< Madman’s Plan (Part 2) >
The girl in front of Leona and all the kids who were gathered around Leona were very interested in Leona. One of the kids shouted, You look so pretty! Are all the outsiders pretty? I thought they were all addicted to CP and looked like monsters.
The adults always say that. They lied to scare us.
Leona didnt know what to do as the kids were all shouting at the same time.
So, how do you like the fortress? Is this your first time at the fortress? Lets all play together! Let me show you around!
Leona was wondering why all these kids were showing interest in her. Um, well
What are you worried about? The girl grabbed Leona by wrist and pulled her out of the unit. There were kids who were merely amicable, but the girl who grabbed Leona seemed to be very friendly.
Lets play! The girl did not look like she was going to let Leona go.
Uh, wait! Leona did not know how to deal with someone so friendly.
—–
Zin and Ramphil had to go through another round of checkpoints to get out of the fortress. One of the Wargrave personnel received a radio call, and started to shake his head.
Yes? Oh hmm uh-huh. Roger.
After finishing the radio call, he seemed to be puzzled. Ramphil gesture him to tell what was going on, and he started to speak.
A group of Reavers appeared outside the walls out of the turrets range.
Hmm?
Are they planning an attack? That does not make sense.
No. The Wargrave personnel started to speak slowly even though he knew that it didnt make sense.
They created a pile of dead bodies and are bowing towards the fortress.
?
Hmm?
Zin and Ramphil did not understand what was going on. After a quick discussion, Zin and Ramphil decided to scout and figure things out. Only Zin and Ramphil moved between the inner wall and the outer wall.
Zin was trying to figure out the motive of the Reavers, but couldnt think of a good reason why the Reavers would be acting weird.
The Reavers couldnt hear the warning message coming from the fortress wall, as they were too far away. At that distance, they seemed to be bowing and begging for forgiveness. Zin found the situation a bit amusing because the Reavers who he needed to kill came to him!
Ive hunted as many Reavers as I have monsters, but Ive never seen the Reavers come to pay a visit.
As Zin spoke out in disbelief, he took off the protective clothes and dumped them into the void storage. Ramphil also knew that it was an unusual situation. Zin pulled out his weapons and said, Lets be ready to pull the trigger at any given moment.
Sure thing.
The Reavers seemed to be unarmed, but Ramphil changed the pistol into a rifle on spread mode. A massacre would be waiting for the Reavers if they made a bad move.
There seemed to be at least a hundred and fifty Reavers. There were ten dead Reavers in front of them.
As Zin and Ramphil came closer to them, the Reaver in the front spotted them, and then knelt down with his head touching the ground.
Slowly, Zin was able to figure out what was going on. In fact, he was able to see what the motives of the Reavers were.
Sir! Weve been set up! As the Reaver in the front yelled out, the other Reavers in the back started to yell as well.
Weve been set up!
It was a very rare scene.
What a clown act. As Zin spoke, Ramphil nodded with a serious look.
Ramphil was in charge of the mission, and Zin stayed back and let Ramphil take care of the situation. Zin did not want to get involved.
Holding his laser rifle, Ramphil started talking with the Reaver.
Sir, we have been framed by someone! the Reaver chief shouted loudly.
Why dont you start explaining, then?
Um, yes, sorry for taking your valuable time I mean, yes!
Thats it!
What is that? Ramphil pointed his rifle at the Reaver, and the Reaver started talking nervously.
Evevevil plan. Yes! It was an evil plan! The Reaver in front of Ramphil was trying to explain what had happened.
He started to explain how they respected Wargrave, and how they were thankful for being protected by the Wargrave before he got to the point.
He was part of the Reaver group that had been around for a long time in the area, and he mentioned that the Reavers were living peacefully thanks to the presence of Wargrave. They heard that an armored vehicle was passing by, but they did not come close to the vehicle because they didnt want to interfere with it.
But they heard gunshots and explosions and realized that some accident had happened. When they went to the scene, the fight was over, and it appeared that they were part of the group that attempted to raid the armored vehicle.
The Reaver explained that his group of Reavers didnt raid the vehicle, but a different group of Reavers raided the vehicle on purpose so that the Wargrave would attack his group. The Reaver insisted that the other Reaver group tried to frame his group.
He further explained that his group killed the Reavers of the other group, and brought the dead bodies to the front of the fortress.
Those bastards were trying to use your power to wipe us out and take over the area. Thats what happened!
Hmm
Why would we do anything crazy by attacking the almighty Wargrave? We have been exploiting the I mean, weve been benefiting from your presence. There is no reason for us to attack Wargrave. So, we killed the bastards who attacked you and brought their heads here So please, dont get too mad
The ten dead bodies were of those who attacked Ramphil. Ramphil looked through the battle data and recognized some of the faces.
It seemed like the dead Reavers were indeed those who raided the armored vehicle.
Hmm
The Wargrave soldiers had a different thought process. They didnt care whether the Reavers were bad people or not. It was important for Ramphil to find out who was truly responsible for the raid, and punish them.
Ramphil thought that it was more important to accomplish the true goal of a mission than simply follow orders. Therefore, he didnt just shoot and kill all the Reavers. He was going to listen to what the Reavers had to say.
We cant rule out the possibility of the Reavers killing their own comrades to avoid responsibility.As Ramphil spoke, the Reaver was astonished.
That that could be possible, but we dont betray our own comrades in such a way. If that was the case, why would we be visiting you? We would have fled the area right away. Look, we are all unarmed.
The Reaver’s reasoning seemed to be plausible.
There were two possibilities. The Reaver’s story could be true and the other Reaver group could have raided the armored vehicle. They did it so that the enraged Wargrave would kill all the Reavers in the area. Or it might be that the Reavers were trying to raid the Wargrave and got scared of the repercussions.
It seemed odd that the Reavers would kill their own comrades and come to the fortress to beg for their lives. It would make more sense for them to flee the area.
Hmmm Ramphil pondered as he watched the Reavers who were visibly starting to panic.
If thats the case, are you saying that the other group of Reavers who are trying to take over your Slaughterhouse has enough men to use twenty-some Reavers as a bait? Did they know that we were moving towards the fortress?
If the other Reaver group knew about the movement of the armored vehicle, and were willing to sacrifice twenty-some Reavers, it meant that they were a big organization, similar to an army.
As Zin listened to the conversation, he thought of something.
Killing someone with the help of others
Ramphil looked at Zin as if he were thinking the same thing.
Id like to hear the hunters opinion.
All the Reavers started to look at Zin. Even though the Reavers were useless human beings, Zin did not find the urge to kill all the terrified Reavers right now.
He would not gain anything by killing all of them now. Zin did not like killing that did not benefit him.
Hmmm, I dont think these Reavers were betrayed and sacrificed.
So, you are saying that they are not responsible for the raid?
Thats correct.
These Reavers had nothing to gain by attacking the Wargrave. They had set up a Slaughterhouse and did not have any reason to attack an armored vehicle.
Having an armored vehicle would be nice, but it was not important to the extent that it justified jeopardizing the Reaver groups existence. The Reavers were crazy people, but not crazy enough to throw away their lives.
At the same time, it seemed very unlikely that another group of Reavers was trying to take over the Slaughterhouse.
Then, we will need to find the group of Reavers that tried to frame you guys.
Thats correct.
Oh! Yes! Thank you, sir! Thank you for believing in us! the Reaver chief blurted out.
The Reavers were so happy that they were ready to bow down in front of them. The relationship with the Wargrave fortress was important for the Reavers. But Zin could care less about it. Zin walked up to the Reaver who was kneeling down. It seemed like Zin was a thug ready to rob.
This man is a Wargrave soldier, but I am a hunter, as he mentioned before.
Yes! Yes! Sir hunter! was the immediate babbled response.
Shut up, and listen to me.
Yes! Were listening!
Lets say we take care of the group of Reavers that put you in trouble. That is a good thing for us, but a good thing for you too, right?
Huh? Um yeah thats true but why are The Reaver felt uneasy. Zin patted the shoulder of the Reaver and smiled.
How much can you pay? A hunter was motivated only by the chips.
Hunter would never do something for free, even if it was a job that he had to do.
There was no way that the hunter would let this opportunity walk away.
You know that there is no such thing as a free request to a hunter.
The Reaver looked at Zin in astonishment. Zin was ready to milk chips whenever possible, as he had been doing right along.
——
Life at the fortress was comfortable in many ways, including great hygiene. There was plenty of food to eat, clothes to wear, and places to sleep. Anything beside this improved the quality of life even further. In the fortress, there were educational and medical facilities as well as buildings for leisure activities.
When Leona followed the kids into one of the buildings, she was surprised at the scene. There were many big screen monitors displaying sport stadiums.
People who were on break or done for the day came for entertainment.
What is all this?
Its called a game! Lets play together!
The girl who seemed to be leader introduced herself as Sara. The other kids also introduced themselves, but Leona was able to remember only Saras name.
Fortunately, Leona was able to read the sentences displayed on the monitors. Unlike other uneducated wanderers, Leona learned to read and write from her mom.
There were board games, and programmed video games. Some of the games were boring to the local residents, but there were people who professionally played these games. The environment to enjoy such entertainment was a privilege. There were not many people in the building, but Leona and the kids who entered the building were going around and having fun playing the games.
That day was an off day at school, so they were free to play.
What a luxury. I guess they have too much time in their hands.
Leona thought that it was foolish to build a huge place just for entertainment. But Sara thought that Leona was weird to make such a comment.
Leona, you talk like an adult. Come over here! I will teach you the rules of the game. When you get familiar with the game, I will also show you how to play the Wilderness game. Sara laughed and had Leona sit in front of a board game.
It was a multiplayer board game that used dice. Leona did not know how to play. but started throwing the dice to play the game anyway.
This entertainment facility was a pretty important building in the fortress. The fortress was a large building, but it had a confined space.
Life in the wilderness was dangerous, and people living inside the confined area did not know about the life in the wilderness. At some point, people living in the confined space would become sick of living inside such a small area. Entertainment was needed to relieve the stress of the people.
After the Wargrave acknowledged the importance of entertainment and started building the facilities, the suicide rate had declined 90 percent. Leona didnt know much about this fact, and simply thought that the entertainment facility was just a luxury.
Different fortresses invented new games, and if the games gained good reviews, those games were distributed to other fortresses. These popular games were necessities for stress relief in the many fortresses.
Its a six! Youre lucky, Leona! Sara laughed as she looked at the dice that Leona rolled. Sara was happy at whatever Leona was doing.
Leona didnt do much, and Leona never met someone who was so nice to her without a reason. And it was the same for other kids. They looked at Leona with curiosity, but they did not have any hostility against Leona.
It was the first time that Leona had seen kids who were acting like kids.
Isnt it hard walking around the wilderness? While playing the games together, the kids and Sara asked Leona questions about the outside world.
Leona responded frankly, Mmm well its crappy.
Leona cursed without hesitation, surprising the kids for a moment, But they started laughing again as they thought that people from the wilderness were cool enough to curse.
Kids were very curious about the wilderness. At one point, they stopped playing the game, and they asked Leona many questions.
How about monsters? Did you get to hunt a monster?
No, I havent hunted one myself.
Are they scary? Were you scared?
Huh? Well Leona did not like the monsters but she wasnt afraid of them. The monsters did not bother with Leona, so it didnt matter at all.
Eh I wasnt scared at all. Leonas statement was enough to impress all the kids.
Leona! How are the monsters?
What do you mean by that?, Leona pondered when the little kid asked such a question. The little one was probably asking what the monsters looked like.
But Leona answered in a different way. Its not tasty at all.
!
!
The kids were all shocked to hear such an unexpected answer. Leona was definitely the wackiest kid that they had ever met. And therefore, she was quite attractive to the kids who were getting bored of the life in the fortress.