ALL NOVEL A Goal (7)
I could barely keep myself upright. Why was it so cold? No, the sun was up now, my body was just too weakened.
I staggered backward to the bars, my sword falling from my hands. I was losing consciousness, and I would fall any second.
I reached behind me to grab onto something.
If I fell now, I wouldn’t wake up. Ever.
“Hey, you.”
Without thinking, I drew the second knife since I lost the first one sometime ago while I was running blindly in the rain.
I turned in a clockwise fashion, my knife’s tip already facing the direction of the voice. The was close, but when I turned to see the man that called out to me, my knife was just short but the man didn’t seem to have moved at all.
“If you’re done, drink this.”
The soldier spoke again, holding out a bottle.
It was a potion of some sort of pink liquid.
“T-Thanks–”
I could faintly guess what potion it was so I grabbed the drink and downed its contents in greedy gulps.
Strength returned to my limbs and light illuminated my vision almost instantly.
My pains disappeared as if they never were there.
My condition was not perfect however, but it was a greater improvement compared to a few seconds ago.
I sighed a breath of relief and looked at the man that offered me that drink. I opened my mouth with a small smile to convey my gratitude. If there was a bar in this city, I’d offer this man a night of drinks.
“Thank you–”
Pow!
But a fist collided with my jaw before I said anything else. But something was off, why did the hit register in my mind faster than my body? I think I felt pain– the sensation of pain before the actual pain.
Strange.
My vision was blacking out again, but this time, I was too starved to stay awake. I couldn’t feel the sensation of hitting the ground. It seems that I passed out before that.
Motherfucker. I’ll remember that.
***
I awoke to the sensation of being dropped. My eyes shot open and I reached for my weapon, but I grabbed nothing.
Right. I lost both knives and I intentionally dropped the sword.
“You didn’t have to hit him.” I heard someone speak. It was an older voice, plain, deep, and emotionless, but he was stern.
“He drew a knife at me.”
“He’s just tired, Eric.”
Eric, huh? I remember your face to the tiniest detail, punk.
“Am I under arrest?”
“!!!”
Both men nearly jumped out of their skin at my question. Oddly enough, they looked alike, not in the sense of being blood related, but they resembled each other’s mannerisms. They were both quiet, reserved people, but not shy or taciturn.
“You’ve come to?” Eric asked, surprised. “I punched you with all I had.”
“Better hit the weights, kid.” I cracked my neck.
It actually hurt, but it wasn’t as bad as it thought it was. I simply was just weakened to that extent. Still, this kid was strong, but at the moment, I was not the same as I was yesterday.
[ Profile: Hyun / Race: Demon / Profession: Adventurer, Scholar, Civilian / Level: 6 ] [ Skills: None ]
[ Strength: 11 (+3) / Speed: 11 / Constitution: 13 (+2) / Intelligence: 20 (+2) / Wisdom: 20 (+4) ]
[ Achievement unlocked: Desperado ] [ Achievement points have been rewarded! ]
[ You have leveled up! ] [ Achievement points have been rewarded! ]
[ You have leveled up! ] [ Achievement points have been rewarded! ]
[ You have leveled up!...
[ Constitution has increased by three points! ] [ Speed has increased by One point!] [ Strength has increased by One point! ]
I leveled up five times. Furthermore, there are interesting things I just learned. My trait modifiers and actual base stat increase are different. Although I'm not entirely sure about it, my physical abilities increased as per the amount of work I put into them.
It's conjecture for now.
I’m not certain, but my constitution and will-power was put under the most strain this past week, and so it grew considerably more than strength and speed.
I’ll have to test that to be sure.
At the moment, I need to handle what’s in front of me. They seem friendly– no… that wouldn’t be the word for it. Pragmatic, practical, calculative, but not terrible people. They aren’t hostile, but neither are they naive.
They’re my kind of crowd.
“Just kidding, It hurt like hell.” I joked with him, “Anyway, I’m not an idiot so you don’t need to explain yourselves. You have a job to do after all, isn’t that right?”
“Direct to the point, I see.” The older man of the two sighed. “Then this’ll be easy.”
“You need safety behind the walls of Ironhold, for reasons I doubt you’d want to tell me, but I can’t let you through. No one that passed through the backdoor of a border-city is ever good.”
Ironhold, that’s the name of this city, huh?
It suits it quite well considering it’s surrounded by walls. He also called it a border city, so this is probably a part of a country or something. Something like that was possible, after all, this world is definitely set in Source, but there are many things different.
A sophisticated society of interconnected cities and communities isn’t outside the realm of possibility.
“For starters, you don’t have an Identification Tag like Eric does. You’re a stranger, perhaps a threat, but you are skilled enough for what I need you to do.”
“So how does it sound? I let you in the walls, not as a captured slave, but as a foreigner whose origins are unknown, but is permitted by the Ironhold Garrison Commander.”
This guy… isn’t some guard is he? Garrison Commander.
“For what? I doubt this favor wouldn’t cost me. So, say, Commander, how is this gonna set me back?”
“Like I said, skilled.”
The Commander grinned, or smiled, I wasn’t sure.
It's safe to assume that he was pleased with his assumption of me. That makes me kinda happy, in a way, but I’m not stupid.
He needs someone to do something probably quasi-illegal, and he needs plausible deniability. What better pawn could he use than a stranger that stumbled on his door?
He needs a tool, and I need safe harbor. We can cooperate, maybe even get along, but he’d be a fool to assume that I'd just allow myself to be used like that.
However at the moment, he has the edge over me.
I’ll make him think that for now, but that wouldn’t be easy considering the other guy looks like he’s going to watch me like a hawk.
In fact, a gold coin says he’s going to be my handler of sorts.
“Ironhold has become corrupt. The governor and the Garrison’s forces are slowly getting bought by ‘them.’” Eric hissed in annoyance and pure disdain.
I didn’t know who ‘them’ were, but I can tell these guys hated their guts.
“As Eric said, they’ve been slowly eating away at the being of Ironhold. I believe for the safety and longevity of this city, a purge needs to happen.”
“But as Garrison Commander, or the governor, cannot do anything about it, not openly at least.” I finished his sentence. I already got the gist of it, I just needed to see what face he would make.
And as I thought, he did exactly that. This Commander was not just some chump, he was a quiet, righteous fellow whose anger should never have been kindled.
This stone-faced bastard is the real deal.
He gave me a folder with all the information I needed to know.