Seffara and Barry were on the roof of her warehouse. They'd listened to Ryan's version of the story. It wasn’t too different from the video, but it was enough that Seffara decided to take a break and consult with her friend over what happened.

  “What do you think?”

  Barry just stayed silent. He was looking over at the field where Ryan was reenacting the events at Lazhen to his friends.

  The orc hummed then closed his eyes in pretend meditation. Seffara rolled her eyes and kicked the orc.

  “Don’t give me that shit, you think the kid’s alright?”

  “Seems alright.”

  “What he did was risky as hell, one mistake and so many more could have died, not to mention…”

  She trailed off, some part of her was trying to convince herself to turn Ryan in. End the boy’s madness now before it got worse. It would put her back in the limelight and she’d have to deal with the fallout. That was fine.

  It was the Witch Tyrant that she was uncertain of.

  Damn the rookie knew how to be convincing. Even Barry seemed swayed.

  “It’s the way he did it that’s the difference.”

  Seffara paused as she let the words sink in. Intent mattered, sometimes in the fog of war, intent was the only thing you could evaluate. She turned to Barry who was calmly looking at Ryan. She knew this look well, that was his smug look.

  Seffara curled her lips in disgust.

  “You’re not just saying that because the rookie said you were right, right?”

  Barry just snorted as she laughed. She looked down at Ryan messing around with a dangerous amount of aura. Then she untensed her shoulders.

  “Man, I missed this. I hated it when the world kept coming to me with stupid moral questions as if I should know what the right answer was,” she punched Barry on the shoulder, “now I can go back to looking angry at the rookie and wait for your opinion.”

  Barry rubbed his shoulder, pretending like she’d actually hurt him, “he’s grown up already, can’t really call him a rookie anymore.”

  “Eh.”

  Ryan was flipping around and trying to move his aura back and forth on his broken sword. He was enjoying showing off to his friends as they ooh-ed and aah-ed at his slightly blue aura. Seffara shook her head.

  “Still seems like a rookie to me.”

  That was when the ‘rookie’ released an [Aura Slash]. The condensed aura went flying towards a hill and smashed into it, causing a not-inconsiderable amount of dirt to fly out. The skill didn’t quite smash through the small hill, but it was far too much damage for a third realm on Earth.

  Barry started laughing.

  “Still a rookie huh?”

  Seffara, blushing at being wrong, decided to shout at the [Rogue] instead.

  “Oi you little shit! Do you know how much I paid for the landscaping around here? Where do you think you’re running off to?”

  The heroine [Knight] leapt after the blacklisted [Rogue]. Ryan, realizing he had royally fucked up, started using his skills to flee.

  [Aura Condensation] + [Aura of Self-Momentum]

  Both skills synergized into the first combination skill that Ryan had activated. Ryan seemed surprised at how both skills naturally worked together as the boost of speed propelled him faster than any third realm adventurer had any right to be. He was probably running as fast as a level 4 [Hastened] third realm.

  Ryan was still far, far slower than one of the oldest ninth realm adventurers. Seffara caught up and was just about to grab him when he suddenly jerked away from her with an [Instant Dodge]. The useless show of defiance just made the [Knight] more annoyed as she sped up and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

  “What did you think was going to happen? That you’d get away like you did after Lazhen?”

  “I was just practicing my skills?”

  Seffara scoffed at the innocently blinking [Rogue]. She leapt into the sky at the damaged hill and threw Ryan at it.

  Headfirst.

  “Don’t come back until you’ve fixed the damage. There’s grass seeds in the shed.”

  Ryan gave her a thumbs up while upside down in the dirt.

  –

  The devastated [Rogue] patted down the hill with a shovel. It had taken him a surprising amount of time despite his superhuman prowess. Then he imagined how long Lazhen would take before it was rebuilt… if it ever would be. The menial work had brought up the thoughts he tried to tamp them down.

  He still hadn’t dared to look up which adventurers had died.

  Clara chatting animatedly with Seffara and Barry distracted him. Milo was busy typing away at a laptop nearby as they all had a nice picnic while they watched him work. Sipping away at illegally imported lemonade.

  “Someone should report that to the authorities.” Ryan grumbled.

  Seffara had heard him. “Hypocrite! Here I got something for you.”

  Ryan had to dodge a giant sack of grass seeds that were thrown at him at near supersonic speed. It landed behind him as the grass seeds exploded out everywhere. Ryan just stared at the mess.

  “What are you waiting for? Get sowing!”

  One day, one day Ryan would have revenge.

  –

  It still took an hour longer until Seffara was satisfied with the work on the hill. Ryan sighed as Barry brought him a lemonade. He took a sip of the illegal imported fruit juice and sighed. Both of them drank in silence while Seffara and his friends looked at a laptop screen.

  “What’s up Barry? You never really told me what you thought about what I did.”

  The orc just stood there, the orc didn’t let anything through his unflappable facade. He would have looked intimidating–if he wasn’t pursing his lips and sipping from a glass of lemonade.

  “I think you’re doing fine. Stop beating yourself over the dead adventurers.”

  Ryan had expected a lot of things from the sagely orc, that wasn’t one of them. He blinked.

  “Was it that obvious?”

  “No, but I just wanted to confirm it.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Ryan narrowed his eyes at the smug green giant.

  “A sneaky [Berserker] orc. You must have been one of the worst people to go up against.”

  “Seems like you’re becoming that yourself.”

  Ryan laughed, “Finally got that finisher I was looking for. I just don’t know if it was worth it.”

  He still hadn’t looked at the death notification screens, he’d done enough research to instantly know if they were realmbound or not. It wasn’t common for a third realm to be realmbound but it wasn’t too rare either. The notification hung like a noose whenever he opened his screens.

  The truth was… he didn’t need to check, he’d seen the way the screaming [Warrior] came at him.

  “I think I’d still do it again. I messed up, but I’d still try it again. It was worth it.”

  Barry just took another sip. The orc opened his mouth, to probably give some sort of sagely advice, but Milo interrupted them.

  “Hey Ryan! Come over here, there’s something you’re going to want to see.”

  The sudden excited and somewhat horrified shout broke the mood. Ryan and Barry looked at each other before rushing back to the picnic spot where Milo was waving them over. His friend was pointing at a paused video on the screen. The title was simple.

  ‘The Witch Tyrant’s stance on the blacklisted dragonslayers.’

  A Realmer reporter was politely sitting up straight and staring up at the Witch. She didn’t look up in fear and terror, there was just awe. The reporter gulped.

  “Witch Xie Lihua, the world has been waiting for your response. Could we ask for your ruling on the blacklisted dragonslayers?”

  The Tyrant smiled gently at the reporter, it looked so genuine that Ryan couldn’t help but look on in disbelief. She looked so different from when he had met her, like her old self.

  “My belief is the same as it has always been. Blacklisted adventurers have a chance to wipe their status clean by doing meritorious deeds. The next realm expansion should give them all that chance. I do not have time nor care to hunt wayward dragonslayers that have not bothered me personally.”

  That of course meant that she might still hunt those that had attacked her. Not that many of those were still alive.

  The reporter paused, unsure if she should pursue that question. In the end she looked like she moved on as she stuck to a script.

  “There have been questions regarding your absence from the public. Does your reappearance mean that you will be taking a more active position with the Adventurer’s Guild?”

  There was a pause from the Witch Tyrant.

  “My stance has not changed. I believe in letting The Realm develop on its own, without our meddling. This event was simply too personal and too large for me to not make a comment.”

  All of Ryan’s group looked at each other and shook their heads at that comment.

  The Realmer reporter asked the obvious question.

  “Then why the long delay? It has been over a week and the tensions have been rising.”

  The Witch Tyrant looked distressed at her own failing. It looked so sincere that Ryan genuinely started to wonder if all of her previous public appearances had just been acting.

  “My apologies. I have been busy repairing my own domain after my assault. Much of my preparations for the next Trial attempt was destroyed and I had to salvage and repair what I could. I hope all of you can understand.”

  “O-of course Witch Tyrant. It’s completely understandable.”

  The Realmer had no fucking chance. She probably grew up worshipping the Tyrants as freedom fighting heroes. Hell, even Ryan still believed she was altruistic. Just in a completely fucked up way. He also didn’t believe for a second that she’d lost anything she didn’t expect to lose.

  The reporter suddenly looked nervous again, she leaned towards an earpiece as she winced.

  “Given the timing. I have been asked to get your opinion on Lazhen and this new Artigan problem.”

  Ryan suddenly sat up in surprise, they all did. That was out of nowhere, shouldn’t they be talking about preparing for the highest Trial and the expansion?

  The Tyrant tilted her head in confusion.

  “Lazhen? A Sector Three town? Artigan problem?”

  Ryan’s jaw dropped, “This damned Witch.”

  The reporter continued, clearly not happy in being forced to ask this question, she was making it clear to both the public and the Tyrant that it wasn’t she herself that wanted to ask this.

  “Uh. There’s this third realm blacklister that’s destroyed Lazhen and has declared to the world that he’s defying the Adventurer’s Guild. They have been were wondering what your -”

  The Witch Tyrant tilted her head, interrupting the Realmer. Now that was a look Ryan recognized.

  “A third realm? Your superiors wished to ask me about a ?”

  The reporter wilted under the intense gaze of the Witch Tyrant. Ryan agreed that the question was ridiculous. Asking a Tyrant about a third realm was like asking the president about an ant.

  “Apologies. Given the timing we thought-”

  “The [Secretary] did not bother me with this because she knew I’d give her the same answer. A third realm blacklister? If all of you cannot stop a single person then perhaps the Guild no longer needs to exist.”

  The reporter spluttered as she began to apologize and throw her superiors under the bus. The video ended as the Witch Tyrant stood up and walked away.

  –

  posted by @RRC

  Comments - Sorted by popular - realmnet and internet aggregated.

  - Witch Tyrant, what a badass. Beats thirty dragonslayers black and blue and doesn’t even care about Artigan. This is what a real adventurer is. Adventurers take notes! @Wadrfjalskdjf

  - Well this is kind of scary, isn’t the Witch scared of snowballing? @etriozle (Unverified)

  WE KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, SOMEONE FALLENANGEL THIS GUY. @Casualenjoyer1 (Unverified)

  - Feels like a disaster waiting to happen tbh. I think he’s a bigger threat than the witch thinks. @ Milococo (Unverified)

  Bro you’re everywhere they mention Artigan, get his d*ck out of your mouth, he doesn’t care about you and will never see your message. You’re literally supporting a terrorist right now. @eewee (Verified, R4)

  @ Milococo (Unverified)

  –

  Gamielle was giving the silent treatment to the Witch Tyrant. The irascible girl knew it bothered her mother more than she let on. Especially when her daughter hovered right in front of her mother’s face.

  The Witch Tyrant looked up from her table with no amusement on her face.

  “Something bothering you, daughter?”

  Gamielle crossed her arms, pushing her chest out. The Witch Tyrant was uncaring and cruel about her daughter’s lack of decency. She was coldly weaving a tapestry of plots and magic throughout The Realm. Silently making coincidences happen and noting down interesting adventurers while trying to make their lives harder.

  Gamielle blew a raspberry in her face. The Tyrant went to grab her daughter’s face as the [Mage] spun away.

  “You owe me!”

  “For what, pray tell?”

  “I told you this one would be different, that he’d take a different path.”

  Gamielle was of course referring to the fact that Ryan had not chosen to be a true monster and slaughter the entirety of Lazhen. That he’d picked out the path of a childish counter leveling villain instead.

  The Witch Tyrant looked unamused.

  “I made no wager, and even if I had, these are the early days. How long will you cover for him? I allowed you to pretend to be me, consider that a favor.”

  She was talking about the recent interview. That had been Gamielle pretending to be her mother. The Witch approved of it, if only because she believed that those that had progressed should be rewarded. And Ryan had indeed progressed well. What was a little concerning was the path he was walking.

  “The path of aura…”

  She had not approved of the path to recent Trialists. Oh, it could get powerful, true, but it wasn’t reliable. The most powerful aura user they had faced was when the Tyrants had to slay an offworld King in one of the highest Trials. That king had produced a feedback loop of power between his citizens and himself.

  It did him no good when his citizens lost their faith in him.

  Ryan’s power seemed similar except it didn’t need the trust of those around him. No, it only required continued dominance.

  It was more fitting for something like… a tyrant. The Witch Tyrant’s, lips curled in annoyance.

  “Damned Manager, can you not be clear for once?”

  She had watched with rapt attention, wondering if the forced realm evolution would be what finally pushed the boy over the edge. Maybe she should have encouraged it. An aura specialist that operated on others’ fears could work in the long run.

  Even if it weren’t the best fit for the fifteenth Trial, there were synergies to exploit. It just didn’t completely make sense…

  Her daughter cleared her throat.

  “So much for being a Tyrant, you act like a dog begging for her master’s scraps.”

  If anyone else dared speak those words at her… The Witch Tyrant stared into her daughter’s eyes. Gamielle didn’t flinch.

  “Look at you, so stuck in indecision. We both know the Manager is far more incompetent than he lets on. If you’re too afraid of ruining the gem then .”

  The staredown lasted for over a minute. Then the Witch simply went back to her mental threads, observing and planning, putting more attention onto Valee and Zedart and -

  Gamielle harrumphed and stomped her foot in the air. A disco ball popped up in between them. It started spinning at high speeds, multicolored lights shone throughout the room with fractal patterns that went down to a microscopic level. The lights flashed at perfect intervals, down to the microsecond.

  All an illusion, a very complex, very detailed illusion.

  The Witch Tyrant with an unparalleled mindsplit skill started getting a splitting headache. Her daughter was taking a not-inconsiderable amount of her own mental capacity to throw a tantrum. She waved a hand and tried to dismiss the illusion, instead it shattered into a thousand pieces, every single detail calculated out beforehand.

  Xie Lihua closed her eyes and sighed.

  “.”

  Gamielle gasped. She seemed surprised that her tantrum had succeeded, the Witch Tyrant let her daughter have that little victory. It lasted for a split second, until Gamielle realized the guillotine was about to drop.

  “One favor.”

  The brilliant Gamielle fell out of her hover.

  “What, that was on the table? That’s not fair.”

  “Yes, pick one.”

  “Aw come on, admit it. Ryan surprised you.”

  “A naive tantrum by a child that’s in denial does not surprise me. Now choose.”

  Gamielle grumbled and kicked at the air, but didn’t dare push her luck.

  “That little bastard isn’t even going to appreciate this. Fine, let me train him.”

  Gamielle could have chosen the favor to get rid of her ban from eating and drinking. It was a fair punishment considering she did tattle on her own mother. Instead of fixing that, she was going to be the energy control tutor for Ryan.

  The Witch Tyrant summoned a cup of tea and brought it to her lips. Gamielle’s eyes went wide at the victory gesture.

  “Wait. You never wanted to teach him in the first place! Oh Manager’s blasted asshole you’re right. I’m going to regret this, aren't I?”

  At least there’d be entertainment in the future.

  22 more chapters on patreon!