I’m awoken by a noise nearby but before I can figure out what it is; the moment I open my eyes I immediately cry out in sheer terror! No no no no no no; not again! You can’t give me that quest again! Why?! Why am I being tortured like this?! I can’t-
Barking from behind me takes me out of my thoughts. Turning around I see a large dog with black and white fur barking loudly but it stops the moment I move and pants happily while its fluffy tail wags happily.
I can’t hide a small smile when I see this; reaching out my hand in greeting, I wait to see if it wants to sniff me. I also try to say hello but that just makes me cough more. This causes Daisy to perk its ears up and tilt its head slightly which I find incredibly cute.
Rising onto shaky legs, I move forward to pet the dog but before my hand makes contact, it couches down with its butt still raised in the air and barks again. I follow suit and lean forward with my hands on my knees. “What? Do you want to play?”.
The dog jerks a few times as if it’s about to run off so I move forward, as if to touch it again and the dog finally turns and sprints off into bushes. I chuckle, cough, and decide to follow along. I haven’t seen this dog before but considering the displayed information, it must have an owner somewhere nearby. I was probably gone from home for so long that mom started asking for help in finding me. I’ll have to apologize when I get back.
Before moving, I took a moment to read my profile, just to see if there was anything still wrong with me.
Attributes:
Strength: 9
Finesse: 16
Endurance: 16
Intelligence: 14
Willpower: 12
Charisma: 12
Available Points: 5
Traits:
Assassinate
Rigged From the Start
Exclusive:
Available Points: 2
What? Is this thing broken or something? There’s no way I’m at full health and have no conditions. What, did START not think to add the “stressed” ailment yet?! Well … I guess there is one way to test if it’s working. I unsheath a dagger and poke one of my fingers just hard enough to draw blood and check my profile again.
Fantastic, so you are working but just want to pretend like nothing happened? Great, glad to know I can trust you for accurate information, START.
Following Daisy, it seemed to be leading me back to the city. It would wait for me after getting too far away and run off again when I drew closer. I kind of wished it would hold still for a moment though just so I could pet it because I couldn't take my thoughts away from that quest. I was hoping that after dealing with the punishment, maybe the quest would just go away or change to something easier but it’s the exact same as before!
I can feel my hands start to shake when I think back to that… that torment! I really, really don’t want to go through that again but I don’t want to do this stupid quest! But I can’t just ignore it if that means I have to get tortured every two days! I hate this. I don’t want to kill anyone!
We arrive at the city entrance and I see a group of men watching my approach.
Daisy had arrived before I did. The dog was laying down next to the man named Marcel and was happily chewing on a piece of dried meat.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“There you are Elvira. Your mother has been worried about you. Follow me, would you?” Marcel said. I was momentarily confused at how he immediately knew who I was considering I had never seen him before but then I realized I was an idiot. Obviously he knew my name the same way I knew his. I’m not used to everyone being able to see my name at all times like this.
I followed behind Marcel as he led me through the city with Daisy following along beside him. “Did something happen? Why were you out on your own?” He asked.
I did not know how to answer his question, however. If I said that I was out practicing as a Rogue he would think that I’m reckless and stupid but that was the only excuse I could think of. At least, that was the only excuse I would be able to say out loud.
“I … wanted to practice a bit,” I murmured.
My words didn’t even cause him to break his stride, as if he already knew that would be the answer. “That is an incredibly stupid thing to do. Someone at your level should never venture out alone. You could have gotten yourself killed.”
“Yes, sir,” I responded flatly, feeling my face start to burn from embarrassment. Better people think I’m stupid instead of evil I guess. If only I had more confidence in that thought.
“Can I… pet daisy?”
This got him to stop, he turned around and looked at me as if my hair had just turned blue but only for a moment before nodding with a slight grin. Five minutes of petting later, I felt that I was ready to see my mom.
“You could have at least said something or left a note! I can’t believe you would just wander off like that!” Mom chastised while pacing around the table.
This had been going on for half an hour now. I said very little as I sat here while she scolded. My face was hot with frustration and embarrassment. I didn’t blame her at all for feeling this way, I was more upset with START for forcing me into a situation where I have to get scolded for something I can’t control. I’ll likely have to do this over again in another two days unless I…
“Well?” Mom demanded as she glared down at me, finally ending her pacing.
“I want to get stronger,” I stated. It was the only truthful thing I could really say right now.
“Do you have any idea how many people your age say the same thing and go off and get themselves killed the moment they turn eighteen?!’
I did know. The answer was a lot of people. I’ve heard time and time again of people heading out the moment they get their first quest, blindly believing in START’s assessment of their abilities. Common belief says START never gives you a quest that is impossible to do; it won’t just give a level one warrior a quest to kill a dragon, but it isn’t perfect. My quest simply says to “slay the innocent” and apparently applies a red mark to everyone it deems innocent but that doesn’t mean I can kill any innocent person I see with a red mark next to their name. There’s a common name people throw around for those that don’t think before they act; Restarts.
“I didn’t fight anything, mom, I was just … practicing my stealth,” I tried to soothe.
“Well, at least you're not that dumb,” mom huffed. It seemed she was finished scolding me as she turned away and began cleaning. I still felt guilty so I got up and began to help while remaining silent.
I should probably do something to make it up to her. I’m not even done making her upset either because I plan on going to the adventurer’s guild first thing tomorrow. I would be tempted to go today if I didn’t think that Mom might actually lock me in my room forever if I tried. I guess it was also getting pretty late, turns out I was unconscious for longer than I thought.
With cleaning finished and mom looking far less likely to explode, I carefully broached the subject of my plans for tomorrow. “I would like to maybe visit the adventurer’s guild tomorrow, if that’s okay?”
Mom didn’t say anything at first; hands occupied with needle and thread, she stared down at her unmoving fingers for a long moment before answering. Eventually she sighed and nodded glumly; “You’re eighteen now; you can do what you wish. Just promise me you won’t throw yourself into danger alone, okay? Don’t go out without a priest.”
Standing outside the guild, I nervously inspect myself, hoping that I’ll be fine without proper clothes meant for fighting. Thankfully people will think I’m a Rogue so it won’t be that strange to not have decent armor. I at least found a dark gray shirt and a pair of black tights so I should look at least a little bit like a rogue. If nothing else, I do have that pair of daggers my sister gave me. Taking a deep breath to quell my nerves, I stepped inside.
The adventurer’s guild was as busy as always when I arrived. Feeling curious, I decided to look at all the different levels and classes here. Most seemed to be below level ten but there were a few individuals approaching level one hundred. Adventurers that strong don’t tend to hang around long without the presence of deadly threats. As far as Incemul goes, the most dangerous thing I’ve heard about were simple ogres. And of course, every person here had an accompanying red mark … except for three.
The first was a man in dusty traveling clothes drinking quietly by himself. He didn’t seem all that unusual and he was minding his own business so I paid him no mind. The other two, however…
Those two were sitting next to each other and were enthusiastically talking with a guild receptionist. I couldn't make out what was being said through the noise but I wasn’t feeling the need to get any closer. If the absence of a red mark means these people have killed someone before then they are definitely dangerous. I don’t think that inherently makes them bad people since I don’t know what situation they were in that caused them to kill but it seemed safest to just avoid them.
For a moment I thought about looking for a local guard to tell them about these two but of course, then I would have to explain how I knew.
Turning away, I made my way over to the central pillar and began reading over listed quests for one that I might be able to accept. Of the six shown here, all but two were beyond my level.
Dammit, are those monsters luring people out into the forest so that they can kill them? What would they even get out of doing that? Does the other person have a quest like me? It said she’s a mage so I can’t imagine START giving in a quest like that! Unless there are other traits like mine that can hide your class but I would be shocked if there is considering mine only exists because The Hero is over level one hundred!
Should I do something about this? There’s probably not another person besides me that can see if a person is innocent at a glance but I can’t even tell anyone about it! At most I could throw out vague accusations and hope they just blindly believe me.
I look back over at the two and their polite conversation with the guild receptionist has taken a turn. Curious, I decided to subtly creep closer until I can make out their conversation while I acted like I was looking at my profile.
“...and what about Peter, huh? Did they also get lost?”
“I don’t know, probably? You expect me to baby sit everyone that tags along with us?”
“I do if they are that weak compared to you! You can’t just say you’re offering easy levels and then leave them on their own!”
“We didn’t leave them on their own, we was looking for goblins!”
“Yea, them sneaky buggers are hard to find in the forest! Green on green and all that.”
“Yet despite focusing entirely on the goblins you somehow haven’t even killed a single one in three days?”
“Well.. we headed back the moment we noticed they was missing, obviously!”
“Fine. Since you’re innocent you won’t mind if I place your quest under investigation? It won’t take but a day to contact a High Priest and verify the truth of your words,” The sound of shifting chairs followed her words.
“Ahhh we ain’t got time for this! We got gobbies to kill, we do! Come on sis.”
“Too right. Can’t be waiting on the restarts all the time.”
“Please be aware that refusing to cooperate with a guild investigation can result in the loss of membership status.”
“Yea? I got your status right here!”
Good, it sounds like those two at least won’t be attacking anymore adventurers. I know I don’t have much room to talk in that regard as The Villain but at least I’m trying to be good! Who am I kidding … maybe they did too at one point; who knows? I shouldn't think about people like that too much.
I turn back to the central pillar and read the other quest available to me.
Darrick, from the temple? I’m surprised he’s still here in town. It’s strange that the level limit has such a large gap, if someone level forty nine joined I don’t know what you would do if the next five were level one. I feel a bit bad for accepting a quest at level one when the limit is that high but I don’t have the time to worry about dragging people down.
I accept the quest.
