Book 3. Chapter 6
“Leveling up Tsuki, Katia, and the girls.”
So that was why the system allowed me to modify Caranthir’s contract! That was the first thought that crossed her mind when she read Hanna’s message, but almost immediately a wave of fear swept over her as she realized that if she made a mistake, no matter how small, it would give the queen total freedom to modify the contract between them.
Shit, I’d better make sure I keep her satisfied... or I might die! She panicked.
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Are you out of your mind? She was able to stop time even though I was in a different dimension from her! Did you miss that detail? Don’t you remember when I almost died a few months ago and you did nothing to help me? She growled, annoyed at her crazy quip.
<<...>>
Suddenly, a purple notification window appeared before her.
[Champion is everything all right?]
“Yes, of course!” She hastened to reply, putting on her best customer service smile. I’ll organize the food and send it to you in a few minutes.
[I’ll be waiting!]
Despite not being able to see her, Kalysto could swear she felt the fairy’s joy and anticipation for the food. So she hurried to take out the pot she had just received and pulled out a wooden spoon that Alynn had given her with her last meal, summoned water and rinsed them, then walked over to the stone where Katia was sitting, but as she did so she could once again observe the same three strands of smoke, like campfires, that she had seen a few hours ago when she had returned to Earth.
But now that she was not so tired, starving, and surprised by her return, she could feel a strange energy coming from there and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
A bad feeling settled in her stomach.
I’d better go investigate this as soon as possible. She thought, and although she had no solid proof, she had a suspicion that those who made those bonfires deep in the forest were part of the group of goblins and orcs she faced when the portal appeared. Surely those who traveled with me to Elinor were not the only ones to come here that day.
In fact, she had been surprised to realize that the city was not as destroyed as she had feared, which made her suspect that, unlike the monsters she had seen destroying the elven city, they had other plans.
And it had been precisely that which had made her choose this place instead of going to help the military and the other hunters destroy the new portal.
Besides, this particular group seemed too organized... what are they planning... why didn’t they continue hunting humans...? If they’re setting up campfires, that means they’re creating a settlement, right? Are they planning to stay and live here?
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Fear settled in the saintess’s stomach at the sight.
Who the hell are you talking about? She she questioned, but no one answered her.
Frightened at the possibility of losing control of her body again being so close to Katia and her friends who were about to arrive, she scolded herself.
Come on, Kalysto focus! It’s not the best time to focus on nonsense! But deep down, she feared this was related to the giant eye they had found on the final floor of the tower.
A pair of notification windows, one blue and one violet, appeared to her left at the same time as the familiar coldness covered her from head to toe.
[The ability Mental Defense has been activated.]
The smoke disappeared completely and again silence reigned in her mind as she concentrated on normalizing her agitated breathing. It almost seemed as if she had just run a marathon instead of standing holding a simple pot.
“Is everything all right, Mrs. Kalysto?” commented Katia with concern to see her in that state while she struggled to materialize her first arrow and beads of sweat decorated the foreheads of both of them.
“Don’t worry, everything is fine," she tried to reassure her and controlled the expression on her face so that the girl would not notice anything strange as she stood in front of the stone. “You continue with what you are doing,” she answered with a smile. However, she frowned when she saw that in spite of everything she herself had done in the last minutes, the sweet Katia was still struggling with the materialization of her first arrow.
Kalysto opened her mouth to ask her about it, but suddenly, a new idea crossed her mind.
Maybe not having magic makes it harder for the rest of the classes to learn how to manage the little mana they have. So she left it alone so she could concentrate, instead, she put the pot near where Katía was sitting and took out the bowl filled with mashed potatoes and poured some into the pot, then added a fried chicken thigh and left the spoon buried in the mashed potatoes.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
As soon as she had everything ready, she added the modification to the contract without any problems and put the pot inside the notification window.
“I could do it!” Katia shouted excitedly with a huge smile on her face, immediately pulling out the first arrow she materialized to show her. “Look Mrs. Kalysto, my first arrow!”
“Congratulations, you did a good job!” she congratulated her, caressing the little girl’s soft blonde hair. “Here is the other gift I told you about,” she added, taking out the bow the elves had given her. “Duplication!” she said, handing Katia the copy, and keeping the original in her purple inventory. However, the archer refused to receive it.
Are you sure it’s okay to give me so many things? You’ve already helped me more than enough," she muttered, ducking her head.
“Katia, look at me," answered Kalysto, kneeling down in front of the young woman. “Things here on Earth have changed. Monsters attack the cities and few humans have awakened a system, yet the weapons of our world cannot harm them as their skin is too tough and conventional weapons have no mana. However Elinor’s weapons do, so this could save your life. Do you understand what I mean?” Katia nodded her head and received the bow shyly.
“Thank you... although I don’t have the means to repay you.”
“I’m happy to help you," she replied. “Now, keep practicing while my friends arrive. “By the way, I’m going to need you to promise me to keep secret everything you’ve seen me do or say and to give me permission to update the previous contract we had made.” Katia’s face lost all the color it had.
“I really tried to leave the capital as you asked me to, but my mother refused to do it! She said she didn’t intend to leave her new boyfriend and that I could go alone if I wanted to! But then...” her voice trailed off and the girl again hung her head as she clenched her fists. And Kalysto became alarmed.
“And then what happened?” she insisted. If that guy dared to do anything to her, I’ll come back and hunt him down!
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Are you talking to me now? She reproached her, but no one answered her.
“I... I left the capital for a mission. I was supposed to pick up some plants and take them to another town... but then my mom’s boyfriend caught me. He sold us as slaves... apparently my mom told him that we came from another world and he decided that he would get very good money for selling two heroes with a system.”
“Goddamn piece of shit!” groaned the saintess angrily.
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“Mrs...Mrs. Kalysto...? Your eyes changed color again..." Katia was startled and Kalysto immediately took a step back, closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.
“Don’t worry, sometimes I lose control of my magic," she excused herself. “Just give me a few minutes and everything will be back to normal, okay?” Katia nodded her head, but less than a minute later, when Kalysto opened her eyes again, she saw her biting her lip.
“What’s wrong? Do you think I’m going to hurt you?”
“No, of course not! .... What happened is that... I was wondering if among the people you released... you happened to see my mom while we were escaping from the castle.”
“I’m sorry Katia. While escaping, we had to split up. There were guards everywhere defending the city from an enemy attack, so I have no idea where the others are.” Seeing the sadness in the girl’s eyes, she hastened to add. “I saw that one of the other heroes was with the people in the temple. It is likely that other heroes are also with them.”
“...” Katia’s face lit up again with some hope and Kalysto did not find in herself the will to extinguish it. “Do you really believe that she is safe?”
Bad herb never dies!. At Thought the saintess, but before she could answer, Katia spoke, at the same time a violet window appeared to her left.
[Champion, this food is delicious! Right now I don’t have many things in my inventory so I don’t have much I can offer you, but is there anything I can do for you so in exchange you can give me more food like this?]
“That’s good. The people of the temple are a thousand times better than the king and his guards! At least this way my mom will have a good chance of surviving!” Kalysto gave her a smile full of politeness, not wanting to kill the little girl’s hopes as she doubted her mother was alive and with dissimulation closed the window of the conversation with Hanna. Instead, she opened the contract with Katia and erased everything that had gone before, noting that Katia had indeed registered as an adventurer, as they had agreed. This time, she simply made it a condition that Katia had to keep her secrets.
“What level are you?” she asked her, and the little girl was surprised by the sudden change of subject.
“I’m barely level five," she answered, embarrassment decorating her face as she ducked her head.
“Okay, I’ll try to help you get to level ten or higher before you meet your father, okay?”
“Thank you!” She perked up again. “If I get stronger, I can protect him from the monsters!”
“That’s the attitude,” Kalysto congratulated her. “Now I need you to pay close attention. I’m going on a trip in a few weeks, so we don’t have much time.”
“You’re going on a trip?” she asked sadly. And Kalysto nodded.
“With this new contract, whenever I’m around I can find you and come visit you," that seemed to cheer her up, “but I need you to keep my secrets. You can tell your dad that I helped you escape, but you can’t tell anyone what my skills are, okay?” Katia nodded her head. “If they ask you, just tell them I’m some kind of mage, but that’s all. You can’t tell them what you’ve seen me do. Just talk about general things like how I helped you escape and came to your rescue, or you could put me in danger,” that seemed to scare her. “There are a lot of malicious people out there and you don’t know who might be listening or who your father might tell what you tell him about me, okay?”
“I’ll be very careful! I don’t want something bad to happen to you because of me!” Katia assured her and the saintess sensed her sincerity. Still within the contract, she stipulated that if she was about to reveal information about her by mistake, that she would fall asleep immediately or lose consciousness if she did it intentionally. Hoping that with that Katia would not be in danger, and neither would she.
Anyone could try to kidnap me if they found out I could duplicate weapons! She worried.
“I thank you. In return, I’ll give you this bottle of holy water. Use it only in case of emergencies, okay? This could mean the difference between life and death! It can even heal broken bones! But remember that you can’t take more than three drinks every ten minutes! That’s important!” Katia nodded her head at everything she said, unable to believe that she was being given something so important just to keep a secret, and immediately accepted the contract.
“Are you sure that it is enough for me to keep your secrets in exchange for giving me such valuable things? I heard from the guards that something like this was precious and very hard to get.”
“Not just anyone can get it, that’s why you shouldn’t tell anyone you have it or they might hurt you to take it away. It is better to put it inside the inside pocket of your jacket. It will be uncomfortable, but it will be the safest thing to do at the moment.”
“Okay," she said after doing as she was told and zipping up her jacket, closing it to avoid accidentally dropping the bottle.
“Kalysto, watch out!”