Chapter 1406 (2/2)

As he now sought to deepen his knowledge, Randidly instead found irony. He had protected the Earth, but he had killed a member of the Xyrt Brigade, a group created to defend the Nexus, to do it. And honestly, perhaps it was correct for the Xyrt Brigade to target him; he had made a vow with Vualla to target the Nexus.

Yet that was the future. Right now, Randidly looked at the past that leads him here, standing next to Ace’s grave. And the closer Randidly peered at the chain of causality, the more disturbed he became. It was clear in retrospect that Yystrix had made every effort in order to nurture Randidly. It was a tough love that would have let him die if Randidly had failed to keep up with expectations, but the results were tremendous: Randidly’s growth was impossibly fast.

If not for Yystrix, Randidly would not have had the strength to defeat Kaan Swacc. He was the progeny of a known enemy of the System, and he carried that inheritance well. In addition, Randidly probably had the chance to intervene in the life of Ace Ridge in the past. It wasn’t a sure thing, but Randidly expected he might have been able to sway Ace’s Path had he known and intervened early enough.

Was Yystrix a torturous mother figure or a heroic trainer with high expectations? Was Randidly the villain for the roads he hadn’t taken in the past?

But as he said to Rose earlier, those were simple narratives. To follow them was a mistake. You can either look for more knowledge or be sure. One of those is much easier than the other.

The revelation energy burned across his body, melting the increasingly thick flurries of snow. His eyes stared at the ground, completely oblivious to the world around him.

If Randidly shoved an individual, was he at fault if that individual shoved back? What if Randidly knew that the shoved individual was aggressive? What if Randidly had seen the individual shove back for dumb reasons in the past? What if Randidly was 100% percent sure that the individual would shove back but he shoved anyway despite forewarning of that reaction? Was he at fault for the reaction if he knew it was going to happen?

Was it the intent, the action, the result, or the awareness that would make him a guilty party? Where did culpability lay? The possibilities buzzed in front of Randidly like a swarm of bees in a tunnel full of honey.

Congratulations! Your Skill Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) has grown to Level 298!

A dangerous Skill, Randidly thought tiredly as he opened his eyes and extinguished the energy around him. He could see the danger of reducing anyone to just one or two descriptors, but he didn’t have any secret insight into the workings of the heart. If anything, this newfound understanding of social interaction only made him more confused.

To want to answer these questions would help him continue to improve. To obsess over the details of culpability would doom him to simple narratives.

But his exposure to revelation energy did have one desirable side effect. One that would now assume its place at the core of Randidly’s behavior, from now until the day he died. Now that all the pieces seemed to disassemble themselves before him, truthfully or not, Randidly stumbled across something important. He didn’t need just to react anymore. He could act in accordance with his own wishes.

I can act as I want.It’s time I consciously live my own life.

“No more platitudes to try out on me then?” Rose asked sourly, snapping back Randidly’s focus. Then he shook his head and dislodged the bit of snow that had settled there. She was still looking at him with a frown, but a lot of her animosity was gone. “But okay, I’ll bite. To you, he’s more than a good man, a bad man, or a complicated one… he’s… Ace. So why does Randidly Ghosthound, the heroic leader of the Order Ducis, help dig the grave for Ace, a man who planned to submerge the Zones in a sea of blood-”

“Honestly, I didn’t just help; I dug most of the grave,” Randidly cheekily pointed out.

Rose’s expression darkened. “Answer the question.”

“...Didn’t I already answer? I wanted to.” Randidly didn’t smile. He just let the pain of his drained mental energy and vague grief at Ace’s death show in his emerald eyes.

Rose twisted her mouth. “It is enough, I suppose… It just isn’t very satisfying. And I’ll say this; that was the justification that Ace used for all the things that he did. So you are certainly in… interesting company.”

To that, Randidly just scratched his cheek. After a bit more of silent standing, Rose gestured to the body and Randidly nodded his head. Randidly took the legs while Rose moved to the head. They lifted Ace Ridge, helmet still on his head, and lowered him down into the grave. Rose picked up his arm and tossed it in after him in a casual motion that probably had more to due with her exhaustion than any disrespect. While Randidly rapidly shifted the dirt to cover his former friend, Rose created a small headstone.

Ace Ridge

He wanted to be Dauntless. He gave everything to that dream.

For a few minutes, Randidly bowed his head and settled his emotions. Snow immediately began to settle on the grave, as though this storm had been brewed specifically to blanket the newly buried Ace. Yet Randidly kept his focus inward. I’m not responsible for this. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try harder in the future to prevent things like it.

Then he opened his eyes and they flared brilliantly emerald in the dark evening gloom. Right now, he needed to take another rest more than anything else. The next thing Randidly wanted to do was test the merging of images in less stressful circumstances. And to accomplish that, he would need to be at his peak mental condition.

Yet as he flipped the Philosopher’s Key and created a portal, Rose spoke again. “Can I… have a job?”

Randidly twisted around and frowned at Rose. She wasn’t looking at Randidly this time. She was just staring at the rough headstone that she had carved. Already the top was lined with snow. Chewing on his lip, Randidly thought about the question. At the same time, he couldn’t stop thinking about what he had seen happen to other people that were left alone with grief.

Randidly gritted his teeth. It isn’t a sure thing. Do I owe it to her to try and steer her away from that Path…?

The possibilities hummed in front of him incessantly. But Randidly pushed them away and forced the tense muscles of his back to relax. No… what I really should be asking… is do I want to offer Rose Calloway a job…?

That turned out to be a very easy question. Randidly nodded. She might need to be watched for a while, but he had subordinates enough for that. And if she proved to be capable...“Sure. You helped Ace run the Refuge, correct? I have a big project that could use someone of your Skills. Do you have any experience teaching…?”

As Randidly continued to speak, Rose’s expression became strange. When he frowned at her unusual reaction and subsequent silence, she seemed to shiver and then shook her head. “You… you seem to be misunderstanding something. I don’t want to sell myself short but… I basically just handed the reports to Ace. He took care of everything. He might have been crazy when it came to interacting with the world, but for the Refuge… Ace always made time. Even at the end. He was like a father to those people. My Skills are mostly related to observation and analyzing problems. Oh, and general Skill knowledge.”

“Huh. Is that so.” Randidly glanced back at the headstone. Following an impulse, he walked up to the grave and brushed the accumulated snow off of Ace’s grave. Then he forced himself to turn away.