Chapter 113: Brothers

“Now that that’s settled…” Ash watched the last of them, Claude, disappear from view. “Do you think I’ll let you off easy for treading on my land?”

Clear, standing directly in front of Ash, laughed.

“Treading on your land, brother? How was I supposed to know you staked a claim here?”

“…”

Ash stayed silent for a moment, then sneered.

“Whatever… I’m more concerned about this eccentricity of yours. The core ‘you’ is still there, but the shell I see is quite pathetic. What’s with this obsession with ‘violence’?”

Snickering, Clear adjusted his cloak and wiped at the blood smeared across his cheek.

“Just a truth I picked up in prison… It’s not as if I enjoy brutality or violence. I simply learned that sheer violence is the epitome of might. Once force reaches a certain threshold, every other form of power becomes irrelevant. No matter how brilliant someone is, no mind can overcome a force it possesses no means of resisting.”

Ash scoffed.

“How simple.”

Clear smiled.

“Yet you didn’t disagree.”

“Neither do I agree…” Ash’s gaze narrowed. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve borne witness to beings of such overwhelming, unfathomable strength that, had they truly given themselves over to the violence you glorify, there would have been nothing I could’ve done to survive them. Yet I did. Perhaps you could attribute part of that to my own savagery, but savagery alone could never close the gulf between me and beings that far beyond my strength.”

Ash paused, then added:

“That is the flaw in your logic… You mistake overwhelming strength for absolute strength. You treat indomitability as something inherent to violence itself only because you have yet to encounter someone — or something — capable of rendering your violence meaningless.”

Clear sighed.

“I’m well aware that there are things here my current power could never hope to defeat through sheer violence. But you’ve only reinforced my point. You survived because those beings failed to exercise their power absolutely. Had they simply given in to their destructive urges, discarded restraint, and used everything at their disposal to erase you, whatever clever little plan you devised would have meant nothing.”

Clear’s expression flattened as he continued:

“Intelligence matters only while force leaves room for intelligence to matter. Once that room disappears, so does every advantage the mind can provide.”

Ash’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“And yet the fact that such room exists at all proves violence isn’t absolute. Power restrained by temperament, ignorance, arrogance, circumstance, or desire is still restrained. You’re separating strength from the person wielding it as though the two can exist independently.”

Clear stared at him for a moment before sighing again.

“Let’s just leave it there. I don’t much care for arguing philosophy with an intransigent ingrate like you. This marketplace of hell will eventually reveal which of us is correct.”

Ash shook his head.

“And I don’t care at all.”

Clear clapped, an effervescent smile spreading across his face.

“Sure, Ashley. Sure… Pshee.”

After calming down, Clear asked:

“But my curiosity still needs to be satisfied on one matter… those bird things. Have you, of all people, formed an alliance with them? You didn’t even blink when that girl started leading them toward your Totem!”

“They’re much too weak for me to even recognize as threats.”

Clear shook his head and shrugged.

“How unlike you… Are you growing soft? Even before I provoked you… you seemed to have already formed some sort of connection with others. Maybe I was wrong about your intransigent nature. Maybe time truly has dulled your unwavering self-indulgent spirit.”

Ash’s stare shifted into a glare.

“The arrangement is a matter of convenience, nothing more… However, you, brother… I don’t see your allies anywhere around, nor have we spotted another race’s Totem for miles in any direction. I can only assume you’ve gone on quite the journey alone. Why?”

Clear summoned a small coin in his hand and began rolling it through his fingers.

“Why…? Oh, why? Because I thought this place would be more enjoyable this way. Being tied down in one place sounds… dull. And what better way to establish my dominant position over everyone else than directly? Two birds, one stone…” The coin danced between his fingers as his smile thinned. “And, truth is, I don’t have much desire to go back to Earth just to be locked in a cell. So damn if I’m going to play by the rules.”

Clear flicked the coin up with his thumb, then caught it and slammed it down on his wrist. Then, he asked:

“Heads or tails?”

‘What even is that thing…’

It was obviously an Item, but what were its purpose and ability?

Ash’s eyes narrowed on Clear’s wrist as he said:

“Neither.”

Clear lifted his hand, revealing nothing there.

“Ah, got me!”

“…” Ash stared for a moment with a blank face. Then, he sighed and said, “If your in-tent—”

Something had hit him, causing him to stagger.

Clear cut him off and cheered:

“So, I was right!”

Ash looked down at his boot to see a coin. Unfazed, Ash said:

“Seems I was wrong. It’s tails.”

Then he kicked the coin off of his shoe.

Clear snickered.

“Don’t ignore me. Why does that keep happening? It happened with the water, and some droplets even went through you. Tell me, what type of defensive ability did you find? I want it!”

Ash sighed.

‘I figured he’d notice…’

“Force it out of me if you want to know that badly.”

[You have equipped [Evercrestian Recurve Bow]]

Clear hung his head.

“Aw, shucks. I’m not really in a position to fight, you see. But some other time, bro!”

A moment later, Clear turned and ran off without even a goodbye or anything.

Ash stayed there for a few moments, watching him disappear under the canopy of the forest.

“‘Time has a way with things.’ You might have been right about that, Vera.”

Clear had changed into something Ash could only vaguely recognize.

No, it was more than that…

Meeting Clear again had helped Ash identify the changes within himself.

Turning away, Ash marched back toward the Totem.

Thus concluded the very chaotic first brotherly encounter within the realm of Arcadia.

***

As Ash approached the Totem, an assortment of death stares fell upon him. Each for a different reason.

He’d disillusioned Jack of whatever preconceived image he’d had of him.

Fae glared because he’d somehow managed to be an even bigger asshole than he had been during their discussion. Worse, she and Jack had now been seen openly helping the Dragonkin in front of the man who’d been attempting to slaughter them.

Éloi was just looking at him, but in his current half-dead state, it almost felt like being stared at by a corpse.

Claude was simply pissed at how things had turned out.

Sandra was… sleeping. Meaning she was the only one not glaring at him.

Nora… for obvious reasons.

Even then, her stare didn’t last long. She eventually looked away and took her usual place on the opposite side of the Totem.

Worse, they’d all discovered Ash had quite the terrifying brother running around.

One who would undoubtedly return someday.

Fae was the first to break the silence.

“Ahem… so, uh, one more courtesy to add to our deal… keep freakshow scythe man away from us. I feel like we’ve been roped into your… sibling spat.”

Ash, trudging a little closer, asked:

“Why are you even here…?”

Fae pointed toward Claude.

Claude answered:

“I figured they’d be able to get up the mountain way faster than us. And it seems I was right, so don’t dare fault my judgment. But to get their help, I had to make a deal with them.”

Ash’s eyes narrowed.

“As I suspected…”

Claude’s expression hardened.

“Are you going to chide me for acting on my own judgment?”

Ash took a deep breath. After a few moments, he lowered his gaze before slowly answering:

“No… you did well. You… considered an option I hadn’t. However, do note that praising your judgment neither absolves you of failing to consult me nor of trading away my helm.”

Claude’s expression softened as he sighed.

“I see.”

“But… what did you trade them, other than my helm?”

Guilt flickered across Claude’s face as he glanced away.

“That, uh…”

Fae smiled lightly.

“A fully transparent alliance, complete with mutual weekly reports and priority trading rights.”

Ash’s expression contorted in disgust.

“…?!”

Claude awkwardly coughed before explaining:

“Once a week, we have to report our progress to them, and they have to do the same for us. That includes anything we learn through research, the mapping we already agreed on, and, as you heard… they get priority when it comes to trade.”

‘Is he… serious?’

Trading was going to be a critical part of the game once the rest of the world was summoned.

Alongside everything else…

‘We had the upperhand!’

How did they end up with such neutral deals?!

It seemed Claude and Ash had to work on their diplomacy.