He continues his work, with his hands moving rapidly following the will inside his body. The thoughts of his mother, the realisation of her suffering, the respect of her brillnace, the plagues that fall on everyone, the memories of his sister, the sensations that have flow through his body fuel his work as he keep moving on, and craves the legs, the frame the supports and the head of his chair over and over again, with each seat he makes bringing him closer to his destination than the last.
The feelings that send him forward push him towards an unknown destination, and in the depths of his heart he clings to the completion of this sensation more than anything else, and for the first time in so long, a smile dominates his face as he works.
-Break-
Φ Taking a deep breath as my back slams against the ground, I look all around myself and say, "DAMMIT!"
The chairs showcasing my constant failures hang around me all across my side of the room, making my head feel like it's about to burst. Why is it so hard to make a goddamn stupid chair? It's literally just an object; the more this goes on, the more I feel like she was just using a Cursed Object.
Sitting up and staring at the chair, I say, "Well, I guess that's not true. I think I am getting closer and closer to something at the very least. Maybe I need to come and do something more than before. If interacting with those hoboes has helped me a bit, maybe with a bit more I could reach the goal I've set."
Rising from the ground with the strength in my heart becoming stronger by the second, I say, "Let's go help around!"
-Break-
Location: Village of Zaad Ziener
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I say as I slam my back against the ground.
This was so pointless. I carried water, I carried fertiliser, I carried people to the doctor, I even put up with some freaks' pointless conversations, and at the end of it all I just feel tired. I don't even feel like my soul got any stronger or that I learned any new insight; it just feels all so pointless. Why did I even waste my time on all these fools!
Staring at the dirt across my hands, I say, "But I guess some fresh air and sunlight every now and then helps the mind and soul."
"Water helps as well," an annoying voice says moments before I feel a splash of water hit my face.
Turning to him, I say, "Please tell me how splashing water on my face is imperative to anything you wish to do to me."
Staring down at me, Siegrund says, "Don't be so bitter; it is your reward for carrying nearly 30 men's loads. All by yourself over and over again."
"I guess I did, sorry but I find it hard to compare myself to people without Spirit Energy."
"Funny, because I find it hard to compare myself to people with Spirit Energy."
"Shut up, you muscle-brained freak!"
Sitting down with a bucket of water in his arms, Siegrund says, "I prefer to be a sword psycho."
"I don't give a shit what you prefer; now get away from me. Because I don't intend to have a friendly chat with my slave master."
"The bond between a true master and student is the fairest one in the world. Because if you wish to dominate me, you must learn from me."
"I killed my little sister, not my brother, so I guess I learnt wrong."
His eyes open wide for a moment before he recomposes himself and says, "Next time you should steal her husband, then you can measure up a bit more to me."
"You're a really annoying person, and just so you know, out of pure spite, I have no intention of asking about your life or ever giving you any form of comfort."
"Don't worry, your mom is right there."
"I am killing you when this is all over. I hope you get prepared."
"I expect no less. Though, I hope you can finish your work before then. Now onto our next job."
"I refuse."
"It isn't a request," he says with a beaming smile, before flicking his fingers so hard the ground breaks under the force and pressure.
"Don't think I am stopping at your death; I am coming for your bloodline as well."
-Break-
Carrying a basin of water in my arms, I look forward at Siegrund, who balances up to five across different parts of his body, and say, "Monkey."
"Don't just say that since you lack skill. You can always devote yourself at any point in your life to learn new things; you need to be malleable if you want to deal with an ever-changing world. I thought you knew that."
"To change your view of the world is to admit defeat against said world. I will make the world bow down to how I wish it to be."
Turning his head back to me, he says, "Is the existence of Captivant so boring and rigid that it can't shine just as bright no matter what state it takes? Because to me, if the only way you can be yourself is under your own rules, then maybe you're not as important as you think you are."
I grit my teeth, and he lets out a giggle, then says, "It seems like we've reached our target."
Looking past him, I see a lone house at the top of the hill, and say, "Isn't that the meeting room for all the different farmers across the land?"
"The Federation of Farmers, and just like Molstoria's Federation of kings, you're sending them into a spiral."
"Shut up."
From the house, I hear loud shouts bash against my ears, and then Siegrund says, "Let's listen in and find the right time to deliver some of this water, because when things get this hectic, I've learned a single bad action can set everyone off."
Φ Standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by chairs split into two sections composed of members of Zaad Zienners, and another of Farmers from different plots, Versi stands in the middle of their barrage of screams with Domita standing at his side.
Slamming his fist, he says, "CAN I GET SOME ORDER IN HERE!"
One of the villagers says, "We would like the same, but your actions have stolen that from us. The effects of your policies are getting wilder and wilder by the day, and you've just let more in."
One of the farmers says, "Stop being a child; those workers have been contributing to our economy. We can use every single hand we can find."
A villager says, "You only say that because you're not a worker; you just get a cut from all the work they do for change and get to treat your own villagers who've worked for you for years like trash. You're becoming just like those greedy royals."
As the man the villager was taken to grits his teeth in anger, another farmer says, "I won't deny that many of my peers have been caught by their greed, but the hostilities of rushing around with a band of men trained in Spirit Arts who are always looking for a reason to lynch people isn't helping the situation."
A villager says, "Then if you want to help hostility, how about you guys stop hiding incidents that happen, separate the good ones from the bad ones. But you know you can't because, at the end of the day, they see helping their own as better than helping us."
Another villager says, "I disagree; if people do not feel like they can work with us, they are more likely to try and seek the aid of our enemies."
A farmer says, "Do you even hear what you said? If they try and seek our enemies, we should just remove them from our lands. As if they should even have the impetus to be allowed to breathe here without our permission."
A villager says, "That's far too extreme. People get scared and try to defend themselves; it's human nature."
Another villager says, "Scared of what? Allowing them into our lands with our people is already an extreme kindness, getting scarred is just a sign that they are such spoilt brats they believe the privileges given to them is some kind of baseline, the baseline of reality is you dying alone in a ditch without clothes, language, food or warmth, everything you have outside of that is a privilege and those who cannot understand that will rape your lands till nothing remains."
A farmer says, "None of that moralising matters in the slightest; this is how they see the world, and the end goal of ignoring that stops you from achieving the outcomes we wish. The truth of the matter is that the principle you just exposed is not something the people of this land hold true either, and you'd see that if you ever actually faced hardship instead of exposing its ideals from a lofty palace."
Another farmer says, "Yet you are one of the few that has financially benefited from undercutting your own labour. If we had to examine the human psyche, wouldn't it be telling us your impulses and greed shall lead you to betray what is right for the sake of filling your pockets. And when that happens, will you give us another spiel about human nature and how we should've expected it all?"
"How dare you."
Standing up, that farmer says, "I can say whatever I want to any of you, because it seems you all don't remember that the vast majority of the produce produced in Varage comes from Zaad Ziener and my village Zienerstak. The pests you've brought in are not being fed from your own lands but from our lands, as we have subsidised those you can't feed. The people of Zienerstak have never had an issue protecting our own, but now our due diligence that has led us to being one of the biggest farmers is being turned against our own, as our own people sell us out for short-termism. As far as we know, you bastards are going to cash out to the royals like the rest of the scum and vanish with your money."
A villager says, "You act like the people coming in aren't skilled professionals, and do not contribute on the fields as well."
"What of it? Are we a multifaceted empire? We have very little use for many of those occupations, and those who do work in no way increase the yield to cover the rest; labour is economics. And you all seem to know that; it's why your stomachs are emptier, and your repairs take longer, and while the parasites who I sit near keep defending these actions while benefiting all the while knowing they make fake jobs to make the unproductive look more productive than they are."
"Our farms are smaller, yet their status as unimportant has allowed us to be far more liberal with their use. Most of the innovation doesn't come from slow and big behemoths like Zaad Ziener of Zienerstak but from our privately owned lands. The entire reason you don't have 40 kids to work your land is due to us."
"And that potential is dead, as we are scouring nearly all of our lands for every single piece of food we can find. Scientific progression has started speeding up as the Era of Levav's restriction on non-Spirit Energy-based progression has vanished. Food is imperative to war, and the great powers will, without a doubt, be doing whatever they can to control their own food sources by rapidly increasing domestic production, weakening our standing in the world and opening us up to more war. How are any of you even sure we don't have spies in our land at this very moment, looking over all our advancements and moving them across the world to undermine us? Our situation is growing more and more dire by the second, and by the time it is too late, we may no longer be able to fly the flags over our land. So that's why you need to make a decision and make one today, Versi."