The God of Jesters
Chapter 622 - 9.15.5 Remira’s journey.

Chapter 622: 9.15.5 Remira’s journey.

Farhad walked ahead, while Rosso followed behind him.

The scenario this time was actually pretty simple, which was the annihilation of other tribes while leaving only one standing. Which would end up giving you the token of friendship which is the key to escape this place.

Which did put Farhad’s small group as well as the dwarves at an impasse. None of the two wished to partake in the battle with each other, nor did they wish to go to the same world again together.

It would only cause conflicts to arise between the two, and with the lack of trust between the parties, it might cause some accidents in their relationships, which is tantamount to causing harm to their own goals. So that was not an option. The faster they walked the different paths, the better.

But at the end of the day, they only had a single key, and Farhad was not determined to lose this chance. ’Once is enough, I can’t afford to be stuck here.’ So among the two surviving villages, he chose one while the dwarves chose another one.

Followed by a battle where the focus is on annihilating and protecting the villagers on the other side. To the Dwarf’s horror was far easier in Rosso’s hand, who just spread his spores and annihilated the dwarf’s village before they could even do a thing.

"Monster," Arbood spoke such words while looking toward Rosso as well as Farhad. There was fear in his eyes and a question. ’Just what else are they capable of?’ But that was enough. "Seems like we have to go with them." Spoke Arbood’s nephew, appearing a bit sullen and annoyed. "Each world generally has a single key, once we start following them, we won’t be able to tear ourselves away from them. Which is not good for us." Arbood refused this point.

He even refused the suicidal words of Gael who claimed he was capable of stealing the key and running away as long as they were ready to sacrifice some of the armored dwarves, but that would be too efficient and somewhat stupid, as nothing is stopping both of them to follow them for revenge.

No, that can’t happen.

"Let’s just follow them... there is no need for conflict as long as the compass shows us the right path towards our success, and if the issue does arise, then we will pick one of your ideas." Arbood also knew that wasting time on this would only earn him more disadvantages. So with the encompass out, he walked a bit farther away from Farhad and Rosso and found it a bit funny that he seemed to come across the same corpses as them.

Farhad, who noticed the arrival of Dwarves looked at them for a bit, unaware of the issues of the compass, and said. "I have a way to exit this place, you can follow if you want. But I would prefer a promise that there won’t be a conflict born between our two parties." There was no need to show kindness to random people, more so alien ones whose intentions were not clear.

But Farhad even with his inhuman nature, didn’t consider himself truly monstrous. The little bit of compassion in his heart suppressed his rationality and made him push his hand toward the dwarves, whose leader might appear surprised at the moment, but Farhad couldn’t tell considering he was sitting inside those giant armors.

However, the expression that Farhad expected was not the one that actually appeared on Arbood’s face. ’The son is far different than the father.’ He wanted to kill this son of that monster, who was a monster himself if the earlier scene was to go by.

But his rationality trumped his emotions, making Arbood after a slight contemplation ask. "I don’t carry with me any contracts, nor is there any trust between us for the verbal contract to be believable. I wonder how you will ensure that nothing of the unsavory things happen?"

"With my fist... you are too weak, and if you do act out, the only one to suffer losses will be you. Which I don’t want to see... but if that doesn’t work and you don’t wish to follow us, there is another way out of this place, without following the rules." Farhad was no easy target which he made sure that his opponents should know in case they had some random thoughts in between, specifically that animalistic dwarf that kept eying him all the time.

Which became the primary reason why he chose to give them option two in case these people couldn’t trust him at all. "A way out of this place without rules? I wonder what you mean by this?" Asked one of the dwarves with a far younger voice.

Which one was it? Farhad already knew, though he barely cared why someone so young was here. "All the worlds are connected through fleshy tubes, which can be found if you are capable of it finding them that is... " Then pointing toward Rosso. "And this friend of mine walked that path until meeting me. You can ask him some questions and even ask him to look for one of those paths if you can’t find it, yourself."

Hearing those words, the faces of some dwarves lit up, including the young one. But Gael and Arbood remained suspicious for different reasons. With Arbood being the first to ask. "What is the catch?"

Farhad knew an easier and faster path but still chose to play the games at this pace. Wasn’t it odd, unless there was a price one had to pay to cheat this way?

Farhad didn’t hide one bit, explaining the totems which were the entrance tickets, and how they will start to deteriorate as long as you cheat once.

"I had done so before, not much time for me is left... as for my friend beside me, his ticket had long expired."

Hearing those words, the faces of the dwarves turned for the worse. With Arbood asking, "Then let us use the right path, as your’s is doomed already." At those words, Farhad’s body trembled a bit, causing his flesh to jump up.

That caused the dwarves to back off. "I don’t wish to accelerate it, I still have enough time... and you better not take it from me." The threat seemed to work as Arbood turned silent.

"So choose, follow us and remain quietly on the side, or walk a path of your own away from us, for that my friend here can show you the path, after which you can use the normal methods to walk through the worlds."

These were the only two options in Arbood’s hand, though how can Arbood say that he also was meant to go towards the same world as Farhad?

Such conflicts really left him worried about a bit.

"Don’t walk away from the path that the compass shows." He recalled the words of the Guardian and then turned to look at Farhad. "For now, we will follow you.’ At such a decision, voices flooded into Arbood’s ears, with the loudest being Gael, who spoke out loud, calling Arbood a fool that is putting the mission in danger.

"It’s decided, I won’t change my decision... for now." ’Hopefully, our paths diverge in the next world.

And once that happens, Arbood is ready to walk the path of a cheater as long as Farhad remains far away from him.

From the looks of it, the timer on the ticket was not too harsh, otherwise, Farhad wouldn’t be here talking to them so calmly.

Well, what the dwarves didn’t know was that Farhad had cheated with him, which can show him the right path a hundred out of a hundred times, while the compass in Arbood’s hand still has a chance of showing mistakes due to the very nature of how it functioned.

But that’s how the world works, no one is born equal nor are they ever granted equal opportunities. Everything depends on luck and nothing else.

******

If one were to consider who took the most time in these caves, it would be Remira.

It’s not because she didn’t have an easier path in front of her. But Remira didn’t bother walking it.

Everyone can directly use their strength to look for answers and then solve that problem without an issue, dealing with the majority of scenarios in a matter of hours.

But Remira, took her time just like Farhad did in the time of the First Knight’s world. Her reason for taking such an inefficient approach to the issues?

"I wish to learn more." Remira had learned what she lacked the most, patience. It’s due to her rushed attitude and arrogance that caused all those tragedies. If only she took a pause and mulled over her actions, her surroundings, and the people who might be affected by her choices. Maybe, just maybe, some bad things could be prevented.

"There are many walking in this cave, all toward a certain goal... but mine is not like theirs.’ Everyone was here for Malidi, and at first, she was too. But considering there are people more qualified than her like Knight Alabasta, why should she focus on those issues? No, the best thing to do is to learn, to use this as an opportunity to be more insightful than before.

And while doing such things, Remira finally came across a world, a place where there was no end in sight. A place without a ground or the sky.

It was the void that left her breathless. "What..." And there went the only oxygen left in her lungs.