Chương 22: Politics

Sara broke up with Jason the last time she soaked in Brisken Lake. He and the Hero's Party were down to their underwear, soaking on rocks like they were in a hot spring, filling their cores with refined mana. In one go, they were all going to double their power. It was a brilliant occasion—but it hung darkly with the fresh scars they had just experienced. Twenty-five people had died within the last hour, and Jason had the balls to lean his head back and say: God. I needed this. Like what? Sara asked. A spa trip?

That's not what I meant, and you know it, he snapped. Do we? Raul asked. Twenty-five people just died because— Don't! Jason gave him a vicious glare. We came here to destroy the spiders plaguing Apiro. And we did, Sara snarled. We didn't need to do the cavern without Edico. But then you saw the lake and— Don't you dare. Jason turned to Raul. Or you, either. I get you wanna fuck Sara, and all, but she's not gonna break up with me just because you hang on her every word like a fucking leech.

Yeah, I'm not gonna break up with you because he agrees with me, Sara said. But I will break up with you because of the things he agrees about. Excuse me, what? We're over. Sara woke in the present, staring at the glittering ceiling. Zirconia stalactites had formed like icicles and hung there, like apples made of solid gold. In the past, Sara, Raul, Emma, Mary, and Jason had been so mixed up between fighting the spiders, losing their platoon, and filling their cores with refined mana to notice something so amazing.

It wasn't until the kingdom swooped in and mined them, creating a massive row as patrons fought with one another for who had rights to the crystals, that they realized that the pretty lights above them could power Amia city's lights and fountains for the next decade. This time, Sara planned to mine them all. Or she planned to. As she circulated mana into her new core, healing, refining, and filling it, a familiar voice rang out.

"Wow, things went way worse than they did in our last life. A full company." Daniel let out a protracted whistle.

"Wiped out."

"I'm healed enough to rip your legs off," Sara warned.

"Don't worry, I'm just here to collect my half." He lifted his hand and clenched it. Zinconia crystals fell to the ground like rain. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Your half, huh? You think you hold right to any of this."

"You act like this wasn't a joint operation." Daniel threw a teleportation array onto the ground like it was trash.

"Reesta announced that you suffered a panic attack from acute anxiety and went on a hunt. Jason'll be recieved as a hero for liberating Apiro, but be regarded as untrustworthy by the king… Half." He stuffed more crystals into a sack. Sara took a deep breath.

"And if I kill you? What then?"

"Well, I don't know," he replied thoughtfully, flashing her a smile afterward.

"Been damn near a century and that's probably the only thing I haven't experienced." He broke off more crystals and sacked them.

"Here's my question: you gonna leave some of that for the 'heroes?' First thing Jason's gonna do is come back here to find it. Then, he'll go on a savage rampage, declaring that you used them for fodder to get to this place."

"If it's not that, then it's something else," Sara said.

"It doesn't matter what we do, there'll always be something for him to squawk about." She slid her tongue across her teeth and hung it in the corner before saying, "But I will destroy the cavern."

"Good enough."

"Where's the circle lead?"

"To a campsite outside the Linga Forest. Edico'll be waiting there for you."

"You've gotten Edico into this? Are you crazy?" Daniel stopped stuffing his sack and turned to her with dark eyes that gave her shivers.

"Seriously? You just bolted out of the kingdom during a celebration made in your honor. I had to unsheath Reesta like a sword and stab Edico with her to unfuck this situation. I get that you have spare feelings for Raul, but you could've fucked this timeline eight time sideways with this stunt."

"You shouldn't've put him in danger to begin with!" Sara snapped. Her core was welling with energy from the lake. If she wanted to, she could obliterate Daniel. At least at present.

"Jason would've survived. You said that."

"Yeah, but he wouldn't be marched in a hero. Now, he'll receive a prime post in the army when Roslain gets assassinated." Sara blinked a few times.

"What are you talking about? Trinov's alive. Corrigan has no pretext to go to war." Haster Corrigan, the corrupt advisor who helped Halter Escar, Trinov's bastard son, claim the throne, hired assassins to kill Roslain as a pretext to go to war. But in this timeline, that wouldn't happen. Trinov was alive, and there was no universe in which he would kill his own daughter. Daniel retrieved large mason jars and filled them in the lake relaxedly.

"You treat time as if its ill-linear. As if the butterfly effect is so strong that stepping on a flower will suddenly result in a nuclear dystopia in the near future. But in reality, time's karmic. If one thing happens, another thing is sure to happen. Perhaps differently, but… you know. Ultimately the same."

"Then how do we stop it? Roslain's death is what kicked off all this bullshit."

"Unfortunately, it's too late to save her," he said apathetically.

"I know you're fighting hard for your perfect life and all, but in truth… the world doesn't care. Not about you. Not about me. Not about us. Everyone in this world cares first about themselves, and if the universe let your narrow viewpoint be, it'd probably end up worse than it originally was. Don't forget that." He ripped off one last zinconia crystal with telekinesis, floated it into his hand, and then said, "Ciao."

One of Daniel's arrays glowed underneath his robes, and he blinked out of existence, leaving Sara to think about time, Daniel, and the outside spiders. As her new core filled with solidifying mana, she decided that she'd kill the rest of the spiders before collapsing the cave. That way, she couldn't be added to the force sent to eradicate the rest of them. This was how she had to think now. Think like Daniel Winters. Daniel Winters: her greatest foe.