Dere quickly realised that the girl in front of her didn’t speak the same language as her. She slowly began to crouch, if she couldn’t tell the girl she meant her no harm then, she would have to show her.
She left her knife on the floor and began getting up again. She then kicked the knife to her right and began slowly walking towards the girl. “Don’t worry, I don’t want to hurt you.” She said with a soft tone.
Once she was face to face with Liz, Dere crouched and extended her right hand towards Liz. “Come, I’ll bring you to the village, out of the forest.” Liz stared at her hand evaluating her options.
“Return.” 7 needles came flying from the entrance and stabbed Dere in the back. Her face showed nothing but confusion, but before she could understand what was happening, Liz’s lips opened again. “Liberate.”
Liz’s mind returned to reality, in front of her, Dere was still extending her open hand towards her. It would be so easy, but... I don't want to kill her... She thought, and grabbed the hand before her.
Killing her would be the safest option, I don’t know what she wants to do with me after all. She thought as her and Dere silently walked out of the chamber. But she might be useful, and this form is perfect to interact with humans…
Both girls wandered out of the cave as the sun began to hide behind the horizon. Quietly the two girls ventured in the forest that separated them from the safety of the village. Why does this girl not hide her mana, is she trying to get us both killed!?
Liz was extremely uncomfortable, she felt as if she was standing right next to a beacon with a flag that said: Free XP. On the other hand, Dere was also uncomfortable, she felt the presence of some monsters nearby, and she wasn’t sure of her ability to fight while she protected Liz.
The last thing I want is a long fight that attracts more and more attention. Dere thought as she inspected her surroundings, she was using both her Dangersense and her Hide presence to traverse the forest as safely as possible.
Now that I think of it, this girl is supposed to be a mage, but I can’t feel the slightest bit of mana coming from her… While she was thinking that, she realised the dirt in front of her had some bones and ragged clothes scattered around.
“Oh…” She felt a tear running from her eye as she saw a beautiful pendant with a bird engraved on it. “I guess she was really dead…” She had already made up her mind, it was the most probable outcome after all.
“But it doesn’t hurt any less.” She said as she grabbed the pendant and continued walking towards the village, hopefully, they would have a different destiny.
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It took them a couple more hours to exit the forest, and the sun was almost completely hidden behind the tall trees. In front of Liz, a scene she could have never imagined was presented to her.
As soon as the forest ended, a great extension of rocks, sand and dunes began. There, surrounded by rocky formations, a village was emerging from the sand.
The houses were built over thick tree trunks that were buried deep in the sand. Some of the houses were half sunken inside the sand, and only a wooden bridge connected the village with the rocky formations that surrounded it.
Dere and Liz entered the village and walked through the wooden streets, they were slightly higher than the sand, so they had to be attached to the houses or some pillars.
Three men came running their way, the shortest had hazel hair and green eyes, he was rather cute, at least for Liz’s standards. He is quite similar to Festo… I hope he isn’t as annoying as him. Liz remembered the kid that once made her favourite dress.
Another of the men was quite tall, he wore a blue cristal monocle on his right eye, and a white coat with some big pockets. He asked Dere a question, and once she answered, he turned towards Liz.
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Dere saw Gale, Iso and Cole, the village guildmaster, running towards them. She was happy to be received by them, especially when she had just rescued a lost child from the forest.
“Dere, who is this girl?” Cole asked her.
“How are you Cole, I’m fine, thank you for asking…” She started. “She is a girl I found in the forest, she doesn't speak common language.”
Cole then turned towards Liz and activated one of his skills. “Language comprehension.”
“Do you understand me now, little girl?” Cole asked.
“gniyas uoy era tahW.” Liz answered.
“Huh?” Cole was extremely confused, language comprehension allowed him to understand any language of this world, but he still couldn’t communicate with the girl.
“You can’t understand her?” Iso asked Cole.
“No, and that's extremely weird, I got this skill thanks to the goddess blessing after all…” Cole answered.
“If you can’t understand what she says, then how are we going to ask her who her parents are?” Dere asked.
“The thing is, we haven’t lost a child since more than a year ago, so I don’t think she is from our village.” Cole explained as he turned around. “For now, let's go inside the guild before the tide is at its highest.”
The group walked a bit more until they reached a big building, it was much larger than the rest, and its foundations were made of big rock chunks, granting it much more stability than the rest.
Before they could enter, Gale left for his home with Katniss’ pendant in his hands. He thanked Dere in tears for doing something he wasn’t able to do, and at least saving something to put in her grave.
Iso, Cole, Dere and Liz sat around a wooden table inside the building, which served as a tavern, an inn and the guild’s headquarters. “So you're telling me that you were chasing a weird black monster and you found a little girl inside the ancient ruins of a cave?” Cole asked Dere.
“Well if you phrase it like that…” Dere began.
“Have you eaten the blue mushrooms that grow next to the lake???” Cole asked.
“How rude, I wasn’t drugged!” She yelled.
“Please both of you calm down, whatever has happened doesn't matter, the reality is that we have a lost child that can’t speak with us and we need to decide what to do with her.” Iso said.
“What do you mean what we do with her, we are adopting her of course.” Dere said, as if it was the obvious thing to do.
“Huh?” Iso would have sworn that he heard wrong if Dere hadn’t grabbed the girl from her armpits and began to walk towards their bedroom on the second floor.
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At this point Liz just let herself go with the flow, so when the pick haired girl grabbed her and began to walk away, she just accepted it. I should have killed you when I had a chance. She could probably still kill her if she wanted, there was just a tiny problem.
Hunter —> Lvl 62
She remembered the man that was with them some minutes ago, he was almost 50 levels ahead of her, she stood no chance, and she knew it.
Dere brought Liz to her bedroom, it was a rather small room that only had space for a double bed, a wardrobe and a full size mirror. “Now that I think of it, how are we supposed to sleep the three of us in only one bed!?”
“Well, I’ll think of that after a shower.” She said as she opened the other door of the bedroom, and a hot cloud of steam popped right out. “Come little girl, let's have you cleaned up.”
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Liz was alone in the steamy bathroom, she could feel mana coming from some blue and red stones in the bathtub.
“That girl brought me here and then said something and rushed away…” Liz recalled the scene that happened some seconds ago. “I guess she wants me to bath myself…”
She undressed herself and stepped inside the bathtub. She could feel the heat coming from the red stones, and notice how the water level was just enough to cover the blue ones. “Honestly, this system is quite rudimentary, but that doesn't mean it isn’t clever…”
She laid on her back and let the hot water cover most of her body, relaxing her. “How much time has it been since I took a bath…” She muttered, remembering the long baths she used to take back at the “timeless palace”.
She felt her consciousness fading away as she kept relaxing in the hot water, ready to go to sleep at any moment.
Little girl, I’m entering
Someone knocked at the door. “gniretne m’I ,lrig elttiL” Dere’s voice could be heard from the other side of the door.
Whatever… Liz thought. She was almost asleep anyways, then, an alarm screamed in her mind. I’m not human down there!!!
She rapidly sat down and hid most of her body behind the bathtub, then, the door opened.
Liz frantically gesticulated to make Dere go away, she completely forgot about a crucial flaw in her disguise.
“Lrig elttil gnorw s’tahw.” Dere ignored her attempts to prevent her from getting closer and kept walking towards her.
“toidi” Iso entered the bathroom covering his eyes with his left hand and grabbed Dere by her ear, then he pulled her out of the room and closed the door behind her.
Liz didn’t fully understand what had just happened, but based on the angry voice she could hear from the other side of the door, the boy seemed to be scolding the girl.
“I’m safe…” She said as she dispeled the mana dagger she had just created.