Good Morning! Good afternoon! Good night! here who speaks is your dear writer VonLeporace, before starting the chapter I just wanted to leave some warnings about the progression of the story, I am writing from events that happened before the game, while yes, there will be conflict, the fights against powerful beings will happen in future chapters, for now, I'm focusing on character development and the events leading up to the game happening, I'll also be careful not to end up creating an OP protagonist.
That's all, for now, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 4- Possible Problems
Alan's POV
That day, I got into a fight with monsters, I ended up in a medieval land with two magic books, yes, magic exists, I killed two bad guys, I visited a medieval town, I got into a fight with three guys and I saved a girl from getting murdered, all in a day's work, by the way, the girl didn't trust me as she let me walk in front during our walk and keeps staring at my back, and the worst part I couldn't sleep at all the night before, here we are walking along a dirt road towards the next town or village, and the sun was just starting to rise, the cold early morning wind blew towards us, it didn't bother me too much, but I could see Rose shiver in the cold, her dress revealing brothel room she was using hadn't done much to warm up, I took off my coat and offered it to her.
"Here take it." I stretched out my arm and offered the coat, Rose kept looking between me and the coat, I don't know what she expected me to do, God only knows what she went through, Rose slowly stretched out her hand getting closer and closer, when her hand was a few centimeters away, she grabbed the coat tightly and took it from my hand, she looked at me again, but soon started to analyze the coat, running her hand through the fabric that didn't exist at that time, she put the coat on, but stared at the zipper, not knowing how it worked, I decided to help.
"Let me help you." I brought my hands close to hers, only to be met with a slap on each one, the emotional pain was greater than the physical "Don't touch me, just tell me how I close this!" OK, not the best start, maybe I was too hasty she doesn't trust me "You put the metal part on the left end into the groove on the right end, then pull it up." She struggled a bit with the zipper, but eventually, she managed it, and we kept going.
Rose's POV
As we were walking down this road I started to think about what happened last night, I never thought that one day I would get out of that brothel, since my mother sold me to the owner of that place, which by the way was not for a large sum, my life became hell, but i don't blame my mom, life is hard and she raised me the best way she knew even though that way was quite violent i still remember the beatings, until she finally got tired of me, in the brothel the bosses didn't bother to teach me to read or write, just how to take care of my appearance and how to please the customers, there the other prostitutes gave me a name Rose.
My mother never bothered to give me a name, until one day I finally met Indigo and thought I finally had a real friend, someone I could trust, one day we made a plan, at night when everyone in the brothel was sleeping we would take as much money as possible and run away together, those thoughts died when she said she just needed me to carry more gold and then tried to stab me with a dagger, looks like she got tired of me too.
But here comes the most unbelievable part, under the bridge where I would be killed a stranger came out, he looked to be about 20 years old, he was dressed in strange clothes, but of good quality, a son of a nobleman or a rich merchant maybe, he was carrying a strange metal club, but as if the situation wasn't bad enough the brothel bosses caught up with us and accused the stranger of being the one who ordered the robbery, poor thing he showed up in the wrong place at the wrong time, I was going to die and he would be beaten, or at least that's what I thought.
Imagine my surprise when he started to win the fight, the stranger received a punch in the middle of the face and barely moved, he returned the blow with a punch to the chin, I I could hear the sound of the bones of one of the bosses breaking, then the other two men came one from the left and the other from the right, the one on the left tried to punch the stranger in the face, but he bent down and kicked the man in the knee, the knee his broke and he fell. The one on the right kicked the stranger in the chest, again he barely moved and punched the last boss in the nose, he fell to the ground unconscious.
A feeling of relief washed over my body, but that relief was short-lived when I saw Indigo running towards the stranger's back with the dagger in her hands, that was the end, when Indigo finished him I would be next, so something even more unbelievable happens, a red barrier appears between the stranger and Indigo, the dagger hits the barrier and breaks in two, Indigo is flung away past me, seeing no other option she runs towards the man mounted on a horse on the other side of the bridge, the two fled into the night.
Looks like it's finally over the bosses were on the floor and Indigo ran away, and best of all the bags of money were there on the floor if I took this money with me maybe I could have had a better life away from here, or maybe not because the stranger was coming towards me, I paralyzed with fear, I was next, wasn't I? He got closer and closer, if he managed to break the bones of three grown men what would he do to me? I'd be in a pool of blood on the floor with all my bones broken, maybe if I offered some of the money he'd leave me alone? What if he didn't want the money and what if he wanted something more, like my body?
My thoughts stopped as he got closer, and I could see how intimidating he was, he must have been 1.90 tall, with pale skin, black hair, and brown eyes, he was looking down at me and slowly reached out to me, what was he going to do? Why didn't I scream? Why I didn't do anything? He said something, but I didn't hear it until he touched me, I winced, I was expecting a punch or a slap, but instead, he asked.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes." I only realized that I had answered a few seconds later, he moved away a little and looked at me, I decided not to stay there wasting time, there were four bags of gold on the floor, I took two for myself and left two for the stranger maybe then he would leave me at peace, I turned my back on him and started walking out of town, stopping abruptly when he asked "Where are you going?" shit, what does he want now? I kept calm and replied, " Although, far away from here." He looked around and said "I'll go with you", but what does he want now? Better get it over with "No, I'd rather travel alone." the conversation might have ended, but he had a good point.
"Come on, I won't hurt you, besides, what if you run into bad guys along the way? Can you defend yourself? If anything happens I can protect you, you saw what I can do." He was right, I couldn't fight, if any thief decided to show up I couldn't do anything, this stranger was the only way for me to travel safely, "It's ok, but if you betray me you'll regret it." soon he replied, "Great, give me a minute." He went under the bridge and came back with a strange bag, he put the money in the bag, and the bag on his back, great now he has all the money, that could be a problem.
We left town and started walking down the road, "I'm Alan, what's your name?" Alan so that was your name "Rose." I gave a curt reply, there was no reason to be nice, "Nice to meet you Rose." nice to meet you, I wonder how true those words are, everyone wants something and what does he want? Well, that's beside the point at the moment, I wonder how long it will be before he gets tired of me and ends up backstabbing me, everyone does.
Rose's POV
We were walking for a while I made Alan walk in front of me, if he tried something at least I would have time to run after all there was no reason to trust him, I could see the sun rising on the horizon, it was dawning, a cold wind passed by me, I shivered from the cold I must have brought a coat when I ran away "Here take it." It was Alan, he was offering me the strange coat he was wearing, what does he want, there was no reason to be nice to me but it was too cold to refuse, I slowly brought my hand closer to the coat, when I got close I pulled the coat at once from Alan's hand, keep staring at him waiting for a reaction, he just stared back at me, I looked at the coat running my hand through the fabric, it was a good quality fabric, I've never seen anything like it in the brothel customers, I put the coat and when I looked down there were no buttons, just two ribbon lines of a weird material that ended in metal spikes, how do I put this thing?
"Let me help you." It was Alan, his hands were getting closer and closer, I don't know what was going through my head at that moment, but I stopped their hands with a slap, shit, damn it, soon after I realized the mistake I had made, Rose sweats. idiot, you hit the person who could just beat you up and take all the money if they wanted, I was expecting a punch, a slap, even a curse, but he didn't do anything, why? Why is he being so patient, what does he want from me?
"Don't touch me, just tell me how I close it!" It wasn't the best answer but since he is being so patient I decided to take a little risk, I can't show fear it would only be worse for me, instead of getting annoyed he explained to me how to close the coat, and I got it after a few tries, talking about clothes I stopped to look at what clothes Alan was wearing, they were all made of a material I didn't recognize the black boots on his feet, the pants that hugged his legs, and the black shirt he was wearing, there was a strange design on his shirt, it was a fox holding a knife in its mouth, was he part of some army? Or maybe he was a noble and that was his family emblem? It doesn't matter now, but I need to be careful. I'd rather not mess with some noble and his family.
Rose's POV
How long are we going to have to walk, my feet are hurting and I need to piss, I stopped with my complaints when I saw two silhouettes further up the roads when we got closer I saw that they were two thugs, Alan stood in front of me, I was waiting for a fight, it was time to find out if his words back in town were true, but the fight never happened one of the thugs started screaming.
"It's him!" One of them yelled as he pointed at Alan.
"You two again!" Wait, he knew these guys.
"Let's get out of here before he kills us too!" The two of them took off running into the woods by the side of the road, only then did my brain register what one of them said, 'Before he kills us too.' Wait Alan killed someone! All this time I was hanging out with a killer! SHIT! FUCK! DAMMIT! ALL THIS TIME I WAS WALKING WITH A MURDERER. Worst of all Alan slowly turned around and started to face me, it looks like now he was going to get rid of me.
"You killed someone?" What I'm saying, run Rose run, otherwise, you'll be the next victim.
"Don't think about it too much, but long story short, they tried to rob me and I defended myself, and now that you know my secret what are you going to do?" He's right, what I'm going to do, run, fight or go with him, come on Rose, do something.
"I go there in the bush to piss." Serious! That was the best thing you can think of, but of course, he's not going to fall for it.
"Alright, go." I didn't think twice and ran towards the trees.
Alan's POV
Great, just great, now she's avoiding me, I thought as I leaned against one of the trees by the roadside, now she knows I killed someone, although it was in self-defense, but what little confidence she had in me, if it had been destroyed, I wouldn't be surprised if it disappeared into the woods, never to return.
"Lord Alan, are you all right?" It was Noir speaking from inside my backpack.
"I don't know Noir, Rose found out I killed people, and now she's scared of me, I don't know what to do."
"Lord Alan if you will allow me to advise you, you did nothing wrong, those despicable beings dared to try to rob you, and you acted in self-defense, Lord Alan gained great power, but still tried to settle everything peacefully, with your strength you could have butchered those worms, but you decided not to, that girl Rose doesn't know you, don't let her judge you just by your action, give her time, and soon Rose will decide if she trusts you or not."
"Hmm, you're right I'll give her time, but speaking of power, how strong do you believe I am? And your magic and Rubrum's, when will it come back?"
"In terms of strength, Lord Alan is well above a normal human being, but your strength will increase with time, what Lord Alan has now is only a fraction, but please be careful, you may be strong, but it's not indestructible so I beg you, don't put yourself in unnecessary danger, the matter of my magic and that of Rubrum I can feel it coming back, I can say that in a few days we will be working at full capacity, I humbly ask for your forgiveness for not being able to help you properly Lord Alan." Damn it I feel bad every time Noir puts himself down like that.
"It's okay Noir, thanks for your advice, and please don't be sorry you've been helping me a lot so far."
"I am grateful for the compliments Lord Alan, this humble servant is only here to serve you." Well, he looked happy this time.
So it means that my strength will only increase with time, I will need to be careful from now on not to hurt people by accident, not to mention of course it would be inconvenient to break the door handle, the glasses I drink water, break everyday objects, in general, but now I'm going to do a little strength test I put my right hand on the trunk of the tree next to me and started squeezing, the trunk started to crack, splinters of wood went flying, I started to apply more force gradually, eventually the trunk broke in two, it was a medium tree, I doubt I could do the same with a big tree, but still it was an absurd force, I need to learn to control it, soon I was taken out of my thoughts by Rose coming out of the woods and judging by the look on her face she watched what I just did, damn it.
Rose's POV
I ran through the trees, what should I do now? All the money is with Alan, I can't fight and I have nowhere to go, I can't do anything, and if he tries to kill me is that why he decided to travel with me so that I could be the next victim? So because he helped me all this time, fighting with the bosses, deciding to accompany me, giving me his coat, being ready to fight the bad guys, speaking of the coat, I was still wearing it, I hid behind a tree, then what should I do? I took a deep breath and started to calm down, I need to think it over, Alan said the thugs tried to rob him but are this true?
Or is he just trying to trick me? I sat up and buried my face in my knees, come on Rose, isn't that what you wanted? Freedom? Adventure? A normal life? Your best chance is waiting for you on the road, so what if you don't know anything about him? So what if he killed someone? This world is cruel, if Alan hadn't killed one of the bad guys he probably would have been killed, I'll go back and face this problem head on, I still don't completely trust him but he's my best bet and despite everything Alan still hasn't done anything against me, it would be better if I returned the favor, even then I'll be careful because, despite everything we don't know anything about each other, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
I got closer and closer to the road, I could see Alan just ahead, his mouth was moving as if he was talking to someone, but there was no one there, is he crazy by any chance? Great something for me to worry about, he stopped talking and now put his hand on a tree, what was he trying to do? I got my answer when he started squeezing the tree, the wood creaked and cracked, I saw it in his face, he started to try harder, then something impossible happened, he broke the tree in two, what the fuck! Was he that strong all this time? If he wanted to, he could have killed me with one punch, now I'm going to have to be even more careful not to piss him off.
I walked out of the woods and stood face to face with Alan "You saw it, didn't you?" I nodded my head, yes, then he started talking "Look at what happened earlier..." I didn't let him finish so I gave my answer "I don't know you and you don't know me, we don't know anything about the each other's past, I don't ask about yours and you don't ask about mine, but I'll stay with you, for now, I help you and you help me, understand? "
"Yes."
"Great, and one more thing, if I find out you're going to stab me in the back I'll kill you in your sleep."
"OK" Alan replied, but I didn't understand what OK meant? It seems he noticed my confusion.
"OK is a form of expression, it means confirmation, I understand what you said."
I just nodded, wonder he also uses strange words, we continued traveling with me, walking beside him.
Rose's POV
Finally! We finally got there, my feet were killing me we got to the town of... of ... not knowing how to read sucks, can't read what's on the sign "Hey what's written there?" I said to Alan while pointing to the sign at the entrance to the city.
"Welcome to the city of Cagliamola, it feels Spanish."
Cagliamola, so that was the name of the city, and what the heck is Spanish? Never mind, we walked into town, it was smaller than Fool's March, but it seemed to be in better condition, the streets were cleaner, fewer beggars were begging for money in the streets, and people were thrown into alleys, I was pulled out of my thoughts by my stomach growling with hunger, I blushed in embarrassment.
"Hungry?" Alan asked, I nodded, "Let's see if there's anything to eat over there." He said as he pointed to a two-story building there was a sign on the door but I couldn't read what was written.
"El Poni Saltador, looks like a good place." I didn't question, I just followed him, we went inside, the place was an inn tavern, I could see at the bottom a counter with bottles and kegs of beer right behind, an old man was serving the customers, in the middle of the room there were tables with people eating, laughing and telling stories, as soon as we entered everyone was quiet, Alan and I walked towards a counter, as we walked everyone looked at us whispering.
Alan started talking to the man at the counter and I just overheard the conversation.
"Are you the owner?"
"Yeah, who wants to know?"
"My name is Alan and this is Rose, we would like to rent a room and meals."
"So young?"
"Hey, it's not what you're thinking!"
"That's what everyone says."
"I want separate beds!"
I sighed this was going to be a long conversation, while Alan argued with the man I walked around the room and sat at a corner table, finally I escaped that brothel, that hell, but what am I going to do now? I don't know how to do anything other than what I was taught in the brothel, well at least I'm not alone and if any problems happen I'll just let Alan take care of everything, I was taken out of my thoughts by someone calling my name, it wasn't Alan.
"Rose?"
Who was this man?
"It's me, Louis."
Louis? Louis? LOUIS! NO! NO! NO! He was one of the regular customers of the brothel, now that I've finally escaped from there he shows up, what does he want?
"What are you doing here Rose? Why aren't you at the brothel? Did you run away?" Shit! What should I say? The truth? Because I can't think of any lie he believes.
"You ran away, didn't you? The bosses must be after you, and you have nowhere to go, do you?" I didn't like the arrogant tone he was using, especially with the smile on his face.
"So I have a proposal for you, you come with me and help me with some jobs and in exchange, I take care of you, give you food, clothes, and a place to sleep, so what do you say?" He extended his hand to me while smiling, I didn't like the tone he used, he was hiding something.
"What job are you talking about exactly?" I asked, Louis, looked from side to side, probably checking to see if anyone was listening to us.
"You know I'm great at picking locks, but I'm not great at fighting, when I go into people's houses to get something of value sometimes they're still inside, that's where you come in, I need you to kill the owners of the houses if they're inside, it's very simple, I unlock the door, you kill the owners and we both take everything of value, so what do you say?" Kill! I've never killed anyone before, I don't know if I'm capable, going into people's houses, killing them and taking everything, it's not the life I want, all I wanted was a normal life, if I had to choose between him and keep traveling with Alan I prefer Alan, I had to decline the proposal.
"No, I refuse, I don't want to become an assassin!" I gave my answer now he had to go.
"A pity, but I'm not giving you a choice." Louis grabbed me by the arm and started trying to drag me out, I was about to scream for help but someone grabbed Louis' arm that was holding me, it was Alan.
"We're going to have a problem here?" Alan said in a serious tone as he squeezed Louis' arm.
"Let me go, she comes with me!" Louis yelled back, but I could see from his face that he was in a lot of pain.
"I don't think so, she's my traveling companion and she doesn't want to go with you." He started squeezing Louis' arm even tighter, I could hear the bone crackling.
"Let me go!" Louis screamed as he punched Alan in the face, he barely moved, and Alan squeezed Louis' arm even tighter so CRACK his arm was broken.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Louis screamed and Alan let go of his arm.
"You will pay for this!" Louis yelled as he ran outside.
"Are you okay?" Alan asked.
"Yes."
"Who was he?"
"His name is Louis, he was a client at the brothel where he worked."
"I see, is he going to be a problem?"
"I don't know." I looked around and the whole tavern was looking at us, well we weren't exactly discreet.
"What are you looking at? Do you want to be next?" Alan yelled then everyone looked away and went back to what they were doing.
"Well no need to keep thinking about it I'm hungry and tired by the way and I got a room with separate beds for the two of us and here comes our food." Alan said, and he was right, a woman was carrying two plates of food steaming out when I smelled it my mouth watered, I don't think I've ever had a decent meal in my life until now, the woman put the plates in ours forward and walked away I stared at the plate for a while, but was snapped out of my thoughts by Alan "Come on you can eat".
"Why?"
"Why…" He asked.
"Why are you being so nice to me, you don't know me, thanks to me you almost got stabbed and got into two fights, why are you helping me, could you have taken all the money and run?"
"Good question, why? I'm not going to give you a hero answer where I say it's the right thing to do or I can't stand by and see others in trouble, I don't even know why I helped you, I suppose in the end it was because you reminded me of someone."
"Who?" Who could I think of to make him help a person like me?
"My younger brother and sister, Nier and Yonah." He looked sad as he talked about them, but was that what he helped me with because I reminded him of his brothers?
"And where are they now?" Maybe I shouldn't have asked that, he got a sad look on his face.
"I hope they are safe at home, the place where we lived wasn't exactly pleasant." I solved my questions there.
"Look how about we stop this sad conversation otherwise our food will get cold I want to help you but I know you don't trust me fully so I'd like to be on good terms with you how about we start over as friends?" He reached out to me, I should accept, the last person I called a friend tried to kill me and if he tries the same, but if he wanted to hurt me he would have already done so, so far Alan has only helped me, he wants to know what the hell I have nothing to lose I shook your hand.
"Friends."
"Nice to meet you, Rose." He smiled at me.
"Nice to meet you, Alan." I smiled back.
As soon as I started eating I was starving, I wonder when was the last time I smiled for real, a genuine smile? It doesn't matter now, it seems like I made my first real friend and that makes me happy, when we finished eating we went to our room, it was a small room with two beds and a table with a chair in the corner, we lay down and went sleep, I think I will finally be able to start over, who knows I could finally have a normal life, have a family maybe.
How wrong I was that night, my past would return to ruin our lives, I was naive to think I deserved a normal life, I wonder when it all started to go wrong maybe it was the day I doomed my first friend, while I was in these ruins with Michael by my side, preparing to kill my sisters I wondered what Alan would think of me now? The decisions I made, the people I killed? He must be looking at me with disgust back in heaven.
UNKNOWN POV
On the roof of a house next to the tavern a girl with glasses was watching Rose and Alan sleeping, this girl had a huge suitcase beside her and was quickly flipping through a book.
"How is this possible! He has barely gotten to that branch and has already started to change it, what is he going to do with this branch to make it better? Worst? I can't tell if he's a threat or a blessing and I need to keep watching."
Soon in a 'flash' of light, the girl disappeared.
END OF THE CHAPTER