The Place Where Everything Begins

"Mitchell, where do these arrows come from?"

"Who brings so many arrows here; is it you and Eddie?"

"Woah, I saw their price on the shopping list a moment ago; each arrow costs 8 SP."

"What? That much?"

"There are almost a hundred of them here..."

*Murmur*

*Murmur*

Upon receiving the never-ending questions towards him altogether with the sounds of people murmuring to one another nonstop, Mitchell suddenly spoke up...

"Ahemm... Alright, guys, gather everyone available here. I will tell you guys all at once."

After those people had heard those words, they could only do as Mitchell said...

"Okay..."

"Alright..."

...

Soon, out of 43 people, more than 38 people were gathering at one place, according to Mitchell's request...

As for another five people, four were recuperating at the same corner where they had fought with the monsters earlier. In contrast, the last one was actually a female nurse who was tending to the wounds of those four wounded people.

Actually, Jeremy was the 44th one, but he was currently standing at another place minding his own business, so he was excluded for now...

Consequently...

From 50 people that had arrived inside this chamber, including Jeremy, there were only 44 people left after experiencing only two hordes of monsters...

The death toll so far was six people...

Also, two fatally wounded people were lying unconscious at the corner, while two more people had their arms broken from the fights with skeleton soldiers.

From this point onwards, those people might not be of help anymore...

As a result, if Jeremy were somehow included while excluding the two fatally wounded people, two broken arms people, and one female nurse, there would be only 39 people available from now on...

Moreover, another six people comprised teenagers and elderlies who couldn't fight, which resulted in their current fighting force being 33 people...

Please do not forget that a small portion of 7 people from those 33 people had acted selfishly earlier, as they only hid behind the formation without any thought of holding any weapon up to fight...

At last, if somehow Jeremy was included when the next wave of monsters came, there would be 'only 25 people' left to fight those terrible creatures...

...

"First of all, these arrows you see here are a small gift from our benefactor, Jeremy over there..."

When everyone had heard that, they got a bit emotional at their great warrior's generosity.

Did he even spend his hard-earned SP to buy these arrows for them?

He was a good guy, after all...

Upon seeing that everyone was going on track as he had planned, Mitchell continued...

"Now, please listen... I want to say thank you to everyone for the earlier cooperation. I have to say that you guys did very well in the fight with those monsters. I appreciate your efforts and endeavors to the utmost. So, please let me be the first one to give you guys hearty applause."

Right after finishing his speech, Mitchell started clapping his palms with an expression that said, 'I'm so proud of you people'...

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Upon hearing that sentimental speech after experiencing a brutal and bloody fight not long ago, those people who had fought at the front line were suddenly hit with a flood of emotions...

His speech was such that... it had lit up their deepest fragile emotions...

Their hearts started shaking even more after hearing his hearty applause...

*Clap*

*Clap* *Clap*

The clapping sounds came from Eddie's hands; he was the first one to clap following Mitchell...

*Clap* *Clap*

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Just like that, with the power of a domino effect, everyone started clapping their hands one by one altogether.

Even those who didn't fight earlier couldn't help but clap their hands unknowingly following the big tide.

Who would dare to go against such a huge current in this kind of situation?

Soon, the clapping sounds echoed loudly within the spacious chamber...

"Hurray!"

"Cheers!"

"For humanity!!"

"Victory!"

Not long after, from clapping, it slowly became cheering, then shouting excitedly, like they had just won a lottery...

Only after a few minutes did the atmosphere started to die down, with Mitchell spreading his two palms out, signaling everyone to settle down.

"We can indeed rejoice at our victory..."

His voice suddenly resonated clearly within their heads...

While saying that, Mitchell swept his gaze past everyone slowly. As for the audiences, they were feeling quite confused at his sudden obscure speech.

What did he mean by that?

Fortunately, Mitchell didn't keep them waiting for long; he continued...

"However, you must remember that our victory comes with an equal loss..."

"For we... have lost one of our valiant brothers, while another two are currently laying unconsciously at that corner!"

Having said those emotional words with a heavy voice at the end of his speech, Mitchell pointed his right index finger towards the corner where many people were recuperating there...

"Do you see that? Those people are our caring brothers and sisters, who had risked their own lives to protect us. However!! Earlier in that fight, we had already lost one brother!! And right now!! We are going to lose two more of our brothers soon!!"

Mitchell spoke with a heart-breaking emotional voice altogether with sentimental and sad expressions. As a result of those actions, they had significantly induced those listeners' emotions to correspond naturally with his.

For that was, human's nature...

Upon seeing the sight of those whom were injured from fighting valiantly against the monsters, most people suddenly felt emotional and downcast...

Everyone felt sympathetic towards their brothers and sisters...

However, who was actually at fault here?

The skeleton soldiers and imps, the ones who tried to injure and kill them?

Or themselves? Could they blame themselves for not being able to protect those people?

At this time, no matter who it was to be blamed, there was one thing that was clear as day...

That was...

Before blaming themselves, humans would try to find another source, object, or person to blame first...

Right now, Mitchell was utilizing this fundamental human nature to solidify his leadership within the group.

It might seem low to utilize and take advantage of human nature, but not this time. As they were currently facing crisis after crisis, they were in dire need of a leader who could lead them to survive their current ordeals.

Upon seeing that most people were trying to find excuses for themselves, Mitchell knew it was time for him to speak again...

With the situations of more than half of the people here were combatants, while seven people couldn't fight because of ages and occupational reasons. However, there were still another seven people who had acted selfishly earlier.

Mitchell had been waiting patiently for these stepping stones for a long time, for this to be an easy but sure-kill opportunity for his leadership position.

"Now, brothers and sisters, please do not blame yourselves for the things that had already happened... because... you guys have fought so bravely and done your best already to protect everyone else. So... please take a look carefully at those whom you guys had protected earlier..."

Speaking till here, Mitchell started signaling his arms towards those whom had been protected in the previous wave of monsters...

"Elderlies..."

"Kids..."

"Injured people..."

One by one, he signaled his arm towards them...

Meanwhile, those people, who were signaled at by Mitchell, flinched a bit. Some of them felt panicked as they had really done nothing to help out.

However, to their surprise, those combatant people didn't blame them at all; instead, those people smiled at them, elderlies and children warmly.

It was as if those combatants were telling them that, 'It's okay. We will protect you'...

At this time, the expressions of those people who had stood strong fighting with the outlanders in the previous wave started to get better...

Some of them nodded their heads approvingly...

There were also some liveliness and pride written on their faces now...

'That's right. We've done our best...'

'There is no point in blaming ourselves, isn't it?'

'I'm such a good guy here. Why do I feel so down earlier? Meh...'

'Hehe, I did indeed protect those people.'

With many thoughts running within their minds, they felt better to finally find a reasonable excuse to relieve themselves from the guilts earlier.

But Mitchell didn't stop there; he spoke again...

"However..."

Upon hearing that word, everyone's focus was put back on Mitchell once again...

"Even though we had risked our lives to protect those elderlies, kids, and injured people, do you realize that there were some people who had acted selfishly earlier and didn't stand up to fight alongside us?"

With those words acting like a nuclear bomb's trigger, most people suddenly got startled, then they started looking around left and right with narrowing eyes as if to squeeze out the impostors among them...

"This guy, I saw him cowering in fear at the back..."

"This man, too. He feigned unconsciousness with the injured..."

"Hey, aunty. Why didn't you help other people fight?"

"I remember you..."

Not long after, those seven impostors were finally picked out from the group...

'They have finally got someone to blame. Now, their guilts will be eventually shifted to those seven people, and my speaking power will also increase after this event.' Mitchell thought to himself inwardly.

The slight guilt left inside those combatant people's hearts ever since Mitchell's previous stimulating words was now being shifted to those seven people...

"What should we do with them?" Asked Bob, who had fought at the front line previously.

"Do you people don't have any conscience?" Joshua questioned them harshly.

"Hnn! I see; you Bad Mouther always try to pick a fight with everyone. In the end, you are just a coward!" Said the woman, who used to fought verbally with the man.

"I think we should..." Suggested someone from the combatant group.

*Murmur*

*Murmur*

Many people started murmuring and discussing with one another about those seven people's appropriate punishments.

How could they cower in fear when everyone else fought with their lives on the line?

So, the current was against those seven people from the get-go...

Right now, they realized that they had already fucked up badly...

Meanwhile, the seven pretenders which unsurprisingly consisted of a fat man whose title was 'Greedy Pig', a man in his 30s with casual clothes whose title was 'Bad Mouther', another two coward-looking females in their early 20s who constantly trembled at every little thing around them, and lastly, three aunties with their faces being written with a single word 'Karen' in bold.

Currently, those seven people were sweating profusely at the sheer difference in number between them and the combatant side.

Even those elderly and children couldn't help but had to take side with the combatants...

No matter what excuses they raised up from now on, they would be shot down immediately with the big tide of people.

That's the power of quantity...

"Ahem! Everyone, please listen to me first."

After Mitchell cleared his throat, he spoke out loudly for everyone to hear, causing the silence to fall upon them once again...

'See? I've effortlessly picked out those troublemakers marked by you all at once. Now, I have the biggest say within the group. I told you many times already that it's not a coup, fucking bald idiot.'

Mitchell thought to himself while using this chance to curse the ignorant Eddie...

As if realizing something, Eddie scratched his bald head while looking at Mitchell in suspicion...

'He is finally starting a coup huh. The last time when we rallied those people up, we were able to only arrange some stupid formations to fight with monsters. But this time... It's a real fucking coup. Ah, only just by thinking, it makes my blood boil already...'

Eddie thought compassionately while standing behind Mitchell with a 'do not mess with me' expression while acting as Mitchell's steel bodyguard.

Mitchell and Eddie surprisingly thought about the same topic, just like they had a telepathic link with one another...

...

'What is happening over there? So noisy...'

At the same time, Jeremy thought frowningly while looking at the interface in front of him.