Chapter 7: The young knight!
As Tetsuya found another bandit camp, his eyes narrowed. "They are even worse. Disgusting." They were doing perverted acts in an open area with three men ganging up on one woman. Of course, she was all smiles, just like the rest of the women. Clearly delighted by such pleasure, the women moaned to the point where one could get deaf.
This caused Tetsuya to scratch his neck as he said. "Wouldn't they get more money by becoming slaves? I guess even such whores like some freedom." He then took out his purple cube, which was The Game Rune System.
Another setting got added by the game master, then the fun began.
Tetsuya threw his eyes on the person who looked the strongest, then the game system's hands reached out for his body. It was invisible power for the bandits whose runes were embedded within their bodies while solely influencing their strength and stamina.
[The Bandit Boss Roman Lv. 7 Health: 1400/1400 Mana: 200/200.]
As the simple stats began to appear, Tetsuya scoured through the man's stats and abilities. All of those got described neatly on his game system messages, then he also learned about the bandit's rune.
Every bandit was using the same rune, but the boss' body was more liable to it. This ended up with him gaining the most strength! Because of this, Roman beat the former boss and took the boss' seat for himself.
This was written within the game system, which was terrifying. "Honestly… I feel scared to read about myself now." Of course, Tetsuya had a different kind of fear. This also didn't go unnoticed by Ashley, whose comment made him laugh out loud.
"Maybe let the world read your information so that it stops betraying you." She said with a sigh, then looked into the window with all the stats and rune described.
Her partner could go all out and fight the boss, but if it were one versus many bandits, the quantity would do its job. That was why Ashley stood silent and waited for Tetsuya's next action.
There was no way he would disappoint her! "If we meddle with the settings and runes, then I might as well use the weaker bandit to get stronger, then create something akin to religion." It was a fair plan. The religion could spread the MMORPG rune faster, but there was a small problem that Tetsuya and Ashley were aware of.
"Our game rune is undeveloped. We don't have a system to oversee others, and I am the one who gives the quests and monitors the growth…" Tetsuya held his chin while stating the obvious. If he were to give someone the quest to oversee, such a person would need to be one hundred percent royal.
And so, Ashley created a loyalty measurement. It started with the 'Stranger' and could go both ways! One would either become the arch-enemy or the loyal follower in the future! This feature was now near every person's name.
Naturally, everyone was a stranger.
Tetsuya was fine with, "I am still going to move around in this area, so we don't have to find the 'moderator' yet." He then decided to lure out one bandit for proper rune measurement. "Stamina's charm is irresistible. At this point, I might need to find a good bed for my future wives."
The quest suddenly appeared in one of the bandits' eyes. He read the content secretly so that no one would snatch his 'golden chance'. In this sense, he was truly like a bandit! His eyes then went wide as the quests were simply contrary to the rewards that seemed too good to be true!
The bandit excused himself from his pack by faking diarrhea, then headed to the location presented by the 'game rune'. In the meantime, Tetsuya also decided to finally turn the bandit boss into the real boss.
[Bandit Boss Roman can not resist your power!]
[You have created five skills for the Bandit Boss Roman.]
[You have created three battle stages for Bandit Boss Roman.]
"It should suffice." A game master whispered, then he suddenly heard the bush rustling. This was unexpected as minimap didn't show anything on it. It meant that there was something that could hide from Ashley's senses and rune power!
This caused Tetsuya to focus on it thoroughly.
"Auch! I overslept!" A rather young voice shouted to himself. It was a young man looking around eighteen years old clad in a plate set that made him look like a knight. This person was just casually sleeping here, but Tetsuya was far from finding him!
If not his careless attitude, then the game rune's existence could possibly get exposed!
This young man also found out about Tetsuya. His whole demeanor changed from the casual to the serious one, his eyes wary. He also stood up in the blink of an eye, causing all the dirt and leaves to fall off his armor.
"I know this badge!" Ashley abruptly shouted. "It's from Mystic Academy! He might be here for the trial." There were three academies in the neighborhood that Ashley was aware of. Her royal family used to attend one of those in the past, but they accumulated enough strength and knowledge on their own to part their ways and just stayed on friendly terms. The royalties had it different, but the common people had to work way harder!
"Their teachers assign many trials throughout their stay here. Many of those teachers also give up on their students if they fail to achieve their trials." It was a harsh reality, but Ashley also added that people with potential had it easier.
This caused Tetsuya to just laugh out loud, "The world revolves around the potential people and me." He startled the young man who already thought Tetsuya had a loose screw. Of course, it would be hard for them to get some information by keeping an eye on each other, so the young man spoke first.
"What's your affiliation?" Unlike him, Tetsuya wore clothes similar to the merchant that didn't really expose his identity. Those clothes were stolen by the bandit boss and given to him with the utmost respect.
As Tetsuya had some idea of being the revolutionizing merchant, he took these without much fuss and enjoyed the better clothes!
"Affiliation?" However, Tetsuya just asked back. "Who possibly could have all of me? This world can only lower itself to betrayal, so what about its people?" He was serious, damn serious!
This caused Ashley to get some 'dead look' in her eyes as she whispered. "What about Red Rose Woman? There should be more people of such caliber." She then leaned forward to peek at his expression.
"She forced me to think about her for a while. The conclusion is simple; she is the world's mistake." A poor world failed to welcome Tetsuya, and so she was the world's mistake! As Ashley heard this answer, she shook her head and left her partner alone as it was time for him to confront the young man.
As for this young man, he truly believed Tetsuya was crazy. "If you are a merchant who lost its company, then I can help you return to the city. You will be able to start your business again by pulling your connections, right? Merchants have a lot of these…"
Wasn't it a key to the city? Tetsuya thought momentarily like that, but there weren't any connections, nor the young man would stay with him before he spread his wings. His status would be useless if he were to just leave after escort.
Those slave masters or any stupid people would dare to move their hands for Tetsuya in this scenario!
However, Tetsuya already had a good foundation here, "No need. Tell me about your trial instead." He felt like the trial was connected to the bandits. Otherwise, there would be no reason for the young man to be here.
As this got confirmed by the young man himself, Tetsuya nodded to himself with contentment. "It seems like you are a new knight. A new knight that has yet to develop into real justice bringer." Such a title somewhat intrigued the young man as his cheeks got flushed red.
"So this camp has been your target?" Tetsuya then probed more into the young man's plan. What came out of it was that the young man was on his first trial. It was his first and possibly the last one if he were to fail, so he wanted to do it flawlessly.
The young man spent some days here to watch the bandit's habits and customs. "I know there is a time where the boss decides to be alone in the camp. All other bandits then scatter around to hunt on weaker people." It seemed like he wanted to share the news with someone!
As Tetsuya entirely gave the merchant impression with his talk despite seeming like having a loose screw, the young man promised to help him protect if necessary. He also told all his plans that needed some hours to begin!
It seemed like the time where the bandit boss Roman would be alone was approaching!
"I also have noticed something weird in the bandit boss's eyes." Tetsuya then added his own story. "He spoke about… game rune." The news of the game rune was shocking as the young man couldn't understand whether it was some 'joke rune' or a useful one that would turn one into an influential person.
"Game Rune… If the bandit found a new power, then he might be a formidable opponent." The young man nodded.
This caused Ashley to smile as he seemed rather innocent. "His trial is to kill three bosses in the area. I can see that there is also a hint of goodwill in his voice, so he wants to genuinely help people in the neighborhood." She cheered on the young man then!
"But he shouldn't really adapt to this rune. It's a new one, and he also lacks knowledge and guidance. I will strike him as soon as possible so that nothing surprises me!" The young man was brave and ready to fight! After the knight passed his plan for Tetsuya, he told him to hide too before any bandit found out about their location.
He rolled under his bush and peeked through it at the bandit camp.
As for the game master, "I got to move. Otherwise, this world will outrun me." In this way, he told the young knight that he is going to take a dump. Tetsuya obviously went to gather the 'bandit rune' for his research!
Not like he wanted to waste time underneath the bush like the young knight.
"Tetsuya, what's your plan for the young knight? You wouldn't tell him about the rune if it was not something deep." Ashley instantly pounced for the information. Her partner, as usual, didn't disappoint.
He flicked his fingers and spoke, "The young knight will become my pawn. It's all up to him how long he will be useful for." Tetsuya wouldn't mistreat his people, so it was fine. "He is the key to the academy, and I will use him through the game rune soon to explore the area and gather the bandits."
"There are already bandits who know about your power, though!" Ashley reminded!
"It's simple. I just have to give them quests, and they will dance the way I want." Such an answer elicited 'Ah' from Ashley as she nodded. Looks like too many questions work oppositely sometimes!