"Well, well, well, if it isn't the masked marvel."

Fate stiffened as he heard the noble's cocky voice ring across the adventurer guild's floors. He hadn't liked Draco since the moment they'd first met. They were the same age, the same adventurer rank, but that didn't stop the bastard from looking down on absolutely everyone he met.

Besides, both of their ranks were fake. Fate's rank existed because of his assignment. He might've been strong enough to justify B-rank, but he didn't have nearly enough quests under his belt to actually warrant the rank. The same went for Draco, except the noble likely didn't have the combat capability to back his rank up.

Still, he wouldn't be so unbearable if the brat were just a minor annoyance. He'd get on your nerves, but that wasn't the worst thing in the world. No, he was a lot worse than that. He was someone who loved to ride high on power. From what Fate had heard, he was currently maintaining a monopoly on quests. It wasn't supposed to be allowed, but what was anyone supposed to do with his family backing him?

Fate wanted to take a go at the noble himself, but he couldn't. He was restrained by the same reason as everyone else: to mess with the Wynton family meant death.

"Oh? Playing the silent game today, are we?" Draco sneered as he got close.

"Piss off."

"Ooh, how scary. What can a commoner like you even do?" Draco laughed. "If you're so proud, why do you wear that mask? What, does your face reflect your status? Too ashamed to-"

Fate was starting to near his limits with this brat. His fists were already clenched, but at this point, enough was enough. He raised his arm. Just one hit. Just-

"I would advise you to stop there, young man. I'm afraid I cannot allow my lord to be hurt in something as trivial as a scuffle over words."

A large man wearing a full set of plate armour grabbed Fate's wrist, stopping him in his tracks. Unlike Draco, this man had the power to back his words.

"...I apologize," Fate said, lowering his arm.

The guard let go of Fate with no further issue.

"That's right," Draco taunted. "It'll be a million years before you can even dream of touching me. Know your place."

He laughed as he walked off, his armoured guard right behind him. Draco snapped his fingers, and a woman in a mage's attire followed as well, carrying a small stack of papers. Fate clenched his fists. It was getting harder and harder to deal with the arrogant asshole. The way he talked, the way he acted, it was all ridiculous from a certain point of view, but when you were experiencing it in person, it was definitely incredibly aggravating.

"You should kill him," Kit said in his mind.

"No."

"Please? Or at least pull those curly golden locks out. I hate how they always bounce around. So distracting."

"...really?"

Fate sighed as he scanned the board for C-rank requests, but to his surprise, there were none.

"What?"

Fate's head whipped around to see Draco's assistant holding the stack of papers.

"Did he just-"

~~~

At the same time, John was in Albert's office, also annoyed. His annoyance, however, was nowhere near as justified as Fates's was.

"Seriously? You can't just make us B-rank right now?"

"You idiot! If it was that easy, don't you think I would've done it?" The guild leader sighed. "You're not ready. I don't think you understand just how dangerous B-class quests are."

"We did that one with the goblins, right? Wasn't that dangerous?" John protested.

"That's- no. You still don't understand. Kid, B-class adventurers are powerful. Despite everything, you and your sister… are not."

John didn't argue that. The only reason they'd won against the goblins was because of the dozens of [Resets] they'd been through. It wouldn't have been possible without the ability to predict the enemy's moves over and over, to learn from fatal mistakes and suffer little to no consequence from them.

Still, it wasn't like [Resets] were a one-time thing. John could continue to use them. Technically, even A-rank requests were doable so long as Prota's mind didn't break down. Still, John could understand what it would look like to an outsider's perspective.

"I mean… can't you just do whatever? You're the boss, right?"

"I don't make the rules, you brat! I'm the boss of this town's guild specifically! There are guilds all over this world, you think I run them all? The C-class exception was already stretching it!"

"I, um… hm. I see."

John's face clearly indicated that this was, in fact, what he'd been thinking.

"What?" Albert frowned.

"Mm… let's pretend that didn't just happen."

"I- forget it. Besides, don't you think you should prove yourself? Reach B-rank on your own? Come on, let's show a little work ethic."

"Aren't you the one who needs me to be B-rank? Besides, it's not the difficulty," John grumbled. "It's the amount of time it takes."

The problem with ranking up was that a certain number of quests had to be completed in order to move to the next rank. It wasn't possible to take quests of higher levels until you reached that rank, so all you had to do was trudge along and prove you were competent enough to carry forward.

"That's true, but… you really think you're strong enough to be a B-rank?"

John shrugged. "My sister probably is."

"You're dodging the question. Do you think you are truly that strong? Because I, personally, do not."

John leaned back with a bored look. "Of course. You think I'd be here if I weren't?"

Alber buried his face in his hands. "What I wouldn't do to take your ego down a notch… fine. I'll think of something, so come back in a few days."

"Roger that," John said with a sloppy salute. "Come on, Prota."

He walked out of the office just in time to see Draco leaving the building. He made a face, like he'd just seen a pile of vomit on the side of the street. Heading downstairs, he saw Fate and Kit, and it seemed that they'd also noticed him. They didn't seem pleased.

"What's up?"

"Bad news. Look at the board."

"What's up with the- oh. Oh, damn."

He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, staring at the somewhat empty board. There really were no C-rank quests. His eye twitched in irritation, but eventually, he just shrugged.

"Looks like someone got involved. It's that Draco kid, right?"

Fate flinched. "How did you- I can't deal with you. Yes, Draco Wynton. I'd watch my step around him, by the way. He's… he can get away with a lot, you know."

"Like what, killing me?" John snorted.

"Yes."

There was no hint of sarcasm in Fate's voice, so he was caught off guard when John laughed out loud.

"Yeah, sure, he can kill me if he wants. He can try, at least."

Fate's eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't say something like that so lightly. Your life's a lot more important than that."

The weight of those words forced John to sober up. This guy was way too serious. Well, that's what happens when you can't come back from the dead. You tend to take life a little more seriously.

"...thanks." John said after a brief pause. "I'll keep that in mind."

The two shook hands, and Fate got up to leave. John watched with a bored look as the hero opened the door and disappeared. What was he going to do? He looked at his hands. Were dungeons really that hard? If Fate was the one saying that they were risky, then maybe they really were that difficult.

Was he prepared? He thought about it. Technically, any fight was winnable as long as [Determination] was strong enough, but he was also reluctant to use [Infinity]. He also didn't think there would really be a scenario that would raise his [Determination] levels high enough.

Besides, if Kit had picked up on his energy, there was no telling who else would. On top of that, the reason his power was sealed away… well, it was better not to think about that. If he needed to use [Infinity], he would. He just didn't think that would ever happen.

That was all.

Could he prepare himself in any other way? He thought for a bit, but the answer revealed itself before he could think of it.

"John," Prota said as she tugged on his sleeve. "Let's go eat."

Right. His protector. If he couldn't fight, he just had to teach Prota even better, right? It was a crude analogy, but it was like making up for a weak body with a weapon. If you can't improve yourself, there are still other ways to build a proper defence.

"John," Prota insisted, tugging on his sleeve a little harder.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go," John said, but he wasn't thinking about food.

Kit had trained Prota well. Her magic was coming along nicely. So what did she lack? Raw power? Technique? Creativity?

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

John thought hard. What was it that made Prota think he was strong? Was it just [Infinity]? No, surely it was something else.

[Want a hint?]

[obviously]

[Alright, good to know :)]

"This motherfucker…" John muttered under his breath. "If only I could make him experience-"

John stopped mid-sentence. That was it. Experience.

He thought about it. When he thought about Fate and Kit, they both had ample fighting experience. Fate was a reincarnator. Kit was dozens of years old, if not older. John had thousands, if not millions, of resets under his belt.

Prota was still a child. She might be a child that'd gone through tremendous trauma and bloodshed, but nonetheless, she was still a child. Even with [Resets], she'd only been through a few battles, and those hadn't been good enough. Well, it was a lot more than a few, but that was besides the point.

Her body wasn't geared toward efficient combat. Currently, she was like a boxer deciding which arm to punch with before she actually threw the blow. The ability to hit and dodge without processing what was coming at you first was something that only developed with practice. In short, her body had to be thinking for her. Not in a zen, autonomous movement kind of way. That was something for someone else, in a different kind of [Story].

This problem was fixable. All they needed was training and practice. After all, she was still inexperienced in the variety of enemies she'd fought. John himself could provide the environment and pressure needed to put her in the right mindset. The problem was time. Something like that didn't happen in a few days. They needed weeks, at the very least.

Unless…

"No, no. Let's not do that again," John thought to himself. "Another day. We'll figure something else out."

He took Prota's hand and shrugged. It was ok to take a break once in a while.

~~~

Breaker wrinkled his nose as he stepped into Doctor's office. It was filthy, full of garbage and empty food containers since the man never bothered to clean up after himself. How could a self-proclaimed genius be such a slob? He cleared his throat to get Doctor's attention.

"Sir. Wouldn't it be better to nip them in the bud now?"

Breaker was worried. He didn't doubt his boss's power or intellect, but Doctor was occasionally too childlike for his liking. It wasn't to say that Breaker wasn't confident in their abilities. It was simply that he lacked the massive ego Doctor had.

"How? Do you want to go out personally?" Doctor seemed genuinely curious.

Breaker shook his head. "I'd rather not meet that man again."

"Ah, you're a coward. I understand. Hm… then what are you suggesting?"

Breaker's face darkened. He didn't like suggesting this, but it was the only thing Doctor would agree to.

"Experiment seven. Even if we don't kill anyone, it'll be a good opportunity for us to gain intel."

"Oh? Interesting," Doctor said with a wide grin. "You're letting me play with my toys for once?"

"...yes."

"Alright. I'll get it ready. How fun!"

Breaker sighed. "Sir. How do you intend to get the results? We can't send our man, he'll get caught."

"Oh, don't you worry. I have my ways of collecting intel. There's stuff in that cave, you know? Also, turn the lights on in the cells."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it. You focus on your things. I'll focus on mine."

Doctor watched Breaker leave his office with a curious smile.

"You're far too serious, Breaker. You should learn how to loosen up a little."

~~~

A few days later, Albert called John to his office again.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"I found one. A B-rank quest that you can take. And I don't think anyone will complain if you really do complete it. Hell, you could take Fate along, and the situation would still be the same."

John raised an eyebrow. Really? This was too easy, no? A quest with the [Protagonist] on their side. It was like getting a free bus ticket to their next destination.

"How… convenient."

"No, don't say that," Albert grimaced. "I'm only even considering this because I think, and I repeat, I think you can do this. Your confidence must've spread."

"Yeah? What is it, catching five horned rabbits or something?"

"No. Subjugate a mansion filled with haunted armour."

"...that's B-rank?" John frowned.

Haunted armour. John had seen a few quests on that, but they were relatively easy monsters to hunt. He didn't know how they worked, but he did know that they were considered easy monsters due to their low speed. Attacks were clumsy and easy to dodge, so as long as you had enough brute force, you could smash the helmet in and be done with it.

"It used to be C-rank since, like you, no one thought it would be hard, but then parties kept dying, and rumours began to circulate. The requester even bumped up the reward, which kept adventurers going in, but still, they kept dying. We had to increase the rank to stop people from chasing after something foolish. Eventually, the rumours outdid the reward, and it became a cursed quest. No one takes it, but it's still there."

The quest was so abnormal that John had a feeling that Fate might've taken it, even if he wasn't here.

John nodded. It was making sense. "So you're saying that since everyone knows it's a suicide mission, no one will complain if we come out alive."

"Exactly."

John shrugged. "Alright. Sounds good."

"...you're not scared?"

"What? Why would I he scared? It's not like I can fail this quest, right?"

Albert reached out, wanting to question John about that last statement, but he was too late. John threw the door open and went down to where Prota was waiting with Fate and Kit.

"So? What'd he say?" Fate said as John sat down.

"Some old quest about subjugating haunted armour. It should be easy to find…"

He looked over to the task board, but no such paper stood out. The board was as empty as it always was.

"Hm? The old guy said it stood out… like old parchment or something…"

John got up and walked over to the board, with Prota following him. He scanned the entire thing, but there was no such quest.

"Am I going crazy?" John muttered.

He went over to the desk where Katheryn was managing some papers. She seemed busy, but she still stopped and turned to John as soon as he got close.

"Hello! What may I help you with?"

"The quest board. Did anyone take the quest for subjugating haunted armour in some mansion?" John asked.

"Ah, that quest? That's B-rank, I don't think you can-"

"Don't worry about that. Just… was it taken?"

The receptionist nodded. "Yes. It was taken just today."

"Today?" John frowned.

"Yes, by Draco Wynton. It is possible to manage the transfer of quests, but the quest will not return to the board until Sir Draco's party fails," Katheryne explained.

John nodded, but his fists were clenched. He walked back to his table and sat down heavily. Prota looked at him with a questioning look.

"Draco, that bastard… I should've just killed him the first time I met him," he growled.

Fate raised his hands in protest. "Hey, I get the sentiment, but-"

"No. That bitch needs to kill himself! Now! We have to deal with him now, and…"

John didn't even finish his sentence, opting to groan instead. Eventually, he explained the situation, and the mood at the table became grimmer. The situation was bad, but it wasn't that bad. It was just that no one wanted to deal with Draco. The first to suggest a solution was, surprisingly, John.

"Well, I mean, there's an easy solution. I just have to beat his ass until he gives me the quest, right?"

Fate and Prota just stared at John, hoping to see some sarcasm, but he looked dead serious.

"Huh? Why're you guys looking at me like that?"

The two sighed simultaneously, but at this point, even Fate had realized that John wasn't bound by the laws of common sense.

"Do you have a brain in there?" Fate said.

Prota hopped off her chair and walked over to John, rapping his head to make sure it wasn't hollow.

"Seriously, guys, what's wrong with this?" John protested.

"You can't just beat people up for no reason!" Fate exclaimed. "And don't tell me it's because you were a shut in. This is common sense, idiot!"

"What if my Earth was just built different?" John pointed out. "What if we were different? What if it's normal to beat other people up?"

Fate crossed his arms. "Is it different?"

"No."

"Then what are you even saying?!"

John just shrugged.

"Look, you can't just do as you please. There are consequences to your actions!" Fate exclaimed.

John shrugged again. "So you're saying that as long as I can get around said consequences, I'll be fine, right?"

Everyone went dead silent. Prota felt a chill run down her spine. John was saying something completely illogical, but he wasn't joking, not the slightest bit.

If he were left alone, he really would find a way to beat Draco up. He truly failed to see the issue with such an action. He genuinely thought he'd be able to get away with something like this. They couldn't allow him to keep this up.

While she herself didn't have the resolve to convince him to do otherwise, there was another voice of reason to talk him out of it.

"No. I'm not letting you do that. We are going to negotiate with words, not force. Understood?" Fate said sternly.

"You're boring," John complained, but he didn't push it further.

Prota breathed a sigh of relief.

Fate just looked at John. "No, but seriously, do you think you can just get away with hitting a noble?"

"...yeah?"

"What're you gonna do when their family and all their forces come after you?"

John shrugged. "Then I just have to beat them up, too. What's the big deal?"

Fate's eyes bugged out. "What? You're really insane, you know that?"

"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad.

Fate just sighed. "You know what? Fine. Let's say in some crazy hypothetical universe, you have the power to do that. Could you protect Prota as well? You don't understand nobles that well, John. They won't just leave you alone! They'll come after everything you have! Even then, unless you were a world ending threat, the royals would also be forced to come after you! Can you truly deal with all that?"

"Uh… maybe?"

John had answered rather flippantly, but Prota was seriously thinking about the question. Could she? Was that something she was capable of doing? No, in the first place, it wasn't right to just beat tons of people up, right? John couldn't possibly expect her to do something like that-

Oh. Now that she thought about it, John likely wasn't even factoring her in when considering the question. She felt her body shiver as she pictured John rampaging throughout the country.

John had thought it through. He could take on a noble household and then some, if it came to it. The fact that he'd answered so casually meant that he hadn't really thought it through, but he knew enough that he wasn't just saying things. He truly believed that, if it came to it, he could take on the whole world.

And somehow, that made things even scarier.

Prota shuddered. She thought she'd been getting better at it, but it seemed that it might not be possible to tell the difference between his jokes and statements. She looked back up. John was patting Fate on the back, much to the latter's discomfort, but they stopped as they reached the doors. Fate reached into his cloak and pulled out a strange token.

"Here. Take this. It can only be used once, but if you squeeze it, you can communicate with me once. It's like a one use phone call."

John nodded. "If I find Draco?"

"Yeah. And remember. Don't hit him unless you absolutely have to, ok? We're going to talk it out. Peacefully."

"Peacefully, my ass," John grumbled, taking the token.

Prota waved as Fate and Kit walked away, then followed John towards the inn. They walked in silence before, but something about John's expression was eating away at Prota.

"Why is John so nervous?" she said, looking up at him.

"Huh?" John turned to his sister.

She could tell?

"John is nervous. Right?"

John frowned. Had his flippant behaviour slipped up? No, he'd been acting as recklessly as always. Not that it was entirely an act, but part of it was indeed an act to cover up his stress. Since when could Prota notice things like that? Well, it didn't matter.

"Draco shouldn't be doing this much," John explained. "He's supposed to be a punching bag, not an [Antagonist]."

Prota nodded. She understood nothing of what John had just said, but it was better that she pretended she did. She didn't feel like sitting through another lecture that she wouldn't understand anyway.

Well, she understood that the world was a story and, therefore, operated on principles of common tropes. She still couldn't tell what those tropes were and how John used them. Just what kind of knowledge did he have that allowed him to predict things in such a manner?

Thankfully, John seemed to understand her confusion.

"Too complicated? Alright, let's put it this way."

He started walking a bit slower.

"Think of the [Plot] like a rock rolling down a hill. The rock's gonna roll down. Just like the [Plot], it's inevitable. [Characters] don't really have control over what happens to them, since they're not real. Now, a rock rolling down the hill won't necessarily have a smooth and perfect ride. There might be a river that carries the rock away or a log that blocks the rock's path. Those would be [Major Events], at least in the plot. Get it?"

Prota nodded slowly. It sort of made sense.

"Now, someone like Draco is more like a pebble that makes the rock bump a little. It's just annoying; it barely changes the path of the rock. The [Plot] continues as normal anyway. He's not a major villain, not an obstacle that requires strength and will to overcome. He's just someone who will inevitably die a horrible and pathetic death. Probably. Hopefully."

Prota nodded again.

"But what Draco just did… it's more like a tree standing in the way of the rock, forcing it to move to another path. His actions are no longer just insignificant. He's forced us to do something we wouldn't have done otherwise. What happens if we don't get the quest back? Then what? Something just doesn't seem right about this."

Prota thought about it. It sort of made sense, but she still couldn't internally grasp it. It wasn't that the explanation didn't make sense.

It was just that internalizing the concept of the world as "fiction" was too hard to do. Sure, if you thought about it hard enough, you might be able to reach the conclusions John did, but only John analyzed his surroundings the way he did.

He absorbed everything on the basis of the world being a [Story], checked for information with the assumption of "fiction" in mind. He didn't look for traditional clues. Only someone with the assumption that everything around him was fake could do such a thing.

But was having such an ability truly worth the payoff? The pain of never being able to care for anyone ever again?

Was it even painful to John at this point?

Her thought process was halted as John began to speak again.

"This is really bad, Prota. I'm not strong. But I know stuff, stuff people usually don't know. But that relies on this world being a [Story]. If things go off-"

"John. John, can you hear me?"

The conversation was interrupted when Fate's voice came through the trinket he'd given John, startling them.

"...?" John frowned. "Fate?"

"Yeah. I found Draco."

John started picking up his pace. "I'm on my way. Where are you?"

"The bar. You know where that is?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there."

He frowned as his stride turned into a jog, Prota following closely.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.