Reidar dismounted from his wolf and walked toward the center of the clearing, where the spectral knights held the captive leaders.

Helga twisted and bucked against the spectral knights holding her down as she screamed.

"You fucking coward! You piece of shit bastard!" Her voice was cracked with rage. "I knew it! I fucking knew you'd pull something like this!"

The spectral knights held her firm to the ground despite her thrashing, but they needed multiple ones of them to do it.

<She really has some trait related to strength.>

Aldric remained still beneath his captors. When he spoke, his voice came out calm. He had switched again.

"Release us. We can discuss this like civilized people."

"Civilized?" Helga spat. "There's nothing civilized about this bastard, and now look!" She twisted her head to glare at Reidar. "You're worse than the Church! At least they're honest about what they are!"

Reidar stopped a few paces away.

"The church?" He studied them both.

"What do you know about the church?"

Reidar watched Helga's face contort with fury. "They set up a camp near ours. Started preaching their poison about 'unbinding' and 'freedom from the cage'..."

"They came smiling first," she said, "Just like you. They talked sweetly about freedom. Then they threatened when we told them to piss off." Her pale eyes burned with the reflection of watchtowers aflame.

Reidar turned to look at Lena. "They already spread here."

She nodded. That was great news for her since she wanted to have her sweet time with them.

The crowd of survivors watched in silence.

"Regardless… are you done?" Reidar asked.

"Fuck you!" Helga roared. "You fuck—"

"Stop it!" Reidar shouted. At that point he was starting to get mad, and since he had far more A.C.U.M.E.N. than Helga, the amount that got released from his body could be felt from a distance.

The Spectral Knights pinned her down with greater force, and they pointed their blades at her. She finally shut the fuck up.

"If you have not noticed, I have enough power to fuck you all up and use your guts to play the rope!"

"Reidar! There's a child," Lena said. He nodded. Neither Helga nor Aldric replied.

"I'm here with a proposal that would benefit you more than me. I will give you some skills to tackle this quest. It will be easier to make it, but you must listen to me," Reidar said.

Helga's rant died in her throat. Her eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Skills," Reidar said, since he knew what she was asking about. He looked across the crowd, raising his voice so everyone could hear.

"I'm not here to play, and I didn't want to do this either, but someone changed my mind." He paused.

"Now, since you are all more focused on showing who has the bigger dick, women included, I was forced to act like this."

He gave a murderous look to everyone. "Now, you see what you forced me to do?!"

The spectral knights pinned the captors to the ground with renewed strength. From the ground, they looked at Reidar. Lena was smiling, and Jake had sparkling eyes.

"I'm here to make you stronger," he said.

Confusion rippled through the survivors. Whispers started, spreading like wildfire.

Aldric's expression shifted to suspicion. "Explain."

Reidar nodded.

"My trait is called Skill Sharing," he said. "I can give any of my skills to anyone I choose. I can also remove those skills whenever I want."

The whispers grew louder. People exchanged glances, uncertain whether to believe him.

Helga barked out a bitter laugh. "Bullshit. You expect us to believe you're just going to hand out skills for nothing?"

"First," Reidar said. "It won't be forever; it will just be for the raid's duration."

"Second, it's not for nothing. I have my reasons for doing this. Now, don't ask about that anymore since I don't want to give you loopholes to exploit."

"So what do you want?" Aldric asked.

"I want you to kill monsters and shut the fuck up. That's what benefits me. I need this raid to be over as soon as possible, so that I can get my way out of here and continue my business."

Lena watched Reidar with a grin spreading across her face. Finally, he was acting up to his powers. For too long, he had been soft. He was held back by some misguided sense of fairness or fear of overstepping.

But now, he was commanding attention, and that was all thanks to a quest. <If he has something to gain, he is not going to play it soft. His interests come first, like a CEO's would.>

She saw the survivors were beginning to understand that Reidar was not just another man; he was something more.

Lena's grin widened as she caught Jake's eye. The boy had beaming, sparkling eyes.

He gestured at the spectral knights surrounding the camp.

"I subdued you because you wouldn't have listened otherwise. Helga would've kept arguing about territory and leadership. Aldric would've kept trying to negotiate terms that benefit his faction, just for him to switch with Lorian and ruin everything. Everyone would've wasted time fighting each other instead of preparing for the raid."

"You son of a—" Helga started.

"I don't have time for this," Reidar cut her off. A sword cut her cheek. "The raid starts soon. We need to be ready. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to share skills with everyone who wants them. You use those skills to complete the raid. You get stronger, and I get what I want. After the raid ends, I leave. No control. No warlord bullshit."

The crowd processed this. Some faces showed hope. Others remained skeptical.

Aldric stared at him. "You're saying you'll just... give us skills? How does this even work?"

"Yes, I will. As I said, it's my trait. I guess you know what I'm talking about, right?"

He knew, which meant he actually had one too.

"And then leave?"

"Yes."

"Why should we trust you?" Helga asked. "You just attacked us! You forced everyone to the ground like animals!"

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