Ruthless: Path of Conquest

“After you were gone, we used a rope to lower someone down into the pit to investigate. Our unfortunate volunteer barely survived, although I believe he’ll be as good as new soon since we got him some prompt healing. When he regained consciousness, he described the creatures that had attacked him. Those descriptions fit with what I had been, ah, concerned about. I remembered a monster from my Orientation, and our volunteer’s report fit them to a tee.”

James listened closely to the explanation, and the Ring of Truth didn’t give him any further indications of deception. He guessed that the only thing Dean had been lying about was that he’d had “an inkling” about what sort of monster he was dealing with.

He must have actually known what kind of monster it was right away. And what, he lied about it? Pretended he wasn’t sure? Hoped against hope that he was wrong? In the end, he sent someone down into that pit who got hurt…

James looked at the faces of the convicts who were still standing nearby. They had been nodding and looked satisfied with Dean’s recounting of the story. How would these two men—these violent men—behave if they knew Dean was lying about not knowing what kind of monster was inside that space? And that question, of course, assumed that this was the only important thing Dean was lying about. This place is a powder keg that could explode any time. Why bring such unstable people in?

“So what sort of monster are we dealing with, then?” James asked, not wanting to waste time. “I can already sort of feel its presence.”

“You can feel it?” Viktor asked, sneering.

“Yeah, like you were just feeling me, Viktor,” James replied scornfully, releasing some aura for a moment to drive the point home.

“Okay, guys,” Dean said, stepping forward so he stood almost in between Viktor and James. “Let’s please try not being at each other’s throats for a bit.”

I could literally rip his throat out at any moment if I wanted to. Viktor needs to know he can’t behave aggressively in front of me.

James simply stood silently, eyebrows slightly raised, waiting for Dean to answer his question. The tension in the air seemed to ebb slightly as a few seconds passed without any eruption of violence.

“The monsters we’re dealing with are Mole People,” Dean said finally, his expression grave.

James waited for the punchline. When it didn’t come, and he realized Dean was serious and telling the truth, he said, “Really? Mole People? Like in some cheesy old science fiction movie?”

“They’re a serious threat,” Dean said. “We encountered them in Orientation.” His eyes seemed to fill with fear as he began recounting the story. “It was me and the Crespo brothers. We were in a field where there was supposed to be a nest of monsters according to our group’s scout. The scout thought they looked edible if we could manage to kill them. Probably a good source of meat.” He scowled at the memory. “But we couldn’t find anything. The scout had a long-distance communication Skill, so we were talking to her through that. She insisted that the monster was some sort of giant rodent, and where you see a rodent, there’s almost never just one. She thought they might be some kind of burrowing type, so one of the Crespos started digging.” Dean put a hand to his face and started massaging the areas under both eyes, moving his fingers inward until they reached the bridge of his nose. It took him a few seconds before he was willing to continue.

“Mike Crespo had dug about a foot into the ground, when a claw bursts out of the ground and pulls him thigh deep into a hole. Mike is screaming and hollering, and we’re standing there staring at each other trying to figure out what to do. He starts yelling, ‘Help me, help me! It’s trying to pull me under!’ So me and his brother Javier each take an arm, and we start pulling. We get the leg about an inch out of the ground, and this horrible force yanks on the other end and pulls it right back in. The creature pulls even harder, clearly trying to get as much of Mike’s body underground as he can. At a certain point, Mike’s voice gets loud and shrill, and we start to see the blood pour out of the section of his leg that’s planted in the ground. He tells us, ‘Leave me, save yourselves.’”

James’s Ring of Truth detected deception again here.

“So we start running.” Another lie.

“But Javier was too slow.” This also registered as untrue.

“I managed to escape that field with my life, but as I turned back, I saw this big quasi-humanoid thing covered in fur. It was half out of the ground, grabbing onto Javier with claws as long as this.” He gestured at his left hand. “It made this horrible squeaking sound, and then another one popped up next to it and grabbed Javier with its claws. I saw them pull him down. Deep underground somewhere, where I wouldn’t be able to hear him scream.” He shuddered. “During those last moments when they were yanking him under, I managed to use Identify. So I figured out they were Mole People. We tried to avoid them the rest of Orientation, but they were one of the primary monsters. Their territory seemed to span roughly a third of the space. The rest of it was less hospitable, if you can believe that. So we kept occasionally losing people for a while. Once we spotted a Mole Person in the act of taking a team member, we started spending a lot of time in the trees. But it was difficult. They made it a nightmare.”

Well, at least he doesn’t seem to be exaggerating the nature of the perceived threat. The Ring of Truth isn’t giving me anything.

“Were the two of you there for this?” Mitzi asked the two convicts.

Viktor just gave her a sullen look before he caught James glaring back at him. Then Viktor turned his face to gaze elsewhere.

“We were,” Olivar said solemnly. “Well, we weren’t there for the first encounter, but later, when the monsters snatched a teenager, we had already joined. We witnessed.”

“So you were planning to gas them?” Alan asked. “I saw you had some canisters of some kind of gas there.” He bent down to look slightly closer at the canisters. James had already glanced at them but didn’t have the chemistry knowledge required to interpret the labels.

“What is it, exactly?” James asked.

“Nerve gas,” Alan said. “The System is translating the text for me, but I can still recognize that the characters are Mandarin. Looks like weapons confiscated from the People’s Republic of China after the war.”

“Yes,” Dean acknowledged. “I asked our friends here to get their hands on whatever they could. Based on our volunteer’s testimony, there’s more than one or two of those monsters down there. It’s not safe to go down there and fight them in close quarters—”

“So you’re going to gas the area?” Alan interjected. “That stuff could kill a lot more than just your Mole People!”

“Well, what’s the alternative?” Dean replied calmly. “The building—” He gestured to the firm’s office building—“is perfect as a base. We just have to clear out some pests. We can’t have them making fissures like this. But we have to clear all of them out. Gas is the only way to be sure.”

“If the wind takes it, that stuff could kill everyone you have here,” Alan said.

“Our friend at the base assured us that we’ll be safe as long as we wear the masks he provided.” Dean held up a dark-colored gas mask.

“What if the creatures realize what you’re doing and decide to come up for a fight?” Mitzi asked. “It sounds like you don’t believe your group would win a straight fight with them.”

“I’m told that the gas is odorless and colorless. They have no way of realizing what’s going on. They’re just dumb animals, but they’re too tough to fight head to head.” Dean was trying to sound calm, but James could detect that he was a bit frustrated with the conversation. Still, James had his own serious reservations about this idea.

“Are you sure?” James asked.

“Am I sure about what?” Dean asked, sighing.

“Are you sure that they’re basically dumb animals?” James asked. “In my Orientation, I drove a species to extinction, only to discover, when I was fighting the last one, that it could talk. And they had been attacking us in part because they perceived us as invading their territory. It was an avoidable fight, and I regret that it happened. I don’t exactly disapprove of the idea of using chemical weapons here. If you’re right, they’re just like pests that live in the walls of your house, and gassing them is the appropriate solution. I hate to ask this, because you obviously had a traumatic experience in Orientation with these things. But have you ever tried talking to them?”

Dean just stared at James, slightly flabbergasted, for a moment.

“No,” he finally admitted. “I haven’t tried that. Do you think it’s possible?”

“Why don’t we step inside the firm for a bit and discuss strategy?” James suggested.

“That seems fine,” Dean said.

Viktor spat on the ground, obviously annoyed at the delay. “We will remain out here, in case one of your pet monsters—” He pointed at James—“decides to take a bite out of someone outside.”

“Then it’s just the four of us,” James said, giving a small smile. I don’t care what you think, dumbass. You’re the dumb muscle Dean decided to put up with in a moment of weakness.

James, Dean, Alan, and Mitzi walked across the broken parking lot pavement and entered the firm building. It was remarkably intact, James noted. Dean had been right that it was a sturdy structure. It even apparently had a Dungeon somewhere inside, though James was less interested in that now that he’d found Carol. But still…

As the doors closed behind them, Dean began talking. “So what couldn’t you say in front of our new allies?”

James and the others took seats on the chairs in the lobby before he responded.

“For starters, why are those two thugs here at all?” James asked. “They’re both violent criminals. Do you even know what they did to end up in those jumpsuits?”

Dean’s face colored. “They’re two of the strongest Warriors I met in Orientation,” he said after a long pause. “We’re lucky they agreed to join us.”

“Is it lucky?” James asked. “People don’t necessarily turn over a new leaf just because circumstances change. If they’re among the strongest people you’ve met, that just makes the lack of basic anger management skills even more of a problem. How will you restrain them?”

“Well—” Dean looked uncomfortable. “That’s a bridge we’ll cross if we come to it. So far, they’ve both been doing well. I’ve never seen them strike another human in anger. And what would you propose, anyway?”

“Come with me,” James replied instantly. “Alan and Mitzi can tell you, because they’ve already seen it, but I’ve carved out my own territory. Much safer than being here.”

“So you’re not staying, then,” Dean said, clearly disappointed. “I can tell you’re strong. I don’t know how strong. But you can hardly defend any land by yourself—”

“He’s not—uh, alone—Dean,” Alan cut in. “He actually seems to have a lot more people in his Fisher Kingdom than you have here.”

“What? Wait, you declared yourself a king?” Dean looked at Alan and snorted a little. “Are we back to monarchy?”

“It’s not a joke, Dean,” Mitzi said, sighing.

The humor on Dean’s face dried up, and his tone became slightly hostile. “So I’m in the presence of royalty now.”

I could be with my wife, my baby, and the kids right now, but no—I decided to come and help this guy. I don’t need this.

“Well, clearly, you have this situation under control, Dean,” James said. “You’re building yourself a community that includes violent felons, you’re about to use up your deadliest weapons to solve a pest problem—and possibly contaminate your own living space—and there’s no one in your whole group who’s actually strong enough to maintain order—let alone to defend it when the real threats show up.”

“Spare me the holier than thou attitude, Your Majesty,” Dean spat. “We’re a self-governing community. We don’t need your kind of order here. And what do you mean about real threats?”

I suspect that in the long run, much of the world is going to get my kind of order, whether they need it or not. Dean doesn’t get it yet, but the circumstances now make dictatorships almost inevitable. Monarchy lasted for millennia, because people could be convinced that the royals were meaningfully different from them. Because of magic blood. Fast forward to now, when I’m so genuinely different from the people in this little crew that I could slaughter all of Dean’s people without using up most of my Mana. I would never do that, but there is some extent to which might makes right.

“I mean that we live in a monstrous world now, Dean. There are probably as many monsters in the world now as there are people. No, probably a lot more. And there are thousands of particularly territorial ones, which the System calls Rulers. Including several whose territory isn’t far from this area. That’s part of why I suggested leaving the Mole People alive. If you can negotiate with them, they might be willing to coexist in peace. They could stand and fight with you against other species that could invade the territory.”

James wanted to add, If they don’t fight alongside you, and I wipe them out, I doubt you’ll last a week here, but Dean was already shaking his head.

“No.” He spoke through gritted teeth. The next words were something between a whisper and a groan. “I can’t—I can’t let them get away with all that they’ve done. The people they’ve killed.” He shook his head and locked eyes with James. “Alan claimed you’re some great monster exterminator. Do it or don’t do it. But if you’re not going to help, then just stay out of the way.”

James sighed and stood. Fuck it.