Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 287: Pauline’s Apology

Chapter 287: Pauline’s Apology

"I’m sorry for running away! I thought I could lead them away but I failed! I’m really sorry!"

Kibiwott’s judgmental gaze lay on Pauline hard. Her hands were folded and her eyes were cast on the ground. Kibiwott judged her harder. "Leading them away?"

"If not lead, then distract. Once their backs were turned, I thought you could strike them. That way, I could blast them too. It would have been a two-pronged assault," Pauline explained, and then sighed. "But it failed. I apologize for that. Really."

"Then you should have said that instead of expecting me to read your mind."

"S-sorry. I’m so sorry. Genuinely. I didn’t mean to leave you." The veins on her lithe, pale hands tightened. "I apologize again!"

The rain served as solace for the two. Kibiwott pursed his lips and shook his head. "No."

"No...?"

"Let’s say I believe you. I don’t want to be mean, Pauline. I’m saying this out of concern but I don’t want you fighting with me. I don’t want you fighting with anyone else here. You just can’t do it. You cannot fight."

Pauline’s eyes fell. "But..."

"You should have levelled up before coming here," Kibiwott said. "You should have told us that your ability to cast skills is low class. You put me and everyone else in jeopardy by not saying anything."

Kibiwott turned to Kazi. "You knew, didn’t you? Or...was it that you were too strong to notice?"

Kazi didn’t respond, his usual smile maintained. In the meantime, Akihiko, Kenzo, and Remmy entered the scene.

"What’s up with the rain?" Remmy asked. "It’s giving me mana which is great and...oh, look at that." He pointed at Kenzo’s shoulder, then his left knee. "He’s healing too."

"A checkpoint, maybe?" Akihiko suggested.

"Like a reward for reaching an interval," Kenzo added. He raised a hand and let the water flow to his shoulder. Slowly, the pitter-patter was weakening until it was gone entirely. The clouds cleared up.

Kazi had curled a hand. The Divine Rain was not too difficult to maintain. The issue lay in visibility. Everything became dark once the clouds appeared. So although they gained one advantage, they would lose another. Especially in the dead of night where torches and the moonlight were their only friends.

"Lucky us, eh? Now we won’t have to waste supplies," Remmy said.

The disinterest in Kibiwott’s face was apparent. His frustration pointed directly at Sylvia, who was discreetly talking to a villager, his voice boomed, "Are you seriously fetching another drink!?"

"Yeah?" Sylvia glared back at him. "So what? Gonna steal it from me?"

Jackson stood beside Kibiwott and put a hand to his forehead. "Sylvia...!"

"You...and you." Kibiwott pointed at Jackson and Sylvia. "I can understand being afraid to fight. I can understand lacking confidence. But you are not like that. You two are dogshit at fighting. Your teamwork is asinine and honestly? It’s obvious why. Sylvia, you need to stop drinking."

Her glare were fighting words in of themselves. "Like I care."

"How does a drunk expect to fight, explain that logic to me."

"I don’t need to explain anything. I nearly broke my back protecting this fake village, I should get a fucking reward," Sylvia replied, huffing. "Bye. Don’t disturb me."

"Sylvia!" Jackson snapped. The woman stopped, glanced at him once, and then shooed at the tiny villager to lead her to her drinks. "You darn—! Why can’t you listen for once!?"

"Lalalala!"

"God, woman! Can’t you be selfless for one minute of your life? You’re so stuck up, you’d drown in a rainstorm!"

"Sorry, I have a daily time limit when it comes to doing things I don’t want to do and I exceeded that when fighting those things." Sylvia lifted an arm high in the air and walked away like in a cat walk. "Bye-bye, Jacky boy!"

Jackson yelled after her. The woman did not care, yawning and crawling into a dwelling.

"Gah!" Jackson spat on the mud. "She’s pitching a hissy fit with a tail on it."

"Like I said," Kibiwott said, "you two are the worst of us."

"Who licked the red off your candy? I’m doin’ nothing but helping!"

"Are you?"

Jackson narrowed his eyes and squared about to him. Remmy wanted to get between them but Kazi stopped him with a hand. Jackson went right up in Kibiwott’s face, taller and higher levelled.

"Ya know, I was being nice to y’all. I know how you feel about my kind. You think we’re idiots. Stupid. But you..." He pointed a finger, shaking his finger. "Ooh, you’d call an alligator a lizard."

"I’d call you stupid, yes."

"Why you...!"

"Everyone, let’s caaaalm doooown." Pauline’s slow, drawn out voice did not help. It did the opposite and stoked the fires of annoyance. "Let’s take a deep breath and focus on our objectives."

"I am!" Jackson raised his voice. "We all are, except this little turd is criticizing everybody for every little thing! Fightin’ is never clean and easy! This trucker expects it to be when it ain’t work that way!"

Kibiwott clicked his tongue and took a step back. He looked disgusted. "Ridiculous."

"Excuse me?" Jackson grabbed him by the shoulder. "Say that to my face, mothertrucker."

"I told Pauline that she was weak, that the drunk is a complete waste, and that you lack responsibility and the ability to cohesively fight. Did you hear all that? Or do you require me to speak closer?"

"Who made you the high and mighty leader!?"

"Leader?" Kibiwott scoffed. "If I were a leader, I wouldn’t have paired you with the drunk cow."

"Don’t call her a cow, you twat!"

The rain withered away and so did the argument, although not the heat of emotion. Droplets of rain ran down scowls and grimaces. The men did not break away until the Yumboes hesitantly asked them if they wanted to eat fish. Jackson spat on the mud, baring his teeth at Kibiwott, and softened his voice to tell them he would love to eat with them.

Kibiwott ignored them and stayed where he was.

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