Part 50: Reformed

[BGM: Fire Breath]


What?

It's something we already knew- just because someone's dead doesn't mean their tablet stops working. Someone realized that, and so as soon as they had an opportunity, they swiped the dead's tablets.

Which means they were able to use the extra two votes to kill Snake and break the stalemate.

Huh. I wouldn't have thought about that.

Wouldn't you have? Or did you do this?!

Did you even listen to her? The person who grabbed the tablets was clearly in the other group.

Yeah, that's right!

This proves that at least one traitor is in their group!



Sheep's right! So that means you guys shouldn't just vote us all dead.

Tch. You think that's gonna work? You were trying to vote us all dead, and you're just gonna pretend that didn't happen? You're gonna try and stop us from getting revenge?

Dragon, Dragon, I swear it wasn't personal. We were just... desperate. If we didn't do anything, we were all going to be executed, one after another.

By banding together, there were decent odds that both traitors were in the other group. Which very much could be true!

If we killed both traitors, at least the five of us could survive.

I'm not hearing anything worth forgiving.



It's a classic case of mob mentality. The fact that there were five of them collectively absolved them of blame.

So what do we do now?

…

Again, I was unsure of what to do.

We're going with Pig's plan.

Chaos? That wasn't a good plan though!

Well I can't think of a better one! We just need to find two more Trinkets. Two more! So let's just do that!



I guess that's kind of a plan. So I'll kind of do it.

This feels like conceding, but fine. Random voting it is.

More importantly, we need to find Minor Trinkets!

Yes, we've established that. I've already fulfilled my quota, so I expect you lot to pick up the slack.

Quota? Don't tell me you intend to quit working!

I didn't have time for such arguments. I just needed to find Trinkets. Trinkets? Trinkets? I felt like calling out to the Trinkets, which was a sign I was losing my mind.

[BGM: Slithering]


But I didn't get to search for long before it was the end of a prayer cycle. Random voting, eh? I voted for Dog, someone I suspected might be a traitor. Then I went back to searching for Trinkets. I didn't need to think about that shit. Who cares that you could totally be executed here? Nope, no need to worry. Not a single cause for concern. Not even worth listening to the tablet announcement happening right now.

It's likely a tie! ...And if not a tie, it'll be some random death. 3 people had already died, this wasn't anything new. I just had to accept the batshit scenario we were in and move on.



With a total of 5 prayers, the great Draconic Gods have heeded the group's wishes and strike down Rooster.

And another death. So random strategy wasn't...

Wait a minute.

FIVE prayers??

[BGM: Silence]


Even if you factored in a traitor having 2 extra tablets, that's way too high a number to be a coincidence! I rushed back towards the cafeteria. And there, I saw it.

[BGM: Mousetrap]


Bunny, Pig, Sheep, Horse, and Dragon. Standing together, looking guilty. Next to them was Rooster's corpse. Bunny had picked up and was checking out his tablet.

You. Your group did this, didn't you?

We didn't do anything wrong!

Yes, we did. We reformed the voting block.

Goddamnit, you guys! Dragon, you too?

I'm not dying here. Whatever it takes for that to happen, I'll roll with it.



The fact of the matter is, Mouse, that we know for a fact that between you, Rooster here, Monkey and Dog, there's at least one traitor!

We know it wasn't Dragon, because she was standing guard outside of the library for most of the cycle, and she didn't have an opportunity to go and collect the dead people's tablets.

It turns out that Rooster didn't end up being a traitor, but that just narrows the scope down to three!

Once we get rid of you three, well, we'll sort things out from there depending on what we find.

You're okay with this? Mob based murder? You think the fact that there's 5 of you doing it changes what it is?



What other choice do we have? Like it or not, there are two people actively trying to kill the rest of us. We don't get to know who they are. If we just sit around, afraid of hitting an innocent, we're just sitting targets waiting to be devoured.

I, for one, have things too important outside of here that I'm not willing to forfeit my life without a fight.

W-What he said. We have obligations!

We don't have a choice! It's not my fault, everyone would do this in my situation.

I didn't have time for their justifications. They couldn't shove away the blame in whatever ways they wanted, they were going to murder us all. I could despair. But that wouldn't help. I wasn't dying like this. Someway, somehow, I'd survive. First things first, I needed to gather allies. I searched the building for Monkey and Dog.



After I gathered them, I explained to them the situation.

I mean, it's really our fault for not figuring something like this'd happen. 'Yeah, our lives are on the line, but totally don't group up and try and save yourselves.'

In times of extreme anguish, groups provide structure and safety to desperate minds.

It makes sense that given the horrors we've seen, people would be willing to stoop to such levels if everyone is going along with it.

I don't care whether or not they're justified! We need to team together and find out some way to prevent them from killing us all!

Isn't there one little problem with that plan though?

One of the three of us is also trying to kill us all.



Not necessarily.

Bunny?

Mouse, Monkey, Dog... I'm sorry. I feel really shitty about what I did.

Now's not the time for that, explain what you're doing here!

The group was talking about next steps, and suddenly it dawned on me.

Were we right that the traitor who killed Snake definitely came from you three? After all, we assumed that the tablets were taken after the tied vote, but when was the last time we looked at them?

[BGM: Metal Horse]


It was possible that someone gathered them before that, and used them to frame the people outside the library. When I thought about it like that, things started to make sense. I also realized we should look at Snake's tablet.

But when I ran over to his body, it was taken as well! And I think the people with the most opportunity to do that were the people inside the library when he died.

So basically, you suspect that someone in the library group is a traitor?

It was already possible that one of them could've been a traitor anyways. But I think the one who has Tiger and Ox's tablets, the most dangerous one, is Pig.

Pig? You're joking, surely.

I'm for real.



You might not know it, but she was actually the one behind gathering the group in the first place. She chose the location to be the library, which means she could've hid the tablets in there ahead of time.

And she was one of the people who suggested reforming this group.

And you wish us to vote for her execution?

Yeah.

That loose logic being your basis for it?

Look, at this point, it's clear that we're not getting out of this with no blood on our hands. We have to make moves against people who we think are the traitor.



And I think Pig is the traitor.

But even if we go along with this, the vote'd be 4 to 4. No one'd be executed.

Not true.

Bunny displayed the tablet he had picked up.

I took Rooster's tablet after he died, remember? With this, we have 5 tablets. We can vote her out.

That's...

Well?