XXIV: A Good Deed
“HEY, listen up, you all! Starting today, the new First in Laslei is Marcus! He’s an A-rank wizard, apparently known as Breezy! And you’ve seen how strong he is!”
I was right in the middle of the gathering, surrounded by Carlos, Million, my party members, and the rest of Laslei’s Hundred as they officially made me the leader of the organization. Carlos even introduced me by my embarrassing epithet.
I just want to leave. I don’t care where I go, as long as it isn’t here.
The members of the Hundred all started talking.
“Breezy? He’s no breeze, he’s more like a violent thunderstorm.”
“You idiot. All wind spells are like a calm breeze at some level. That’s how he makes his opponents lower their guards, so he can knock them out.”
“But what about that crazy fire spell?”
“It’s a double feint. First he makes it look like he’s using wind magic, then he goes in for a physical attack, and then he uses a fire spell. It’s impossible to counter!”
“So his epithet is there to make his enemies lower their guards? What a terrifying guy. That’s our new First for you.”
I don’t even know where to begin denying it. And besides any of that, Kylan, Darion, and Belinda are all Hundred now, through and through. What happened to going to Torino, or the request from the Adventurers’ Guild?
“Marcus, can you give us a comment?” Carlos suddenly asked.
What could he possibly want me to say? Hmm… Actually, depending on how I frame it, this could be an opportunity.
I’d made a mistake with the Hundred in Farune by allowing them to turn into such a violent organization. Now, I was the head of Laslei’s Hundred, so no matter what Carlos or Million were planning, I should have been able to change it into more of an honest and peaceful group. The time had come for me to make use of all my past experiences of failure!
“I have a task for you all,” I said. A stir swept through the crowd.
“A task?”
“I haven’t heard anything about this.”
“What’s he talking about?”
Carlos raised a hand, and just that was enough to silence the noise. Then he turned his gaze to me and prompted me to continue. No matter what he did, he always looked good doing it.
“Your task will be to do one good deed every day,” I said. My goal was to turn the hopelessly violent Hundred into a wholesome organization that contributed to society. Once that was accomplished, the government would stop seeing them as a threat, and stop sending spies and adventurers in to infiltrate the group. And the members of the Hundred would reform themselves and become honest people. There were only upsides.
And there was another thing on top of that. This task would keep away those who only cared about fighting, and maybe even make them leave the Hundred—or else it would be like making a demon perform charity.
Once there were fewer people, the Hundred would naturally grow weaker. Eventually, this obnoxious group would be a thing of the past. It was the perfect plan.
The members seemed perplexed.
“What does he mean, a good deed?”
“Does he want us to help with chores or something?”
“Are we going to perform community service?”
Good, good, if you want to leave, then go ahead. I’ll reform everyone who’s still here, I thought, smiling as I watched their confusion.
Then, Carlos suddenly bellowed:
“Hey, you guys! Can you even comprehend what Marcus said with those thimble-sized brains of yours? Can you? A good deed, you hear me? Think carefully, what’s a good deed to you?! Think, you pieces of trash. Think very carefully about what you need right now! Think like your life depends on it! This is your last chance to be reborn! One day, you’ll die. But don’t be afraid! Fight it! You can only achieve real freedom once you’ve lost everything! That is the true Hundred! Don’t retreat! Don’t run! Move forward! Don’t be satisfied with how things are, and evolve! That is your good deed!”
What is he talking about? Good deeds don’t have to be that deep, you know?
But for some reason he seemed to have persuaded them. The members were easily won over and started shouting things like, “Yeah, I’ll do it, I’ll do a good deed!”
What kind of good deed is that? I was consumed with worry. As I was wondering what to say in order to get the group back on track, Carlos turned to me and gripped my hand.
“That’s a great idea, bro,” he said passionately. “I’m impressed. I really felt what you said. A good deed. That’s an amazing way to put it. By not making it clear what we should do, you’re forcing us to think and act for ourselves. That’s just what we needed. It isn’t enough for us to eat monster meat and fight just because someone told us to. We thought we were free, but in the end we were stuck in the mold of the Hundred!”
He actually had tears in his eyes. It would have been impossible to correct him and explain that actually, I really did just mean community service.
“I knew you could do it, Ze—Marcus,” Million said. “You came up with a plan to level up Laslei’s Hundred in such a short time! Look at their faces. They’re totally different from earlier. They completely understand what they must do! Now, they could even take on Laslei’s army!”
Why are you equating treason with a good deed? Don’t you think some of them might get up to some honest work? Not that it looks like they will, to be fair…
✦ ✦ ✦
Next, my party members came up to me.
“That was really deep, Marcus,” Kylan said. “You’re right, we always need to do our absolute best! That’s what it means to do a good deed!”
No, you idiot.
“But what exactly is the good deed we should be doing?” Darion asked. He didn’t quite seem to get it.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I instantly replied. “We’re heading to Torino. That’s our good deed.” My plan to transform the Hundred into a charitable organization had rapidly fallen apart. Nothing good would come of staying in a place like this. I wanted to travel to another country right away, before there was a full-scale uprising.
“Are you sure?” Belinda said. “You’re the leader of these people now, right, Marcus? And we’ve joined the Hundred, too.”
“I haven’t joined,” I objected. “Carlos is just saying that stuff about me being First. But don’t you think he’s more suited to being First here?” If I was being honest, I was an actual king, so I was obviously more suited, but I was purposefully being humble.
Kylan crossed his arms and nodded. “True. You’re strong, but you don’t strike me as the ‘leader’ type.”
“If I had to put my finger on it, you’re just not dignified enough. You’re not charismatic like Carlos, and I mean, your epithet is Breezy,” Darion said apologetically.
“Yeah. And you aren’t bad-looking at all, but you sort of don’t have a presence,” Belinda said matter-of-factly. “I mean, I don’t feel any masculine charm from you like I do with Carlos.” She looked over at him with a starstruck gaze.
I want to cry. I’m the one who won our fight, you know…
In any case, no one seemed to be opposed to the idea of me leaving Laslei’s Hundred.
“All right, let’s go,” I said. “There’s nothing for us to do here anymore.”
The members of Laslei’s Hundred, with Carlos at their center, were all getting excited about what sorts of “good deeds” they would do. I decided that all their talk about burning the homes of nobles and assailing the castle could be chalked up to my imagination. Surely they hadn’t really said those things.
Regardless, we should be able to leave easily right now.
“Are you sure?” Belinda asked nervously.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” said Million. “Thanks to Marcus, we realized what we need to do. Carlos will take care of things now. So I’d like you to go visit the Hundred in other countries, Marcus. They need your strength too.”
Actually, I’m not planning on getting involved with the Hundred anymore. That’s the whole point.
“I see, well that makes things easy! We’ll definitely take him there!” Kylan said, casually accepting Million’s request.
Can you stop it? I don’t want to go to more places like this.
Million said he would put everything in order in Laslei, so the four of us quietly left the Hundred’s gathering. The others were reluctant to go, and kept turning around and gazing back as we left.
The only thing here for them is fighting the kingdom’s army as a rebel soldier, so why do they want to stay so badly? I wondered. I wanted to apologize to the king of Laslei. Dealing with rebels as enthusiastic as the Hundred was just the worst. They would probably succeed in their rebellion, too. I knew because something like this had happened in the past. Several times.
Regardless, we once again headed to Torino.