Gamer Chapter 36 - Turning Back

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After a small and brief argument, we decided I was the team leader. Honestly I didn't really mind, it worked in my favor, though I just didn't like the feeling that they were going to follow me everywhere, even if I abandon the quest. Its not a very good feeling leading someone to their doom.

Logically I know I'm not leading them to their doom, that they decided to follow me of their own free will. I even tried to argue as such, that I may choose to ignore the beastking and to do my own thing, but I was shut down effectively.

"I don't want to be the leader, what makes you even think I'm going to kill the beastking considering how they treated me?" I protested.

"But you are going somewhere right?" Kira smiled back, the others grinning alongside her knowingly.

"Well, yes but you don't have to come with me"

"And if we travel directly to the beastking you would separate from us would you not?" she pressed on, grinning widely.

"Yes but how is that relevant-"

"You are also older than us" she grinned naughtily, "Shouldn't the elders guide the young?".

I frowned, I had forgotten that. They were at least 3-4 years younger than me. I'm.. 20 now? Had it really been that long?

"Bu-" I half-heartedly tried to protest, I was even getting confused about this argument.

"Then its decided!" she declared, interrupting me yet again. "You don't need to worry about heading straight to the beastking you know, we can take our time".

Wait. Wasn't there a deadline to this?

"So you wouldn't mind waiting a year?" I asked.

Rob shook his head "It doesn't matter, you do plan to go there. We know that, and we don't mind waiting. We can only get stronger".

Frantically I tried to remember my original arguments, though I did have to admit. I do plan to head to the beastking before the month is up.

"Fine" I caved in, seemingly caved in that is. I didn't actually give up yet. Though it does seem that I'm going to need them on my side for the next few days, unless I want to waste a day or two losing them.

"I'll lead the party. But I must confess one thing.."

"Oh?" Rob asked, the other three looking curiously at me.

"Its about the library.." I nervously smiled, watching their expressions warily. I know they wouldn't outright fight me, but they might react negatively..

"Heh" Josh chuckled, Kira letting out a small snort as Mark quietly smiled.

"We guessed as much already" Josh informed me smilingly.

"Really?" I blinked.

"You broke into their library and stole a few things, didn't you" Mark quietly asked me, a smile playing on his lips as he grinned in the moonlight.

Huh.

I know they didn't react after the library breakin from what I remembered, and even now they don't looked shocked or judgemental. Just amused with me..

Perhaps I misjudged them?

I began to feel a little closer to them, a little safer in their presence.

"Ah" I scratched my head embarra.s.singly, "right. So you knew already.."

Quickly looking about us, sensing nothing in the way of mana in the air I lowered my voice. "Well" I cleared my throat, "I plan to break in there again in the next 48 hours"

Kira scrunched up her face, "Really? You didn't get everything you wanted the first time?"

"Well.. No"

It felt weird talking about this, talking about it so normally. We had known each other for what. 4 days? 3? And yet they are happy to follow me to death, smile encouragingly when I admit robbing the people who called for our help.

Sighing, Kira turned to Rob "Can't you teach him what he needs to know?".

"Yes Jon, can't I teach you?" he asked.

"Not really, I don't just want to learn spells and how to cast them. I want to learn the underlying theories behind things, the reason spells work and exist. Where does mana come from. Stuff like that"

"What about another city" Mark quietly spoke up, I don't really recall hearing him speak. The quiet sort?

"That.. Could work" I slowly spoke, then caught a snag "But why would that city let me access their library?"

"You could bribe them? We have money provided in our backpacks" Josh suggested.

I really feel a bit strange about this, plotting a thousand meters away from the city gates. I know the guards can see us talking, but they can't possibly hear us from that distance. I really do feel a bit strange about this, as if we are being listened to.

Could be, but I don't see any noticeable magics and I'm not emptying out our packs to spend the next half hour going through them on a hunch.

"Yes but I would rather get what I need here before we go to the next city" I protested, "besides, this kingdom also seems versed in summoning magics. I want to learn more about the underlying process behind that"

"Fine" Kira sighed, "if you are that insistent about it.. But. Can't we just go back inside and ask them to let you go through the books?"

As I tried to think of a rebuke my mouth opened, a second pa.s.sed and then two. My mouth slowly closed as I ran through countless protestations. None of which sounded that reasonable to me.

I can't very well say that I have this very strong urge to break in illegally, raid their library in its entirety than to leave a single book uncovered.. I really don't want to stay a hour more than I need to either. But if I voiced that, how does that make me look?

"Fine" I sighed, readjusting the backpack on my shoulders.

"They might prevent me looking at certain books though" I warned them, but Kira waved it off with a grin "We'll push ahead. Don't worry, we won't give them time to hide what they know"

They really are on my side aren't they?

Strange that, I thought they were the heroic kind of people? I already knew they were nice, and later discovered extremely loyal to their friends. They are definitely not stupid, they know what I'm asking.

"What do you think about the kingdom?" I asked the group.

"What do you mean?" Kira asked puzzledly.

"As in, how they have treated you and me. How do you consider their actions?" I clarified.

"Well" Josh thoughtfully said, "They are definitely desperate, they summoned us after all. You may not know this, but that guy who introduced himself as the king right after we were summoned? Turns out he wasn't. The real king introduced himself to us, and he seemed pretty nice"

Typical, I scowled a little at the thought he avoided me.

"Yeah" he winced, "it seems they really don't like you"

"My teacher seemed a little weird" Rob added, "he didn't really notice you, and he did mention several other mages but I only met a few of them. Most of the mages seemed to be confined to their rooms, maybe the summoning ritual was draining?"

Thoughtfully Kira slowly spoke "Maybe that's why he couldn't understand the language.. Because they didn't have enough power to complete the ritual?"

Not really what I asked, obviously my disappointment showed in my face as Kira rushed to rea.s.sure me. "Oh no, don't worry. We don't feel obligated to them, they are nice and all but.. Our team comes first"

"Yeah" my mouth twisted, turning away "Come on. Lets go raid their library"

"Wait. Through force or by asking?" Mark quickly asked.

"Asking" I reluctantly admitted, still I would prefer force. If the others weren't here one of my better ideas were to just rip away their entire library. Tear out a floor and levitate the entire thing into the air far from the ground as I empty the shelves in safety.

Seems less and less likely to happen now, Kira and the others would surely object to it.

Approaching the gates, the guards there looked confused as they pulled them open and gave us pa.s.sage. Our escort had long left and we made the walk back to the palace in almost abandoned streets, the occasional man looking at us curiously as we walked by.

It wasn't long before we reached the palace, the same person who had bid us farewell excitedly now confusingly gave us entry, several people scrambling to inform others as we waited. We sent our own messenger off amongst them, inquiring about talking to a head mage.

It was no time at all before a mage grandly arrived with a wide benevolent smile. Old and stooped, face crinkles as he walked with a wooden cane.

Brand lv.29 Water Mage

"What is the problem?" he queried, trying to speak to one of the others who stood behind me as I stood right in front of him. It wasn't outright sn.o.bbing me, but it was certainly saying he wanted to speak with someone else.

I almost felt like I should step back..

"We need to look through your library" I spoke politely, catching his disgruntled attention as he snorted quietly in disdain.

"Its important" Kira flashed a smile, improving his complexion a little as he smiled in response.

Glancing between us, he shook his head. "I can't help you with this tonight, perhaps we can discuss this tomorrow"

"No" I refused, "We need to deal with this now"

His eyes narrowed at me, he looked at everyone. "I'm afraid its too late in the night to be dealing with this now" he frowned.

"But it has to be done" Rob lightly spoke, "The heroes are requesting it".

He stiffened as his expression began to grow darker, his eyes glaring at me.

"If he is pushing you into this, you should understand that nothing good can come from it".

"No one is pushing us into anything" Mark quietly spoke, "We reached this decision as a team and as a team we are asking for access to the mages library."

"Its late and this should be dealt with in the morning" he persisted, his face beginning to glower as he glared at me. Knowing I was the troublemaker.

"Are you informing us of your desire to thwart our attempts to grow stronger?" Kira lightly spoke, her words mocking as she glared down at him accusingly.

Glaring back at her, he opened his mouth in rage and froze in that position. A second pa.s.sed before his complexion relaxed a little, his mouth slowly closing. Finally he sighed as he shook his head, his posture seeming a little defeated.

"Fine, as you wish"

Pointing towards me, he continued "but he is not permitted entry".

Our expressions grew dark as I glowered at the mage, silently staring him down as he glared back at me. I could sense another familiar pair of eyes settle on me after a few seconds, it seems Peter has arrived.

"Fine" I smiled falsely towards him, before pointing directly towards Peter "But he must go somewhere else".

The old mage looked at Peter and snickered, my eyes narrowed at seeing his reaction. He knew about Peter.

"As you wish" he smiled mockingly. As he turned his head I caught the corners of a smile on his lips. As he began to move away I watched him, wondering if he had made it onto my kill list.

Probably not.

As we began to follow him, he turned around and scowled.

"You" pointing to me, "Stay".

"He's not a dog" Kira growled furiously before anyone had the chance to speak, the old mage's lips twitching upwards at her response. But he didn't say anything.

With a small sigh Kira turned towards me "Tell us what you want us to look for"

"Ah" I thought for a moment.

"Look for books on summoning, s.p.a.ce magic like teleporting or gates, enchanting and books that teach you how mana works. Oh, and magical items"

Pausing for a few seconds, I considered before remembering the other things I had.

"Also books about gravity magic, and magic that's related to light"

"That's.." Rob hesitated, "A lot of books" he frowned.

"Yeah well" I wryly smiled, "I have a lot of interest in those"

Twisting his mouth, Rob thought for a second before sighing. "I think you would be taking too many books. We could try to get a few books on each subject, but you may be better off if you only choose a few subjects?"

"Ah" I considered, light and gravity magic weren't that needed were they? I mean, I'll learn them eventually and my main goal right now is to learn the basics of magic, how it works and how to create my own spells.

Especially transportation spells, I may yet be able to escape that G.o.d unlikely as it seems. Even if I fail, it should be extremely easy to complete the quests once I can teleport everywhere.

"Alright then, look for teleporting magic, enchanting and how mana works" I conceded.

"We can do that" Kira smiled and with a grin she promised "I'll get you at least two books on each kind"

The other three made the same promise as the old mage looked on with a disapproving look in his eyes, a scowl outlining his aged face.

With a glance towards the mage, I quickly added "And make sure he doesn't hide books from you or misguide you where to look, do it yourself"

He glowered at me, shooting a glare that almost matched Peter's as I smiled back hostilely.

Rob flashed a warm smile, interrupting our match. "Don't worry about us. We'll be back soon"

They slipped off their backpacks with a small sigh as the heavy weight was removed, Rob stretching even as Josh suffered a small series of clicks from his bones. I took my own pack off, settling it on the ground alongside theirs as I sat on the ground beside it.

As the others walked off down the hallway following the mage, I waved off the maid who wanted to bring me to a room to wait in, she insisted, but I turned her down. "I'm fine"

As I waited I watched the people walk by, maids hurrying with bedding and a few guards making their rounds. I even saw two mages walk by, animatedly talking to each other before they caught sight of me and walking in stony silence.

Half a hour later I caught sight of a group returning, and at the lead of the group was Kira carrying a few books in her hands. I blinked a little at that, looked behind her to the other three who carried even less books in their hands. Mark was carrying just one book..

The old man walked behind them with an almost satisfied expression, but you could see he was still unhappy to some extent.

"What's wrong?" I questioned once they were in range, confused at the lack of books.

As Kira bit her lip the old man looked almost smug.

"We gathered a bunch of books, but when he heard that we wanted to take them all with us he said to take only one book each" she stammered, almost pleading in her tone.

"No I'm not mad" I comforted her, "just a bit surprised".

Honestly I'm more disappointed than anything. I could see she thought she had let me down.

When I looked at Josh and Rob, they both carried two books while Mark carried only one.

"Don't blame them" Kira rushed on, imploring me to understand. But I shook my head, "I told you, I'm not blaming you guys. You already know they don't like me, I'm pretty happy you could get this much already"

I really don't blame them, though I am disappointed. If these books are not good enough, I'm going to break in.

Taking the books from them, I looked over the t.i.tles as I stuffed them into my backpack, removing items to make room. The items I took out were distributed quietly by the others into their own packs, their mood quiet as if they were scared to catch my attention.

Kira: Summoning Earth Elementals, Mana below the earth, Craftsman Magic

Josh: Summoning of Weapons, Magical effects of items

The moonlight illuminated our road forwards.