Chapter 10: how far does a liar’s kindness extend?

Markus's POV:

Doing acrobatic maneuvers through the trees of the forest, Markus's eyes returned to their natural crimson red color as he wasn't using the [eyes of the puppeteer] at the moment.

Markus was verbally silent as there were a lot of things on his mind right now, most of them were plans for the future but he would be lying if he said that he wasn't bothered by the ancestor's words.

""...""

This continued for nearly all of his journey back to the wall as his speed gradually dropped without him noticing, he was literally being held back by his thoughts despite emphasizing speed so avidly before.

((Am I a bad person?))

That question constantly repeated itself in Markus's head.

((Markus was supposed to die in the game, that's the plot, it's the undeniable fact...))

((If he doesn't die many MANY people will suffer))

((So by trying to prevent that from happening, I could be potentially dooming a lot of people to a bleak destiny, isn't that exactly what I'm trying to avoid?))

Markus wanted to stop himself from thinking those things, he wanted to tell that voice in the back of his head to shut the h*ll up but the more he tried the louder the voice became.

((Is it right to sacrifice so many people's lives for my own? This isn't a game anymore...for better or for worse the world of "fires of Valentia" has become my reality, my actions have real consequences that will hurt REAL people, do I have the right to change their happy lives into unfortunate ones for my own benefit?))

((Just because I have the knowledge that everyone else doesn't have, does it give me the right to dictate how their lives will turn out as well as mine?))

Both the Markus and Kazuki side of Markus were mature enough to know that their actions in altering fate will inevitably cause harm to a lot of people he didn't need the [eyes of the puppeteer] for that and the people who he did, is and will hurt are not bad people either they're good people, innocent people, people who don't want anything than to go about their peaceful existence.

((And it's not like I deserve to live any more than they do, brainwashed or not I've killed a lot of people both good and bad and even when I escaped from the brainwashing of the Exforia I still killed more people, the researchers at that facility weren't all bad, some of them were forced into that job others only wanted money to raise their families and some didn't even know they were working for Executor and yet I killed them with a bomb all the same...also there's that coachman, he was just another brainwashed victim like me and I still took away his life without mercy all in the name of my own survival...))

Markus thought and the more deeply he thought the more questions popped up, why was he in this situation? What can he do? What could he have done? Is he doing the right thing? If he isn't then should he just accept death? What is the right thing to do?

No one could answer these question for him, no one, because he was alone, at this moment he was truly alone...no perhaps he was always alone, in both his life as Kazuki and Markus he was always the one to stand up for himself, Kazuki never received help from anyone, not his sister, not his parents, not from his so called "friends" they were just there to keep him company they were never truly there to stand up for him. Markus didn't receive help from basically anyone, for all the magic, technology and people in this vast world not a single thing reached out it's hand to Markus, maybe...just maybe, that was why he so easily decided to defy his destiny despite both sides of him being smart enough to know the possible consequences.

((What is more important? My life or the life of the world that abandoned me?))

Markus truly didn't know the answer, on one hand he would be completely justified to say "fvck it" and stopped giving a sh*t about the world because honestly why would he go out of his way to save a world that has done nothing but hurt him ever since the day he was born? But on the other hand both his Kazuki and Markus side knew that just because this world is not perfect didn't mean that everyone living in it were bad and if he just abandoned this world for his own wants and needs then what was the point of him regaining his humanity?

If he abandoned this world then what makes him better than it? Does he even need to be better? Is there a point to being better than the thing that hurt you?

((Hatred is eternal, no matter how hard you try in life there will always be people that hate you and vice versa. In a battle where both opponents are armed with hatred the one with the deeper hate always wins...))

Markus thought, trying to remember anything that could possibly give him an answer right now.

((But is it right to hate people for unjustified reasons? Reasons that they have no involvement with?))

As both conflicting sides of Markus were having a battle for the ages, his mind, heart and soul were only getting heavier and heavier by the second.

((Am I a monster for wanting to live? Is freedom and peace paid with the blood of the innocent worth it?))

For the first time in his life, Markus's expression shifted, as if the emotionless mask he was always wearing finally cracked, unable to hold back his melancholy.

((They say that the ends will always justify the means but is that correct? The ancestors are right I am a liar, if I continue down this path I'm going to deceive, manipulate and cheat untold amounts of people, potentially leading them to suffering and even their demise))

Markus knows, he knows better than anyone that he's no different from people like Friendrich, just another demon that will wrong people for his own benefit.

((What is it that separates a man from a demon?))

At that moment when Markus's mood was at its lowest, a high pitched scream came out of nowhere.

"NOOOO!!!!!! Someone HELP!!"

The voice sounded like a woman and she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

""What!? Is there someone here? Who would be here in the woods in the middle of the night?""

Despite his confusion, Markus instinctively changed direction from his original course to the direction of the voice.

Hiding in the trees Markus observed the situation from afar.

In the middle of a well trodden road there was a carriage surrounded by two sets of people, one were people in chain mail armor, seemingly knights or adventurers trying to defend the carriage and the other were people wearing masks and ragged gear attacking the carriage and by the looks of things the latter set of people seem to be winning.

Most of the defenders were down for the count while the number of assailants were still many.

The carriage itself didn't seem like the type that carried nobles like the one belonging to the Silver house, it was more of a common carriage used to transport people who can't afford things like airships for transport.

""They're being attacked by bandits...but don't carriages only travel from morning to 7pm in the evening, it's a bit late for them to be out here""

((Never mind that...I need to do somethi...))

At that moment before his body moved Markus stopped himself.

((...do I? If I'm going through with my plans for the future I'll be defying destiny and end up hurting a lot of people in the process, do I have the right to play the good guy here?))

Markus contemplated.

((Markus Silver isn't even supposed to be here, if I save them it will only extend their lives not save them and besides I have no obligation to help them, it's not like I owe them anything...))

Hesitation grabbed Markus's heart.

((If I save them I'll be changing their destiny and that's not exactly a good thing...their fate is to die here and if I change that it might help them in the short term but what about the long term? I could end up putting them in a worse position then where they are now...))

For a brief moment Markus considered using the [eyes of the puppeteer] to find out what would happen if he saved them but he refrained.

((No, I don't even know how that ability would work using it without prior testing is a major oversight and could lead to me making a grave mistake that I'll regret))

In the game the [eyes of the puppeteer] worked by showing you all possible actions and outcomes of every battle and the higher level it was the easier you were able to filter out the possibility that you want to achieve, essentially allowing you to know exactly what moves to make in order to gain victory over your opponent (this is only applicable in PVE battles).

But outside of using it for battle Markus doesn't actually know what the other applications for this ability will be, if he just activates it on a whim and suddenly had a million possible visions of the future fill his head he might be driven insane or collapse due to headaches and having his mana drained.

Plus despite being a cheat skill that the player can only obtain about more than half way into the game the ability only had 3 uses a day and each use only last for 30 minutes, he couldn't waste that here.

""I'm nothing but a passing traveller in this situation, not some messiah with special powers I shouldn't meddle with things beyond my control""

Markus said as he decided to turn around and leave.

Kiara's POV:

"Mom are we in trouble?"

Clara asked her mother with a scared voice.

"You'll be fine Clara mommy's here for you, we'll find a way out somehow"

Kiara said to her daughter in a reassuring voice in order to calm her down, despite knowing that she's lying and that they're in a very bad situation as most of the adventurers hired to protect them are either wounded or dead while they have no means to defend themselves against the bandits that are attacking their carriage, once the adventurers were down her fate as well as that of her daughter and the 3 other people on this carriage was sealed.

Their carriage was delayed for various reasons and didn't arrive before 7pm in the evening so it was only natural that they were going to be attacked.

(Whatever it takes, I must keep Clara safe, it's the promise I made to him...)

Kiara thought preparing to cast some magic in order to conceal her child.

At that moment one bandit came onto the carriage.

The other passengers were either freaking out or accepting their fate.

"Hiii!!! Stay away you fiend!!!"

"It's over..."

Seeing this the bandit laughed sinisterly.

"What's this? Only a few worthless peasants? With little to no valuable assets? Lame! At least there's a woman here"

With a haughty voice the bandit looked at Kiara and her daughter and said.

"Oi you there! You have two options: become our toy from now on or die"

(No! I have to save her, even if my life is forfeited I can't allow this scum to harm my daughter)

Kiara prepared to fire some magic and fight until the end for her daughter's sake, but before she could do anything...

"Argh!!!!"

The bandit suddenly squealed in pain.

After a few seconds foam formed around the giant man's mouth as he collapsed out of the carriage as if pulled by someone.

The man landed on the ground and through her magic sight Kiara could tell that he was dead, skillfully taken out by an unknown source.

This was a shocking sight for Kiara but what was even more shocking was who was standing behind the dead man.

There was boy around Clara's age behind the bandit with deep crimson red eyes that shined in the night like those of a cat and hair as white as that of old people.

He was wearing a long black hooded coat over a gray tunic, he also wore casual brown trouser and had a fingerless glove on his left hand.

There was some blood smeared on his expressionless face seemingly from the bandit and he gave off a very annoyed feeling as if frustrated by something.

""(Sighs)...fvck my morality! Conscience is overrated anyway""

An unbelievably jaded, freezing voice came out of the boy's mouth making Kiara doubt whether or not he was actually a young boy as the voice was very frightening making people question whether or not it actually came from a human.

Markus POV:

((Standing in front of a carriage and protecting the people inside from thirty or so bandits, never in both of my lives would I think that I'd be having a moment like this))

Markus thought as the bandits who just saw their friend get killed by this 9 year old who just popped into existence out of nowhere approached him.

"Who the h*ll are you? What have you done to Slatt?"

One bandit shouted angrily.

""I'm a lot of things to be honest, so much so that even I don't fully know myself who I really am""

Markus said in a self mocking tone.

""But to you I'm something very simple...""

A long shadow cast over Markus's eyes.

"What's that?"

Markus's natural fear inspiring power had already taken effect, with a shaking voice and against his better judgment the bandit asked.

""Death""

The voice that consigned the bandits to death has spoken.