Skye
Ah! If it isn't the consequences to my not so well thought out actions. One overly angry fairy wasn't enough for you, was it Skye?
[Mandatory Quest Added]
[Charisma Check (Arthurian Edition)]
Objective: Kill or convince Vivian of your innocence.
Bonus: If Vivian is killed, get rid of what's left of the village.
Reward: [Minor Power Crystal], [Summon Event]
Bonus Reward: [Healing Skill Potential +5]
Failure: Slow and painful death.
It was the woman from before, sitting on her cloud and glaring so hard it was as if she was boring a hole straight through me. A concerning image, and one that I would rather not have to endure anytime soon.
There were two ways of going about it. As the quest stated, my choices are to either kill or talk her out of any paths that may end in my death. Both are hard, but one has a higher chance of succeeding by miles.
Fighting is most certainly out of the question entirely, our respective power levels might as well be night and day in terms of disparity. If I'm lucky, I might cause a paper cut's worth of damage. Beyond that? Hell if I know. My only option out of this mess is to talk, like rational adults.
"I know this situation seem questi-"
"Oh, jeez! I wonder who could have figure that out, Mr. Sherlock." She interrupted, closing the distance between us in a breath's time, appearing in front of Rosaria.
"Right. Well, I know this doesn't look like the best of situations, but hear me out here." I tried to calm her down, only for bits of frost to appear in the joints of my legs, effectively locking me in place. "Hold on! Please, this is all a misunderstanding!"
"Yes, how could I not see! My daughter is bawling her eyes out over untreated trauma that you had a hand in resurfacing." She sarcastically scoffed "Frankly I would have gotten it looked over sooner, but when have a job such as me, you tend to not have a lot of free time, especially with you running around. Your mere existence is a phenomenon I can't understand, a paradox with no clear answer in sight."
"You perceive me as a threat, don't you?" The realization hit me like a semi-truck, a burst of theories spouting from my head-space. "A danger that, if left unobserved, could have the potential to shift the balance in an innumerable number of ways."
"Wouldn't exactly say that, but the general gist of the matter is there. I mean, look at you. A cockroach with the capacity for speech, such has never been seen outside of the most outlandish of fairytales, and yet, you defy even the logic behind the origins of demons themselves."
Perhaps this has something to do with the double downgrade I bought during the CYOA phase?
"So, enlighten me, insect, explain to me how you came about and your intentions with Rosaria, you have a minute to come up with an answer, or else…" What does she mean by-
*Crunch*
The vibrations from the attack ripple shockwaves through out my body, crippling me faster than I could even react. In an instant, two of my right legs exploded off their sockets, leaving me shocked at the outcome. The ice from earlier, she's exploded them with enough force to bypass my meager durability. Escape isn't an option here either, my wings would simply succumb to the same fate as my other appendages. That left me with one other option for survival, and lying my way out of this was not it…
"Tick, tock. You're running out of time." Immediately after, another set flew off, sending me crashing onto my upper body.
"Alright, alright. I come from an extinct sub-species of wilder. As for my intelligence, that came second to me. The only thing I consciously remember, was waking up on the cold hard ground, just tens of meters away from a pixie massacre, nothing before that sadly."
Little white lies and half truths never hurt anybody, let's just hope she can't tell it in my speech. Or maybe she could hear from the very beginning. A scary thought but one with a high chance of actually being true due to how she was able to distinguish who was using the spell.
"So, it would seem…" The lady of the lake replied in a doubtful tone, with only minor hints of belief keeping her from outright sneering. "For now, I shall- begrudgingly- accept this explanation." Mission accomplished? "However," Technically. "should evidence surface contradicting your words, it will be off with your head. Got it?"
"G-got it, m a'am." I repeated with a slight stutter, feeling the cold burning sensation caused by the ice subside, only for the pain of my nerves reactivating to reel me back in. Cutting the magical telephone wire, I was no free to be as loud as I wanted without causing any unnecessary inconveniences if the woman had any way of bypassing the thin wall that separated her mind from mine.
After briefly contemplating on whether to shut down my primitive nervous system or not, I briefly recomposed myself and snapped myself back to reality.
[Quest Accomplished]
[Distributing Rewards]
[Sponsor Received from "Rat King of Greed"]
[Skill Unlocked]
[Persuasion] (Passive) {Subpar}
Seems like you can't talk your way out of this mess, nor are you actually getting any of the ladies to like you. Your words come out so poorly, you might as well be scratching black board. Get good enough and you might just get some maidens on your dick.
Wait, something isn't right. I can get sponsorships? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of slowly growing stronger and watching me struggle the whole way to the top? And subpar? How did it become subpar, isn't it supposed to be at least novice?
[Some higher beings thought it wou- was fitting for you to gain that ability.]
[Without the "Charisma" stat to help you out, I wonder how things will go?]
[Anyways, the rat bastard sends his regards, there's a little toy he wants you to play with.]
Normally, I would be annoyed by your antics, but at this point, I'm just too tired of all of this to care. I've nearly died, a couple of times now. And the best thing I can do is sleep my trouble away.
[It's almost tragic that even when you have a skill that dulls mental stress, you still experience it all the same.]
The text box was taunting me, playing on my emotions. For someone who supposedly knows me, inside and out, you're doing quite the horrendous job.
[Oh no, not at all. I am simply stating a fact and nothing more.]
[If you have a problem with that, then please, do take it with upper management. I'm sure I'll give the same response.]
Letting the conversation go, I let out a mental sigh, my body growing more and more tired as my energy quickly diverted to help fix the injury. I'm sure this hand's the perfect place to rest. Absolutely nothing wrong can happen whilst I'm here!. HaA~! Now, if you'll excuse me, I hav-.
…
Rosaria
Cold, and warm at the same time.
Mother's embrace was always soothing, especially in times when I needed it the most. She reassured me everything was alright, that the little menace was subdued. Just like in the bedtime stories she used to tell when I was but a fairy.
"Everything's alright now, hon'." She whispered into my ears. "These things happen often in life, even if you try your damnedest to change it. Loss is inevitable, it will take both you and me. Though it may be a while before it occurs, it still reaps us nevertheless."
True as her words might have been, the searing continued pushing on, flaring up at moment's notice as tears leaked out my eyes. Falling into my mother's bosom, I wailed as hard as I could, releasing the never-ending sadness that had built in my heart of hearts.
"It-… wasn't supposed to end like this!" A pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders as I clenched my fists. "It was supposed to be me, dammit! If only… if only I could have been a little bit faster. A little bit stronger. Right, mum? Just enough to buy them enough time. That's all I needed, right?"
Craning my head to view the person in question, her visage grew blurry, a blotched display of cyan replacing her. "Y-yes. Yes, my dear." Her words sounded reluctant, lacking any sense of genuineness. In an instant, the air in my lungs was expelled, my breath hitching to gather up more.
Diverting all of my attention, I clutched my chest, a hand over my heart as the world around me darkened. I couldn't breathe. I want to so badly. Please… Help me…
[A/N: It felt right to end it here. It was supposed to be longer, but that's a recipe for disaster.
But, with this fic back, I wonder how I'm going to take this? Been quiet a while-. I'm bullshitting, I already planned out everything. As opposed to "Be Not Afraid" and the one with the Firekeeper, I actually made an outline for this one. I put more effort into making cockroach than 90% of my fics, and that's tragic. Copy and paste stuff below.
Anyways, if you find anything wrong in the fic, let me know. I would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and what I could have done in place of what is present.
Join discord server. I have one.: /eTb2kPab4z
I also have a at balls1124. I'm not telling you to join it, but it would be nice.
With that being said, we back bitches!]