I jerked around, and my shoulders tightened. Did one of the Knights follow me?
A hand clasped my shoulder. I spun around and launched my fist at the attacker.
And then I froze.
“That’s one way to greet someone.” Valentine smiled at me.
I held my fist where it was, and then dropped it. “What do you want?” My voice was not kind.
“I came to get you.”
“What do you mean you came to—” My eyes widened. I looked at the outpost far behind me, and then turned back to her. “No way.”
She nodded. “I finally got them to sleep. I had to cast my spell four times, but I knocked them out in the end.”
I blinked. “But how did you know when I’d come here?”
“I was waiting outside the walls,” she said. “And we’re in a party, remember? That means I can see your position at all times.”
Oh, yeah, I thought. Though it’s questionable whether or not that’s a good thing in general.
“Luna and Stan are camping out a little further into the woods.” Valentine looked ahead of us. “Would you like to come?”
I nodded. I had to meet the elf no matter what. After all, that was what I had staked this much for.
We walked through the forest in silence. I slid open my Ga’em menu, and checked the time. 6 p.m.
I caught sight of my first icon — my Player Menu icon — and noticed I had more notifications. I tapped the circle and brought up my screens.
DING!
Congratulations! You have defeated:
Civilian (Lv. 23)!
In your mind, that Henway woman definitely deserved it. Although, there’s something ironic about a lady who flaunted her status being brought to her end with a few measly strands of hay. Maybe you should write a haiku about it. Reward: 6000 XP. Reward: Reputation decreased by -300 points.
DING!
Congratulations! Your Reputation has increased!
Infamy Level 1!
“He looks like an … interesting person”
Great, I have infamy now? I muttered. I’d been trying to keep away from getting fame or infamy points, but the recent events had forced my hand.
DING!
Congratulations! Your level has increased thrice!
Level 14!
Looks like you’ve been keeping yourself busy, slitting throats and spilling blood. Good job? You gain 12 stat points to spend on your skills. You also gain a 75% advancement to the skill of your choice.
Ugh, now I’m growing in levels, too, I thought. And I’d only fought two people. Killed, I corrected myself.
I looked at the last screen. I should probably update my Stats. I went back to my Player Menu, and delved into my Stats screen. There was a new section of text at the bottom of the screen now.
Unassigned Skill Points: 12
Simply tapping on the name of the Stat I wanted to update increased the numbers. However, Health, Mana, and Stamina weren’t directly upgradable and had to be increased by adding points into Constitution, Intelligence, and Endurance respectively. Each point in the latter three stats added 10 points to the former.
My build was more like an Assassin’s, since precise and fast attacks were what I needed. Brute strength wasn’t my kind of thing. I raised my health a bit, since it was really low right now, and spread the rest of my points between Agility and Dexterity.
Name
Levi Ryder
Level
14
Health
100 → 150
Constitution
10 → 15
Mana
200
Intelligence
20
Stamina
150
Endurance
15
Strength
21
Wisdom
20
Agility
25 → 29
Dexterity
30 → 33
Charisma
4
Luck
4
That’s good. My eyes drifted to Valentine. She still wore her hooded cloak of white, only now the hood was thrown back completely. My stomach knotted as I stared at the woman. Something about her bothered me.
“Why did you save me?” I asked. “We basically took on your forces, and you helped us get away from them. Why would someone go that far to save me? Just to make me form a party with you?”
Valentine smiled. “You seem an interesting man.”
“What do you mean interesting?”
“Just that,” she said. “Interesting.”
I clenched my fists. “Look, lady.” I walked closer to her, and met her gaze. “You’re not making a whole lot of sense right now. If you don’t give me a proper reason why you came for me, I’m just going the other way.” I stopped, and lowered my tone. “It’s not like I need you people to survive myself. I’ve run through these places myself more times than you imagine.”
Valentine stopped a yard ahead of me. She turned and stepped closer, her breath against my face. “How do you know about Aegil?”
I froze. “You…. Why do you know about that?”
“From your scroll.” She smiled.
She was able to read the language? My eyebrows furrowed. “Why are you asking about Aegil? What do you want with it?”
“I need to find it,” she said. “I have something I need to prove to the people around me.”
The knot in my stomach tightened. She wants to find it. Ugh, this is not good.
She looked at me. “That’s why I saved you,” she said. “I’m sorry. But I didn’t break you out of prison because I thought you were innocent or anything. You’re guilty, and after the two murders I saw you commit, you probably deserve to be hanged.” Her tone was sharp. “But I need help if I want to find Aegil, and as a man who possessed two scrolls about the relic, you are the only one I can turn to.”
This is getting annoying. I gritted my teeth. “What’s in it for me?” I asked, even though I didn’t give a damn. “I do all this work to help you, and what do I get in return?”
“A royal pardon,” she said. “Zevalon will excuse you of all your crimes, and you will be reinstated as a member of our society.”
I smirked. Yeah, like I so desperately need that, I thought. Although, an alliance with this woman wouldn’t hurt. Being an ally with someone this powerful has its perks.
Then again, it was also a problem considering she wanted Aegil, and the relic was something I needed. I could just snatch it away at the last moment, couldn’t I? I thought. A plan began forming in my mind, and a sinister smile curled onto my heart.
This might be fun.
DING!
You have obtained a quest:
The Princess’s Adventure!
Princess Valentine wants to find the relic ‘Aegil’ and prove herself to someone. You don’t know who. Aid her in her goal and you will reap many rewards. (Please don’t do something stupid). Reward: Zevalon City will no longer pursue you for your murders. Other rewards may be revealed later.
Accept
Decline
I tapped on Accept, and the screen disappeared. The sarcasm on this thing has gotten worse, I thought.
“Did the Ga’em give you a quest?” Valentine asked.
I nodded. “The Princess’ Adventure.”
“Did you … accept?”
I nodded again. “I will help you.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “I swear I will sort out all your problems.”
Don’t need you to. I looked at her and flashed a grin. “I’m counting on you, then.”
She nodded. “Yes!”
People are so easy to bait. I chuckled quietly and walked into the forest. “By the way,” I said, “the Ga’em recognized you as Rosam when you sent me the party invite. How did you manage that?”
“A special item,” she said. “It’s a crystal that lets you configure what other people see when they interact with you through the Ga�
�em. Most royalty uses it when they’re out in public incognito. Shame that it only lasts an hour, though.”
I should probably get myself one of those things, I thought. Although, they’re probably hellishly expensive.
About fifteen minutes later, we approached a clearing. Stan and Luna sat on a fallen log, with Luna chatting actively, while Stan nodded in reply. Their eyes turned to me as I walked in.
“Oh,” Luna perked up. “Death-Man is back!”
I blinked. Who the heck is Death-Man?
“She apparently likes nicknames,” Valentine chuckled. “I’m Singer-Lady, and Stan is Blanket-Boy.”
“Blanket-Boy?” I clasped my mouth, holding in my laughter.
Stan stood up, and yes, he still had his blanket with him. Blanket-Boy alright. I thought. Maybe that blanket has a life of its own. It better, given how much he clutches to it.
“W-Were you guys able to get away unhurt?” Stan asked.
“We were fine,” Valentine said. “The guards fell asleep after the fourth attempt.”
I sat myself down next to the elf. “So, Luna.” I shifted the conversation. “What do you know about Aegil?”
“Eh?” Valentine frowned. “So the elf is the one who knows?”
“I’m the one who knows,” I said. “I’m hoping the elf can help piece together a few gaps in my knowledge.”
“Oh.” Her eyebrows furrowed.
She’s not convinced, I noticed, but I didn’t care.
“Luna doesn’t know what Aegil is.” The elf bounced on the log.
“Huh?” I looked at her.
“What is Aegil?”
My shoulder’s tightened. “What do you mean you don’t know? You had a scroll about that relic in your back pocket.”
The elf stopped bouncing. “Luna did?’
“Yes!” My voice rose in volume. What the heck is this? Anger shifted within me. This could not be happening. I had not come this far just to be stopped short because I’d been led on by an elf.
“Oh!” The elf jumped onto her feet. “Is Death-Man talking about the scroll?”
“Yes,” I said. “The scroll. Please tell me you remember.”
Luna nodded. “Luna remember the scroll.”
“But you haven’t heard about Aegil.”
“Yup!”
All the annoying events I’d gone through over the past two days were because of that one thing—the word the elf had whispered to me. And now all that was a lie? Sure, the world was unfair, but this was just blatantly toying with my life.
I gritted my teeth. Toying with my life. A familiar feeling of ice and fire wrapped around my limbs, and slithered into my bones.
“Think hard, Luna.” Valentine knelt before us. “Do you really not know the name ‘Aegil’?”
The elf looked at the trees and then looked down at us again. “Luna don’t remember.”
A switch flipped within my head and my restrained anger pulsed through me. I slammed my fist against the wood. “That’s not possible!” I yelled. “I heard you say it!”
The elf’s face changed, and she leaned away from me.
Stan stepped forward. “M-Maybe we should calm down.”
“Calm down?” I asked. “Everything I did was to save this girl and find out what she knew. And now….”
“It’ll be fine, Levi,” he said. “Things will sort themselves out. Like they did at the prison cell.”
I looked at the elf and then at Stan. “You’re both useless.”
Luna frowned. “Luna don’t like Death-Man.” The elf stood up, and she ran into the forest.
“Luna!” Valentine yelled.
“I’ll bring her back,” Stan said, and huffed behind her.
The princess turned to me. “Who calls their allies useless? That is a hurtful thing to say.”
The heat within me subsided. “Just because its hurtful doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to fight you now. But I hope you don’t do this kind of thing again.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are you threatening me?”
“I’m telling you what isn’t right for you to do,” she said. “Now, when the elf gets here, you need to apologize to her.”
“But—”
“You either apologize, or we don’t get any information.”
“I decide what I do, lady. You don’t get to call the shots because you’re the princess.”
Her eyes widened. “I wasn’t trying to—”
“You wanted me to help you get Aegil. If you don’t like the way I do it then find your own elf and get going.”
Footsteps came from ahead. Luna walked toward us, with Stan at her side. She stood before Valentine, and looked at the floor. “Luna remember something now.”
My eyes widened, and I changed my tone. “What is it?”
She didn’t glance at me, and instead turned to Valentine. “Luna don’t remember ‘Aegil’, but she remember finding scroll.”
“The half-torn one?” the princess asked.
She nodded. “But when Luna found half-torn scroll, Luna also found one more scroll.”
What? My chest thumped.
She pulled her hand out of her pocket, and in her palm sat another piece of parchment, folded into a fourth.
Valentine picked it up, and opened it. It was a full scroll, with all its pieces in place. She looked at its contents, and then turned to me. “I can’t read it.” She handed it over.
So she can’t understand the language? I lifted it up and looked through the contents. The same language as the previous scroll, though.
“What does it say?” Stan asked.
“A lot of things,” I said. “The end of the scroll says Aegil is hidden within the ‘Wall of the West’.”
Valentine’s eyes widened. “But that’s—”
“The Kelras Mountains,” I said. “That’s what they were called before.”
She nodded.
I looked at the elf. “Who did you get this scroll from?”
Luna shook her head. “Luna don’t know. He was a man with a hood. He said if Luna took scrolls, he would give Luna pretty gem.”
Ah, so that’s why that gemstone was next to her, I thought. “Luna, did you meet him next to a cave inside the Ymir Forest?”
“No,” she said. “Luna saw him in Ymir Forest, but not cave. Much more inside. Luna went to cave later, but she was very tired, so she go to sleep inside.”
I’d hardly equate an Elv Fever with “very tired”, I thought, but said nothing. This line of enquiry had led to a dead end. It didn’t seem like we’d find anything on the man anytime soon, but I wasn’t complaining. We now knew that Aegil was located in the Kelras Mountains, and that was what I needed right now. I could worry about other things later.
The elf looked between me and Valentine. “Luna did good?”
Valentine nodded. “Luna did good.”
“Can Luna get food now?” she asked. “Hungryyy.”
The princess looked at Stan. “I don’t have anything on me,” she said. “Do you think you can find something?”
He nodded, and turned to Luna. “Come on,” he said. “There might be some berries around here.”
“Berries?” Luna whined as they walked away. “I want steamed buns!”
Valentine turned to me, gazing at the piece of parchment in my hand. “What do you think?”
“It’s a valid scroll.” I brushed my finger over the ink. “And I think the information is true as well.”
“The Kelras Mountains.” Her voice was soft. “That’s far away from here.”
“Yeah.” I sat down on the fallen tree and looked through the scroll again.
“How do you know that language?” she asked.
I looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“That doesn’t seem like anything I’ve seen before,” she said. “Where is it from?”
“I don’t really know.” I grinned sheepishly. “I just know how to read it.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything.
Branches snapped to our right. I instantly jumped onto my feet, as did Valentine. Stan and Luna charged through, back to us, with the elf carrying the vampire.
“What happened?” Valentine asked. “You just left thirty seconds ago.”
“We saw them…” Stan huffed. “Knights.”
“Oh.” She straightened. “They must be searching for me.”
DING!
You have received an alert from: Zevalon City!
Attention, all citizens of Zevalon! Those who have seen or spoken to Levi Ryder are requested to contact the Knight Force immediately. The individual is a traitor on the run, and saved both a vampire and a Drow Elf when he escaped. He is also believed to be involved with the kidnapping of the princess. The Knights are going after him as of this moment. However, if anyone has seen him or spoken to him recently, please come forward. There will be a good reward awaiting you.
And beneath all this text was an unflattering picture of me. I looked up from my prompt. Everyone but Luna had gotten a screen—and I could tell it was the same one I had. Their eyes scanned the text and they looked up at me, almost at once.
“T-That’s unfortunate,” Stan said.
“It’s just like you said before, Blanket-Boy.” I looked at the screen once more, and then at the people around me. “In this world, the weak always get trampled on.”
***
CHAPTER TWELVE
Elya was confused.
The Knight Force trekked into the Ymir Forest, with him riding his horse close to the middle of the ranks. Many foot soldiers walked by his side, while Auron, Joseph, and a few high-ranking Knights rode at the front.
He slid open his Ga’em menu and pulled up a map. The Ymir Forest showed up, and marked his position. He panned out and looked at five hundred squares miles of open land, with Zevalon city at the centre. Plenty of inverted red triangles were marked there—each represented a place that he felt the princess might have gone.
Ascend: A World of Ga'em LitRPG (The Chaos Emperor Book 1) Page 12
