But a sneer stopped them all in their tracks. Well, a sneer and the twenty-ish burly men were making their way forward, sending intimidating glares their way. A voice echoed powerfully:
“Tch— You guys have all been tricked. Didn’t you all see how the NPC made a risky move towards the end of the fight? I’m sure the training instructor was trying to end things quickly so he could teach us. This guy only won because of this!”
A man came forward. It was the one that had just spoken. Jack recognized him. It was the unknown character that had asked him to join his Wolf Furry family or something. He was provocatively glaring at him as he spoke again:
“You cheated to win! How dare you revel in all the glory, eh?! Aren’t you ashamed? What do you have to say for yourself! Are you going to deny winning thanks to such a trick?!”
“Deny? No? That’s exactly how I did it…” Jack admitted without any remorse. Was he supposed to congratulate the guy for having eyes? He also had a mouth for sure… too bad he lacked a brain.
The leader spun around with arms raised in triumph:
“There you have it, ladies and gentlemen! He cheated! Now, this isn’t that big of a deal, but what will happen with the knocked-out instructor now? This little stunt will cost us dearly. While we are here standing still, the players in the other villages are progressing!” He roared.
It’s at this exact point that public opinion shifted. People had considered the man a rude asshole, but they now had a different impression. He was a rude asshole that spoke some truth!
They all came back to their senses. What the fuck were they doing dilly-dallying?! Perhaps the other players were already killing chickens by now!
They all stared at Jack with evident disapproval, some realizing that they too were to blame for enjoying the show so much. Still, this didn’t change their current predicament. What were they supposed to do? Some began lowly discussing the issue.
“Maybe we can wait, and he’ll wake up?”
“How about we bring him to a doctor?”
“Is there even one in this village?”
“There is the old lady that sells potions…”
“No, we can’t buy any. It’s too damn expensive!”
“Perhaps we could bring him to the village chief?”
Some even turned to Jack in search of answers. After all, he was the main culprit behind the current state of the instructor.
“This…I’m awful at saving lives…I can’t even do CPR.” Jack admitted in a low voice as he shyly scratched his head.
Of course, the Wolf Leader wouldn’t let such a chance to ridicule him go:
“What? You can’t even do something so simple! All one needs to do is pump following the beat of Staying Ali—” The man chuckled only for a henchman to stop him for copyright reasons.
“Wow. You know how?!” Jack exclaimed, his eyes and tone full of admiration.
“What?! Of course!” The furry guy was confused by this sudden reversal.
Had the mysterious expert come to his senses and decided to suck up to him? Praising his CPR was definitely an odd and clumsy move, but it was a start. Should he tend him an olive branch? After all, the man had evident skills that could help their family.
But then this followed…
“Great! You can revive him then!” Jack happily clapped his hands before pointing at the unconscious training instructor.
A gentle breeze passed amidst the frozen players. They replayed that innocent sentence over and over in their heads: only to be disgusted! Why would he even suggest such a thing? There were plenty of female players. Why would he ask a guy to do it?!
“Fool, why the heck would I—?!” The man instantly protested.
“If you don’t want to do anything about it, then stop complaining. It’s childish.” Jack innocently shrugged as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The crowd couldn’t help but stare at the man that seemed so innocent yet was so darn impish! This left the wolf leader in a very awkward position. He had just bragged about knowing CPR, and it would be weird if he refused to perform it now.
“Who else here knows CPR?” He turned toward the crowd, hopeful.
However, everyone averted their eyes wisely. Usually, there would have been many volunteers, but did they want to step into this conflict between an expert and a powerful PVP guild? Hell no! Who knew how they would die! Both had the potential to make their lives hell!
The wolf guy could only turn toward his minions, signaling them to take the fall. They couldn’t help but curse this whole situation right now, but they had to do it nonetheless.
A quick rock paper scissors game later, a poor guy was dragging his feet toward the defeated NPC. Why had he picked rock! This was a tragedy. Should he fake losing connection? No, it wasn’t that easy. Just as he reached his target, Jack spoke again.
“Will you seriously sacrifice one of your men? Are you that reluctant to save a life? I pity your so-called family. If one of them needs CPR one day to survive, they might as well be dead, am I right?” Jack exaggeratedly sighed.
Dom couldn’t help but feel cornered. He had no obligation to proceed with such a farce, but it would probably stain his reputation with his men. His family-oriented reputation was on the line! He resolved himself for the worse, swearing that he’d destroy the cheeky bastard later on.
“Fine! I’ll freaking show you all how CPR is done! All of you observe carefully!” He roared akin to a courageous hero. Surprisingly he managed to make it seem epic rather than pitiful.
He powerfully walked toward the NPC. The nearby henchman was crying tears of relief as he admired the courage of his boss. The others were giving a silent salute for his sacrifice too.
Meanwhile, that one rotten girl in the crowd was becoming really excited, her breathing rougher by the second. Two men were about to kiss! This was akin to a scene from a fairy tale but with BL making it better!—or so she was mumbling.
The man slowly approached the sleeping NPC. He was slightly flushed as his heart seemed to be beating faster than usual, from the freaking shame! He ever so slowly approached his lips from the man’s face—in extreme reluctance.
Just as their lips were about to touch, the NPC opened his eyes.
There was a magical moment with both the CPR participants looking at each other utterly flabbergasted. Then the instructor seemed to come back to his senses.
“You…what are you doing?!” He lowly growled.
“T-that…I can explain!” The poor man felt like going crazy.
On the sidelines, Jack was chuckling to himself. Yep, Non-Lethal damage’s unconsciousness was only temporary. It could last a few minutes if the surroundings were peaceful, but the man approaching for a kiss had disturbed the NPC’s sleep.
The moment was interrupted by an enthusiastic voice on the side.
“Ah, a prince waking his true love with a kiss. Truly beautiful!” As Jack clapped happily, the bystanders were left shocked. What kind of crazy was he?! No, perhaps it was better if they didn’t know.
The instructor cleared his throat and quickly rose, hurriedly changing the topic. “Now, who here wants to train under me?”
No one was going to pass this chance! They couldn’t help but feel hyped…
Creator’s Thought
Honestly, it surprised me that he would go for the kiss. I almost expected him to cook an excuse, but I guess he felt remorse toward his men for falling into this trap. He could have forced someone from the crowd to do it, but then there could have been a backlash against their group. Still, valiant move for sure…