CHAPTER 172: RECONCILIATION.

"Felix! Are you alright?!"

"Boy, what the hell is happening?!"

"You crazy asshole, why did you abandon me back then?!"

"Is it true that you betrayed us? Why man?!"

"Those guys are from the six guilds, right? Are we gonna fight them or what?"

The patrolling group members surrounded Felix, throwing at him several questions as Roven and Keliot held him from being pushed down.

"Oh uh..."

Felix stuttered listening to the constant questions before he turned on the Parabolic Hearing skill and found the questions he had answers to.

"Well, let me answer your questions one by one, alright?", he gestured at them to step back as he began explaining.

"I’m doing completely fine, and I had left the group back then because I detected some suspicious movements on the other side of the tunnel. Being a responsible and capable teammate, I decided to investigate the situation on my own. So lo and behold...."

Felix pointed at the group of traitors who were taking out the last of the Grablurs. "I came upon them! And yes, they’re from the six guilds alliance but..."

His comrades frowned at the mention of their backing, but they held back when there was a ’but’ in his speech as they waited for what he wanted to say.

"They aren’t the same. These guys betrayed the six guilds’ alliance and want to come to our base to help us."

Looking at him smile brightly, they turned silent for a few seconds to process his words.

Keliot was the one who broke the silence as he rubbed his forehead with a frown.

"How are you so sure that they’ve truly betrayed their guilds and are not trying to infiltrate us by posing as traitors?", he continued with his hypothesis.

"And then what if when we do take them to our base, they turn their back on us and leak our location to their leaders, letting them bring about their whole force to our unprepared bunch of a base."

Keliot’s words made sense to the others as they nodded and frowned, while Roven looked at Felix in worry as he wondered what he would say.

Anyways, he was ready to side with his teammates at any cost, but getting a good result out of this was still the best option.

"Oh, they wouldn’t do that. Why? Well, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it but...", Felix leaned toward Keliot’s ear and whispered.

"...these guys found out that their guilds are involved with the dark guilds."

As far as Felix knew, not many people knew this truth concerning the reason for the guild wars, except for the guild leaders and maybe even the executives.

This was kept a secret because it would’ve only brought needless panic and fear among the guild members, who had constantly heard and seen the evil methods of the dark guilds.

Felix moved back as he stared at Keliot’s face which turned serious. He ignored the questioning looks the others were giving them and continued.

"It’s your call now, Sir Keliot. We can either bring this to Sir Hiddon, the head of the patrol team, and let him decide... or we fight them here and risk getting ourselves killed. And as you can see for yourself, they’re far stronger than us."

Turning silent, Keliot narrowed his eyes and glanced between Felix and the group of newcomers, who were bringing down the last Grablurs.

After a few seconds, he let out a sigh and replied under the curious stares of the people around him.

"We’ll take them with us, alright. I don’t have the power to decide what to do here."

Felix smiled, knowing those guys weren’t their enemies as they were marked as green dots on the map now.

"By the way, why’s Steve sleeping?", he pointed at the unconscious boy behind the group.

"It’s because of you.", Eric scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

"Me? What did I do?", Felix had a confused look.

Roven scratched his head and explained with a bitter tone.

"Steve wanted to go find you when we heard you went deeper into the tunnel, so he and I rushed in alone through the middle of the horde. He didn’t give up no matter what, then went unconscious when he hit his limit and couldn’t fight anymore."

"I had warned you boys.", Keliot shook his head in reproach. "We’ll have to join the rest of the patrol team and seek a medic there for him to get better."

Felix glanced at Steve with a worried frown, who had a pale face.

He knew Steve was the reckless and hot-headed type, but for him to come rushing to his side by even putting himself at risk made him feel strangely overwhelmed.

"That idiot...."

Walking over to Steve’s side, Felix knelt down and touched the unconscious boy’s head.

Suddenly, Steve twitched his lips, making a sound out of his mouth.

"Hmm?", Felix leaned forward to hear what he was trying to say.

After some stuttering, Steve finally said something comprehensible and audible,

"...hungry... give food...."

"Oh... that’s... understandable.", Felix shrugged as he got up.

On the other hand, as the traitors group finished taking out all the Grablurs, Keliot met with Nicole and had a small conversation as he informed them of heading back to the main patrol group.

After taking care of the scene, the group along with the newcomers, started making their way back to where they came from.

"You sure don’t wanna switch?", Roven awkwardly asked his teammate.

"Nah, it’s fine. I’ve got this." Felix waved a hand dismissively before reaching back to steady the body on his back.

Right now, he was giving Steve a piggyback ride... though in a rather awkward fashion. Normally, you’d expect Steve to be upright with his chest on Felix’s back, arms draped over Felix’s shoulders while Felix held his legs.

But the scene here was something that was causing everyone to hold back their laughter.

"Are you sure carrying him like that won’t... harm... or maybe kill him?", Roven asked again in genuine worry.

"Come on, Roven. Steve’s a tough nut to crack.", Eric replied as he fought the urge to let out an ugly grin. "I’m sure he’d say this was nothing to him if he were awake."

"Well, but still..."

"Don’t worry, Roven.", Felix smiled, his expression sincere.

"I’ve read it in the inter... the library, that this position wakes up an unconscious person faster. So it’s better if I carry him like this."

"Ughh...", Roven didn’t know what to say anymore, but he couldn’t help but glance again at the way Steve was being carried.

Felix gripped the boy’s legs, hooking them over his shoulders, while the rest of Steve’s body dangled limply down his back, his hands even brushing the ground now and then.

It was an awkwardly hilarious way to carry someone, something made obvious by the amused reactions of the people following behind.

But it wasn’t just comedic; it was downright brutal for Steve, who had unknowingly become the test subject for Felix’s latest questionable "hack of the day," an idea he’d stumbled across online back in his previous life.

’This will wake him up in a few minutes now.’, Felix thought hopefully, unaware that what he had read back then was actually a satire meme or a shitfact.

And like Roven, a few others were also skeptical of Felix’s method. But more than that, one of the newcomers couldn’t take their eyes off Steve’s upside-down face.

’That guy... I swear I’ve seen him somewhere...’, Warren thought, trying hard to recall where he had seen that boy.

But the inverted face with their hair flowing down wasn’t exactly a common way someone would see a person normally, so it was easy to understand why he wasn’t able to recognise them later in such a ridiculous position.

Well, it may not be right now, but when Warren does finally remember who the green-haired boy was, then it would be the beginning of the weirdest and the most terrifying duo that this world wouldn’t dare think of.

Until then, they were just an upside-down dangling boy and an up-and-coming traitor.