Chapter 220

Behind the Lines (IV)

Why me? Cain pondered with tears in his eyes as he sat in the bush, arms wrapped around his knees, rocking back and forth. Why me? Why always me? Am I magnet? Or am I secretly so fat I have such a gravitational pull that things just can’t resist finding me? Why me?

He ignored the passing guards and silently whimpered. He’d taken the crown, of course; he’d been an idiot if he just left it there. However, he also knew that he didn’t just take its strengths and massive stats -- he’d also taken on all the negatives that come with it. It wasn’t even foreshadowing his ‘final fight’ anymore, but outright stating: he, a ‘King’, would be fighting another ‘King’, which will likely be the Third Prince... alone.

Even if he was twice as dumb, he’d still have twice the cleverness needed to figure it out. Yes, technically speaking, he had a choice -- he could have chosen not to take the crown with him. Except, anyone actually doing an ‘SSS’ quest would never turn away a reward that bolsters not only his but his group’s strength by so much just because the item says it will be difficult in the future. It was already beyond difficult. And thus... he sat and cried.

Time passed, and as he saw the pavements clear, he began making his way toward one of the blind spots of the massive wall. Though he didn’t put the crown on and kept it inside the inventory, where he could actually hear the spirit and Te’gha chattering away like a pair of old buddies, it felt heavy.

Sighing, he stopped by the tall, blightstone wall, looking around momentarily before displacing directly upward, the immediately after forward, and lastly downward, effectively ‘trespassing’ through the wall within just over a second. Since this was the spot Senna was supposed to be guarding, there was nobody here. He, however, didn’t immediately retreat, but decided to wait instead for Senna.

Sitting down, he took out a can of beer and slowly began to sip it, his mind drifting. The quest was too big, he realized, and too convoluted. It was one thing to just follow a simple questline, to fight the ‘bad guys’, clear the ‘trash mobs’, and then fight the boss. Just like a game. But this one... was different.

They were forced to engage with the world on a much more personal level; they were forced to ween out the information, the understand ins and outs of the political framework of an entire Kingdom, to figure out what factions exist, who belongs to them, and what are their goals. Time and again, he thanked the lucky stars he had a massive team with him -- people who knew to do those things since he, sure as all hell, couldn’t.

Even now, he had half a clue of what exactly was going on within the capital, and even half of that when it came to intentions of every group. He was fine, even great, when it came to understanding individuals; there were, after all, only so many motives, so many desires, and so many wants that a single person could have. And that number would only decrease the more he got to know someone.

The groups, however, were different; they were an agglomeration of countless individuals, a cesspool of all those wants and desires made into one. However... it was never just one want. It was beyond difficult to see all the threads and predict where they would go, and he never bothered to learn.

He continued to sit calmly, staring up at the distant ‘sky’, the dirt-cast ceiling dome of the underground world. A part of him wanted to get out, as always, to let go of it all. But, especially now, he couldn’t. In many ways, despite only still being on the second floor, he’d gotten further than the entire lifetime he’d spent the last time around.

He had all the tools, and, far more importantly, he had a group of people beyond too good for him behind his back. It wasn’t difficult to see that the only road he could travel was the one of success.

The imminent sound of footsteps woke him up; a mere moment later, a whizz of the wind accompanied a low yelp as he saw two silhouettes emerge over the wall and, just as they were about to speed up further, stop and descend. Senna stood upright, a girl roughly her age leaning over here shoulder, battered, bruised, and still bleeding.

“Yo’,” Senna called out. “You found anything good?”

“I see you got your Princess,” Cain grinned, standing up and tossing the can away. “It was always one of my fantasies actually, to become the Knight kicking a Dragon’s ass and saving the princess.”

“And yet you gave that dream up?” Senna rolled her eyes.

“The trouble is,” Cain added. “Emma was always the princess.”

“... that’s kinda...”

“Pathetic.”

“Pathetic.” they said at the same time, chuckling. “A bit sweet, though.”

“... who’s he?” Sera spoke at last, relaxing as she saw Senna didn’t have even an iota of guard up against this strange-looking man.

“He’s... khm... he’s my dad,” Senna replied, blushing slightly.

“Aah, every father’s most validating moment,” Cain sighed exaggeratedly. “Hello there, Princess. I hope my daughter has been good to you.”

“... so, he’s the man that can do anything?” Sera asked with some suspicion in her voice, suddenly finding her voice muffled toward the end as Senna covered her mouth, her cheeks blaring. Cain staggered backward and looked at Senna, wide-eyed, as tears emerged at the corners.

“Don’t,” Senna warned sternly. “Utter a word.”

“...” Cain paused and then suddenly started making exaggarated noises as to ‘demonstrate’ the words he wasn’t allowed to utter.

“Oh my god, just shut up!” Senna interrupted. “Anyway, khm, yea. I know he doesn’t look like much, but he’s... he’s okay.”

“Okay?” noticing the opportunity, Sera’s lips curled up into a playful smirk, though she silently hissed as it pained her. “From the way you talked about him, I thought he was some god who came down here to play with us mortals.”

“Oh? She did?” Cain grinned blissfully as Senna lowered her head.

“Yeah,” Sera continued. “I thought you’d be a twenty-feet-tall, chiseled, dragon-riding badass.”

“Well, I am,” Cain said. “Except, you know, the twenty-feet-tall thing... and the chiseled thing... and the, uh, dragon-riding thing.”

“...”

“...”

“We need to defuse the situation,” Cain added. “I don’t think she ever felt this much embarrassment in her life.”

“She’s kinda cute,” Sera said.

“Kinda? Kinda?” Cain growled. “She’s beyond cute!! She’s the cutest in the whole world! Her cuteness should be canonized in the holy books! Kinda? Psh. I thought only your lips were bruised, but clearly they dug out your eyes down there too!”

“... ooookay, I thought she was weird,” Sera said, looking strangely at Cain. “But now I get where it comes from.”

“That’s right,” Cain walked over and, startling Sera, hung her over his shoulder. “Us, daddy and daughter pair, shall conquer the whole of the universe together!”

“Please... please... just... stop,” Senna spoke lowly. “I... just knock me over the head with a club or something so I forget this day ever happened. And... I... I saved you,” she tearily looked at Sera who felt a slight sense of guilt emerge.

“I--I’m sorry,” Sera said. “I just thought it would be--” Senna suddenly summoned a sword and flew on top of it, vanishing from their sight, leaving Sera to awkwardly hold onto a man that was, essentially, a complete stranger to her.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cain said. “She’ll fly off at you often... but she’s also the quickest to forget. Never holds a grudge, that one. Wears her heart on her sleeve, yet will swear up and down she doesn’t.”

“... yeah,” Sera said. “Thank you... for saving me. I’m not getting kidnapped again, though, right? I’d rather you just have your way with me right here and now and kill me.”

“Aah, do I really come across as that type of a guy?” Cain shuddered. “First off, you’re like half my age. Secondly, I’m a happily-married--well, not yet married married--I mean, we talked about it, and she said yes, but we never got around to--khm, anyway, as I was saying, literally 0 interest to do anything with you except bring you to our healer.”

“... past the surface relief,” Sera said. “I’m genuinely hurt by that. Not by the rejection, but just the sheer brutality of it.”

“You’re a lot different than your sister,” Cain said as he began to walk.

“What, Anna? Hah, the only reason I’m like this is because I’m tired of pretending to be some innocent girl. Though I’m thankful she ‘saved’ me, I’m plenty sure you’re aware of why she did it.”

“Not a selfless, good deed out there, eh?”

“Something like that.”

“She still did save you, though,” Cain added. “Nobody else tried. That counts for something, right?”

“... I guess.”

“Eh, would you look at that? You ain’t that different from Senna after all.” Cain chuckled lightly.

“... can you really do it?”

“Hm?”

“Save this Kingdom?” Sera asked.

“Save it? There’s no saving it, I’m afraid,” Cain chuckled. “It’s already broken. We can help it heal, though.”

“... you’re a good man. Just like Senna said.”

“A good man? Hardly,” he said. “A man trying to be good? Partly. A very, very proud dad? Definitely.”

“Ugh, you’re about a billion times worse than her...”

“Ha ha ha--” amidst Cain’s laughter, the ground suddenly trembled and shook as, a moment later, a massive explosion came rupturing from within the wall. His expression hardening, he took both Sera and himself aflight and faced forward, surging Mana into his eyes and looking at the distance where he saw several silhouettes emerge from the smoke -- Kramer and Emma at the front of it, their clothes burnt off, revealing armor beneath. “Looks like that whiny spirit was right,” Cain mumbled. “The fuse has been lit... and the time has begun to tick.”