Chương 47: Chapter 46 A Simple Question

Ben blinked at the gracefully bowing noble. Lionheart? Ben had never heard that Noble House name. Still, Ethan seemed strong, ridiculously strong even. To Ben, Ethan was basically a walking brick wall of power. [Hunter] confirmed as much. And Ben wondered how rigid the Title was. Did it consider anything higher Tier than him a danger? Or did it consider the nuances? Knowing that what Tier you were wasn't the end all be all when it came to winning, Ben wondered if it took everything into account properly.

After all, skills were the main thing. And there didn't seem to be any limits on how much you could level them up or evolve them, so theoretically, it should be possible for Ben to hit above his Tier. Heck, he was already doing that. Still, he was curious. Glancing around at the beasts dead all around him, Ben mentally tallied up the sheer number of dead beasts. This guy had protected him and butchered all these monsters without even breaking a sweat.

Meanwhile, Ben had been completely oblivious, just sucking down essence like a greedy vacuum. Sure, part of the reason behind that was that Ethan had intentionally hidden all the chaos from him using some kind of barrier as he put it, but the fact of the matter remained. It just reminded Ben how weak he was, and how far he still had to climb before he could even consider going back to the Central Plains. Because he wanted to. If only to see what had happened. And for that, he needed strength.

Regardless of all that, Ethan definitely put Ben on the back foot here. He really didn't know what this Ethan guy wanted from him. Or if he was even a decent person. Ben was naturally distrustful of nobles anyway. His recent experience with nobles was literally getting sniped at from the sky by a crazy blonde. I definitely can't fight him. Running wasn't an option, either. Plus, Ben was currently sitting on stolen House property.

The magical holding bag suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds heavier than it should be. Deciding to just see how this goes, Ben slowly pushed himself up from the dirt. He offered a stiff nod.

"I'm Benjamin." Smiling brightly, Ethan clapped his hands together.

"Oh I know, you're quite famous."

"What?"

"I joke, I joke." Ethan waved a dismissive hand through the air with a chuckle. The older boy sat back down and poked the campfire with his stick again.

"It's just you saved Alice, and we—her friends—we dig into her a lot for it." Hearing Alice's name completely threw Ben for a loop. So they were friends? Relaxing his tense muscles just a tiny fraction, Ben studied the older boy's face in the firelight. If Ethan was actually friends with Alice, maybe he wasn't a total prick… But this could also be a ploy to get him to lower his guard. But then again, what could Ethan get from doing that? He was strong enough to slap Ben around if he wanted.

He had no need for the pretense. Maybe he wasn't going to chop Ben's head off and take the holding bag back to his noble buddies. But still, Ben kept his guard up. Shifting his weight slightly, he crossed his arms over his chest to subtly hide the bag.

"You dig into her?" Grinning, Ethan nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh, absolutely. The great and untouchable Alice, saved by a mysterious stranger in the woods? A commoner, no less? It's prime teasing material. No offense, by the way."

"None taken." Leaning forward, Ethan gave a conspiratorial wink.

"She hates it, obviously." Ben wanted to snort. That sounded like her, alright. Ben relaxed a bit more. Maybe this guy really is just friendly? Gesturing with his stick, Ethan pointed right at Ben's right arm.

"Still man, you messed up your arm quite a bit." It had healed, obviously, since it had been quite some time, but Ethan had been sitting there for who knew how long, so he'd definitely seen the messed up state it had been in. Ethan tilted his head with genuine curiosity.

"Why so self destructive? What have you got to prove?" Ben lightly rubbed his thumb over his knuckles, not replying. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. He hadn't been trying to prove anything at all. He just wanted to survive and maybe steal some decent loot. But… why? It made him think. Why was he doing all these dangerous things? He could've run away, denied entering the rift. Just disengaged from the situation with Thomas and Clarissa, too.

But explaining all that seemed like way too much effort right now.

"What skill even is it? To cause that much physical blowback on a Tier 1 body..." Tapping his chin thoughtfully, the older boy narrowed his eyes in calculation.

"Is it [Mana Missile]? [Mana Beam]?" Snapping his fingers, Ethan grinned brightly.

"Or oh! It could be [Mana Cannon] too." How did he guess that so accurately? Ethan just looked thoroughly impressed, his eyes shining with honest admiration. He didn't look greedy, menacing, or threatening at all.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" Ethan sighed and tossed another piece of dry wood into the campfire. He really did just seem like a genuinely good person. For all intents and purposes, he was just a nice guy checking in on a wounded kid. Feeling a sudden sense of guilt, Ben felt a bit bad for suspecting the guy so much. I guess not all nobles are psychotic. He knew that of course, but when all you encountered was filth, it was hard to look at the good parts. But maybe Ben could be a bit better, too.

Ben let his tense shoulders drop. He was exhausted from pretending. And Ethan was clearly too smart for that act anyway. Fuck it. Ben locked eyes with the older boy.

"What do you actually want with me?" Pausing, he narrowed his eyes just a fraction.

"And why did you even save me in the first place?" Blinking in genuine surprise, Ethan sat back. Then, considering, he lingered for a moment. Eventually he met Ben's eyes.

"I want to travel together toward the rift's objective." Ben stared at him. That was it? Meeting his skeptical gaze, Ethan looked entirely serious now.

"I need someone I can trust to watch my back." Ben was flabbergasted.

"And you think I'm a good fit for that?" Gesturing between the two of them, Ethan offered a small, honest smile.

"You seem like a nice person so far, Ben. So what do you say? I benefit, you benefit."

"I benefit? Is the guardian really that difficult? Can you even challenge it as a group?" Waving a hand dismissively, Ethan shook his head.

"Well, yes you can, but that's not what I am talking about." Leaning closer to the fire, the older boy's expression darkened a bit.

"Getting to the guardian is the difficult part so far as I've scouted. Of course, we will gather as many points as we can before we head to it, though." Staring at the crackling flames, Ben chewed on the inside of his cheek.

"Can I deny?"

"Of course. You don't trust people easily, do you, Ben? Well, how about this, I will—" A sudden ping echoed through his active [Mana Sonar]. Ben snapped his gaze toward the dark tree line. Several distinct signatures had just crossed into his frequency range. And they were moving fast. Cutting his sentence short, Ethan slowly turned his head to follow Ben's gaze. A group of teenagers spilled out into the clearing and Ben recognized that punchable face immediately. Fuck me.

Thomas walked in front, followed by Clarissa just behind him, and their two lackeys. They all looked a little worse for wear, probably having had to go through quite a lot of monsters to get to him. They should thank Ben, really. Not only did they find the pond due to him, they also probably got so many points because they had to go through a lot of monsters to get to him.

Still, the arrogant noble looked like absolute hell, completely covered in dried monster blood, but his eyes zeroed right in on Ben like a rabid dog. Pointing a finger, Thomas let out a breathless laugh.

"Found you, you little rat!" Ben slowly readied himself, channeling fire mana into his legs, getting ready to blast into the sky at a moment's notice. Stomping into the light of the campfire, Thomas sneered.

"Did you really think you could run from us? Dragging us through this filthy mud for miles?" Clarissa leaned on her wooden staff, glaring daggers at Ben's skull. Thomas drew his sword and leveled the tip toward Ben's chest.

"Drop the holding bag right now, you thieving peasant. And put your hands up." Put my hands up? Ben rapidly calculated his odds of blasting Thomas's head off before the others could react. It would be tight, but he could probably manage it. Ben sighed internally. Of course he was just joking, making light of the situation. He didn't actually want to kill. Taking another step forward, Thomas spat on the ground.

"I'm going to take my property back, and then I'm going to cut off both of your hands for daring to touch it in the first place! Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" He was so annoying. Endlessly, infuriatingly annoying. Ethan stepped smoothly between Ben and the angry noble and stood there with his hands casually stuffed in his pockets. Furious at the sudden interruption, Thomas whipped his head toward the taller boy.

"Get out of the way, you—" The words died in his throat. Blinking rapidly, Thomas's face drained of all color in real time. His arrogant, superior sneer vanished completely, replaced by an expression of terror. Dropping his sword to his side, Thomas immediately slammed his right fist over his heart. He bowed perfectly at the waist, dipping so low he practically folded in half. Clarissa and the others gasped, suddenly taking note of who exactly was standing there.

Panic flashing in their eyes, they frantically copied the bow.... Huh? Ben stared at the groveling teens in complete bewilderment. What's happening? Keeping his head lowered, Thomas's voice trembled with a sickeningly sweet layer of reverence.

"E-Ethan. I apologize deeply. I had absolutely no idea you were here in this region of the rift." Ethan stared down at them. Thomas peeked up, licking his dry lips, and pointed an accusatory finger directly at Ben.

"Please forgive our unseemly intrusion! We are merely hunting down this commoner!" Standing up straighter, Thomas puffed out his chest, completely flipping the narrative to sound like a righteous, wounded victim.

"This ungrateful rat ambushed us while we were battling a fierce beast! He violently assaulted us and stole House property right out from under us!" It was such a blatant, ridiculous lie that Ben almost laughed out loud. Shooting a venomous glare at Ben, Thomas turned back to Ethan with a sycophantic smile.

"He is a violent thief. We only wish to exact proper justice for his crimes against the nobility. Surely you understand." This was it. This was exactly why he didn't trust nobles. They always stuck together. They always protected their own kind and twisted the truth. Slowly turning around, Ethan looked at Ben. The older boy's face was completely blank, and he asked a single question.

"Did you steal it?"