Before Nia could answer or even think about the question, a smaller figure, clad in a black coat walked or much more stumbled out from another hiding spot some distance away from her.
[Human Lv 3]
At least the level wasn’t as weird as the first one, but she still couldn’t understand where all those people with the low levels suddenly appeared from. Though the faith of the coat wearing figure was even worse than that of the first person. If the sword girl was known by half the world, the hooded one doubled that. Yet basically all those connections were weak. Weak to a level where Nia was surprised, that they still existed in the first place. The other side must keep them alive. The only true exception was the thread of faith to the sword girl. Possibly a friend. Maybe even more. The faith between the two was complex and hard to truly understand on the first glance.
The hooded figure tugged on the armor of the girl and whispered something into her ear, before hiding behind the armed girl.
“Oh well, i guess we should introduce ourselves first. I’m Sera and this is my sister Sarah,” the sword girl then continued, not waiting for an answer to her first question.
The assassin felt like the mood of the conversation had shifted, though she couldn’t argue much, as it was her, who watched the fight while hiding. She couldn’t even use the argument that they stole her prey, as she hadn’t engaged them yet. Without leverage she could only be happy, that the situation seemed more or less under control now.
“Nia. I also hunted the three, however it seems like you got them before me… Sorry for watching you from the shadows, but it doesn’t happen every day, that a level 0 beats multiple opponents around level-“
Nia paused mid sentence.
While they were speaking normally and could understand each other, the language wasn’t one which was spoken in this world. Her first thought went to those two being reincarnated, yet then they would at least know the common language of the realms. But then she remembered the rumors about Hannibal and his sudden disappearance. What if those two were the summoned heroes or whatever the usurper tried to bring to the world? Maybe something went wrong and all the others participating in the summoning got wiped out? While it seemed unlikely, as those summoning circles were usually given out by the system, it was also the most logical conclusion to her.
It would explain why they had such weird levels, appearance and their language, how they could already fight others multiple levels above them-self, and would suggest that whatever has caused the annihilation of Hannibal wasn’t around anymore, as they didn’t seem to be in a hurry.
She still couldn’t solve the why – maybe someone tinkered with the summoning circle? – but it was the best theory she could puzzle together for the moment.
“You two aren’t from around here, are you?”
Sera and Sarah quickly looked at each other, before the former answered. “Hm… yes, you could say that… We kind of just appeared nearby in a cave. But was it that obvious? Because of our levels?”
“That too, but much more your language. By which i mean your words, and not just their meaning. Unless you are runaways from a family of reincarnators or heroes, you being from another world, would be the next best conclusion. And even a runaway would speak the common language to leave less traces.”
Nia paused again and quickly thought about how to handle the situation. Whether she got on the good side of heroes or even joined their party, it would definitely lead to a lot of opportunities as well as dangerous situations. Especially as currently a lot of powerful people were watching the world for signs of the prophecy… But leveling the normal way would be to slow for her goals and the most died somewhere along the path of ascension anyway. Now that she found a shortcut, she had to take it, if she could.
“Should i teach you the common language of the Realms?” The assassin also threw a glimpse at the corpses. “And about our customs…”
Another short look between the two girls later, Nia got her answer. “Sure. We could need some infos about this world.”
“Well then, first of all, i don’t know where you came from, but you should try not to kill people. Depending on where it happens and who sees it, it can have some pretty unpleasant consequences. Especially the Followers of Law can be a bit annoying, though luckily they rarely visit low level realms. So if you have to get rid of someone, do it in one of the wild areas. Hunting accidents happen all the time.”
She went over to the bodies. “Secondly, if you happen to find the remnants of dead people, you should take what you can. It is generally seen as the will of the dead that, once their party got wiped out, whoever finds them should take what they have and live on in their place. The armor is usually left behind, as it is rather unwieldy, even with spatial bags… You don’t have any of those yet, do you?” After a quick look to Sera, who was working on another corpse, Nia couldn’t find any of the rather inconspicuous looking leather bags on the girl. So she threw the one she just harvested together with a bland looking ring over to her. “Here. You will find better ones in higher realms or if you are willing to pay more for them, but for the moment those should do. I would also assume you don’t have any items for mental defense so take that ring for now. The other two bodies also should have those rings, so you two should both take one and put the last one away.
While a lot of people would probably miss that you don’t speak the common language once you gained some levels, not having a ring would let them ask other questions.
And before you ask, mind mages aren’t that common around here, but they appear from time to time and aside from concerts you usually don’t want to be enthralled by them.”
Her explanations were then interrupted. “Hey, would you mind signing a contract with us? It is hard for us to trust someone we just met a few minutes ago in an unknown place…” She half expected that question, after she had tossed them the bag with an empty contract in it. “Sure.” Nia actually wanted to offer them a contract herself, but it would have looked weird and probably made them suspicious… Though the two probably already were suspicious after Nia helped them, even though she was attacked by the two.
The two contracts lying before her shortly after surprised her and she had to suppress her emotions.
Sera and Sarah were better than she expected.
She had half hoped to take advantage of them or at least add some benefits for herself, when they would try to ask for too much. But their contract with a run time of 100 years and clauses like not working against each other as well as helping each other where and when possible, was almost to normal. It wasn’t bad, as similar contracts were used by guilds when they formed more permanent parties.
She would probably have to give them a lot of assistance at the beginning, but could use the rest of the contract run time to tag around with them and use their advantages to easier level. She had a feeling that there was a trap somewhere in the contracts, but even after checking both for differences, she couldn’t find anything. Without finding anything she could use against the two she finally decided to sign the contracts.
Then after the other two signed their copies the paper dissolved.
[You have entered a contract with Sera Goldschmidt]
[You have entered a contract with Sarah Goldschmidt]
“So, what are your plans now? While i would normally show you the settlement in a connected realm, with the death of it’s ruler, it’ll probably be a bit chaotic for the next few days…”
Having stripped the bodies of their valuables and signed the contracts, there was nothing they had to do here.
