> Quote:There were about 2 weeks left until the seconds sun disappears, and Paul was ready. On the other hand Rocka was starting to worry that the advent might not appear and he would lose the bet. He started to plan something in case he loses. Paul didn’t know, and kept on sleeping.
Paul got up and feeling still a bit mentally tired from everything that happened to him in the last period and decided to take a break and relax for a while. He headed out to check the marketplace, looking around to buy things that might seem useful. He found some things but they were too expensive for him. He went to the inn ate and drank a bit and just walked around all day. Then the night came and Paul went to sleep. He spent the next one and a half week like this. He didn’t really talk to Nori only a few times since she was busy.
Finally the day arrived in which the second sun didn’t appear. Paul already got used to seeing two suns and now was a little weird. He finally could leave the village since the soldiers opened the gates. He decided to spend another day in the village before setting out, since he needed a few more things to prepare and also he needed to talk to Nori.
Paul headed to the brothel to find Nori but she was not there. It seems that her friend returned and resumed her job. After leaving the brothel he heard some say
-“Stop!”
Paul looked around suddenly he was surrounded by soldiers.
-“Are you the one they call Paul Silver?”
-“Who’s asking?”
-“I am! Now are you him or not!?”
-“Yes, yes I am”
Paul decided to be honest since lying could get him in trouble later.
-“Come with us quietly, or we will use force to restrain you”
-“I understand…don’t need to worry. Can you tell me why am I being detained first?”
-“We were just told to find you and bring you to the captain”
Paul was finally knew who was behind all this. The captain.
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The soldiers escorted him to the captain. Paul went willingly. When they reached the small camp the captain was sitting on a chair smirking.Paul felt that something was wrong. Then suddenly he yelled “Search him!” The soldiers held him down while another one searched him. Suddenly a pouch was handed to Rocka. A pouch Paul never saw before. Suddenly Rocka spoke
-“I knew it! You stole this gold from me!”
-“What?! I didn’t steal anything.”
-“Shut it! You are just a thieving worm! Arrest him and lock him in the prison”
-“Wait!!!”
-“What?!”
-“How can you prove that I stole the pouch from you?”
-“It was found in your possession! That means that you stole it!”
Paul now was starting to panic. He didn’t know what to do. Then he had an idea.
-“If that pouch is your I assume you can prove it?”
-“Of course I can. Look, on the pouch there is a sigil. That sigil proves that this is mine.”
-“But that sigil isn’t on anything else you own?”
-“This sigil is made by the crafter as a mark of his work.”
-“If a crafter made it, doesn’t that mean that there may be more pouches with the same sigil?”
-“Only someone who was in the capital can have a pouch like this. The crafter only makes 5 every year and are very expensive.”
-“How do you know I didn’t buy one?”
-“You are too weak and poor to go to the capital and buy one yourself”
Paul didn’t know what to do to get himself out of this bind then he remembered. He saw that sigil before. It was on the pouch of the body that he found before arriving in to the village. Then he had an idea.
-“I can prove that, the pouch you are holding is mine”
-“Really? Then prove it “
-“I would like some witnesses first, from the village”
-“Why? Doesn’t matter, I will bring you to the village center and I will explain everything”
They took Paul to the village center where Rocka started explaining that Paul stole his pouch of gold, the proof that the pouch is not his is the sigil on it, and where it’s from, and then Paul claimed that the pouch it’s his and he can prove it. After the crowd went silent Rocka looked at Paul and said
-“Well then, I’m waiting. Prove that this pouch is yours”
-“Well first of all the sigil is mine, and not some crafters from the capital.”
-“Are you calling me a liar?!?! If so you need to prove it or else I will kill you for slander!”
-“Of course I can prove it.”
Paul reached into his clothes like he was searching for something and then used the ring to put the pouch into his hand. For everyone looking it looked like Paul reached into his clothes and pulled out a pouch.
-“Look… this pouch has the same sigil. I made this in case I lost the other one. See? This is exactly the same as the pouch the captain Is holding.”
-“Wha, what? That’s not possible! From where did you get that pouch!? When the soldiers searched you they didn’t found a another pouch on you!”
-“They didn’t search good enough. Now…would you please return the pouch to me?”
Paul smirked at Rocka and the villagers started to side with Paul. The started calling Rocka a liar and to give Paul the pouch back.
Rocka was now angry. He was tricked by Paul, and now in front of the villagers he couldn’t just kill him without a good reason. He had to give up for now.
He gave Paul the pouch and whispered in his ear. “This isn’t over”
The soliders and Rocka left and Paul was happy that he earned some gold. As soon as he was alone he absorbed the pouch and saw that in the pouch there were over 300 gold coins.A small fortune. He finally could buy some better stuff than the one he has.
He headed to the market place and sold all his tools. He bought better ones since he had money now. He also bought some bandages and medicine. He then bought 50 arrows since he had a bow but no arrows. He didn’t need a quiver since he could store the arrows in the ring and get them out faster than he could from a quiver. He also bought ingredients to cook and already cooked food. Now he had everything he needed and all he had left to do in the village was talk to Nori. He searched for her for about 3 hours before he found her. She was surrounded by 5 girls. Paul approached them and Nori seeing him coming smiled.
-“I heard what you did with the captain”
-“Well he still holds a grudge”
-“I heard. Be careful since the captain is still around the village. He might be planning an ambush or something.”
-“I will be careful”
-“So have you decided if you will join me to the capital? I could use you company.”
-“I’m sorry I decided that for now I won’t go to the capital. I will travel and see the world”
-“Well if you ever need me just contact me since we are friends”
-“I will. By the way do you have any suggestions on where should I head next?”
-“Depends on where you want to go. To the north there are mountains, to the south is the desert, to the west and east there are forests, but to the east there are many rivers. I’m headed east to the capital”
-“I see…Before you go I have a present for you”
-“Really? A present?”
Nori started to be exited. If she had a tail you could see it wiggle. Paul put his hand into the bag and got out a silver bracelet. He handed the bracelet to her. Nori blushed and happily put on the bracelet. She then gave Paul a hug and kissed him on the cheek. Paul blushed as well and after she released him he cleared his throat.
-“ That bracelet is a bit special. It has a secret compartment that has a pair of lock picking tools. I hope it will be useful”
-“Really? Oh! Wow! Where did you buy it from?”
-“From the market I bought the bracelet and tools, but I made the secret compartment myself.”
-“You are quite skilled. Thank you for the gift, I will use it well”
-“Well then, see you soon.”
-“Yes….soon”
She was called by her companions who were ready to leave. She took 5 steps towards them and then turned around and gave Paul another hug. This one lasted 3 minutes longer and then she ran to her party and they left the village. Paul was happy he made such a good friend in this world and decided to leave as well. He decided and headed west. After 5 minutes of walking he saw that some soldiers were running towards him from the village.
He knew that they were hostile towards him and he ran to the west towards the forest. He could lose them more easily there. After running as fast as he could the soldiers were way behind him and he almost reached the forest edge. After reaching the forest edge he headed more into the forest and then climbed up on a tree and hid. The soldiers soon arrived searching for him. They were about 20 of them. They searched for Paul for a few hours before giving up and heading back to the village. As they headed back he could hear them saying “The captain will not be happy that we lost him”.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Paul knew that Rocka was still after him but he decided to avoid conflict since he would definitely lose, Rocka being an A rank and him a G rank. He then took his armor out of the ring and daggers. He equipped them. The armor looked quite nice, a combination of black and grey. At the chest he also put two sheaths for his daggers. At his neck there was a bit of black fur making his white hair even more visible.
Not knowing what might attack him he held the daggers in his hands and jumped down from the tree and headed further into the forest. The deeper he went into the forest the darker it got. He felt more comfortable than he thought he would in the wild. Suddenly he spotter some wolves. He decided he needed to train in actual combat so he didn’t use his bow to attack from a distance.
As soon as he took another step the wolves spotted him and they let out killing intent. Paul also let out killing intent and seeing the wolves hesitate he decided to attack first. He killed one of the wolves in one strike by stabbing it in the neck. As soon as he did two other wolves jumped to attack. Using his flexibility and speed he didn’t get hit and actually managed to kill another one. Just as the wolf fell to the ground the last one let out a lout howl that surprised Paul. Feeling that it was a bad idea to let him howl Paul cut his vocal cords with his dagger, but it was too late. He heard all around him multiple howls. Lots of them.
He prepared for an attack but nothing came. Paul was still tense and after 5 minutes on nothing attacking him he knew something was very wrong and prepared himself activating all his skills that could be useful. Suddenly using perception to the limit he found out that he was surrounded by wolves. They all just stared at Paul. Then from the back a huge wolf came. The Alpha of the pack. It was double almost triple the size of the regular wolves. It let out a howl so strong that Paul was frozen in place. Then The wolves started attacking. Paul used everything he had to not get killed and killed wolf after wolf. He was constantly moving, touching the ground only for a fraction of a second before changing direction and attacking another wolf. Some of them were stronger and didn’t die from one hit. The Alpha was still looking at Paul while the other wolves kept dying in front of him. He didn’t even flinch. After fighting for what seemed like an eternity with his nerves constantly on the edge the wolves stopped. They were afraid of dying.
The Alpha got up and killed them all in a flash. Paul was surprised how fast it could move, considering its large size .After that it looked at Paul. Paul tensed up looking the Alpha in the eyes. Then they moved. In a flash Paul lost one of his daggers while successfully stabbing the Alpha in the back. They kept attacking each other but they were evenly matched. They only succeeded scratching each other. Paul somehow picked up the other dagger and now he was ready to launch an all out attack. He moved faster than he though he could and it still wasn’t enough. This time he lost both daggers and he was unarmed. The wolf got seriously injured while disarming Paul but it still had its claws and teeth. Paul was now in serious danger. The Alpha noticing that he was unarmed jumped with his teeth to bite Paul but at the last second he used the ring and brought forth in his hands two arrows. He used one of them to stab the Alpha in the eye and the other to stab it in its mouth. Although Paul was now with his hand stuck in the Alpha's mouth the Alpha died the moment it bit down Paul’s hand. The arrow penetrated his brain killing it on the spot.
Paul now was lying on his back laughing. He survived. He almost lost his arm but survived. He used some bandages he had and bandaged himself up and then looked around. It was like a battleground. The bodies of the wolves were everywhere. For a few meters around the ground was red, from all the blood and a metallic smell lingered in the air. He picked up the daggers and then went to every wolf, absorbed the guild points then absorbed the body’s in the ring. After finishing he realized that this was their den. He didn’t find any baby wolves though. He then hurried away from that place since it might attract other creatures and Paul wasn’t in a condition to fight. After a few minutes of running through the forest he climbed the biggest tree he could find to rest.
He tried using mana to heal himself. He focused on the wounds and tried pouring mana into them. The wounds started to heal. He was pleasantly surprised. He then looked at his updates while eating a bit to recover.
Stats updateBecause of your actions since the last time you checked you increased your following stats:
+50 agility points
+40 strength
+60 endurance points
+30 stamina points
+10 luck
+100 Fighting Spirit
+200 Fame
He then checked his skills
-
SkillsHumble Mask-Aura shiftIntermediary LVL.3 (99%)Memos-IdentificationIntermediary LVL.5 (12%)Mana sightBeginner LVL.7 (20%)Creature tamerBeginner LVL.7 (0%)PerceptionIntermediary LVL.3 (99%)ParkourIntermediary LVL.2 (99%)NaturasBeginner LVL.3 (21%)DetectiveBeginner LVL.6 (73%)DeceptionBeginner LVL.6 (23%)StealthIntermediary LVL.1 (41%)ListeningIntermediary LVL.3 (99%)Iron WillIntermediary LVL.9 (99%)InsightBeginner LVL.9 (86%)Dual Wielding DaggersIntermediary LVL.1 (29%)Survivalist-CraftingBeginner LVL.8(20%)ArcheryBeginner LVL.5(90%)BookwormIntermediary LVL.1(25%)
He realized that his bow was useless in close combat and he needed to find a solution. After healing he headed deeper into the forest. This time he was more careful and after a few hours of fighting a few horned pigs, wolves and something that looked like a goblin on the way he stopped. He looked careful in front of him and there were some ruins of a house or something. They were all covered in moss and they were almost invisible. Paul before approaching looked around to see if there are any possible enemies. There were none, which was a bit suspicious. As he approached the ruins he started to feel sick. The closer he got the worse he felt.
And then it suddenly stopped as soon as Paul put his foot inside the ruins. He thought that must have been some sort of magic and that’s why creatures don’t come near this place. He started to look around since there might be something interesting, after all such a spell must protect something.
The ruins were like a huge house. They were covered in moss and some trees even became part of it. It became one with nature. He decided to make camp here, prepare and spend some time here exploring the ruins and the surroundings.
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