A/N:- To avoid confusion, from here on out, this will be how various parentheses and quotations will function:
"xxx" - for direct conversation; e.g. "Good morning."
'xxx' - for ntal speech by Victor with other beings; e.g. 'Stop.'
[xxx] - for ntal speech from others; e.g. [Father]
{xxx} - for Imperium System-related announcents/windows
- for skill/ability/magic spell usages; e.g.
Normal thoughts and narration will be kept as usual.
------
As I lay beside Aletia on the bed, I rember a certain system window that promised a reward for completing three main objectives. If I recall correctly, it said that the reward was a "Ti-Enhancer".
Whatever it is, it sure as hell sounds like sothing neat.
'Nora, can you hear ?'
[Yes, Father?]
It takes a mont to recollect myself upon hearing her voice. Why? Because of how much more emotion it contains.
Instead of the semi-robotic voice from before, her voice now is brimming with emotion, the most apparent of which is her sincerity.
'What is the Ti-Enhancer reward that was ntioned by the system?'
[Information on the item is locked. Father must obtain it first to unlock all information regarding it.]
Despite her response not being what I wanted to hear, I am not let down. According to what she just said, the Ti-Enhancer is an item and not a skill or ability.
From its na, I can think of various functions the item might have, such as affecting the ti of a Platform or a certain location.
Nevertheless, I can't be sure of anything until I obtain it.
To do that, I need to finish three main objectives, and right now, my objective is securing the territory around my base.
Hm I suppose I will spend half a day in this village tomorrow before leaving for Nazarick.
As for how I will be leaving, well, I could have so monsters disguised as humans to pick up by claiming to be my n.
This is the only thod that would guarantee the least amount of suspicion from the villagers.
---
Slowly regaining my consciousness, I open my eyes, only to be t with the face of a pretty young girl.
The young girl has golden hair covering her shoulders and a portion of her face. Her ruby eyes are focused on my face with a fiery glint inside them as if she is gazing into my soul.
"Good morning, Aletia," I say as I raise my head from the pillow.
My movent results in the blanket covering to move away, after which I get up and jump off the bed.
I wonder what's the ti right now. Judging by the light that's shining through the wooden window fra, it's obviously early morning. As for how early, I wouldn't know.
[In nurical terms that Father is used to, the ti currently is 6:45.]
'Oh, how convenient. Thank you, Nora.'
[Hehehe, of course!]
She truly is much more emotional now. Then again, I suppose this is what happens when one is forced to hold their emotions back for an extended period of ti.
Speaking of which, I wonder what Irene is up to right now Where exactly has she escaped to, and what is she doing? I am not exactly concerned about her safety considering the fact that she has shown enough ability to face off against a Code before.
This also makes wonder how powerful Nora is.
[Would Father like to see my paraters?]
'Sure, show .'
The mont I respond to her suggestion, a blue system window appears in front of with the word 'Administrator - Nora' written boldly at the top.
{------
Str: 45 | Agi: 43 | Dex: 66
Int: 89 | Def: 75 | Vit: 58
------}
Hey, hey, aren't these paraters a little absurd? Her strength and agility can be compared to that of mine from when I first awakened and entered Project Charlotte.
But that's it, the rest of her paraters are much better than anything I have faced off against.
In fact, so of them could be better than my current paraters, such as intelligence and defense.
Are Irene's paraters the sa?
[Displaying Irene's last recorded paraters.]
{------
Str: 33 | Agi: 51 | Dex: 45
Int: 60 | Def: 34 | Vit: 47
------}
I see Overall, her paraters are worse than Nora's which makes sense considering that the Imperium System tasked Nora with terminating her after she was deed unnecessary.
"Vincent," a soft voice reaches my ears, bringing a halt to my thoughts.
Turning to face the source of the voice, I look Aletia in the eyes and ask, "Is sothing wrong?"
"What are you?" she bluntly asks.
"You already know the answer to that question, don't you?" I respond vaguely.
"No, I want you to tell yourself. The magic you're using, your ability to change appearance, and the ability to hide your aura."
Her words pique my curiosity, especially the part about my 'aura'.
"What do you an by the ability to hide my aura?" I say, hoping to dodge her question.
"While you were sleeping, I couldn't sense your presence at all. You do that to prevent others from finding you, right?"
"Think of it whatever you will," I say dismissively as I feign disinterest and walk toward the door.
Suddenly, a small figure turns into a blue behind before I feel sothing slithering up my arm.
"There you are, Aurora. Good morning," I say as I pat her head with my finger.
[Go-od morn-] cos a response in my head, startling quite a bit.
Although it's incomplete, Aurora seems to now be able to converse with ntally while in this form. And I did get to hear her say sothing other than 'master', so that's a plus.
"Aletia, the others are all asleep. I will go out in the anti to get a breath of fresh air."
"Okay."
--
Exiting the Emmot's household, I begin to leisurely walk toward the village square.
As I am strolling forth, I can hear the sound of a few villagers who appear to have just woken up as well. Out of curiosity, I listen in for any conversations, and after a short while, I find out a few things.
So villagers are planning to head into the forest and chop down a few trees. Others are planning to do so casual village work such as tending to the cattle at the back of the village or collecting water from the well nearby.
"Such a simple life," I mutter.
Truly, it's as simple as it could get. Everyone here is living what they might consider a decent life. Their source of entertainnt is completely different from those living in the 'modern' age I am familiar with and their aims in life might most likely be as simple as creating a happy family.
As I release an audible sigh, my senses pick on movent in the distance.
My expression becos firm as I check out the appearance of those approaching the village - soldiers.
Heavy Armor is covering them from head to toe, and riding on horses, the n are closing in on the village at a rapid pace.
Why would there be soldiers appearing here? The simple answer would be that they belong to this kingdom and are simply passing by.
As for the more troubling answer Well, these soldiers might just be affiliated with the two I killed before.
The next mont, as if to confirm my suspicions, the soldiers reach out to their sheathed arms and raise them with malice practically oozing out of them.
And here I was expecting this inevitable attack to get delayed by my actions, but it appears that I have hastened it instead
Oh well, since they've decided to attack this village while I am residing in it, they're basically seeking death.
Even so, how am I going to be doing this? There is no guarantee that so sneaky soldiers won't make it past while I am occupied with slaughtering those at the front
Since I've confird that the incoming enemy soldiers don't have any kind, it's safe for to do this,
"Enemy attack!"
I exclaid as hard as I could, resulting in a deafening voice that practically causes the ground and walls to tremble.
Fortunately, my yell imdiately awakens the villagers who are still asleep while also alerting those who are already awake.
Nevertheless, my voice reaches the enemy that is quite a distance away as a commotion starts among them.
"Aurora, take your other form and find sowhere to hide. Wait and see if soldiers make it to this place and only take action if more than five humans have been killed."
[Y-yes!]
As soon as her voice fades, a bright light shines from my shoulder before it 'moves' away from my body and changes into the form of a young child.
Once the light fades, Aurora's humanoid form appears in front of .
This only lasts for a brief mont, as the next thing I know, a wave of energy escapes from Aurora's eyes and spreads over her body.
As I wonder what the purpose of this energy is, Aurora's body suddenly becos much harder to spot, be it visually or through my enhanced senses.
So form of stealth, huh? A very convenient and lethal ability to have.
"I'm going," I state before building up so force in my legs in preparation for a leap.
The next mont, I release all the force collected in my feet and shoot into the sky at a terrific speed.
As I gradually get higher, the speed at which I do so decreases along with it until I am no longer moving up.
In this position, I take a mont to assess the enemy soldier's numbers and equipnt properly.
A low amount of soldiers amounting to no more than a hundred and fifty heavy cavalry units. Their equipnt is solely composed of long swords and shields.
Such a force making its way to a re village, there is definitely so conspiracy behind this.
For now, I need to find out what their attentions are before determining if there is a need to massacre them all in one fell swoop or not.
With an objective set, I rotate my body in the air before using all the force I can muster to kick the air behind the sa I would while using Godspeed.
As I suspected, a few loud noises reverberate within my ear as my body shoots forth toward the soldiers.
So soldiers notice my actions as they point the tip of their swords at and exclaim in surprise.
Alas, their surprise doesn't last long, as I shortly reach the front of their force.
Since I am unable to use Vector Manipulation, I have no choice other than to direct the force guiding into the ground right in front of a few soldiers.
Expectedly, the ground trembles imnsely as it caves in and causes a few of the horses to stumble and fall.
Chaos spreads within the soldiers whose formation has been destroyed by my nonchalant actions.
A few soldiers end up getting crushed by horses falling on them, or, for those who are the unluckiest, hooves stepping on them.
"Enemy! It's an enemy!" a man suddenly exclaims vigorously, "It's not a human, retreat back and fix the formation!"
How rude, to state that I am inhuman simply because I fell from the sky
Unexpectedly, a few soldiers don't heed the man's orders as they guide their horses toward while yelling at the top of their lungs.
"Worthless trash," I find myself muttering as I easily leap over a few fallen horses and soldiers before kicking the center of a soldier's chest plate.
The seemingly tough tal is unable to cope with the force behind my leg as it easily caves in while the soldier flies off into the distance.
The soldier's sword, which he has let go now, is about to fall, but I swiftly reach forth and grab it.
After this, I step my feet on the horse's back and let it move toward the other soldiers who are moving toward as I swing the sword with just enough force to blow the n away along with their horses.
My actions cause the horse under my feet to lose its balance and fall, so I quickly hop off and stand tall while inspecting the soldiers who have moved back.
Surprisingly, they seem to have reigned their horses in and have a composed posture while awaiting further orders from their leader.
"Who is the one in charge of you weaklings?" I bellow as I plunge the sword into the ground.
I get no response as the soldiers simply look at one another in a 'what should we do' manner.
"I will give you five seconds to tell before I slaughter every single one of you!"
This ti, the soldiers begin to get anxious as the way they give each other looks becos desperate.
"It's !" suddenly, the sa man who shouted orders earlier makes his way forth on his horse while the soldiers make way for him.
"My na is Belius, and I am here by the king's decree that I dispatch the traitors residing in a village nearby."
Hm From his manner of speech, I can tell that he has a man who has experienced a 'noble' upbringing. This makes wonder why he didn't na what noble family he is from Other than that, I can detect falsities within his words.
"Lie to once more, and I will be severing your head, understood?" I say in a frigid tone while narrowing my eyes.
The man's expression turns visibly ugly as he struggles to co up with words in response to what I asserted, but I disregard that as I ask, "I don't care about your reasons for doing so, but you said you wanted to kill the villagers in Carne Village, right?"
"Chief Belius, there is no point in arguing with a monster," a man suddenly interjects.
"Shut up!" their leader, Belius, exclaims as he raises his right arm before focusing his gaze on and asking, "And so what if we are?"
Hearing his words, I notice a smile forming on my lips as I subconsciously lift the sword fixed into the ground and say, "Nothing much. It just ans that I get to play a ga that I haven't played in a while."
Truly, there is nothing more that excites other than the prospect of slaughtering so humans. Why? I don't know, but I am aware of it.
Now then, "Make sure to struggle!"
Along with making that exclamation, I lunge at Belius and effortlessly puncture his head with the long sword before pressing my leg against his chest plate and kicking him toward the soldiers behind him.
"Kill him!" exclaims a man, followed by nurous other such statents as the soldiers usher their horses forth.
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