Looking around at the carnage before him Pep-Ri holding, his newly obtained child, Divine began walking towards the collection of survivors. Making sure to cover Divine Pep-Ri cooed the baby till she slept. As he approached the survivors to his horror the merchant alchemist was amongst them.
‘The bastard probably already knows all about the side effects! Sure it gives tremendous stat boosts, some of which are permanent, but I am literally a sitting duck here. No wonder he was willing to give such treasures away!’
Deciding that his fate was sealed with the Blood-oath anyways, Pep-Ri continued forward approaching the few survivors. Seeing Pep-Ri alive the alchemist perked up obviously looking forward to the future profits the pixie would bring. Rushing forward he put on his best excited face and practically slipped in the mud. Righting himself the alchemist acted as if nothing had happened and spoke out.
“I thank you young traveler for saving us all! I must introduce myself for I am Detritus the Alchemist. What you have just done in saving us is no small feat. Such a battle would normally take a small army, yet you defeated NasaNasu and his Kobold horde by yourself! Surely you must be a great warrior sent from the nearby towns to guide us through the forest yes?”
Eyeing the bloodstained traveler and the bundle he carried the survivors were curious to see who their lone savior was. What they saw was rather disappointing. Rather than a great paladin or soldier a weak pixie of questionable gender stood before them holding no weapon or armor of any worth. In fact as most of the survivors were all merchants they knew that the armor was some of the weakest beginner armors available.
Their savior looked even weaker than the weakest traveling guards that had been traveling with them. Looking around though it was obvious that the Kobolds had met a terrible fate indeed. Meaning the pixie standing before them was more powerful than it looked. Someone obviously deserving of respect. Some of them even thought that maybe pixies should be respected after all. Their dreams were shortly shattered.
“You idiot what were you thinking giving such potions to me?!?! It should have been obvious I couldn’t have actually paid you back for them!! What do those things cost in the first place? 100 Gold? 1000 Gold? At most the loot I obtained would pay off maybe half of one of those things! Now I will be in debt for life!”
Pep-Ri’s stare bore holes into the unfortunate Alchemists face. Shocked at the pixie’s sudden outrage the alchemist forgetting the pixies current predicament could only stutter,
“Surely young master Pep-Ri you know I had no such intentions of throwing you into debt. I thought you would only want the best of my merchandise in order to defeat the Kobolds! Surely the loot you picked up might be able to pay off more than half a potion. They were apropriately priced at only 2000 gold a bottle! A true bargain for such a large temporary boost!”
Keeping his voice at to a level tone, that was both threatening and quiet at the same time, Pep-Ri continued,
“One maybe if I am extremely lucky in what was dropped but you gave me three bottles! That’s over 6000 gold! If I had worked hard on the battlefield and penny pinched till starvation maybe I might have been able to pay you off within a year or two. But my problems just build upon each other don’t they! I am not only in debt but I am also now in charge of rising this child!”
Looking at the bundle in Pep-Ri’s arms and the dead mother who had only recently joined their group Detritus put two and two together. Normally if Lira, the child’s mother, had been more a part of the traveling group Detritus would have objected, but She and her child had always stayed to the sidelines during their travels.
“I see you do indeed have Lira’s daughter with you. Did Lira really give her daughter up to you?”
“She did indeed. I am now this child’s parent and guardian. Is such a thing forbidden?”
Taken off guard by the question Detritus yet again struggled to answer,
“No, It is just uncommon for one so protecting as Lira to hand over her child. Even if she was dying, Lira was the type to fight off death in order to keep herself and her child secluded. We were always curious about it but paid it no heed. Some people are just like that.
All the same it is understandable that your debt is crushing for an adventurer who cannot obtain an income while protecting your young. As my savior I feel maybe it is appropriate to offer an alternative solution. I am apprentice to Thandall the master of all Alchemy. I am on a journey of my own to explore and raise my understanding of the true depths of alchemy. If you join me on my travels I will not only help you raise your child, you can act as my personal guard. I will even also allow you to replace the potions by gathering the necessary ingredients.”
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"You mean that not only will my debt be paid but you will also help me raise this child? No alternative motives nothing?"
Hiding a slightly perverse grin Detritus looked Pep-Ri over one more time. The pixies leather clothing was hanging by threads across her chest unbeknownst to her. Revealing a slender yet fully formed body. Stopping himself before he was found out Detritus lied through grinning teeth.
“Nope, no alternative motives at all. Your plight has spoken to my heart and while I am greedy I would not leave a young mother such as yourself with no means of paying off her debt.”
Not even noticing the meaning behind Detritus’s words when referring to him as a mother, Pep-Ri accepted the offer. Having finished with that Pep-Ri turned away from the alchemist in order to check her notification history.
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You are the first player to obtain over 1000 fame. You have received 5 stat points
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“A class gained by killing an opponent by letting it bleed out while I repeatedly stunned it with a rock….. No thank you.”
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‘Do I really want another skill at the cost of 10 levels? I mean two of them would become useless to me, but the other two must be amazing passives if they are still offered. But ten levels? Well I haven’t even allocated the points yet anyways so what does it matter? I can level up again later’
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Sure, despite the risk I will pay ten levels for a new skill.”
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‘Well that is unexpected. So basically 9 levels after the trade, lots of familiarity, loot, a Job, fame, 6 skills, 5 stat points from having 1000 familiarity, and 1 stat generated from a single battle against a level 100 boss and 50 level 60 Kobolds on top of adopting a child? Not bad for someone who was previously level 5. I think I’ll try and learn alchemy so I can create a few of those boosters myself. Guess I should allocate my stats'
‘Have I really not looked at my stats since I started my time in Rhodium?? S***. I really need to get better about doing that. Hmm. So far everything is looking good though. I can’t believe even with that boost that my agility is so high. Guess there is no point in putting points there when I will naturally gain them at a super-fast pace. I would also lose half the points if I invest in Str.’ Thinking it through Pep-Ri placed a quarter of her stats into wisdom, a quarter into Int, while maintaining the rest until she found a decent class.
Observing her status window again she finally saw the line that showed her gender. Looking down at her leather clothes now split open across the chest and sides she let out a blood curdling scream! “AAAHHHHH!!!!!”
Divine waking up at the noise opened her eyes wide and began crying herself. Panicking due to her own predicament and that of Divine she frantically looked around for help. To her utter horror every single male NPC not paired with their wives or stopped by their mother, was staring openly at her shameful appearance. Quickly running to the trees Pep-Ri pulled out her beginner clothes and changed, while holding Divine and whispering in a soothing voice trying to calm the upset infant.
As soon as Pep-Ri screamed, a middle aged man had pulled himself up from his sitting position. She had previously been distracted and so had little time to consider her apparel. Knowing such a time as this would come, Detritus had made his way out of the pixies sight. When she ran to the bushes knowing his chances were good he drank an invisibility potion and ran behind her. Before he could see anything though she had already changed. Feeling disappointed he let the time run out on the potion and walked forward.
“If you are trying to calm the child may I make a sudgestion?”
Looking up from her task Pep-Ri saw the alchemist walking up to her with a face full of dissatisfaction. ‘What’s he upset about? Surely Divine’s previous mother hadn’t been too close with him. Why would he care about her?’
“Only if it’s not going to cost me an arm and a leg. I already owe you enough. I also don’t want to raise her addicted to sleeping potions. So what exactly can you help with.”
Pulling out a bottle Detritus continued forward and handed a bag of fluid over.
“Milk surprisingly enough is an ingredient used in high class alchemy potions. The otherwise useless liquid carries no value unless you reach the advanced level. I always carry a couple of pounds worth in my bag. As you are not the child’s actual mother I doubt you can nurse.”
Blushing with an even amount of disgust and embarrassment at that last idea Pep-Ri took the milk surprised to find it heated. “Why’d you cook the milk?”
Surprised Detritus answered, “It is unhealthy to feed cold milk to small children. There are mysterious substances called bacteria by my master that can cause infants to become sick. Anyways isn’t it normally warm when it comes straight from the…”
Seeing Detritus grow a weird grin Pep-Ri decided it was best cut him off before he could continue. “Thank you all the same mister Detritus. Maybe if circumstances turn out right you could teach me a little about your knowledge of alchemy. As it is though I need to feed Divine.”
Yet again disappointed by his sad luck, Detritus walked off contemplating the many situations that could occur that could bring him and the pixie closer together. While not overtly attractive Pep-Ri was still female and Detritus being a student alchemist most his life had had few encounters with women. Expecting some special benefits for his kindness Detritus looked yet again at her. Dressed as she was though, he could hardly tell her gender. If not for the scene from earlier he may have questioned her entirely before firing the girl and demanding his money!
Cutting the bag in a way that milk only came out when not being pinched closed, Pep-Ri slowly fed his new ward. Sucking heartily at the milk Divine looked up at Pep-Ri with curiosity in her shinning eyes. It seemed as if she was studying her new mother as much as Pep-Ri was studying her. Divine finishing the milk spit out the tip of the bag and reached out to her new mother. Soft patches of almost invisible fur wrapped her hands and gave off a feeling of cat’s paws despite her opposable thumbs. Giving Divine her thumb Pep-Ri sat staring at the child as she began to come to love her as a sister. No as a daughter. The brotherly love that Keith experienced with his sisters in the real world was multiplied tenfold when he watched her play and suck on his thumb. After a minute or two, if you walked past Pep-Ri you would have heard a soft purring sound coming from the bundle she was carrying.
Divine had slightly golden hair covering her pointed cat ears. Her face was human enough and she almost looked like an elf if you ignored the tufts or fur poking from the tips of her ears. While only being a few months old her blue eyes held the intelligence of a child almost a year or two older. She was constantly looking around and studying everything.
Hearing movement and a shout Pep-Ri gathered up Divine and rushed back to the merchants. Entering the clearing again she noticed the merchants had packed up everything possible and had finished their mourning. As such they were ready to move on. Rushing forward Pep-Ri stopped one of the merchants asking where Detritus was located. Pointing to the side the merchant explained that the alchemist was leaving their group. They personally were in a rush to reach the next town over before night came. Thanking the man Pep-Ri rushed off ignoring the turning heads that followed her.
Well thank you for reading chapter 6…. It took a while to edit this and I am currently looking for a PR!!!
