Power Corrupts: Small Disappointments (ch.19) (Patreon)

A short chapter with a lot of set up. 

...

I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous to walk into the Guildhall before. The trip here had been absolutely nervewracking, constantly looking over my shoulder, expecting for the entire Soma familia to show up as I rounded each corner to accuse me of murder. I kept my cool, though, having learned that the easiest way to get caught was to act like you were nervous. Even if people didn’t know what you did, they would know you did something. 

Even still, I made it to the Guildhall without any issue. I could only hope that the trend would continue throughout this. Taking in a deep breath, I walked up the steps, glad that I took the time to wipe off my boot so I wasn’t leaving bloody footprints behind me, and pulled the door open. Predictably, with what half of the city suffering from varying stages of drunk and hungover, the Guildhall was practically empty. 

A small skeleton crew manned the tellers and front desk, but none of them were expecting a busy day. None of them looked fresh-faced, so that ignited the hope that I caught Eina before she went home. I’m not sure how much she would be able to help me, but I knew she would be much more likely to go the extra mile.

As if summoned by my thoughts, Eina stepped from the backroom. As if she were drawn to me, her gaze instantly landed on me. Our eyes met and she instantly flushed a deep crimson. Right. We had that whole blowjob situation hanging between us. I approached, feeling some faint embarrassment as well, but nowhere near enough to stop me. Too much was on the line for me to avoid having an awkward conversation. 

She fidgeted as I crossed the room, looking like she wanted to run away, but she didn’t. Thankfully. “Hey, Eina? I...had a couple of questions I wanted to ask you. About the Dungeon,” I said, making up an excuse to have a private conversation as I came to a stop. Eina looked absolutely everywhere but at me, her face practically on fire, and it wasn’t missed by her coworkers. Any other time I might have found it amusing, but not now. 

I couldn’t. Lili was still in her bed -- Mama Mia and Ryuu assured me that she would be fine and she just needed rest, but I couldn’t get the image out of my head. Of her battered face, swollen eyes, split lips and a broken nose. The Soma familia did that to her. Zanis tried to kill her, and if Lili hadn’t gotten lucky or didn’t have her magic then he might have succeeded. She could have died. 

“Please?” I asked softly, something in my voice drawing her attention to me. Her gaze lingered on mine for a second, her eyebrows drawing together before she gave a small nod. 

“Of course, Jericho. Follow me,” Eina agreed, stepping from behind the counter and leading me into a private room. I stepped inside, idly realizing it was the same room as before. It was obvious because of the clear dent on the couch where I sat. I heard Eina take in a deep breath as she shut the door behind me. 

“About last night," Eina started hesitantly, fixing her glasses to give me a level look but it was undercut by her blush. "I know what we did crossed a line, and I do value as a friend-" any other time, I would have cringed at being friend-zoned, or whatever she was doing to me right now. 

"The Soma familia attacked my home about an hour ago," I interjected, making it clear that I wasn't here to talk about what happened last time. Eina blinked, recoiling from the sudden shift, the blood draining from her face as her expression became stormy. They looked absolutely furious on my behalf. 

"What happened? Start from. The beginning, and leave nothing out," she said, her tone going from hesitant and shy to all business that barely covered the righteous fury burning underneath. She gestured for me to sit down, and I took her up on the offer. I dragged a hand over my face as the coach groaned underneath my weight. I gathered up my story, mulling over it for a moment before nodding to myself. 

Back during my freshman and sophomore year of high school, I was a troubled kid. Some of my reason we're valid, others less so, while the rest was just pubescent bullshit. However, those years taught me something incredibly valuable. A life skill that paved the road to success, whether anyone wanted to admit it or not. A skill so powerful that if you mastered it, then it was essentially playing life with cheat codes. 

I learned how to lie. I learned all of the little tells that gave a person away -- maintain eye contact, keep your hands still, maybe add in embarrassing details. After all, no one liked to feel embarrassed, so if you admitted that, then you had to be telling the truth. I learned how to keep details vague, to keep track of them so I never contradicted myself, and to keep the lie as close to the truth as possible because the devil was in the details. 

I needed to get my story in first before the Soma familia had a chance to react, but more importantly, I needed to paint myself in the best light possible. They had broken into my home, but I also killed them all. That, I think, would make things appear a little gray to an outside observer. I needed to gods, or whoever dispensed justice, to be on my side so the Soma familia couldn't immediately seek retribution. I'm sure they would eventually, but even a week would be enough to make a difference. 

A week could be enough to determine if I was strong enough to challenge the Soma familia to a war game or not. 

“It started when I was an adventurer for about a week, or so,” I started, clasping my hands together. Despite myself, I couldn’t help but find it a little ironic what I was about to say next. “It’s actually when I met Lili. I ran into an adventurer that she was supporting. Me and the guy practically ran into each other, and...he tried to rob me. Demanded that I hand over my magic stones and supplies since he guessed that I was a rookie.”

Eina’s expression told me she knew exactly where this story was going. She closed her eyes briefly before nodding for me to continue, so I did. “I refused, then he attacked me. Tried to stab me in the throat. I...I panicked and did what I...did what I would do if a monster had attacked me.”

“You killed him?” Eina questioned for clarity, getting a slow nod from me, watching her take notes. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be the one admitting that story. Hell, keeping that a secret is what started this whole mess, now that I think about it. Now things had simply escalated until that story was inevitably going to see the light of day. My only choice was to give my version of it first before Zanis tried to undercut me with it. 

“I didn’t mean to,” I admitted. “I blocked the stab with my arm, and I didn’t think. I just lashed out, and he died.” I offered a weak defense, carefully watching Eina’s expression. She didn’t display the horror that I expected to see. She simply nodded, looking at me with a gaze filled with...empathy. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Jericho. The Dungeon...the Guild would like to enforce laws in the Dungeon, but it’s simply too big on lower floors. There used to be familia’s that upheld justice in the Dungeon, but...they were all killed some time ago. Unfortunately, as you’ve learned, what happens in the Dungeon simply stays in the Dungeon.”

Fuck. I really did mess up on that day, didn’t I? I wonder, if that was the reaction if there were no consequences...did Canoe...really have anything over me? That, I didn’t want to think about. Not until this entire mess was done. 

“Yeah...well, after that, Lili became my supporter. She fed me a sob story about needing rent, and I caved.” Again, Eina nodded, having met Lili, but here was where things started to get complicated. 

I took that as a cue to continue, “sometime later, after a couple of days, we’re in the Dungeon when we run into a man named Canoe, who’s a member of the Soma familia. I’m not sure how, but he knew the guy that tried to kill me. I think they were friends, or something. Nothing happened then. He just kinda looked at me, made a few comments and that was that. I was worried, but nothing happened for a bit.”

I frowned, “Then members of the Soma familia started trying to rob me. First, they tried to steal my earnings when I was taking a shower, but they couldn’t find them. I had my suspicions then, but things really came to a head later.” Understanding flooded Eina’s gaze as she gave a firm nod. 

“They were the ones that attacked you in the Dungeon?” She asked and I confirmed it with a nod. She made a note of that and I waited for her to finish before I continued. 

“I was forced to defend myself, but yeah, they attacked me. They said they were doing it on their own, but I don’t believe them. The timing was too perfect -- my run-in with Canoe, then the Soma familia starts harassing me a day later?” I stated, forming a connection between the two. “But, I’m not sure if you know this, but Lili is a member of the Soma familia.”

Eina’s eyes widened and before she could ask, I explained, “I thought she was setting me up for a bit,” I admitted, “but she was adamant that she had nothing to do with it. I took her to my goddess to confirm that she was telling the truth, and she was. Lili had nothing to do with the Soma familia attacking me. But, after that, my goddess and I got her to open up a little about her familia.”

At that, Eina’s lips thinned, “were you trying to get secrets from her?” She asked sharply, and I’m guessing that was a great big no-no. 

I shook my head, “no, nothing like that. I asked her if she wanted to be part of the Soma familia because I knew she had it rough. She didn’t live in the familia home, she was constantly worried about money...she, ah, well, I knew she was stealing from me a bit, but she seemed so desperate that I let it slide. She told me that she was absolutely miserable in the Soma familia and that she wanted to join the Hestia familia.”

Eina nodded slowly, her expression troubled, and that was a bad sign for me. “Please, continue,” she gently ordered, her tone making my insides clench. I didn’t like that look or tone at all. 

“Well, after she said she wanted to leave the Soma familia, we decided to help her,” I said, deciding to not mention that she told us just how bad of a cesspit that familia was in case it could be considered a familia secret. “She’s my friend, you know? But, uh, she went to Zanis to find out how much it would cost to leave the familia.” I paused for a moment before my lips thinned. 

“He asked for ten million valis,” I said, making Eina sputter, her composure lapsing for a moment at such a stupidly high sum. “Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction.”

“Ten million?!” Eina exclaimed, her expression twitching for each zero that sum had. “That’s completely ridiculous! And Soma allowed this?” 

I nodded seriously, anger rising in my chest at the thought of the god. “He’s apathetic at best,” I half spat out, only slightly regretting that I knew that information. “So, no. He didn’t do anything about it.” Before I could spill more information that I probably wasn’t supposed to know, I moved on. “So, since that was well outside of our budget, I told Lili I would challenge the Soma familia to a War Game to help her escape that familia.”

That took Eina back, “and...you meant to do that?” She questioned, likely all too aware how insane that sounded to someone who didn’t know how bullshit I was. “Jericho, the Soma familia has hundreds of members and several level 2s-”

“Doesn’t matter,” I dismissed firmly, “I made her a promise and I intend to keep it.”

Eina took in a slow breath, closing her eyes for the briefest of seconds. For the briefest of seconds, she wore the expression of someone that said something profoundly stupid, but then her lips tugged upwards into the slightest of smiles. When she opened her eyes, the smile was gone but her gaze was warm even as she tried to disguise it by adopting a professional demeanor. 

That was good. I’m not sure how much it would help me in the grand scheme of things, but at least she seemed to be on my side.

“Then, at some point last night, Lili tried to leave the Soma familia by speaking directly to Soma,” I started, more rage bubbling in my chest, “I don’t know the details yet, but Soma didn’t say anything and their captain decided to make an example of Lili. They beat her within an inch of her life, then their captain stabbed her.” 

Eina seemed taken back, her mouth opening to say something, but the words poured out of my mouth. “Lili managed to crawl away, she has magic that lets her change her appearance and I think she used it. She managed to make it to my house where Hestia found her bleeding out on our doorstep. I came back from helping Ais Wallenstein deliver some food to her familia home-” 

“You’re associated with the Loki familia,” Eina questioned sharply, getting a nod from me. She made a quick note then gestured for me to continue. 

“After I came back, we dumped a lot of potions into Lili. She was in really bad shape...then I heard people break into our home. The Soma familia followed her to my home. I don’t know their names, but Canoe was there.” 

“How many were there?”

I thought for a moment, “five of them.” I said, Eina nodding encouragingly. Now came the important part. “They seemed surprised by me being there, so I caught a couple of them off guard. They had an archer in the back, so I was aggressive when I fought. The archer got me once in the shoulder…”

“You killed them as well?” Eina asked, getting a slow nod from me. The goal was to paint me in a sympathetic light because, when it came right down to it, I had killed quite a few members of the Soma familia. I had my justifications for it, but if someone looked at it from the wrong angle, they could see me as the aggressor. 

“I did,” I answered shortly, Eina taking a final note before she set down her pen. She took in a slow breath before she nodded at me. 

“The first thing I want you to do is to bring Lili and Hestia here so they can give their testimonies, as soon as they’re able.” She saw my expression before she grew concerned, “are they okay?”

“Lili is recovering at the Hostess of Fertility, and Hestia is there as well. I was afraid of reprisals, so leaving them at our home seemed too dangerous. I don’t know when Lili will wake up, but I’ve been assured she’ll be fine after a couple of dozen health potions and a few high potions.” Eina frowned deeply, her gaze angry. I think I might have skimped out on too much detail because she seemed surprised that it would take that many potions to heal a pallum. 

“Bring them as soon as you can,” Eina amended. “Secondly, I want you to reach out to the Loki familia. Get them to vouch for your character. If you can do that, then I can’t see the Guild trying to hit you with any kind of consequences.” She said, her tone so serious it caught me off guard. I knew the Loki familia had a lot of pull, but just them saying a word would be enough to make this whole situation with the laws I might have broken go away?

“I think I can manage that…” I trailed off, thinking that I would either have to ask Ais or Tiona. 

“Jericho…” Eina started, easily seeing that I didn’t understand how important that was. “The laws in Orario don’t work like other places in the world. In this place, it’s all about power. You’re familia is small, practically brand new, and it’s you against the Soma familia, an established familia. The Guild…” She trailed off, her hands curling into fists as she took a steadying breath.  

“The Guild does whatever it can to give the impression that it’s in control of the city, but...that means exercising whatever power that it has where it can. From what I’m hearing, one of two things will happen when this moves forward -- either the Guild will decide to come down on your familia,” she started, delivering a blow that knocked the wind out of me. 

She saw my reaction, and the growing anger at the thought that the Guild would side with that...familia of drug addicts over me, and quickly continued. “Or, more likely given some of the details of this case, it’s going to catch the attention of some of the more powerful familia’s. Then it’s a matter of how much they like you.”

I...that was completely unfair. How could the law be decided by how much you liked someone or not, or if an organization wanted to flex its power? What the actual fuck was this? My hands curled into fists, feeling...helpless despite my best efforts. There were things I could still do, ideas that I could try, but it was infuriating that the end decision was decided by stupid arbitaray reasons. 

Eina reached out, placing a hand on mine, her gaze firm. “I understand,” Eina said, and from her tone, I could tell that she did. I wasn’t sure how, but there seemed to be a lot more to the straight-laced Guild employee than the anime hinted at. “But that’s why it’s so important that you get the Loki familia’s support. If the Soma familia chooses to push this, then it’s certainly going to end in a War Game...and if it doesn’t, then...they’ll ambush you in the Dungeon with numbers you won’t win against. That’s the kind of familia they are.” 

I grit my teeth, remaining silent while Eina continued, “but you do have some things in your favor. If you get the Loki familia’s favor, then the rest of the city will fall in line. They’re just that powerful. The Soma familia wouldn’t dare to attack you, not when it would mean angering them. Also, the Soma familia’s reputation is awful. After you told me they attacked you the first time, I began investigating them on my own, and what I’ve found...they will have few allies.” She explained, offering some hope. 

But, even as she spoke, I couldn’t help but think about what Mama Mia had said before I left. Even if I got the Guild involved, they couldn’t make the problem go away. I didn’t know how true those words were until right now. 

“But going to the Loki familia is your best bet. Do you understand?” She asked, getting a slow nod from me. I took in a slow breath, trying to calm myself down. The situation wasn’t hopeless, I wasn’t likely to go to jail or anything, but the idea that the law might not be on my side just because I was defending myself was scary in more ways than I thought possible. 

Eina smiled lightly, “everything is going to be okay, Jericho. I’ll take this to my boss and we’ll start the process. You do have good chances, Jericho -- the gods love stories like these and most of them don’t like the Soma familia. Just bring in Hestia and Lili so they can testify, then our case will be secure.” She reassured me, but I couldn’t help but notice just how empty the words were. 

She probably meant them from the bottom of her heart. I knew she did...but this wasn’t the total sweep that I had wanted. I wanted promises that my familia would be fine from any kind of interference from the Guild and instead, I got reassurances that things would probably be fine. Probably. 

I never knew I could hate a word so much when it wasn’t just my life on the line, but Hestia and Lili’s. 

Eina gave my hand a small squeeze breaking my thoughts free of the downward spiral they were descending into. She honestly believed that I had a good case, so I forced myself to push my worries to the side and gave her hand a gentle squeeze back. 

“I’ll go talk with Loki,” I confirmed, letting myself feel hope. She owed me a fair bit, so there was no way that she was going to say no. 

…

“No,” Loki said, her tone flat before she punctuated her refusal with a loud slurp of her tea. Her red eyes never left mine as she took a long sip, the sound of her slurping echoing in the silent room despite it being rather packed. Finn sat behind a desk, his fingers interlocked in front of him, Riveria sat next to Loki while Ais and Tiona stood behind me. I was lucky that I was already sitting because I’m pretty sure that my legs would have given out at the flat refusal. 

My mouth was devoid of any trace of moisture, both because I just retold my story for the third time in a few hours, but mostly because a deep sense for dread slowly wrapped its ice cold fingers around my heart and gave it a savage squeeze. 

“...What?” I heard myself ask. I...I should argue with her that she owed me, but I couldn’t find the words. I didn’t come here expecting my plea for help to be rejected out of hand. 

Loki stopped slurping her tea to let out a sigh that screamed exasperation while Riveria simply closed her eyes as she took a silent sip of her own tea. “I’m telling you that we can’t help ‘ya,” she explained, giving a dismissive shrug of her shoulders while her red eyes were as sharp as a knife. “The mess you landed yourself in is too messy. And I like Soma’s booze.” She tacked on as if that was supposed to make this bitter pill easier to swallow. 

“But-” I started, something ugly bubbling in my chest. Was...was this because I refused to join her familia? I knew from the anime that Loki was petty as all hell, but this just was plain cruel.

“No buts,” Loki interrupted sharply, killing any protest that I had. In this small room, surrounded by first-class adventurers, sitting across from an actual god, I was all too aware that my protests meant nothing here. “That Guild advisor of yours didn’t think about what kind of trouble helping you out would bring to us.”

“If we get involved with your mess, then it could blow up in our faces. And messin’ with smaller familia’s problems is a good way to piss a lot of people off cuz’ no one likes being flexed on,” Loki continued when I couldn’t argue. The words just wouldn’t come. The rug was swept from underneath me and now I was free falling. 

The plan I had to buy myself time to grow strong enough to take on the Soma familia was gone if she wouldn’t help me. The Guild being on my side wouldn’t be enough to protect my familia from any reprisals. The Loki familia vouching for me was supposed to do that. 

“Since I’m smelling a War Game in the air, I’m afraid we can’t be seen training you either,” Loki said, her tone ambivalent as she stuck a knife in my heart and gave it a twist. So, I wouldn’t even have training? How else was I going to increase my stats enough to pose overcome a level 2? I couldn’t get a eight hundred thousand exp in a few days…

“I...see,” I forced myself to say, trying to keep my voice level even as I gripped my knees with white knuckles. I swallowed thickly -- I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout. I wanted to curse and rage and punch her in her smug face, but I couldn’t. It would only make things worse for my familia. Not to mention it would be pointless since the others would stop me long before I could give Loki a well-deserved punch. 

“Sorry about this, big guy,” Loki said with a small shrug of her shoulders, not sounding very sorry at all. “But I’m not going to involve myself in this mess. Good luck dealing with the Soma familia.” As if I were some pest uninvited into her home, Loki made a dismissive gesture. I swallowed a lump in my throat feeling so many things at that moment that I couldn’t begin to tell if I was furious or terrified.

Ais and Tiona watched me get up, Ais unable to meet my gaze while Tiona was looking between me and Loki with an uncomprehending expression. I didn’t trust myself to say anything to them. As calmly as I could, I walked past them and left the room without saying a single word. 

What else could be said at this point?

…

“Loki…” Ais started, her tone frustrated and disappointed. At her. Oh, her heart! It felt like she was stabbed! Even still, Loki remained strong and didn’t immediately cave, summoning upon an endless fountain of pure willpower that mortal minds couldn’t even begin to comprehend. 

Tiona, fortunately, was far more direct with what she was feeling. She didn’t respond with word but simply grabbed Ais’ hand and left the room, slamming the door behind them hard enough that wood splintered and the entire manor shook. Loki didn’t breath until she heard another door slam, this one much further away. The front door. 

“Honestly, that brute has muscles for brains,” Loki muttered darkly to herself as she slumped on her couch. Did he honestly not know the meaning of subtlety? Probably not. The entire freakin world shook whenever that mammoth of a man took a step. And he was probably too stupid to understand what it was even though it was thrown in his face like that. 

Ais and Tione, she could understand. Ais struggled with social interactions, which was so cute and her confused face was absolutely adorable it made Loki want to pinch her cheeks and coo every time she saw it. She didn’t have the experience to be able to read in between the lines. Tiona...well, she treated conversations a lot like monsters -- she barreled through them without a hint of tact, so the finer arts of the unspoken word were lost on her. 

That brute didn’t have that excuse, Loki decided darkly, crossing her arms. Turning her children against her...Loki was going to see Ais and Tiona’s disappointed stares in her nightmares for the rest of her life!

“Don’t be too harsh on him,” Finn defended the brute with an easy smile on his face. “He thinks he has to face an entire familia on his own without any help.” 

“He shouldn’t have come here expecting to get a handout!” Loki shot back, grumbling as she sunk further into her couch. If only they didn’t owe that giant buffoon a debt -- first for almost getting him killed, then she was wrong about him lying about his level. “You saw how Ais and Tiona looked at me!” Honestly, it was like no one understood her sacrifice.

Riveria frowned slightly as she sipped her tea, “though I’m not sure how much good it will do. The Soma familia is sizable, and Jericho is only one man. Even if Ais and Tiona train him, the odds are stacked against him.” She commented lightly, earning a soft sigh from Loki. 

They couldn’t be seen helping Jericho, not when that idiot landed himself in the mess that he did. Well, they could, but that would cause a lot more problems in the grand scheme of things. The Loki familia’s many enemies would be all too happy to crush the Hestia familia if they thought it would hurt her familia. It would be safer too since the Hestia familia was so small. Blatantly helping them when so many eyes were on the Hestia familia would simply paint a target on their backs.

It would scare off the bottom feeders, absolutely, but the Loki familia wasn’t so powerful that they were unchallenged. Instead of being picked apart by bottom feeders, powerful familias would fall upon the Hestia familia’s heads like a ton of bricks. 

Which is why Loki was forced to arrange that little scene. Ais and Tiona would go train the colossal idiot ‘against’ her wishes, and if any uppity god tried to question them on it, they wouldn’t be lying when they said they acted independently. It would be a balancing act -- for the majority of the simple minded gods in this city, they would take the lie at face value. Those that didn’t would know that there was a lie there, but wouldn’t know what it was about. 

Was the Hestia familia under the protection of the Liki familia? Were they trying to poach a promising rookie? Or where two of her favorites looking to change familias and the Hestia familia would go from a I-rank familia to a A-rank? The gods would prod and poke, but they wouldn’t act. Not when they knew she was lurking in the shadows with an anvil to drop on their heads.

“He’s a freak of nature,” Loki commented, her frown deepening. He seemed like a decent sort --  and, admittedly, Loki did kinda like his guts. It took a special kind of stupid to be willing to fight an entire familia alone for a friend. “His progress in the Dungeon is absurd. If he maintains that growth, he should have a chance…”

A chance that she gave the oblivious ungrateful idiot. 

“Hm. You really did make a sacrifice this time Loki,” Riveria commented, her tone teasing. Loki turned her gaze to the green-haired elf, throwing on the most pathetic pout that she could. 

“I really did! Their scorn…! Riveria! Comfort me,” Loki cried out, throwing herself forward, her face landing in the bountiful bosom of the elven royal. Whoever said that elves were supposed to have small tits clearly didn’t know a damn thing about elves. Even better, instead of getting smacked away, Riveria simply let out a small sigh as a hand patted her head. 

“There there,” Riveria said with exasperation while Finn simply chuckled. Loki ignored him as she clung to one of her eldest children. 

So, maybe helping out that lumbering oaf wasn’t all bad.