"Madame! can I ask why did you accept me as your apprentice?" After walking for hours, He cannot contain the silence anymore. Hence, Pedro tried to break the silence by starting a conversation.
"Why the sudden question?" Madame Soledad replied still keeping her focus and attention to their surroundings.
'Accept you? Around the whole area... there were odd reports about the unusual increase in the number of adventurers! Therefore, to observe adventurers the best, being as close as possible to one of you is the best choice... Well... You gain something from me... I gain something from you! A win-win situation!' Madame Soledad thought inwardly
"Ohh... I just thought that wouldn't it be a waste if I became your apprentice?" He replied in an innocent manner.
"Hmm???" She glanced back at Pedro with a troubled look.
"Well... I mean... back at the village... there were people who were far stronger than me! Like the village soldier?"
"I'll tell you once you've become a master skill-maker!" Madame Soledad answered and became silent again. Due to his fear that Madame Soledad might take back his apprenticeship, Pedro chose to not further pry on things Madame Soledad didn't want to talk to.
'Well... I can't tell you now that I feel Dark magic energy residing in your body! And you have a skill I never had seen before, a magic inventory of some sort... You can store a thousand potions in that? That's ridiculous! if an army had that, it would be a very huge advantage when they went on war.' Madame Soledad thought inwardly.
He took Pedro as an apprentice because of the Dark magic energy in his body, that is most likely from his ~Undying~ skill that was "gifted" to him by the god of Death, and the weird skills that adventurers had like the inventory interface. To players, it was something normal or ordinary for a game, but for an NPC, advance ai version, anything non-existing to the programmed world would look new and revolutionary.
...
"Respected Village Soldier, we are back to join you in hunting wild mountain wolfs!" The trio approached village soldier Tam after preparing for their quest.
"Very well! Let's depart now!" Village Soldier Tam took a carriage where the pig parts to be used as bait was placed in boxes was located.
"What about the other expert?" Mathew asked upon noticing that Pedro was still no there.
"He has some more important task to take care so he can't join us!" Village soldier Tam explained
'More important task? something was more important than an S-rated chain quest?' Mathew scratched his head, unable to comprehend what Pedro did.
"where would we sit respected village soldier?" Bert asked as the trio saw that there was no space left in the carriage for them to ride.
"sit? hahaha! You'll walk! Plus... protect the horse at all cost! It would be troublesome for us to drag these by foot!" The trio had a grim expression after what village soldier Tam explained and ordered.
...
[Chain Quest: Wild Mountain Wolf Hunt!
Rating: S-rated
Current Mission: Walk and Protect the horse, until you reach the mountains!
Duration: Until you reach the mountains!]
...
"S-rated quests, surely won't be easy! Haha!" The trio could only console their selves now. The tasks might be hard and exhausting but the rewards would not be that simple also. Hence, Being blinded by the possible rewards the trio had no choice but to follow.
...
"Uhm... Madame!" Pedro remembered something important that he needs to tell Madame Soledad after realizing that it was already afternoon of the first day.
"What now?" Madame Soledad became a bit irritated to Pedro who ask questions from time to time.
"I forgot to tell you about my sickness!" Pedro showed a wryly smile.
"Sickness?" Madame Soledad's face had a frown when she stopped walking and glanced to Pedro.
"Yes... Although, I can stay awake and active for a maximum of two days... I need to also be asleep for the same amount of time to replenish my energy! I have been like this since birth, and don't know the cause! I hope you understand!" Pedro realized that when he logs out of the game the odd event that he sleeps unconsciously for two days would be a weird thing to the NPC, to the point that the NPC might think that Pedro had died.
Hence, He came up with a lie, telling that it was a sickness he had since birth and has of unknown cure currently.
"Is that so... then we need to speed up and reach our destination!" Madame Soledad seemed unaffected or unsurprised by Pedro's "sickness".
"Why doesn't it surprise you?" Pedro followed up as they continued walking at a faster pace.
"???" ... " Cause your very existence is already surprising!" Madame Soledad complained in an irritated manner.
"When we reach our destination, head to one of the vacant rooms you find comfortable!" She instructed as she returned to silent mode.
"I greatly appreciate it, Madame!" He offered his thanks.
...
'I wonder where we are heading... Kagat village was located somewhere at the far west of the Aquari continent and near the equator line of the planet! Based on the Sun's location and considering that it is already afternoon, we are probably heading southwest... If I'm not wrong... we are heading towards the western kingdom by the sea! the Naga Kingdom!' Pedro exclaimed as he predicted where they were heading using his past knowledge and a historic way of determining the direction using the Sun as a reference. (players call it Sun based from the original earth but its actual in-game name was "Bof", meaning "Ball of Fire".)
'In kingdoms, I can challenge the King... right? but only for a certain condition... one must be able to have a reputation point that may rival that of a noble at the least!' this was a fact in Pedro's past life, However, the players weren't able to succeed to increase their reputation point high enough for them to challenge the kings. The kings had their own eyes in their kingdom, hence, they can see who might threaten their position as kings. With this and their intelligence, they can sabotage anyone who aims to take the throne from them be it NPCs or Players.
This resulted in players making their own villages that will later become kingdoms. This was far easier than trying to subjugate existing kingdoms. On that point, It was also way easier for players to subjugate a kingdom by wars, hence, only a few hopeful players tried to challenge a king but to no avail.
NPCs in bearth cannot identify players as an alien from some other world. This was because once the players die their character also dies. There wasn't something weird about it, unlike the past MMORPG where players revive when they die. Hence, in AVR Games the players get to experience a whole new world like they were really part of it.
...
Occasionally, some monsters would attack Madame Soledad and Pedro. But with Pedro as a tank and Madame Soledad as the damage dealer, they quickly defeat the monsters. Due to the time-consuming extraction of NPCs, Madame Soledad allowed Pedro to use his Instant Extraction on the monsters they kill. (Instant Extraction was just looting to players with the use of the system and the player interface.)
"Catch your breath kiddo, we're just an hour to our destination!" Madame Soledad remarked as she saw the exhausted Pedro.
'Really! This youngsters of today must do more work and exercise. Ten years ago, I can climb five consecutive mountains in one day!' Madame Soledad dejected after looking at Pedro.
"Yes!" Pedro suddenly became full of glee.
'I'm on my way... The Naga Kingdom!' Full of hopes, Pedro was full of motivation as he walks his way closer to their destination.