I Reject Quests

"If it is within my capabilities to answer, then sure." Rewen chuckled in a casual tone.

"Then I want to know, who are you?" The 'En' of Jun had a serious look on his face.

"Me? I'm a normal everyday guy who is caught up in some big mess."

Svety flinched when she heard him say 'a normal everyday guy'. Which normal guy can defeat a Rank 2 Mage when he hasn't even reached Rank 0. 

The 'En' of Jun didn't speak for a while. 

"Why do you ask?"

"You do know that we tribal people are a little bit different from outsiders, right?"

"Yeah, different from normal people."

"Do you know why?"

"Racial abilities."

"Correct. However, to tell you the truth, not everyone has a racial ability. In the last century, I was the only one in the whole Area who has a racial ability."

"I see. So what's your point? I'm sure you aren't trying to brag by bringing this up."

"My racial ability is [Eyes of Fear]. Every living being has some amount of fear. Even newborn babies have fear. There is simply no living being that doesn't exist in fear. You might find it hard to believe but I'm fully blind. I can't see."

"What? No, like what!?" Rewen didn't expect himself to get hit by the sudden plot twist. 

Svety's mouth was left hanging open. 

The world is large. There are all kinds of people but it could be generally concluded that people who are blind have to carry a stick around. Vision is the most important of the five organs. Some heightened their senses over their senses over the years and somehow manage living without light in their life but even they have to carry a stick around.

'Each of this old man's steps are unhesitant as if he precisely knew where an object is. Maybe the reason he doesn't carry his stick around is because he was too familiar with his residence but what about the fact that he perfectly knew what was happening when I called the boy. How is that possible?'

"What fear could that boy have?" Rewen couldn't suppress asking questions.

"I don't know. I could only see there was some fear within him. If I had to guess, it would be you."

"That… makes sense." Rewen paused, then thought about a few more things. "What about non-living beings? Could you see them as well?"

"I can't, but I can see the living beings within them."

"Ah… microorganisms but what kind of fear could they have? They don't even have a brain to think!" Svety let out an exclamation.

"How would I know about science? All I know is that they too have fear."

"Like I said, how is that possible!?" Svety got heated.

"Svety, calm down. It's not that complicated. What do the mosquitoes do when you try to kill them? They run away. Why? Is it because they are fearful? They don't have the capabilities to have emotions. It's the primal instinct of a creature."

"Even microorganisms have that?"

"Apparently. It's very interesting." He then turned to the old man. "Is there some kind of color that allows you to distinguish between different objects?"

The old man laughed. "Even if you ask me, I can't explain. I know the concept of colors but don't know what is what. I can distinguish between objects, both living and non-living beings. Everything has their own uniqueness. When I see something new, I ask others what it is."

"Oh, sorry. That was a dumb thing to ask. It's an amazing racial ability to have but what does this have to do with anything?"

"You have no fear."

""Huh?""

Both Rewen and Svety raised their voices in unison.

"Right now, I certainly don't feel any fear but since you can see anyone's fear, it's unusual for you to not see mine."

"That's why I asked who you are."

"Even if you ask me… I have no idea if I'm anyone special. At most, I'm just a guy who is a bit stronger than his peers." Rewen lied. He did have an idea. 'What if the [Eyes of Fear] have a restriction like - It only works against real people? Technically, I'm not real. I just have the fake identity of a real person.'

The old man turned to look at Svety. "Is what he is saying the truth?"

"It is the truth. I can confirm."

"You can also see when someone's lying, huh. Your ability is a lot more useful than it seems." Rewen commented.

"I'm flattered. Fine. According to the condition, I will tell you the location of those cannibals but…"

"What?"

"You aren't allowed to tell the outside world about our affairs."

"That's a bit difficult. I'm going to fight the cannibals. What do I do after I defeat them?"

The old man snorted. "You just threatened the annihilation of my tribe and now you are scared to kill them?"

"You do know how I was going to 'annihilate' your tribe, right?"

"Enough of your wordplay. When you defeat them, hand them over to us if you feel too scared to kill them."

"I can't do that. I want to gain information about them. For interrogation, I have to hand them over to the authorities."

"In that case, I'm not telling. The result stays the same. Even if I tell you now, the outside world will come to know about affairs and if I don't, you would do the same."

Rewen fell silent. After a while, he opened his mouth. "Alright. I won't tell the outside world about this."

The old man nodded as if he had already expected the answer. "They are in the Qan Tribe."

"Wait. How are you so sure that I would keep the promise?" Rewen was a bit shocked at the old man's acceptance.

"If you break the agreement, you wouldn't have descendants."

***

Qan Tribe.

For the past three days, the entire tribe was in chaos. 

A man was lying flat on the floor with blood streaking from his missing left arm. Beside him was his wife and son. 

"Father, I have treated your arm." The son looked about fourteen-years-old. His eyes were dead but still had an outward calm appearance with stark contrast to his mother who had not spoken for the last three hours.

"Those cannibals will kill every single one of us..." The man with the missing limb couldn't help but sob. He couldn't care less about his home. If possible, he wanted to run away with his wife and son but he couldn't.

"Right. How many people are left?"

"Twelve."

The man's eyes went wide. "...only twelve?"

The son nodded.

At this time, a lean man wearing black entered the room. Ignoring others, he calmly walked towards the man. "Your arm is not bad at all." The lean man had a wide grin on his face.

The man with the missing arm didn't have any expression on his face. 

The lean man's gaze turned to his man's son. "You look fresh. How about you give your arm tomorrow?"

"Not my son!" The man with the missing arm flared up.

"Haha, look at you. So fired up. I was only kidding." The lean man patted the man on his back and left the room surrounded by everyone's terrified looks.

"What are you doing, Banci? Didn't Boss tell you to patrol the residence?" A green-haired half-naked man approached the lean man.

"Aben, you are too tight. Girls won't like guys like you."

"My name is Asen!"

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you."

The green-haired man, Asen, felt it was too tiresome to talk to this guy so he changed the topic. "What were you doing?"

"You should have seen their terrified faces." Banci had a look of ecstasy on his face.

"Stop with the act."

"Tsk. You are a cannibal so act like one."

"I don't want to and why are you forcing yourself to adjust to the role of a cannibal?"

"Because it's more fun that way!"

"You are just crazy."

"Thanks for the compliment."

While they were chatting, another man approached them. "Oy, Asen, Banci! Boss is calling!"

"Oh, Muniba. What's up?"

"Boss is calling."

The three went inside a large room on the second floor of the Qan Residence.

"Sit." A middle-aged man sitting in a chair said with a serious face.

"Why do you always look like we murdered your family? Learn to laugh and smile!" Banci unrestrainedly scolded him.

The three seemingly ignored him. 

"What's wrong?" Asen asked.

"I got news that the target has entered the Area."

"That's quick." Muniba commented. "So, how are we going to deal with him? According to the information, the target has defeated a Rank 2."

The Boss pointed to Banci. "At first, he would scout."

"Eh… why me? I wanna fight!"

"Boss, are you sure? We could just ambush him."

The Boss shook his head. "It has a high chance of failing. We can't afford to be careless and have to kill him as soon as possible. Whatever happens. Don't give him the chance to retaliate. Even better to not let him notice us!"