Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 30: Powder Keg

Dialla blew an errant strand of hair out of her face while staring at the papers scattered across her desk. Coordinating with the various organizations that kept Puppet Town running had always been a full-time job. Now that they were restructuring the settlement’s industries and economy, not to mention training a militia and teaching everyone how to defend themselves, she was busier than ever.

Although she was slammed, she had energy to spare, thanks to the core Trapper had talked her into binding. Dialla’s better half had helped her reach the fourth cycle of stage zero before the crew left on their latest hunt. She had used the attribute points to boost her physique across the board. Her body felt strong, fast, and agile, with enough Endurance to work all day and into the night.

On top of everything else, she already looked a decade younger—a gift of the potent magic flowing through her veins. Part of her still felt uneasy about utilizing such a valuable resource while most of the town’s inhabitants were coreless. She reminded herself that the Basic core had been a gift, not a communal resource, and Dialla had to admit that it was making a big difference. When she finished deciding what skills she wanted to slot, her core would be even more useful than it already was.

She turned to face Tessa, who had been chatting with her on and off while she processed one stack of documents after the next. “Do you want to try being mayor for a while? I could take a turn standing guard and let you make all the decisions.”

Her bodyguard and old friend just laughed. “Not for all the Credits on Ord. My job is hard enough. I can’t imagine taking on your legion of responsibilities.”

Tessa walked over and handed Dialla a hot cup of tea, then added, “That being said, why don’t you find someone you trust to help with the minutia? I think Emily would be up for the job. You need to start delegating some of this work anyway, and if, gods forbid, something ever happened to you, we need someone else who understands the intricacies of managing the settlement to take over. It’s only going to get more complex going forward, and it’s best if you focus on the high-priority items and let other people deal with the day-to-day decisions.”

“Thanks, Tessa. That’s honestly not a bad idea. I don’t have time to vet potential candidates, although I might invite Emily up for a chat sometime soon. Maybe move her into my office during the day, so she can learn from observing.”

“Let me handle this one. Emily is a good fit for your right hand, and I’ll wrangle up candidates for some other roles. Someone to help with ledgers and finances, and another to tackle logistics and resource distribution. We could probably use a permanent liaison with the peacekeepers and militia too. There are some open offices right down the hall. Let’s start expanding your cabinet now, before the situation grows more cumbersome than it already is.”

Dialla knew a good idea when she heard one. She was just about to grant Tessa permission to start scheduling interviews, when a message from the System appeared before her eyes. She knew it was important when she saw that it was addressed to the leader of Puppet Town, and her eyes were wide by the time she reached the end.

A member of your faction, Setna Fie, has accomplished a notable feat (Encounter the boss of an unconquered dungeon).

As a result, Puppet Town is eligible to complete the following quest: Clear the Savage Garden.

Faction reward: Core Manufactory (D-Grade).

She let out a deep breath, hands shaking with excitement. This changes everything. A core manufactory will give Puppet Town a fighting chance to get ahead of the curve. A way to become strong enough to face the danger that’s coming. We must get our hands on it, no matter what the price. Dialla knew that her next decision would likely cost good people their lives, but it would save even more in the end.

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There wasn’t a moment to spare. The coordinates for the dungeon had been included with the message. It was located near the border of the Ivory Plains—in one of the high-threat regions she’d sent Setna’s crew out to explore. There was a chance that someone else would clear the dungeon if they didn’t get there fast, which meant that she needed to send out an expedition no later than tomorrow afternoon.

Tessa knew that something big had happened, but she didn’t say a word until Dialla had regained her composure.

“Cancel everything and get the leaders of the factions in my office within the hour. Don’t take no for an answer. We have a situation on our hands that is vital to the future of the settlement, and we need to move fast.”

***

Yussuf the Red flashed a Chesire cat grin, then drove his fist into the stomach of the man in front of him. The blow was hard enough to make the young warrior vomit, but he didn’t cry out or voice a complaint. He just rose back to his feet, wiped the spit from his chin, and returned Yussuf’s gaze with alert eyes that barely betrayed the anger burning behind them.

This one has potential. He’d be happy to slit my throat while I’m asleep, but he’s brave enough and will follow my orders. I’ll include him in the next initiation. If he survives the Gauntlet, he will become a valuable member of the Crimson Claws.

The next prisoner lined up in front of Yussuf was a woman in her early thirties. Instead of bearing this ordeal with the stoicism of the man beside her, she made the mistake of pleading for mercy.

“Please. Don’t do this. Let me go and I promise to forget this ever happened. I don’t want to be a part of your faction. I don’t want to hurt innocent people. You must have people who you care about too. Friends, family, someone back home. Let me return to looking for mine and I’m sure that we can find a way to coexist…”

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That was as far as she got before Yussuf leaned in, looked her straight in the eye, and then lashed out with one hand. It wasn’t until blood began spurting out of the woman’s neck that she realized what had happened.

She pressed her hands against the ragged ruby gash parting her throat, but Yussuf had severed a major artery. Within a handful of seconds, the drop in blood pressure knocked her out, and she drew her last breath shortly after.

He repressed the urge to sigh. He didn’t like killing conscripts out of hand. Even the unwilling and the untalented had their uses after all. But the woman’s appeal to his humanity had sealed her fate. Even if Yussuf was inclined to be merciful, which he was not, anything besides an immediate execution would have made him look weak in front of the other convicts—a veritable death sentence for the leader of a jailbird gang.

The rest of the people lined up before him, who had been captured near the border of the Gilded Heights, tried not to show the horror they felt. He took it as a promising sign. There might be another candidate or two that would be worth adding to their teams. If not, there were always dangerous jobs and hard labor that needed doing, and when the bottom-tier conscripts inevitably died on the job, his beasts could always use another meal.

He was about to inspect the final row when his Guide appeared of its own accord, bearing a message from the System. When Yussuf reached the last word, he began to laugh. It had been quite a while since the planetary AI had done him any favors, but this was fantastic news. On top of an opportunity to take the Crimson Claws to the next level with a core manufactory, there was another settlement somewhere in a bordering biome, whose members had entered an unconquered dungeon and triggered the quest he’d received.

After his people followed the trail leading from the dungeon, the Claws could raid the settlement for supplies and initiates. Maybe even relocate his forces if it wound up being better situated than the Gilded Heights, which despite its name, was nothing more than a crude collection of roughhewn structures. When he was done enjoying the moment, Yussuf turned to his second in command—a brutal, heavily-scarred woman who went by the name Ripper.

“Call in the leaders of all four warbands. A prize beyond measure has fallen into our laps, but we must hurry if we want to claim it.” That was when he remembered where he had heard the name Setna before. She belonged to a hunting crew working out of Puppet Town. When he realized what that meant, he broke into a bloodthirsty cackle that made even Ripper take a step back.

I never expected that Puppet Town and the Ivory Plains would be our new neighbors. Wait for me Earl, I’m coming. You won’t get away again. It’s finally time to settle the score.