The canvas tent barely muffled the wind, which rattled through the rusted scrap perimeter like a dying breath. A makeshift lantern flickered from a cracked ceiling hook, casting warped shadows across the floor. Lin Feng sat cross-legged on a dented folding chair, nervously tapping his knees. The other four chairs were occupied by the girls—his companions, his waifus—each radiating a very different kind of pressure.
"Okay…" Lin said, voice cracking as he rubbed his clammy palms on his sweatpants. "So, uh, now that the wolf quest is… you know, done and stuff—good job, everyone!—we should, uh, probably decide our next step... heh…"
Yue Qingling sat with perfect posture, her frost-lined combat suit flawless as ever, despite the grime and travel. She gave a small nod, arms crossed under her modest chest, crystalline eyes locked onto Lin.
"We should consider a strategic hub for expansion. The bandits mentioned two options. Redpine and Gravetown." Her voice was flat. Analytical. "Redpine offers tactical advantages. An ex-military presence could mean access to munitions and encrypted comms. If we're serious about survival, that's the logical move."
"But military also means rules," Sierra drawled from her seat, sprawled with one boot kicked up on the edge of a crate. Her ponytail was still damp from wiping mutant wolf blood off it. "And a buncha hard-ass command types. You really wanna march around with a gun up your ass every day?" She popped a gum she definitely didn't have. "Gravetown sounds looser. Traders, tech, supplies. Way more my speed."
Yuzuki bounced in her seat like she was about to perform an idol routine. "Producer-samaaa~! If Gravetown's full of markets and crowds, then we can put on a show! I could sing again, desu!" Her eyes sparkled. "Imagine it! Spotlight! Fans! And maybe I can find a new ribbon for my hair~!"
"Gravetown is chaos," Yue interrupted coldly, voice sharper than the edge of her frost daggers. "We cannot afford chaos."
"And yet we travel with it daily," Celestine whispered. She sat with her legs folded beneath her like a shrine maiden, staring into the flame of the lantern. "The cities are echoes. Gravetown is alive. It breathes and bleeds. Redpine is already a tomb. I would rather whisper to merchants than kneel before soldiers."
Lin gulped.
They were all looking at him now. Four pairs of eyes. Cold. Fiery. Starry. Insane. His stomach flipped.
He tried to sit straighter but ended up looking more hunched.
"U-Uh… right, so, um, I was just thinking…" Lin cleared his throat and pushed up his cracked glasses. "L-Like, maybe Gravetown, y'know? N-Not that I'm, like, the boss-boss or anything. But we're not really, um, soldiers, right? And I think, uh, maybe trading stuff and scavenging and—l-like, people connections and stuff…?"
He trailed off when Yue's eyes narrowed a little.
Lin forced a nervous chuckle. "Haha, not that I'm saying you're wrong or anything! Y-You make, like, totally logical points! You're, uh, smart, and deadly, and, uh, really hot in that assassin-y way…"
Yue blinked.
Lin slapped his mouth. "I-I mean, cool. You're really cool—as in, ice cold. In the good way. Like a soda. Fuck. Sorry."
Yuzuki giggled behind her hands. "Producer-sama is blushing~! So cute~!"
Sierra snorted. "He's always like this. One bad sneeze and he'd nut through his pants."
"I-I wouldn't!" Lin squeaked. "That was one time! I mean, not that it happened—just hypothetically—uh—!"
Celestine smiled softly, her violet eyes glowing faintly. "Gravetown calls to him. It's not logic. It's instinct. His thread pulls there."
"Exactly!" Lin jumped on the excuse like a drowning man grabbing driftwood. "See? C-Celestine gets it. Maybe… the system wants me to go there. Or fate. Or… uh… the vibes."
Yue slowly exhaled through her nose. She didn't argue further, but her silence was its own kind of judgment. "Then I will begin recon planning. If the area is crawling with scavengers, we'll need to rotate shifts. I want full eyes on perimeter."
"Hey, if we end up running into a bunch of greedy assholes trying to sell us fake ammo," Sierra said, pointing a finger at Lin with a wink, "just let me handle it, pretty boy. I'll flirt us outta trouble. Or shoot it in the face."
Yuzuki clapped her hands. "Yay~! Gravetown, Gravetown, Gravetown~! Should I prepare my encore outfit, desu?"
"You're wearing a skirt made of tire rubber and a top made from a traffic cone," Yue said dryly. "There is no 'outfit.'"
"Rude! Producer-sama loves it when I twirl!"
Lin looked away, red-faced. "I-I never said that out loud…"
Celestine tilted her head. "We should leave at dawn. The dead will be sleeping. The city, not yet awake. That is when the spirits of trade whisper the truth."
Lin nodded quickly. "R-Right. Yeah. Dawn. Let's do that."
He rubbed the back of his neck, relieved they weren't arguing anymore. For a moment, he thought Yue was gonna freeze him mid-sentence.
Still, as the conversation drifted into tactical packing and supply prep, Lin leaned back in his chair and glanced at the flap of the tent, where the night wind brushed through.
Gravetown.
A place full of strangers. No clear rulers. Opportunities… and risks.
"Please don't be full of cannibals," he muttered under his breath.
A quiet hologram flickered to life on his shoulder. ESI smirked, chin resting on her palm.
"You're such a goddamn virgin," she whispered smugly into his ear. "But hey—at least your harem's finally getting spicy."
He swatted at her, missing.
Yue's eyes twitched.
"…Are you talking to yourself again?" she asked coldly.
"Uhhh. N-No. I was just—thinking three steps ahead!"
"…Hmph."
Lin waited until the maps were packed away, until Yuzuki stopped humming her made-up Gravetown theme song, and until Yue's icy gaze had shifted away from his face. Then he cleared his throat awkwardly and forced a serious expression.
"Well, uh, there's one more thing," he said, his voice cracking a little as the words came out. "I don't think… I mean… I don't plan to take the bandits with us."
That got their attention.
Sierra raised an eyebrow. "You mean the twenty guys we just beat into submission and left guarding the gates? The ones we fed and gave blankets to? You're saying we're just gonna ghost them?"
Lin flinched. "I-I mean, not like ghost-ghost them. I just… I don't think it's safe to bring them to a bigger city, y'know? They might, like, loot someone's vendor stall or stab a merchant in the ass just because they felt like it. And… and if they wear our colors, that's our rep on the line."
Yue didn't speak. She just watched him, the way a hawk might watch a particularly clumsy mouse try to cross an icy road.
"I thought about it, a-and I was wondering," Lin continued, wringing his hands, "Is there… maybe a way to get them to stop being total assholes? Like, maybe if we… I dunno, reformed them? Gave them a pep talk or, like, a class or something?"
Sierra laughed so hard she snorted. "Oh my god, you wanna reform raiders? What are you gonna do, Lin? Read 'em bedtime stories and teach 'em how to knit sweaters?"
"I wasn't thinking sweaters," Lin muttered, face going red. "I just thought… maybe there's a chance, okay? They're people too. Just… stabby people."
"You've been watching too much shonen anime," Sierra said, shaking her head. "They've been living off murder and rape since puberty. That shit doesn't go away because you give 'em a hug and a can of beans."
Yue finally spoke. "She's right. They follow you now because we outclass them. They see you as powerful. But that will last only as long as you remain stronger. If we leave, the power vacuum will rot from within."
Lin's heart sank. "S-So you're saying there's no way?"
"That's not what I said," came a soft voice.
Celestine.
She hadn't moved since they finished the map discussion. Still seated, still barefoot, her long black hair pooling over her lap like spilled ink. Her eyes reflected the lantern flame, faintly glowing like dying stars.
"There is a way," she said, her tone calm, eerie. "But it requires a little… setup."
Lin blinked. "Wait, really?"
Yue's expression sharpened. "What kind of setup?"
Celestine tilted her head, her voice lowering like a bedtime lullaby turned sinister. "Fear."
Sierra squinted. "You mean scare the shit outta them until they piss morality into their own pants?"
"Precisely."
"I-I dunno…" Lin said nervously. "I-I was thinking more like a motivational speech…"
"Oh, no, dear Catalyst," Celestine smiled serenely. "This world doesn't respond to speeches. It responds to fear. Fire. Symbols."
"Uh… what kind of symbols…?" he asked slowly.
Celestine's fingers intertwined in her lap. "The kind that make a man wake up in the night, heart pounding, afraid to sin again. The kind that make them whisper your name like a warning to their children. Let them believe you are a god. Or the vessel of one. That you've brought judgment once—and can bring it again."
Lin's Adam's apple bobbed.
Yue narrowed her eyes. "You're serious."
"I always am."
Sierra let out a low whistle. "You got a creepy church-girl vibe, but damn, I like it."
"I-I don't know…" Lin muttered. "Won't that just make them scared of us? What if they, like, revolt the moment we turn our backs?"
"They already fear us," Yue said. "That's why they haven't stabbed us yet."
"But fear without direction rots," Celestine added gently. "They need a narrative. A myth."
Lin stared at the dirt floor. His mind raced with thoughts of bandits kneeling, of trembling hands offering up stolen gear, of eyes wide with belief instead of hatred.
It felt wrong.
But it also felt… effective.
He looked up at Celestine. "W-What exactly would you do?"
Celestine's smile never faltered. "Tomorrow night, after the campfire meal, I will summon illusions. Glimpses of the horrors you can unleash. Echoes of the voices I've trapped in my mind. Perhaps… a vision of their fates, should they stray again. I will speak in your name."
Lin swallowed. "Like… a cult?"
"No," she said softly. "A legacy."
"Producer-sama's starting a religion~!" Yuzuki chirped.
"No!" Lin squeaked. "I-I mean—no, I'm not a god! I'm just some guy who used to microwave cup noodles wrong!"
Celestine bowed her head slightly. "But to them, you're the man who killed their alpha. The one who commands ice, flame, music, and mind. You don't need to be divine. You only need to be seen that way."
Yue looked at Lin.
"Your call," she said simply.
Sierra scratched the back of her neck. "I still think it's easier to shoot a few and let the rest learn by example, but hey—scare 'em into praying? That works too."
Lin rubbed his temples. "Okay. Okay. We'll try it. But—just… nothing too traumatizing, alright?"
Celestine's smile was serene. "Of course."
Yue raised an eyebrow. "You're letting her handle it?"
"I-I mean… she's good at spooky stuff," Lin said quickly. "A-And she talks better than me. Like, way better. Plus she hasn't… uh… embarrassed herself by tripping into a hole in front of the camp twice."
"That happened once," Sierra grinned. "Twice if you count the latrine."
"Not my fault it wasn't covered!"
Yuzuki giggled. "Don't worry, Producer-sama~! I believe in you! Even if you're not a god, you're my number one!"
Lin looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "I just wanted to survive…"
But the seed had already been planted.
And by this time tomorrow, a camp full of bandits might start calling him something else.
Q: Would you keep the bandits around or no?