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While a young lady full of illusions continues to fight fervently in an attempt to achieve something that seems almost impossible so she can finally embark on a dangerous journey into the unknown in search of a loved one, a human with demon blood in his veins arrives at the first sign of civilization he has seen in several days.
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It is dusk, and I am at the entrance of a small village I found while walking in the direction the old farmer had told me to go.
I have been traveling for several days, and the landscape has not changed much, although the weather is now a bit warmer.
Also, the ground seems to be actually drier this time, not the deceptive dryness I perceived on the ground when I awoke from my magical coma, which was the result of the moisture in the ground being semi-frozen, giving it a parched appearance to my dazed mind's perception.
I also noticed that there are fewer and fewer water sources, but the lack of water is never going to be a problem for me thanks to the fact that I can store an absurd amount of water in my inventory, and the same goes for food.
The town is made up of a few dozen concrete and brick houses, and there aren't many people on the streets.
However, as I walk around, everyone stares at me, which makes the atmosphere feel strange and oppressive, even though there aren't many people walking around.
All the people I see are orcs, of course.
'It must not be very normal to see someone who is not of their race walking alone in the streets of the town.'
However, despite not taking their eyes off me, they all turn away from me at the slightest sign that I'm going to approach any of them.
From what I see inside the houses through the windows, unlike the city of Krag-an, here they have no electric lights, let alone enchanted devices to illuminate as in our kingdom.
I only see torches and candles as a means of illumination, which gives the town a somber air in the dim evening light.
During this time I've been traveling, I've been training my spells Mana Bomb and Mana Piercing Bullet to entertain myself, with which I managed to get them both to level 7.
At this rate, it won't be long before I raise them to their maximum level, so I should start looking for some other kind of entertainment.
I head to the only inn in town to once again ask for directions to the capital of the empire and see if today, after so long of sleeping in the wasteland, I'm finally going to be able to sleep in a bed.
'Not that I distrust the old farmer, as he had no reason to lie to me, but better safe than sorry.'
As I enter, I walk towards the bar, ignoring the looks of disbelief I get from the five orcs drinking at the bar.
'Good thing there aren't many people drinking yet. Less chance of trouble'
"I'm looking for a place to spend the night and ask for some directions" I say to the rough-looking orc behind the bar, wiping a jug with a dirty rag "I'd also like to buy some food".
'I suppose if I buy some food from him, it will be a little easier to get the information I'm looking for from him'
"You should look elsewhere, boy. There's no room here, and I don't have any more food either." says the orc in a raspy voice, and seeing that I raised an eyebrow looking at those who are eating and drinking at the bar, he explains himself better "I don't want any trouble."
"I'm not going to give you any trouble, sir. I just want a room and some food." I say, trying to keep calm and not make a fuss, "But if that can't be, I'll settle for the information. Could you tell me where..."
But the barkeep interrupts me, looking at me irritably, "No, I know nothing... The house reserves the right of admission."
'Haa... I need to calm down'
"Well... could you at least show me some maps? I'd like to check something," I ask, trying my hardest to keep my tone as friendly and cordial as possible.
"Hey! Little bird with no wings, don't you understand when people talk to you? He is telling you to leave," says a young orc with two swords on his back.
Behind him is a group of four male orcs, even younger looking than the first, looking at him expectantly.
'Surely he is some kind of guard or village hero. Haa. It seems that no matter what I do, I'll always be the bad guy here. But it's not convenient for me to kill them either.... Although I could slaughter the entire village without much difficulty.... But no, that wouldn't do any good. It's not their fault for thinking like that'
"Listen, kid. I've had a pretty monotonous few days, and my nerves are not to be put to the test. Believe me, you really don't want to piss me off" I say, tensing my voice and body as I abandon all cordiality suddenly and pull the mithril dagger from my inventory to plunge it into the bar with a thud as I finish speaking.
'Come on! Get the message and leave me alone'
"Well, I think I do, you fucking slave. This is a good place, and I'm not going to let you keep bothering my friend. I think you need someone to remind you of your place so you can go back to eating outside with the animals, where you bel...." he says, as he starts to unsheathe his two swords, but I interrupt his pseudo-heroic monologue with a quick punch in the face that sends him flying at least 10 meters backwards, where he crashes into a wall and stands still on the spot.
'Haa... I hope he didn't die. I'd rather not kill anyone, as it's not something that suits me if I want to get to the capital without raising too much of a fuss in the process. Which would be very difficult if my head had a price in the empire. But they are making it really difficult for me.... Anyway, I'm sure that with this last warning now the rest of them understand that they shouldn't keep looking for trouble with me'.
During these days, my abnormally weakened state has already gone, and I'm back to 100% of my abilities, so I have to be twice as careful not to accidentally kill anyone.
Sorcerer Lvl 75
Warrior Lvl 75
Adventurer Lvl 75
Hunter Lvl 75
Explorer Lvl 62
[Spirit]
[Fire (minor)]
Strength 87 (+10)
Constitution 86 (+5)
Agility 86 (+10)
Intelligence 86
Will 86 (+5)
<0 stat points available>
[Imbued weapon Lvl 9]
[Azur Lvl 9]
[Mana bullet Lvl 9]
[Mana bomb Lvl 7]
[Piercing mana bullet Lvl 7]
[Spiritual Fusion Lvl 4]
[Map Lvl 6]
[Radar Lvl 6]
[Inspect]
[Spiritual Pressure Aura]
[Flaming Aura]
[Sword specialization Lvl 9]
[Dagger specialization Lvl 4]
[Magic sense Lvl 7]
[Dimensional storage Lvl 7]
[Bounty Hunter Lvl 7]
[Survivor Lvl 6]
[Accelerated balanced growth]
[Possessor of the Blue Flame]
"Oid! What have you done to him? You're going to pay for this, you scoundrel!" says one of the swordsman's friends, and he lifts up one of the chairs to use it as a weapon. "Renri, go check on Oid. We'll stop this bastard."
After the boy's words, the other two orcs also lift up chairs and stand on guard, while the orc apparently named Renri goes to check on the condition of his fallen friend.
'Or maybe not...'
"I'm sorry, little bird, but you'd better surrender. I don't know who owns you or where you escaped from, but you just committed a serious crime by beating up an innocent person," says the innkeeper in an annoyed and tense voice, pulling a rifle from behind the bar.
'Innocent? But that crazy guy had drawn his weapons first… Haa... I guess I'm not going to be able to get out of here on good terms.'
Trying not to hurt the innkeep, I snatch the rifle out of his hands and start bending and grinding it until it ends up as a ball.
'It's lucky it was made of low-grade steel and wood; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to dispose of this toy so easily.'
At the sight of what I've just done, the four young orcs and the innkeeper try to escape from me towards the exit.
But that will only bring me more trouble, so, pulling some ropes from my inventory, I move at full speed to tie them all together, sitting them on the floor and gagging them so they won't scream.
I don't want this to become a bigger problem than it already is.
'Luckily they don't seem to have any will to scream...'
Three of the young orcs fainted as soon as they felt I had touched them.
The fourth one, the one named Renri, peed himself and now he can't stop crying his eyes out while begging me not to kill him.
The innkeeper, on the other hand, looks at me with hatred.
But he doesn't say a word as I go about tying him and the rest of the orcs up.
"Well. I really didn't want it to come to this." I say, and the innkeeper spits at my feet, after which I give him a soft kick in the stomach that causes the orc to fall sideways on the ground.
"Would you be so kind as to tell me in which direction the capital of the empire is located? A map of the empire would also help," I say, crouching down to get eye level with the innkeeper.
"I'll tell you nothing, scum." he says with disgust and falls silent.
"You, the one called Renri, could you be a little more sensible than your friends and tell me what I want to know?"
"No, please, Mr. slave, don't kill me. I didn't want to offend you. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to. No..." says the orc with pissed pants for all answers.
Even when, for a few minutes, I try to get him to say something meaningful, I can't get him to say anything.
'Haa... I'm running out of time. I have to leave quickly if I don't want the ruckus I made here to end up involving me in a fight against the whole town.'
So, as compensation for being attacked, insulted, and threatened for no reason, I stuff into my inventory all the alcohol that was on some shelves behind the bar, since it's the nearest thing I had in sight.
And after making sure that everyone is well gagged, I leave the inn, heading towards the exit of the village at a brisk pace, quite irritated and looking with bad mood at everyone with whom I cross my eyes, but trying not to raise suspicions about what happened.
However, when I was about to leave the town...