The elf stabbed the salamander's eyes, making us receive a message.
['Firion' dealt 1000 critical damage. A [salamander lvl.3] was slain by your party. You earned 30 XP each. Congratulations.]
This resulted in only 30 more XP for him to level up to level two. I planned to leave him after helping him level up once. By the way, my fingers were intact again, after I, uhm, borrowed his health potion. To my surprise, he did as I asked this time and no harm was caused by him directly or indirectly. So I only had to endure the perverted elf for one, maybe two further kills!
I hoped to find a level three salamander again. It was easier to slay them with a teammate. Although it was also more difficult to evade their charges without a shield and the need to always get away from their bone-crushing sprint to ram their bony foreheads into my body. Somehow, they all charged at me first. Maybe because I was a magician and officially, my class belonged to the magic branch. And since monsters weren't just stupid animals, they were able to spot the magician as the most dangerous enemy. Maybe I would differ this time, because the elf was definitely more dangerous than me. At least his shortswords were a few tiers above my [Slender longsword]. With those babies, he only needed to stab them in any angle through their eyes in their head and they died. I needed to hit their brain or wouldn't deal critical damage and thus enable them to viciously fracture my bone further until the blood loss or another stab killed them. At least this came from the experience with the first salamander we encountered today.
"Good job." I said towards the elf. "Let's find the next one."
"What about the drops?" he asked.
"They're yours. I don't need those few brass coins and their body is almost worthless and too heavy to carry around in combat. The bloody stench could attract predators if you dump it on the way while you fight another salamander.
It's not worth the risk. But go ahead and collect the money." I said, trying to teach him a few worthwhile tips I had to learn the hard way. This game was sometimes too close to reality and some hunting methods could be applied straight from the profession from the real world in the game at all times.
Only cities and towns offered a bit of safety. Anywhere else, one had to face the onslaught of monsters, thieves and bandits as well as haughty NPCs which could lock you up if you messed with the wrong one.
I watched the elf collect the items while wondering which class he was. Although he wielded the two shortswords, I didn't catch him using a single skill. Except for the proficiency in swinging those swords, he showed no outward talent. Maybe he was an [elven lancman] or [elven warrior]. Both were subclasses with bonuses due to the elven lineage. But since I wouldn't spend that much time with him anyway, and because he showed no interest in me, I shifted my thoughts elsewhere. Why bother with people who would take no further space in my life?
This was a good lesson one of my friends taught me when I turned 11. They told me why they should bother with me, if I was uninteresting and useless to them. I believed we were friends but it was my one-sided hope of a friendship. Since then, I didn't even try to approach them ever again. It was only one month after I moved and I felt like a social outcast once again. The hope I could fit in finally extinguished. Just after I felt welcome, accepted and hoped. Foolish me, I-
"There is another salamander." The comment from the elf snapped me out of my thoughts. I focused on the woods in front of me again. On a clearing a few dozen meters from us, a humongous salamander laid lazy on a stone, sunlight bathing its lustrous carapace colouring it in a blazing red instead of the dim shades of orange and amber.
I nodded and said in a slightly hushed voice: "I try to sneak in to kill it. If I fail, I evade it and you try to kill it in a swift move. Don't endanger yourself. This beast looks like it can send you flying across the woods straight to Bronning."
"I'm right behind you."
Entrusting the elf my backside was a bad decision but since I only would need a bit of XP and he didn't try to kill me last time, I chose to offer him a hint of trust in advance. My instincts told me he would either kill me straightforwardly or gloat at my demise. Backstabbing after I stole his glaive simply didn't fit his arrogance. And since those shortswords already sliced my fingers like slicing through mellow butter, I had no hope of true survival if he decided to attack me.
Especially the last fight showed me that he got real skill with those swords. Or at least a whole lot more than me! So I entertained no thought that I would be able to kill the elf or even harm him enough to run from the pervert in case of a battle. So I might just get this over with.
But since I reached the salamander without being stabbed, I took it as a good sign and made a slight sound of clashing iron. The salamander's eyes snapped open, revealing slit pupils surrounded with a burning yellowish orange iris. But before the monster could even react, both my sword and poisoned dagger stabbed one eye each, dealing fatal damage.
[You dealt 140 damage and poisoned the target. The poison directly affected the target's brain, instantly dealing another 60 damage instantly due to severe poisoning. A [salamander lvl.4] was slain by your party. You earned 40 XP each. Congratulations.]
[Your party member 'Firion' reached lvl. 2.]
I watched my XP bar move from 235/400 to 275/400. My hand hovered over the leave party button before I decided to talk to the perverted elf one last time.
It was common courtesy and I hoped it would dissuade the maniac from following or trying to get his item back.
"Hey, Firion, can we talk?"
"What is it?"
"I helped you reach level 2. Since I still have something to do, I will continue alone today. I wish you much fun with Falan."
"You want to go off?"
"No, I need to go buy a new shield and have some other errands to run."
"I have time and can accompany you."
"There is no need for that. I may go offline after finishing my errands."
"So you just want to dump me after scamming me from my glaive?" he said, raising his eyebrow.
"I-"
"Consider this: If you accompany me until I reach level 10, I won't ever mention the glaive again."
"I don't have time to play with you."
"Why though?"
"None of your business."
"Then accept my friend request and let me tag along when you go hunting."
"I don't want to."
"..."
I turned around to leave after the elf stayed quiet. But after a few steps in silence, I sighed and asked: "Why do you even want to play with me?"
"...I got no one else to play with." he mumbled. A picture of a poor little antisocial boy popped up in my head. He must be an inexperienced, lonely kid who clung to the first person it found. And any kid would love a creepy game and love to dig for treasures. Maybe he thought of my corpse as an adventure. With his attitude, I almost believed he was mature. But this elf was just a kid who tried to make friends in Falan. How pitiful.
He reminded me of my former self who wanted to fit in so badly and was rejected both in the real world as well as being kicked out of parties. It was the same situation. Just that he lost his precious item, too, for which he paid a handsome sum and now would be left alone by me. I just couldn't do this to him.
Coven taught me better. He showed me grace and kindness, lifting me from the darkness consuming my being slowly but surely. Firion and I weren't the same. But I saw some similarities I couldn't overlook after noticing them.
If I would abandon this world at some point, I wanted to honor Coven's teachings at least. The morals and values he instilled in me which I believed too grand for me to follow. Now I was presented with the chance to decide if I would revive or abandon them.
And since the moment I thought of Coven, I already knew what I should do. What I would do.
"Why don't we try to do some irregular huntings in the future. I won't promise you anything, because I am a working adult and you have to attend school properly, but I'll invite you in the future if I head out to hunt.
Instead I'll keep your glaive. Try not to get scammed in the future! It's really bad, so be careful of shady people, kid!" I sent him a friend request and logged out, totally satisfied in being a proper paragon of virtue, conveniently ignoring I stole the very, very expensive looking glaive from an innocent boy.
But since I will teach him a bit about Falan, it will be okay, right?