Felix quietly made his way through the white void that surrounded him, the only audible thing being his and Rose's footsteps. The two have been walking for a bit, but now that long – definitely not as long as the hallway from the previous Floor. Right before Rose started complaining, Felix's leg finally stepped out of the whiteness, and touched grass. Something he should've done more on Earth, in hindsight...
As they finally emerged from the void, he glanced around themselves for a bit. They were still in a forest, just as dense as the one the village was in. Actually, now that Felix looked closer...
"Ah, hey... Y'know, these trees look the same as the one from the previous Floor."
"Wuh, do they?" asked Rose, raising an eyebrow and placing a finger on her chin before continuing, "Hmm, I don't see it... You sure you're not just dizzy or something?"
"I'm not dizzy..."
Felix let out a soft sigh before he started walking forwards, still looking around. He was quite sure of himself, but he didn't feel like arguing with Rose about the leaves and whatnot of the trees, so he just shrugged it off. It's not like it really mattered, anyways. Felix hardly cared for anything on The Line. As the two walked aimlessly, a "Ding!" sound echoed through their heads as a Blank emerged from nothingness, finally introducing the Plot.
[Plot - Eliminate The Threat!
Requirements - Swiftly eliminate all of the bandits that set up camp at the edge of this forest, as they're planning to attack Camelot, the capital of this country! Act silently or breach through, do as you please! Just get rid of them!
Punishment Upon Failure - ???]
Rose skimmed through her Blank with a slight hum, and Felix read his with a mortified look on his face. He looked like he just saw his whole family die in front of him – which is quite ironic – and Rose couldn't help but obviously notice this shift in expression. She leaned towards him slightly, worried out of her mind.
"Hey, Felix...? Are you okay? You look, like, very pale..."
"I'm... so fine. I don't think... I've ever been as fine as I am right now..." said he, almost holding a tear back. Almost. It still rolled down his cheek, slowly but surely.
By now, Rose started panicking and trying to console him, but Felix just sighed and wiped his face, rereading his green, annoying Blank. It's quite obvious he pissed off his "friend" watching over The Line...
["You wuss... Don't go acting salty."]
[Plot - Wipe The Bandits From Within!
Requirements - Join the bandit forces while imposing as one of them, and kill them all from the inside out, effectively stopping the raid they're planning to do on Camelot.
Punishment Upon Failure - Extermination.]
["Extermination my ass... Why did I get the most annoying job in the whole world? How am I supposed to act as a bandit?"]
Felix thought for a few seconds, right as he finished up wiping his face. He cleared his throat and reread the Blank a few times, looking for any possible loopholes he could abuse. Unfortunately for him, though, the Blank was short and straight to the point – exactly what he didn't want. Felix sighed, pushing it aside for now and turning his attention towards Rose, which was still looking at him all panicky.
"I'm fine. Stop making that face."
"Are you?! You looked like you were about to die! Again!"
"I'm not dying anytime soon, hopefully. Let's just... get going. We have a camp to infiltrate."
"Eh, infiltrate? You're not just gonna go in, like, swoosh! Kabaam! No?"
"No, I'm not... unfortunately..." he said as he facepalmed, then he started making his way through the dense forest. Pushing aside bushes and branches, the two navigated the forest quite swiftly, because it wasn't long before they started hearing faint footsteps and the voices of people. Felix quickly ducked into a bush and Rose hid behind a tree.
Though, as they did, Rose couldn't help but notice they were... pretty far away. Like, a bit way too far away?
"Uh, Felix?" she whispered before continuing, "Aren't we a bit... far? Why hide now?"
"Shh. Let me see."
"See what...?"
Felix blinked once, and his eyes immediately shifted from their usual boring brown to a bright, imposing green. His pupils dilated as he focused, and his vision got more and more narrow until he finally saw them – a group of about a dozen bandits. A few of them were screaming behind them for whatever reason, but Felix couldn't exactly make out their words. He could only hear stuff like "slow," "useless," and "waste of money."
["That's weird... Why insult their own?"]
But wait... Money, huh? Felix's head immediately turned to the side, behind the group of bandits. There, he saw two girls wearing raggedy clothes and big, dirty cloaks with their hoods up. As he saw them, Felix's eyes brightened up even more, and he quickly got up from behind the bush. He signaled Rose, and the two started walking towards the group. Or rather, behind them.
["Fucking bingo...!"]
Meanwhile, behind the group of bandits sat two girls who were walking slowly. They were seriously malnourished, tired, sleepy, and just overall miserable. They were probably taken as slaves or something similar for the bandits'... entertainment. And the older one was clearly way more shaken up than the younger one. The small girl sniffled, holding back her crying – she knew that if she cried again, the bandits would hurt them. Again.
The older one spoke up with a small sigh, but she still tried to look happy and supporting for her sister, "Alysa, don't worry. We'll be fine, okay? Just... hang on for now."
"But, Mari... They... They've been...!"
"Shush, shush now. It doesn't matter. I'm... I'm okay, really. Alright?"
The older one, apparently named Mari, looked up at the bandits as the smaller one named Alysa nodded. They've fallen behind quite a lot... meaning they were probably gonna get beaten again for holding them back. Right before Mari could open her mouth and tell her sister to pick up the pace, a hand got placed over it – and at the same time, a hand got placed on Alysa's mouth.
Between them sat a short man, with charcoal dark hair and glowing green eyes. Before the sisters even got the chance to panic, he spoke up in a quiet, empathetic tone – a surprisingly kind tone.
"Please, don't be alarmed. Don't make them notice me..."
The older of the two was just about to cry for help, but Alysa, much to her sister's surprise, stopped her by grabbing Mari's hand. Although not the biggest fan of the idea, Mari seemed to quiet down and stopped struggling, for now at least.
"Don't speak. Just nod yes or no. Okay?"
The two girls immediately nodded their head, listening carefully to the strange man. He soon continued, "Alright. I'm gonna guess that you two are slaves, and that you were bought sometime about... two months ago?"
Both Alysa and Mari nodded their heads, as the man was pretty much spot on. The man sighed, looking forward at the bandits that were quickly gaining distance. He let out a small annoyed "Tch." before removing his hands from their mouths, and calling over someone from the bushes with a wave of his hand. A small girl soon emerged from them, with some leaves in her white hair that she brushed off with a "Jeez!"
As the two whispered about something, the sisters exchanged a glance. What was this they were feeling... This unexplainable safety? The comfort? Mari's eyes quickly filled up with tears – tears of happiness. Were they finally, finally, saved? Soon enough, the man turned back to them, as his hands reached into two green squares that appeared out of thin air. So he was a magic user...!
The man pulled out two sets of fresh clothes from the squares, handing them to the girl next to him. He then reached out to the sisters, pulling off their big cloaks and throwing them over his shoulder. The younger one was short, about as short as the girl accompanying the man, and she was pale beyond belief, with a strong red hair. The older one was about as tall as Felix, only a few inches behind, with the same type of pale skin as her sister and a bright blue hair, very much unlike her sister's.
The man then stomped on their chains, surprisingly breaking them under his foot without much noise, but also effectively... freeing them. After removing the shackles from their hands, the small girl with white hair handed them the sets of clothes. And the two sisters just sat there, dumbfounded.
"I... can't erase your memories, but I hope you two will be alright." said the man as he handed the small girl one of the cloak. He then continued, pointing in a direction with his finger, "Walk straight that way for a bit. There's a village there. It's an oni village, but they're nice people. Good people."
"O— Oni...?!" asked the smaller sister, scared, but the older one quickly stepped in, "And what if they're not nice?!"
She put herself in-between the man and her little sister, just from instinct alone. She didn't mean to snap at the man, but an oni village... It could be risky...!
The man looked at her and how she was protecting the small one, and he couldn't help but chuckle. She reminded him of someone. He extended his hand towards her, for a handshake, as he spoke.
"Look for Nijiri and tell her that Felix sent you. She'll help you."
Mari was a bit hesitant, but as she glanced in the man's eyes, she sighed and took his hand, shaking it firmly.
"Fine. Thank you... Felix."
"Don't linger around here. There might be more bandits."
"We figured as much... I don't know what your plan is, but be careful... Their leader is strong. Too strong..."
"I figured as much, too."
The older sister shook her head a bit at his ignorance, but she couldn't help but smile slightly. As she and her sister started walking away, they turned one last time to Felix and the girl.
"Ah, and by the way... We're the Anderson sisters. We're... not from any rich family, so we can't ever repay you for this, but—"
"Why would that matter?"
The two sisters' eyes immediately brightened up at the man's words, and they were left speechless once more. For once in their life, they weren't looked down on because they grew up poor... Alysa was barely holding back her tears, and Mari chuckled a bit, wiping away a single tear from her eye.
"You're... really something else, Felix."
"I doubt it." he said, as he threw the old cloak over himself, putting the hood up. Both he and the girl grabbed the chains on the ground and held them beneath their cloaks, giving the impression that they were chained. Right before turning to walk towards the bandits, he said one last sentence to the sisters.
"Ah, also... Please tell Nijiri that I'm not a crow. I'm a fox. See ya' around, Anderson."
And with that, both he and the girl started walking towards the bandits, wearing the slaves' cloaks. Mari looked at their backs one last time, shaking her head with a slight smile on her face before turning away, taking her sister's hand, and running like there was no tomorrow, as they threw the clothes that Felix gave them over themselves.
As Felix and Rose continued walking, covering themselves with the cloaks, Rose couldn't help but chuckle slightly, speaking in a hushed tone, "Y'know, Felix, you're starting to feel more and more like that main character you were talking about..."
"I did it just for the plan. I wouldn't have saved them otherwise." he whispered back, sighing.
"Right, right, of course you wouldn't have... You're a baaad liar, mister! Also, where did you get those clothes from?"
Felix shook his head, before suddenly realizing that... he had no idea either. Where did he get those clothes from? Before he got to open his mouth again, the two had gotten way closer to the bandits, so much so that talking was probably a bad idea by now. So, they shut up, as Felix tried his best to mimic the way the older sister was walking. Thankfully, Rose and the little sister were basically the same height, so she was fitting the role perfectly, but Felix had to hunch over a bit. The big cloak was saving him, though.
As they approached the bandits, one of the big buff ones seemed to notice them finally joining back with the group, and got angry for absolutely no reason. He stopped talking with his fellow bandits and got closer to the sisters – or, who used to be the sisters. The anger was obvious on his face, and as soon as he was close enough, he started screaming.
"You two! You good for nothing pieces of shit, why're you lagging behind so much?! You're dragging us all down!"
For obvious reasons, both Felix and Rose remained silent, not muttering a word nor looking up from the ground. This only angered the man more, as he raised his fist and swung down... at Rose. As soon as the bandit's hand was in motion, Felix immediately side-stepped in and took the hit head on, as the punch hit him straight in the jaw. Thankfully, his hood remained up.
"Ugh...! Mari, you bitch! Stop protecting your shitty sister so much! Alyster said not to hit you today, damn it! He's gonna fucking blame me if you're dirty!"
Felix took note of a few important things – first, this damn thug swung like a caterpillar. Second, and the more important stuff, his name was Mari, he's always protective of his "sister," and someone named Alyster wants to see him today. Although he would've preferred not to think about it, he probably already knew why...
After the bandit muttered some more crap about respect and just how much she cost by herself, let alone with her sister, he quickly retreated to his group of buddies who were laughing at him and making fun of the situation. Felix glanced around again – this time, he could clearly see everyone, and he counted at least fifteen bandits. None of them seemed particularly strong, so the boss was probably at the main camp. Though, Felix found something interesting in what the bandit was talking about... Why would the Anderson sisters cost a lot if they were simple girls, from a poor family?
Before Felix got the chance to think about it, the whole group of bandits suddenly stopped, so he and Rose followed suit and stopped walking as well. As he glanced up slightly, he finally realized why they stopped. Before Felix sat a huge base camp, with dozens upon dozens of tents and probably even more manpower. This whole place... was huge. What kind of raid were they gonna do...? Just how big was the capital of this country, anyways, to need this many men?
As Felix looked around, inspecting the camp, the group of bandits started walking again as they were heading even deeper in. So, of course, both he and Rose started following them once again. As they made their way through the camp, multiple people would stop from whatever they were doing and turn their attention towards the group walking – or, actually, behind the group. Most of them were looking at the slaves. Felix obviously noticed this, but he didn't quite know... why? It's not like they were some big hotshots here, they were just slaves. So why would they loo—
"Hey hey, Mari! Too bad Alyster needs ya' tonight, otherwise I would'a booked you myself!"
"Oi, Dave, shut up! It was my turn!"
"Both of you're fuckin' wrong, it was mine!"
Ah.
As the group of men standing nearby started arguing between themselves on "whose turn it was," Felix slowed down, then he fully came to a stop. His hand almost reached out into the air as green sparks started flying out of it, ready to dig into his inventory. Right before his fingertips went through his green Blank, his shoulder was slightly nudged from the side, snapping him out of it. As he looked to his right, he could see the small Rose standing there, cloak still on and pretending like she just tripped on something.
He gave the group of men one last glance from below the hood, before shaking his head and resuming walking behind the group he came in with. They made their way through the camp until they finally reached a big tent, way bigger than the rest. That must've been it. That must've been where the boss of these bandits was. Felix and Rose stood still, looking up at the tent until someone bumped both of them on the back, forcing them to walk forward.
"Don't stop, dumb fucks. Keep goin', you're almost in your cages."
Felix held his act together, barely, and kept walking until he stepped in the tent. And just as he thought, this was probably the main attraction of the whole camp. Tucked between some boxes were two iron cages, and in the middle of the tent sat a big table with a map on it. Felix took a mental note of that, and he began scanning the tent for other people – which he saw none of. He and Rose were then shoved in the cages, then they were left all alone.
The bandits didn't even bother locking the cages. That's how powerless the two sisters were.
As soon as the tent was empty, Felix immediately stood up and opened his cage, walking over to the map on the table. He raised his hood slightly, and he started reading the map. Rose soon followed him up to the table, having to stand on her toes to fully see the map. Felix glided over it with his finger, scanning for their location until he finally saw it. An unnamed village in an unnamed forest, the perfect hiding place for bandits. The village must've been the one belonging to the onis, and this forest is probably their territory. Hence why it's not named on a human map.
"These guys are pretty stupid... This forest is the most obvious place if someone were to attack the capital." said Felix, as his finger landed on the capital, Camelot. It wasn't that far from here, but it wasn't exactly close either – to get there, you had to get through another, smaller forest and another village, presumably human, since it was named. The other forest wasn't, though... It was very vague, too. That made Felix slightly curious. If it's in your territory, why not expand into it? What was in it that made the King not want to go there? Before Felix had a chance to think about all of this, the sound of footsteps started approaching the tent. Just one pair.
Felix quickly but gently pushed Rose towards her cage, and she quietly got in and pretended to be depressed or something along those lines, sulking in a corner. Felix, on the other hand, transformed his weapon into a blunt scythe and he used it to bring something over from the boxes next to his cage – some old, dirty clothes. He quickly stuffed them into his cloak, specifically near the chest area, and he... posed. He sat on the table, legs crossed... posing. Felix quickly retracted his scythe back into a sphere, and he shoved it into his inventory again. Then, he just waited. A few seconds later, someone stormed into the tent, annoyed. A very short, fat man with long blond hair, a pointy mustache and very expensive looking clothes.
["Ah, would you look at that, another bingo so soon?"]
The man looked around, seeing "Mari" on his table. He went to scream something at "her," but quickly silenced down when he noticed "her" pose. He rubbed his hands together, and he started walking closer as he licked his lips slightly through his words, "Heheh, Mari... Well, I... I didn't know you were so eager today..."
Felix, for reasons you already know, didn't say a word, instead shifting slightly on the table, moving his legs a bit. The man obviously liked this, and he began walking closer at a faster pace, still talking as he did so, "So you were waiting for the great Alyster! How nice of you... Good girl, even!"
["Ew. Eeew. Seriously, ew."]
Though, right before reaching the table, Alyster stopped. He started chuckling, rubbing his hands together again as he almost jumped in place from excitement. He pointed at "her," with a dumb smile on his face as he spoke, "How about... you entertain me! Show me how much you want me! Need me, even!"
["...This fuckin' dwarf."]
Felix sighed internally, and then he moved forwards on the table slightly, puffing his fake chest out for the man's eyes to see. By now, Alyster was almost drooling at the thought of what sat behind that big cloak – which was, uh, old dirty clothes. And a man. But still, he was almost drooling. Or, uh, fuck, he already was! Ew, dude. Not wanting to wait any further, he began sprinting towards "Mari," ready to dig in.
"Oh, Mari, here I come! Accept my love!"
The short man barely managed to climb onto the table, and his hands shook and trembled as they started heading for Felix's fake chest. As they were getting closer, Felix himself leaned in, so the man touched the cloak. He was barely able to not scream – ah, by he, I mean both of them – and Alyster looked at the hood, another grin on his face.
"Mari... Mari...! Let me see your hair, your beautiful blue hair...!"
"Mari" chuckled, and of course obliged. "Mari" reached her hands out to her hood, and "she" slowly pulled it down for him to see. But, to nobody's surprise, Alyster was too busy rubbing the old clothes to notice this, and he soon looked up expecting to see blue. He saw green instead. The second his grin dissipated and his hands left the cloak in shock, Felix tapped Alyster on the head with a small, red ball, which soon expanded into a long polearm.
Felix shielded the map with his cloak, making sure it didn't get bloody, then he shoved the once alive Alyster to the ground. After retrieving the map and throwing it in his inventory, he threw the bloodied cloak to the floor next to the dead man and also shoved the old clothes somewhere nearby. He ruffled his hair a bit with a sigh, as he muttered something about hating hoods, then glanced back at Rose as he remained on the table, one leg dangling about freely and the other on the table itself.
"Yo, Rose, ready to fuck these guys up?"
Rose, still in the cage, was now sat down while lifting both her cloak and hoodie up, speaking while panting, "Just them...?"
"Could you please be normal for five minutes?! Jesus, dude...!"