章節 40: Darwin's sorrow

I find Darwin's words hard to believe but I don't feel like he's lying to me. Jade has been keeping quiet for quite a while but I'm sure she has something to say. She looks at me but seeing that I have no intentions of saying anything more her attention returns to Darwin.

"You are hiding something from us, aren't you? They tried many things but everything failed until now? What exactly failed?!!"

Darwin looks upset at her questions. His face scratches up like he's in pain and that soul-piercing feeling from his eyes returns. I really don't want to be part of this so I climb over the sofa we were sitting on and hide behind it. The moment I break Darwin's line of sight on me I feel that unbearable sensation wane.

Jade on the other hand remains seated. I can't tell what she's doing because I'm hiding but from what I know of her I fear she is currently trying to stare Darwin down.

Navi, mind telling me what's going on with Darwin? I feel like whatever is happening up there won't end well. Particularly for Jade.

Now?

<No, after she falls unconscious.>

Sure I can do that. I wait for a few more moments before hearing a subtle squeak from the sofa along with Darwin's voice.

"Guy, could I trouble you to bring Jade to her room. I need to go do something."

Darwin stands up from his sofa and quickly leaves his office. After the door shuts behind him I come out from behind the sofa and see Jade's unconscious body. I carefully lift her off the sofa and move out the door. Following Navi's instructions, I quickly find Jade's room and remember a slight problem.

Navi, what about that mana lock that is on all dormitory doors?

Can't Tele bring her in? Silence. I take that as a no. Reluctantly, I place Jade's hand onto the handle and press down. The door clicks and springs open as I push it. The room inside is desolate and except for the bed, there is nothing at all. At least I have my weapons and trap materials piled in a corner.

I had been afraid of seeing something I shouldn't when entering a girl's room but with this empty room I don't have to worry. I boldly step inside and place Jade onto the bed. What should I do next?

Eating away his sorrows? That explains his body shape. But what are those sorrows you are talking about? Is it about what Jade asked?

<Yes, whenever Darwin has to think about the past this happens. I don't want to tell you too much but here's what you need to know. In the past, people like us weren't treated well and many suffered and died. Now it's different but that leaves us with very little room for negotiation.>

Any chance you could be more specific as to what changed?

Three or four evolutions. When said by someone who has already done it that may sound good but I have yet to evolve even once!

<Well, you can also try to amass other types of contributions. Everything you do that is beneficial to us will be tallied. Be it killing a strong enemy, having evolved many times, or bringing in a lot of customers, everything.>

Really now? What can I do to benefit the organization? I stop all this thinking since this really isn't my thing and go to the gym.

I haven't been able to keep up my breathing technique so Edward is quite displeased. According to him, I should already be able to do it without thinking about it. It should just happen and become a natural process like breathing. The other breathing.

To give me some time to practice the breathing technique Edward tells me to run until lunch. Two whole hours of running until my soul felt ready to leave my body later, lunchtime finally arrives.

When I enter the employee dining hall I can see Darwin wreaking havoc. Next to him, there are more than a hundred dirty plates and some of Pata's tentacles are already busy retrieving them. Best to just ignore that.

Navi is already present and invites me to her table. That suits me fine but before I descend into the eating madness I want to run something by her.

"Navi, is there a dungeon with a forest environment and goblins?"

"I'm sure we can find something like that but why?"

"Our task is to defend dungeons. If I arm and train the goblins there that should increase the dungeon's defense, right? If the dungeon's defense increases it will be seen as a contribution for me so I don't have to fight."

Navi looks at me strangely. Is she pitying me?

"You don't like to fight humans, do you?"

"Do you?"

"Not particularly. That's why I got a position as head of communications. If you want to try your approach I'll support you but please be warned, training monsters has been tried and given up on."

"I figured there was something like that since no one ever talked about it but I still want to try. At worst I'll just give them some crude weapons."

"Then we'll set this as your scheduled activity for after lunch."