The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 12: They escaped

Chapter 12: They escaped

With John and his group backing him up, there were eight people who agreed. Faced with the remaining twelve, no one wanted to take the risk of saying they didn’t deserve it, even though they knew it was true.

After all, could they gather another eight to stand up to them? And even if they could, generally speaking, the eight on the other side were more powerful than the rest of the students.

They couldn’t fight back.

However, Zaid frowned.

He realized this was a clear attack on him.

’So they want to strip me of my tokens, huh.’ He clenched his fists in anger. However, there was nothing he could do.

Revealing too much of his current power—especially those talents—would put him in a dangerous situation. The Zacharys are not a passive family.

They won’t allow someone who’s been cast out of the family to rise up, so he needs to be careful about how he acts. It was annoying, because he didn’t like having to hide, but if he didn’t, he’d be doomed.

He knows his family better than he did until recently; he knows just how ruthless they can be.

That’s why he decided to keep quiet for now.

Alice also noticed some strange things, but she didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to deal with all her classmates.

While everyone was hesitating, Lucas stepped forward. He had a suggestion.

"I suggest we change our approach to the search. Instead of moving as a single group, why don’t we split the group into two groups of 10 people? We’ll try to find as many tokens as possible in the little time we have left. With two groups of ten, we’ll be more effective and we can protect ourselves from the corrupt essence."

His suggestion... somehow annoyed several of them.

That’s what they should have done from the start!

However, now was not the time to dwell on it, but to take the best possible action.

"I think Lucas’s suggestion is a good one. Who’s with him?" Jackson asked.

’A suggestion I made is now being put forward by some idiot, and no one realizes that Jackson is simply trying to win everyone’s trust through it.’ Zaid thought. Most of his classmates agreed with the suggestion.

Then the group split into two...

Zaid and Alice went along with a group of mostly useless people.

"No leaders. We’re just going to look for what we need to find," said one of them, the toughest guy in the group. He didn’t take charge; he just started walking.

He looked furious, but that was just his usual expression.

"Z-Zaid, don’t you think those guys from earlier are suspicious? All the Tokens... ended up in the same group." Alice whispered a few words that were barely audible to Zaid.

Zaid nodded. He agreed with her.

"I think they’re planning something..."

"To escape?"

"Probably."

"That... that’s going to get us into trouble." She felt frustrated and, for the first time, showed a hint of anger.

The beautiful yet firm contours of her face tensed, and even her eyes sparkled with a honey-colored glow, as beautiful as the sunset.

Zaid was transfixed by that spellbinding beauty... But a moment later, Alice’s eyes returned to normal, and he was able to snap out of his daze.

’She looks beautiful, but her aura... Why is it so peculiar? What kind of talent does she have?’ he thought.

But even though he wanted to know, he wasn’t "close" enough to her for it to appear in his Talent Shop. He needed to get closer to her or build a better relationship with her for it to appear.

"Still, I think we’ll be fine," Zaid said suddenly.

She turned to look at him. "Really? But we only have one hour left..."

Zaid nodded. "The professor said this place was the closest thing to a dungeon. Do you remember?"

"The only difference is that there aren’t any beasts..." She finished the professor’s sentence.

Zaid nodded again. "That’s why I think we’ll be fine. Let’s keep looking," he said and started walking faster.

Alice couldn’t understand what he meant, but she had to walk faster to catch up.

Because of the mistakes they’d made during the first three hours—focusing on searching closest to the entrance first—they now had to walk much farther, exhausted, to try to get a token.

Because of that, they spent 35 minutes walking...

"Didn’t you guys feel a token around here?" one of them asked.

"Actually... right where I’m standing," another confirmed, looking around, even down at the ground beneath him.

"It disappeared? There’s no way..."

"What the hell is going on?"

Zaid surveyed his surroundings. He looked at the trees. The enormous roots...

Suddenly, he frowned. "We... are in the first section," he said, and turned away.

"There are no signs, but I think the entrance is over there..." he said.

"Huh?" Someone turned to look at him. He was about to ask if the man was crazy, but he, too, had a sense of familiarity with this part of the forest...

No sooner had he said that than five people appeared, hurling insults at one another.

The shouts of insults came from two people, who were pointing at three others.

"It’s obviously your fault! You were the ones who supported them, and we put our trust in you!"

"You were clearly in cahoots with them!"

John, the one who stood out the most, suddenly exploded. "Shit, you damn bastard! How could I be in cahoots with them and end up in this situation?! Is it my fault those bastards don’t keep their word?!"

"You guys..." Zaid stared at them and called out to them.

Then, John and his group froze, staring back at them.

"You guys have tokens too and want to escape, don’t you, you bastards?!" John roared, furious.

"Huh? Are you an idiot, John?! We’re lost!"

"Lost at the entrance to the dungeon, you damn bastard?!"

"We have no idea what...!" The speaker was interrupted by Zaid.

"Wait." He stepped forward and faced John. "What did you just say about escape? Where are the other five?" he asked.

"They..." John couldn’t answer. He swallowed his words...

"They ran away, those damn bastards!" roared another member of the group of five who had been left behind.

"D-did they run away?" someone asked, stammering.

"They led us to this area, and suddenly we split up to look for some tokens. When we came back... they were crossing the entrance. Those damn bastards tricked us."

Zaid nodded...

’Just what I was afraid of,’ he thought.

"Couldn’t you stop them?" Zaid stared at John. "In terms of strength, the three of you are stronger than those five. Even though you don’t have any weapons right now, it shouldn’t be hard to stop them."

"..."

"Tsk." Zaid grumbled at their silence. "In the end, you’re injured because you made a deal with them and they ended up betraying you." He sneered.

"You...!"

"How could you not have noticed that? I thought more of you than that, John. At school, you had a reputation for being sharp." Zaid taunted him again, and even though John was angry, he couldn’t say anything.

"This isn’t the time for this... I think." Suddenly, Alice tried to mediate between them. They both stared at her in astonishment.

"W-we should think about whether we’re going to give up... or keep going," she said.

It was her enchanting, beautiful voice that calmed the hearts of the two of them and everyone present.