Knight of Corruption (LitRPG)

37 - The Dead and the Free

"You did this!"

"You were the one who gave the order!"

Marcus had broken. Seeing all of his men being slaughtered in an instant had gotten to him, not that I blamed him for that. But his assertions that I was actually the one at fault were ludicrous. I took a huge risk by attacking the branch myself. I was lucky that Stigma was telling the truth. Since then the magical foliage had withered away, leaving the husk of a normal looking tree behind and my body unmolested.

"If I didn't do something, we were all going to die to that fucking thing."

"As much as it pains me to admit, I agree with the mercenary," Cranston said, "It killed them instantly. The range and effect of its magic was devastating."

"I didn't know if it would work, if you'd just waited a damn moment I could have made a better choice."

Marcus wasn't having it, "You waited on purpose. The moment I get back, I'm shouting what you did from the rooftops. Everyone's going to know what you did to my boys. I'm going to find that Inquisitor and tell him all about you."

"He already knows I'm here..." I cocked back my arm and swung at Marcus, clocking him around the jaw and sending him over onto his back. He was stunned. "It'll be better for everyone if you never leave here."

"Why?!" he demanded, spitting out blood from his maw.

"Calling the Inquisitors here is signing the death warrants of hundreds of innocent people. For what? To get me?"

"Then give yourself up-"

"I'd never suggest such a stupid idea to you, Marcus. How about you gut yourself with that sword? No? Not biting?"

He shook his head, too defeat to get back up and fight back. Adrian grabbed my arm and pulled me away, "Ren, please. I promise you – we won't even be on the same continent by the end of this week. Don't kill him."

Adrian being the one to try and break things up was a surprise. Fernwell had been silent the entire time. Was it worth it? Fernwell would probably have a word or two to say to me if I murdered him like this. We'd have to leave Pascen, and if I did that – Benadora wouldn't pay us for all our hard work.

"...Fine." I sheathed Stigma and backed away. Marcus tore at the grass with his hands in frustration. I didn't like killing people if I didn't have to. Perhaps some people saw me differently. What Marcus was threatening to do would hurt a lot of people. This was a group of people who murdered and pillaged at the mere suggestion of a 'corruptive influence.'

Cranston clapped his hands together, "How about we take a sample of the tree and head home?" The shitstorm we just witnessed and the destruction of the tree had settled the debate. I was giving him way too much credit. The more likely explanation was that Cranston didn't want me to kill him either.

One of Cranston's lackeys procured a small glass jar from his pocket and approached the now withered tree. He chipped away some of the bark using nothing more than his own fingers, sealing it inside with a cork lid. The other two collected samples of their own from the ground. The tree guardian had disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing behind. Was it made of pure magic?

Fernwell asked Marcus to say his last words to his deceased comrades. He bitterly approached the mutilated bodies and stripped them of their most valuable possessions. Unlike me, he presumably intended to hand them back to their families when he told them the bad news, and not to sell them on the black market for cheap.

"I can feel the ether flowing over me," Cali observed, "Destroying the branch has returned things to normal."

"I hope so. Stigma was oddly insistent about making me do it."