novel bin Chapter 1690 A Matter of Methods
Chapter 1690 A Matter of Methods
--- Kat ---
Meg decided that her attempts hadn’t been clear enough. The subtle shift from delaying to working things out had been too subtle. "Alright let’s cut to the chase. We want the drake crystal. You want us to not have the drake crystal. I know you have it, you know you have it. I know that you know that, and all sorts of other confusing continuations. I’m done with the delaying tactics now. What solution can we come to?"
Pebbles frowned, "I’m not sure what you’re talking about,"
Meg raised a hand and summoned a large fireball, the heat rolling off the orb in ways and starting to cook Pebbles slightly even though he was a good distance away. "I’m being rather serious at the moment,"
Pebbles glanced around at everyone else nearby. "Leave this to me! Please feel free to rest up and return to your homes. If combat starts again, do not feel compelled to help! I will be fine!" Kat didn’t necessarily believe that, but once Meg dropped the fireball Pebble’s subordinates seemed to.
Kat glanced at Meg, who gave a nod in response. With that settled Kat just... let everyone walk away. She didn’t bother stopping them. Nobody was moving too fast nor did they get too close to anyone nearby. Lily dismissed her shadowy chair and flew over into Kat’s arms, curling up into a little ball and resting. Though no sleeping, not yet.
Once the extras had cleared out Pebbles stomped on the ground. The broken bits of rock and debris from the fighting melded into the road. Once everything was cleaned up for almost the entire street the road in between Meg and Pebbles rippled before growing upwards into an intricate table that was technically not a triangle but looked like one.
The table had a long flat edge where chairs rose up for Meg and the rest of the group. Even one particularly tiny one for Lily, and a spare chair for Strdl. Though for obvious reasons Hunter’s chair was missing. Pebbles did know about her after all. Pebbles’ side of things was much smaller, hence the trangle-ish shape. With a small flat surface and his own chair, that notably wasn’t any fancier then the rest. It was a show of both competence and humility.
Once everyone found their seats, Meg asked, "So Pebbles, what’s the plan?"
Pebbles’ eye twitched slightly but before long he let out a sigh. "Is that really what you’ve been calling me in your head?"
Meg shrugged, "Well it’s not like we have anything better to call you. The Mountain Shaker is much too wordy a name. Plus, it’s how the old man introduced you,"
"The how is NOT your concern... but as for the other part? I really truly, do not care. If I had to slaughter you all for the crystal I would. I’d sleep just fine. I am here on a job, and no part on the road to completion requires me to help you out. I might, if it’s not too hard... but this is getting too big,"
Pebbles glared at Meg uncertain when Kat decided to step in. She’d heard enough, "I don’t think just letting a town starve is acceptable,"
Meg lazily turned her gaze to Kat and let it harden. Kat glared back. To her this was a step too far. It was one thing to risk killing a bunch of bandits, it was another thing entirely to doom them all to a long slow starvation. Especially when many of them were innocent people who’d moved here.
Seeing Kat wasn’t going to be cowed by a glare alone Meg did gain a touch of respect for Kat. Just a touch though. "Look Kat. The problem here? It’s politics. If we wait for the church to sort things out, not only will they simply move the crystal and claim it was never here, but they’ll drag the whole thing out. We’re not able to just sit around here forever Kat. We have a deadline. The hub will come calling if we’re stalling.
"And besides, what even is the right play? You say it’s wrong to let these guys starve? Well they could move back to the original town, or move to one of the others. Heck they could leave the mountain range entirely. Still, I get that takes time and effort... so consider something for me.
"Let’s say we stick around. We do all of the odd jobs the nobles will con us into doing in exchange for the crystal, and then let’s say they actually give it to us at the end. This could be months later... and I’m quite sure that they will use our time and effort to finish their little project here. Choking the life from several other towns in the area. Under the mining companies influence? Sure... but they’re just as if not more innocent then the people here. So are you really doing a good thing?" asked Meg.
"Perhaps not... but surely there’s a better way?" returned Kat.
Meg shook her head, "See this is one of the reasons I stay out of this stuff. There is no clear better way. So... I go in... I do the job, and I leave. No morals come into it,"
"That’s not the main reason and you know it," bit back Kat.
"Does it matter?" asked Meg lazily. "There’s no clean solution here... I just want to choose the fast one. Unless... you have a better idea?"
Kat swallowed hard. She... she really didn’t.