Haruto walked towards the "dead" Thomas and raised his foot over his head. "Stop playing dead before I make your play become a reality." 

Thomas curled up and begged, "Wait, wait, my apologies, young master. I simply wished to act as if the attack was so strong that it instantly destroyed my being so others would quake in fear. I, Thomas, the lowly lich can only serve beneath your feet, so why shan't I lay on the ground lest someone confuse me for anything other than an insect." 

"Too tired," Haruto rolled his eyes and walked towards the exit.

Thomas scurried behind the walking Haruto. "Wait, young master. Your humble servant shall faithfully lead the way home." 

Haruto shrugged, "What do you mean, lead the way home? This is where we part ways."

Thomas blanked for a second, then let out an awkward laugh, "Truly, you jest young master. How could I not lead you back."

Haruto stopped walking and let out a long sigh, "And why do you think I want to return anywhere with the likes of you?"

Thomas mumbled uncertainly, "Of course it's because I am your faithful teacher of this world. Without me, you will be lost and fall prey to deception even with your wonderous brute powers."

Haruto started back walking, prepared to leave. "I'll just find someone else, maybe that Jericho fellow." 

Thomas crawled after Haruto grabbing ahold of his leg. "Wait, wait, wait. You absolutely need me if you were thinking of trusting such a questionable character who would back-stab you in a heartbeat. No one else in this world would be more trustworthy than I." 

Haruto slowly brought his foot down on the groveling Thomas's face. "Trustworthy? You who told such lies to provoke the adventurers against me. You who told my darkest secret ever. On what authority do you claim trustworthiness? If it weren't for my dreariness, I would punch you into oblivion. Do not mistake you being alive as my forgiveness." 

"Combat Detected. Activating HUD." "Name: Thomas. Class: Necromancer. Level: Incalculable Basic comprehension activated. Recalculating. Danger rating: Yellow. Haruto skimmed over the HUD and nodded in understanding. So this is why he is so buddy, buddy. Yellow should be higher than green, but the color of piss is still trash in my eyes. Think you can pull a fast one on me, dream on.

With his face being squished, Thomas continued to speak, "to be fair, you also provoked the adventurers to attack me, no?" 

Haruto grumbled, "Well yeah, but you are my cannon fodder. No, henchman, so that doesn't count."

Thomas groveled beneath the foot, adding, "And not once did I actually provoke them into attacking. I merely kept everything muddled. No harm was imminent for either of us." 

Haruto brought his foot back. "That is also true, but that doesn't get rid of the fact that you told the forbidden knowledge." 

Seeing his was making progress, Thomas struck while the iron was lukewarm. "AH, please, oh great master, this one knew not that the knowledge was forbidden. I dare not ask for forgiveness, only the right to continue servitude."

Seeing Thomas becoming so relieved, Haruto swiftly turned towards the exit and threatened, "Cut the crap, Thomas. Just tell the truth, or I'm leaving." 

Thomas's face turned a bright red as he admitted, "Ok ok. The truth, young master, is after your attack hit me, I used a good portion of my death energy to block it. By using that energy, my life force, so to speak, was greatly damaged. Currently, I can only muster 75% of my original strength for short bursts of time."

Haruto teased the red-faced Thomas, "So you want protection, huh? Next time don't beat around the bush. But why should I care if you can only use that much power? Why is this my problem? Just go hide in your little cave, no one has come yet, why would they begin now?" Haruto began to walk away again.

Thomas quickly scurried and grabbed hold of Haruto's legs. "That is exactly why this is your problem. Not only did your attack greatly weaken me, but it also revealed me as being a lich to those adventurers."

Haruto forcibly shook Thomas off his leg. "As they say in my world. Sucks to suck." 

"Please, I'll, I'll do anything" Thomas stared Haruto in the eyes as he stuttered this phrase.

Haruto recoiled in disgust, "You are a little too dead and hideous to be saying that."

Thomas was unabated by the insult and begged, "Please! Oh, great one. Have mercy on this weak one, and use your immense power to protect your humble follower. I swear on my life to follow your every command. To throw myself into harm's way for you. To smite your enemies. I may be less than nothing compared to you, but allow what little value I have as a tool to serve your greatness. I will follow your lead and never question, never falter, and never complain. Let a curse befall me if I ever betray you, great one. I promise 10 no 100 years of undying loyalty and servitude."

Haruto clapped in admiration, "Good, good. Imma keep it real with you chief, no one in this town would give me a place to stay after what I've done. And to make matters worse, I have no clue where the next closest town is. So I was going to have to go back with you either way. But since you have sworn your quite literally undying loyalty, that will be the icing on the proverbial cake. Come now, Thomas, let us take our leave."

Thomas grumbled some curses under his breath but still followed after Haruto.

The next day at the tavern, the barkeep begun cleaning up his poor shop that looked like a tornado came through. All the while, he berated himself, "Dammit, I knew I should have paid for adventurer's insurance. Who would have thought a battle would break out here." The barkeep swept up the destroyed tables and chairs for around three hours. "Ahh, at this rate, I won't be able to open tonight." The barkeep looked around even six hours of work would do little to remedy the destruction brought by Haruto and the others. 

Finally, his eyes came upon the runic knight who had been "asleep" on the floor this entire time. The barkeep huffed, "Fools like you are why my shop is destroyed. Runic knight? Pah, you're just a jerk with some fancy armor. What good did it do you to call that boy names? Bah, I would hope you were dead if it didn't mean I had to dispose of the body." 

The barkeep stepped towards the knight and doused him with a bucket of murky mop water. 

The water immediately awakened the runic knight who shivered from the cold touch. The knight flopped like a fish out of water as if he were having a nightmare then froze. He fearfully looked around the vicinity. He locked eyes with the barkeep and lunged towards him, grabbing the barkeep by the neck. He snarled, "Was it, you old man? Do you have the balls to toss water on the great Runic Knight Clarence of Scottsburg?" 

Through the choking, the barkeep stuttered out, "I don't even know where Scottsburg is. My apologies to the good knight." Oh, so I die helping this fool wake up. I should have left you unconscious, you ungrateful prick. 

The knight flung the barkeep away, causing him to crash through one of his last good tables. Not paying attention to the groans. The runic knight inspected his ruined gear and noted, "I'll be sending you the bill for ruining my armor with water, you peasant." The knight wiped the water off his mangled armor and limped out of the tavern. 

The barkeep who was greatly injured from the throw could only blame himself for helping such a person. Ah, I knew he would be the ungrateful type but to charge me for armor that was destroyed in battle. Surely the gods are gone, why else would men like him enjoy such power as I toil away barely able to survive. 

In the distance, Clarence, whose ego was greatly damaged. Muttered to himself, "Dirty demihuman, just wait until we meet again. I will purchase the most expensive magical armor on the market. Then no one will dare to offend me, and you will understand the true superior race. Hm, but first, I need to talk with Boris, or he'll have me arrested for desertion. Luckily I overheard the lich and demihuman talking about going to a cave with this information. We will gather an army if we must and wipe those two out." Clarence limped to the castle, not caring for anyone else, swiping away any unfortunate fool who got into his way.