Chapter 225: Pushover’s Bet

Having spent the night awake, Moon prepared to head out as soon as the sky was bright again.

Taking a shower while Mishu was coiled around his tail, breathing peacefully, Moon noticed a mark that looked like the slap on the face by Mishu.

This time it was orange in colour, standing on his left arm where Mishu had poked him.

Moon ran his hand over it; it didn’t feel like an injury or look like a bruise.

Before his eyes, his body was littered with seals...

Yet, his left arm looked weirder the more he looked at it.

The two rings on both sides of his hand, followed by the chains stretched from Symbiotic Spark, then Symbiotic Spark itself, then more chains till the cat paw stamp.

"This arm is getting weirder and weirder," Moon exclaimed before gathering his hair with the tie Ed had given him.

He got ready to step out of the room.

KNOCK~

"BOSS, BAD NEWS!"

KNOCK~

KNOCK~

Basil’s voice came from outside with violent knocks on the door.

Moon pursed his lips. "They couldn’t have attacked already," he guessed, walking to the door.

Opening the door, "Sup, what happened?" Moon asked calmly.

It was here, and now Moon learned of the defection orders. Yet, he took it with a calm nod. "Aight, let’s go and see," he said casually.

He glanced one last time at Mishu, who was still asleep, before walking down the stairs to see the ongoing situation.

Once he could see everyone below, Moon stopped going down the stairs. He only watched in silence.

His eyes fell on Dorbish, who was looking at his ring with a blank face. Then at Lexie, who didn’t seem too bothered.

His eyes fell on Colten, gritting his teeth.

Then at Roran, who was walking in a violent gait at Dorbish. "Bro, let’s go; I can’t defy the clan," he said.

"Ehm." Moon cleared his throat from the high spot he was standing on, bringing his voice down.

"Those who are leaving, just hurry and get this over with," he said casually.

Silence fell upon everyone who was standing at that moment. Moon, meanwhile, took his pendant off; it had Colten’s ring around the lace.

He took the ring, unfastened the sword on his back and threw both of them at Colten.

The sound of metal rang as they fell to the ground right in front of Colten’s feet.

Moon turned to Basil. "Where’s Talia?" he asked.

"Lady Talia is standing at the gate, here." Basil pointed.

Moon walked down the stairs, heading to where Talia was.

Meanwhile, Colten bent down and took his items. "I’ll keep the helmet," Moon added as he passed by him.

He walked to where Talia was while the members of his faction walked past him, speeding out of the palace.

Moon stood next to her wordlessly.

"Did you see that coming?" Talia asked. "Was that why you were almost frozen the entire time at that time of dinner?"

Moon shook his head. "Not the slightest clue it would turn out like this, even before the fight began." He pursed his lips. "This is gradually getting worse and worse; I’m not sure if we should be doing this."

Moon suddenly, for once, spoke his mind out loud, letting out the negativity he was caught up in.

He turned to Talia, locking his gaze with hers. "Why don’t you do the same? Aren’t your clan or realms also some bigshot?"

"That’s not how—"

While they were talking, "What are you two doing?" Lexie suddenly asked.

Moon pursed his lips. "Won’t you be late like this?" he asked, pointing at everyone leaving.

Lexie pouted. "I’m not leaving," she said with evident disinterest. "Dad’s old enough to solve his problems." She waved her hand dismissively.

Moon looked at her, not sure how to react. Then he looked at Talia, demanding a response, but she also shook her head.

Not sure how to respond to this, Talia seemed to be against seeking help from Knights’ Realm.

He was also somewhat feeling relieved for a weird reason.

He ended up exhaling. "Actually, this is not too bad," he said.

Talia seemed triggered by his words. "Not too bad?" she asked in a tone much sharper than usual.

Moon nodded casually. "It’s good we got rid of these scrubs early on." He looked ahead. "Imagine if that happened during battle."

Surprised, she didn’t say a word.

Lexie, on the other hand, nodded heavily. "True that."

Moon turned around, getting back into the palace. "Once these scrubs are gone and the meeting is about to begin, send someone to me."

Walking back in against the leaving ascenders, Moon didn’t feel any bitterness... He was even glad his fears weren’t entirely baseless.

Step after step, the number began to thin out until there weren’t any more defecting individuals in his way.

Yet, Moon saw Dorbish still seated, looking the same as the ring with the exact heavy face he had.

Moon patted his shoulder. "It’s fine; I won’t beat you too hard," he said jokingly.

"I’m not leaving," Dorbish said, turning the screen to face Moon.

Moon looked at the screen, finding his eyebrows going up. "You’ve got some guts," he said with a nod.

"Not guts," Dorbish said, shaking his head. "There’s no place for me in the clan anyway."

He raised his gaze, meeting Moon’s. "If there’s any hope for a future at all, I would rather bet this future on you."

Dorbish didn’t want to use any money for betting on Moon when he was fighting Talia; he didn’t want to make any wild assumptions or suffer a loss.

That’s how he was as a person, someone who calculated his steps, his words, his chances before doing anything.

The structure of his clan didn’t tolerate his existence; he was bound to be a useless member or, at most, become one of the useless elders after having a considerably good ascension record by the standards of the lower floors.

His situation in the clan was set in stone... It wasn’t something he could negotiate or talk his way through.

His fate was set in stone long before he was even born, and his family wouldn’t risk its entire structure for a single person.

Dorbish saw hope for once, a dream of living as a person who wasn’t a side character of his family.

A nameless hooligan climbing his way from the first floor, winning till he was leading a faction, and suffering for it right now without collapsing.

For Dorbish, who avoided conflicts to the best of his ability his entire life, Moon was a very abnormal person but was also admirable.

He knew for a fact that if Moon, by a miracle, won this trial, Dorbish would have a different future, something he would look forward to.

Oblivious to most of the reasoning going on in Dorbish’s mind, Moon pursed his lips; he looked at the screen again.

The message Dorbish sent in reply to the orders—

{Just disown me.}

Moon found himself smiling. "I guess that works too; living a pushover is not worth—"

"DO YOU THINK YOU’RE A BIGGER MAN THAN ME?" Cutting Moon’s words off, someone shouted at the entrance of the hall at the top of his lungs.