City [edited]

"You failed? How?"

Nom was shocked when he realized Aru hadn't completed any of the tasks they assigned him.

"You beat him up once when he was in perfect health. Doing it again should have been easy."

"And if you could do that, you could have stopped him from participating in the chief selection."

Nom, Tia, and Vir looked at Aru doubtfully. They couldn't understand how Aru could fail.

"Let me put it this way. Do any of you enjoy stepping on an ant?" Aru asked.

The three of them looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Exactly. You don't step on an ant because you like it. It usually happens accidentally.

Kaan was an ant that I stepped on by accident. You can't ask me to step on him again, can you?"

"But you agreed to do it," Nom interjected.

"Yes, I did. But I changed my mind. I don't feel good about doing it anymore," Aru replied.