Chapter 100: 100
Draco made no moves to stop her or absorb her anger . As dark and wicked as it may sound, he felt that this particular development was extremely good for her .
When he had been a 'good guy' in his past life, things had gone well .
However, he only rose to power after all his negative emotions erupted and he fell into the dark . One could say that his negative emotions had been strengthened due to the remnants of his bloodline, but it was crippled back then, and far too weak .
If Roma experienced an intense wave of genuine hate and anger, it would forever change her character into something he preferred .
Once a person fell into the dark, they never truly escaped . They just experienced bursts of light as they clawed their way back up .
Even Draco, who had cut off his hatred and anger in this new life, who had everything looking up and extremely promising for him, was still strictly a villain .
His actions were amoral and frankly, evil . He had no qualms doing certain things that most would not, just that his bottom line was much higher than in his past life .
If Roma went through this fully, she would become like him . In some ways, it was a good thing in terms of dealing with the reality of life and how humans behaved . On the flipside, it was bad because the world would no longer be colorful and beautiful, only becoming dreary shades of grey .
Knowledge was power, but it was also a curse .
The Party of Three walked through the leveled palisade walls of the Gypsy village to head into the interior . The further they went, the more dead Gypsies they saw, some even being women .
By the time they saw Vadoma's tent, Draco counted over 50 dead . Of course, there were quite a few monster carcasses as well, but not enough to justify the losses the Gypsies faced .
Draco entered Vadoma's tent to find the old woman seated at her table with almost dead eyes, her body slumped as if she had lost all hope in the world .
When Roma saw her mother like this, she cried out and rushed into her embrace . Vadoma seemed to come to life when she saw that it was her beloved daughter again, and she became a little more animated .
"Roma… my sweet daughter . I… sigh…"
Vadoma tried to say something, but halted immediately as she sighed with defeat . This made Roma even more distraught as she had never seen her wise and kind mother so weak in her whole life .
Our parents were always the most powerful people in our eyes, especially if they raised us with love and care . In the back of our minds, they would never fail and they would always exist to help you when you were down or defeated .
However, they were people too . Being the source of someone else's wisdom and comfort had its own stresses and difficulties . Vadoma usually did not have a problem, but today, she had been tested .
She had been tested and…
"I failed, Roma . I failed . "
The Queenmother looked like she wanted to cry, but didn't even know how to go about it . She was completely lost .
"Mother, tell me what happened . Let us talk and share our woes, for it is only then that we might find clarity . " Roma advised with a serious expression .
Vadoma smiled wryly and pinched Roma's nose lightly . "Repeating my teachings to me… you have truly become great, Roma . "
Vadoma sombered and went quiet for a bit, organizing her words carefully .
"The walls fell just over 30 hours ago, leaving your brother Vano with the herculean task of leading our defenders to stall the monsters while the non-combatants escaped . "
Vadoma sighed at this point . "However, we underestimated the monsters . We had taken them for maddened beasts that only sought to kill everything in sight, and that was true for the most part . "
"However, some monsters which had killed enough of their kind, or even those of sapients who live in the Four Point Valley, seemed to gain strength and intelligence with each person they consumed . Those that had consumed hundreds had become no different from you or I, in terms of sapience . "
When Vadoma revealed this, Draco and Qiong Qi froze as their hearts began to beat slightly out of order . The two of them felt like such an attribute was extremely familiar, but they absolutely refused to acknowledge the suspicion in their minds .
"They overcame our defenses and began killing all the guards . As their numbers dwindled and the non-combatants weren't out of the area fully, most of the men and the older generation chose to act as meat shields for them, a sacrifice so valiant that I've never been more proud to be a Gypsy . "
Draco and Roma agreed with this, and so did Qiong Qi .
It wasn't solely due to the fact that they had sacrificed their lives to save their kin since the former were a weaker party, but because they had come to terms with the fact that for the purpose of continuing the race, more women saved was much more important than more men saved .
It was a very harsh and discomfiting truth, but nature made it that way . It was one of the reasons why women were largely excluded from wars, because without them, rebuilding a race or clan was not impossible, but very hard . It was also more time consuming .
"However, it was not enough . The monsters would soon overcome this last ditch attempt and kill everyone . I…"
Vadoma seemed to become weaker here . "I couldn't sit by and allow that…"
Roma, Draco an Qiong Qi's expressions changed here .
"Mother, you…"
Roma's voice was cut off from the look Vadoma gave her in return .
"That's right dear… I interfered directly and vanquished the beasts while sending the remaining Gypsies to a special dimension only accessible by us witches . It should keep them safe and well until this incident is solved by Draco . "
Despite hearing what should be good news, everyone in the room became solemn . Roma seemed like she was having difficulty breathing and her eyes began to tear up .
"Mother… where is Vano?"
This question was like a whip that struck the back of Vadoma as she flinched and her lips began to tremble . Her old yet wizened voice became extremely feeble as she spoke .
"You know very well… that there is always a price to pay . For a spiritual leader to interfere with the battles of their clan, there is always a steep and personal price to pay…"
Roma directly broke down and began to cry as she hugged her mother tightly . Vadoma leaned into Roma's embrace and seemed to lose all her strength at this time .
The way they held each other, one would think that it was Vadoma who was sobbing while Roma comforted her .
Draco could only sigh .
To the NPCs of this world, the rules of the AI were the very truths of their reality . If the AI composed a rule and the NPCs - who were largely autonomous - broke it, there was always a price to pay .
NPCs were free to live or act how they wanted within the rules the AI had set .
Here, the rule was that these 'spiritual leaders', who were the Elf King, Vadoma, Lokthar and Flora, could not interfere in the battles of their clan in anyway . In fact, they could not do anything other than advise or guide .
This was naturally for the protection of the player . Not every player was savvy like Draco, who understood how to handle the different races .
Aside from evil players, who might either rape, kill or steal from the races of the Four Point Valley, some players with goodwill might inadvertently offend these spiritual leaders . If such a thing happened, how were they supposed to resist the wrath of a Rank 7 entity?
That was the meta-reason of course . To the NPCs, it was due to a rule of the world that dictated it to be so, and this rule had been kept for generations on end .
The rule wasn't oppressive though . If the various races under these spiritual leaders met with a foe they could not overcome, who were so far above them that it was an impossible fight, they could interfere and even the score .
Did the monster horde fall under this category?
No it did not, unfortunately . If the monster horde was comprised of Rank 3-6 monsters, Vadoma would have had the right to vanquish them all .
However, these monsters were all Rank 1, with some of them being within higher levels of Rank 1 than others . There was not a single Rank 2 monster in the lot .
To a human with emotions and empathy, one would try to ignore the facts and bend the rules a bit to allow the Gypsies a path to survival .
To an Artificial Intelligence that was emotionless and extremely objective in its thoughts, the rules were the rules . If it fit the rules, it was okay . If it did not, it was not okay .
The monster horde qualified as a threat at the same level of the Gypsies . This meant that it was up to them to find a path of survival and should they even be wiped out to a man, the spiritual leaders were not to interfere .
But how could anyone accept this? The Elf King and Lokthar might be able to overlook this and stick to the rules, but Vadoma and Flora were the type to break the rules for their people .
However, the punishment was swift and very harsh . The AI would take something of personal value of the NPC in question, which would serve as a lesson to the others in case they decided to stray from the rules the AI imposed .
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