Chapter 3

  When I finally came to, I found myself by the fire with the blond woman sitting by my side. It took me a full second for my mind to catch up before I sat up with a jolt only to wince in anticipation of the pain I was bound to feel from the wound on my side.

  When the pain didn’t arrive, I looked down in confusion, only to find the injury gone. The only evidence of it ever existing is the blood still staining my shirt.

  “Who are you?” Was all I managed to ask as I tried to remember how I got here.

  “That is what we wanted to ask you,” Replied the knight in silver armor.

  “You were sneaking around our camp with a dagger before attacking Darran.” He said pointing to his left where a man clad in black was sitting, his presence so subdued that I didn’t notice him until the knight pointed him out.

  Dawm, I didn’t think they had two lockouts for such a small party. But then again, this knight guy doesn’t seem simple.

  “I didn’t know if you were going to attack me, so I didn’t want to get too close. Without being sure.” I replied, trying to look and sound as weak and none threatening as possible. Something that wasn’t too hard considering my terrible level and child trait status.

  “Why would we attack you?” Ask the blond woman, her motherly voice filled with sympathy.

  I almost grinned at her for taking the bait before lowering my posture to look sad and deflated.

  “My village was attacked last night and they killed everyone. I’ve been running all day.” I used my best puppy dog eyes to seem as pitiable as possible as the four people stared at me from around the campfire.

  Night had fallen so the low glow of the fire was all that illuminated the scene and helped to augment my sad and pitiable expression.

  “Who was it that attacked your village?” Asked the knight, his face betraying a hint of anger.

  “I don’t know who they were, they had grey skin with long pointy ears, and some of them were riding white stags. They attacked in the middle of the night and burnt down the village.”

  I made my body shiver and my voice lightly quiver as I recounted the tail. I may have only recently obtained this body, but my command and control over it allowed me to perfectly imitate the behavior of a scared kid reliving his worst memories.

  In fact, my performance seemed to be so good that even the system seemed to applaud my performance.

  Congratulations! New Skill [Deception] obtained

  Deception - lvl 0 > Deception - lvl 1

  After relaying my story, I noticed the knight glance over to the middle-aged mage before relaxing his posture.

  “I’m sorry to hear about your village kid. It seems that the Gayan Elves have upped their efforts if their now attacking settlements.

  Listen, kid, we can send word of this attack to the lord of Mercilia, but it will take at least two weeks for any help to get here. In the meantime, you need to make your way south to Mercilia and hopefully meet up with any reinforcement they will deploy.”

  I looked around at his party members as he spoke. They all seemed to be around level thirty except for the mage in brown robes who seems to be the strongest here. I planned to gather information from them, but I was also curious about where they were going. They clearly had a plan and they didn’t seem to be just hunting mana beast for experience either.

  It might actually be a good idea to stick around and see what they can do. The mage looked decently powerful and could probably give me a bunch of information. I don’t know how long it has been so the standard of magic might have changed.

  But before I could open my mouth to refuse his suggestion of journeying south, the blond healer spoke up in my stead.

  “Don’t be silly, Wilham. You can’t send him away on his own, he just lost his entire village. No, he will come with us.” She declared in a voice that left no room for negotiation.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Kate, I don’t like having to do this either but we both know he can’t come with us. It will be too dangerous and we might encounter the Gayans.”

  “Precisely, they already attacked him once, who's to say they won’t come back? He would be much safer staying with us. Besides, I can protect him in these forests. Then we can escort him back to Mercilia and guarantee his safety.” She argued with the knight.

  “I agree, he may be classless but he isn’t defenseless. I think he might have mana reinforcement based on how he moved.” Added the black figure in a gravelly sitting on a log next to the knight.

  All eyes turned to him as he spoke, shock clear in their eyes. He must not speak much.

  Then those same eyes turned to me with the same expression.

  Or maybe using mana to boost one’s body isn’t common for level-four brats?

  I noticed the mage's eyes shine particularly bright as he stood up and walked over to me.

  “Is that true boy? Do you really have a mana skill at your age?” He asked, his eyes revealing a spark of madness.

  Oh boy, this guy’s an obsessive. I guess I can work with that.

  “Yeah, I have a mana manipulation skill,” I answer as if that was perfectly normal.

  “HOW! Your but a child. What is our level?.” He demanded.

  “I’m level 4.”

  “Are you some hidden noble? Show me your magic right now.” He said, his mouth practically throthing as he spoke.

  “Hey, calm down old man. You're going to scare the kid.” Said the knight, putting himself between me and the robed mage.

  “I may be classless, but I can fight. I can boost my body with mana and even use basic spells. I won’t hold you back.” I said, using my new [Deception] skill to seem like a motivated young man proving his worth.

  I saw the approving smirk on the healer's face at my announcement and even the mage smiled wildly.

  “Yes, the boy has talent, not even the nobles of magic families show such potential at such a young age. If he can already use mana manipulation at level 4 then he needs to be nurtured and guided. I might even make him my apprentice when he becomes a first-tier. We cannot send him back to Mercilia to be picked up by some backwater nobodies.” Said the mage, visibly excited at the prospect of being able to mentor a mage hopeful.

  “What's all the ruckus?” Asked a voice coming from behind them.

  The red-haired archer that was keeping watch strolled up with her bow in hand and her gaze fixed on me.

  “Mary, this will be the newest member of our team for the rest of our trip through the borderlands.” He looked over to me with a confused look and I soon picked up on his query.

  “Hi, my name is Lukas. It’s nice to meet you.” I said, once again pushing [Deception] to the limit to make myself seem friendly and grateful.

  She scowled at me before raising an eyebrow at the knight.

  “So we recruiting half-demon spies now?”

  Her words froze the air like ice. I felt the eyes bore into me and I couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. These people could crush me like a bug and the was nothing I could do about it. Hell, I was only alive right now because that Darran guy decided only to knock me out.

  “I’m not a demon,” I said as I looked at her with confusion, my face a mask of absolute innocence.

  [Deception lvl 1] > [Deception lvl 2]

  “You have the eyes of a demon.” She replied, her voice dripping with disgust.

  This was an important piece of information. This world must have interacted with demons and were clearly not on friendly terms. The only question is how hostile they are toward demon halfbreeds?

  Despite myself, I felt a cold sweat on my back as the level thirty-something woman stared at me with murderous eyes.

  “He isn’t a demon. I inspected his body, he is human.” Said the blond healer, once again stepping up for me.

  I felt the archer's gaze relax before she turned away.

  “Whatever, just don’t expect me to babysit some brat. We’re on a mission.” She grumbled walking away.

  I was glad that I didn’t reveal my demon ancestry, but also curious as to how I possessed the demon eyes trait despite still being human. I’m curious as to the origins of my new body. What kind of blood now flows in my veins?

  I spent the rest of the night lightly talking with the rest of the group and trying to gain more information. According to the friendly healer, they are here on a mission by the Duke of the region to investigate any possible natural treasures or mana springs in the deeper parts of the borderlands.

  I didn’t ask too much since I didn’t want them to get suspicious, but they told me that they would be traveling for at least the next two weeks.

  Gerald the magic user was very talkative and wanted me to show him how I use mana right then and there, but Wilham the knight told him to lay off and to inspect my abilities in the morning.

  I lost sight of Darran once again and couldn’t find him for the rest of the night. The archer went to sleep as far away from me as she could while the blond healer seemed to act like she was my dawm mother. She seemed to have a warm heart but I was beginning to feel that she had a few issues.

  We all slept around the fire with them changing guards every few hours.

  The night was cold and my weak body hurt lying on the rough ground, but none of the higher leveled party had such issues.

  When the sun came up, they were all awake and packing. I had forgotten what it was like to require sleep and to have such low energy reserves, but I also took pleasure in that simple act of rest.

  The blond healer who seemed to fancy herself my adopted mother shook me awake and fed me some bread before the group departed.

  “We are going to be heading northwest to cut through the mountains so the shouldn’t be anything above level ten in the area. Make sure to stick close Lukas and you will be just fine.” Wilham told me. I nodded attentively as an idea came to mind.

  Thanks to these morons… Thanks to these kind people, I will be able to learn more about this land and its creatures while also examining their skills. I won’t be able to use my stat points to level but what about achievements?

  Back in my time, you can earn achievements by completing impressive feats. They are similar to titles except they usually only award a set stat increase and aren’t so rare to obtain.

  I had accumulated many achievements over my time, but how would they work with the child trait?

  As we marched off deeper into the forest, the low morning mist and animal cries echoing through the mountains, I couldn’t help but feel excited at what was to come.

  I may have played the victim to tag along with these people, but now was the time to ingrain myself with them and make them think me worth teaching.

  The wizard already wants to teach me because of my unlocking of magic at such a low level and the knight agreed to bring me only because of his loyalty and integrity. I can probably make use of the clingy healer to help temper my body.

  Only the archer and rogue are going to need more work to bring to my side.

  But before any of that, I need to show off a bit and test out my theory.

  https://www.patreon.com/collection/1420282?view=expanded