Should I Become a Villain?

"Be careful what you do to the Instruments. It would be better if you don't force them. That way, they will obey you and give you more support."

Radmilo regarded Clem's explanation with a look of disinterest. He was not interested in getting close to the monsters on a personal level. Both time and effort would be wasted.

He had to put a lot of effort into taming one monster. According to research, it took a monster tamer three months on average to befriend a monster.

"I won't waste my time just to tame a monster. In addition, I want a hundred monsters to become my followers within a year. It will be up to you to either tame them or convince them to follow me."

Clem fell silent as Radmilo's words went against his will. He did not want the Instruments to be forced to sign a contract because he was friends with some of them.

Moreover, he already knew Radmilo's character. The man had many faces. Clem remembered well that Radmilo always cursed the IRO during their fights. When the IRO people visited the dungeon to check them, however, the man immediately transformed into a loyal dog.

In short, Clem should not have put his trust in Radmilo. But he had no other choice because the humans had grown to be very strong. He needed to work with a powerful human if he was going to win against them.

"The Instruments cannot be forced into signing a contract by all humans. Only humans they declare to be strong can do that. You must keep in mind that even if you kill them, they won't be impressed. They have high standards regarding strong humans," Clem explained again.

This time, Radmilo did not say what he thought right away. He fell silent as his memories brought him back to the time he fought the female crow monster at Former Cobbler Creek Recreation Park.

He turned down the monster's offer because he did not require her talent. Now he understood why the monster was trying to work out an agreement with him. It appeared that the monster intended to leave the dungeon.

"The Instruments mostly don't like humans," Clem spoke again as soon as he realized Radmilo did not argue with him. "They won't be happy to sign a contract with others since it restricts their freedom. If you don't want to tame them, then you have to impress them."

After giving it some thought, Radmilo replied, "Okay. I will try to avoid pressuring them. Besides, I want to explain our plan. They will probably agree when they find out that you, their friend, are also following me."

"I think the same! I will sign the contract with you. However, you have to revise it by adding a clause that says you won't kill me. You don't have my trust, you know."

"But I want to kill you just once. I got a quest to kill you. For your information, I never miss a monthly quest."

Clem knew about the monthly quest because he had talked about it with Glover. He did not expect Radmilo to still want to kill him, despite the fact they were going to sign a contract.

"Don't get me wrong. Our relationship isn't something special in my opinion. Therefore, I don't care if I have to kill you. After all, you will come back alive after being killed," said Radmilo, knowing what the monster in front of him was thinking.

"If you kill me in the dungeon, I will indeed respawn. But I will really die if I get killed outside the dungeon."

"Deal. I will kill you here after completing my other quest."

Following that, Radmilo made the contract's clauses the changes Clem had requested. They ended up signing the magic contract.

However, Radmilo did not end their meeting because his purpose in coming to the dungeon was not just to make a contract. He changed the topic by saying, "I already told you I wanted to ask you a few questions when we meet again."

"I know. Unfortunately, I'm not an Instrument that has connections with many Prime Movers. Because of that, my knowledge is limited," Clem replied in a low tone.

"Then you must tell me which Instrument has many connections with people in your world."

"Of course. But still, I also know a few things, so you may ask now."

"What will happen if the Instruments win?"

Clem's gills turned dark from remembering that the Instruments had yet to win over the humans. "We will return to our world and live as before we came to yours."

"Will the power that sponsors give to humans not disappear? I can still picture the system appearing after my awakening. It asked for consent so the power could enter my body. In the agreement, I saw the sponsors would not take back the powers they gave to awakeners."

"I don't know for sure. However, I heard rumors the Prime Movers won't take back the powers they gave. They want to know what the humans will do if the Instruments win and disappear from the earth."

Radmilo understood what the Prime Movers were trying to do. They must have been interested in what happened. That would be a different story if humans had power when there were no monsters to beat.

The awakeners became hunters because they felt responsible. The monsters could only be beaten by their power. However, they would become indecisive when the monsters disappeared. Some of them would believe they have no more responsibilities.

Theft, murder, bullying?

They would assume that fighting crime was not their responsibility. The police were responsible for that. The chosen humans could have the desire to commit crimes when they were not bound by responsibility.

The disappearance of monsters and dungeons raised a bad potential. The IRO would organize the hunters when that happened. However, if most of the hunters rebelled, they might have problems.

"I will help the Instruments to win," Radmilo said, then asked Clem to explain more about the world of Instruments and Prime Movers.

It took Radmilo two hours to talk with Clem. He wrote down everything the monster said. It turned out that Clem was quite useful, more than he expected.

Radmilo returned to his apartment while remembering Clem's words about the system created by the Prime Mover. The system was not perfect, as Clem had stated earlier.

Still, the system was quite helpful for supporters and sponsors. They could guess what the awakeners had done through their inventory and the titles they got. Anything that entered the system would be reported by the supporter to the sponsor in real-time.

Clem said the system could not monitor human activity like CCTV. In addition, the system also did not allow awakeners to communicate with Prime Movers. It was because the Prime Movers regarded the awakeners as their pawns and had no right to talk to them.

Then a Prime Mover who made the system sold the 'monitoring' item to the sponsors. The item could monitor whatever awakeners were doing, but it was sold for a high price.

The world where the Prime Movers and Instruments lived was similar to the human world. There were transactions, too. What made the difference was the fact that they had magical powers, unlike humans.

Clem explained the Instrument's life was the same as humans. They worked to make anything that could be sold and earned money.

However, the Instruments had to obey the Prime Mover who led their kingdom. Radmilo concluded the Prime Movers were tyrants while the Instruments were their slaves.

Then he got a new fact that not all the Instruments have a characteristic like a monster. Most of them had a physical resemblance to humans. However, the Prime Movers used magic that turned them into monsters before being sent to earth.

Radmilo understood better why Clem wanted to defeat the humans. At the very least, the Instruments had a better life in their world, even though they were still subordinate to the Prime Mover.

'Are the Prime Movers not afraid their actions will backfire on them?'

The question appeared in Radmilo's mind. If humans knew the facts about Prime Movers, they would probably try to trick the system into getting out of control.

Unfortunately, the Instruments already hated humans because they thought humans were the cause of their suffering. Everything might change if they open their hearts to humans and start working together.

Even so, humans would not believe it right away because they also considered the Instruments as monsters. The Prime Movers appeared to have anticipated that humans and Instruments would not get along.

Radmilo stopped thinking about it when he arrived at his apartment. He started to outline his strategy for messing with the IRO's emergency meeting.

After meeting Clem, he became interested in making a contract with the Instruments and leading them to wreak havoc. They could help him to withstand attacks from those present at the emergency meeting.