Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-One: Cleaning up Before Breakfast

"What? I said I was sorry…" Drake said, honestly not sorry but he had to say at least that.

"Then… why are you smiling! I could have drowned! That foul woman drools more than the Niagara Falls!" Natto said from within Drake.

"Yeah she does sleep with her mouth slightly open doesn't she…" Drake said, putting his arms behind his head as he mused aloud.

Drake had finished his threat- business with Shigure and saw him and Uta off to their outpost. He was now pacing the length of his own camp, making sure that everything was well and good for the time being.

He looked into the distance waiting for the sun to rise, lamenting what was to come when it finally rose into view.

"You know, I don't want to do it… I really don't.." Drake said, clenching his fists, remembering the feeling of crushing the skulls of some of the men.

"I can not tell you how to feel, Drake. Only that it is justified and necessary," Natto responded.

"Is it? If I had been more stern and more open with how strong I was. If I just displayed my power sooner and threatened them with more consequences. Would that have stopped them from even perishing the thought of going against me? How do leaders prevent tragedy? I wish I knew… but there isn't an anime out there that encompasses the subject, hell there are hardly any books I've read that really capture the true nature of even the greatest leaders in history," Drake said, scorning his own inexperience, "I know what it means to take responsibility. But leading others, punishing those who go against you, and putting those who step out back into line… I'm still muddling my way through it all."

"Through what?" a voice said behind him.

"Oh, you're still awake? Did you sleep, Chelsea?" Drake asked, turning his focus behind him.

He had known someone was approaching but only now knew who it was now that they had spoken up.

"No, not many of us have… We didn't know what to think when we saw you walk back into camp with that guy… Is-is Claire alright?" she asked.

Drake exhaled a breath, "Yeah.. She's better than I thought. Or at least appears to be. She's sleeping right now in my tent resting. Which reminds me I need to talk to Jacqueline and your friend Megan. And where the hell is Bear when I actually need him? I need to know if that Flower Child has some good good that can possibly cleanse status ailments…"

"Somewhat..? Nevermind. She's in your tent? You didn't do anything to her did you?" Chelsea asked leadingly.

Do I really need to do this now? I'm thankful for Chelsea as a party member, but I'm not interested in her. She was so much trouble when we met and only changed her tune after she found out how useful I was. Yeah, I did save her with the King, but that was just being a good party member…. Drake thought, mulling over what to do.

"If I did. Is that a problem?" Drake asked finally.

"N-no…" Chelsea muttered, but then seemed to have mustered up enough courage to say what she was really feeling, "A-actually yes! You know how I feel about you! So why is it only Claire? Am I not good enough?"

Drake sighed, "No, and don't even go there. You're very attractive. But I don't need conditional affection. You hated me right from the get-go when we met, remember? I didn't just forget that because we're closer now. I'm not even sure what's going to happen with Claire at this point, but I do know I don't want a girl who's as combative as you are, and who only started liking me because I'm the best option now. I'm not going to get preachy about it but you aren't what I'm looking for. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't want a relationship with you Chelsea."

Chelsea recoiled from the assailment of words Drake directed at her. But she couldn't speak let alone refute the words. He was right after all. Even if what she felt now was true feelings of attraction, it only stemmed after the fact he had saved her. And after the way she treated him at first, it was obvious what he would think of her.

She tried to speak but couldn't find the words. Eventually, she began to sniffle as her eyes watered from the sting of the truth she had been struck with. Unable to speak her mind, she turned and walked back to the camp in tears.

Drake looked up for a moment sighing.

"It is good that you set her straight. Though I am surprised you did so. I took you for someone to be more lazy with things like that," Natto hummed.

"Yeah well, I'm learning that I have a bad habit of putting things off until they become problems… It's time I nip things in the bud," Drake said looking at the rising sun, "Even if I don't want to."

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Savannah desperately tried to gather what remaining people would support her that she could. All of them waited outside of her tent patiently as she did her best to calm herself before they left.

"Why did things turn out this way…. I knew I had a bad feeling about that guy! Why did I listen to that moron Adam! I was sitting comfy at the top just listening to Shigure! It's always like this… I get into a good position and always want more!!" she cursed, "At least that psycho left us alone for now. That gives us some time to get out before anything else happens. I swear I never want to see any of these fucking monsters for the rest of my life!"

"Time's up," a voice said from the other end of her tent.

Savannah turned quickly to the direction of the voice but was unable to identify the person, and his face was shrouded in the shadow of the rising sun.

"W-who the fuck are you? Who let you in here?!" she stammered.

"I'm the consequences of your own actions. And no one let me in," Drake said, stepping into the light.

Savannah grimaced and stumbled backward, realizing just who was in the tent with her.

"Please! It was all Adam's idea! I only went alon-" she tried to explain, but Drake was already on her, his hand wrapped around her neck.

"See that's the important part, you went along with it. And that's all I needed to know," he said coldly, raising his hand, an earthy brown magic circle forming at the tip of one of his fingers.

Pointing it directly at the shrieking and mumbling woman in his grip, Drake fired it between her brows unceremoniously, a small bead of red trickling down from the wound.

[You have killed Participant: Fire Grace - Savannah Shepherd Level 14] [Experience Earned, 29,420 TP awarded]

Drake cringed from the deed but knew he had to make sure it was done. Refusing to look away from the deed he made sure to pay respects to the woman. Waiting for her equipment to drop as well as the skill stone that still rubbed him the wrong way but he pocketed regardless. He then lit her body ablaze with white fire, making sure to not let a single piece of her remain.

"Well, at least it's all finished now… Now I just have to keep an eye out for the remaining Ghouls if there are any," Drake thought, looking at the quest.

[Subjugated 72 of 100 Converted Ghouls [F Rank]

"I certainly believe it is better to assume that there is some strewn about the tutorial but it should be a tertiary concern. You now have nearly two thousand people to take care of thanks to your little maneuver. And there is still the matter of the King's hoard you wished to settle. Not to mention the crafting that will take up a majority of your time much like the 'training' you have been doing," Natto reminded.

Drake turned around walking out of the tent to an empty area that he had cleared out, piles of ashes here and there. He had forced his way into this part of the ramparts that housed many of the Coalition Leaders, including Shigure's tent, but the teen's saving grace was the contract Drake had entered with him earlier.

If Drake was, to be honest, the teen had worn on his patience well past what he was worth, especially after yesterday.

"That's true. But that's why Shigure is still useful, even though he's been more trouble lately. We are going to put him to work for real, by delegating supervision of what I want from this place. From what I've seen from the outside, almost everyone is a noncombat class, or a crafter, with only a small percentage actually being fit for combat. Most of their fighting force was controlled by the Coalition Leaders, and they all went turncoat," Drake scoffed, walking out of the ramparts and towards his own camp.

"Now most of the people capable of fighting even relatively well are under Shigure. Unsurprisingly when it's this skewed in power, most of the people in charge aimed to stay in charge when given the chance. Resulting in me having to clean up most of them… It's sad but I'm becoming a one-strike kind of guy recently…" Drake huffed.

The sun had been out for several hours now, and Drake moved closer and closer to their camp outside of Shigure's, now his, Outpost. He could already hear the nagging from Sherry about where he was and why he was not making breakfast before he got within earshot.

"While I am rather upset that we skipped an immediate breakfast, that still leaves the crafting, training, and eventually the hoard of treasure that I am sure is protected by very very numerous Ants that will not be friendly," Natto conjectured.

"I know, I know. I'm keeping the timeline in mind, don't worry," Drake conceded looking at the Tutorial Lime Limit.

Current Time Remaining in Tutorial: 92 days 15 hour 28 minutes 45 seconds

Drake planned to stay around thirty days total in the Outpost, not only crafting to increase his versatility of accessories, but to also increase his fighting ability through training the fundamentals as well as hoping to meet this mysterious Master Martial Artist Shigure mentioned when they first came. Especially now that he had access to the Outpost.

He was being conservative with the amount of time he was going to spend here, and based on Natto's best guess on how large the Ant Nest had become Drake believed it would take him nearly a week or more depending on how strong some of the higher tiered monsters had become. Not to mention where the Hoard was relative to the Nest's layout. Particularly where the Queen's nest was. And with Drake's current luck, he knew exactly where the hoard would be in correlation to the nest.

Drake sighed, hoping he was wrong but he wouldn't know until they scouted it out and went there in person.

"Then there's also the remnants of the Goblin Generals we have to deal with but at this point, they might as well be standard mobs. At least to me," Drake thought, "To everyone else in this tutorial they might be trouble, well excluding Bjorn and Shigure. I think Tom could probably take a few hits from a General at this point… I haven't checked in on all their progress lately actually…." Drake said aloud, making a point of doing so in the future before they left for the Ant Nest.

"So, you are planning to bring the entire party with you?" Natto asked.

Drake spotted a few people exiting their tents and a particularly frustrated side bob-cut girl giving him the evil eye as he walked closer to the camp.

Waving to them he talked absentmindedly to Natto, "I think I have to at this point. After what happened with Claire, I don't have a choice if I want to keep them all safe. Thankfully Bjorn seems to be willing to tag along. Although I won't be able to put him in the party. I need to minimize the amount of experience he gets. The slower we can make it for him to reach level thirty the better," Drake reminded.

Finally coming back to the camp he received the welcome he was expecting.

"Thou hast returned my Lord," Theodore said shimmering into view next to him in a slight bow, "How doth thou feeleth? This one hopes it was not too heavy on one's heart…" Theodore said, trying to be considerate.

"No Theo, it's about what I expected.. But it's my cross to bear, and I'm fine with that," Drake said, giving him a longful smile of thanks, then turned to the little glutton burrowing a hole into the side of his head, "Can you stop with the staring, I know I'm good looking but jeez get a picture or something it will last longer," Drake said trying to joke around his absence in the morning.

Sherry didn't say anything, pointing to the empty fire pit at the center of the camp. Her eyes bulged as the rumble of her stomach spoke for her.

"Ok, ok. I'm going Mom!" Drake spat, trudging to the fire pit and table, "I swear! That little woman is scarier than any monster I've ever faced!"

"Are you talking about me..?" a sudden bump to his shoulder asked.

"Ah, Claire you're up? Are you sure you're feeling well enough?" Drake asked, stopping what he was doing to check her head and looking around her to see if anything looked out of place.

"Y-yeah…" she muttered surprised by his response, "A-are you that worried about me?" she asked sheepishly, pulling out her cooking ware, and placing them on the table.

"Nah. Just wanted to make sure you weren't turning into a Ghoul or someth- Ow! Hey, that's a knife!" Drake said, rubbing his arm.

"I know it is! You're lucky I don't have the stats to stab you!" she huffed.

Well, it seems like she's fine… Drake thought giving a smile.

"Is your standard of 'ok' for women them wanting to hurt you? I must say you have awakened to quite the inclination there…" Natto giggled.

Hey, we don't kink shame here, safe space. Drake joked.

"I'm glad you're doing well, I'm going to have some healers look at you just to be sure alright?" Drake said seriously.

"Uh.. uh huh.." Claire mumbled her ears turning scarlet.

Drake pulled out some ingredients ready to start cooking, ignoring the smoke coming from Claire's ears.

Soon there were others gathering around ready to eat and help, Sherry the first one after Claire. Harley and Theo stepped up next, Harley falling in line next to Claire as they helped with the prep. Eventually, Hudson, Amir, Tom, and Bjorn joined.

"Oh, now you show up. Am I only important when I cook?" Drake asked.

"Yes," Bjorn said plainly.

"Fuck you."

"Hey, you're the one that asked bro," Bjorn said, shrugging and yawning, taking a seat next to Theo.

Drake shook his head a smile on his face, glad that Bjorn at least knew to joke to keep a sliver of normalcy after what happened yesterday, and what he assumed Bjorn knew he did this morning.

But Drake soon noticed two storms rolling in.

One was a massive ball of fury that looked like it wanted to tear him limb from limb. The other Lamar.

"Shit, Megan doesn't look happy…" Drake sighed.