Master of the Loop

Chapter 5

Better Off Ignorant

Sylas stared tepidly at the unmoving body of the Captain, sighing over and over again and lamenting at the fact that his current situation was gift-wrapped for him by the precarious hand of the Lady Luck. She must have used at least a year's worth of his luck to set in motion the chain of events within which a seasoned, veteran fighter ended up passed out on the floor while a common street hustler who hadn't been in a fistfight in over twenty years ended up lording over the said fighter.

Deciding it was time to wake Tebek up, Sylas moved back the distance of the sword and unsheathed the thing. It was… heavy. Very, very heavy. So heavy, in fact, that his arms would begin to shake if he held it flat for longer than five seconds. He inwardly chose for that to be the commentary on the sword's ludicrous weight rather than him being too weak.

Having rested his arms slightly, he pushed the sword forward and poked Tebek a couple of times in his behind—and a couple of times is all it took for Tebek to rouse with a strangely high-pitched scream, clearly confused.

“Silence or I’ll cut your head off!” Sylas proclaimed bravely. It wasn’t that he was confident even now—in fact, he very much suspected that if Tebek just rushed him… he’d easily win the sword back. It was just that the Captain didn’t know that. All he saw was a man pointing a very sharp sword at his groin; no matter a man’s bravery, they’d all freeze up at that moment.

“H-huh? What… what is going on?” Tebek mumbled in confusion but had very much picked up on the fact that there was a blade pointing at his general.

“I’ve a few questions for you if you don’t mind,” Sylas said “And if you answer them honestly, I’ll let you kill me after. I’m not even joking—I’ll hand you this blade, bend over, and move hair off my neck so that you have a clean stroke. In fact, I might even tell a few ‘yo mamma’ jokes to get you revved.”

“… what?”

“Why did you plant the magic circles or whatever underneath the walls?” Sylas asked quickly. The longer he delayed things, the greater the chance something went wrong.

“How do you know about that?! Who are you?!” Tebek’s confusion quickly turned into shock, an alarmed look emerging on his aging, wrinkled face.

“That’s unimportant,” Sylas said. “I’m the one asking questions here. Why did you do it? Why did you betray everyone? Did you know Ghouls would be invading at the same time? Who’s the most important boy in the castle?”

“What boy—what are you—”

“Do you want me to cut off your willie or not?!!”

“No, no, please, God, anything but that! Please!”

“Then answer me! Did you put those magic circles?”

“No, no, it wasn’t me! That’s too complicated for me! I… I just helped him hide and stuff!”

“Him? Who’s him?!”

“I don’t know.”

“Really?!” Sylas pushed the sword an inch forward.

“I swear, I swear! He wore a hood and a mask! He… he was short? Kind of? Seemed young, I think. Didn’t say much. Kept to himself. Left as soon as he set down the circles. Gave me the activation talisman and that’s it! That’s all I know, I swear!”

“What about the Ghouls?”

“W-what… what about the Ghouls?”

“Why would anyone want this castle to fall to the Ghouls? What’s the point? What’s in it for you?!”

“I—I don’t know! He… he handed me sixty crowns and a fast horse to escape when I activated the talisman! I don’t know why… I really don’t… please, please, that’s all I know…”

“What about the boy, then?” Sylas pressed with his questions, grumbling inwardly. This whole situation was far more complicated than he initially thought.

“What boy? What are you talking about?!” even Tebek let some of his frustration seep into his voice; after all, if Sylas was confused at the moment, Tebek was absolutely shellshocked. The young lad in front of him was a nobody, just some dreg from a backwater village! How did he, then, know not only about the circles but that it was him who helped install them?

“Who’s the most important boy in the castle?! A… a noble son, or something!”

“There’s—there’s nobody like that here! All noblemen left two weeks ago for their annual territory inspection! They shouldn’t come back for another week or so!”

“…” Ah, shit. What the hell is this? “Where do you keep the talisman to activate the circles?”

“I… please, I can’t—”

“I won’t take it, I promise,” Sylas sighed. “Just tell me where. Or should I start cutting and chopping?”

“No, no, don’t!” Tebek quickly cried out while Sylas pushed the sword another inch forward. “It’s, it’s in my chambers! In, in the room just down the hall! I keep it hidden under a loose brick in the wall! Please, don’t cut or chop anything!”

“…” Sylas got all the answers he could, finally. He knew everything. Well, everything. Knowing all that he did only brought up more questions. That was without mentioning the fact that he still didn’t identify the boy that he’s supposed to save.

Nonetheless, this was quite a victory. At least, he should be able to prevent the wall from collapsing. That should buy the castle a chance to fight back while he takes his time in figuring out who’s the boy.

“Ah, fine, here,” Sylas let go of the sword and sat back down on the bed. The rough and heavy thing pounded against the stone floor, clanking a few times before settling. Tebek's expression grew even more dazed; it took him a few seconds to register that there was no longer a blade pressed against his crotch. He hurriedly reached over and grabbed the blade’s handle, still in disbelief.

“You… you will really let me kill you?” he asked in a daze.

“Aye, swing away,” Sylas said. “Try to make it quick, I don’t really like pain.”

“… what… what was even the point?!!” Tebek roared.

“The point? Ah, right. There should be a point. Uhm… I don’t know? I was feeling suicidal or something? Come on man, just swing. Chop my head off and such. Let me have it. Oh, right! Aah… yo… yo’ mamma’s so fat, the cows eat her for lunch. Eh? Eh?”

“… AAARRGGH!!”

Chop.

In-between the daze of death where, for a split second, he was actually aware that he'd just died, and waking up to the same old roar of the same old thunder and the same old words, there was a pause now. A window popped up in front of him, validating some of what he had just done.

You have uncovered a scheme involving Ghoulish Invasion of the Ethwar Castle!

You have unlocked a sub-QUEST: Savior of the Stone

Find a way to prevent the Castle from falling into the Ghoulish hands.

Reward: upon completion, you will be given a Sword Mastery Tome—Heartseeker.

“On your feet, maggot!”

Sylas decided to take a break for one life; rather than immediately trying to play the hero, he just confirmed where Tebek’s room was and settled on the watchtower, waiting for the long night. He planned out a few details ahead of time, such as trying to ring the bell a bit earlier, or where he should go to look for the boy, but he mostly kept his head empty. Thoughtless.

Though it felt like a short while, he'd actually been in this world for almost a month already, altogether. In-between all the deaths and sitting around on the watchtower and running around the castle, quite a bit of time had passed. He never quite got the chance to adjust, what with all the death cradling his thoughts and all, leaving him… estranged. He didn't yet feel like he belonged to this world, and part of him even had this macabre expectation that if he saved the boy, he'd be returned back on Earth.

Or, better yet, that this whole thing was just some eerie VR experiment or, in the worst case, alien abduction or something. He had a hard time grasping this reality since, well, it all just seemed so unreal. Beyond the fact that the magic existed and beyond the fact that he was dropped dead-center into the heart of the Ghoulish Invasion, it was mostly the fact that he could just die endlessly that kept him at bay. All other things, to some extent, made sense, seemed logical, possible in some weird, fantastical way. Him, for some reason, being able to wake up over and over after dying… didn't. He was never special, not since the day he was born.

And for the world to suddenly ‘decide’ it was his time… didn’t make sense. And yet, it was happening. No matter how hard his mind wanted to reject it, it was happening. He would die… and be reborn. He could do whatever he wanted and just reset the world to avoid the consequences. Commit every single atrocity in the book… and get away scot-free.

“Shit,” he sucked in a cold breath, shaking his head as though to dispel the dark thoughts that surged within him. “That’s not me.”

It really wasn’t. Though he was a hustler and a conman to boot, there was still a code by which he abided. He avoided those who couldn't afford to be conned, he avoided children at all cost, and mostly preyed upon the nouveau rich new-age models who held themselves infallible and untouchable. That wasn’t to say he was a good man—he most certainly was not, but he wasn’t the type to go around doing the most heinous shit possible if given the opportunity to do it without the consequences.

Taking in another deep breath, he glanced over the railing and noticed that the Ghouls had arrived and were approaching the walls. His makeshift break was over and the next time he wakes up, it will be all business and no pleasure. To prove himself a partially decent man, he was going to save the castle. Well, save was a bit of a strong word. He will, at most, give them a chance to fight back and survive and while everyone else was focused on what was beyond the walls, he’d be looking around inside for the boy.

“Tsk, you really can’t frame ‘I will look for the boy’ in any way that doesn’t just make you sound like a creep,” he clicked his tongue nonchalantly, just seconds before the blast. “Oh well. Here’s to nothing.”

Boom.