I glanced over my shoulder and jumped aside again.
The grunt flew past, slid a glance over me, and rushed at the man. There! Should have done that long ago!
"Help!"
We've heard this somewhere before and won't fall for it a second time. I ran up to the grunt bleeding out and, swinging, slashed at its thick neck.
[You have killed a Minor Grunt of the 2nd level.]
And I'll take the little box too. It's not good for seven coppers to lie in the middle of the road, I mean field.
And now we can see how things are going with the other two participants of the performance.
So far it's a draw: the man is running in circles, and the grunt is trying to catch him.
"Help, bro!"
The bearded man ran a few meters away, apparently trying to shake the monster off onto me, but it didn't fall for it.
"You wanted to kill my grunt!"
"I wanted to help!"
"It would have died on its own in a minute!"
"I was just in case! Help!"
The man started to run out of breath.
He's unlikely to last more than two or three minutes. Okay... After all, any conversation now is a valuable source of information.
"Run here!" I waved my hand, showing the trajectory.
The man turned sharply and rushed past me. In the last second, the grunt sensed the setup and tried to throw itself at me, but it was running too fast and missed. But I didn't miss and this time managed with one strike.
[You have killed a Minor Grunt of the 2nd level.]
[Congratulations, task completed!]
[You receive experience, 1 silver coin, and gratitude from the saved (its size and form remain at his discretion).]
"Thank you!"
The man, breathing heavily, collapsed onto the grass.
Apparently, this is that very "gratitude at discretion". I hope the inventory doesn't burst from such a gift.
While the bearded man (dirty, simply dressed, at a glance about twenty-two years old) was catching his breath, I dived into the message archive. So:
[Note: Tasks can be received by any intelligent being from the age of 18.]
[They are divided into:
Personal. Issued depending on your age, level, race, skills, location, etc. It is extremely important to complete them: they determine your path, place in the world, and give meaning to life.
Situational. Issued depending on current events happening near you.
Standard. Some things are eternal, and a woodcutter will always be glad if you help him with chopping trees, and a shepherd — if you find his sheep.
Combat. Cursed places won't clear themselves.
Global. Sometimes things happen that concern everyone.
Clan.
Exclusive. A rare variety of situational quests. If you received one, it means you're not like everyone else, and the world around you is not what it seems. Mandatory to complete!]
[Some personal quests are unavailable during autonomous operation.]
Aha... It's not as bad as I thought. Maybe even good. Judging by the wording and what I've seen here, "personal" quests are something like a personal guiding star. From the age of eighteen, it takes the locals in hand and drags them until death, giving their lives meaning.
In general, the scheme works: complete quests and don't worry. Became an apprentice to a shepherd. Had three children. Chose a place in the cemetery. Also promise rebirth after death and it's fine. On Earth, many people lack this, and with age, it often leads to alcoholism, depression, and the like.
I got distracted. Let's return to our tasks.
The unavailability of personals is not critical, especially with the caveat that not all, but only some are unavailable.
Next — "situational". This is what I just participated in. Let's take a classic: a maniac is chasing a girl, let's say in Moscow on Tverskaya Street. Whether to save her or not is everyone's personal business. In this world, everything is basically the same, but those around (by the way, everyone or according to some principle?) receive messages: save and get so much money, well, and gratitude. In the case of a saved girl, probably sex. That's clear.
"Standard". They're standard in Africa and in this world. Although it must look funny, of course...
Here's a man chopping a tree and a traveler passing by. What happens next? Most likely, the woodcutter gets a message: "Ask this guy for help. I have a gut feeling he has nothing to do and needs money. You get free help and a plus in karma as a reward."
The woodcutter agrees and turns to the man, like, help me, good man, chop some wood. He receives this very "standard" task: "Chop three birches, get 1 silver coin and gratitude". He chops, gets the reward. The woodcutter gets free help. The state gets another silver coin on the balance and inflation growth... Damn! Why do I keep getting carried away with calculations that don't concern me?!
Yes. Most likely, that's how it happens. And this is very interesting because quests of this kind can be given not only by woodcutters. In theory, a large merchant, feudal lord, or even a local monarch could come up with the same thing. And in them, the difficulty and reward will be completely different.
That's clear. Next point!
"Combat". I doubt that everything is so primitive here and there are rifts teeming with monsters. But to level up, there will definitely be someone to kill. And it's very good that there can be an additional reward for this.
"Global". This is probably related to wars, outbreaks of epidemics, and similar problems that affect everyone. I'll have to ask around.
"Clan". This is also generally clear, and not relevant at the moment.
And the cherry on the cake — "exclusive" tasks. Completely unclear, but very interesting. I definitely wouldn't refuse something like this, and I seem to fit the parameters...
"Listen, kid, do you have anything to drink?"
Before he was "bro", now "kid"... This doesn't look like growing respect.
"No booze, no food, no water. I'm going to Kipen myself."
"I see," the man drawled.
The change in his voice made me alert and look at him more closely out of the corner of my eye. And not in vain! He pretended to be looking for something in his bag, while pulling up his legs and seemingly preparing to pounce. On me.
It's good that I was squatting and didn't need any additional preparations. I just had to make sure that the saved man was up to no good.
I didn't have to wait long: after three seconds, he raised his short sword and jumped. I jumped to the side, simultaneously turning and swinging my sword.
"Aaaaah!"
The man grabbed his bloody right forearm with his left hand. He was only hit by the very tip of the blade. The wound was trivial, but it was enough for the most important thing — the man dropped his weapon.
This was already his second offense, and if the first one could be forgiven somehow, the attempted murder definitely couldn't.
"Have mercy!"
Seeing that I stood up and was approaching, the man jumped up and tried to run away, but I quickly slashed at his left knee.
Again I only reached with the tip, but it was enough to cut the tendon, and the recently saved man found himself in a situation much worse than before meeting me. He cried out and, falling to the ground, began to roll on the grass.
Is this world like this? This specific place? Or is it my face? Why did all three locals I met want to kill me?
"Face down, hands behind your head!" I ordered, just in case keeping a safe distance.
The man was in pain, and he only followed the command when I took a step and raised my sword again.
"Why, when I mentioned Kipen, did you decide to attack me?"
The man was mumbling something and moaning. Blood continued to flow from the cuts on his arm and knee, soaking his cotton clothes. Clothes that, damn it, I'm going to take for myself!
"Bitch! If you don't answer quickly, I'll just cut off your stupid head!"
Growling this, I looked around.
Damn it, we're standing in the middle of a field too. At any moment someone else might come, and then try to prove that he tried to kill me first.
"I got into a fight there with someone and... killed him. By accident! He started it first!"
Aha. And if we add the logic of this world to this, then there's probably a quest for this idiot in the village now. But the question is, even several. First: do they need to kill him or bring him alive? Second: will it count for me if I kill him first and then take the quest? Or will the system not link the murder with the task? Most likely, it won't link it immediately...
"Have mercy! I'll be useful to you! I'll introduce you to Baldy. He's not the last person in Print. He needs young brave guys like you."
Print... There was no such settlement on my map. Even if there was, recommendations from such shady types are more of a minus than a plus.
I was increasingly bothered by the fact that our ambiguous communication was taking place in an open area. It's time to wrap this up...
"All your stuff from yourself and from your inventory on the ground!"
"Have mercy!"
"I'll cut off your leg now, bitch! All stuff on the ground!"
Either he was a pauper or he still held onto his stuff. Okay, to hell with him.
I grabbed the purse (plus five silver coins), the sword (had to throw out part of the grunt's meat) and another healing potion. I just looked at all the other junk and, making sure there was nothing worthwhile, threw it aside.
"Count to fifty!" I commanded.
"O-okay! One! Two!"
I took a quick step forward and, swinging, plunged the sword where, by my calculations, the heart should be.
[You have killed a human of the 4th level.]
A bad person, I might add. And also greedy: not even a box dropped...
I bent down, turned the body over and peered into the face.
Yeah... He looked awful. He probably never trimmed his beard at all. His face was pockmarked and wrinkled from constant exposure to the outdoors. And dirty. But now it became clear that the deceased was still quite young: twenty-two years old, unlikely to be more.
It seems that girl wasn't bragging in vain about reaching the third level at nineteen. At the same time, the difference between his fourth and my first isn't very noticeable. I'm alive, and he's dead... Okay, there will be more time to think about this. Time to get out of here! Although...
Surveying the surroundings once again, I pressed the tip of the sword to the wound and, leaning on it, pushed it as deep as I could.
It's unlikely there are cool forensic experts in this backwater, and for the rest, it will now look as if the guy was killed by a strike from the front, not in the back. Maybe it's nonsense, but it might help avoid unnecessary questions in the future.
***
The sun was already touching the treetops, making me hurry to the village.
This guy was the first person I killed in my life. They say you remember your "first" and he then comes in nightmares. Maybe he will come... And then he will die again. Now there are no internal torments. Moreover, there's a feeling of a job well done. This bastard wanted to kill me and deservedly died.
Even in my youth, when I was engrossed in adventure literature, I was always annoyed by moments when the main character or his too kind but not-so-bright friends suddenly, out of nowhere, spare the life of some scoundrel, and then he harms them, and even good people die because of him. Can't the author come up with a more plausible and interesting plot twist?
No way! Assholes get a knife to the throat and into the well. Who knows who started first in that fight in the village, but here it was clearly him. And torments... If they suddenly appear, I'll somehow cope with them. Moreover, it's obvious that in this wonderful world, you won't live long without being able to stand up for yourself. It's better to start learning right away.