1485 This Is But A Scratch

A harsh mechanical ring jolted Varian out of the darkness.

"Huh? Where? What th—"

His words came to a halt as he noticed a bunch of humanoid and non-humanoid aliens moving around.

He's in a townsquare, in plain white clothes, along with a bunch of others in similar dresses.

Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal bracelets clashing against each other rang and a heavy humanoid, as tall as six meters, stopped in front of them.

With a green skinned body full of grotesque scars and wriggling, festering wounds , the man looked unpleasant. But his scarred and burnt face, obscuring his features entirely, looked even more horrifying and revolting.

There was a thick scent of death on his body, even beyond the so-called blood smell a murderer would give.

This man had killed so many races that he transcended the blood-smell. Even though he might not have killed a person belonging to their race, they felt like he was overflowing with that smell.

With an amused chuckle, the man gave them all a scrutinizing glance before chuckling to himself.

"Welcome to Paradise."

"…"

There were sounds of gulping and gasping.

"I am Ingret. The captain of the town's army." He bent down, to reach eye level with the five newcomers, the shortest of them around one meter tall.

"And I have one advice to you all."

The man's eyes were blood red with black veins protruding underneath. As he eyed them like they were a delicate dish, those eyeballs, as big as a soccerball, moved giving off a heavy feeling.

"If you want to survive, don't hesitate."

The breaths grew heavy.

"Kill, rob, betray, manipulate—do everything you can. Or when the time comes and it will, you'll be helpless."

Standing up straight, he let out a loud laughter. "Hohoho, I will see how long your batch is gonna last. If you make it past ten, it'll be the year best."

"…S-Sir Ingrid,"

A thin yellow-skinned man with two waving tentacles on his forehead, raised his voice.

"Captain Ingrid, but yeah, go on."

"I-I can repay my debt through other ways. I will…I can sell my son and w—"

"No, no, no. Don't misunderstand." Ingrid shook his head with an amused smile, words leaving his mouth without any effort, as if he had said these words thousands of times before. "Captain of the town's army—this is just my post. I am in the same boat as you, just a bit better off. The lives here are all under the Providence."

He pointed to a blacksmithy that's puffing out a lot of smoke through its chimney. "That man will hit zero in a week. He's trying to level up but tough luck. He survived for a hundred years and is even better than me at surviving. But nah, he's gonna die. He knows it. I know it. Everyone does. But that's just how it is."

"I-I don't want to die." The tentacle-man said in a desperate tone, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I thought I could sacrifice my life for them but I can't! I don't want to! I don't want to die! I don't want to disappear!"

Ingrid grumbled something under his breath and looked at the others. Four of them were also trembling and showing signs of fear and anxiety.

Only the last was calm.

Not just calm, he even looked relaxed and a bit…tired with this whole pep talk.

Ingrid's curiosity was piqued. "Are you one of those returnees?"

Varian shrugged. "Nah. I don't even know this place existed."

"Now you do. It's a fucked up place where you need points to keep living. The status window should've told you already.

If you haven't heard of this place and got here by accident, then why the hell are you so calm?"

Ingrid narrowed his eyes.

Varian sighed and walked to a water fountain or whatever fountain it was, since that strange purple liquid was definitely not water.

"Hm?"

Ingrid followed with a few steps. "Got a story to share, buddy? Are you that guy hoping to die and happy that this place suits?"

"…I will live." Varian said in a slow, quiet but irrefutable tone. "Paradise. Pfft. Gain points to keep living and gain some more points to get out? This is kid's play."

At those audacious words, Ingrid observed him with scrunitizing gaze.

He's confident in reading people. It's why he survived so far. And this man didn't seem like a liar or a braggart.

There's something about him. Something scary that's hidden away from the this normal and peaceful facade.

It's difficult to think but Ingrid's vast experience from killing millions was telling him that he, a self-proclaimed predator, was nothing more than an ant in front of a raging lion.

"…I have one question though." Varian said.

"Yes?"

"Who created this place?"

"What?"

Varian shifted his gaze and looked at the window that's beeping in front of him since he opened his eyes.

[Congratulations!

You were found 20 light years from the central area of my juridiction, floating in space with injuries.

Hm…

I should've handed you to the army for interrogation but nah, it's not fun.

Isn't it better to be in Paradise than in army?

But not every filthy beast can live in a Paradise, right? Right?

So, you pay 100 points every day for survival.