Chapter 72: Chapter 72 : Anger

“Ralf huh, so you’re the one everyone’s been obsessing over. The stories about you have been quite ridiculous,” Lady Martel said, her voice and face showing slight disapproval. “I’m curious to see if all that smoke leads to an actual fire, or if you’re nothing but hot air. Let’s find out, shall we,” she said, narrowing her eyes in challenge.

“Sure, let’s find out,” Ralf responded, a carefree smile on his face.

The middle-aged Adventurer frowned in displeasure. In her heart, the decision to ramp up the test’s difficulty by one notch was made.

‘We’ll see how long you can maintain that smile, young man. Talents like you, who never fail, get big heads and die quickly out in the field. I’ll make sure to correct this, and teach you what failure looks like.’

A spark was lit in Lady Martel’s gaze as she resolved herself to put the young man before her through the figurative grinder.

Her Rank 5 Telekinetic aura flared up. “Now let’s begin…”

Five minutes later…

“And, how did it go?”

Ralf flashed a cheeky smile while showing two scissor hands. “No sweat, I passed.”

Genise smiled. “Well, I didn’t expect any different. Congratulations on becoming a C-Rank Adventurer.”

“Thanks.”

“By the way, where’s Lady Martel? Don’t tell me…”

Ralf’s expression turned sheepish. “Yeah, she’s currently getting checked out in the medical ward. She was pretty capable so I couldn’t hold back too much. Oh, another wall needs repair. Just take the money from my account.”

Genise could only sigh. “What will I do with you…”

Five minutes later, Ralf made his exit from the branch, now a C- Rank Adventurer.

Ralf strode forth happily, as indicated by the smile hanging from his face. The perks to achieving C-Rank were many, but none of them contributed to his current expression. ‘I can’t wait to see mom’s reaction, she’ll be thrilled.’

Excited to show off his newfound status, Ralf considered quickly heading over, but in the end, stopped himself, ‘No, once I return, I won’t be able to leave,’ he thought, knowing himself well enough.

Shaking his head, he focused up. ‘We still have so much of the library left, let’s take a big chomp today. Afterwards, we’ll stop by Jenny’s to refill our ammo reserves- no, let’s do that first, yeah.’

With this intention in mind, Ralf moved.

***

“Did you hear about it, the big news?”

“What big news? Ralf becoming C-Rank?”

“No no, about Morris, you won’t believe it but…”

Once Ralf’s new achievements hit the streets, it spread like wildfire, and soon all of Ganurg was engulfed. His name and continually growing story circulated the Adventurer town.

The topic of Ralf dominated conversations between residents. All were curious about what the young man would do next. They eagerly awaited the next addition to his story.

The public was looking forward with bright eyes. However, the same couldn’t be said of the duo responsible for the stories they consumed. Right now, Ralf and Rei were on their respective couches, heads hung low with a dreaded aura shrouding them.

The cause of this defeated state could be traced back to ten minutes prior.

“It was inevitable but…we didn’t deserve this,” Ralf muttered with a lifeless voice.

With the town abuzz with Ralf’s name and stories, it hadn’t taken long before Hana became aware of the Morris incident. Learning of it during a shopping trip, her anger was ignited. She was angry at her sons’ downplaying of the incident, but even more, at her inability to notice they had been injured.

Needless to say, she went off. As soon as the duo made it home, they faced a lengthy lecture from her. This was bad enough, but it got worse.

For three days, no hugs for you two, oh and Silver.

At these words, a crushing force descended upon the duo’s hearts, and till present, this feeling had yet to disappear. They had argued their case but Hana didn’t budge. In the end, they could only accept the harsh reality they were in.

Rei sighed, then slowly stood up. “It is what it is. Ralf, we can only move forward.”

“Can we?” Ralf’s despondent voice sounded out. “All light has vanished from my world, now only darkness remains.”

Rei shook his head. “We can, rather, there’s no other direction we can go. The darkness around you is merely a section of a tunnel. As long as you keep moving forward, you’ll arrive at the opening and find the light you seek”

Ralf’s lowered gaze rose slowly until it met Rei’s. He stared at his other self in astoundment, as though Rei’s words were particularly inspiring or profound.

Rei showed a hint of amusement at his other self’s antics before turning away and striding off. “Enough moping around, let’s go. The next three days are going to be short sessions, so we have to use every minute.”

“Yeah.” Nodding, Ralf jolted up and moved to catch up.

Intense battles followed.

***

Days passed by, first very quickly, then very slowly. They spent it rather blandly, much to the Ganurgians’ disappointment.

Wake up, breakfast with mom, physical exercise, adventure, test new techniques, library, visit Greg, return home, Mental Space training…

The last week had been spent following this order of events very closely. On the surface, it didn’t seem too exciting, but this was just the surface. Just as violent torrents existed below gently swaying waters on an ocean’s surface, the duo had undergone and was undergoing great changes outside of others’ perception.

Important experiments had been done, new techniques, tactics, and strategies had been thought up, and those previously thought up were improved upon.

Most importantly, the duo had recently made a huge discovery involving the Mental Space that led to the existence of Mental Space Assisted Techniques (MSAT). This new type of technique showed promise, great promise.

It allowed them to use techniques that shouldn’t be possible at their Psi Rank. They were especially interested in one high-level technique. It was currently under construction. If it ended up working as well as the real thing, the duo’s combat prowess would jump dozens of times over.

***

While the duo was happy at their current trajectory, the same couldn’t be said of the Head of the Red Star.

*Bam*

A loud thud rang out as Tucker’s hammer fist thundered down on the wooden desk. The thick cloud of smoke around him parted and the items on his desk were made to jump in fright, with a few accidentally flinging themselves over the edge.

‘Damn him!’

Tucker’s face was twisted up. A wave of boiling anger stirred in every fibre of his being, and it was all due to ‘one person’.

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“Ralf…Fawkes,” he growled out in a hateful tone.

He hated the youth, truly. From the first time Tucker set eyes on him, feelings of dislike stirred in him. It was instinctive, there was just something about him that rubbed Tucker the wrong way. The gaze he directed at Tucker, the way he carried himself, the way he spoke…everything about the youth irritated the Red Star Head.

Over time, these mild feelings had grown into the deep-rooted feelings of hatred that he currently possessed.

Just like the Ganurgians, Ralf’s name had been constantly buzzing in Tucker’s ears thanks to Drake’s group and other members’ activities. Where most Ganurgians treated this buzzing as music to be appreciated, to Tucker, it was no different than a mosquito at his ear. But irritating wasn’t all that these stories were, in fact, the more he heard, the more infuriated he became.

Ralf’s momentary release of Psi which acted as a bluff, Ralf secretly sneaking out Hana from the village before their meeting, Ralf’s refrain in showing his Psi in front of him and Charlie that day to conceal his Consolidation Phase status…

Through the stories that were brought over, Tucker was able to understand the ways in which Ralf had deceived him. The fact made his blood boil to no end.

‘That brat dare try to play me for a fool…I should have crushed him like a bug back then, damn it...’

Tucker’s fist clenched up tightly as he lamented his failure to not do so. If he had, he would be free of his current problems.

His eyes drifted to the edge of the desk where a crunched-up piece of paper was hanging on for dear life. His face soured as he caught the author’s skewed name.

“Drey,” he muttered Jeremy’s real name with a poisonous tone.

The note had arrived on his desk three days ago. It was short and to the point. In it, Drey declared his departure from the Red Star, his reason for leaving, and left a warning not to mess with Ralf.

…he is dangerous, I’m certain of this. This is your final warning, stay away from him or you’ll be burned.

Needless to say, Tucker hadn’t taken too well to the note. Exploding in a fit of rage, he immediately called for a search party to bring Drey before him. However, the other had turned ephemeral, vanishing without a trace, and worse taking a hefty chunk of the Red Star’s savings with him. The failure to find him left Tucker molten.

‘After everything I’ve done for you…to jump ship because of this damn rat and his phoney stories…you fucking traitor, run as fast as you can because if I get my hands on you, I’ll skin you alive.’

Losing one of his best and most trusted allies was terrible, but it got worse.

Jeremy’s departure had a rippling effect on the Red Star. When the reason for his departure was made known, the Red Star began fracturing. Member numbers began dwindling. The person the stories painted Ralf as, was a level of danger that most weren’t prepared to confront.

Observing this state of affairs only further angered Tucker. His Red Star was spiralling down towards an inevitable crash. This happening caused anger to pool within him to levels it had never had before. And naturally, all of it was directed at Ralf, who he pinned as the prime cause of it all.

‘The floor beneath my feet is shaking because of one lousy brat and his phoney stories, it’s ridiculous…damn it!’

Phoney stories?

Tucker certainly believed so. He didn’t buy what the stories’ were selling as far as Ralf’s combat prowess went. He didn’t write off the stories as bullshit, rather, he treated it as manure. While both faeces, there was an important difference. Tucker’s view stemmed from his perceived understanding of Ralf as an individual.

Yes, while many people regarded him as an enigma, an unsolvable puzzle, a question without an answer; Tucker was different. In his mind, he had pinned the exact type of person he was, a cunning Fawkes.

‘You must think you’re so smart. You’ve got everyone fooled with your lies, but not me. I see through your deceptions clearly. No matter how many layers of wolf clothing you drape on yourself, you’re still a sheep, one more cunning than others, but still a weak sheep.’

While Tucker believed Ralf to be highly intelligent, he didn’t buy any of his supposed combat feats or the Silver Path stuff.

Tucker was more sceptical than most. He wasn’t a fighter and couldn’t rely on personal brawn. His rise through the harsh streets was in part due to his inclination for cruelty, but mostly due to his wits and cunning. He knew the power of information, reputation and stories, as he himself had to make use of them extensively.

He believed Ralf was doing the same thing - no, he was certain. To him, it couldn’t be more obvious. Every story that reached his ears seemed to say, ‘I’m dangerous, don’t mess with me’ to him. Tucker’s anger was stroked by it, but he didn’t act on it. The gold coins that Ralf was bringing in did enough to pacify him…till now that is.

Tucker didn’t consider every detail of Ralf’s stories to be made-up. No, with how cunning he viewed the other, Tucker was sure that there was a lot of truth in them, and that the other was using these small truths to craft a believable reality.

Tucker saw through it - at least he believed he had. His mind worked hard to conjure up explanations that explained away all notions that painted Ralf as anything other than a weakling.

He believed Jeff was paid off, that Ralf had used his Money Pouch winnings to pay the instructor to peddle his nonsense stories as fact. To Tucker, this was as obvious as it could get.

Jeff’s participation in Ralf’s stories was suspicious enough, but the vigour he had in spreading the stories confirmed it for Tucker. Next was the Morris situation. He hadn’t known about Morris prior, so he had to be caught up on the individual. Just like with Ralf, he didn’t believe everything at face value, but even if he downplayed it, Tucker believed that there was no way Ralf could defeat Morris.

So, how did Ralf best the Adventurer killer in combat?

To Tucker, he didn’t. With his image of Ralf as a cunning individual, Tucker believed that Ralf had run into Morris either on the verge of death and finished him off or Ralf found Morris already dead and took credit for his death.

It was with this mental gymnastics that Tucker arrived at the stance he did. He believed the smoke he saw led to a real fire, but a pitiful one, one that could be easily snuffed out.

And now, blazing with emotion, his thoughts were moving in that direction.

‘I’ll kill him,’ his eyes narrowed as murderous intent oozed out, ‘and not just any death…’

In the passing seconds, Tucker’s mind considered dozens of cruel and torturous methods of execution, most of which had been used by him at least once before.

When remembering the Great Ocelot Forest was close by, the idea to take Ralf to the forest, cripple him and watch as he was eaten alive by monsters strongly appealed to his sensibilities. However, in the end, another idea reigned supreme.

“Ha ha ha, perfect.” The diabolic idea caused a cold smile to surface on Tucker’s face.

‘Since he’s a Fawkes, let’s rehash that old story and see if it ends any different.’

Heart filling with glee, he left his seat and headed for the window. With eyes radiating a sinister light, he looked northward. ‘Little flame, everything’s been going according to his plan so far. But that changes now. Life is not like a chess game. One can’t perfectly predict it. I’ll allow you to understand this fact…just before I kill you.’ His smile widened and soon joyful laughter bellowed out from the gangster’s mouth.

Only a minute later did the belly rumbles come to an end.

[Call Charlie and Stuart up to my office, we need to talk.]

[Yes, Boss Desmond.]

A minute later, the door swung open. Seeing his two strongest fighters’ faces brought reassurance to his face.

“Listen up, we have an important matter to settle…” He explained his intention to the two.

Their responses were:

“So like old times then, great, I’ve been getting bored doing nothing.”

“Ralf Fawkes, that brat from before. I’ll put him in his place, no problem.”

Tucker’s lips curled up. “They never disappoint,’ he thought in approval.

These two had been with him the longest and for good reason. Whatever cloth Tucker was cut from, the two were certainly cut from the same one.

“Good, we’ll carry out the operation in the coming days. Prepare yourselves.”

With these words traded in this office, an inevitable clash was soon at hand.

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