Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

'Pioneers and the Ordinaries,' Justin thought as he looked at the man in front of him.

This was the term Algrim, the shop NPC, had first used that morning. It was meant to distinguish between active players leveling up and the ordinary people being protected. Or, to be more accurate, it was less a distinction and more a form of discrimination. In front of players, Algrim would bow and scrape, while toward the ordinary people, he was often condescending or outright contemptuous.

'And now he's openly using the terms Pioneers and Ordinaries.'

It was as if the man was openly admitting his intent to treat the two groups differently. Seeing Justin's expression, the man tilted his head as if clueless.

"Is there something else bothering you? If you're busy, I can come back tomorrow," the man offered.

"No, it's fine. Come in," Justin said.

Justin opened the door and invited the man, who had been about to leave, inside. It wasn't something to discuss in front of others, and, more importantly, Justin was curious about what the man had to say. The man accepted the invitation with a smile and stepped inside.

They sat across from each other at the wooden table in the living room.

"I'd offer you some tea, but it seems I'm short on mana stones," Justin said.

"That's alright. I'm in the same situation. Right now, we're all the same," Aaron Blake replied.

Blake's words, while light, held a pointed undertone. Everyone being the same now implied that differences would appear later—an indirect reference to the eventual disparity between the rich and poor.

"Ah, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Aaron Blake, an Elementalist," the man said.

"I'm Justin . Warlock," Justin introduced himself.

"I saw you in action during the Undead Wave from a distance. Quite impressive," Aaron said.

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"No more impressive than the firepower of an Elementalist," Justin replied, waving his hand dismissively.

It was a gesture telling Aaron not to bother with empty compliments and to get to the point. Aaron finally gave a wry smile and moved straight to the matter at hand.

"True, magic's firepower is impressive, but then again, everyone here is powerful. Players are practically superhuman," Aaron began.

"That's true. And we're only going to get stronger," Justin agreed.

"Exactly. We gain stats and learn skills with every level. Someday, we might even be able to take on a hundred normal people. But," Aaron frowned, "those ordinary folks, the 'Ordinaries,' don't seem to understand this reality yet."

"They don't understand?" Justin asked.

"Yes. To be more precise, they still underestimate us, the Pioneers," Aaron said, sighing deeply, half out of frustration, half out of exhaustion.

"You probably don't know since you left early this morning, but while you were gone, there was a bit of trouble in the village," Aaron continued.

"Let me guess—conflict between the Pioneers and the Ordinaries?" Justin asked.

"Exactly. Though, calling it a conflict is an overstatement. It was really just one side throwing a tantrum," Aaron replied.

The cause of the incident was simple. When the emergency rations had all turned into stones, a few of the Ordinaries had come forward to demand more food, complaining that boiled potatoes for three meals a day was just too much to bear.

"You brought us here, so you should take responsibility! You can't just throw us into dirty houses and ignore us—what are we supposed to do?""Who said we forced you to come? Didn't you follow us for the safety of the secure zone? Responsibility, my ass.""So we're supposed to eat boiled potatoes forever? If I'd known it would be like this, I wouldn't have followed you!

At least back there, we had canned food!""Oh, so you'd rather eat canned food and live with skeletons chopping people up? Get real! You're just spouting nonsense now!"

The argument had escalated quickly, and soon, people were shouting at each other. Eventually, one of the Pioneers lost patience and tried to throw a punch.

"You son of a...!" Thump."Ugh!""Damn it! Stop blocking fights between people, damn system!"

Luckily, the system's nullification prevented any bloodshed. The argument had ended there, fizzling out without resolution. Since neither side could concede, and with violence not an option, talking further would have just been a waste of breath.

"Well, at least it ended well. The ones causing trouble backed off, so things should be quiet for a while," Justin remarked.

"For a while, yes. But eventually, what do you think those 'Ordinaries' will realize?" Aaron said, gritting his teeth. "They'll realize we can't use violence against them anymore. Then they'll start pushing even more—demanding this, demanding that—because they know they have nothing to lose by asking."

"Then just don't give them what they ask for. They can't force us to do anything either," Justin said.

"It's not about giving or not giving. The problem is that they have the audacity to cause trouble in the first place!" Aaron exclaimed.

Bang!

Clearly displeased with Justin's calm response, Aaron slammed his hand on the table and stood up. Justin immediately frowned and glared at Aaron.

Who did this guy think he was, losing his temper here?

Seeing Justin's cold gaze, Aaron seemed to come to his senses and quickly sat back down, looking embarrassed.

"S-Sorry. I got carried away," Aaron said.

"It's understandable to get angry sometimes. Just don't let it happen again," Justin replied.

"Thank you for understanding," Aaron said, coughing awkwardly to cover his embarrassment. He then looked at Justin with a serious expression.

"What I want to say is this: the Pioneers should band together to deal with those nuisances," Aaron explained.

"Deal with them? How? You said we can't touch them," Justin said.

"Still, we don't know how things will change in the future. It's better to unite now, in preparation. If we wait until things get worse, it'll be harder to organize without issues," Aaron said.

So he wanted to form some kind of group—a collective of Pioneers. Starting as a simple gathering and eventually becoming an organized force.

His ambition was grand, but unfortunately, Justin had no interest.

"Well, I'd rather wait and see how things develop before making any hasty decisions," Justin replied.