Ssevinac continued to stare at the quest completion status screen with relief, elation and terror constantly threatening to take hold.
That crazy human actually did it. Killing the roach king was not actually feasible in Ssevinac's mind when he offered that deal to the human, and even when he found out the human reached level 25 it still seemed unlikely.
The original hope had been that should the human survive killing his own King, he would then go after the roaches and preferably cripple their forces before getting killed himself. Whether by the roaches overwhelming numbers or their king taking action himself. Then with most of the roaches' forces being depleted, this would trigger a standstill/ceasefire until the tutorial had finished. Never in his wildest dreams did he think the human would actually be able to cut through all of the roach Kings forces and kill him.
His terror of course stemmed from the fact that the human should be dead. The humans should have died with all of the forces the roach king possessed. Yet with the roach King dead, the only logical conclusion would be that the human survived. Not even with his former King and all of their forces combined would they have been able to achieve such a feat.
And that said nothing about the fact that he killed a cursed sin and managed to purge said sin from their soul. In G-rank no less! The sheer lunacy of such an achievement without any help was ridiculous. The church of the blessed virtues would probably collapse from sheer ecstasy if they were to ever find out.
This of course begged the question of what the hell was he supposed to do now? He needed to get another contract with this human set up that was for sure. One that would ensure he didn't betray him or his people. Preferably keeping the human as an ally and most importantly, a shield for what was likely to come.
He would need to find a way to use the humans insanity ailment to his advantage. When he identified his status when they first met, he noticed the ailment of insanity on him. While it was only weak and would likely only make the human unpredictable, if he could just find a way in and figure out what the human wanted he could probably find a way to make it work in his favor.
The human also seemed to possess a kind nature about him. They likely hadn't been exposed to much war or fighting before the system integration. Ssevinac would absolutely capitalize on that before the human started to adapt to the new life he would have to live.
But that wasn't to say he should make a contract that would heavily favor him. He had a strong inkling that the human was in some way responsible for Iirilac death. He made the contract pretty airtight but there were still openings. It wouldn't surprise him if the human had purposefully led Iirilac into an unfavorable position and didn't help him as he got swarmed by roaches and his brethren. He had been an excellent fighter one-on-one, but did poorly in groups.
Of course this did seem to contrast with the humans' more innocent nature. But that was possibly explained by the insanity ailment. Either way, while he was innocent, he was also smart and obviously very powerful. So making a contract that heavily favored him could do more harm than good and might lead to future problems down the road that would likely see him and his people crushed.
Now he would still need to find what the human wanted in order to tempt him with the contract. For that he called over Ttemin who was his closest confidant outside of Iirilac and Rrepia who was his pupil before they were taken by the system.
While Rrepia and he were on a much more even playing field in terms of levels now, he still had much more experience than her, but even so he still valued her opinion and wanted her to learn from this if possible.
Ssevenic explained the situation to the both of them and it was Ttemin who spoke first. “We don't need this human anymore if he has gone and killed the roach king. I say we just lure him into a false sense of security and kill him before he even knows what happened.”
He was always one to take care of potential problems before they occurred. Sometimes that worked out great but other times, such as this one, he felt like it would backfire horribly.
Ssevinac turned his head towards Rrepia, her face seeming contemplative. “well? What are your thoughts.”
Rrepia continued to contemplate his words for a moment before shaking her head “I think fighting or ambushing him would be a bad idea. The roaches liked to use ambush tactics and traps too. It was why going into their territory would have been difficult even without their overwhelming numbers. If this human managed to get all the way into their territory to kill the king. I somehow doubt he will fall for a simple ambush or a few well-placed traps. And I doubt overwhelming him with our numbers will achieve anything. If the roaches couldn't do it, we certainly wouldn’t.”
Ssevinac nodded proudly at his pupil before turning to Ttemin. “I understand your desire to kill the human and remove the potential threat. But if we can get him to feel indebted to us, I believe we will have a very powerful shield to help serve our people. We only need him until we can not just survive on our own but thrive. Hopefully that will give us enough time to strengthen ourselves until we can dispose of the human.”
Ttemin clearly didn't like the idea but he also saw its merit and so acquiesced to Ssevinac. Of course Ssevinac didn’t actually have any plans to dispose of the human anymore and only really said that to make Ttemin happy. He had every intent of keeping the human around as protection for as long as possible. Now it was a matter of trying to figure out how to make him feel indebted at worst and sign a system contract at best.
They went over various possibilities. But eventually settled on simply asking him the next time they saw him. He seemed straightforward and simple enough that such an action would work.
Once that was settled they began discussing sending a group to the other Grand Station to discuss terms with him. They thought it best to hold off until they properly integrated the other two groups of rat kin that the human spared when he went through his massacre of their own King's forces. That said if the human came to them then they wouldn’t need to worry about it.
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“Master, if it is not too intrusive of me to ask. How many points were awarded for the roach King's death?” Rrepia asked with curiosity.
That comment inevitably brought a wide smile to Ssevinacs face. They were given tutorial points at the beginning when the locals were integrated in. Every accomplishment, kill, and anything the system deemed notable would award them with points which they could then use to buy certain objects and things from the tutorial Point store.
But Ssevinac knew that holding on to these points was for the best as they would gain more things they could buy when leaving the tutorial such as skills, guidance, and more powerful items. While they personally didn't kill the roach King or his forces, the system still gave them tutorial points. Likely because of the contract Ssevinac had made.
“More than I could have asked for” he said with a gleam but ended that conversation for now. He would be deciding how their points would be spent after the tutorial. They didn't need to know the exact amount anyways.
They discussed things a bit more but were interrupted by Wwennep, one of the guards stationed outside of the Grand Station who quickly saluted and spoke “Sorry for interrupting, but the human is here and is requesting to speak with you. Should we let him in?”
Ssevinac nodded, having expected him to come here at some point but had not expected it to be this soon “Yes, but only one of you should bring him, no need for an armed escort. We want to show that we trust him, understood?” Plus it wasn't like an armed escort would do them any good. The human would likely be able to kill them all before they even had a chance to draw their weapons.
Wwennep quickly saluted and disappeared back down the stairs while Ssevinac looked at Ttemin and Rrepia “Stay, I might as well introduce the both of you to him but try not to say anything that might be upsetting. He seems fairly laid back but also a little off his rocker. When I was able to identify him when we first met he had the ailment of insanity but only weak. Just let me handle it.”
They both nodded and Ssevinac waited for the human to show up. It didn't take long to spot Wwennep bringing the human up to see him. upon spotting them, the human waved and spoke “Hey Ssevinac! I need more bombs!”
There was a small lapse of silence as Ssevinac processed what he just heard. “bombs.” he said after a moment “You need bombs?”
“Yeah, I used up all the ones that were in the break room/storage room and if I want to kill the rest of the cursed sins I'm going to need more bombs. So I was wondering if you had more, or knew somebody who could make more.”
There was a lot to process from that statement alone and he questioned if the humans' Insanity ailment went up a notch or two. Ttemin and Rrepia shifted awkwardly, likely also trying to process everything he just said. Probably just as shocked as he was that the human was planning on killing the rest of the cursed sins.
At least now he had a slight confirmation that the human took everything their king had been holding on to from before. But the biggest question would be where he hid them. There was no way the human had some kind of storage space on him, so he would have to assume that he hid them somewhere within the dungeon. He'd be sending his scouts out to try and find the hidden cache when he had the chance.
Making sure to choose his words carefully Ssevinac responded “We have the ability to make more bombs, but it would take us a little bit. Perhaps you and I can come to some sort of agreement or contract. Just to ensure fairness after all.”
The human opened his mouth, then closed it, opened it again, then closed it with an annoyed growl. Opened it one more time before snapping it shut and then looked up into the air “Could you please allow me to respond. I know!”
He then looked back at Sssevinac “Fine but we need to hash out details to ensure fairness. It would be in both of our best interests. Trust me.”
The comment could have been interpreted as a threat but Ssevinac had a strange gut feeling that it wasn't so much a threat as it was a promise. One the human had no control over. He would have to ensure that the contract had no ways for the human to misinterpret anything.
“In that case” Ssevinac spoke, choosing his words carefully. “I have an additional request to ask of you. When the tutorial ends and we are all released from this dungeon I would like for me and my people to join you and whatever faction and kingdom you end up creating?”
“Faction? Kingdom?” The human seemed grossed out by the idea. “Why would I try to create such a thing?”
That kind of thinking stumped Ssevinac. Such a preposterous thought was likely why the system classified him as insane. “Why wouldn't you?” he said after some hesitation. “It is a great way to increase one's power and to allow your subjects to serve in better whatever your goals may be.”
The human's face twisted in disgust for a second but just as he was about to respond he shut his mouth again and gave a blank stare before sighing. “ Fine, fine. If I make a faction or a kingdom you can join it. But that is a big if.”
Ssevinac nodded, he was going to have to guide the human in that direction if they still remained hesitant after he explained the benefits better. He quickly hashed out other details of their contract before the human had a chance to change his mind or decide on something extra he wanted.
On the surface it greatly favored the human. Basically they would make more bombs for him. This would require Ssevinac to use some of his tutorial points to purchase the material, but if he got even a little bit of credit for helping the human kill the other cursed sins then it would be beyond worth it.
Next he would help the human learn some of their skills and help him understand the world he was about to come in too. This was basic and easy enough, especially since he would be having some of his subordinates mostly teach him. Plus this was technically their job in the beginning anyways. It’s largely why the system even put people like them in the tutorial. To teach the newly integrated locals. So the whole thing would work out.
Third, they would pledge themselves to the human as subordinates to him and any faction or kingdom he might create in return for his protection from any outside attackers or hostile factions.
Once everything was hashed out and signed, the human went back down the stairs where the rest of the rat kin were likely about to ask one of their Rogues to teach him how to build proper traps leaving him alone with Ttemin and Rrepia.
“Uh.. master. Are you sure about this? To become his subordinates would just put us in a similar situation as last time right?” Rrepia expressed hesitancy referring to how they served under their previous ruler but Ttemin was the first to respond.
“I think I understand your line of thinking. You do not know this Rrepia but statistically speaking, many factions that leave the tutorial who were guides often find themselves overthrown or killed off by the locals.
“The locals will always be favored by the system as opposed to us. Oftentimes locals will get quests to kill surviving tutorial factions. By aligning ourselves with a local, we probably increase our chances of survival greatly”
“But didn't the system agree to give us a second chance by accepting us as tutorial guides?” she seemed shocked by this new bit of information
“The system doesn't particularly care much for second chances. If you screwed up the first time what makes the system think you won't screw up the second time? The system likes using us to further the new blood. If we somehow survive against the odds then the system will think we truly deserve a second chance. but not before.” Ttemin responded and Ssevinac agreed.
Regardless of how they spun it. the human was their best chance at survival. Besides, Ssevinac always preferred a follower role to a leadership one. This should put him right where he was comfortable with.