Chapter 16: Hero
[Bang]
The bandit leader took a couple of steps back and before he could even understand what had happened lost his senses and fell dead. Being a level 19 human with no firearm experience, it was easy to predict that when I shot him he would die, since a goblin chief who exceeded level 20 and had already seen how firearms work, could only defend himself with his Axe. Plus from what Aurora said firearms should work at least through lvl 60 and that's also if you don't catch a higher level person off guard.
His subordinates were stunned, I on the other hand changed the direction of the weapon and aimed at each of those who had bows, soon three more bodies collapsed.
"Damn Orz, didn't you check to see if she was unarmed?"
"How long are you going to hold me by the neck? If you don't want to end up like your friends, let go of me right now."
Ignoring the one who spoke furiously, I shout at the thief who kindly accompanied me to the square... With my voice, he throws himself on the ground in fear face colliding with the concrete of the town square.
Damn this guy really is an idiot ... that must have hurt. Once free, I take my sword with my right hand and take the saber from the one that shouted at his companion, taking a step back I attack, thrusting my sword in his chest. With enough force I throw him to one side blocking one of the other two bandits who are attacking me, the last one is dealt with by my Beretta.
I remove my sword from his flesh and he falls to his knees, pressing his palms to his chest, I look at him and also the last bandit in the area. At least let's answer his question before he dies.
"It's not that he didn't check me out, but that he agreed to help me after having a little chat with him ... besides look at him, I don't know who is dumber, him or you guys for trusting him."
The three of us looked at who he called Orz, he was wallowing on the floor while touching his head and shouting like a pig being slaughtered. The wounded guy's face turned red as he clenched his teeth, then he expelled a large amount of blood from his mouth and collapsed against the ground.
"Do you think that counts as dying from anger?"
"N-no, it's clear that you killed him"
I speak to the last thief and he answers me, it's not that I want to avoid the responsibility of taking his life, but I'm pretty sure it should be 50% shared with Orz ... no, maybe 80-20?
Let's stop the useless thoughts, I don't want my objectives to escape. Breaking the brief peace between us I point my sword at the next enemy in the area. He hesitated to attack me, he seems to be waiting for more of his companions, something that I could not allow, so I'm the one who takes the initiative.
In a couple of movements he loses his life too, I turn to look for more thieves but the crowd starts to get up and lose control. Hell, it's harder to find them in such situation, I aim my gun at the sky, shooting and as hard as my lungs allowed me, I yell.
" If you don't want to be injured during the fight, all the villagers should stay on the ground!"
Listening, most follow the instructions. Haa ... more than a hero now I feel like a bank robber. I can see 3 individuals with the word [Thief] on their heads, I reload my gun and then annihilate them.
[Beep]
[Mission complete]
Well, the important thing is that it worked and I completed the mission.
"Be careful!! That little bitch has a magic weapon!! Don't attack her by fro-Guak"
That guy talked too much, thanks to his words the rest instead of coming to me turn around and start running trying to escape. I follow them quickly, I am worried about Kurisu, I don't want a bandit to find her by chance and things end up bad
"Ha ... Ha ... Ha, this must have been the last one, bastards really made me run, let's go back to Kurisu"
[Beep]
[Alexander level up to 11]
I walk to the entrance of the town where I left Kurisu, after a couple of minutes I finally arrive and from what I can see she is in perfect condition. She was sitting against the wall with the mature villager from before, talking with her. When I'm at a safe distance I speak.
"Kurisu everything is over, there is no danger"
I extend my hand to help her get up, doing that I realize that it is stained with blood so try to pull it back, but before I could do so, she takes it.
"You're going to get dirty you know?"
She shakes her head ignoring my warning and then laments a little while looking down, giving me occasional glances to check that I wasn't angry, she noticed the blood that I had rubbed on my face.
"Sorry I wasn't helpful ... did you get hurt?"
"Oh no, it's not my blood ... well, it's my blood, but it wasn't because they hurt me"
"E-emm ... excuse me, do you just say the thieves left?"
"Oh, right I forgot about that ... the other villagers were kneeling in the town square. If you don't want the fire to spread throughout the town you should hurry and warn them to take care of it."
"Say that first!!"
The villager shouts and runs after answering, I hope the inn has not burned ... I also saw no need to correct her wording, seeing as all the bandits left to the other world.
Wait, there is still that idiot bandit that helped me, I completely forgot about him, maybe I should go take care of him since I had promised to kill everyone.
"For now let's go to the square where everyone is gathered"
"Fine"
We walked following the villager who ran away moments before. Along the way I check the mission to save the people.
[Mission / Principal "The Birth of a Hero"]
Rank: J
[Description: Save the people from the attack of bandits. In times of difficulty the one who stands against the oppressor of the weak is acclaimed by the crowd as Hero, a title loaded with the hope and longing of people, and feared by those who want to subject their whims to normal citizens.
Objectives:
Objective1: Finish with at least 20 bandits (20/20)
Objective: Kill the bandit leader (1/1)
Rewards: 100x Crystals
1,000x Gold
Development Skill: [Hero-C]
Failure Condition: Death of The User, Bandit Leader escapes, Destruction of the Village, Death of> 70% of villagers. (Current villagers 80%)]
[Mission Completed.
Rating: A
Additional reward: 100x Crystals
1,000x Gold
100x bullets 9mm]
When I select it, it shows me the results, I feel the energy within me increase, it was different from when I reached level ten, instead of absorbing the energy of the surroundings, it felt as if the energy I already had inside me was expanding. What happened Aurora?
[It's because you acquired the Hero skill, it's one of the best and is very rare to awake. You should check it out]
[Hero – Passive skill
Effect 1: Increase all stats by one limit.
Effect 2: Common people have a favorable impression of the user.
Effect 3: Increase in luck.
Effect 4: Gives the user the skill [Overdrive] ]
[Overdrive - Active
Effect: Greatly increases your perception of your surroundings and accelerates your process of thinking (5 seconds).
Cooldown: 10 seconds]
[NOTE: It requires an overexertion of the brain, creates mental exhaustion.]
What does it mean by the first thing Aurora? Do I have the strength of a soul level 2 now? It can't be that good, right? Not even the innates given by Cross can do that.
[Of course not, you can say that you now have the strength of a level 20 person, that's what it means]
Oh, It is still a very good skill. Besides, Aurora does this world have [Jobs] or [Professions]? Because since I entered the town I've only seen things like Villager, Thief, and Hunter on the people's heads.
[Mmmm ... you can consider it that way, but it's not exactly a Job or Profession as you think. What you see are development skills that the system detects, what a person has the most experience in, and in the case of the villagers they don't have any specific skill]
I see, although it may be a profession, this is developed by the effort of the individual and it is not as if they were given the title by a guild or something, right?
[Right, but there are also people who can be born with them as an innate]
Can those skills be innate? I thought that people were only born with like super Skills.
[You are not mistaken to think so, because for example a person with the innate [Swordsman] will develop faster than one with only the developmental ability Swordsman, and may even be born with extra advantages that the developmental skill does not have. Another example would be the ability of Kurisu "Erudite"]
It makes sense ... can I raise a skill to an innate? Or is it something that does not change and will always remain the same way?
[It is possible, when a skill reaches the maximum rank that it can reach, if one continues to strive to take it to another level it has two paths to follow. The first is to evolve into another skill that would be a stronger version of this skill in which you can continue to improve, this is "Superior Skills". For example, [Swordsman] becoming [Sword Master]. The other is that it becomes so natural to use that it becomes an innate integrating itself into the soul of the person. Or in some cases both can happen, where it becomes innate and you get a new evolved version of the skill]
"E-emm ... why does it seem like something changed in you Alex?"
"Oh, that must be because I acquired a skill as a reward for the mission"
When conversing with both Aurora and Kurisu, we arrived at the square without noticing, what we saw at first sight was a group of people who surrounded one guy while cursing and beat him. When that person saw me judging by his expression it seemed as if the miracle that he was waiting for suddenly appeared.
"P-please help me!!"
"Oh, you're that thief ... Larry"
"It's Orz! You promised you wouldn't kill me!!"
"Me?"
While he nodded, I tried to remember what had happened before. But as much as I think back, I couldn't remember the part where I told him that. Well, I can't totally trust my memory, Aurora did I promise Larry something?
[… No]
Let's ask him, maybe we have hints of the moment when I did it.
"When?"
"It was when…"
While he was talking, he tried to remember, no matter how hard tried, he didn't seem to find that memory. I thought so... I may miss some things but I doubt that Aurora can forget it. As all the other people waited for us to finish talking, I tell them.
"Go ahead, you can continue"
"No, no, you can't do this to me. I helped you! You saved all of them because of me!"
"You can go and tell all your good deeds to God, he will surely listen to you"
"I-is that really right?"
When I turned around and started walking away Kurisu asks me. Truly a good-hearted girl, but I had already made a promise before with the girl whose husband was killed.
"It is the result of his own actions, so he must deal with it ... we can only pray for Larry to do better in his next life"
"It's Orz ..."
I put my hands together in a prayer and Kurisu corrects me, honestly I would have felt bad about having to kill him, but I also have no obligation to rescue him. When we leave the crowd, the mature girl who we saved when entering the town comes to us supporting an old woman.
"Bastard you killed my brother!!"
"Give me back my son!"
"Alone and without weapons you are not that brave now, right?"
"Gyaaaa !!"
With the cries of the enraged crowd and the thief's pitiful cries as background noise, we meet each other. We nodded to each other in greeting and then the old woman starts the conversation.
"Thank you for saving Rek's people. If you would be so kind, please join me for a moment to speak."
"No problem"
With that said we walked to a house around the square, for my part I simply accepted because I wanted to get away from all the screams since Kurisu had been nervous about what happened to the bandit. And knowing what was probably waiting for the thief it is better for her to avoid some kind of trauma.
We enter the house and the old woman directs us to a dining room, she takes a seat and the other girl stands behind her. She tells us to take a seat in the chairs in front of her and we do just that.
"Let me introduce myself and thank you once again for saving all of us from thieves. I am Milee, if not for you, many others would end up dead and transported to be sold. This cannot express the deep gratitude we feel, but it is all what can we offer you, please take it"
They hand me a small purse with coins, not wanting to trail over their good intentions, I take it and pretend to keep it under my armor and throw it into my inventory. Out of curiosity I look at the amount and its 2,000G ... if there are 200 people in town ... 10G per head. The life of people in Gaia is very cheap...
Well, I got the Hero skill for the mission and it's not like I'm missing money right now. In addition, 2000G is a good amount, and possibly a large amount for a common villager. I sat down and smiled at her and she returned the action.
"Madam, we were only passing by and I only ask for shelter to spend the night in your town so we can leave tomorrow"
"No problem, you can stay here. This is the most luxurious house in the whole town and you don't need to stay at the inn. Besides, my daughter Milene has to go tomorrow to report what happened here to the city of Barl, if it does not bother you, you can accompany in her in her cart"
"Of course they can accompany me and also if you want I can buy from you the belongings of the thieves for a good price. I assure you the price will be favorable for saving us."
"Milene! What nonsense are you telling our saviors?"
"But mom, I am a merchant and that's how I make a living"
"Excuse my dumb daughter and please don't be offended by that"
Seeing the pair of mother and daughter talk, we just smiled at the old Milee in response, I look at Milene and answer her.
"I don't mind, it's not like I wanted to keep their things or hold them as a trophy. If it's a fair price we can make a deal, but you two seem to have a lot to fix for today, so we can talk about that tomorrow"
"Sure, don't worry, I will order the others to pick up everything and not a single bandits sock will be missing when they are delivered to you."
Geeh, couldn't she have used any other phrase to emphasize that they would not steal anything? Look, now Kurisu wants to puke.
We left again after finishing with the talk, Milee and Milene go to another group of people and talk to them. After a while they bring together all the unfortunates who lost their lives and cremate them outside of the town. They perform a small ceremony and say goodbye to the dead.
I see the woman who was abused and tearfully dismisses her husband. She looks in my direction and makes a small gesture of gratitude. I hope your life has no more unfortunate events and you can be happy in time.
Also, more as an obligation, they incinerated the bodies of the bandits so that a disease does not spread in the village. Night falls after finishing the whole process of fixing and treating everything caused by the bandits. Kurisu and I returned to the house they lent us to rest, during the whole trip the villagers greet us and speak with gratitude until we enter.
Fuuu ... it was a long day. Milene told us that the house had a bathroom and that we were free to use it, apparently it works with some mechanism activated by crystals to heat the water so it is rare in a town. Following her words we bathe ... unfortunately in turns.
But there is only one bed in the whole house hehehe. God seems not to have abandoned me, as the only solution, we both went to the bedroom and lay down on the bed, and then I tell Kurisu playfully while smiling.
"They must have thought we are a couple, don't you agree?"
She blushes a little and seems to think, after a few seconds answering me.
"... No, I think maybe they thought we were sisters?"
[That's the most logical] Aurora chimes in...
"Damn it!!!"
"Shhh ... don't shout Alex, you're going to disturb others.
Kurisu pushes me back on the bed when I sat up screaming, she looks at my eyes that I feel are getting wet, I really wanted to cry, she smiles and says.
"Thanks for worrying about me before, Alex"
"I'm the one who got you in this situation so you don't need to worry"
"No, I agreed to come here with you ... I promise to get stronger so that I can help you better"
"Okay, I promise you that I would rather die first than to see something bad happen to you... but I am sure we can be both strong and be happy. Everyone who wishess to deny me that will die, I will crush their bones under my feet, nothing will stop me. Even if my body breaks, I will drown our enemies with my own blood"
[Beep]
[Soul of the Emperor-I> H]
As if reaffirming my convictions, the system's robotic voice sounded in my head, but I quickly dismiss the sound in my brain when I saw Kurisu blushing, nodding at what I was saying.
"Unn"
[Beep]
[Affection of Kurisu +5]
Without saying anything else she just hugged me, closing her eyes to go to sleep. Fatigue also takes hold of me and with the smell of her sweet fragrance I quickly sink into dreams while hugging her.
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Written by:
Jwunder99
Ideas by:
Drack21
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