A Tongue of Poison

Politics.

A confusing subject to most, but after being involved in it for long enough, you start to see the intricacies.

In any kind of government, there will always be a ruler who gives recourses to those immediately under him for him to stay in power. The ones immediately under him do the same, and so forth.

This explains well how tyrants stay in power, even though most of the people they rule over hate their guts. It doesn't matter how many untrained and uneducated commoners beg and whine for you to be pushed out of office when you control the tax collectors and the law enforcers. That was the idea behind dictatorship, ruling with an iron fist they call it. That was a very basic form of government, but this idea of controlling the keys fits well into all types of government when you look at it from the correct angle.

The dean of this school knew this fact very well, and he looked at me as if I were the key he needed to take over the sect. I wasn't completely in the know of the political situation of the sect, due to my source being a drunken Hasrem, but I did know that the dean had his own group of people, and that group of people was against the L'Amour Family. Of course, it was a cold war, but a war is still a war.

This provided me with a great opportunity, an opportunity that would allow me to slip through the cracks of Pulchra's murder. If I couldn't gain physical power in time, then I would have to gain political power. You see, Convir had his own keys that he needed to manage, namely the teachers of this school and a few other, more business-oriented, individuals. If I were able to take these keys from him, well, I would become someone with great political power as well. Of course, this world didn't make that so easy, I still would need a good amount of strength, but it would greatly lower the difficulty requirements.

So I would, while under the guise of being Convir's pawn, make a pawn out of him. It was a difficult task, to say the least, but I've had worse odds. At least this time I have the element of surprise. Convir knows about my personality shift, and he probably is getting news of my beating and robbing of the other students at this moment, but he wouldn't do anything about it.

He also wouldn't let a word of this get out, lest the L'Amour family have a chance to execute that growing pawn of his. To him, this little fuss of mine was nothing more than a temper tantrum caused by a rotting corpse, and that was an idea I was happy to follow. There was a chance that he suspected me as Pulchra's murderer. But he was a smart man. He wouldn't let a little suspicion of crime get in his way, especially when his oh-so-trusted Fruit said that I would bring prosperity to him.

I would like to have the students on my side when the time comes as well, but they had the more important role of becoming my cash cows for a while, so I couldn't do that. Though, I could probably trick that Capcis girl into thinking I was doing this out of noble causes, she seemed the type to be tricked easily.

I opened the portal that divided the sweltering, chaotic, green-filled jungle from the clean, organized, and, most importantly, cool Fruit Hall. I came here to buy the necessary materials, but also for another reason. One of those keys I needed worked here after school hours, the Martial Arts teacher, Telferr.

"Hello, just grab what you need and go, if you need some kind of resource then I guess you can come here... oh, it's you." She lazily had her head tucked into her arms which lent onto the table for the support she didn't need. As she saw me, her eyes turned more narrowed and cruel, and she said, quietly yet deftly, "I refuse service to murderers."

'This would be hard if she was under the impression I killed Pulchra, but I know this girl better than most. I can work with this, but I still need to keep my new character consistent,' I narrowed my eyes in turn, before stating calmly, "I see, it's a good thing I'm not a murderer then." I walked up to the desk nonchalantly and was about to open my mouth again, but Telferr opened hers first.

"I expected more of a reaction out of you... hmm. Beulus said to me that I should treat you carefully, but it seems like he was wrong. Like I would have either way though, especially for a murderer like you." Her face was now facing mine but still enclosed in her arms, making her neck enter a strange posture.

"I thought I already said that I'm not a murderer. It was the boars that killed Pulchra, and almost me."

"You say that as though you don't care."

"I don't"

"I thought you loved Pulchra."

"I did."

"Meaning you don't now?"

"Why would I love a corpse?"

Silence.

She looked into my eyes, and I looked back into hers. Her black eyes held a sea of emotions, it was obvious that she was drowning in despair. Whether it be because of Pulchra's death, or my change in personality I know not, but I did know that it was causing her true depression, unlike the comedic way she used to express it.

Though, after staring into my eyes for a while, the look in her eyes changed. If it were a dark wasteland with no hope for survival before, then now it would be a dark wasteland with a field of crops being cultivated.

"So you did love Pulchra then? Before she died?"

"Yes."

"... I suppose that makes sense. It looks like you still are Quis after all, just with a different purpose now. Alright, what do you want?" For all of the stupidity this girl normally spouted, she surprisingly said something smart. In a way, I still was Quis, just without all of the weaknesses that the personality left me with. And she noticed such a thing just by observing my behavior. I suppose we did get along pretty well before, so it makes sense that she knows me well. Even if that wasn't the reason she said such things, I wouldn't complain about her acceptance of me. No, all I needed to think about was how to turn that acceptance into allegiance.

"I'll take 25 Broken Arrow Branches, 100... Springs? And 10 Bolt Beetles." She initially nodded at my request, but then looked at me questionably, "Why would you need Stone Class Materials? And 110 of them at that... I guess I won't ask any questions. As long as you have the money why do I care?"

She went into a room behind that counter and returned with my requested materials after a couple of minutes. The total cost was... 375 Dschungles. The cost came mostly from the 100 Springs, costing me 2 Dschungles each, but the Bolt Beetles were also extremely pricy, being 15 a piece. After almost emptying my bag that was bursting with joy just a moment ago, I placed the materials in my Duranian and was about to leave the store when Telferr caught my attention, "Quis, I'm sure you know this, but you do know how miserable it'll be? To work for nothing other than strength."

Hm, this girl was smarter than she let on. I guess it took that to become a key to the castle that was a Grand Elder. I turned around and looked at her with smeared blue eyes. These eyes didn't hold the conviction of a youth swearing to become something they never could be, nor the drive of a resolute man working toward an impossible goal. They were the eyes of nothing.

"Of course I do." I turned around and left the Fruit Hall. The door closed behind me and I was back in the blistering heat of the jungle, only the golden sun and my thoughts, 'That went well. I was able to win Telferr over... if even just a little. It would take more to gain her allegiance than just some heavy words, but it was a step. The real difficulty of collecting the keys come from the old teacher. I should put more thought into that-'

"Quis, I need to talk to you."

A voice broke my thought. I turned my head up, and standing there was someone unexpected. Her fluffy brown hair fell to the middle of her back. Her freckle-filled hazel eyes looked at me with a seriousness I never found on her face before. That timid atmosphere that followed her wherever she went was nowhere to be seen, instead, determination replaced it. It was Capcis.

She took a step forward before stopping to hold her hip, where I punched her before, 'She walked all the way here in such pain? Something tells me she is more useful than she lets on. I need to have her in my tool kit before she grows anymore.' that task was more difficult because of my earlier actions but I didn't regret what I did to her, it was the correct decision at the time. A decision that turned out wrong. I would just have to fix it now. If she sought me out on her own accord, then she must have something I can exploit.

"What is it? I don't want to be put off much longer, so make it quick."

She dug her foot into the ground with a stomp, it was the first time I saw her angry, "What do I want Quis?! I want to know why! Why! I don't care if I was beaten up and had my money taken! What I care about more than any of that is why you are acting like such a... such a dick! You are still my friend Quis, right?! Then where is he?! Where is the Quis that would purposely restrain himself because he didn't want to hurt others?! Where is the Quis that would encourage me to ask the teacher a question?! Where is the Quis that Pulchra claimed to love?!"

'I see, so this is about that. If it were before, then I would probably just deflect her questions with some cold statement and move on, but now the circumstances have changed. She was a tool I wanted at my disposal. And to do that, I would have to show some passion. I'll have to stay in character, but it'll work.'

My eye twitched a little, but I kept myself calm, "I don't understand what you're asking. My name is still Quis isn't it?"

"Don't play dumb with me! Answer my question! Where is the old Quis I called my friend?! No... Where is the old Quis most called their friend?!"

My face turned sour, and anger poured out of my words, "You want to know where the old Quis is? He died along with Pulchra in that boar nest! He's dead, him and his weak philosophy! Maybe you don't understand because you never had anything important taken from you, but it hurts Capcis. It hurts more than you could ever imagine."

She took a step back and tried to get words in, but I got there first, "You come to me and yell at me for changing!? But I ask you this, why haven't you changed?! You claim to be Pulchra's friend, but what did you do when you heard the news? Did you cry? Maybe. Were you shocked beyond belief? Probably. Were you brought to your mental extremes, to the point where you couldn't feel the pain of the horn in your stomach, but only the pain of the anguish in your heart? No! You were not!"

I took a step closer as she tried to catch her breath, continuing my verbal barrage, "She is gone now, and so is the old Quis that couldn't do anything but watch the love of his life have her neck torn in and out by a wild, fucking, pig! So don't you dare come to me, with your weak convictions, and try to berate me for changing!"

Huph, huph... huph.

I caught my breath as my poisonous tongue receded into its resting place.

Drip. Drip, drip, drip.

Her eyes were rolling with liquid as it crawled down her face at a rapid pace before leaving her face and entering free-fall. The sound of liquid hitting the ground could be heard clearly.

Capcis was crying.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm so-so sor-sorry. Please, please, huph, please for-forgive me. I-I was wrong, s-so wrong." She ran up to me and embraced me, her tears drenching my shirt. Hmm, the effect was stronger than I thought it would be. She was an easy one to manipulate.

I moved her off of my body and her crying slowly came to an end, resulting in the occasional sniffle, "It's alright. I said too much anyways. Don't tell anyone about this. I don't want to live in the past. I only wish to look to the future."

She looked up at me shyly, like she normally did, and was able to squeeze out a line between her sniffles, "Q-Quis, I understand your... you. But... please, if there is any way I can help, tell me." She ended this by looking at me in the eyes, the determination she entered with returning, but for a different cause. For the cause of helping her friend.

'I tricked her so easily... it almost makes me feel bad... Hm, do I feel bad? Not really. Why should I feel bad for someone else's naivety? To feel bad for someone else's weakness... Heh. What a joke that would be.'

I smiled at Capcis and recited my orders.