A man with black hair who looks so calm and a girl with pink hair approach them. Upon closer inspection, the man's hair resembles that of Koreans, but if he wears glasses, he looks like a NEET in Japan. Meanwhile, the girl looks like a dumb girl in Japanese eroge games, with her cheerful nature. She looks very much like the main heroine in some title of that kind of game.
"Uh, what are you guys doing here? Isn't this place is dangerous? If you're not careful, then BAM! BOOM! The bandits will catch you! So please be careful, okay! Being an unpaid slave is not fun, you know! Oh, or do you want to try it?! If-"
And her mouth kept going.
In one conversation, the girl said more than 10 sentences spoken very quickly. As a result of her fast mouth, the trio could only cover their ears (Micah), mouth (Lidya), and eyes (Rudi).
"Sherry, can you stop talking? Look at the people you're talking to! They're had enough."
With one command from the man, the woman called Sherry immediately closed her mouth with a bright smile towards the man.
"Sorry, Doris, I got carried away... hehe(make an innocence smile)!"
The person called Doris looked at the three young people with a serious look. He ignored the pink girl beside him and tried to explain the situation in this place. From how he dealt with 'Sherry,' it seemed that he was very used to her talkative behavior.
"It's dangerous here, you should go!" Doris said calmly. "There are many bandits who can attack and catch you at any time."
"Bandits, you mean those big-bodied, heavily armed people?"
As Micah spoke the sentence, he showed his red hands due to a thick liquid. Both Doris and Sherry widened their eyes when they saw Micah's hands.
"You-? Did you kill him? The bandit at there?!"
For some reason, Doris looked angry, or rather scared.
"Fool! If their leader finds out that you killed one of their subordinates, then all of you will be finished! Not just as slaves! But something more terrible!"
"Leader?! Which one?! I didn't see any of them look strong enough to be called a LEADER!" Micah argued back and showed his arrogance by spreading his arms towards Doris, Sherry, Lidya, and Rudi.
"Micah! You shouldn't say something rude to someone you just met!" Lidya tried to stop Micah, but as known, anything that comes out of Lidya's mouth won't be heard by Micah.
"You will regret it (tapping Micah's chest with her index finger)!" (Doris)
That sentence only made Micah feeling of suspicious grow.
"Oh~! Maybe... (pointing towards Doris)... maybe he is part of those bandits!" His suspicious tone sounded scary.
The quarrel is escalated. Neither Micah's side nor Doris's side tried to stop them. They could only stand still in silent while feeling disappointed with Micah's behavior.
*Bonk! *Bonk!
"Can you both calm down for a moment?! Especially you, Micah (pointing towards him)!"
Rudi, who had been silent all this time, tried to use violence to bring peace. He threatened Micah to not do anything stupid again.
"Calm down! I know you're panicking! But attacking someone who's trying to help is something I didn't expect to happen, okay?!"
Upon hearing what Rudi said, Micah looked upset but accepted his words with an open heart. It was better than him fighting back against his friend's argument.
"Doris, can you forgive our friend, Micah? He's in shock right now." Lidya put on a guilty face and asked for Doris's forgiveness.
"After what he said?!"
"Doris..." Sherry gently held the man's arm, looking worried for the trio.
"Alright(sighs)... I'll help you guys, but- but! I ask for your help first! A very hard one... Your lives will become payment if we fail."
"Doris?!" Sherry seemed reluctant with her 'partner's' request. She seemed to know where Doris's conversation was going.
"Go on! We've damaged your trust. So we'll do anything to regain that trust. As long as it's not something... adult~."
Lidya accepted Doris's request to regain his trust in them. She also knew that there was no turning back now. Having one or two helping hand in this unknown world might be the right step.
"So, you're asking that? Eliminating those bandits?" Rudi already realize it.
"Hmm(nods)..."
Rudi's feelings were somewhat hesitant. He had never done this before. Taking a life was a severe punishment in his world.
"Relax..." However, he instantly calmed down as a hand touched his shoulder. "Sooner or later, it will happen." Lidya tried to calm the trembling Rudi.
"From the way you look at me, it seems like you've never killed anyone before?" Doris meant Lidya and Rudi only.
Micah didn't need an explanation, everyone already knew with the evidence in his hands.
"You have to be brave, or else... your fate will end up like the unfortunate people in our village." (Sherry)
The girl's words indirectly explained what happened to their village and the reason why they were willing to fight those bandits now.
"Your village? Is that so?" Micah, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up. "Tell me how the leader of those bandits looks like. Although I don't seem useful, at least I can make the way for you two to fight him."
"Thank you for your kindness(smiling brightly but looking weak). The leader of the bandits has a body that is more muscular than the others, and his weapon looks very big. It's so big that even a single slash can sever someone's neck."
The three of them were suddenly shocked. Their eyes and mouths widened in surprise at the characteristics of the leader mentioned by Sherry earlier.
"Wait! Did you say that their leader has a sword that can cut down enemies in one slash?!" Lidya tried to repeat Sherry's words a little more gently.
"What's wrong? Have you met him(wide-eyed)?!" (Doris)
"Well... it's not just a meeting..." Rudi pointed to the blood on Micah's hand. "Whose blood do you think that is?"
"What?! Impossible?! According to our data, you guys are just a low-level peasant and on level one. It's impossible for you to do that!"
The three youths were a bit confused by Doris's words. They didn't understand the meaning of levels and classes that he was talking about.
"Level? Class? What are you talking about?" (Lidya)
Doris and Sherry were even more confused by their question. Their facial expressions seemed to say that almost all creatures had their own levels and classes.
Although it sounded strange, Doris eventually explained what levels and classes meant.
In this world, class means status, which can also mean caste, legal status, and rank. Someone could be identified as a criminal if their status was bandit, lawbreaker, or traitor (or something similar).
One's status could also be highly respected if they were a noble, behaved well, or a king (or something similar).
The explanation for levels was similar to those in video games, but with a slight difference. In this world, their strength was not determined by level, but purely by their physical strength. Levels were only useful for how good a skill they could learn. The higher their level, the better their skills would be.
"I don't quite understand, but I caught the main points." (Lidya)
"If you understand, then be careful, because the bandits are level 15 while the three of you are only level 1."
Doris looked strangely at something happening to Micah. He didn't level up even though he defeated the bandit leader who was level 35. He could only assume that the bandit leader was still alive.
"Remember, even if our opponents are just a lowly human, if you're not careful, you'll still die, you know?!" Sherry said that frightening sentence with a silly smile.
"Don't worry, you don't have to tell me about killing, I can handle it!" Micah stood up and walked ahead to the place where it all began.
With that, the five of them returned to the starting point and tried to retrieve what the bandits had stolen from the two people.