"And the winner is…"
Aiko's voice rang out, drawing everyone's attention. She dragged the moment for dramatic effect as Zerei reached into the floating box of chits. One particular chit levitated slightly, almost as if it chose itself, and Zerei plucked it out.
"Out of 134 contestants," Aiko announced, glancing at Zerei with flair, "the winner is—"
"Number 94," Zerei declared.
A loud cheer erupted from the crowd as a burly man wearing a helmet jumped up, waving his number tag. "I got it!"
The crowd's mood shifted. Some clicked their tongues in disappointment as Zerei stepped closer to the winner. A sharp gleam flashed—Zerei summoned a sword, its presence commanding awe.
"That's right!" Aiko beamed. "Contestant 94 is awarded an Ascended Weapon from a fallen beast Lord Zerei as personally slain!" Aiko smiled as the crowd gasped. The winner's hands trembled as he accepted the blade, his face frozen in disbelief.
That was a lie, he rented it out from Stev earlier this morning
Everyone looked at the weapon as they realized that they really were giving out top tier stuff. Asher particularly like what he was doing but he had to do what he had to do to get stronger.
Still...
He looked at the crowd who were all cheering. All of them trusted 'him' or rather the figure 'Saint Zerei' yet, there he was, shamelessly scamming them.
Was this acceptable?
Asher felt hollow. Scamming people like this… was that really okay?
He could justify the small stuff—scaring thugs, beating up lowlifes, sure. But this? This felt different.
Perhaps it was his flaw that amplified his feeling of desire to grow stronger. But, was this truly the way. Asher shook his head.
'What a weird time for a morale dilemma'
He bet that his morals were also somehow effected by his flaw.
Recently, his flaw was beginning to bother him a lot. Like for a moment, he is all happy and cheerful, the next moment, he becomes very sad. It seemed emotions cover a vast number of feelings.
[Nimble intellect] evolved, making his thoughts faster, so he could reason through his feelings more quickly. But it was tedious… so, so tedious.
Asher sighed and stepped off the stage.
'What a train of thought,' he muttered.
**
The three of them stared silently at the massive pile of soul shards in the center of the round table.
No one spoke.
Aiko sat with her head lowered, hands resting stiffly on her thighs. Hou clenched and unclenched his fists, jaw tight. Asher gazed blankly up at the cobblestone ceiling above them.
Then, almost in unison, they looked forward and met each other's eyes.
"Umm!—"
"Guys!—"
"Let's—"
They all spoke at once, cutting one another off.
Asher let out an awkward cough. "Go ahead."
Aiko quickly shook her head. "No, you say it!"
Hou nodded in agreement, motioning for Asher to go on.
A faint blush rose on Asher's cheeks as he cleared his throat. "Alright… I think we should stop this scam."
"That's exactly what I was going to say," Aiko said, folding her arms.
"Same," Hou added, his voice low.
This scam felt uncomfortable for all of them.
Asher wanted to get stronger to see if he can have multiple cores, but, he didn't feel as if this was the right way.
Hou had always wanted to rise above the average, to feel rich for once—something he'd never had in the waking world.
And Aiko… she liked making profits, sure. But this? Large-scale scamming? It felt too much. Especially when each soul shard might mean someone else's survival.
"The sword probably cost, at most, twenty-three to twenty-seven soul shards," Aiko said, holding up a finger like a lecturer. "Looking at our earnings, we're definitely in profit."
"But…" Hou summoned the same sword, his eyes narrowing as he studied it. "We really didn't need to do this."
Asher nodded solemnly.
He felt guilty.
Deeply.
"But it's not like we can just cancel the Saint's, uh…" he trailed off, searching for the word.
"Mercy," Aiko supplied.
"Right. Saint's Mercy." Asher sighed.
"Especially," Hou said, chuckling, "since our petite friend here promised everyone it would happen every other day."
Aiko pouted, a small blush coloring her cheeks. "I only said that to increase the hope of people who lost! I didn't expect to feel like this so don't tease."
She crossed her arms, still pouting. "It's fine. We'll make it an honest gamble."
Hou raised an eyebrow. "Honest gamble?"
"Yeah," Aiko said, determined. "No rigging. Just a proper lottery. No scam."
Asher and Hou exchanged a look, then slowly nodded.
"I'm okay with that," Hou said.
"Me too," Asher muttered, though his eyes lingered on the pile of soul shards.
The guilt still weighed on him.
Especially with his flaw amplifying every emotion.
He stood up suddenly. "Give me my share."
Aiko and Hou looked at him, confused.
"I'm going to give it away—to the people in the outer settlement."
There was a brief pause.
Then Aiko stood. "We'll come with you."
Hou sighed, pushing his chair back. "Yeah. Maybe giving it away will shut this damn conscience up."
Asher gave a faint smile and nodded.
"Let's go then."
***
"Thank you so much, Saint Zerei!" a Sleeper beamed, bowing low in gratitude.
Asher, for obvious reasons, was playing the role of Zerei. Hou kept his face hidden beneath a hood, while Aiko didn't bother—she had been seen beside Zerei multiple times, so her identity wasn't a secret.
Asher scanned the gathered crowd. They had given away around sixty soul shards so far. Strangely, most of the outer settlement's people showed little interest in entering Bright Castle. Maybe it was their way of honoring Nephis. Still, that didn't stop them from accepting free soul shards.
Aiko smiled as she handed them out, though many stared at her in disbelief. From what they knew, the owner of the gambling den didn't give—she took. So this version of her was... new.
Many questioned the hooded figure, to which Aiko responded as her assistant.
Eventually, the pile dwindled. They had distributed every shard they brought. Asher felt a weight lift from his chest. Aiko, on the other hand, looked conflicted, as if each shard hurt to part with. Hou seemed oddly content.
Asher glanced at them both, exhaling."Guys, go on ahead. I've got a bit of work to finish here."
Aiko gave him a strange look, hesitant, while Hou just sighed—like he'd heard this kind of line before. He patted Aiko on the head and turned."Let's go, Aiko. He'll catch up later."
Asher waved them off, watching their figures retreat. Then his gaze narrowed. His eyes flicked toward the wall behind him.
"You really think I can't detect you?"
From the shadows stepped a familiar boy—pale-skinned, dark-haired, eyes sunken and sharp.
"Sunny?" Asher blinked.
Sunny emerged fully, arms crossed, wearing an unreadable expression. "You've changed a lot."
It felt like yesterday when Asher had risked everything for just two Transcendent soul shards. And now… now he was giving away hundreds of Awakened shards like candy. The bastard was practically unrecognizable.
"I, uh, technically robbed those shards," Asher said, scratching the back of his head. "So you could say… I gave them back to society?"
Sunny blinked. You robbed a hundred shards? He was about to ask, but Asher beat him to the punch.
"How'd you even recognize me in this getup?"
Sunny let out a long breath and pointed at his shadow. "Sent him with you. Watched you change personas in an alley."
"…Right," Asher muttered.
The moment settled, and Sunny's expression turned more serious—less tired, more tense. He stepped closer.
"You... didn't meet Nephis at all. Did you?" Of course, He didn't need Asher to tell him as he already knew the answer.
Asher flinched slightly, his lips dry. He licked them before pressing them together and slowly shook his head.
Sunny exhaled through his nose. "Yeah. Thought so."
He glanced off to the side, remembering yesterday. Nephis had bombarded him with questions—nonstop.
"You do know that Nephis is personally searching every nook and cranny of the bright castle for you right?"
Asher paled. "L-Like... right now?"
Sunny deadpanned. "Yes. Like right now."