Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 1783 Accountability

With three days passing in a flash, Vahn, Phae, Khun, and Gandr were inspecting the surprisingly spacious interior of their new workplace/residence. Buildings within the Tower had a penchant for being a lot bigger on the inside; so, while it looked rather small and homely from the exterior, there was more than enough space to conduct their business inside.

Since there were three floors, excluding the basement and storage area, Vahn decided it would be most efficient to set up his ’clinic’ on the ground level. It wouldn’t be their primary business, but, as was often the case when something was ’free’, there were bound to be a lot of Regulars coming by for treatment.

In actuality, Vahn intended to charge fees based on a Regular’s means, so, while it would be free for most, others would be charged exorbitant fees. He was effectively reversing the social dynamic that existed on the 5th Floor, providing aid to those near the bottom while, quite literally, handicapping those at the top.

Vahn had given Khun and Gandr permission to maim or even cripple anyone who tried to pressure them using nefarious means. This would leave them with little choice but to come to his atelier for treatment, as, even in the Tower, it was exceptionally difficult to have missing limbs replaced. There were plenty of methods, sure, but, much like everything else within the Tower, there was an extreme bias that made it impractical for most people to afford such services.

According to the Rules of the Inner Tower, Regulars were responsible for their own injuries and treatment during Tests. As a result, there were no facilities to treat missing limbs or other severe injuries. You couldn’t even exit into the Middle Tower to find treatment, as, prior to the 20th Floor, Regulars were restricted to the Inner Tower. This meant, if the injury was severe enough, the only option was to either give up your status as a Regular or trudge forward, gritting your teeth as you became a target for other Regulars who would see your disability as their opportunity.

Though their ’scheme’ might seem a little malicious and mean-spirited, the fact of the matter was that those with B-Class Citizenship, or higher, grossly mistreated those beneath them. There were a number of exceptions to this, but, unless you were willing to ingratiate yourself or become servile to one of the Ten Great Families, it was ’extremely’ difficult to pass through the 5th Floor.

The clinic was designed to shift this dynamic, effectively giving those at the top a taste of their own medicine. Though it would only affect the truly malicious and exploitative among the so-called Elite, it was meant to give them a taste of the helplessness they forced upon others. It would also teach them that, while their families were certainly great, that didn’t mean each individual of said families were able to act with impunity. They would quickly learn that the authority of the Ten Great Families had no place within the Inner Tower, a place that was supposed to test everyone ’fairly’...

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After cleaning the interior, arranging Phae’s workplace in the basement, and setting up numerous display cases on the second floor, Vahn had everyone gather within the clinic area, explaining, "We will open for business immediately. I’ll leave the delegation of specific tasks to you, Khun. This is still a Test, so make sure everyone is involved in some form or fashion."

Understanding that Vahn wouldn’t just allow them to stay in the Little Garden the entire time, Khun offered a curt nod in response before asking, "What is our training and rest schedule going to look like? I’ll need to plan our hours of operation around the use of the Little Garden."

Having anticipated Khun’s question, Vahn looked towards Phae, eliciting an amused smile from the woman as she manifested her Lighthouse. This prompted Khun to do the same, his brows furrowing slightly as he saw the data being transmitted.

Chuckling in response to the young man’s concerns, Vahn attempted to allay them by saying, "You need not worry. Though the clinic is going to remain open throughout the day, you don’t need to schedule anyone to assist me during rest and training hours. I can easily stay awake for months at a time so you can rest assured that this place will be protected for the duration of our stay."

Though he was a little surprised by Vahn’s claim, Khun felt considerably relieved knowing that the man would personally protect their business. This meant he could basically do whatever he wanted without having to worry about other factions. After all, even if every Regular on the Floor grouped up to fight against Vahn, the only thing Khun could imagine them accomplishing was increasing the body count.

Noticing Khun’s Loyalty increase by three points, an amused chuckle escaped Vahn’s throat as he manifested the Little Garden and produced the rest of Team Wolf Pack from the interior. Then, with Nare acting as his first assistant, he took a seat near his desk, organizing materials as he waited for his first group of patients to arrive...

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Though the first couple of days were a little slow, news of a ’miracle doctor’ capable of treating all wounds, seemingly for free, quickly circulated through Paradise Bay. This was met with considerable skepticism by most, but, with more and more people attesting to his existence every day, including several with previously missing limbs, it wasn’t long before even the most cynical among them were fully convinced.

Having anticipated their rapid surge in popularity, Khun spent most of his time negotiating with the businesses in their immediate surroundings. Most business owners were extremely opportunistic so it was common for them to rapidly increase their prices whenever there was a surge of traffic. They wanted to benefit as much as possible before the craze gradually died down, but, as this was a very harmful practice, Khun ’convinced’ them to lower their prices.

While it might hurt their bottom line in the short term, the reduced prices, combined with the draw of Vahn’s fame, were bound to increase the profitability of the entire region in the long term. After all, people would naturally gravitate toward areas with more affordable goods, so, with the majority of their clientele being people who wanted to save Points, rather than spend them, it didn’t make a lot of sense to inflate prices arbitrarily.

A lot of businesses hadn’t been willing to compromise in the beginning, but, as the profits of their competitors rapidly increased, they quickly jumped on the bandwagon. Only the businesses owned and operated by the Ten Great Families and their affiliates refused to play ball. Instead, they tried to take advantage of the increased flow of Regulars to force Lower Class Citizens to abide by their will. After all, many of the Regulars visiting the district were F and E-Class Citizens, so, even if they were maimed or murdered, there were no penalties for C-Class Citizens and above.

Unfortunately for these unscrupulous individuals, they quickly learned that there ’were’ penalties for their iniquities. This included a rather harsh lesson in accountability, as not only were the assailants held liable, so too were the factions backing them. This affected everyone within a specific chain of command, and, in the most extreme cases, more than a dozen people ended up suffering the same fate as the original victim.

As was often the case when those in power were held privately responsible for their misgovernance, it took less than a month for a tentative peace to be established within Paradise Bay. After all, they didn’t actually have the backing of their families within the Inner Tower; so, regardless of how much they touted their supremacy, their only options were to either advance to the next Floor, effectively running away, or bow their heads in acquiescence to a power far greater than their own.

Though the natural deterrent of Vahn and the countless Regulars supporting him helped to keep most people at bay, the true MVPs behind the tentative peace agreement were Khun and Gandr. The former had been able to convince most of the businesses operated by the Khun Family to ally with the ’Black Wolf Faction’ pretty early on. Soon after that, the Eurasia, Yeon, Ha, and Arie families quickly joined in, the latter two joining specifically because Gandr had beaten their representatives in single combat.

As the two strongest families within the Tower, the Ha and Arie Families produced the most prideful yet honorable descendants among the Ten Great Families. They genuinely respected the strong, so, after two ’very’ one-sided fights, they quickly agreed to the alliance. In exchange, they were allowed to challenge Gandr whenever they pleased, an ’unfortunate’ arrangement for the young Vanagandr considering both Representatives ended up being rather feisty and battle-hungry females.

Fortunately, while the Representatives of the Eurasia and Yeon Families were also young ladies, the former, a rather petite girl with pink hair and matching pink eyes, was more interested in sleeping than anything else. As for the latter, she had been toyed with by Khun in a contest of intelligence, so, rather than Gandr, she began lingering around the Black Wolf Atelier in order to ’get even’ with the young scion of the Khun Family. This caused the latter a number of headaches, not because he couldn’t handle the troublesome woman, but because it earned both him and Baam a considerable amount of teasing from the rest of Team Wolf Pack...

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With a forced smile on his face, Gandr held his Abby-tan in a loose stance as a young woman with exceptionally pale skin, pure white hair fastened into a short ponytail, and silver eyes glared back at him with an ornate rapier in hand. The red markings beneath her eyes were the only contrast to her pale features, and, though she was admittedly a very beautiful girl, she gave off the impression of an unsheathed sword rather than a living human.

To further complicate his current situation, a girl with surprisingly similar features to Yuri could be found skulking around in his blind spot. She was a fiery little brat with dark hair fastened into two pigtails with vibrant ribbons that matched the color of her eyes. Yuri was apparently her idol, like most young girls in the Ha Family, so she had copied the style used by the former during her climb up the Tower. She also had a rather extreme and battle-hungry personality, so, no matter how many times he had defeated her, she would invariably track him down the moment her injuries had been treated.

Sensing a surge of Shinsu from the twin-tailed girl, Ha Sung, Gandr produced an afterimage as he took a step back, deftly evading the girl’s flying kick. In the same motion, he brandished Abby-tan in a perfect crescent, shattering several ’blades’ formed from Shinsu and compressed Space. This caused the white-haired girl, Arie Serra, to adopt a determined glower as she began to swing her rapier in swift, graceful, arcs.

Arie-Style Swordsmanship, unlike normal swordsmanship, revolved around creating a ’domain of spatial control’ rather than simply attacking with a sword. This was what allowed them to use their weapons freely within regions of high-density Shinsu, as, rather than forcibly carving a path, they actually manipulated the Space within their surroundings to control the direction of their blade. It was a rather ingenious technique that allowed them to spontaneously attack from anywhere within their domain of control, but, against someone like Gandr, it was completely ineffective. Rather, if he still had [Will of the Emperor], he was pretty sure he could just ’disable’ their ability to control and manipulate the surrounding Space entirely...

After gracefully weaving through a seemingly inescapable net of attacks, coming at him from all directions, Gandr used [Shundo] to instantaneously close the distance between himself and Serra. This caused the girl’s eyes to widen, her rapier sweeping unhesitantly toward his shoulder by pure instinct. Before it could connect, however, Gandr lightly tapped her on the forehead with the butt of his katana before sinking into her shadow in an instant.

Feeling her body turn statuesque, Serra could only grit her teeth as Gandr reappeared behind Sung, startling the girl quite a bit before chopping the back of her neck. This caused the latter to collapse forward, nearly landing face-first against the reinforced stone arena until a bubble of peculiar black Shinsu appeared to cushion her blow. Then, with Abby-tan resting on his shoulder, Gandr adopted a somewhat fatigued smile as he tiredly mused, "That makes one-hundred consecutive victories..."

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Vahn protect, Gandr attac’,’A taste of their own medicine’,’Gandr seriously can’t catch a break xD...’)

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