She probably had a mental breakdown because I could hear her crying. Then I turned to the twins. By now, everyone was out of their tents, trying to process what had happened. Everything was confusing, but I didn't say anything about it because it was my whole plan from the start. I just had to look for a way, and I did.
Then I said to the twins, "Go in those guys' tent and bring their bodies out."
Then I turned to the scar-faced guy, "Damian, go bring me the leader's body and head." I said while pointing in the direction I came from.
I waited for a few minutes. I could hear the twins probably puking because of what they saw. I didn't say anything. Though Damian didn't show much expression on his face, one thing was clear: he was trying hard not to puke.
Then I turned to Jake and Julia and simply said, "Aria, give them a weapon. Jake, kill the one that has a sword stabbed in her. Julia, kill this one in front of me."
I could feel their hesitation. After a while, Julia moved forward, swung the sword down with all her strength, beheading Amaya. I had no expression on my face.
Then I turned to look at Jake, gritting his teeth. I said, "Wait. If you can't do it, you can scram from here. I won't tell Aria to kill you."
He didn't reply to me. He swung the sword down, killing the other woman. I wanted them to have blood on their hands. Even if they've killed magical beasts, those are way different from humans. So I simply said, "You see how easy it is to take someone's life? You swing your blade, cutting off the head. It's a simple fact: those who kill should be prepared to be killed. So when your time comes with no way out, simply die with a smile."
After that, I turned to Aria, saying, "Pack all the bodies and burn them up."
Then I turned around and left. I didn't know where I was going. I just needed to clear my head. Everything happened so fast. That same night, I just got in the middle of nowhere and sat down, started thinking. I had really killed someone directly. Even when I killed my family back on Earth, I had to plant bombs. I couldn't bring myself to stab them or even poison them.
Then I said to myself, "I sure have changed a lot. Well, like I said, I'd do anything to survive, even if I have to use the world for it."
Then I sat there. After a while, I heard a voice in my head saying, "Hey, wake up."
Then I replied, "I am awake."
Then the voice replied, "Then open your eyes. I can't see."
Then I made a frown on my face and said, "Can't you see I'm blind?"
It took a while for the voice to process what I said, then it said, "It hasn't even been a few days since I left, and you're blind? What did you do?"
I didn't reply. I just sat there. Then the voice said, "You know you can still see, right?"
I knew what he was talking about. I just have to pluck my eyes out, and they will regenerate back. But I don't want to let go of this little advantage I have with me being blind. So I didn't reply.
Then the voice said, "You already knew?"
I just kept quiet. After a while, the voice said, "If you don't want to reply, I'm going back to sleep."
I didn't reply. I just kept sitting there in silence. After what felt like a minute, the voice said, "OK, what do you want?"
And I simply said, "Answers."
The voice kept quiet. After a while, the voice said, "I can't tell you more than we just brought you here for a mission, and I am going to act like your guardian till you grow strong enough."
Then I replied, with no change in my expression, "Then we are done here."
I stood up, wanting to return to the others because I could already smell Aria's scent coming my way. She arrived in front of me, then said, "We already burned the bodies and packed up."
I could feel the morning breeze coming my way. So I simply said to her, "Let's go."
I didn't reply to the voice. I am never going to be a pawn of anyone ever again. I am not going to become an existence which has their whole path laid out for them. I will build my own path with my own hands.
Then we left and returned to the group. By now, they had already packed all the stuff. Then Aria came to me, saying, "Here. We found a spatial ring from that leader."
I was surprised because I was pretty sure a bandit like him wasn't supposed to have something like that. Then I looked at the group before saying, "Give it to Damian, along with everything we've collected so far."
Everyone had surprised expressions, because no one expected it to be so. Since I was the boss, it was proper that I hold on to it. Don't get me wrong—not like I trust him or am testing him. I am simply doing it for what lies ahead.
After that, I turned around and kept moving, but not before saying, "We've already seen the first sign of people. We should get outside the forest soon."
After moving forward, they followed me. We kept walking. I could feel piercing gazes behind me. Then I turned back, asked, "What is it?" They all paused.
Then Jake came forward before saying, "Boss, what was all that back then? I didn't even understand what happened. All I hear was a shout, then I saw the two sisters fighting before Miss Aria joined the fight, and you asking us to kill them both. I can understand if you ask us to kill the leader's partner, but why did we have to kill the woman that helped us? And from what I can tell, she liked you, because we heard sounds coming from your tent."
Then I asked, "Why were you listening to that?"
And Jake smirked before saying, "I don't know, maybe someone was having a good time and forgot others were outside listening."
I simply asked, "What do you feel for your first kill?"
He turned quiet. Then I continued, "I won't waste my time preaching some stupid nonsense about morals and ways of living. I don't think twice when I kill. I kill if it benefits me. Simply put it this way: if I know you are going to bring me profit, I kill you. The reason I asked you to kill was to have your hands stained with blood so you won't hesitate when the time comes for you to take your revenge. The same person who killed your family won't hesitate, not even the slightest, and you will probably grow stronger after going through all this."
Then he asked, "Boss, you're one hell of an actor. If I didn't know you were the boss, I would have believed. And that was the first time I've seen another expression on your face."
Then Lirien said, "And I have never even seen you smile once, nor laugh."
The others nodded. Then I turned around before saying, "I forgot how to smile. So I only know how to keep my emotions in check."
They understood I didn't want to talk about it, so we began our journey. After one week passed, after what seemed like forever, we came out of the forest. I could feel the sun directly on my body without feeling the shade of trees blocking it. And the fresh air here smelled a hell of a lot different than being in the forest.
Jake was already jumping for joy, even the girls. I didn't have any expression on my face. After some time, I turned to them, "Let's go. I can hear a lot of noise coming from that direction, and it's probably the city the bandits came from." I said, pointing in a direction I could hear a lot of noises coming from.
During this past week, I had already started eating more poison plants. And the voice tried talking, but like always, I ignored it. We moved to the front. After what felt like five minutes, I could smell different scents coming from that direction where the noise came from.
Then I turned to Aria, "You will be the leader for this trip. Try to find out as much as possible to know where we are and how to get to our homes."
Aria nodded, then led our group to the city gate. As soon as people saw us, they moved out of the way, simply avoiding us, even awakeners. The city guard looked tense, looking at us. Then the other guard turned to his companion, saying, "You can attend to them. I will call the commander." Then he hurriedly left.