The atmosphere imdiately beca more uncomfortable.
A few exchanged looks. Others avoided eye contact entirely.
Still, none of them refused.
One after another, they stepped forward and repeated the sa oath under my supervision while I listened carefully to every single word that left their mouths.
And by the ti it was over, all of them had been bound.
Most looked uncomfortable afterward.
Not angry exactly, but uneasy in the way soone naturally would be after willingly chaining their life to a divine contract capable of killing them slowly if they betrayed it.
Still, this was necessary.
There was no world where I was allowing multiple Chosen-level goblins into the Erald Midget Clan without guarantees strong enough to restrain them.
Once everything was finished, I turned and began walking out of the prison area, the others quietly following behind now that the chains suppressing them had been removed.
The underground corridor was dimly lit by the glowing fungus embedded along the walls, our footsteps echoing softly through the stone passage as we made our way upward.
Earlier during the oath swearing, I had sent Narg ahead to gather everyone in the central area of the settlent.
If these guys were joining the clan, then it was better to make things official imdiately instead of letting rumors spread first.
"Where are we going now?" Drel asked from behind after several minutes of walking.
I glanced back briefly.
"I'm introducing you to my goblins."
"Introduction?" Kharos raised a brow as we continued walking through the corridor. "You aren't planning to have them stone us or sothing as so kind of initiation... right?"
I slowly turned my head toward him.
That was an oddly specific thing to jump to.
I gave him a long look.
"Do you want to do that?" I asked flatly. "Because you sound very familiar with the idea."
"No, no, no." Kharos imdiately waved both hands in denial, his voice rising slightly as he backed off the topic. "I was just asking."
I shook my head awkwardly and continued walking, the group following close behind as we moved through the underground passage toward the settlent above.
Then another thought crossed my mind, causing to glance toward Caius.
"If I rember correctly," I said, "you ntioned that after losing your innate skill, you killed another Chosen to obtain a new skill line and regain your title. Is that right?"
"Yes," Caius answered calmly without hesitation.
Unlike Kharos, his reactions were always controlled. asured.
"And what exactly is the na of that skill line?" I asked.
"It's called Foresight," Caius answered. "It allows to see several seconds into the future."
My steps slowed slightly at that.
"...What?"
Caius remained calm as he continued explaining it.
"I can see brief flashes of future events, determine whether a course of action is favorable to or not, and during combat, I can perceive actions that will occur several seconds ahead."
For a mont, I genuinely didn't know how to react to that.
My eyes widened slightly as I stared at him.
"What the hell..." I muttered. "That's an insanely attractive skill line."
And I ant that.
A skill like that sounded ridiculous in actual combat.
Even a single second of advanced perception during a fight between strong opponents could completely decide the outco, let alone multiple seconds.
Yet Caius simply shrugged faintly as though the ability wasn't all that impressive.
"Several seconds is not a long ti," he said, almost dismissively.
"In a battle, it is," I imdiately shot back.
Because it absolutely was.
At high speeds, fights could shift completely within an instant. The ability to already know what attack was coming before it happened sounded borderline unfair.
But Caius shook his head slightly.
"In battles against the monsters we're about to face, it isn't."
I frowned slightly at that.
"And being able to see future events or determine whether an outco benefits you isn't useful too?"
Caius let out a quiet sigh but didn't answer imdiately.
Probably because there wasn't really a proper argunt against it.
That skill line was absurdly useful no matter how you looked at it.
Combat, decision-making, scouting, negotiations, survival...
An ability like that could influence almost everything.
And honestly?
The more I thought about it, the more tempting it beca.
Without realizing it, I had begun staring at him rather intensely.
"...What?" Caius asked slowly after noticing the look on my face.
"The ability you possess is a very tempting skill to steal, you know," I replied honestly.
Caius visibly stiffened.
Not dramatically, but enough that I noticed the subtle reaction imdiately.
"Please don't kill again," he said in the sa calm tone he always used, though this ti there was a trace of genuine discomfort beneath it. "Losing my innate skill was already painful enough."
That only made my grin widen slightly.
"How about I kill you one more ti and return your innate skill to you?" I suggested.
Caius imdiately shook his head and took a small step away from .
"That doesn't return my title as a Chosen, does it?" he replied without missing a beat.
I continued walking toward him anyway.
"You can just regain the title again after killing another Chosen later, can't you?"
"Not anymore," Caius replied imdiately.
For the first ti in a while, his calm expression cracked slightly with genuine alarm.
"You only get two chances," he continued. "I've already used one. If I die again, I'll never be able to get the title of a Chosen."
That imdiately made narrow my eyes.
"...That's news to ."
"But it's true," Caius said firmly. "And the fact that nothing is happening to right now should already prove that I'm not lying. Rember, I'm under an oath to remain honest with you."
I clicked my tongue softly at that.
Right. The oath.
If he were intentionally feeding false information, there would've at least been so reaction from the binding by now.
That was... unfortunate.
Very unfortunate.
As tempting as his skill line was, I couldn't afford to let Caius permanently lose his status as a Chosen. Not with the King's Gas approaching and the clan already lacking enough qualified mbers to properly compete.
Also, Granny Flogga had already explained what happened when a Chosen permanently lost that status. Their mories concerning the system, Lord Drugar, the Chosen themselves, and various higher-level truths gradually beca distorted and unclear over ti.
Not erased completely.
Just... blurred.
Like trying to rember details from an old dream after waking up.
Important information would beco harder to recall properly, and eventually, even concepts they once understood clearly would start slipping apart.
The last thing I needed was Caius suddenly becoming unreliable halfway through the King's Gas because his mind started deteriorating in weird directions.
Still...
That didn't necessarily an things would remain the sa forever.
At the mont, Caius as a Chosen held imnse value to the clan. But depending on how things developed later, there might co a point where Caius himself beca more valuable than the title attached to him.
And if that happened...
Well.
This conversation might resurface soday.
A grin slowly spread across my face at the thought.
Almost imdiately, Caius took another cautious step away from , clearly noticing the look I was making.
Honestly, the guy's instincts were annoyingly sharp.
"So..." I said, shifting the topic before he started panicking again. "You choosing to approach and join my clan..."
Caius turned toward quietly.
"Was that because your ability showed you a favorable outco?"
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