“O-oh, wow. I’m not sure if we could receive that. I mean, we wouldn’t even have gotten that without your help and—”
Daniel, the leader of the Subjugation Squad was fidgeting as I offered to give them their share of the Demon Cores. As expected, the guy wasn’t the type to receive gifts when he felt he didn’t deserve them.
“A-ahem!”
A female voice interrupted Daniel’s nice-guy move. As expected, it was none other than Melissa.
“We can’t refuse the Masked Hero if he’s offering them to us, can we, Daniel?” She voiced out.
Her tone was suppressive, and even though she tried to sound nice, her selfishness couldn’t be hidden from me.
“But, we don’t even deserve—”
“That’s enough, Daniel. I agree with Melissa.” Tasha interrupted, drawing closer to me in Daniel’s stead..
“We thank you for your generosity. Even though we don’t deserve such spoils, our Camp is in dire need of resources and manpower to replace the many we have lost. We appreciate this very much.”
Tasha’s tone was of reference. She knew of my identity, and she also knew I was offering the Demon Cores for a reason.
There was no need to refuse.
“I understand. That is why I’m offering them to you. Use them well and defend yourselves properly with the Skills within.”
I handed the sacks to Tasha and Daniel respectively, intentionally omitting the fact that one could use the cores as explosives by infusing mana into them.
This method hadn’t been discovered yet, and I planned to keep it that way for a while.
“So, what will you do now, Masked Hero? I-if you don’t mind, we would like you to return with us and have our Camp Leader personally thank you.” Daniel blurted out with an excited smile.
I placed my hand on my masked chin and rubbed it slightly, appearing to be considering his offer.
‘Of course, I’ll be going back to the Camp. Charles owes me some stuff. Plus, it’s not like I’m just about to let my harvest run off on its own. It’s a good thing this idiot mentioned it like this. It makes it appear very natural.’
“Very well. I suppose I shall accompany you with my disciple…”
Looking at Lara, who had already made her way to my side, separating herself from the rest of the group—I continued speaking with a calm tone that wasn’t devoid of authority.
“I would like to see your Camp Leader and have some words with him. It would also give me some… closure… to see the place my dear Jeremy should have once called home, albeit briefly.”
Upon hearing this, Daniel’s face, as well as that of the others, fell greatly.
The guilt they had long forgotten seemed to have returned, and I relished the sight.
“I-I truly am sorry about what happened to Jeremy. Please blame it all on me. I know you may be upset by the fact that we chose to bring him to such a place despite how powerless he was!”
Daniel’s voice was frantic now, as though trying to bear all the pain and hate on his lonesome. Typical for a crusader.
“The truth is… he offered to come with us for this operation, and he would have been a lot safer if I was more competent as a leader! It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry!”
Daniel’s growth as a person was admirable, if not borderline enviable. It was so amazing how a person could change so drastically. Looking back on my life, I could also see a very obvious shift in my personality and mentality, but… not to Daniel’s extent.
‘This changes nothing, though… but, maybe…’
I shrugged off the thought and moved closer to the apologizing teenager. Even with his taller, bigger build, he looked so puny that I could trample on him easily.
“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. If we allow blame to consume our hearts, we will never move beyond our regrets.”
I winced after uttering another cheesy line, but I couldn’t stop now.
“The ones who are to blame are the Demons… and the only way to prevent any more tragedies is to exterminate those monsters! Do you not agree?”
Tears formed in Daniel’s eyes and I nearly groaned as they flowed down his cheeks. It was so dramatic how he broke down emotionally and cried his heart out. I could sense gratitude, relief, and a very deep pool of reverence from him.
“Y-yes! Yes… you’re right! You’re very right!”
At this point, Daniel’s charisma leaked to everyone present and before I knew it, they were all either sniffing from held-back tears or throbbing as a result of the overwhelming emotions being experienced.
‘I may have the <Command> Skill, but this guy… Daniel… he can really move the hearts of people.’
In any case, our heart-to-heart was over, so it was time to set up camp for the night.
“I’ll be bringing out some shelter from my ‘Space-time’ Skill, so you should all be prepared to have some rest.”
I would have preferred chugging them all into [Subspace], but that would only suspend their current states. I was certain. They were all worn out and tired from all that fight.
‘It’s best they have lots of rest… so we can leave for the Camp tomorrow, with no problems attached.’
***********************
The Camp members fell asleep in no time, the moment they snuggled into the tents I offered to them.
After I brought out the tents I had stored beforehand, they helped themselves to their respective locations.
Of course, these tents originally belonged to them, so I just explained that I saw the abandoned tents in the woods and took them in case people required shelter in the midst of nowhere.
Fortunately, the idiots bought my story.
As I watched them all sleep, my eyes caught Lara smiling at me from where she sat beside me.
For some reason, she looked way more attractive under the dim moonlight, and her stare made me a bit uncomfortable.
‘Why is she looking like that?’
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