Situation(2)

"25 seconds."

The first reminder of the time limit they had been given made everyone snap to attention, and they all stared at Max as one.

Max had a crestfallen expression on his face, as he had hoped that he wouldn't be so easily found.

However, it had to be expected, mainly because of all that ruckus that he had caused during his daring, failed escape.

It wouldn't even require a skilled tracker to follow the signs, and if this person was who they said they were, then they must have been tracking him ever since he had left the Town anyway.

Before he could say anything, the hamlet chief spoke up, and he was followed by the villagers around him.

"No way! Max, we will protect you!"

"Yes! You did it for us! We are with you, Max!"

"We'll beat him! There are so many of us and only one of him right?"

Max's heart warmed at this sight, but he knew that it was all useless.

With a sigh, he said, "I am sorry to have dragged all of you into this. You say these things, but you can hand me over. However, let me be brutally honest. If he is who he says he is, the highest probability is that he will apprehend me, then obliterate the village using a precious, but common bomb. Made by a unique formula of the organization, it can decimate the radius of this hamlet, and there will be no survivors left. I only know this…because I've seen them do it before. In their minds, all of you are also responsible for what happened, so they want revenge, and also, to keep this entire thing a secret. You can still choose to hand me over and test what I'm saying, if you wish."

As horrified expressions appeared on the faces of the hamlet folk, Aaron shook his head, because it was as he had expected.

In this world, nothing could be taken on face value.

Just that 'I will spare the rest of you' had already rubbed the wrong way on Aaron, and he hadn't been prepared to believe that guy for even a moment.

Hence, he was ready to accept what Max was saying, and besides, it had always been a habit to act as if the worst case was present.

This was the worst case.

"20 seconds."

The most worrying thing was that they had no time. Given enough time, Aaron would have elected to find more information so that he could plan a counter-attack. Yet…it was almost as if the other party had thought of this, and didn't want anyone to have enough time to even think of doing anything else other than what he had asked of them. These repeated reminders also served to escalate the matter psychologically, pushing people to act impulsively instead of with reasoning and logic.

Thankfully, Aaron was no stranger to having to make decisions in a short amount of time. Instantly getting a plan, he asked, "Do you know the general power level of the one outside? Is it near that of a City Lord?"

If this was the case, it might all be futile anyway, so Aaron asked this question.

Scoffing, Max answered, "City Lord? Pfft. No, at most, the guy outside is at the level of a Town Mayor. For such a minor thing, it would be a waste to send anyone else."

For some reason, Max seemed to have an extremely clear understanding regarding the workings of this organization, and although Aaron was curious regarding how that was possible, he decided to postpone that question to a later date.

After thinking for some more, he made a decision.

"Listen to me. This is what we will do."

…

Meanwhile, outside the hamlet, there was a man shrouded in a grey cloak which covered all of his features, especially because the hood was pulled down over his face for as far as it could go.

In his left hand was a green fist-sized object which he carefully held, knowing that the slightest error would cause it to activate, and blow him to pieces.

In his right hand was a small creature that kept peeking out of his closed fist. It was small, around the size of a human finger, and it was like a small snake with rings on its skin.

The protocol was clear. He would throw this Tera which had a talent in burrowing into people's bodies and keeping them in check at the guy who had had the audacity to poison them, and as soon as that was done, he would chuck the bomb and run for his life.

The capacity for manslaughter was almost a prerequisite to join the organization, so he didn't flinch at the latter part. All he cared about was that these bombs were said to be highly unstable, so he wanted to be done with this matter as soon as possible.

"5 seconds! Choose wisely! There is no reason to die for someone you don't even know!"

As soon as he shouted this, 4 individuals appeared from the gate of the Hamlet.

One was his target, one was a girl whom he didn't know, and the last two were a guy and his Tera.

Chuckling to himself, he was about to rejoice that everything was going smoothly, when he noticed the spices and the oil near the mouths of the other guy and his Tera.

Instantly, anger flooded into his mind, as they looked very recent.

'What the f*ck?! Did you take me so lightly that you happily finished your food and then came here? I'll show you!'