The Path of Ascension 2: A LitRPG Adventure

16

“Why did you come to our planet?”

He wanted to say everyone was on this shithole planet because of the newly discovered worlds. There were millions of people doing it. It was in no way a secret.

The questions came one after another, and one almost got Matt to break his repeated line of, “I won’t be answering any questions without my lawyer present.” It was, “Why didn’t you pay the bill at the cafe you were eating at.” It was so stupid that he was almost baited into talking.

Matt wasn’t sure what these idiots’ problem was, but they continued their integration for over an hour before there was a knock at the door.

Soon after, a man in casual clothes came in and slid a pad in front of Matt, saying, “We’re a guild dedicated to assisting the city with staying safe and secure. We can’t let people blatantly stir up trouble. We have you on one count of unauthorized use of a skill and attacking a man. Also, making up fabrications about assassins. Our guards reported nothing of the sort.”

The man let out a large, long exaggerated sigh.

“I’ll make it easy. You sign the guilty plea, and you only have to serve twenty-five years delving for the state in recompense. If you don’t, we’ll do this the hard way. And, believe me, if a judge sees this case, you’ll be looking at fifty-plus years.”

He gave a false smile and finished with, “I’m trying to help you. Really.”

With that, he grabbed Matt’s hand and forced him to thumb his acceptance.

“Look, see. That was easy. Now, you just need to make up for your crimes. Rehabilitation is a long road. And you’ll be put to work on the new planets. For endangering the public, you’ll now be protecting them. How noble.”

Matt just stared at the man. He had committed everyone’s face to memory, and he swore he would be back and heads would roll.

As he thought about it, he started to find it amusing.

These idiots have no idea that we are on The Path. And once they find out who Liz is, they are going to s**t themselves.

Either of their backers were far larger than this little group of extortionists could deal with.

His prediction came true not fifteen minutes later when he heard panicked screams and the sounds of fast movement from outside his integration room.

A moment later, the door opened, and a guard in a more official-looking uniform came in and asked, “Are you Matt?”

At his reply of, “Yes,” the man entered, and removed his shackles, then escorted him to a guard with a healer’s armband.

“f**k, kid, what happened to you?”

The healer’s reaction reminded him of the now dried blood from his forehead, and while he had been able to channel [Endurance] in the integration room, it wasn’t going to remove the already caked-on blood.

A quick heal later, and he was done. Matt found Camilla and Aster on a bench facing away from him. As he walked over, Aster spun and leaped into his arms. She sniffed around his face, and worry flooded to him through the bond. Her anger matched his own that he was keeping tamped down.

“What’s going on?”

He asked Camilla, who was watching what he assumed were actual guards streaming in and out of the building.

She nodded through a window he hadn’t seen. Liz was angrily waving her hands around in a silent pantomime that clearly expressed her anger at the situation. “Liz has been tearing them a new asshole for the last few minutes. She’s said the words ‘The Path of Ascension’ so many times, but they keep flinching each time. It’s almost amusing. Honestly, I’m impressed. She’s fearless while talking to them. I don’t know if I could do that, even with my backer.” Camilla shrugged and finished, “You just don’t talk to higher Tier people like that.”

Matt understood what she meant and silently agreed with her. On the other hand, Liz grew up with people stronger than this entire kingdom and all their corruption.

It was still shocking that something like this was going on in the capital city and they had gotten caught up in it. There were two possibilities, either they had been incredibly unlucky, or this group was doing this to so many people it was statistically significant. Either answer was unacceptable in a civilized society.

He looked over at the dark-haired woman who was still seated. “Did they force you to agree to something as well?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Whatever happens, I want to make sure that the contract is nullified. Even with my AI recording, I don’t feel good about it.”

Matt’s frustration boiled out at that, and he hissed, “I don’t know what they were thinking. It’s not like we couldn’t prove everything they did. That’s so incredibly illegal.”

Camilla shrugged. “We aren’t in the Empire proper anymore. This could all be legal here for all I know. Forcing a contract doesn’t sound legal, but maybe they don’t accept AI recordings as proof or something. I don’t know, but this group seemed a little too used to doing this.”

Matt didn’t know what to think. This was so outside of his expectations and worldview it was shocking. It also showed how lucky he was. He may have been on a poorly run world, but even the worst guild recruiters didn’t literally force contracts on people.

The incident blew up when two people in much nicer clothes appeared in the window and tried to talk to Liz. They tried to act high and mighty, but Matt could see the moment she name-dropped her parents. The people’s faces drained of any color, and their body language changed.

He almost felt bad for them, with the threat of two royals looming. Almost.

Matt had the feeling that this would come with worse consequences than sending the taxmen after the vassal kingdom. A part of him relished the idea, but a larger part of him hated the fact that if he wasn’t on The Path, he would have been forced into whatever joke of a sentencing they had arranged.

Being a proper Empire citizen, especially one on The Path, meant that he was always judged by imperial law and not local ones, but this was a wake-up call that the Empire, while not perfect, was miles better than the alternatives.

With a sigh, he hugged his bond for comfort. It helped slightly. She at least had been ignored during the incident.

He looked at Camilla. “I hate having to rely on others for protection like this.”

Her fist tightened until her knuckles popped, and she nodded. “I shudder to imagine if the people on top weren’t held in check by other, stronger people who care.” She actually did shudder a bit, but it was a small one and fleeting. “I’ve been at the mercy of others once before. That’s why I need to be strong. I won’t let it happen again.”

Matt patted her shoulder and said, “Thanks for the save back there.”

She turned to look at his hand, then followed it to his now healed head.

“That would have killed me outright. Just…thanks.”