Alice recoiled, unable to prevent the flash of shock from flitting across her face. She hastily glanced towards the doorway before remembering that she was the only person left in the room. Sparing a moment to let out a brief sigh of relief, Alice drew her attention back to the hovering screen again.
[Damned Children]? What the hell? The children hadn’t looked like they were damned or anything of the sort. Alice shook her head. Never mind that, why were children that couldn’t be any older than 10 years considered ‘damned’?
Unnerved, Alice slashed her hand through the screen, already turning to head through the doorway and put the weird message out of her mind–
–only, the screen didn’t disappear.
The moment Alice turned around, she spotted the screen fizzle out of existence in her peripheral. When she faced the doorway, Alice barely had time to take a step before the screen flashed to life before her again.
//New Quest received! [Save the Damned Children!]
Accept?
The bold words stood out against the light blue screen. Alice shifted her gaze to the side, sidestepping the screen and making a beeline for the doorway. She got a total of four steps before the screen appeared inches in front of her face, making her jump back. Alice rubbed her eyes, scowling.
Alice tried again and again to maneuver around the screen and enter the doorway. Every attempt was rebuked by the screen vanishing just to appear an instant later. Finally, Alice accepted defeat. Breathing heavily, she glowered spitefully at the words that were now burned into her mind.
//New Quest received! [Save the Damned Children!]
Accept?
Those cursed words…it was like they were mocking her. Alice sighed, pushing back the strands of hair that had fallen across her face. This is pointless…either I accept or I have to deal with this screen for the rest of my life.
It wasn’t like Alice didn’t want to help the children; if she believed they were in real danger, Alice would snatch them up immediately and hightail it out of the village. After all, how could she call herself someone who was going to make a difference in the world if she ignored people in need?
But a tiny voice in the back of her consciousness whispered cruel things. What if by accepting this Quest, Alice somehow pushed this ‘curse’ onto the children? By making the decision to save them, Alice was making it so they needed to be saved.
Alice still didn’t know nearly enough about these ‘Quests.’ Nowhere in Blanche’s lessons had he mentioned a Quest, and she was too nervous to bring it up. What if they didn’t exist, and by talking to Blanche about them, she exposed herself as somebody who only gained powers through the Devil? Besides, the only Quest that had popped up was one to save the world, something Alice had been planning on doing anything. She’d pushed Quests to the back of her mind, content to focus on learning more about magic and the dwarves.
But here they were, the electric screen blazing bright into her retinas.
“...fine.” Alice grumbled. “I accept.”
The screen glowed brightly for a moment before popping out of view. On cue, the mechanical voice spoke.
//You have accepted the Quest [Save the Damned Children!]
Requirements: Must rescue the children from a miserable fate and the cold embrace of death.
Reward:
* Skill Points
* Level Points
* New Skill
Alice waited until the voice died away, the echo lingering in the air. Great. How am I supposed to help them? Alice was probably going to leave the village in a couple of days at most; what could she do in that time? And Alice didn’t relish the idea of trying to interact with the children without letting Tamara figure out the truth.
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Alice hesitantly approached the doorway. On the other side, she could hear the children screeching and laughing, with the occasional shattering of glass. Alice paused right before crossing the doorway, glancing back to the door. There wasn’t anyone here to stop here; she could leave.
The mere thought triggered an instinctive response; Alice nearly gagged when she felt an invisible rope latch around her neck and tighten, cutting off her breathing. The inexplicable force began pulling her backward, seemingly uncaring of Alice slowly choking to death.
The edge of her vision turned black. E-enough! ENOUGH! I’LL DO IT!”
The rope slackened and faded away. Alice let out a series of spluttering gasps, bending over and breathing in the fresh air. With a shaking hand, she reached up to touch her neck. There weren’t any marks.
Wh…what the fuck was that?! Alice shivered. She’d been seconds away from dying, she was sure of it. Was this what happened when she went against a Quest? Alice sighed, getting her thoughts in order. It looks like the choice was out of her hands.
Alice inhaled deeply, before exhaling. This wasn’t only a Quest to determine those kid’s lives; it had become a trial for her existence as well. She gave herself a 60% chance of succeeding. Not the best odds, but not impossible by any shot. Pushing her unease down, and steeling her nerves, Alice stepped through the tassels and entered the room.
Right away, she noticed the room resembled a daycare classroom. There was an aura of warmth and friendliness in the air that was missing even from the pharmacy, aided by the countless roughly sketched drawings that were hanging on the wall. A huge carpet covered the floor where the children were tumbling around, playfully roughhousing with one another. Tamara sat in a rocking chair in front of the carpet, rifling through a sheet of paper, occasionally looking up to check on the children.
Alice stood in the opening of the room, rocking back and forth on her heels. One of the children, the same one who had interacted with her first, happened to look up at that very moment and spotted her. The moment he laid his eyes on her, a beaming smile burst open on his face and he waved her over with the over-enthusiasm only a child could summon.
Alice wavered between the morality of using her [Reveal] Skill on a child. It was a thin line, and there was a big gray zone she could fall into. It’ll be fine, right? I mean, the [Reveal] Skill only reveals their stats, not their secrets and thoughts.
The boy noticed she wasn’t moving and a tiny frown creased his lips. He turned to a girl next to him and started saying something. His friend shifted her gaze onto Alice as well.
Alice broke out into a cold sweat. Now or never! Trying to bury the feeling of shame that was burning underneath her skin, she activated her [Reveal] onto the boy.
Robert
Race: [Dwarf] (Cursed)
Class: Cursed Victim
Level: 1ihwihw9dw
Mkwdiwergy Ckwdkndre Qudjdy: iwhdi9h2992idi2di
Mawfiheifgy Cefiefheifhiefion Rfjfjte: widhifhefer
ihIDHIAHDIW: wud9w8wdg29
1302=_)9238823
92-294823==2130=1
-2949-29=30-20–12084
02i102840418
The mechanical voice went on the fritz, suddenly spouting nonsense midway through the stats. Alice’s eyes widened and she stepped back, trying to comprehend this new revelation. What was this?!
She stared intensely at Robert, who tilted his head in confusion at her actions but she was solely focused on getting a more concrete reading. Preparing her mind, Alice activated [Reveal] again.
//Warning. Corruption detected. Target of Skill [Reveal] is a Victim of [Araga’s Curse]. Unable to be registered on System. Determined to be a virus.
Alice didn’t know what to think. Virus? Corruption? Araga’s Curse…’Araga’ sounded familiar. Just where had she heard it before?
Her previous apprehension at using the Skill forgotten, Alice initiated [Reveal] on all the children. The results were the same; the stats started out comprehensible before dissolving into a jumbled mess of numbers and letters, like the System itself couldn’t keep up with the children.
All of a sudden, Alice felt unbalanced, like she was on a tight rope strung over a chasm. A single slip and she would fall into the ravenous spikes jutting out below. Alice was way out of her league.
Alice revised her chances of succeeding in this Quest from 60% to 10%.