HARMONY [LITRPG / ISEKAI / PROGRESSION / OP MC]

The entire fight lasted for about a few minutes, perhaps less than 5 according to his best guess. During that fight, Aidan gleaned a lot from Miko’s fighting style, and her magic power that represented her talent.

He also learned that even for someone like him, overconfidence can truly be the death of him. He was hurt all over, his Heal spell constantly active like an aura surrounding him to heal his wounds. His mana was approaching zero, giving him a terrible headache, and worst of all, the environment left the harmony around him somehow destabilized.

This was actually something new to him. He never imagined someone being powerful enough to disturb the concept of harmony so much that it would actually affect his powers. It was almost the same as the demonic Matriarch, except rather than it being ominous and malicious, it was oppressive and tyrannical.

Those words were extremely similar, but one thing was missing–Miko had no intention of actually killing him.

Well, technically speaking, she was trying very hard to kill him. It was that her level of ‘killing’ was higher than average compared to, say, the rude guy that hit on her prior. Some would say that blasting a guy out of the guild hall like that could kill him, though that was stretching things a bit.

That was just how far she had to go just to try and take Aidan down. She pretty much showed that through her eyes as she kept staring at the downed Aidan, trying his hardest to pull himself up and stand straight.

Her sword was also still aimed at him, as if she paused right before she was about to deliver the finishing blow. She kept staring, showing more curiosity and perhaps filled with questions in her mind according to her soul.

“Why bother doing all of this?” Miko asked. She still had her sword hanging there, aiming straight at him. Aidan had a feeling that she believed he was just faking his loss, unsure of whether this ‘spar’ of theirs was real or just a ploy to deliver a backstab.

He respected that kind of mindset. It wasn’t quite close to that of a schemer like Nina, but a battle-hardened warrior that met her fair share of tricksters and cowards throughout her fighting life. And if Aidan was anything, he was definitely a trickster of sorts.

But he was no coward.

“First of all, put your sword down. I admit my loss. I’m not gonna be a bitch and fight back.”

He wasn’t sure why, but somehow being near her, he also felt agitation. He wanted to prove that he was on the same level, if just a tiny bit. He was definitely low level so he could give up the part of being the stronger fighter, but if he kept leveling up his new class and perhaps gained another ability, he would definitely reach the same fighting strength as her own. And that was also including his period of weakness disappearing entirely.

Maybe it was a bit childish, but a small hidden part deep inside didn’t want this samurai to think he was some sort of coward. Perhaps it was gained from all the times he fought against Ander and Van, reaching that mindset of a warrior who refused to do any nasty tricks.

Perhaps seeing that sort of dedication, Miko sheathed her sword and approached him. Her soul was calm and steady, already assured that he wouldn’t do anything unforgiving.

“I ask again–why do all of this?”

“Is it better to explain I was kinda ordered to?” Aidan tried to appease her question with another question.

“That would explain some things, but not entirely,” Miko shook her head. “This feels like a waste of time.”

He felt stung at the mention, though he was starting to wonder if perhaps she knew that he was going through a period of weakness. In other words, he didn’t go all out, thus proving to her that it was a waste of her talents to be part of the spar.

Feeling a bit ashamed, he admitted. “Okay, so, I might not have been entirely truthful about some parts.”

“Explain,” Miko demanded.

“Okay, so, I was kinda serious that you wouldn’t be able to face the demon. At least not in your current state. It really was a messy, super gross monster to beat. You know how my powers work by now, right?”

“Personally, I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Miko admitted honestly. “It feels like you can do almost everything, yet at the same time, limited in everything you do.”

Aidan was taken aback by that. Not everyone could just surmise like that, thinking that he was just really good at elemental magic. Then again, he did show off that he extended his swords’ blades at her, making it clear that it wasn’t just the elements he could control.

“Well, it’s basically an overpowered concept of nature itself,” Aidan admitted. “Enough that it can counter the demonic aspects of the demon.”

“Ah… I think I’m starting to understand,” Miko nodded. “In other words, something that my current powers can’t affect as easily.”

“Exactly!” Aidan nodded profusely. It didn’t feel like she really understood how his magic worked, but understood enough that she didn’t need to. It just wouldn’t work out.

“But that still begs the questions–why bother with all of this?”

“Like I said, I was ordered to, sort of,” Aidan continued. “I also wanted to see how strong you were too and, well, considering I managed to spot you at the guild and not knowing where you’ll go next…”

“You wanted to face me before I would leave on another quest,” Miko nodded. The fact that she completely understood what he was trying to say felt almost jarring. Then her next question stumped him further. “The one who ordered you–do they have hostile intentions?”

“Not at all,” Aidan shook his head. “Okay, I’ll admit she can act like a villain sometimes, but the kind of villain you wouldn’t mind having at your side.”

“And she forced you to fight despite your power?” Miko raised a brow. That one sounded almost skeptical.

“Eeh, is it better to explain that she just makes things easier for me?”

“...Somehow, I kinda get that.”

“You know what I mean?”

“Like she helps deal with the crap you rather not deal with yourself?” Miko asked.

“Exactly!” Aidan snapped his fingers at her.

“Yanu is the same for me. Perhaps we should just let our people talk to one another before this becomes a thing I rather not get involved with.”

“Oh my god, you just asked for everything I ever wanted and more,” Aidan shook his head.

Now he was starting to understand how they were able to get so many things to each other so easily. They were both actually the same.

Super powerful, almost indomitable forces to be reckoned with, but gladly chose to follow someone else because they were just better at dealing with annoying people. There were some clear differences, but one thing was clear at least.

Miko was a good enough lass to hang around.

“Now, be honest with me. Are you perhaps slightly weaker than you should be?” Miko asked, this time sounding like she was asking a personal question. “Something that your leader asked you to do?”

“No, it was just bad luck, really. I couldn’t have won against the demon if I didn’t take an enhancement pill to boost my stats.”

“Ah, so a period of weakness,” Miko nodded. “From the looks of things, it’s a pretty hefty price. For how long?”

“For a whole month now. I’m just a week or less away.”

Miko hissed in empathy. “That sounds terrible.”

“It is!” Aidan exclaimed. “You ever gone through that?”

“Once, but it was only for about a few hours. The power I gained wasn’t anything special though. But I felt so shitty afterwards.”

“Damn, must have been a pretty low-quality pill then,” Aidan surmised. “Rarity?”

“Uncommon.”

“Oof, yeah, I got myself an Epic one.”

“Aren’t those extremely valuable? How did you find one?”

“I didn’t. A kind old lady was saving it up for a long time and handed it to me. We pretty much paid her a shit ton in return. It’s fucking ridiculous.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

Strangely, the two got into a rather interesting topic, Miko’s earlier hostility and competitiveness just downright vanished from existence. That agitation Aidan had earlier was also gone, strangely disappeared as soon as the tension calmed down.

Now, they were just shooting the shit while they waited for the obvious repercussions.

“That’s enough! Both of you, stand down and surrender!”

Aidan heard the obvious commanding voice of a lead guard, herding a group of soldiers along as they headed for the two. Aidan already knew they were coming, and Miko also didn’t look that surprised. However, they didn’t do anything else as the guards surrounded them and pulled out their weapons.

“I said stand down and surrender!” The lead guard commanded again. “If you resist, we will take you into custody!”

Aidan and Miko just stared blankly at them, then at each other.

“How do we stand down?” Miko asked sincerely.

“I don’t know. Are they asking us to kneel or something?” Aidan asked.

“I’m not gonna do that.”

“Well, neither am I.”

“A-Are you just ignoring me?!” The lead guard asked, honestly perplexed.

“Hold on now, let’s all calm down here.”

Another voice chimed in, this time sounding familiar as the glasses-wearing young man appeared beside the guards, with Van and the man’s entourage following after. Van noticed Aidan and looked relieved, seeing that he was just fine.

Yanu separated himself from the guards, turning to face them with an appealing smile. “I apologize for the trouble here. Please, lower your weapons. This was just a small activity the adventurer’s guild suggested doing, but it got a bit… hectic. Again, I apologize.”

“The adventurer’s guild?” The lead guard asked. “We received reports of a sudden fight between adventurers, going around the town and causing mayhem. There were fires left all over, disturbing the populace!”

“Aren’t those fires gone?” Aidan asked, though he turned his question to Miko.

“They should be. I had no intention of leaving them behind,” Miko said. “Perhaps they didn’t notice that it didn’t spread.”

“Well, I would be surprised if I suddenly found my house on fire for a moment before it just vanished,” Aidan nodded in understanding.

“Please understand,” Yanu said, interrupting the two’s conversation as he kept talking to the guard. “You’re speaking to none other than the Rank A Miko of the Wasteland. She wouldn’t do something as brash as endanger the citizens of Palestorm like this. And the one she fought was none other than the Hero of Forontia, the one who had dealt with the demon that would have caused quite the commotion in our country. These two are powerful enough to ensure that no danger would come to the others, though I admit that they went too far in their little bout.”

As if to follow up on this, Yanu turned to the two, his simple smile not reaching his eyes. It was clear that he was subtly demanding they say something, or else things would just get more complicated.

“I’m deeply sorry. I got too excited,” Miko said instantly, lowering her head in apology.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too. I was the one that started the whole thing, but I’ll pay for any damages that have been done here.”

Yanu nodded in agreement, though Aidan wasn’t that worried about any damages. They made perfectly sure that no property damage was actually done, at least not so severely to bankrupt him.

Yanu kept appeasing the guards, who were slowly getting around as they obviously heard about Wasteland and the rumors about the hero of Forontia. Once they discussed things further, they finished up and the guards dispersed, leaving only the people Aidan and Miko knew. Yanu let out a deep sigh before facing the two, this time a frown appearing on his face.

“Are you both satisfied now?” Yanu asked. “Tell me, what made you two believe having a fight in the middle of the city was anything wise?”

“He made me do it,” Miko pointed at Aidan, instantly pushing him in front of the bus known as Yanu.

“Okay, you’re not wrong, but wow,” Aidan commented.

“And you think that’s enough to get you out of trouble?” Yanu asked Miko, thinning his eyes. She lowered her head, like a turtle trying to hide its head into its shell.

“...Maybe?”

Yanu let out another sigh. “I already heard from Van about the circumstances. Miko, it looks like we’ll be meeting with Nina Alcatrox in a bit. Obviously, you’re coming with me.”

“Oooh…” Miko groaned in displeasure, like a child hearing that they would be heading to school after barely getting up from bed. “Do we have to? Weren’t we going on an extermination quest?”

“Blame Nina and Aidan for that.”

Miko instantly sent a glare to Aidan, forcing him to raise his hands in defeat.

“I told you, I was ordered to!”

“Technically, Nina told you to first talk with Miko and get into friendly terms with her, then get a spar to see how she is. She never told you to goad her into fighting you in the middle of the city,” Van stated, completely and utterly destroying Aidan’s credibility.

“Dude, what the fuck?”

“I’m not going down with you if Nina asks,” Van said, making his stance very clear.

“Understandable, but still, fuck you.”

“Okay, I’m starting to understand what sort of person the Hero of Forontia is now,” Yanu said, his fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose. He looked very tired as if he was dealing with troublesome kids, pushing his glasses a little bit before turning to Van. “Thank you for your support in this. I’ll see to it that I’ll speak with Nina sometime later. Right now, we have to deal with some other matters. I take it you won’t start any more problems from here on out?”

After Aidan and Van promised so, Yanu took Miko along to do their busywork, with Miko looking less than pleased to join. When they left with their entourage, the two were left entirely alone before Aidan spoke up.

“So… how much trouble am I in?” Aidan asked.

“I pray for your safety,” Van simply said, turning around and leaving him to himself.

…..

A few hours later, Aidan’s group reconvened at the fancy inn they were staying in. After explaining everything that happened in detail, Nina simply rested on the back of her chair, a cup of steaming hot coffee in hand.

“Honest, and straight to the point. I can see a good potential relationship in that.”

Aidan never felt more like a winner at that exact moment. He even gripped his fist in victory while Van just shook his head, rolling his eyes hard.

“You got lucky.”

“You prayed for my safety, didn’t you?” Aidan teased back.

“Wasn’t that extremely dangerous?” Haley spoke up, interrupting the two’s fun. She looked actually furious at Aidan, her eyes glaring at him. “You were still weak in terms of stats. What if she went too hard and killed you by accident?”

“Okay, so I might have taken a big risk, but she never had any intention of killing me,” Aidan said, appeasing the rightfully pissed off little sister.

“And what if you’re wrong? What if she killed you right then and there?”

“That never happened, though.”

“What if it did!?”

“Haley, you gotta understand this,” Van said, raising his hand to Haley's angry responses. “Aidan’s a fucking idiot.”

“...okay, maybe that’s true.”

“Yo, what the fuck is the deal with this disrespect?!” Aidan nearly shouted. “How the hell you just accepted that, no problem?”

“To be fair, you put yourself into this,” Nina said, putting down her coffee cup before smiling. “Just take it in stride.”

“I’m feeling very unappreciated right now. I did just got ourselves a top-ranked adventurer to talk with us, you know?”

“Just to talk. It doesn’t mean she’ll instantly come to work for us or anything stupid like that,” Haley said, letting out a scoff. “At most, she’ll think we just want to use her for our own intentions now.”

“True, but they can do the same for us,” Nina answered back. “It would be a mutual benefit for us all.”

“And this is for what purpose?” Van asked, getting into the meat of the topic.

“Naturally, to gain more connections,” Nina said. “This is just a baseline, but I want to gain as many connections as I can with many powerful people. With Aidan by our side, we have a foot at the door to connect with powerful individuals with higher levels. We’re not talking about underhanded criminals, but true top-of-the-line people that walk above the law and demand their own authority without politics involved. It’s one thing to connect with leaders and authoritative figures, but another to make relationships with those that truly make a stand in this world through one thing.”

Nina held her cup up to her eyes, meeting everyone here with her gaze.

“Power. Power under the system, something that no amount of money can buy.”

That was clearly something that everyone here could agree with. While having influence, wealth, and many other factors was important, if not more important at some points, in the end, this world relied on one single aspect that nobody could ignore.

Through the power of the system, having a high level, or in this case, high enough combat ability to stand on your own against major threats, it was enough to make anyone into an influential figure. Back in his old world, those who were strong were just that, only strong. At best, they would just be athletes fighting in competitions, and at worst, they would be borderline soldiers in a war, something that their world constantly views as a negative.

Meanwhile, in this world, an individual could have enough power to make his demands real, becoming a leader in their own right. Even if that someone wasn’t strong, if they had other individuals that were strong serving under them, it would be the same.

“Right now, our purpose is to gather as many strong people and make friends with them. Then we slowly gather influence through our banner and make ourselves known through our relationships. As for our banner, the answer is clear. What we’re making is a group that can stand on their own, perhaps rivaling the adventurer’s guild.”

“So, like an adventurer’s party?” Van asked.

“Much more than that, but the premise is the same,” Nina answered. “I want to make a guild of my own.”

This was the first time Nina talked about something like that, so the others quickly grew interested. She always talked about making connections and making themselves known, but never quite solidified how to do so.

Now it was obvious. Much like the adventurer’s guild and the merchant’s guild, she wanted to make her own guild. In Aidan’s point of view, it was like an MMORPG where a player would want to make their own guild, making it out to be whatever goal they desired. Whether it would be clearing difficult raids, making crafts and blowing the market away, or just a guild full of enthusiasts who want to show off their fashionable equipment.

But as far as he knew, there were only two top influential guilds in the country, that being the adventurer’s guild and the merchant’s guild. It was possible there were some minor guilds as well, probably the crafting guilds that would make equipment for the merchant’s guild to buy and sell.

“So something like a mercenary group?” Haley asked, tilting her head. “But like, more specialized than the adventurer’s guild?”

“It’s still just a speck of light in the darkness at the moment,” Nina admitted. “Making a guild requires plenty of resources, including several permissions from the royal capital. What I intend to do is to make a guild where the Church of the One can’t touch so easily.”

“The Church of the One already has their hands on everything in this country,” Van said. “The adventurer’s guild always has their healers in their parties, while the merchant’s guild always treads carefully around their churches to avoid potential issues. I can’t imagine a guild that the church can never truly control, even if it’s just a little bit.”

“That’s why I said it’s still a speck,” Nina nodded in agreement. “For now, we need to make careful steps and establish connections with other strong people across the country. And I want to make it so that all of us together would have the singular goal of wanting absolute freedom for ourselves from the church.”

“Do you have a personal vendetta against the church?” Haley asked worriedly.

“Of course not,” Nina shook her head. “But I can’t say I approve of their methods. Wouldn’t you rather want to make choices without being seen as some sort of heretic by people blindly following their faith?”

“No, I just wanted to make sure,” Haley said. “I agree with you, and that’s why I wanted to ask. If you start making an enemy of the church, things would go down south really quickly. Their influence in the capital is also pretty strong too.”

“Naturally. If there’s anything more frightening than that demon Matriarch, it is the church.”

“I totally agree,” Aidan answered, smiling. “That’s coming from the guy who faced the demon himself.”

The others knew he was just joking, but the topic demanded that they nod in retrospect. Even Aidan couldn’t blame them for feeling that way.

Religion could be scary, if not downright horrifying. While he wouldn’t discriminate against those who are just good people following their faith, there were plenty of bad actors disguising their greed and lust for power beneath the guise of divine will. He’d seen plenty of those on the news, where those evangelists often spoke about God and his miracles, but were always flying in their super expensive personal jets and owning giant mansions through the donations of the faithful.

And considering that even the government can’t do anything about them due to it being religious, Aidan just never had a good view on them.