"Pray tell… do you know why they call him the Lord of nothing?"
Atlas could practically hear the man's next words before he spoke them. He was going to use his inexperience as a lord to dissuade the people from following him, that as much was obvious.
'But why?'
Atlas could not recall ever interacting with him so they should have no grudges with each other, why then was he hell bent on badmouthing him?
'Or…' Atlas' expression darkened. 'Is he the killer?'
Atlas glanced at him. The man was as sly as a snake but at the same time, he could sense little to no hostility from him.
It almost felt as though he was simply having fun, or was he taking a gamble?
Maybe he was trying his luck at leadership…
Still, he would have to keep a close eye on him, after he dealt with this little disturbance of course.
"They call him the lord of nothing because his enti—"
"Mr whatever your name is…" Atlas said, cutting him off. He jumped down the stone platform and walked up to him, staring him right in the eyes as he spoke.
Although his family had been ruined before his birth, Atlas was still of noble blood and as such the ability to intimidate practically flowed through his veins.
Always stare your enemies in the eyes, show no fear because fear is foolishness and foolishness breeds weakness.
Atlas had learned this from someone he could no longer remember. The face of his teacher was gone, lost to time but those words somehow remained.
"Do you think I am unfit to be their leader?"
His question was straight to the point, cutting right past the man's theatrics.
The man seemed slightly surprised by his forwardness. Most people would have preferred to play it away without ever mentioning what he was actually insinuating.
But Atlas had put him in a difficult position with just a few words. If he said he was unfit, then it would be as though he was speaking for everyone, thereby making himself a sort of pseudo leader.
His plan was to sow seeds of distrust and slowly manipulate his way to power but that plan was already falling apart.
'And those eyes…' the man thought. The young lord was staring straight into his pupils without blinking! It was almost as though he was ready to swallow him at any moment!
Cold sweat began to form on the man's face.
"Er, what I'm saying is that—"
"Why don't you lead us then?"
"Heh?"
"Of course, you seem wise and quite able bodied. I'm sure there are no Androids here but you seem strong enough to defend us from whatever monster lies in these forests."
The man who always stood beside him stepped forward smiling wide.
"Yes, yes! I can see the outlook of a warrior, he must be secretly very powerful!" His thick western accent had a slight mocking tone with it.
The whispers of the crowd because louder.
"Really? He doesn't look that strong."
"Can he even handle a boar?"
"A bear would rip him apart in seconds…"
The man began to sweat.
'What is this? Where is he going with this?'
The man was completely confused by the young lord's antics. It was only when he saw them share a dark smile that was which they quickly concealed that he finally realized what was happening.
'My God! They know I won't last a second against a wild animal! Their plan is to watch me get devoured by one of them, that way he would easily be crowned lord once more!'
The man mentally imagined himself stuck in between the jaws of a gigantic bear while Atlas and Akaman laughed from behind the safety of a tree.
'These people! How wicked can they be?!'
The man was about to speak, when a gargantuan shadow suddenly washed over them.
They all looked up trying to identify what had momentarily robbed them of their sunlight, only to gasp.
"A plane? A space skip?"
The man suddenly froze in fear, his knees locked and he gulped, almost swallowing his tongue in the process.
"A dragon!"
High above them in the sky, a gargantuan blue dragon was flying past.
Only when the dragon had disappeared in the horizon did the man breathe. He fell to his knees and lowered his head to the dirt.
"Forgive me my lord, you're the only one fit to rule us!"
Atlas paid him no attention, he was already thinking about another thing entirely.
'A dragon?'
It was a scene straight out of a fantasy novel, the funny thing was that this would now be their daily lives.
Seeing the dragon made him wonder:
'Does that mean— this world has magic?'
*
After the commotion over the dragon had settled, Atlas decided to continue from where he had left off.
There were three basic necessities they needed if they were to survive— food, clothing and shelter. But since they already had the clothing part covered, at least temporarily, they needed to sort out the remaining two.
"We'll split up into three groups. We need food and water as well as a covering where we can pass the night."
"The first group will be made of two branches. The first set will search the forests for wild fruits and berries, while the other half will scout out any potential game."
"The second group will handle the shelter." He turned to Dahlia who was standing beside him.
"I know houses are a bit far from your field but can you handle it?"
Dahlia was an engineer and although she never went to a formal university, she was one of the smartest people he knew.
She thought about it for a second, before a bright smile appeared on her face.
"I already have something in mind!"
Atlas nodded, knowing that the matter of housing was pretty much settled.
"As for the last team… your job will be to find out more about this world. Search for any signs of civilization but don't approach even if you find them, we don't know how friendly or hostile they might be."
"Alright, Atlas turned towards the forest. "Let's rebuild civilization from the ground up!"