Chapter 17: The Value Of Life.

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Michel de Montaigne: "The value of life is not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them."

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"Forget about eating his sister," the other Big Boss said, also chuckling.

"I’m sure he would be overwhelmed with hunger as soon as he leaves the compound and is surrounded by soft food that’s within reach and easy to subdue. He would go on a killing spree well before he met his sister."

"How many people do you think he would bear to see before he loses control?" he asked, chuckling.

She thought for a few seconds before saying, "Probably ten people."

But he shook his head and said, "At most five. With how violent his impulse for killing is, blood is bound to flow very quickly."

One moment they were arguing, the next moment they were talking about how Robert would easily lose control and start a massacre. The way they were talking about the potential massacre also didn’t have any hint of seriousness to it.

The two of them laughed and enjoyed the discussion, treating the potential loss of lives as a source of amusement, not something to worry about.

If he had just arrived in the Obsidian Maw, he would have been appalled by their nonchalant disregard for life. But he was used to things like this and knew that life was cheap.

Unlike back on Earth, life in the Obsidian Maw wasn’t worthless in any situation. Every life, no matter how weak and poor the person it belonged to was, was worth something.

No one would die without someone alive feeling the impact of their death. There was a definite price to pay for killing someone, but Alex wasn’t sure this was a good thing.

He thought about this as someone brought Robert a pen and paper to write a letter. Seeing someone write reminded him that he couldn’t read or write yet.

’I should do something about my illiteracy when I’m done with this,’ he thought, promising himself.

When Robert finished his letter, the three of them were ushered away to their living quarters.

With her duty for the day completed, Tessa sighed and said, "This is more difficult than I expected. And the consequences of failure are no less than disastrous."

"It is what it is," the green-skinned Big Boss said, shrugging.

"It is not what it is, Stella," Tessa insisted. "It is a bomb that I have to tame."

"Not only do I have to tame them, but we also have to convert and tame the rest of the Squires in one month. That means you’re going to be busy too."

"I see. In that case, it is not what it is," Stella said in agreement. "It is a lot of work; that’s what it is."

Then Stella’s eyes shifted as she said, "Oh, I can give my share to Stellan."

"You will do no such thing," her twin brother, the red-skinned boss, immediately said, scoffing at her. "You lazy, lazy girl."

"I can’t believe you have been able to survive this far with your attitude," Stellan said with reproach, shaking his head at her.

But she grinned without remorse as she said, "Work is for suckers."

"Anyway, get ready for work," Tessa interjected before rising to leave.

Stellan said to her, "Don’t stress yourself. Give them one week. If they don’t learn restraint by then, they are hopeless."

"That’s true," Tessa said in agreement just as she went down the stairs.

"At least their bodies won’t go to waste. We can use them to train the next batch. That way, they would have completed their use for the Meat Brute Order."

Tessa nodded and said nothing as she disappeared down the stairs. Now the room was occupied by two Big Bosses, a bunch of colorful Small Bosses, and a table of silver coins.

Stellan was still thinking about the mission to convert all of the Squires into Apostles. He was frowning as he thought, ’If they were metal titans, I wouldn’t mind so much.’

’In fact, I wouldn’t mind at all. But these are flesh titans. With so many sources of temptation around them, it would be more difficult for them to control their appetite.’

’Is it just me, or does this sound like a bad idea?’ he thought worriedly.

He could only think about it deep within his heart. He couldn’t share his concerns with others for fear of it reaching Lord Bane and offending the Tyrant.

As he thought, his twin sister, Stella, stretched her hand toward the silver table. Clearly, her concerns lay elsewhere.

The winners of the bet were some Small Bosses who had chosen Alex mostly because they didn’t care about the outcome of the bet. They didn’t want to bet anyway. They only joined the bet because not betting might offend the Big Bosses.

After the bet’s result came out, the few who won should have divided their winnings. But they didn’t dare to step forward to take away their Big Boss’s money without explicit permission.

Now that Stella was stealing the winnings, the outcome was set, and they weren’t going to get that permission. Some felt indignant, and many felt the pain of losing money. But none of them was surprised by this outcome.

As Stella’s hand touched the silver, a jagged piece of metal flew through her hand. The metal was iron, and it had come from Stellan’s plate.

The metal fragment didn’t actually touch her hand. It passed through an afterimage of her hand. She had withdrawn her hand from the pile of silver before it could touch her.

"Just one handful," she said, pleading with her brother.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "If you keep doing this, they won’t want to bet with us."

"You have to let them enjoy winning the bet when they win. If not, they will start saying they don’t have money for bets. What fun will that be?"

Hearing this, she snorted and said, "They wouldn’t dare."