Chapter 128: Opinions Pt.1
After Lake had returned to the Guild the rest of the day had passed pretty quickly because he had gone to see if Nancom needed help finishing the batch of ten vats of poison. There had been no fight either since the only force in the city at the moment was the Temple so he had just read until it was time for bed.
The book on Curses turned out to be a little over his head but he had been able to understand they weren't something you wanted to mess with. As he was going through it he had found out that just because you were able to dispel a curse didn't mean you would be able to repair all the damage they had done to you or your stats and skills.
It was kind of terrifying that a curse could permanently change a skill to work against you, but he had finally found information on changing skills and their levels even if it was heading in the wrong direction. It was a good start, but he guessed that kind of information was even further above his head than curses were.
That was for the future though he needed to focus on what was happening now. He and about forty other people were standing in Lucas's office Listening to him read out the plans for how they were going to make an example out of the thieves that had stolen from the guild.
Lake had no problems with what Lucas had planned, but from the looks on the faces around him he was in the minority. He could see how these people could think it was going too far, but the way he saw it Lucas just wasn't presenting it the right way. He kept making the same point how order was important during times like these, and how they needed to make sure none of the other members got the bright idea that stealing from them would be easy, but the way he would put it was they could get all these benefits without actually having to do what the guild rule book called Extended Dismemberment.
Seeing an easy way around this problem Lake walked forward before anymore people voicing dissatisfaction with this method could speak. It technically wasn't his turn to share his opinion yet, but there was no reason not to say something that could solve the problem, and most people were shouting out of turn anyway.
Lake stood next to Master Nancom with the hopes that if anyone was to question his idea Master Nancom would use his status in the guild to back him up. "I have a way around this. I've noticed almost everyone agrees the guilty should be executed but not that they should be in such a gruesome manner, so why don't we just make it seem gruesome. We're the Alchemist guild so if anyone could fake an execution like this one it would be us. The way I see it the guilty don't even need to be alive when we subject them to torture all we need to do is make it seem like they are."
He didn't know if what he was saying was actually possible but how hard could it actually be to get a corpse scream and struggle while you repeatedly cut off its limbs before regrowing them. Looking around it seemed the higher ups understood what he was saying so he guessed his idea did make sense but the only person he really needed to like the idea was Lucas and with him being such a people pleaser, Lake was sure he would go with the flow now that everyone seemed to be appeased.
Especially since he would still get what he wanted which was to make some of the lower level members afraid to screw around. Lake nodded and headed back towards the back of the room where he had been standing this whole time up until this point. Once he got there the fact that everyone liked his idea made him wonder why none of them had thought of it.
This was a room of smart people, many of them much more so than him. It must be because of his personality everyone here had been outraged so they had been unable to think objectively while he who didn't really care at all had been able to solve the problem. It was just one of those funny things about life where sometimes the best person for the job had no business even being there if you were to judge them by normal standards.
Feeling someone nudge him he saw Millie wanted to say something to him so he leaned in to let her whisper into his ear. "That was a good idea, how'd you come up with it?" Lake didn't think this was the best time to try and explain how he was the best guy for the job, so he said. "I'll tell you later." and went back to listening to the meeting.
He hoped Millie didn't get her hopes up too much though because other than telling her his brain was really smart he didn't know what he could say about having an idea. Now that the meeting was going smoothly all he was hearing was plans to actually pull off what he had proposed which was somehow even more boring than the last hour of people saying the prisoners should just be killed the normal way.
Not being able to help it his mind started to wander and he was soon thinking about something that seemed a little odd to him. Why were there so many bleeding hearts here? It didn't make sense that anyone that lived in such a dangerous world would actually care if someone was tortured and even if there were people like that in this world, why weren't the ones here off fighting the Demon Lord?
Lucas had given everyone who wanted to leave the chance under the guise of evacuating important personnel to secret locations, and while that had actually taken place most of the carts they had sent never arrived because a lot of their members had allegiances to different groups.
It had been a smart move by Lucas to make sure everyone left would be a team player, but now here they were giving him a hard time over some small execution that was by the books even if it did come off as a little extreme. Lake guessed it was possible some of these people were cowards that wanted to fight but just didn't have it in them.
A coward would never leave a place like this for some battlefield where they might die at any moment even if morally they wanted to. Looking at Millie Lake couldn't help but wonder if that was why she had been feeling guilty the other day. Deep down she knew the real reason she had stayed, and it wasn't to continue her work.
After a second of looking at Millie, Lake finished thinking about how annoying the people included in this meeting were and Looked at Nancom. Nancom and a few others had been on board the whole time, so they were probably the real backbone of the guild even if a lot of the people in here had the same position technically.
Either way it was starting to seem like the meeting would be over soon and he would be able to go and actually get something done. He planned to get some reading done today and maybe even start practice on Fire Magic if the book was as easy as the one on Wind had been. Of course all that would probably take place after Lunch and on the way down he would have a chance to finish the conversation Millie had tried to start earlier because he was sure she would be going in that direction as well.
About thirty minutes later the meeting finally ended and he and Millie headed towards the elevator. Right when he was about to start a conversation he heard. "Lake come back." It seemed Millie wasn't the only one who wanted to know more about his process. Getting into his chair in front of Lucas's desk Lake waited for him to start talking which only happened once everyone else had left the room.
"Did you take anything from the Temple, and if so you need to tell me how and why so I can hand over a fake who knows the details." Lake was floored; he had never expected this to be what Lucas wanted to talk to him about. It was probably a good sign that he wanted to cover for him though.
Lake didn't think telling the truth was a good idea though so he said. "No." With the hope this was what Lucas wanted him to say. "I didn't think you would know what i was talking about but I hope you don't mind if I search your room. I know it's rude, but this has the potential of being a big problem for the guild, so I can't just take your word for it."
Lake had no problem with this because he had kind of assumed they already did this whenever he wasn't around. It was part of the reason he kept everything he shouldn't have in his secret second bag his skill Booster Bag gave him access to. "Go ahead."
Lucas nodded, and said. "Sorry again, I know you don't have it from how the Temple described what they were looking for, I would be able to feel it if it was in the guild." Lake nodded and said, "Why are they even asking?" He knew but he was just pushing his luck because he felt it was about time to see if Lucas could tell when he was lying.
"They said that one of their guys saw me get out of a cart yesterday with their main suspect." Lake guessed Lucas didn't think it could have been the guard as all that left was him. "Ok, so why would they say that?" This was misleading enough that he felt it was definitely a lie.
"People try to create friction between us and our clients all the time. This is nothing new, and it will blow over in a few days once something more important comes along." The way Lucas just answered the question like it was legitimate made Lake think he probably couldn't tell he was guilty or lying.
This was a good thing to know for when in the future when he was guilty and lying. Getting up, Lake asked. "Is it alright if I go get lunch?" Lucas nodded, so Lake headed towards the elevator. "Why were you able to come up with such an obvious idea and no one else was?" Lake guessed the fact Lucas had noticed this as well made him smart as well.
"Someone had to be the first one, why not me?" This was a lot more eloquent than what he had planned to say to Millie, but he guessed he was just good under pressure. "Lake, I have another thing I need to talk to you about." Lake looked back confused but when he saw Lucas's face he realized Lucas had just decided to tell him something, and he hadn't been messing with him when he said he could go to lunch.
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