Unfortunately, due to my cover blown, we had to stay on guard at all times.
The eyes of the city’s residents followed us everywhere we passed. ’Anyone of these people could be a heretic, and we wouldn’t even know about it.’ I thought grimly.
The thought unnerved me. And like I’d said earlier, I didn’t like not knowing things.
By now Alistair and anyone with half a brain should have realized there was something wrong with the city.
And if so, he should have already began his investigation to figure out what was wrong with the city, and by my estimates, he should be close to finding out, if he hadn’t already.
And if he has, he’ll probably be planning how to storm the place. Sometimes I wondered how the protagonist of this novel could be so dumb. But then again, I didn’t blame him,he thought with his lower half.
Jayden, Alistair’s childhood friend, and also the ring leader of the heretics in this city, went on to become an apostle in the dark cult. A significant rank in the dark cult, where the said holder could directly communicate with their patron Darkwalker.
Jayden committed immeasurable crimes against the residents of Nahaar. But in the end, Alistair managed to turn her over with the power of ’friendship’ and whatnot, and then she became his seventh harem member.
"Bullshit I say." I would love to see how that would play out in a real life scenario.
"Huh? did you say something?" Dion tilted his head.
I shook my head.
"Just wondering if you’ve completed your own mission."
"Not yet. I’m planning to do it tomorrow." he replied.
"Tomorrow huh?" Yeah, Dion wasn’t completing his mission at all. Because first thing tomorrow morning, the main cast and a few extras would attack the heretics’ base. The city would undergo a major upheaval.
"Hey, hey, are those who I think they are?" Dion’s voice woke me from my delusions.
I looked over to the direction he was gesturing to. Lo and behold, through the glass wall of a cafe, I could see a total of ten youths seated around a round table. I only recognized seven of them though, the rest were probably from other classes.
One of the youths I recognized was this kid I used to bully back when I was still a prince, then Alistair, Fabian, Rose, Delilah, the bitch, and then the one that most definitely surprised me, Anastasia.
"What is she doing here?" She was not supposed to be here. But then again, it kind of made sense. she was not supposed to exist, yet she existed.
"Let’s go over." Dion said after a moment of silence.
’I don’t really want to.’ I sighed. But it seemed Alistair was already briefing them on his investigations. "Alright let’s go." I nodded. What could possibly go wrong?
The youths noticed us both the moment we stepped into the cafe. Most of their expressions stiffened for a moment, before Alistair smiled, and waved us over.
"Come join us guys, there’s plenty of room at this table." We walked over and joined the table, with most, if not all the extra’s on the table visibly unsettled by my presence. That was what a bad reputation did to someone huh. Even so, I couldn’t care less about changing their opinion of me.
I made eye contact with each one of the main cast. Rose’s gaze looked indifferent, Anastasia’s gaze looked unbothered, Fabian was scowling, the bitch had a subtle smirk on her lips, and Delilah was also frowning.
"Come on, why are you guys so on edge? having some extra hands wouldn’t hurt." Alistair chuckled trying to diffuse the tension.
"Tsk, I couldn’t care less about this sissy." Fabian clicked his tongue.
My lips twitched.
Now hold up, who the hell was this arrogant prick calling a sissy? Me? I look nothing like sissy.
’I definitely look manly don’t I?’
’He meant cowardly and timid, you baka.’ Bubbles spoke for the first time since I reached the city.
Oh cowardly huh? That, I was. There was no shame in agreeing with that.
"I’m sure Damon would have a lot to contribute." A white haired, blue eyed girl said. The bitch and I hadn’t spoken since the day of the entrance exam when she approached me, and now she was supposedly speaking up for me? Like hell. If anything she was probably hoping I’d die, so that the chances of me ever realizing ’the truth’ would be zero.
My eyes narrowed.
"Contribute to what?" Even though I knew what they were talking about, I had to keep up appearances after all.
"Sigh, do we really have to go over this again?" Delilah sighed.
"I’ll be brief." Alistair chuckled, before he turned serious.
"Earlier today, after completing my mission, I figured something wasn’t right with this city, so I decided to do an investigation on my own, and what I found out,..." he paused for suspense. "Was a den of heretics."
"I know." I said flatly.
Alistair blinked.
"...." He went off for a moment before he regained his composure and continued.
"You know?"
"Yes." I nodded. "I fought one earlier today." Though fight was an exaggeration, they didn’t need to know that.
"..." Another bout of silence stretched around the table for a brief moment, before Alistair cleared his throat.
"Ahem, anyway, I found out they had kidnapped the lot of the children in this city, including some adults. Just when I was planning to storm in there and and release those people myself, I came across our classmates one after the other.
I then called their attention to the situation. Now, we’ve made a plan to storm their hideout first thing tomorrow morning.
So I ask you this, would you join us in eradicating those heretics, and restoring the freedom of their victims?"
After a moment of silence, I nodded.
"No!" I said, just when Alistair had began smiling at me nodding.
"..."
"..."
Everyone at the table stared at me blankly.
"What..." Alistair faltered.
Muahahaha.
It felt so good to stump someone. For Alistair though, the reason he went speechless, was because he thought his charismatic and inspiring speech would work on me.
Too bad for him though, I was a transmigrator. The protagonist halo wouldn’t work on me and make do stupid things I usually wouldn’t do.
"Uh, Damon, were we not supposed to say yes?" Dion leaned in to my ear and whispered.
"I would like to know why you declined." Alistair said regaining composure. "Please." he added.
I shook my head.
"I didn’t decline." I really declined.
"Do you think this is a joke?" one of the extras on the table raged. And behold, it was the kid I used to bully. It seemed Alistair’s presence had given him some extra pairs of balls.
Alistair’s eyes narrowed.
"Then why did you..."
"You didn’t let me finish. What I wanted to say was; no, not unless you tell me the plan first." I was lying, I had really declined, but then changed my mind.
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Alistair’s plan caused a lot of casualties even among the captives they were supposed to save, and it didn’t sit well with me. Most of them were children after all, and come on who didn’t love children?
"Oh.." he scratched his head in embarrassment. "I told you the plan though, we would storm the heretics’ base first thing tomorrow morning."
I nodded. Then looked around the table. "I’m not the only one who thinks this plan is dumb am I?" I asked just to be sure. Even though I knew that was what they did in the novel, I still expected some changes in hopes that since this was reality, some common sense would have been knocked into their heads.
"I told them it was stupid." A bored yet melodious voice answered bluntly.
I turned from Alistair and looked at the owner. It was the first time I’d heard her speak. ’So at least someone at this table has common sense.’ I thought as I met the redhead’s eyes.
"But since they seemed insistent on marching to their deaths, I saw no reason stopping them." she continued.
"What’s wrong with the plan?" To my shock it was Rose who asked.
"Tsk tsk!" I shook my head almost in disappointment. "I expected better from you Rose. It’s no wonder I always trumped you in intellectual excercises."
Rose’s gaze narrowed in a dangerous way. I was sure if there weren’t people here, she would have jumped on me. After all, I was kinda indirectly calling her dumb.
I ignored her and continued.
"What are the strengths of the heretics? what are their numbers? Do they hold a severe advantage over us due to the fight being in their territory? If yes, how do we counter that?"
Most of their eyes widened at that. I rolled my eyes.
’Did none of them really think about this?’ It was at this moment that I realized, changing tho outcome of this event was going to be a lot more tedious than I thought.
************
YAY, WE’VE GONE PREMIUM. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT EVERYONE.