ALL NOVEL Chapter 66: Argument
That argument lasted for quite a while. Some people were demanding Lilian and his group to escort the people out of the city. Fortunately, some people already recognized that they couldn't rely on anyone else to protect themselves. Still… those people were just a small fraction of those fifty survivors.
Lilian noticed that Ryan had woken up and moved to talk with him. He already knew what she was planning... still, even though it was a pain, Ryan didn't have any other choice but to help her in order to end the commotion there. He wanted to sleep until sunrise, after all.
"This guy came from out of the city," Lilian said. "You can confirm with him that we are telling the truth. The situation outside the city isn't better… it is worse."
Ryan wanted to deny that since Cole's group was training in the slime's dungeon while John's group was keeping the goblins in check. Still, then again, how many dungeons were nearby that wasn't being watched, and how many idiots out there were also causing dungeon breaks? Even without confirming that, Lilian was probably right.
"How can we tell if he isn't part of your group and won't say whatever you want?" The gray-haired man asked.
"We saw him jumping over the river of magma, and he found my family and me before Lilian did it," Jacob stepped forward and said. "He definitely came from out of the city."
"How can we know that you also aren't working for her?" The gray-haired man raised his voice again. "As far as we know, there is a chance that you all are trying to use the people you just found."
Ryan massaged his eyebrows. There was a limit of how skeptical someone could be, considering that he did see dragons a few days ago. Although Ryan was also skeptical of many things, that man just got rescued by Lilian's friends, and instead of thanking them, the first thing he does is to cause a commotion.
"Can you guys lower your voice, please?" Ryan said. "Tomorrow is an early day. Besides, your voice might attract the Sahuagins. As you can see, all the people here are just survivors that once were ordinary people… not a single person here worked for the government or something like that. So, they don't have to sacrifice their lives to protect you."
"What? Do you want to force us to fight those creatures as well?" The man asked.
"Nope, for all that I care, you guys can leave the city," Ryan said. "I can even give you some directions to find some places that might be more secure than here, but you and anyone else who wants to go there will have to go alone. Just like we can't force you to fight to protect your life, you can't force anyone here to protect you."
"As if I would need to be protected by a man who only has one hand," The gray-haired man smirked.
Ryan didn't want to, but he considered to show the man the power of his Flame Arrow. He didn't have to kill the man just because of a single insult, nor did he want to kill another human being in cold blood, but there was another way to make all those people shut up.
Ryan began to move toward the man, and Lilian didn't stop him since Ryan left his crossbow on the table. The gray-haired man frowned when he saw it, but he didn't show a single sign of fear as expected. Ryan was unarmed and only had a single-arm, after all.
"I can give you my crossbow if you want," Ryan said. "That way, you will be able to protect yourself and anyone who wants to follow you. I can guarantee that that weapon is as powerful as a firearm."
"… Why would you do that?" The man frowned. "Rather, where did you find such a weapon?"
"It doesn't matter, right?" Ryan smiled and offered a handshake. "All that you need to do is to hold my hand for five seconds."
Once again, the man frowned. He saw how powerful Lilian's brother was, so he hesitated a little bit, but even if it hurts a little, he doubted that someone could break his hand so easily. The grey-haired man accepted the handshake but soon regretted his decision when his hand begun to burn. There was no fire, but his hand was burning. Meanwhile, Ryan was smiling as if nothing was happening.
"AAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!" The gray-haired man shouted in pain
In the end, the man only lasted for two seconds and pulled back his hand… Ryan didn't even try to hold him because he didn't want to wound the man. Despite that, his hand got so red and burned to the point where he could see some bubbles. Those were the signs of first-degree burns.
"That was unnecessary," Lilian glared at Ryan before approaching the man and touching his burned hand.
Suddenly her own hands begun to shine, and then little by little, the burns began to disappear. After just ten seconds, his hand was back to normal, but Lilian was pale as a ghost. She used all her mana just to heal some small wounds… she couldn't heal his right arm.
"This is it, folks," Ryan said. "People can obtain these kinds of powers; all you have to do is fight. Eventually, you will receive a class and be able to heal wounded people… or hurt them. I wonder how the world will be in a few months if some people have powers while others don't. Anyway… if someone needs a handshake, all that you need to do is wake me up. By the way,… did you learn a new skill?"
"… Yes… I learned Fire Resistance," The gray-haired man replied while glaring at Ryan.
"I guess we can use this…" Ryan said. "You survived the pain and got rewarded for it… remember, power has a price. Do you want to pay the price?"