The warm sunlight softly illuminated the inn's tavern, but a cold morning air still filled the place. The other guests were slowly starting to appear as the day awakened, but for us, it felt as if we were still asleep. The abrupt reality that had knocked on our door felt like something out of a dream.
Leo is gone. He ran away in the middle of the night, without saying a word. That wasn't like him at all. Leo was a model swordsman, responsible and proud. 'Can you imagine a guy like that running away like this, without even a "see you later"?'
We both sat at a table by the window. Sarah was staring at the table with a desolate expression. She was worried about the guy, about having abandoned him to create her own party with me, but in the end he didn't even bother to say goodbye to us.
We were supposed to be childhood friends who went exploring together, as a party, as teammates. That should mean something, right? From someone so honorable, it was expected at least that he would look people in the eye before vanishing.
I won't lie, I expected more from him. After we almost died because of that Berserk Sheep, at the very least I thought he would treat his comrades better. The part of me that felt guilty about the idea of leaving him behind, without me or Sarah, also felt relieved. I didn't like to feel this way, but the blond guy didn't seem to deserve that much consideration.
He did seem strange last night, but even so I didn't imagine that he would just disappear overnight. Still incredulous, my eyes were fixed on the letter he had left behind as an explanation.
'Rick, Sarah. By the time you guys are reading this letter, I'll be far away from the town. In our last fight, we almost got ourselves killed. Even though I was the leader, I was useless fighting the Boss. I can't be the man responsible for your safety, and that fight made me realize that. I apologize from the bottom of my heart, and I promise that I'll take responsibility for it.'
Rick, you were right. Training like that would just get myself killed someday. Someone who doesn't even understand that shouldn't be a leader. But I still want to become stronger, so I will travel to find the key to becoming stronger. I don't want what happened to my family to happen to anybody else, so this journey is something that I have to do.
I'll give up being an adventurer and enter the Silverfang Army. I believe that there I'll find what I'm searching for.
Sarah, keep an eye on Rick. He is acting boldly recently, so he needs someone to watch over him.
Don't try to follow me.
Leo'
My trembling hands crumpled the letter in front of me.
'As if I would, you idiot! You're walking straight into the lion's den, you moron!'
"He didn't bother to say goodbye." Sarah said in a sad voice.
I sighed, trying to calm myself. Displaying anger would just make Sarah feel worse.
"It can't be helped. If he wanted to quit the party, it's his own choice. He's a grown ass man, and we're not his babysitters." I said to her.
"I know that, but still…" She said hesitantly.
"But why join the Silver Fangs, of all the choices? Is he crazy?" I asked, letting out a trace of anger in my voice.
"Why? They are just one faction of the kingdom, right?" Sarah asked, confused. It wasn't her fault. I just knew too much.
"Nothing, I just don't like them." I said to her, trying to end the conversation. If I told her the truth about them, Sarah would get even more worried. Her sad face was bad enough for me to handle.
"Don't worry, Sarah. I'm sure that he's gonna be ok," I said, trying to be positive. "What we need to do now is focus on becoming stronger. We are on our own, so we need to do twice the hard work."
Sarah opened a frail smile. She was still feeling bad about what had happened, but she was willing to endure it for now. She had made a promise to me, and she wasn't the type to back down from her words.
"You're right. Let's become stronger." She said in a better mood. "Oh, that's true, we still need to check our new powers."
…
We decided to go out of town, free from curious eyes, so we could start to work with our new powers. We found a quiet place in the forest, a wide area of low grass spacious enough and surrounded by trees, where we could train without having our movements restricted by obstacles, and best of all, without the presence of monsters.
As I called for the System, the blue screen showed up in front of me.
[
Valkyrie Tamer System
Name: Richard Forster
Class: Valkyrie Tamer
Level: 1
Valkyries: 0/3
]
'I never thought about it, but how can I transform Sarah into a Valkyrie?' I asked inwardly, not expecting a response, but then a text appeared in front of me answering.
[ You can look at that by clicking on Valkyries. ]
'Oh, you're back. Good day.'
[ Good morning, Mr. Forster. Oh, now that I think of it, it's the first time that I've called you by that name. Sorry for my lack of manners, and sorry for last night. ]
Even though I couldn't hear any voice, it looked like someone was nervously talking to me. I imagined someone embarrassed in response to me.
'Don't mind that. I was wrong to call the System back then. I'm sorry for that,' I apologized using my thoughts. I didn't receive an answer, but I continued talking. 'Are you a human? Your answers look like one.'
[ I'm not a human. Oh, sorry again, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm one of Lady Freya's underlyings. My name is Brandish. I'll help you as I can with the Valkyrie System. ]
I smiled, thinking that she might sound cute in person. 'You don't need to apologize so much. You can call me by my first name. I'm counting on you.'
[ So how can I help you this time? ]
'Well, I need guidance. I did what Freya said, and I would like to see if I can turn Sarah into a Valkyrie,' I asked my assistant.
[ When you finish a mission or sleep with someone worthy, you should receive a message in your mailbox. ]
'Mailbox…' In fact, there was a mail symbol on the screen. When I clicked it, there were 3 messages for me.
[ Congratulations! You finished the mission "Washing with Love". You can make 2 rolls to get your random skills any time you want. ]
The second message was what I was looking for.
[ Congratulations! Sarah Lockhart is now available to become a Valkyrie. ]
All these messages were something that I was expecting, but my eyes caught the third message, with the sender clearly shown. It was from Freya.
'What could be so important for the always busy goddess of love to send me a message?' I asked myself. Without thinking too much, I clicked it.
[ Good show! I thought that you could put more energy into it, but it was good considering that you two were both virgins. One more thing: Sarah is a sweet girl, but she looks like the type of girl who likes to be dominated. You could manage to put her on all fours. I think she likes anal. Bye bye~ ]
I was left open-mouthed by what I had just read. I would expect a comment like that on P*rnhub, not in a message from my System. Freya, the goddess of love, not only watched me and Sarah doing the deed, but she also left a review of my sexual prowess.
I remembered something that Brandish said last night, when I looked for information about the System. 'Lady Freya is always watching, so she could drop something for you.'
'Is Freya really watching all the time? Even in our most private moments? This goddess doesn't have any shame at all?'
[ Lady Freya doesn't know many boundaries. It's kind of tough to work for her. ]
Brandish's words made me feel bad for her. It shouldn't be easy to work for a shameless, self-centered goddess who thinks of the world as her personal playground.
"What the fuck…"
"Rick, are you all right?" Sarah was by my side, her hands on her waist. "You said that you would check our powers, but you're just acting weird."
I thought it was weird that she didn't react to the blue screen in front of me, but she really can't see it. 'Thank goodness. Sarah could die of embarrassment if she knew that a goddess not only saw our act of love, but even made that shameless comment. It's for the best to spare her from that information.'
"So it's true that you received new powers… by sleeping with me?" She asked, her face all red.
I had told her all about my new powers, compensating for my bad explanation from last night.
"It sounds ridiculous, but it's the truth. Just give me a second to check what I gained from last night… Right here!"