Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-Three: So many Distractions!_Dual Class [LitRPG]

Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-Three: So many Distractions!

 Drake had just sat back down at the workbench after serving lunch for the camp, his mind mulling over how difficult it actually was to craft properly.

 He had made a show of pissing off Lamar in the morning and somehow gotten the crafting quest. But quickly noticed that if he did not go through the correct processes using the system-approved methods he would not proceed with the quest in any way. Leaving him with a crumpled piece of metal on his finger that couldn’t even be identified.

 The first time he had tried it only gave him the quest, the item itself was just a piece of scrap metal by that point. Drake being Drake had tried it again several times to see if he could cheat the system but soon found out it was impossible. Which left him to make it properly through painstakingly long and arduous work.

 Drake found that it was akin to when he had done his Mining Quest, somehow the system was able to make the distinction between when he was crafting and when he was doing tomfoolery to cut corners. If he did not follow the correct process the resulting piece of metal would only be that. Scrap metal.

 So Drake took to doing the task seriously and slowly. Which much like his Mining, didn’t allow him to take advantage of his overwhelming current status. Bending the metal around the mandrel wasn’t difficult in the sense it took strength, but in the sense it was a long process of hammering the metal to form slowly and meticulously.

 Drake had messed up many times, going through trial and error to figure out the process. And each time he wished to the system, that it had given him the inte.

 What I wouldn’t give for a ‘How to’ video right now…. Drake had thought.

 But eventually, Drake had gotten to the finish line just before lunch.

 [Poorly Made Metal Band [No Grade]

 <ul>

 <li>A poorly made ring of Metal made by a novice crafter.</li>

 </ul>

 <ul>

 <li>Pretty shit first attempt.</li>

 </ul>

 Drake had kept the ring and ced it on his thumb. For sentimental value, the system had so generously given it a unique description after all.

 Afterpleting his first of many, many items he needed. Drake was called to help with making lunch by ire and Sherry.

 So he used the break to go over what he had done wrong and needed to do better while preparing lunch. He was caught up in his thoughts, but not so much so as to not notice the absent Chelsea.

 She must have taken it pretty hard… But there isn’t much I could do about that one. Drake had thought.

 After some small talk, Drake quickly made his way back to the workbench to continue crafting.

 Which leads us to the present.

 Drake had finally sat back down and was ready to go back into his single-minded work, but Bjorn had stopped him.

 “Yeah, what is it? Didn’t have enough to eat?” Drake joked.

 Bjorn shook his head, “Naw food was good as always bro, but did you forget you did a hostile takeover yesterday? You still have things to see to,” Bjorn said.

 Drake sighed, giving himself a mental p.

 “Oh, that’s right. I did do that didn’t I…” Drake said reluctantly, “Alright I’m going to go see Shigure then. Any idea where the little kid is?”

 “Probably in his tent. He’s been holed up there ever since you gave him the ultimatum. Why do you need to see him?” Bjorn asked.

 “I’ve got to figure out how his outpost used to work. And it’s easier to go through him since he''s going to obviously be so willing,” Drake smiled.

 —---------

 A few minutester both Bjorn and Drake arrived at Shigure’s tent.

 Looking around Drake noticed quite a decrease in tents surrounding him.

 Must be from all the cleaning we did yesterday… Drake thought.

 “You did kill quite a lot of their upper echelon. So I would venture that their management and such is in quite disarray,” Natto pointed out.

 Drake pursed his lips thoughtfully as he mulled over how he was going to go about conscripting Shigure’s assistance in keeping the Outpost running.

 “Well, guess I’ll just wing it,” he finally said, beginning to march towards Shigure’s tent.

 “Wing it? Have you ever managed anything before?” Bjorn asked, following a step behind.

 “Nope! I did run a guild before but not sure that counts. Either way, the Outpost was running fine before we came, right?” Drake said rhetorically.

 “Yeah..?” Bjorn answered.

 “Then we just need to put the head back on the snake. Metaphorically speaking. But this time the snake answers to me, and no more dumb fighting for power,” Drake said, opening the tent entrance.

 “And why would they suddenly decide not to vie for power?” Bjorn asked.

 “Because. The strongest one here, without debate, is me. So why bother?” Drake smiled, his eyes finding a lump of nkets on top of a bed on the other side of the tent.

 “Shigure, honey I’m home!” Drake said, swinging his arms wide.

 Shigure expectantly did not respond, but he did hear Drake as the blob of nkets on the bed flinched slightly.

 “Aw don’t be like that, we’re best buds aren''t we?” Drake offered walking closer to the bed, only to be held off by Uta in a bloom of ck smoke.

 “Have you not done enough? I ask that you please leave!” she said through gritted teeth.

 “Oh? Gotten very polite have we? But don’t worry I’m not going to do anything, I can’t anyway remember?” Drake said, crossing his arms, but raising his chin as a light green magic circle filled the room.

 The next moment a gust of wind pulled the covers off Shigure, revealing his gremlin-like form on the bed.

 He was no longer in his usual attire, instead in casual wear his hair disheveled and his eyes sunken like he had not slept in days yet it had only been a single one since his removal from the leadership position.

 “What do you want…..” Shigure asked, his eyes turned to slits, his face scrunched into a punish wrinkle of flesh, much like Drake used to look like seeing the sun for the first time after a 24-hour gaming session the previous night.

 “Aren’t you just a face only a mother could love? Have you slept?” Drake asked.

 “I have not… I’ve been up.. Thinking..” Shigure said reluctantly.

 “And what exactly are those things you’ve been thinking about,” Drake asked curiously.

 “Just… things…” Shigure said, his eyes wandering to the floor.

 Drake rolled his eyes.

 I guess I should be happy he’s at least reflecting on things for once. So it’s a start. Drake thought.

 “Yes, but he certainly looks like a shriveled snail…” Natto added.

 Sure but you didn’t have to say it… Drakeughed, drawing eyes from Uta and Bjorn forcing him to cough.

 “Right. So let’s get you cleaned up first, I got work for you,” Drake said, pulling arge tub from his inventory.

 Shigure’s head raised and eyes weakly looked back up at Drake, “What more do you wish to take from me…? Is stripping all of my des and aplishments not enough?”

 Drake scoffed, “Don’t be so dramatic. I need your help for once,” Drake said, thumbing to the bath, “But first clean up, you look like death''s 4th cousin twice removed from the street no one wants to visit,” Drake said almost too seriously.

 He then pulled a table and some leftover food from his inventory cing it on the table.

 “Might as well get some real food in you while we''re at it, kid.”

 Shigure was stunned, unsure of what to do. His eyes finally found Uta on the side of his bed.

 “Do I really look that bad…?” he asked.

 Reluctantly Uta nodded, her eyes looking sympathetically at her now-dethroned lord.

 “I am sorry, Lord Shigure, I have not done my duty properly as an Assistant…” she added.

 Seeing an emotion other than sad depression in him for the first time, Shigure’s face red up slightly with the heat of anger at her words.

 “You have not failed anyone! If anyone has failed it is I! There is no reason for you to apologize, Uta!” he shouted quickly getting to his feet to grab the girl by her shoulders.

 Drake pped his hands, breaking up their moment before it got ufortable for Drake and Bjorn.

 “Look I know he''s finally up and about, after being knocked down and all that. But there''s only one anime protagonist with an origin story in this tutorial and it’s me. So get your ass in that tub,” Drakeughed, filling it with warm steamy water, “Clean up and eat, then we will talk. And make it quick, I won’t wait for you two to ‘make up’,” Drake winked.

 Uta’s face quickly flushed red, and Shigure ground his teeth turning to Drake.

 “Have you no shame! I would never think of Uta in such a manner!” he shouted back at Drake.

 Uta visibly deted, her posture sinking.

 “Y-you won’t…?” she muttered.

 “N-no! I mean! I-i think that I’m not capab-” Shigure tried to amend.

 “Ok I’ve seen enough,” Drake said, making a vomiting noise, “Come get us outside when you''re done doing whatever. But don’t take too long, I have shit to do.”

 Walking out of the tent with Bjorn in tow, Drake made his way to a slightly open area, pulling his tools and a spare table from his inventory, and working silently on his crafting while they waited.

 “Hey, Shot,” Bjorn said, pulling his own seat from his inventory and sitting down, the wood creaking underneath his weight.

 “Hmm?” Drake hummed, not looking away from his crafting.

 “I don’t get it, bro. You’re a good guy, that I knew way back when. And I know you understand this new life well enough to be hard when you have to. But it seems like you’re really soft on Shigure. There a reason for that?” Bjorn asked, seemingly to fill the time.

 Drake paused looking up, then returned to his light tinkering.

 “Honestly? I’m not sure. I guess he reminds me of my younger brothers… He’s just a kid Bear. He should have never been here, to begin with, but here he is forced to do things and go through a tutorial he never should have,” Drake mused, “I’m not absolving him of what’s happened, but I get how he’s fumbling and how hard-headed he is. I was sixteen a few millennia ago if you can believe it.”

 Bjorn shook his head, “Really? I thought you were still like fourteen with the way you act bro,” he joked.

 “Ha-ha…. “ Drakeughed sarcastically, “All I’m saying is it’s hard to punish him when he''s all bright-eyed and everything, but I do know it has to be done. I don’t pretend to be the moral authority on anything, and I make plenty of mistakes, but the least I can do when I throw my weight around is help him not make the same mistakes.”

 Drake was about to continue his exnation when Shigure and Uta came out of the tent. Shigure was now in a more fitting state, his hair washed and now in his usual armor.

 “About damn time, Bear was talking my ear off,” Drake scoffed, putting his things away, Bjorn shaking his head with a smile.

 “What is it exactly that you want… Sir Shot..” Shigure asked pensively.

 “I want you to go back to doing what you were before. Administering this ce,” Drake said tly.

 Shigure stayed silent for a moment, stunned once again.

 “You want to give back what you took from me?” he asked.

 “Not exactly,” Drake amended, wagging his finger, “I want you to basically do what you were doing before, but now you answer to me.”

 Shigure raised a brow, “Ok..?”

 “What I want is basically you to be the figurehead of the Outpost for the rest of the tutorial. I’m assuming you had at least some knack for this leader thing seeing as you got it in the first ce while being so young. So now you get to do it without people constantly looking to stab you in the back,” Drake exined.

 “Why do you think people would now not want to seek power..?” Shigure asked.

 “Well, that’s because I’m here now, and there''s no bigger fish in this pond at the moment. Discounting Bear, but Bear isn’t into things like leadership. Right, Bear?” Drake said, looking over his shoulder.

 “Yeah, been there, done that, leader stuff isn’t my bag bro,” Bjorn agreed.

 “See? So now that is out of the way. You get to actually run the Outpost. And if anything goes even remotely wrong, you cane get me and I’ll fix it,” Drake borated.

 Shigure’s face turned thoughtful but quickly became questioning as the offer sounded too good to be true.

 “What is the catch?” he asked.

 Drake shook his head.

 “Why does no one believe me when I give them the benefit of the deal!” he grumbled, “I just don’t want to deal with it alright. What happened the other day was a result of you not addressing the problems that were building up. But now I’m saying that that will not happen since I will be here to fix it. Think of it as a probation period for you. Until I leave in a month’s time, you are going to prove to me that I don’t need to worry about this ce or the people here. I don’t think you''re a bad kid Shigure, I just think you’re a kid,” Drake scoffed.

 Shigure recoiled slightly, surprised at the words Drake offered. He looked into Drake’s eyes trying to disconcert his intentions but when he was unable, he sighed. Shigure then seemed to go into an internal debate with himself as his face shifted from one emotion to the other.

 Eventually, Shigure settled his mouth opening to say something, then coughed to clear his throat.

 “I agree,” he said, offering a hand.

 “Hm… Just like that?” Drake said now the one suspicious.

 Shigure gave a wry smile, trying not to form a scowl, “Y-yes… just like that.”

 Drake looked warily at Shigure for a moment.

 “Hmm….” Drake hummed briefly, “I’m not sure if I should be wary or not….” Drake said, grasping the hand, then pulling Shigure in close, “Just remember I’m watching…. Always watching Wazowski….”

 Shigure grimaced, “I don’t know what that is from.”

 Bjornughed, “You get used to it.”

AliNovel

Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-Three: So many Distractions!