Put Down Your Weapon!

They came to the door of that room.

As Grant pushed open the last door, he remained completely focused and cautious, like an FBI agent carrying out a mission. The instant he opened it, he even made a sideways roll to the right to avoid a possible ambush.

For various reasons, Benjamin also kept his distance.

However, the door opened, and nothing happened.

Puzzled, Benjamin cautiously took a few steps forward and peered inside from the doorway. Dick Fool stood in the room with a big man. The moment Benjamin looked at them, they both looked back at him.

They looked as if they had been waiting for a long time.

...They had a murderous air about them.

Benjamin felt things getting even more troublesome and had an urge to turn around and leave.

He knew very well that after the last fiasco with the Fool family, Dick's hatred for him would not have lessened one bit. Knowing Dick, he would stop at nothing to get his revenge.

And given the situation now, did anything else need to be said?

Dick hadn't come to take part in some simulated war game at all. He was here for Benjamin!

This was tricky.

Just as Benjamin and Dick's eyes met, the atmosphere grew tense, and a storm seemed to be brewing. Suddenly, a loud shout shattered the silence like a rock smashing through a glass door.

"Holy Light Bomb!"

Grant suddenly darted into the room and repeated his old trick. He tossed two little balls from his hands, and they landed squarely on Dick and the big man's chests.

"..."

The big man glanced at the balls on the floor, then at Dick beside him. He hesitated, but didn't put on an exaggerated show of sacrifice. Dick, needless to say, didn't move a muscle. He just stared at Benjamin like a proctor watching an exam.

This time, Grant was the one who froze.

"Hey, you're cheating!" he shouted at Dick and the other man.

"Oh."

Dick used his cold-indifference.JPG.

Grant looked as if he'd suffered a grievous wound. He couldn't say a word and conceded defeat.

Seeing this, Benjamin sighed inwardly.

Looks like he'd have to handle this himself after all.

So he turned to Grant and said, trying to sound casual, "I guess I'm the only one who can deal with these two enemies." Then he looked back at Dick and took a few steps forward.

Those few steps made him feel ridiculously confident, as if he were saying, "Out of my way! I'm about to show off."

"What exactly do you want?" he asked Dick.

At the same time, showing off or not, he quickly asked the system in his mind, "What's the deal with that big guy next to Dick?"

Know yourself and your enemy, and you'll never be defeated. Ever since he'd managed to escape from Michelle, he'd taken this old saying to heart as a motto for life. He wished he could get it tattooed on his hand.

The system replied, "That's his younger brother, Conte Fool. He was exceptionally gifted from birth and naturally strong, but unfortunately, he had a serious illness when he was three that damaged his brain. He's a little slow, but he listens to his family. Since he's big and strong, most people don't dare provoke him to his face."

Benjamin felt a jolt of alarm. His ominous premonition was off the charts.

He wasn't afraid of Dick. This wasn't the Riser Family, and there were no elders to back Dick up. With his skinny arms and legs, what could he do if they really got into a fight?

But if Dick had a powerful enforcer, things would get very troublesome.

He'd better see what Dick was planning first.

"What do you think I want? Don't you know?" Under the bizarre circumstances, Dick even sounded like an evil mastermind from a movie. "I'm going to pay you back in full for humiliating me!"

As he spoke, he produced a chamber pot from who knew where, like a magician pulling off a trick.

"..."

So ever since the "chamber pot incident," he'd been carrying that thing around with him?

He really was fixated on chamber pots.

Benjamin was almost starting to admire Dick's persistence in pursuing revenge.

"This guy's something else," even the system marveled. "You'd better be careful. He's no ordinary man. According to my analysis, he must have a pocket dimension. He might even be a transmigrator."

"...Why?"

The system shouted as if he were an idiot. "Isn't it obvious? Where else could he have pulled out that chamber pot if he didn't have a pocket dimension?"

"...Maybe he—"

The tense atmosphere dissipated the moment the chamber pot appeared. Only Dick kept his face stiff, trying to look like a fearsome villain. Benjamin felt both amused and helpless. He thought Dick was rather pitiful, but he had no intention of showing him any pity through his actions.

"Forget it. Since he doesn't want to play, today's battle is over. Grant, let's go home." He turned to Grant.

Grant froze.

Benjamin continued, "What can you accomplish by staying here? They don't want to play with you anymore. Let's go home."

Grant came around. Though he seemed a little reluctant to leave, he still nodded and said, "All right, let's go back." He glared at Dick, as though blaming him for ruining the perfect game.

Benjamin didn't really want to deal with any of this. He turned and walked away.

All he wanted was to leave before the smell of the chamber pot spread.

"Stop! You can't leave!" Dick panicked. He couldn't let such a good opportunity slip away, so he immediately shouted, "Conte, stop them! Don't let them leave this place!"

The big, dumb man beside him stared blankly at Dick but didn't move. Dick shouted angrily a few more times, pointing at Benjamin. Only then did Conte react and stride toward Benjamin.

Benjamin was startled by how fast Conte moved.

What the hell? How could this big guy walk so fast?

As Benjamin hesitated over whether to run for his life, Grant suddenly jumped forward. "Leave this guy to me!" he shouted, then ran toward Conte. When Conte reached out to grab him, Grant leaped into the air. Benjamin couldn't even tell what he did, but in the blink of an eye, he had locked both legs around Conte's neck in a scissors hold.

Conte lost his balance, and the two of them fell to the ground, where they struggled against each other. Conte tried to break free while Grant tightened his grip. For a moment, neither of them could move.

Benjamin was stunned. He didn't know whether to admire Grant's agility or criticize his reckless, childish behavior.

Dick was also dumbfounded. Apparently, he hadn't expected Grant to subdue Conte with sheer strength. But the power of hatred was clearly formidable, and Dick soon recovered from his surprise and fixed his gaze on Benjamin again.

Benjamin met his eyes and thought, This is bad.

Grant was already grappling with Conte, and that meant Benjamin was stuck here too. He couldn't just leave Grant behind, could he?

What a pain.

Dick looked at him as he slowly raised the hand holding the chamber pot, gradually striking a pose like someone lifting a bomb over his head.

"Holy crap!"

Benjamin's hair stood on end.

He crouched down, ready to dodge.

"Don't you dare dodge!" Dick panicked and shouted. "If you dodge, I'll... I'll use this to hit them!"

As he spoke, he aimed the chamber pot at Grant and Conte, who were still wrestling.

Grant heard him and froze too. For a moment, he forgot to keep holding on, and Conte rolled over and broke free. However, Conte didn't seem to understand what Dick had just said—or maybe he understood but didn't care. Once free, he charged straight at Benjamin, apparently intent on carrying out his unfinished order.

Dick was even more delighted. "Hurry, Conte! Grab that bastard!"

The big man was coming straight at him, and Benjamin had no time to dodge.

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!"

The situation took a sudden turn for the worse. Benjamin had no time to think. Conte was right in front of him in an instant, his big hands less than ten centimeters away. He was about to grab Benjamin.

Benjamin could only raise his leg instinctively and kick!

Time seemed to stop. For a few short seconds, the entire corridor was unnaturally quiet.

"Ah, I see. He walks so fast because he's used to taking such wide strides," the system suddenly mused in his mind.

Such... wide strides?

Benjamin was still caught up in his belated reaction.

Gradually, he began to feel that something was off. Conte's hand was right in front of him, about to touch him, but it hadn't moved any farther. How strange. Why was that?

Curious, Benjamin looked down.

His left leg was slightly raised, right between Conte's legs, like a swing arcing gracefully through the air. The top of his foot was a little numb, as if he'd just kicked something hard.

"M-Mom..."

Conte, who had been as still as a statue, suddenly began to sob. Huge tears rolled down his tightly scrunched cheeks.

Benjamin was dumbfounded too. He awkwardly lowered his leg and backed away a few steps, watching Conte as he seemed on the verge of breaking down. He felt guiltier than he ever had in his life.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He sounded completely sincere. He felt it was the most sincere apology he'd ever made.

Fortunately, perhaps because Benjamin's apology had been sincere enough, Conte didn't burst into loud sobs. He continued to cry in little hiccups, his slightly trembling hands slowly covering the spot where he'd been kicked.

Still crying, he started toward the castle's exit with long strides. His steps were slow, but for some reason, no one reacted, and no one even tried to stop him.

As he shuffled out of the castle, no one spoke or moved. The corridor echoed with his sobs and the deep, rough calls of "Mom" again and again.

He was gone.

Only after Conte had left did Dick come to his senses and begin shouting toward the end of the corridor. "Conte, come back here!" But no one answered him—as if no one ever would again.

Benjamin looked at him again. Grant also recovered from his shock and turned to look at him.

Dick immediately realized he was in trouble.

"Y-you two, what are you going to do? Benjamin, don't get too cocky. I'll never let you off!"

As he spoke, he raised the chamber pot in his hand again.

Seeing this, Benjamin exchanged a glance with Grant. They crouched low and began approaching Dick from two different directions.

"Don't make any sudden moves. Put down your weapon. You're surrounded. I repeat, put down your weapon. You're surrounded. You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say may be—"

Before Benjamin could finish, an unexpected turn of events interrupted him.

"Don't move! If you come any closer... if you come any closer, I'll kill you!"

Overcome with emotion, Dick suddenly pulled a gun from his sleeve. He held the chamber pot in one hand and the gun in the other, its trembling muzzle pointed at Benjamin's forehead.