Chương 60: Chapter Sixty: Bribes

It's truly beautiful how a simple bribe can rid a person of any wrongdoings whatsoever. With Vince too enamored with his new play toy, I sit back on the uncomfortable wooden bench of the cart while I bathe in the envy that infests everyone's expressions as they stare at the treasure sitting on the army man's lap. Despite Vince covering the surface of the shield with a strip of tarp from the overhead covering of the cart, the description of the item still weighs heavily in the other's minds.

It had been my suggestion to cover the shield for now, as our comparatively low level might invite some unsavory company to look a bit too deep into our possession of such a high value artifact. I'm unsure of the real value of such an item in this world but given the fact no one in our group had even laid eyes upon a rare item until now, I would say the shield is probably worth a pretty penny.

"Dude. Please tell me you have something for me too." Wade whispers from next to me while still staring at the covered buckler.

"Sorry, man. I can confirm that the shield was the most valuable thing I grabbed. I really needed Vince to lay off of me for a little while, so I assumed this would help." I whisper back. Realistically, I would've wanted to keep the shield for myself due to its value. Unfortunately, the rare buckler was the only inscribed weapon I found in the basement, and the type of abilities it has, and its heavy composition do not make it very suitable for my particular fighting style.

The blond boy finally turns to look at me. I can see he is trying to be very serious, but I return his gaze with a calm and even expression.

"What if I get mad at you? Will you give me a rare item then?"

"Nope."

"Shit." He sighs while turning his attention back to the shield once again.

"Just promise me you will get me something in the future after the wave, alright?" He begs.

"That's a death flag, man. Cue the dramatic flashback of your childhood."

"Crap. You're right. Forget about getting me anything."

"Too late. You're deader than a side character that decides to hide a secret injury they got in a past battle to spare their team from worrying about them." I state in a monotone voice.

"Please stop jinxing my death, man!"

It has been roughly two hours since we set off, and after everyone got over the rare item, the group has filled the time with silence and a sprinkle of random humor every now and then. It's pretty obvious the upcoming wave is weighing on everyone, but I'm personally a bit excited for the event. A chance to try out my class, boosted stats, and skills is sitting right in front of me, and the only thing between me and it is a bit of time.

"Do you think this is how soldiers from back home felt when they were getting shipped out to war?" Angus abruptly asks from his spot in the corner next to Henry and Sara.

"No." Vince speaks up for the first time since receiving his gift.

"Getting shipped out, there is a lot more excitement than you would expect. Everyone there is too young and dumb to realize you're being sent to Hell." Angus's retort sticks in his throat, and the boy's pale skin drops another shade.

"Oh crap. I-I-I'm sorry Vince. I forgot you were in the service. I didn't mean to be insensitive about anyone that died or anythi-""Die? Maybe of boredom. By Hell I meant that they don't know they are going to be sitting in the middle of fuck all nowhere with nothing to do for nine months. Almost any deployment you're gonna get is a one-way ticket to a trash desert somewhere in the middle east.

The highlight of your deployment is either gonna be some private time in a porta-shitter or taking a ballistic missile to the head in the middle of the night." He states resolutely while staring at the floor with a small smile on his face. I doubt most of us even understood half of what he just said, but I get the majority of the message. If anything, it sounds like the man is reminiscing about his time back when he was still in the army.

Angus doesn't seem to get what he is talking about, but the boy looks relieved to not have offended the man. If anything, it's like I said- Vince looks kind of nostalgic and happy. In fact, it's the first time I've ever seen him smile honestly. Taking advantage of his good mood, I do something I normally wouldn't.

"Yeah but at least you aren't a POG." I quip. Anybody paying attention to the conversation looks at me like I'm speaking Mandarin or something. For a second, I don't think my joke landed. Soon after though, I hear a small snicker and look up to find Vince actually laughing. It starts quiet, but within a few moments, he is full belly laughing while the rest of the group stares at him. This is truly a sight. Not only did Mr. Stoneface actually smile, but now Hell has frozen over, and the man is cackling like a fool.

This lasts for almost a full minute until the man calms down enough to smile at the floor once again as if lost in thought.

"…What's a POG?" Angus asks after silence overtakes the cart once again. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Honestly, I don't really know the answer myself. I had heard that nickname once while I was in the hospital with a veteran who had lost his leg in some sort of training accident.

"It stands for 'Person Other than Grunt'. It's what the grunts call any non-combative soldiers." Vince explains.

"But wouldn't you rather not be a grunt? Isn't that an insult?" Angus continues to question out of innocent curiosity.

"It's a bit hard to understand unless you're actually a grunt." The man chuckles as if referring to an inside joke. The rest of us trade a few looks. Angus looks like he is about to ask another question, but Sandra holds up a finger to cut him off and the cart becomes silent once more. It's weird, but the quiet atmosphere is significantly less heavy than I would have thought given the circumstances.

The comfort in our slow march to the Veil is calming in a way, and I soon find my eyelids getting heavy as my body acclimates to the consistent rumbling of the wooden wheels against the flat, dirt road that leads away from the city. The presence of the others becomes less of a burden, and eventually I find myself nodding off. Sleep sounds nice at the moment, but I also don't want to fall asleep in case anything happens to the caravan.

My Flare Loop also hovers lazily above my head, and I don't want to risk the construct destabilizing from my own carelessness. To keep myself awake, I move the loop behind my back, pinning it to the side of the cart. The mana barrier is strong enough to handle my paltry weight settling on the surface, so I enjoy the warmth emitting from the construct while I making sure to stretch the wavelength of any excess energy in order to prevent the others from being accosted by the heat.

Converting the energy into lower frequency and longer wavelengths is good training, but not enough to keep me awake. In order to push off the residual exhaustion of my lack of sleep, I open up my palms to face each other while a mana orb begins to form in between them. As it reaches the size of a golf ball and begins to glow due to the un-filtered mana it is created from, I begin to stretch out the surface while hollowing the orb.

With the remaining mana from inside pulled towards the edges, I expand the construct until it reaches the size of a softball before flattening out the sides and sharpening the edges to create a cube. After the cube is complete, I <Infuse> a little bit of radiation into the center and watch as the dull orange glow becomes stronger. Letting the construct go, I watch as it floats into the air and spins slowly as I move it around with <Mana Control>.

There is probably a way for me to turn this little experiment into an exercise to train my control skills, but for now, I enjoy the little glowing box I created while it casts a dim light around the cart. When I'm satisfied with its stability, I let the construct sustain itself with a very minuscule ongoing mana cost while I put my arms behind my head and lean back against my Flare Loop as it pushes against the thick canvas covering the vehicle.

Not realizing the commotion I had created with my mana cube, I look around and see multiple pairs of eyes on my glowing creation. For a moment, I feel a relatively strong pull against my control over the cube. Somewhat surprised, I shift my attention to the young boy in the corner of the cart whose hand is outstretched toward my cube. It would seem Benny is using his <Telekinesis> to try and move the creation toward him.

As he looks at me with questioning baby blue eyes, I give the boy a small nod before confirming the strength of its mana barrier and letting his skill overtake my own. I can tell Benny is bored, especially since Pawl has decided to curl up at my feet for our ride to the Veil. Since I don't see any harm in letting the boy play around, I create a few more glowing mana objects of random shape and size.

The illumination of my constructs casts a warm light across the boy's blond hair, and his eyes shine with wonder as I let him move the shapes through the air as much as he wants with his skill. Everyone's attention is on the floating constructs now, and we all watch Benny as he excitedly spins the toys around in the air. Every now and then, the shapes hit one another due to the boy's hasty movements, but part of me thinks the kid does it on purpose since I passively make pretty sparks come off each time he does so.

Eventually, Angus joins in, and I observe with interest as small lines of blue and purple mana flow through the air and create rings and other such targets for the young boy to move the objects through. Benny's face becomes even more adorable as he guides the constructs through the impromptu obstacle course Angus weaves with a wave of his hands. A couple minutes later, Sandra joins in as well, and small ice missiles attack Benny's mana shapes.

With the introduction of the icy attackers, Benny's face shifts into a look of concentration with his tongue out as he does his best to manipulate the constructs to run through the obstacles while evading the attacks. Sandra's missiles are nothing more than tiny shards of ice, so there is no real damage caused besides a bit of force applied to the objects. Despite this, Benny avoids them like it's life or death, and as time passes, the boy completes the course with an impressive show of precise control.

A triumphant grin is shown toward Angus before the boy turns to stick his tongue out at Sandra for her interference. The silver-haired woman gives him a wicked smirk, before tapping Kathryn on the thigh while gesturing at Angus to keep the course in the air. Benny's bravado seems to fade as Kathryn joins in on the fun with Nikki right at her heels. The kid begins the course anew, but his route is significantly harder to trace back with the new interference.

Due to the power of the three women combined, the air is littered with new ice missiles awaiting to be fired, small dirt walls moving around the glowing mana lines, and little whirlwinds that ensnare anything that comes near them. Before Benny can guide his constructs halfway through, every mana toy is wiped out except for one. The rest blow up in tiny flashes of light as they find their fate sealed behind the lethal precision of Sandra's ice missiles matched with the random elemental obstructions.

The women make quick work of Benny's efforts, and they collectively hold back smiles as the younger boy evidently gets more and more upset each time one of his toys are taken out. With only a small mana orb left, Benny carefully weaves through the course with a talented hand as he barely dodges the remaining interferences. Just as he is about to get to the end, I watch as an icy missile shoots out faster than the rest, and it is clear that Benny will not be able to steer the orb away before it hits.

At the last moment, I throw the boy a bone and use <Mana Control> to open a tiny hole on the surface of the orb, causing some of the energy inside to escape with enough force to push the orb out of the path of the frosty attack. After the ball escapes by a hair, Benny hurriedly rushes the orb through the last ring of the course, and I watch with a small smile as the boy throws his hands in the air for a moment before looking over at the three women with a gloating look on his face.

Sandra looks genuinely taken aback from the loss, but soon after, she joins the other two girls in a small applause to congratulate Benny on his win. The rest of us join in, and his grin grows even wider while he puffs out his chest to revel in the victory. I didn't mind helping him out, as a 3-on-1 didn't seem very fair versus an eight-year-old. Also, the whole experience was quite fun, and I even found myself getting a new idea from the entire interaction.

The group's antics continue all the way up until we reach our new home at the entrance to the Veil. Any anxiety about the upcoming wave is forgotten, and we all share small displays of our skills while we enjoy the company of each other's presence. It was… fun.