Moving trees.
Sky.
Some clouds. Not enough light to be midday, so late morning.
"Woah," I sat down. Hungover?
Feet dangling. Probably a cart? I looked ahead, and definitely a cart.
"You awake?" he said, not looking back.
Big gray shirt.
"Yeah."
The hell is pulling? Is that an ostrich or a lizard? Definitely featherless that was for sure.
"Good. We'll be arriving soon. Get some rest if you need to."
There were many things on the cart. Many dead things. Snake like tails, lion like heads, bunny like legs. The fuck even are they? Among the things, there was a familiar face. That woman's.
Green as far as the eyes could see. The road wasn't really a road, just a mud trail. Trees all around, some really large, some small. Not the forest.
It was too bright. No mist or haze.
No animals… no, there were a few squirrels.
I took a big sniff. Countryside.
"Where are we?"
"Outskirts of Berul."
A city or a country? Better not ask.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is a Zermin? Why'd she try to eat me?"
"I do mind." He scoffed. "They're a minority. Eats people. But the country protects em, assholes."
"Thanks," I said.
"Too soon to be thanking me."
Rough voice.
"Still-"
"Besides," the man looked back, grinning.
Red.
Red dotted skin.
"Besides?"
"You'll know soon enough."
"Oh yeah, you are?"
"I prefer not talking," he said.
I didn't like talking either but here we were.
Grumbling, I stayed put, observing. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Other than there being no poles, or wires, or sign of humanity. Occasional one or two red skinned folk walking about. Almost human.
What the hell even are we? My skin was just as red as his, if not more. At night I couldn't tell just how different it was but now… I was probably not human. Compared to me and him, that demon lady thing was more human in appearance.
"We've arrived," the man beckoned, and my eyes fell on the giant wooden pikes ahead. Three maybe four times my height, sharp at the top, and with check posts. Men walking around, swords, arrows, armor.
Medieval.
"Halt!"
At the very end, we got stopped.
"My hunt," the man said. "Someone I found passed out on the ground."
"One of them is mine," I said.
"I found em both. They're mine."
"I don't care if you-"
"Look sunny, you don't want to-"
"Look buddy," I smiled. "If I could do that to her, imagine what I can do to you," I almost whispered.
Neither the guards nor the man liked it, but he scoffed and threw the corpse of the girl straight at me, and then grumbled into the town.
Meanwhile, the two guards eyed me suspiciously. "Who're you?"
"Quin. I come from a village up North. I ran away from home."
"Why?"
"Got bored. I wanted to have an adventure, slay monsters, search for treasure-"
"He's one of those idiots," the other one sighed. "Get in! Be sure to pay us 1 silver later."
"Yes, sir."
But how the hell was I supposed to carry a corpse?
Holy, shit, this is light.
Huh? My muscles were still the same… so had I grown stronger or had this thing….
Anyway… "Where can I sell this?"
"Sell a Zermin? Not only did you go and started a scuffle with a minority, you want to sell the corpse for a profit? Son, how twisted is your conscience?"
"Sir, I appreciate the moral judgment, but this thing not only stole my hunt but also tried to eat me. I only defended myself; speaking of which, it stole it through some transportation magic. Can I get it back?"
"Just go to the guild or something," the other one said.
Of course, there would be a guild!
I had some mixed reactions when I walked through the gates.
On one hand, some people looked at me with pride. Some others with open disgust. Some even spat on the ground. All same looking people, all red skinned.
There weren't many houses at the entrance. The few that were, were either hotels or restaurants. Very few people in them.
"Sonny, you need to carry that?" One of the peddlers asked.
"I'm good. Where's the guild?"
"Up street, turn left, then right, you're at the guild."
"Thanks."
He tipped his hat and went elsewhere.
Mostly wooden infrastructure, with one or two brick buildings. No stone or earthen stuff. No proper ceilings either. Tiled Chinese style.
I couldn't figure out any ethnographic features on the people. While they did look similar, they appeared very alien. But if there's a demon thing, are there elves and actual humans or maybe dwarves?
I saw none.
Kept walking.
Signs were in English. Which was great. But how? Most signs came with wooden carvings so I was sure I wasn't misreading but still… how?
By the time I'd arrived at the guild, I'd amassed a following. They hadn't spoken a word but silently followed, till now that was.
"Marza Amen," one of them said.
Was that a name?
"Quin."
The thin red man smiled awkwardly. "We were quite moved by your contribution to society!"
"Thanks."
"How would you join the Arbiters of Justice?"
"I have urgent matters to attend on," I said. Whilst I was more than tempted to ask more about it, I didn't. "Maybe ask me again in a week or two."
Religious fanatics. The followers all had those eyes. Probably a cult.
He nodded in satisfaction. "We shall wait for a positive response."
Meanwhile, I quickly went into the guild. I figured people in here would too stare at me, but they didn't. Instead, most were focused on their own things. Some burly men, some men in armor, some in suits. A clear lack of women: too few in number. By guild staff, peeps in uniform, were mostly women by contrast.
"Hi, I'm looking for a place to extract what she had stolen from me and potentially sell this corpse."
The guild staff lady paused. She carefully examined my face for a good thirty seconds and then showered me with a practiced smile. "Please wait a minute while I fetch the guild lord."
A couple of minutes later she came back with a thin man in glasses. Large mustache, and no facial hair whatsoever. "You wish to extract whatever is in her Spatial purse?"
"She'd stolen a stage three Mengul, I think it was called, from me. Then she tried to eat me and-"
"You don't need to justify what you've done," the man said. "Instead, let me break down how much you'll make from this and the fees. We can extract the contents of her Spatial purse as long as it hasn't been twelve hours since she passed away. Even then the more time has passed since her death, the more corrupted the contents get. It costs 2 gold to use the extraction, that is the standard fee if you're not a member."
"I'd like to be a member."
"Please let me finish." He cleared his throat. "We can buy her corpse for 5 Gold, and the Mengul for 10 if it's in pristine condition. You cannot register as a member of the guild."
"Why not?"
"Killing a minority is a serious offense. It's a miracle the Paladins haven't charged you with murder yet. I wouldn't-"
"She tried to eat me. Clearly self-defense."
He attempted to say something but paused. "Were there any witnesses?"
"No."
"Then you will lose the case."
"I feel I would lose the case regardless. But if you know anything about people, then you should be able to tell whether or not I'm lying. If I can kill a Mengul, which obviously goes for more, why would I need to kill a minority that would get me in trouble?"
"To gain favor of the Arbiters," someone said from the crowd. "You were with them, yes?"
"They followed me on their own and offered a position. I succinctly told them no."
They didn't need to know that I'd hit snooze instead of dismiss.
The guild master, or lord guy kept examining me. "Let us first begin the extraction. We shall confirm your words."
We, the corpse, and the guild lord, as well as the man who'd clearly doubted me, all went to a large room. It lit up with pyres, all on their own. Clever magic.
Magic.
I'd heard the lady say something about magic, and my abilities so far were magical. I wasn't able to reproduce them without the messages. I didn't see anything in the city that screamed 'magic' either. So that did make me question- what even was magic?
"Place the corpse on this circle," the staff said.
"How're you even carrying her?" the doubtful man said. A patch on his eye, big sword on his back, and awfully crimson scaly armor. Probably thin underneath.
"What do you mean?" I dropped it on the marked circle. A storm of dust arose. "Oh, so it was supposed to be heavy."
I 'have' gotten stronger.
"Yes, very. What level are you?" he said.
"10, 11 maybe? I don't know."
"You're joking?" The man laughed. "A stage 3 Mengul at 11? Come on man, we're not that gullible!"
"He's not," the guild staff said. "He really is level 11." She'd held some glowing monocles to her eyes, it had a large silver chain, a bit too shiny.
"Huh," the man paused.
The guild lord guy had remained quiet so far but he moved to the front. "Extract." He held his glowing hand over the corpse and something dark oozed out of her, almost flowing like water but coagulating and then condensing into a round hole in the middle of the room: almost like a black hole but instead of sucking everything, it glowed fiercely white and regurgitated a whole lot of things, including that special corpse.
"Holy shit," the doubtful dude mumbled. "Look at all these equipment… she really was…"
"These belong to Armen's team," the staff confirmed. "This is Galdius's sword."
"You may register," the guild lord said. "That Mengul was causing us issues, so we'll arrange for more rewards. As long as you stay within the guild rules, you're welcome to stay here. However, if this, if slaying minorities become the norm- I'm sure you can guess what will happen yes?"
"I will be persecuted and the guild will not protect me, yes?"
"Correct."
"Fine by me. As long as they don't try to eat me, I have no reason to become a murderer."
And yet, I didn't feel like I'd killed a person. It wasn't even like when I'd accidentally batted a cat. I cried burying that thing. But I didn't feel anything for this person, or any remorse, any pity, any-
Strange. Why am I so damn calm?
Was I always this calm?
"Mister?" The staff said. "Would you like to… sell these equipment to the guild? They are memento of-"
"Some of them, yes. Some I would like to keep. I had to buy some protection anyway. As long as I don't need them, I don't mind selling them."
She gave me a wry smile. "Alright."
"Reasonable," the doubtful man was still here. "Marks."
"Quin."
We shook hands. He left.
Meanwhile, I sat down by the corpse and examined all the little things, including the coins and the rings. "What are these?"
"Those are probably power rings."
"Why wasn't she wearing them? What do they do?"
"They temporarily boost your powers at the cost of your life."
"They kill you if you use them?"
"No, they shorten your life; so, I guess they do. This one increases strength. This one increases speed. This blue one increases your mana."
Huh. "Oh, they're pretty good then but kind of useless."
"They're rather valuable and seasoned fighters know when to use them. You may sell them if you wish; we will pay you a good price."
"Thanks. If you don't mind me asking-"
"Sure."
"Okay so, how does the spatial purse thing actually work?"
"You store your belongings in a pocket dimension-"
"No I mean, how do I do it?"
"I'm assuming you don't have talent for it. In that case, you may buy a space ring from the guild. It works the same way and you can store upto 200kg worth of goods. No living things however."
"And I'm assuming that's pretty expensive."
"It's 3 gold."
Sounds like a scam.
"You may trade in any of your rings," she continued.
"They're worth about the same?"
"More or less."
Which one? I smiled. "I'll buy it."