"Hello Marcella."
Marcella just looked at
wearily, ever since she had co to believe I was a 'demon' it seems that I couldn't even greet her without being viewed with suspicion.
"Have you eaten?" I asked, putting a plate of food down in front of her. So real food after a week in the dungeons surely must be tempting for her, looking at the hunger in her eyes.
"Not since yesterday..." She shook her head to indicate she hadn't, still eyeing the food.
I frowned a little after hearing that, soone should have at least given her sothing. Being my slave she was technically my responsibility, but I didn't expect that nobody else would help her. Were the n afraid that by doing so they might sohow offend ?
"You can have it, but there's sothing I need your help with." I said while squatting down to her level, untying the ropes on her hands.
Seeing her still hesitant to eat, as if by doing so she would have willingly sold her soul to a demon, I decided to explain further.
"I'm not going to do anything bad... I just need your help with exploring my powers a little bit. What I'm proposing is of mutual benefit to the both of us. I have powers that you might find are rather unnatural. You fought with , you should be able to tell by now that. I didn't always have these powers, and I still don't entirely understand how they work, but this is information that I need to know. I need to know how these powers work, and I need to know that as quickly as possible... You help
with this and I will make your life bearable, understand? You can either live the life of a slave, or you can agree to help from ti to ti, and I will make sure your living standards are suitably improved."
Scanning across her dirty dress and ssy hair which clearly hadn't been washed in the past week as the dungeon took its toll both on her body and ntal state.
For Marcella, she had little left of her old life to cling to as a dark road laid stretched out in front of her.
No matter what she did, that fate would not change, or at least that was the impression she had after being consigned to a lifeti as a criminal slave. She had essentially lost hope at that point, her powers were completely sealed and she expected to be treated as nothing but a trophy, but sohow my words indicated to her that the fate she expected was not entirely set in stone. I was at least willing to bargain. Offering her a deal that was in so ways a kind of wages, or the closest thing to wages that a slave could expect. In effect allowing her to work of her 'debt', and by doing so allow so normalcy back into her life.
"It's not dangerous is it?"
"I'm not going to lie and say it isn't... but hurting you or punishing you isn't the goal. Otherwise, why would I even be asking you? You're a slave you know."
"That's... can I at least eat first?" Her eyes showing that the terms were indeed acceptable as she scarfed down the food and drink I had offered up. Licking the plate after she was done like the food I had given her was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten, surely a 'ho-cooked' al by her standards, being one of the many fanciful als prepared for us by her father's chefs and stored in my inventory in great quantities so as to hold us over on this trip.
The two of us finally leaving the encampnt, Marcella ard only with a torch as she followed behind
closely.
"Why are we going outside... I can't use my magic you know?" A hint of fear in her voice as she sped up, nearly clinging to my back as she looked around.
"Monsters are more active at night, and I need monsters for the tests we're going to be conducting."
The two of us walking for minutes straight out into the grasslands as the light conditions continued to deteriorate, the sun shining its last bits for the day.
If there were any monsters in the vicinity they should be well aware of us by now, the two of us having been conversing loudly, and walking openly through their territory. Two lone humans is a pretty appetizing treat for most monster varieties, having learned from experience that they could kill humans with ease and eat them. The mana in our flesh, supposedly due to the function of our mana organ, acted as an attractive nutritional supplent to their normal diet.
A few more minutes of walking finally rewarding our patience, activity stirring in the surroundings. A pair of monsters erging from their hiding, two beady-eyed lizards whose bellies dragged along the ground like an overweight snake, teeth clack in anticipation of a al as they dragged themselves from the grass, each at least as big as a dog, their green skins and previously unmoving state doing well to camouflage them amongst the vegetation, only visible now that they had revealed themselves to us.
I watched them calmly with a smile on my face as I took out only my shield, putting my other arm around Marcella's waist as I brought her forward with
to et our guests. The strange actions frightening Marcella as she was dragged forward along with .
"Keaton... what kind of experint is this? Why do you need
here?" Panic setting into her voice as she finally started to catch on about what her role was supposed to be.
"You're the bait." I said while grinning even wider.
Keaton's stat window
Spoiler
Keaton Pel Level 9 Attributes STR15DEX17CON75INT11WIS10CHA14Equipped Status Points:0Skill Points:15Class:Adventurer lvl 25, Swordsman lvl 20Skills:Physical Boost MAX, Inventory lvl 3, Soft Steps MAX, Sword Mastery MAX, Sword Edge lvl 5, Sword Aura lvl 1Available Adventurer lvl 25Physical Boost MAX, Inventory lvl 3, Soft Steps MAXAlchemist lvl 17Identification MAX, Cultivation MAXArcher lvl 1Aim lvl 1Assassin lvl 1Stealth lvl 1Barbarian lvl 1Instinct lvl 1Blacksmith lvl 3Blacksmithing lvl 1Brutalist lvl 1Crushing Blows lvl 1Commoner lvl 4Lesser Stamina lvl 1Cook lvl 4Cooking lvl 1Farr lvl 3Farming lvl 1Fighter lvl 4Fighting Sense lvl 1Leatherworker lvl 3Leatherworking lvl 1Pathfinder lvl 10Navigation MAX, Quick Steps MAXPhysician lvl 3Anatomy MAXPoisoner lvl 1Poison Constitution lvl 1Potter lvl 3Sculpting lvl 1Rogue lvl 1Dagger Mastery lvl 1Swordsman lvl 20Sword Mastery MAX, Sword Edge lvl 5, Sword Aura lvl 1Spearman lvl 3Spear Mastery lvl 1Steward lvl 3Managent lvl 1Tailor lvl 3Tailoring lvl 1[collapse]
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