Prototype: Dark LitRPG Adventure by Jez Cajiao

Author:Jez Cajiao [Cajiao, Jez]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“Gardener!” One of the elven troopers was the loudest in his protestations. “We can’t trust it! It’s a fallen spy, it’s obvious it’s…”

“Gardener! He’s a member of an alien race!”

“He could be filled with explosives, for all we know!”

“We can’t scan him without killing him, so how would we know…”

“He’s a human!”

“No human has ever…”

“They’re murderers!”

The room had descended into chaos, and I sat there stunned in the middle of it, staring at the Gardener, who watched me with a faint smile on her face.

She was tall, her skin dusky, and her eyes almond-shaped. The bright blue of her iris seemed almost to glow as she watched me, ceremonial seeming robes draped comfortably to the ground as she waited.

I wasn’t sure I’d heard right. This woman, this elf, wanted to give me a chance? I felt a sudden surge of hope and practically latched onto the faint smile as a sign of her being kind and good… I hoped.

“Gardener, I respect your claim in this, but may I ask for clarification of your intentions?” Admiral Grey said formally, his volume clearly boosted to carry over the local argument. “While Ajax is not a member of my fleet, he was created in our image, from our DNA. He has human memories, and…”

He broke off, rubbing his chin and clearly thinking hard before he went on.

“Gardener, Ajax is human. He may have been cloned, as opposed to naturally born, but he is human and has been taught that he is a member of the human fleet. It was made clear previously that as such, the empire would have claim over him and his kind.”

“I believe my intention was clear. This one is a fighter beyond compare. Many of our own troops have been lost in the Forest of Bone in full, powered armor. This one not only survived his crash landing, losing limbs along the way, but still managed to defeat elite warriors who were fully expecting to face serious opposition. They were, as your culture calls it, ‘loaded for bear.’

“He managed, unarmed, with multiple broken bones, a missing left arm, and on the verge of starvation, to fight multiple troopers off.” She broke off to nod to one of the troopers to one side as he tried to speak up. “Yes, Jujinkai, I fully agree that you would have won eventually. Yes, your squad would have emerged triumphant. But can you say, in all honesty, that with similar injuries, you would have acquitted yourself as well?”

“They are animals, vicious!” the squad leader growled, wide-eyed.

“Gardener, I’d need to refer to someone higher for this.” The admiral groaned, rubbing at his temples.

“Not so, Admiral. When criminals have broken the law, they are dealt with by the offended party. As Ajax has never sworn the oaths of allegiance…”

“Is that true?” he asked, glancing at me.

I hesitated, vaguely remembering references to the oaths. I remembered seeing it mentioned in text, and…

“No,” I said after a few seconds of silence. “No. I remember references, but I never took the oath.

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