I Reject Quests

It was laughable to even ask the question. 

Rewen was aware of that.

X was also aware of that. From the moment he confronted him for the first time, he realized that the young man was an anomaly. He was barely a Rank 0 Mage but was physically stronger than him and also wasn't a Martial Artist. While he questioned the origins of this abnormality, he decided to put that thought aside for the time being.

'It doesn't matter the cause. What matters is the solution.' X lifted his spear and pointed it to the red-haired young man laying on the ground.

The red-haired young man was naturally Rewen. He is slowly recovering from his wounds. Supporting himself through his hands, he tried to get up ignoring the spear pointed at his face.

*Screech*

X plunged the spear right through the middle of his face and came out piercing his skull.

"AHH!" Denny screamed in horror. She could hardly believe what was happening before her eyes. Previously, she had seen his chest getting pierced and believed that he had died but she was proven wrong. The reaction wasn't as strong as the previous time. Interestingly enough, it shows how optics matters in controlling emotions. 

X had no expression on his face. Keeping his right leg on Rewen's shoulder, he pulled out the spear with ease. 

The young man's face looked beyond anything. 

"Well, I certainly hope this will do it." X waited for a few seconds waiting for the dark aura to arise from Rewen's body and go to heal his face but nothing happened. "It means that he is dead."

Concluding his thoughts, he turned to look at the other person in the area.

Denny lost all her hope of getting out of this alive. Sadness, grief, and anger overwhelmed her emotions and she couldn't help but start sobbing.

***

Outside 9- View Street Colony, B.C. Market.

Tony McBreth rubbed his chin. Behind him stood dozens of people in groups weaing uniform. They were commander units managed by him. Having a grave face, he appeared to be thinking about something when he heard footsteps.

"Sir. Reporting. There's a person wanting to enter the area"

Tony McBreth looked at his subordinate and asked. "Who is the person? Is he related to Rewen Klofar? Or just some random official who wants to know what's going on?"

The subordinate scratched his head. "He claimed that he's the father of Rewen Klofar. However…" He hesitated to continue.

"However, what? If he's the parent of Rewen Klofar, why not just bring him in?" Tony lifted his eyebrows.

"Isn't this a covert operation? What should we tell him if he asks about his son?" The subordinate asked with a difficult face. As it's related to a terrorist organization, the mission has to be secretive. They can't allow the public to know there's a terrorist group roaming free in the country. This action by the government sounds corrupt at face value but the information would cause more harm than good. 

That's why they made up a disguise that all that had happened was just a young man getting kidnapped. Under normal conditions, they would have allowed Rewen's father to entire the area they have restricted and have a talk with Tony but because of the message sent by Rewen to his father, his father may not believe Tony's words.

"Bring him in." Tony McBreth said without hesitance.

The subordinate left and brought a tall, moderately muscular man in his mid-twenties.

"I'm pleased to meet you." Tony McBreth stretched his hand and carefully examined the man. He didn't get any mysterious or special feeling from him, but the body language of the man told him that he was likely not an ordinary man. 'Not to mention, there's no…'

Rewen's father gave a subtle nod and shook his hand.

Without saying anything, he walked towards the road of 9-View Street Colony. His action alerted some of the people in the commander units but before they could raise a word, Tony slightly raised his hand indicating to them to wait before taking action. 

For some reason, he didn't step foot on the road and stopped right before that.

Then, he turned back and looked calmly at Tony McBreth. 

"Where are the [Irregulars]?"

The question confused the entirety of everyone present except for Tony who shook his head.

"We don't have an [Irregular]."

"And the province dares to call itself a militarist state. Laughable." Rewen's father boldly said. Pausing for a second, he continued. "Explain in brief."

Everyone turned to Tony McBreth. They were starting to realize that the seemingly young-looking man was not an ordinary person. Tony shrugged. "It's a rising terrorist group. Following a bizarre string of events, your son got targeted by them. Your niece also got swept into the matter and got kidnapped. The kidnapper asked for Rewen Klofar to come to him alone and here we are. Also, your niece has an explosive inside her so we couldn't make a hasty move."

There were a lot of details that were omitted in the explanation but nevertheless, it was enough. Immediately, Rewen's father replied. "I presume the colony is deserted?"

"It is indeed deserted. For the past five years, it has been empty." Tony answered.

"Why did you not surround the colony?" Rewen's father asked with squinted eyes. Logically speaking, even if they couldn't enter the colony in order to not alert the kidnapper, they could at least surround themselves to not let the kidnapper escape.

Tony looked towards the colony and said. "That's because we have detected that there's an [T-Gun] in the hands of the kidnapper." 

[T-Gun] was an extremely expensive device that is used to teleport from one location to another. The range of the teleportation depends on the type of [T-Gun] that is used. The least expensive [T-Gun] has the capabilities to teleport a person to a random place twenty miles away from the initial position of the person. Needless to say, it's a useful device as well as one of the devices which are protected by the government.

That is, without a license, one can't purchase the device. There were more than one reason but the primary reason is that once an immoral person gets a hold of [T-Gun], he/she could essentially do several things which he/she longs to do but couldn't. Crime rates and theft would increase. That is why banning the use of [T-Gun] without a proper license is a unanimously accepted decision by both the government and the people.

"[T-Gun]? What a surprise. The kidnapper is quite possibly a civil servant. Who is the kidnapper?"

"He is a police officer who got involved with Rewen Klofar frequently." Tony didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that Rewen's father was asking questions after questions. 

"Is that so? Does he have a family?"

"He did."

"He did? Are they dead?"

"Correct. He had a wife and son. Both of them committed suicide a few hours ago."

Rewen's father's expression didn't look good. If the kidnapper's family were to be alive, he could hold the family hostage and lure him out. It was unethical but who said that justice is achieved through fair means? If anyone did, they lied. For a "greater good", a little act of evil is acceptable. Especially in a country governed by fascist beliefs.

After a few seconds of silence, he met Tony's eyes. "Tell me more about the situation."

***

In a space surrounded by infinite darkness, Rewen found himself staring at a bright round glass ball. 

'Is this the thing where the 'unknown memories', as well as the cause of my pain, is stored?'

For some reason, he found the glass ball very attractive. It's as if his body was pulled into the ball. 

[Congratulations on being able to persevere. Here's your reward.]

The unknown voice rang in his mind once again.

'I don't think that I have done anything challenging. Although I'll admit, the gravity was difficult. Before I do anything, why don't you tell me what memories I'll recover? As far as I can remember, I don't think I have a memory loss problem.'

[What do you think of yourself?]

"What do I think of myself? A normal guy who got lucky or unlucky, depending on how you see it."

[Are you being truthful to yourself? I don't represent the outside world nor do I care. My perception of you will not change no matter how crazy you are. That's why… you should drop the fake modesty. It harms no one but yourself.]

Rewen fell silent. 'At the end of the day, I still don't want to face myself.' With a sigh, he said.

"I… have a superiority complex and see everyone dumber than myself. I think that I'm superior to my peers because I have a background in practicing martial arts. Even though I claim to be independent and that I don't need systems in the long run, I wouldn't miss any opportunity to not use it."