NOVEL SIMPLE Book 1 – Lesson 41: “Make plans for the future.”
“Oh? What’s this I see? When my people told me a group of Slatewalkers had arrived, I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting so many… familiar faces.”
Just the sound of the voice emanating from the crowd nearly drove Zolzaya into a bloodlust-fueled rampage. When the crowd finally parted, revealing the arrogant sneer of “East Scion” Mönkhkhan, only the tight grip of her father’s hand on her shoulder prevented her from pouncing on the sod.
Through gritted teeth and a “smile” that would have made children cry, Zolzaya was the first to speak.
“Mönkhkhan… I’m surprised you had the gall. I warned you if you ever showed yourself to me again, I’d—”
One of the young man’s cronies, a flat-faced man who Zolzaya had never bothered learning the name of, cut her off,
“That’s Khan to you, you ungrateful bumpkin; you should—”
Though he was, in turn, cut off by Mönkhkhan’s raised hand. The sneer dropped from his face, and he frowned over his nose at her as he spoke.
“Now, no need for that. We can’t expect a half-breed like her to show any respect….”
The man turned and looked at her father, the sneer returning.
“I see your father survived his punishment. A shame. Then again, what else can you say about a… barbarian if not that they’re resistant?”
Zolzaya pointed, her eyes bloodshot, but Juatan’s voice cut off whatever she was about to say.
“Alive and well, young master. While it might be nice to catch up, I’m afraid we have business at the temple. So If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our way.”
Mönkhkhan grinned, leaning over slightly to peer behind the group where Yutu was being carried.
“Oh? What’s this now? Zaya, my dear, did your mouth almost kill someone again? You really should work on that; it’s becoming a bad habit at this point. I’ve heard of a venomous tongue, but this is getting too literal.”
Zolzaya lunged, her hands clawing for the man’s eyes, even as he stepped back in surprise. She only took a single step before Juatan’s firm hand rooted her into place.
A pompous young woman standing beside the scion laughed, her face hidden behind a fan.
“Dear, you were right! She does look just like a wildcat. I know you like them… feisty, but I’m surprised.”
The comment garnered a laugh from the man’s gathered posse.
Juatan frowned, the threat in his next words clear as day.
“I’m afraid that’s confidential. We’ll be on our way now.”
Mönkhkhan frowned and raised his hand again. Several large armed men walked out from the crowd who’d gathered to watch the scene. Instantly, the air changed, and most of the civilians scattered as the young scion spoke.
“Now, don’t be like that. I’m sure whatever it is can wait a while. It’s been so long since we’ve had a chance to… chat.”
The Slatewalker group tensed, the Guardians moving to surround the others, their hands on their weapons. The standstill lasted for a silent moment before a voice spoke up.
“Who would have thought the East Scion was such a rascal? I’m sure the West Scion will love to hear you’re playing so… rough on her territory? Her father and I go way back, you know.”
Kallik stepped from the group, arms folded, her new prosthetics on full display.
At the sight of the Grassreader garb she wore, many of the remaining crowd bowed in respect. Mönkhkhan only frowned and furrowed his brow. His face flashed between pale and red before finally settling into his default sneer.
“You think I’m afraid of that pathetic woman who dares call herself a Scion, let alone some crippled Grassreader from a backwater village? This is my city, and I’ll not be made a f—”
Kallik’s presence descended on the crowd like a heavy tide. The average civilian of Jadewalker city was at a higher level than a “backwater” village like Slatewalker, but even then, most never made it to [Iron Body]. Even the scion’s entourage, most of whom were in the early to mid [Bronze Spirit] step, could feel the suppression from the peak [Silver Spirit]. At almost the same time, the Seven-Radiance Spirit Grass in their immediate surroundings shifted from various shades of purple and white to a near-solid crimson red.
One of the men surrounding them took one look at the grass and turned, bolting into the crowd. Another dropped his weapon and raised his hands into the air. The man in question turned and spoke to Mönkhkhan in a rough voice, fitting his thuggish appearance.
“Ya, screw that. I’m sorry, my Lord, but you paid for an E-rank assignment. No one said anything about Bloody-Grass Kallik. We were supposed to rough up some yokels, not fight a C-Ranker.”
Several other men exchanged looks, with a few dropping their weapons or backing into the crowd.
Mönkhkhan’s face flushed red, and he pointed at the man and yelled.
“I don’t care who she is, you’ll do as you’re told, you blubbering Adve—OUCH!—what the hell was that?!”
The scion slapped his hip just as what could have been a large wasp flew away. He stared at the escaping insect and screamed, his eyes going bloodshot as a vein throbbed in his head. He turned and yelled.
“FINE! You’re all cowards! I’ll do it myself!”
Mönkhkhan drew the small club at his side and stepped forward, sending out his own [Silver Spirit] presence to meet Kallik’s. However, before he had taken more than a few steps, Mönkhkhan stopped. The man’s face twisted in confusion before twisting into something far more… urgent. Mönkhkhan fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. His friends rushed to his side, but even over the man’s moaning, Zolzaya could hear the gurgling and more… unpleasant sounds coming from him.
The young woman who’d laughed at her was one of the first next to him. She patted and rubbed his lower back while crying out.
“My Lord! My Lord! What is the matter?! What happened? Do I need—”
She paused, both her patting and her words. Her eyes went wide, and her already pale face went white as snow. Slowly, she raised her shaking, pristine hand.
Only to find it covered in something… foul.
The following scream was loud enough to physically hurt, and Zolzaya was certain she’d seen a nearby window crack.
That’s when the smell hit her. Zolzaya scrunched her face and pinched her nose, taking a step back. A move mirrored by many of those watching. The area soon erupted into chaos as several Guardians rushed into the gathering, either warned something was happening or drawn by the commotion.
The Slatewalkers took that moment to make their escape, slipping into the crowd and continuing on to the temple.
As they did so, Zolzaya didn’t miss the sight of a large wasp crawling its way back into the folds of Yutu’s carrier. She narrowed her eyes are the sight but didn’t know whether she should frown or smirk.
————
Alpha laughed to himself as he slid across the prairies. That had been much easier than the old man! That said, he might have over-tweaked it a bit, with just that one data point to go on. It wasn’t like they’d find anything that would get the humans in trouble. After all, there wasn’t anything to find. The solution pompous rich boy had been 99.99999% saline.
How did Alpha know he was a rich boy? He could smell that type from miles away! Now literally!
As for the remaining 0.00001%? All it took was a single nanite latched onto the vagus nerve to ruin someone’s day. It was a technique practiced throughout the Federation, both as an annoying prank and a way to control inmates in prison camps. After all, the same nanite used to cause… accidents could just as easily be used to cause intense pain or stop a heart (or equivalent organ).
Yaaaaa, Alpha was super glad he didn’t have to deal with any of that biological nonsense. It sounded gross.
Civilian implants and monitoring devices prevented these more sinister uses, but those protections were disabled for prisoners. Inmates tended to be far more cooperative when they weren’t sure which infraction would cause them to void in their pants for the guard’s amusement… or bring them to their knees in agony. Some complained about the ethicality of the practice, but the results couldn’t be argued with.
His fun for the day over, Alpha returned the [Wasp] to passive observations and turned his attention back to the road. Or lack thereof.
Not that there was much of anything, honestly. Just a bunch of grass, and grass, a really big rock over there, and more grass! This was always Alpha’s least favorite part of any mission. The traveling! At the very least, it gave him time to think, something he got little time to do recently. That said a lot, considering he could process things far quicker than most biologicals.
The bloody whales didn’t count…
He was pretty sure what they did was biotech, anyway.
But that was beside the point! Reflection time!
Ever since landing on this strange planet, Alpha felt like he’d just been dragged along through one event after another. What happened to this being his story?! It was becoming… frustrating.
All this sneaking and playing along wasn’t Alpha’s modus operandi. He much more preferred when he got to blow stuff up! But Alpha knew that sometimes, a more delicate touch was needed. Sure, he could have charged into the cart city and told them he was in charge, and they’d be doing things his way.
But what would that get him? Just a bunch of dead bodies and a seething resentment from the civilian population. A population who would go on to (and had before) make his job far harder than it should be. There was a reason he primarily targeted military and strategic locations, while damaging civilian infrastructure was highly discouraged.
Not like he had a miles-long Dreadnaught sitting in orbit, ready to crush any resistance that popped its head up.
On that same subject, he’d be foolish to forget the events before even landing on the planet.
Despite everything he’d seen since landing, this world couldn’t be as primitive as it seemed at first glance. Someone on the planet, at least, could break through the icy layer surrounding them and establish spacefaring operations.
That chicken alone had almost been too much for him, even if his equipment and resources had been extremely limited.
That meant if he stirred up too much trouble, Alpha could find himself in a fight he wasn’t ready for yet. Oh, there’d definitely be trouble, but Alpha just had to make sure the powers that be just saw it as “same as usual” instead of something to pay attention to.
For a time, Alpha had considered if this force had originated from one of the other planets, maybe even the larger one in the night sky. It was possible, it admitted, but even in such a case, simply having a base on the smaller moon meant that this force had some kind of vested interest in this.
No, better to lie low for now until he’d established himself. Once he’d got a proper base going and maybe researched the weird magic bullcrap that was going on here, he’d be in a better position to reevaluate going full murderhobo.
That started with building a rapport with the locals and building some kind of cover. Saving the child would go a long way toward that goal, especially if the child’s family had as much pull in this place as the humans had made it out to sound.
Grinning to himself, Alpha continued on his way, drawing up all sorts of plans for the future.
Good thing he had plenty of time to do so.