Chapter 62: Anarchy
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POV – Stanley

[Fake Capital – Normal Difficulty, Third Zone…]

Stanley stood atop the palace walls, looking down toward the crowd that was becoming increasingly violent below.

Initially, Stanley had planned to leave. Although he’d been worried when he heard about the sheer number of doppelgangers in the city, when he heard they weren’t particularly dangerous he planned to leave.

Staring down at the increasingly violent crowd below, Stanley had another worry. He worried about an all-out battle happening between doppelgangers and regular people.

When the system updated and the map spread out to everyone in the city, people immediately realized something strange was going on. Some people showed up on the map, while others were completely invisible.

Eventually, people realized that the red dots showed the location of monsters. Which caused a realization… since those people show up on the map, weren’t they monsters?

Everyone began checking their map and the city instantly split into two factions, doppelgangers and other humanoid races.

In less than a day, guards had abandoned their posts and the city descended into anarchy.

The prevailing culture that lacked basic trust of others led people into violence and people began attacking doppelgangers on sight.

That, in turn, has led to doppelgangers reorganizing in specific locations to survive. Humanoid races have followed suit creating their own army to fight the doppelgangers.

At this rate, an all-out war will occur and many people will die.

[…And Stanley had a decision to make. He could join the fight and prevent many unnecessary deaths or abandon them in a cowardly fashion. There was a clear superior option. In fact, the choice was so clear that there might as well not have been a choice at all.]

Enough, narrator, I already know your thoughts on the matter. I won’t allow genocide.

Glancing toward the map, the majority of doppelgangers have organized around the beacon in the South-West corner of the city. The rest organized in the South-East.

While other red dots are scattered around the city, they were continuously disappearing one after the other. Clearly people were hunting them down and killing them.

Damn it… I cannot let this continue.

I learned about various species from Schrödinger and he implied that doppelgangers have intelligence similar to humans. They aren’t entirely violent either. While individual doppelgangers are violent and take advantage of their shapeshifting abilities to cause trouble, some are peaceful and haven’t harmed anyone throughout their entire life.

This is my fault… if I hadn’t released Schrödinger, this never would have happened. Each death weighted on my conscience. Their deaths are my fault.

I cannot let this pointless slaughter continue.

Fortunately, people have split up and don’t have a solid leadership to arrange an assault on the doppelganger’s base… but that also means there’s no individual person I can convince to stop the fighting. Even if I convince someone from to stop attacking the doppelgangers, there’s no guarantee another person won’t step up and fulfill the role.

The only option I can think of is to delay the assault on the doppelgangers until I manage to convince the doppelgangers to leave the city.

Creating a clone, I gave it a complex task. Specifically, I instructed it to prevent fighting between doppelgangers and other people until I inform it otherwise. Exclusively utilizing nonlethal force to dissuade any fights.

After the clone was created, it immediately jumped off the palace wall and began sprinting into the distance.

I have no clue what it’s doing and lack adequate testing to completely understand its behavior, but hopefully it will accomplish its objective.

However, I cannot let the situation deteriorate into an all-out war. Despite the lack of testing regarding my clones behavior, this method is my best option to prevent a war. I need time to convince the doppelganger groups to leave the city.

Walking down the wall myself, I took a route that had doppelgangers along the way. Hopefully I’ll be able to lead some to safety.

When I finally ran into the first doppelganger, I realized the extent of the problem. A three men were beating up a young woman, who showed up as a red dot on the map.

The only reason the woman wasn’t dead is because they hadn’t gotten around to killing her yet. Instead they took the opportunity to beat her up and torture her, hurled insults in the process.

“Go to hell monster.” A man disdainfully said, kicking the woman in the chest.

“I cannot believe I’ve been living next to a monster for years.” The other man said with his weapon drawn ready to kill the woman if she attempted to resist.

Watching the group beat up the young woman filled my heart with rage. What right do they have to discriminate against her? They’re attacking her entirely based on her race instead of her actions.

Taking out my gun, Scarlet, I released a warning shot into the air. The three men turned toward me because of the abrupt noise.

When I finally had their attention, I pointed the gun toward them and warned them, “Unless you want to die, let her go.”

The threat worked and they stopped focusing on the woman, instead turning toward me.

“Huh, are you crazy? She’s a monster.” The man who kicked the woman earlier spoke first.

The farthest man spoke, “He’s isn’t showing up on the map. He’s human.”

Firing another warning shot toward their feet, I threatened them. “Enough! Unless you want a bullet hole through your skull, back off.”

“Crazy bastard.” A man shouted but they didn’t have ranged weapons, so they were forced to back off.

Once they had left, I put Scarlet away and helped the beat up woman to her feet.

The woman was wary of being attacked again and asked, “Who are you? Why are you helping me?”

“Just someone attempting to prevent an unnecessary massacre.” I replied, lifting her off the ground. Looking back toward the map, I continued, “You need to get to safety. There’s a large gathering of doppelgangers to the South-East and South-West.”

In the brief moment I had the map open, more than a dozen red dots had disappearing with more disappearing every second.

They’re being slaughtered… slaughtered for no reason, besides the crime of being a doppelganger.

Each disappearance weighted on my heart. Their deaths are on my head. If I hadn’t allowed Schrödinger to fix the map system, this never would have happened.

The dots I intended to head toward next had also disappeared, leaving my only option to head directly toward the doppelganger’s base.

Feeling depressed at the devastation I’d caused, I gritted my teach and indicated for the woman to follow me. “Come on. We need to go.”

Despite some initial hesitation, she decided to follow after me.

With the number of doppelgangers dwindling, there were none left to rescue along the path. The lack detours sped up our journey… However, we ran into various patrols along the way that came to attack before she could meet up with the rest of her race.

I managed to scare them off each time, but it slowed down our journey. Still, we soon arrived outside the mansion with fortified walls that contained the teleportation beacon and the majority of doppelgangers in the city.

A defendable location like this would certainly increase the number of casualties if people were to attack it. I cannot let a war occur…For the sake of both species.

“Thank you. I won’t forget your kindness.” The female doppelganger said in appreciation of the escort.

“No need to thank me…” I felt a stab of pain from her honest gratitude, as the person responsible for this mess I don’t deserve appreciation. Staring at the mansion’s walls, I finally asked, “In fact, I need a favor. I would like to enter with you and speak with someone who can make decisions to try preventing an all-out war. Do you know if that’s possible?”

While I could enter by force, it would be difficult to negotiate for peace in that situation.

“That’s… probably impossible. I don't have the power to let someone into a defended base.” She seemed depressed after realizing war was a likely possibility, but replied all the same.

Staring toward the mansion, I urged her to enter. “Alright, you go ahead. I’ll try and figure something out.”

Watching as a guard came over and opened a gate allowing her to enter the mansion.

Looking at the map, I felt the full enormity of the task I set out to do. A depressed atmosphere loomed over my head, I never wanted the situation to turn out like this. I didn’t want to cause a war.

[While Stanley stood around depressed at his overall failure of a life, a familiar face spotted him from atop the wall.]

Familiar face? Staring upward toward the fortified walls around the mansion, I released who the narrator was talking about.

The doppelganger that I rescued from the dungeon and only to knock me out afterward stood atop the wall.

She waved toward me and indicated for me to approach.

Once I got within audible distance, she began speaking in a teasing voice. “My, my… fancy seeing you here. Are you depressed at the thought of spending even a full day without beholding my beauty?”

I stared up at her atop the wall completely speechless. Why on earth would that be the case? Do I look like someone who would be so hung up on her?

Rolling my eyes, before I looked more carefully over her. I immediately spotted a difference. She now sported an attractive ideal hourglass-like figure that is bordered-line impossible for regular humans.

However, she definitely didn’t look like this when she tied up. If she did, I would have immediately become suspicious of her at the time.

The only part of her body that’s the same is her face.

Is there even a way to guarantee that she is the doppelganger I rescued before?

Shaking my head to dispel the thought, it’s unlike that someone would pretend to be her when I hadn’t informed anyone that I knew her.

“Can I come inside to talk?” I requested, once I get through the door other plans to discuss peace become far easier.

“Oh, my… How bold!” She pretended to be shocked and proceeded to continue teasing, “You want to see my beauty up close?”

Exactly what part of my words implied that? She’s completely twisting my words.

To avoid any further misconception, I took the time to clarify and stated, “I just want to talk.”

“Well, I would never deny the entrance of such a dedicated admirer of beauty.” She spoke in an eloquent fashion, before briefly ordering the nearby guards. “Let him in.”

The nearby guards clearly were far more hesitant and one spoke out in protest, “Ma’am this isn’t appropriate. Letting in a stranger at such a dangerous time…”

She turned toward him and spoke with a dangerous glint flashing in her eye. “Do I have to repeat myself?”

“No, Ma’am.” The guards automatically responded, before they began opening the gate.

Watching the gate open in front of me, I immediately felt suspicious. What exactly did I get myself into when I rescued her?

She apparently holds considerable power in this place, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to order the guards to open the gate forcefully.

Still, the more power she holds the better. Having saved her life before, it would be far easier to attempt convincing her than someone else.

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