The atmosphere immediately became more uncomfortable.

A few exchanged looks. Others avoided eye contact entirely.

Still, none of them refused.

One after another, they stepped forward and repeated the same oath under my supervision while I listened carefully to every single word that left their mouths.

And by the time it was over, all of them had been bound.

Most looked uncomfortable afterward.

Not angry exactly, but uneasy in the way someone naturally would be after willingly chaining their life to a divine contract capable of killing them slowly if they betrayed it.

Still, this was necessary.

There was no world where I was allowing multiple Chosen-level goblins into the Emerald Midget Clan without guarantees strong enough to restrain them.

Once everything was finished, I turned and began walking out of the prison area, the others quietly following behind me now that the chains suppressing them had been removed.

The underground corridor was dimly lit by the glowing fungus embedded along the walls, our footsteps echoing softly through the stone passage as we made our way upward.

Earlier during the oath swearing, I had sent Narg ahead to gather everyone in the central area of the settlement.

If these guys were joining the clan, then it was better to make things official immediately instead of letting rumors spread first.

"Where are we going now?" Drel asked from behind me after several minutes of walking.

I glanced back briefly.

"I'm introducing you to my goblins."

"Introduction?" Kharos raised a brow as we continued walking through the corridor. "You aren't planning to have them stone us or something as some kind of initiation... right?"

I slowly turned my head toward him.

That was an oddly specific thing to jump to.

I gave him a long look.

"Do you want me to do that?" I asked flatly. "Because you sound very familiar with the idea."

"No, no, no." Kharos immediately waved both hands in denial, his voice rising slightly as he backed off the topic. "I was just asking."

I shook my head awkwardly and continued walking, the group following close behind as we moved through the underground passage toward the settlement above.

Then another thought crossed my mind, causing me to glance toward Caius.

"If I remember correctly," I said, "you mentioned that after losing your innate skill, you killed another Chosen to obtain a new skill line and regain your title. Is that right?"

"Yes," Caius answered calmly without hesitation.

Unlike Kharos, his reactions were always controlled. Measured.

"And what exactly is the name of that skill line?" I asked.

"It's called Foresight," Caius answered. "It allows me to see several seconds into the future."

My steps slowed slightly at that.

"...What?"

Caius remained calm as he continued explaining it.

"I can see brief flashes of future events, determine whether a course of action is favorable to me or not, and during combat, I can perceive actions that will occur several seconds ahead."

For a moment, I genuinely didn't know how to react to that.

My eyes widened slightly as I stared at him.

"What the hell..." I muttered. "That's an insanely attractive skill line."

And I meant that.

A skill like that sounded ridiculous in actual combat.

Even a single second of advanced perception during a fight between strong opponents could completely decide the outcome, let alone multiple seconds.

Yet Caius simply shrugged faintly as though the ability wasn't all that impressive.

"Several seconds is not a long time," he said, almost dismissively.

"In a battle, it is," I immediately shot back.

Because it absolutely was.

At high speeds, fights could shift completely within an instant. The ability to already know what attack was coming before it happened sounded borderline unfair.

But Caius shook his head slightly.

"In battles against the monsters we're about to face, it isn't."

I frowned slightly at that.

"And being able to see future events or determine whether an outcome benefits you isn't useful too?"

Caius let out a quiet sigh but didn't answer immediately.

Probably because there wasn't really a proper argument against it.

That skill line was absurdly useful no matter how you looked at it.

Combat, decision-making, scouting, negotiations, survival...

An ability like that could influence almost everything.

And honestly?

The more I thought about it, the more tempting it became.

Without realizing it, I had begun staring at him rather intensely.

"...What?" Caius asked slowly after noticing the look on my face.

"The ability you possess is a very tempting skill to steal, you know," I replied honestly.

Caius visibly stiffened.

Not dramatically, but enough that I noticed the subtle reaction immediately.

"Please don't kill me again," he said in the same calm tone he always used, though this time there was a trace of genuine discomfort beneath it. "Losing my innate skill was already painful enough."

That only made my grin widen slightly.

"How about I kill you one more time and return your innate skill to you?" I suggested.

Caius immediately shook his head and took a small step away from me.

"That doesn't return my title as a Chosen, does it?" he replied without missing a beat.

I continued walking toward him anyway.

"You can just regain the title again after killing another Chosen later, can't you?"

"Not anymore," Caius replied immediately.

For the first time in a while, his calm expression cracked slightly with genuine alarm.

"You only get two chances," he continued. "I've already used one. If I die again, I'll never be able to get the title of a Chosen."

That immediately made me narrow my eyes.

"...That's news to me."

"But it's true," Caius said firmly. "And the fact that nothing is happening to me right now should already prove that I'm not lying. Remember, I'm under an oath to remain honest with you."

I clicked my tongue softly at that.

Right. The oath.

If he were intentionally feeding me false information, there would've at least been some reaction from the binding by now.

That was... unfortunate.

Very unfortunate.

As tempting as his skill line was, I couldn't afford to let Caius permanently lose his status as a Chosen. Not with the King's Games approaching and the clan already lacking enough qualified members to properly compete.

Also, Granny Flogga had already explained what happened when a Chosen permanently lost that status. Their memories concerning the system, Lord Drugar, the Chosen themselves, and various higher-level truths gradually became distorted and unclear over time.

Not erased completely.

Just... blurred.

Like trying to remember details from an old dream after waking up.

Important information would become harder to recall properly, and eventually, even concepts they once understood clearly would start slipping apart.

The last thing I needed was Caius suddenly becoming unreliable halfway through the King's Games because his mind started deteriorating in weird directions.

Still...

That didn't necessarily mean things would remain the same forever.

At the moment, Caius as a Chosen held immense value to the clan. But depending on how things developed later, there might come a point where Caius himself became more valuable than the title attached to him.

And if that happened...

Well.

This conversation might resurface someday.

A grin slowly spread across my face at the thought.

Almost immediately, Caius took another cautious step away from me, clearly noticing the look I was making.

Honestly, the guy's instincts were annoyingly sharp.

"So..." I said, shifting the topic before he started panicking again. "You choosing to approach me and join my clan..."

Caius turned toward me quietly.

"Was that because your ability showed you a favorable outcome?"