So Much To Do

Meanwhile, in the meeting room of the Town Hall inside Grant's dungeon.

Greg and Grant had now been sitting at the table in utter silence for the past half an hour.

On many different occasions, Greg had wanted to strike up a conversation with Grant to try and get to know the leader of their town better, but there was a subtle pressure that was pressing down on him and keeping him on the edge of his seat.

He didn't know what the cause was but it had stretched every nerve in his body to the extreme; so rather than speak, he just sat in his chair with his head down, sweating profusely.

Grant had prepared himself to answer a ton of questions when he had first entered the room.

Normally, when people got him alone, they would bombard him with questions about his journey to his current levels of strength and how they too could reach his level.

But the longer Greg remained silent, the more nervous Grant became.

[Holy shit! Have I been that terrible of a leader?! Why is everyone looking at me with terrified looks and avoiding eye contact?!]

He spent nearly 20 minutes going back and forth in his mind, trying to figure out what he had done to warrant such a response from people lately.

Fortunately, his thoughts were finally interrupted when the door to the room was abruptly swung open.

A group of people prepared to enter the room, but Jerrod, after scanning the room noticed Grant sitting at the table.

He froze in surprise which halted everyone behind him in their tracks.

His surprise was warranted though. Other than the times where their had been a major issue with or in the town, Grant rarely bothered to visit the Town Hall and left the running of the town to Jerrod.

Jerrod suddenly became nervous but when he sensed the pressure radiating throughout the room, his nervousness turned to fear.

Rapidly, Jerrod went through all the recent events trying to figure out if he had screwed up somewhere.

No matter how hard he thought though, he couldn't think of a single thing that would have made Grant angry.

Jerrod knew that he had to swallow his fear though, because no matter what had happened, Grant could easily hunt him down and end his life if that was what he wanted.

He could not run far enough no matter how hard he tried. So he accepted whatever his fate would be and entered the room after clearing his throat.

Since Jerrod had stopped at the threshold of the doorway, the people behind him had not sensed the pressure flowing throughout the room. But the moment they stepped into the room, they suddenly became frightened.

Seeing Grant sitting at the table and feeling the pressure in the room, all of them wanted nothing more than to run away.

But like Jerrod, they knew that if Grant was angry with them, there was nothing they could do but accept their fates.

They all did there best to put on a brave face, but a few of them looked like they were on the verge of tears.

After everyone had taken their seats, Grant leaned forward in his seat and rested his hands on the table in front of him.

Although Grant meant nothing by his movement and was merely adjusting his posture, the other people in the room visible flinched.

With his strength and stats, Grant easily caught the subtle movements of everyone. Seeing their reaction to his movement, Grant became even more depressed than he already was... screaming in his mind, "Even the people I rely on the most in this place are afraid of me!"

Since no one else seemed like they were going to speak, Grant cleared his throat. The moment before he was about to speak though, Jerrod suddenly stood up.

"On behalf of everyone here, Grant, I just want to say that whatever it is that has happened to make you so upset, I take full responsibility! Whatever punishment you see fit, I am willing to take myself. Please don't take it out on them!"

When Grant heard what Jerrod said, he was both awed and confused.

[How does Jerrod know that I am upset? Can he read minds or something?! I knew he was perceptive and smart but the fact he can tell without me saying anything is kind of amazing! If I actually paid the main I would definitely give him a raise!]

"I'm surprised you noticed Jerrod.. I've had a rough last few hours... and everyone I ran into on my way here is just making me think about it more and more..."

"I am sorry to hear that Grant. As I said, I take full responsibility. Please do not take it out on anyone else here!"

Grant felt touched that Jerrod seemed genuinely concerned for his mental state. But he suddenly realized something was off about what Jerrod had said.

"Why would you take responsibility? It's not your fault?"

The tension that had kept Jerrod standing tall under the pressure he was feeling wavered for a moment when he heard that it wasn't his fault. When the tension was released, he nearly passed out but he forced himself to remain standing on sheer will alone knowing that he had to take responsibility for his subordinates.

"Even if it is not my fault, I do not want my staff to suffer unless they have done something unforgivable.

I've been working with everyone here for weeks now and they are all good people. I believe whatever has happened can be rectified in due time."

The more steadfast Jerrod was in standing up for his team, the more Grant respected him and wanted to emulate the man in some fashion.

[This is a man worthy of leading... can I be like him one day? Will my people look at me the way his staff looks at him?

I think I can.. it's just going to take some time and an immense amount of effort...]

"Relax Jerrod, no one is going to get punished. I'm not some kind of sadist you know? I've just had to endure a beatdown by Skit and then I've had a lot on my mind.

I've decided to take a more hands on approach to running the town and dungeon. Not that I am going to take any responsibility away from you, I just want to know what the towns' needs are so that I can assist the best that I can.

But I have been feeling somewhat insecure due to the way people have been looking at me today. I realized how poorly I have been doing since we started building our little town."

When Grant finally bared his true feelings to the room, he suddenly got very strange looks from everyone at the table.

However, none of them felt like they were worthy enough to talk in this situation so they remained quiet.

Jerrod however, let slip a, "Huhhhh?! That's what your upset about?! Why the massive amount of pressure you're exuding then?!"

Grant was equally as confused as Jerrod was, "What pressure?"