"Keppy?! How could you be silent for so long?!! I thought you were gone for good!"
"I was simply watching you. So far you've been doing well Michael."
"Next time don't leave me like that!"
Keppy was silent for a moment, but then he resumed talking.
"Listen, Michael, there's a lot to do, but standing in front of the lord's house won't accomplish a thing. You need to go somewhere and whilst you'll be walking, I'll explain everything."
"All right. Tell me." As I said that, I began moving towards the gates in the back of the village.
"I am pretty sure you know that the lord was lying through his teeth. It's only a trap meant to kill you before even getting the chance to become powerful enough to do anything."
"I agree." as I said that, I took a look around me; the impoverished villagers were scared of my appearance, so much so that they avoided me like the plague. Yet, I couldn't bear it. Why were they so scared, and more importantly, why were they so unhappy?
"I know what you are thinking. It's not a great sight. I'm sure that there is someone responsible for their miser-"
I stopped walking.
In front of me, there was a closed bag the size of a human.
A muscular man with a beard just threw it to the ground, in front of his tavern. I was standing there looking at it like an idiot. Not long after, the man noticed me and said:
"You want this don't ya? Too bad our boys dealt with her. She wasn't worth a penny, since her parents couldn't pay the ransom. You can leave her on the streets to die, or you can take her with you. I couldn't care less, her end is near anyway." As he said that, he closed the door of the building.
I approached the bag slowly. I saw no movement from it.
"Keppy, is she even alive?" I muttered to myself
"I can sense a heartbeat. She is alive. Open the bag, Michael."
I carefully opened the bag, and slowly I saw some long blonde hair come out of it. The more I uncovered, the more I saw her. She was a rather beautiful girl, despite wearing rags. Yet she had bruises and blood all over her young body. These dogs beat her without any mercy. I couldn't tell precisely how old she was, but sure as hell, she wasn't older than me. For comparison, I am 29 years old.
I checked her entire body for open wounds, she had none. Thankfully, no one was nearby to see me and get the wrong idea.
"Keppy, scan her, and if possible, tell me her current condition."
"She is a normal human. She has no life-threatening wounds, however, she does have a few broken bones. Currently, she's unconscious but she needs to be treated as soon as possible."
"Got any ideas on how to cure her? I'm a police officer, not a medic."
"I'm afraid you currently can't do anything yet. We can try to create a potion or a healing mixture, but without the proper ingredients, I can't do anything."
"So, I guess I should take her with me."
Just as I said that I slowly uplifted her and then, I began walking once again. There were no people around so I guess it was quite an unpleasant neighborhood.
I've been hoping so far of taking the leadership of this village, but is it worth it?
"Michael, listen. I wanted to tell you this since the beginning, but Lord Timothy is just a simple minion of Hotaru the Demon Overlord. Let me explain. There's an ancient legend that says: This world was once prospering during the times of peace. Kingdoms that occupied those lands, were all living peacefully with one next to another, having a calm period in their history. But everything changed when a few outsiders came into this world and disturbed its balance. Not much is known as to how they did it but what it is known is that there was a colossal battle; the kind that has never been seen in this world. The ancient protector of this world, Javeeh the Almighty, a being with angelic powers, fought against Hotaru the Demon Lord in a gruesome war, where many lives have been lost. The kingdoms which were once living peacefully, found themselves fighting each other as bitter enemies. On one side, is the faction led by Javeeh, on the other the one led by Hotaru. Javeeh was eventually defeated, yet no one knows where lays his body, coincidentally the Demon Lord Hotaru disappeared not long ago.
As for outsiders, they have feared beings. To most people, it is unknown why they came into this world. Once in a few centuries, about 4 outsiders mysteriously appear; their goals are unclear, but I assume it is to restore the order in this world. No one so far has been able to do that."
"Oh my, that's quite the childish story right there Keppy. But I guess now I know what the librarian meant when he said Javeeh the Almighty has chosen me..."
"So basically, to sum it up. Lord Timothy wants you dead. I checked the food he gave you; as strange as it may sound, it is not poisoned, nor does it have any substance or spell in it. If he wants you dead, why didn't he poison the food?"
"Good question Keppy. I don't want to think too much about why a man that wants me dead didn't poison my food so for now, I'll take care of this girl."
"So what about the quest? Our time is finite."
"I'm still level 1. Not only do I need moxie, but do you expect me to fight werewolves at such a low level?"
"You do have a point, Michael. But we need gold, a home, moxie, and much more. There's simply too much to do."
"Don't worry, we'll get all of those. For the time being, let's focus on what we do have now at our disposal. I need to take care of this girl, she may be of use in our journey. Plus, she's incredibly cute!"
"As you wish."
I kept walking on the pathway, looking every once in a while around me. I saw nothing else other than poor villagers going about their daily lives with lifeless expressions on their faces.
"They must be oppressed." I thought to myself.
Just as I kept walking, I finally reached the back entrance of the village. The militiamen were looking terrified at me; the lord was right, after all, they were indeed cowards. Thus, they didn't say a word and let me pass.
Not long after following the road, I reached the nearby forest, but I moved on long enough to get far away from the village, so in the end, I decided to set up a camp there. I left the young girl near the other belongings I had carried with me and went to gather materials.
Everywhere I looked, I saw tall pine trees reaching the marvelous azure sky. This sight made me remember the old days in the other world; I was with my dad fishing at an enormous lake somewhere in Wisconsin. There was this small inflatable boat he brought with him where we would both sit, all day long with the rods in our hands, in hopes of catching a salmon or a trout.
Once I finished daydreaming I finally began gathering everything I could find of use. Back in the states, my dad taught me some basic skills, including building a tent, a campfire, and much more.
With my timepiece, I began scanning every single thing I could find. Each time I did so not only did I gain either some interesting information or a blueprint for crafting, but I also gained a small amount of moxie; it wasn't much, but it was enough to help me level up a bit. So far, I reached level 4 and with that, I upgraded my skills a little; I focused in particular on the Utility branch since it did have a skill that enabled me to craft simplistic healing potions, but for that particular one, I would've had to reach level 10. The timepiece nonetheless allowed me to craft a bow and some simplistic arrows, but I discovered many more blueprints. Interestingly, I didn't need a level to craft anything. Still, I seized the opportunity and began the process of the creation of the weapon. I did so only because rifle and pistol ammunition is far too hard to create in the current condition that I found myself in and thus, I thought it was wiser to conserve it.
I continued exploring for a while, walking aimlessly until I found a small river passing through the forest. I looked around and noticed a deer drinking the water undisturbed. I had no choice but to kill it.
Hiding behind a small bush, I aimed; and unleashed the lethal speed of the arrow.
"Aaaaand... jackpot!"
The deer fell to the ground, silent, without a single move. At the top of my sight I saw the writing "New Level. Go to the skills bar to gain a new skill!". Sure, it was a nice thing to see a new level up, but looking at the deer...- with time I got used to that kind of image. In the unit I always had to deal with all sorts of people, drug dealers, gangsters, and terrorists; a lot of the time they would fight back, be it with a knife or a gun, and they would always desperately try to kill us. And then we would simply defend ourselves... often resulting in a casualty.
Even if I became a colder person, that never stopped me from becoming a loving father and husband. I do miss them, but I can't do anything now, can I?
I feel like I should take care of that girl, but what will she think of me? Will she even accept me? What if she will try to kill me thinking that I may be one of the mongrels that beat her?
"Stop it, Michael, these thoughts aren't helping." as I said that, I slapped my face and thus I snapped back to reality.
I realized the deer was still standing there motionless, so I finally began to approach it. When I was close enough, I scanned the animal with my timepiece and an option appeared on the hologram; it allowed me to collect some materials from the body of the deer including leather, meat, and some horns. With that, I was able to unlock many blueprints such as leather clothing, a bag, a pouch, a leather canteen, and much more.
Making a leather canteen in my opinion was quite urgent; the girl would have eventually needed some water. So I did just that and filled it to the brim.
Whilst on my way back to the camp, I scanned various plants that were scattered around; I discovered many species useful for my survival including medicinal plants. I also found dozens of wild berries scattered around; some poisonous ones and some edible ones. All of them would prove useful one day, so I stored all of them in my timepiece. At the same time, I unlocked more blueprints. I could not only craft poisonous arrows, but also a healing mixture and tranquilizer arrows.
After all the gathering, I was rather close to reaching the desired level. I was at level 8 and halfway through to the next level.
"You've made quite a lot of progress on your first day Michael. I'm surprised you managed to do this much so easily," said Keppy, excited.
"Me too Keppy. But there's still so much to do. For example, we need to establish a campfire, a tent for the girl to rest... and oh boy... I forgot about her. Let's go!"
Up until then, I didn't realize that I left her alone for so much time. In fact, according to the timepiece, it was 4:34 PM, a whole 2 hours passed since then I came into the forest.
I immediately began to run faster than I did during my training course. It took me only a few minutes, and I finally reached her. She was lying there in the same spot I left her, but I immediately checked on her. She was still alive; nothing changed. I got worried for nothing.
Since I was there I decided to build a campfire. When I was a child, dad always used to tell me that campfires were of vital importance, since they provided warmth, protection, and visibility.
Whilst I finished building the campfire and lit it up, I started cooking the meat that I hunted back in the forest. And whilst it was cooking, I sat near the girl and my belongings scrolling through the timepiece's menu, looking for skills to upgrade and for blueprints. All the leveling up I did back in the forest gave me a bunch of skill points that I could use to upgrade my abilities. I had 4 points since I did consume some points back there. I developed poisoned mushroom resistance and I became much more aware of my surroundings.
But I couldn't always focus on the Utility branch; so I began upgrading the Combat branch too. I chose a skill focused on swordsmanship. And with that, I had one skill point left. But I chose to test it before using the last one, so I grabbed the sword that the Lord gave me and...
"If what it says it's true, then I should be able to- HYAH!"
I sliced through the thin air with a single swing; it was powerful enough to leave a lethal wound. Not only did I feel faster, but I also felt stronger. It was a great start for someone as weak as me. Surely with time, I could become a renowned swordsman.
Once I finished fooling around, I went near the girl once again to rest; it was a long day. So I took my helmet off and fell with my back on the grass whilst I was looking at the blue sky, filled with clouds; it wasn't sunset hour yet.
So I tapped my timepiece again and just as I was about to upgrade another skill, I heard the girl sobbing.
"Mother... I'm so sorry... please, don't leave me..."