowning, she stood up.

Dropping to her knees, the tiny girl dramatically clutched her chest like she was having a heart attack. She flopped onto her back and just played dead in the grass.

Ben stared down at the girl until she cracked one eye open to peek at him. She immediately jumped back to her feet, pointed at the woods, pointed at Ben, and gave a massive thumbs up.

...Oh.

"You're glad I survived the monster wave?"

Nodding furiously, Sera flashed a brilliant smile and clapped her tiny hands together in victory.

Stepping around his celebrating sister, Cassian offered Ben a genuine grin.  Ben cleared his throat and decided to just rip the bandage off and get this over with.

"So we are putting together a team to go protect the monster spawns from the nobles, and we need muscle."

"…"

Sera blinked at him. Cassian frowned.

"You want to fight the raiding parties?" Cassian asked, rubbing his chin, looking interested. He didn't even question it.

"More like stall them and ruin their day, but yes."

Chuckling, Cassian nodded.

"I will join your cause. But I have a condition."

"What condition?"

Leaning down slightly, Cassian's grin stretched wider.

"Spar with me. Right now."

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