I looked back at Joker.
"I need to go. I can't allow my father to get suspicious."
"Alright. You can go then. Don't get run over by a truck."
I ignored his joke and headed to the door but his voice spoke up again.
"By the way....you don't need to tolerate being bullied any longer."
I stopped and looked at him with no expression on my face.
I guess he did investigate me quite deeply.
"Since I've already found out, you don't need to use the bullying as a disguise anymore. Feel free to rampage to your heart's content. I'll make sure that none of my superiors notice what you're doing. Watching someone you love being abused 24/7 isn't nice you know. If you don't stop them I'll go in and beat them up myself."
I raised an eyebrow. Really? He sure knows how to joke around. Someone who can say that they love you so easily is either lying or is your family or friend.
I don't believe what he says.
Although if he does beat Ryuu up after charging into school, that would be a funny sight to see.
Without saying a word back I left the room. I jogged to my bike which was luckily still where I left it and rode home.
The journey back was faster since I didn't hold back. I managed to arrive home a bit before 3:30.
After quickly putting away my bike and slipping back into my room through the window, I looked over at Eugene's sleeping figure and let out a breath of relief.
Good thing he's still sleeping.
Lots of things have happened in such a short period of time.
Tired of all that had happened today, I smoothly went under my covers and fell asleep.
----------------------------------------------
School went by surprisingly peacefully the next day. I was expecting trouble from Eugene or Tomoe about yesterday evening but they didn't do anything at all.
What's even weirder, nobody came up and harassed me.
I'm not used to it. It's too suspicious. Did Joker do something after all?
This peace is making me twitchy. It's like the calm before the storm, I have an ominous feeling that major events will be happening soon. Both in and out of Sapphire.
I biked back home with Eugene and we both logged into the game after changing out of our school uniforms.
In the game, I appeared back in the middle of nowhere.
Alright! Time to continue walking aimlessly until I find a village or something interesting.
Half an hour later I really did find a village.
Speak of the devil. I'm finally starting to feel like the main character.
Walking into the village many of the inhabitants seemed to look at me weirdly.
Is it because of my cloak...? I have to admit it does look shady.
As I got closer to the center of the village an old man who was being guarded by two men approached me after observing me closely.
"Excuse me, honorable adventurer, what brings you here to our humble village?" He asked politely yet also cautiously.
"I'm lost. Sorry for the intrusion."
It's true though. I honestly have no idea where I am.
His eyes opened wide at my unexpected answer and he suddenly started laughing.
"HAHAHA! Young man, I feel like I would get along well with you! I'm Whit. I remember back when I was younger....."
His two guards suddenly paled after hearing him start talking about his past.
My condolences, it must be hard on you two.
-----------------------------
2. (very long) Hours. Later.
"....and that's how I ended up managing these folks here." He ended with a large sigh. "I've already long lost my edge. I'm only around level 40 or so ever since I've stopped adventuring."
His eyes focused on me and he nodded.
"You look like a strong fellow. It's been a long time since I've gotten to tell my story to somebody, for some reason everybody is always too busy to listen to me!"
Yeah, no kidding. I regret ever stepping foot into this village.
[Affinity with Village Chief Whit has risen by 50]
See? Even the system understands how torturous this is.
"Kiddo, what's your name?"
"Lynx, sir."
"Lynx...Lynx....good name! Very manly name, I like it! Don't call me sir, just Whit will do! Hey, are you willing to do something for me?"
Um no. You just called me, a very innocent 17-year-old high school girl, MANLY. I get that you can't see my face under the cloak, but I don't act like a male right?!
I don't want to do you any favors at all.
But I still agreed. I'm such a forgiving person.
[Quest: Save the Village has been unlocked.
Description: The old man will tell you more.
Reward: Who knows.]
...The system is getting lazier.
"Little Lynx, recently our village has been threatened by an encampment of barbarians to the west. They have a barbarian chief named Than who is ruthless and has only given us two days to surrender before he will raid us without mercy. You are still young and strong without the need to fear death. I hope that you will find a way to rid this world of such a monster."
The village chief lastly handed me a vial filled with red liquid.
"This is a liquid extracted from the most poisonous mushroom recorded, Amanita, that is only found in a secret cave guarded by us. It's our last resort and not even the royal family knows that we have this. I hope that you can use it well, after all our research we've only ever produced a small number of these. One vial can immediately kill any living creature under level 100 instantly after consumption." He said while looking me in the eyes with a determined stare. "You're our only hope. Please don't let us down, Little Lynx."
[Amanita Poison - Can either instantly kill any living being under level 70 or knock them unconscious if a small dosage is used. Only effective if consumed or inserted into blood veins.]
...inserted into blood veins? Uh, excuse me?
That's a bit too much information. Thank you very much.
Waving goodbye to Whit, I headed west to look for the barbarian encampment
It honestly was pretty easy. It's not like they tried to hide.
Jumping into a tree at the edge of the clearing I scouted the camp.
What I saw almost made me fall off.
Err...over a dozen barbarians and each soldier is level 40.....that might be a bit too much for me...even with the poison.....
I doubt pouring it into their soup would work, the liquid would end up diluted. That only happens in novels.
I calculated the amount of poison given to me in my head. If just the soldiers are level 40 then the barbarian chief must be at least level 60 or higher. It might even be an elite.
An idea suddenly popped into my head and my eyes lit up.
The quest didn't say that I had to wipe out the entire outpost right? Only the chief?
That's fine then! I'll just only kill him with the poison and ignore the rest. I don't need to deal with the lackeys. The villagers can deal with them.
What did you say? I'm not acting like a hero?
Screw it. I'm not a hero anyways.
Throwing away free exp?
Hm.....I can't kill even one without the poison. It would be better if I just left instead of dying because of greed. The quest and killing the boss give enough exp anyways. Can't be too greedy.
I looked over at the giant tent located in the middle of the encampment. Only two guards.
Coming out from the bush I was hiding in I took off my hood and walked up to the front gate.
"I'm the representative of the village nearby, I need to speak to your chief," I said directly to one of the surprised gate guards.
While other guards kept their eyes on me the man ran towards the tent and reported to the person in charge. A few moments later he ran back and nodded at me.
"The chief says to let you in. He's currently busy but he'll see you soon."
. . .
Wait, isn't this a bit too easy?
I walked in and was lead towards the tent. However, we stopped right in front of one of the tent guards.
He looked me up and down with a grin.
"This is the representative? A little girl? Has that old geezer finally gone crazy and just decided to send a nice present to the chief?" He sneered.
"Um, you guys aren't gonna check me for weapons or anything?" I asked hesitantly.
"What, you looking down on us, Little girl? Feel free to keep all the weapons you want, it's not like you can take us down anyways. Just stay here until the chief isn't busy anymore." He scowled before turning his head away in distaste.
Heh....he sure is arrogant for a nobody. I'll make sure he dies.
I waited for a good hour before a barbarian soldier walked up to the tent with a mountain of food. I mentally grinned at the lucky opportunity.
Approaching the soldier with the food, I smiled politely.
"Is it okay if I serve him the food instead? Please? I want to at least leave a good impression on the chief."
He stared dumbfounded for a moment before he quickly nodded with a bright red face, handed me the food, and dashed off.
Hm, he's so shy.
I sneakily dumped in six-tenths of the poison to the food. It should be enough to kill the boss. I held the food carefully before notifying the guard and then stepping in.
Their security sucks. I'm starting to doubt the intelligence of these AIs.