Chapter 292: They Want To Join The Team

The irony of this place could not have been more clear...

On one side, we have these people who are exploiting the powerless and basically being tyrants in this new world... But yet they were able to flourish and were actually able to make concerted efforts in pushing back the Anomalies and to take back their world even though it might be a futile effort. Despite that, they were still able to create colonies that were at the very least flourishing.

And on the other side, you have the powerless people preaching about morality and stuff living in what was basically squalor and unknowingly jeopardising the people around them with their own, outdated beliefs.

Also, not that this place was that great as well.

While the ’awakened’ people, or the people who have gained powers, were living rather comfortable lives inside this city, the people who did not awaken powers were basically treated as slaves and chattel.

We toured through the rest of the city and we got to see a whole bunch of these unpowered people put to work within the city where they were watched by the awakened people and tortured when they made a mistake.

They were not holding back either with their torture and I got to see several of them just openly beating the unpowered people to the point of unconsciousness and that did not stop the beatings either.

It was quite a brutal sight.

If this was happening back in our World, I would have jumped out and tried to stop them... But I recognised that this was not my World and this was their way of life. So unless I intend to take over this place and claim it as my own, I wasn’t going to do that.

Sure, they have pretty much said that they would place me in charge because of the difference in power between us... But that was just a way for us to achieve dialogue with them. I don’t really intend to rule over this city at all, given that I have no intentions of staying here to begin with.

After the short tour, I returned to that same tower with my Guardians and... All of them had a different expression on their faces.

Olivia was looking like she didn’t see anything strange at all, which I suppose made sense considering that her own World had things like this where the weak had to serve the strong.

Liliac looked quite torn but I could tell that it was more because of the brutal way they were treating the unpowered people and not because of the fact that they were treating them like slaves.

It almost felt like she was disapproving of it because it was inefficient or something.

Then Maylene and Dan were just horrified by the sights we saw which I was quite happy to see since it meant I wasn’t alone in this.

We made our way back to the elevator and the staff around us all showed us the utmost respect they could give.

When the lift doors closed and shut us in that elevator, I let out a small breath.

"This... Is a lot to take in..." I muttered, though still loud enough for everyone to hear.

Olivia turned to me, "What is, my Lord?"

"The way that this city functions... The fact that there’s a group of people basically being used as chattel..."

"That’s normal isn’t it, my Lord? In a world like this, only the strong can thrive. I believe that even your own people have that same belief. What was it? The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."

Well... I don’t have anything to argue against that... It is, after all, a law of nature that goes beyond just human nature.

The elevator let out a ding sound as it reached the penthouse floor, the doors opening to show the same penthouse that we had left earlier.

This time, the three Dukes were gathered in the living room, all of them looking like they had just gone through several sleepless nights despite the fact that we were only away for a few hours at most.

Khar quickly turned to me, prompting the other two to also turn as well, all three of them quickly bowing their heads.

"My Lord... I hope the city was to your liking?" He asked.

I did not answer him immediately but looked around instead, searching for the girls that I had seen the first time I arrived here, the ones with the burn marks on their bodies.

Khar noticed and lifted his head slightly, seeing me look around like I was searching for something.

"Is... Is something wrong, my Lord?"

"Where are the girls that you had here? The ones who had greeted you when we arrived?"

He seemed surprised that I would even ask about them and looked like he was quite hesitant to tell me about them as he panicked slightly.

"A... Ah... Did... Did one of them catch your eye, my Lord?"

I shook my head, "Nothing of that sort, I was merely curious."

He let out a breath of relief, "Ah... I see. Well... Since I am no longer the top of this city, I don’t really have a right to keep slaves like them anymore so I sent them off to be disposed of. I believe they should be in the incinerator by now, since they don’t really have any practical use for this city after all."

I felt my breath get caught in my throat but I managed to school my body not to react visibly from the news I just heard.

"I... See..." I managed to choke out, which I managed to pass off as a cough. "So... What are you three doing now?"

As if remembering what was going on, he straightened himself quickly and gestured to Evul and Nuul, "We had been discussing what the next step we should take for our plans here... And I believe we have arrived at a conclusion."

Evul took a step forward, her hands placed demurely in front of her, "After all the information you have given to us, we still find it hard to accept that this is truly the fate of our world... Thus, we wanted to ask what you intend to do with this world of ours first?"

I tilted my head, "Did we not make it clear? A portal has opened up in our World that leads to yours and if we don’t close it, our World will be overrun by these Anomalies... These monsters, that will come flooding in from your World. So we are here to look for the Gatekeeper that is maintaining the portal and to kill it so that we can close the portal."

Nuul gestured towards me, "And... To kill this umm... Gatekeeper... Is it strong?"

I shook my head, "It has no offensive capabilities, but it will definitely be guarded by an army of Anomalies that is there to protect it. We also believe that there is a Commander Class Anomaly, which is basically like a general of sorts that can direct and command Anomalies to move and attack which allows the Anomalies to form strategies and tactics instead of just blindly rushing at the closest enemy like normal. That is the real danger for this rift."

The three of them looked at each other for a moment before turning back to me.

"Then... Once you destroy this Gatekeeper... What happens?"

"The portal to our World will close and we intend to return to our World before it closes," I explained as a matter of factly.

"You will... Just return like that? What is your world like? Is it also being attacked by monsters?"

"Well... Yes and no. It is under attack in the sense where portals still open up around our World periodically but we have the power to close them before they cross over, so it’s a constant battle for us to keep these portals closed."

Evul gestured towards me, "Yes but... What is your world like? What is there in your world?"

"Well... Surprisingly, it’s quite similar to yours. We have the cars, the buildings, the roads and the high rise metropolitan cities... But I guess there’s some differences here and there. For example, we are using Mana Crystals as power sources and we mostly use ballistic projectiles as guns instead of the laser guns you guys have."

That seemed to excite the three of them quite a bit as they gave each other wide eyed looks as if I had just confirmed something for them.

Khar then took a step towards me, "In that case... My Lord, may I suggest that we aid you in hunting down this... Gatekeeper? Allow us to see for ourselves just how bad the situation of our world is... Then... Maybe... You could allow my people to cross over to your world and... Let us settle somewhere to start our new life? We promise we will be useful!"

Well, that’s what we were aiming for from the start. Not sure if I should heartily welcome you guys at this point though...