I was actually able to get this chapter finished early , so here you go !
And I feel like I should say beforehand , that this chapter a very very important character that I've been dying to have appear since the start of the entire story itself . And he's going to have some very interesting interactions with some characters .
Alright , I think I've said enough .
Let's get this chapter started !
Chapter 5 : Choosing Your Mark
Mein opens her eyes to find herself staring at the ceiling of the room , for some reason she had awoken during the night . This wasn't uncommon for her honestly , she routinely had problems sleeping due to nightmares . She sat up on her bed and-
That was when she realized that everything felt ... strange , even though everything looked the same , everything seemed - no felt different , like she wasn't in her own world anymore .
She grabbed her still sheathed sword and attached it to her hip and walked out the door of her room ... only to almost fall into a blue bottomless abyss below .
Mein almost screamed , as she fell forward , but not before a stony path quickly formed where her foot was placed saving her from falling . Mein catches her breath and looks around in a mixture of shock and befuddlement , when she thought she wasn't in her own world anymore ... she didn't actually think she would be right .
Looking around , she could see ... a mixture of nothing and everything , the world itself was a just this eerily blue place , with what looked to be chunks of her own world just floating in mid-air like castles , villages and even small patches of forest .
Am I ... dreaming ?
What is this ... cold ...?
She looks ahead of the stony path and sees that it leads her to somewhere , seeing as she didn't have anywhere else to go , she began to walk the path , albeit carefully with a hand on her sword at all times . As she walked , she couldn't help but look at the various things that filled this eerily blue place , she could see what looked to be the royal castle of Siltvelt in the distance , the Colosseum of Zeltoble and ... it may have just been her eyes playing tricks on her , but she could have sworn to see what looked like a whale swimming in the air as if it were the ocean .
What ...is this place ?
Mein turns her attention back to the stony path , as it reaches its end , suspending over what looks to be the castle gardens and there was a small white table and chairs as well . Mein knows the gardens of the castle quite well , she has had more than a few tea parties there , with her playmates than she could possibly remember .
Dropping down from the path to garden , Mein made sure to bend her knees to make sure she didn't hurt herself from the fall . She carefully approached the little table and chair set up there , it reminded her too much of her tea parties in her youth because of the tea set up there .
Where am I ...? Am I ...still in my own world ?
Suddenly in the blink of an eye , a young man appeared sitting in one of the chairs sipping tea . Mein jumped back a bit and put an even tighter grip on her sword , as she examined the young man . He looked no older than 20 maybe even younger , though he was rather ... plain looking , he wore a simple brown coat accompanied by a blue-grey pants and black boots . It took Mein almost a full minute to realize , that his eyes were the absolute blackest she had ever seen in her life .
Mein had to instinctively stop herself from gulping fearfully at who ...or what this person even is .
" Good evening , your highness , your life has taken quite a turn has it not ? You betrayed your dear father's plan to frame the Shield Hero , you made an absolute fool of your own father and whether you like it or not , you will play a very pivatol role in the days to come " The man calmly rested his tea cup on the coaster on the table " For this reason , I have chosen you and drawn you into this place ..."
" W-Who are you ?" Mein asked , keeping one hand on her sword handle , trying her best not to seem terrified out of her mind right now .
" I am the Outsider and I would like to personally welcome you to the Void "
Mein's eyes widened in realization , she should have recognized those black eyes of his , granted she has never been much of a student of the Three Heroes Churches teachings . The Outsider is what is known by the Church , as a god of mischief , one that sows dissent and destruction to the world ... or so the stories tell anyway . Stories about him have been told throughout the generations , he is commonly referred to by the church as simply the 'Outsider' or the Black Eyed Bastard by common folk .
A living god himself ... that did not ease any of Mein's worries or fears . But out of either pride or something else she can't describe , she forces herself to put on a brave front in the face of this ...thing .
So ... the question on her mind right about now is , why has he brought her here ?
" Why have you brought me here ?"
The Outsider answers her question , by gesturing to the seat in front of him , she looks at him for a moment before sitting down . The last thing she wanted to do was piss off a dark god .
"Believe it or not your highness , you will play a much more significant role in what's to come , with you working alongside the Shield Hero ... you can certainly expect your trials to be great " The Outsider takes another sip of his tea " And for that very reason , I have come to give you a gift ... "
Gift ? What could he possibly mean by -
Mein blink as she finally realized why she's here ...
" This is my Mark "
In the next instant , Mein is grasping her left hand in pain causing the tea that was offered to spill , as some strange mark starts to burn its way onto her skin .
God , it feels like its ... burning from within me !
The burning pain she feels on her hand stops and what remains is a very strange tattoo on her hand .
Mein could just barely hold back the shock she felt from this ... and it was not out of happiness .
Why ... why did this have to happen to me of all people ?
The Outsider's voice sounded distant as he started to talk once more " Congratulations Mein Sophie , you have officially become one of the Marked "
The Marked ...
The Agents of the Outsider himself ...
From what she remembers from her lessons back in her youth , due to their immense power , the Marked are widely considered to be the equals to the Legendary Heroes . Some scholars even say they can do anything the Heroes themselves can do . Now most people would probably be absolutely ecstatic over being granted powers that could rival the Heroes of Legends themselves ...
Unfortunately both Mein Sophie or Malty S Melromarc are not most people .
" Remove this Mark from me ... " Mein said almost quietly , barely holding back the anger she feels at this dark god . Who was still calmly sipping his tea , completely uncaring of her situation .
" I'm afraid I can't do that princess " Outsider calmly rests his teacup on the coaster , as he leans back in his chair " Once you're marked , you're stuck with that tattoo for life ...and possibly death but let's not get ahead of ourselves "
The Outsider's calm voice angered Mein even more , but she held it back down . Even she's not foolish enough to test the patience of a vastly more powerful entity .
" Now I would advise you to check your status "
My status ? What's wrong with it ?
Mein does as he instructs and checks her status to see what he means .
Mein Sophie
Level : 1
Class : None
Mein wasn't sure what he meant by checking her status , her equipment was the same , along with a list of her magic spells and level-
It is then , that Mein noticed that the number representing her level was not a proud 17 , but instead a single 1 laughing at her shocked face .
W-h-a-t ?
WHAT !? How is this possible !? I was level 17 just a moment ago ! Unless ...
"... What is the meaning of this ? Why is my level 1 again ?" Mein just barely keeps the anger she feels back in place of a more toned down version . But her voice is still laced with venom .
" Oh , that ... well when I gave you the Mark it automatically reverted your level and stats back to what they were when you were level 1 " The Outsider calm and unconcerned voice , only increased her anger .
This was simply beyond terrible ! She had worked extremely hard to get her level up ! Yes , it may be seen as a small achievement by veteran and experienced adventurers and knights , but reaching close to level 20 for her was a proud achievement that she wore on her shoulder .
" Can't you change it back ? " Mein's patience was starting to run thin with this strange being.
"Can't . Once your level has been reset to 1 than I can't change it back " The Outsider only smiles at her scowling face " But don't worry , an ability was instantly unlocked when I gave you the Mark should be more than enough compensation and a few other useful things "
" Your HUD should finally be adjusted to your vision right about now " The Outsiders speaks with such familiarity yet it only seeks to confuse Mein .
What in the name of Medea is HUD ? Does he mean her vision or status magic ?
The Outsiders sighs at Mein's confusion " Your Heads up Display "
Mein's face twists in confusion .
" Right now , your status has changed and added a few more items to the list right ? "
Mein didn't notice it at first , but he was indeed right , there are a few more selections in her status magic now .
Going from left to right , were Status , Items , Magic , Skill , Recipe , Party , Contract , Help .
Originally she only had access to status , magic , party , contract and help . What were Skill , Recipe and Items ?
She shrugged it off for now and redirected her attention to the small circle on the right side of her vision , inside of the small circle was what looked to be a sign pointing to the right .
Again Mein's face twist in confusion , unsure of what it was exactly when the Outsider spoke once more .
" That little circle on the right side of your vision is called Blink , its the skill you currently have selected at the moment . Blink gives you the ability for short range teleportation " The Outsider calmly takes another sip of his tea as he speaks .
Teleportation !?
Mein had heard from her magic teacher that there did exist a certain type of magic that allowed people to teleport to certain locations but ... from what she remembers from what her magic instructor told her , only heroes of old and the most elitist of the elite of magic users could perform it ,though there are a few scrolls in the vault of the royal castle of Melromarc that would allow a person to teleport to a preset location . For one time use only of course .
Nowadays teleportation magic has become long forgotten .
But here she is equipped with a skill that allows to do so ...
" Use that skill to come and find me... "
In the blink of an eye the Outsider disappears once more , leaving behind an astonished Mein .
Mein's face turns to one of annoyance .
What the hell is this , hide and seek ?
She remembers in her youth of playing hide and seek with her sister ... well , not by choice really , the brat had quite frankly annoyed her into playing with her and she had to comply or else she would get in trouble with mother for not playing with her dear little sister .
She pushed the memories of being hounded by her sister down as she walked through the garden .
Soon enough she reached the edge of the garden , looking down it appeared there was another stony platform just below . Mein wondered if she could simply drop down , but then realized that the height from the drop was pretty far so maybe ...
Mein looks at the tattoo on her hand and then back at the circle on the right side of her vision ...
I really don't want to use this but ... I have no other choice but to use it .
It was at that moment that she realized something very important ...
She had absolutely no clue on how to use this 'Blink' power .
The Outsider said it was for short range teleportation so ... does she just have to think about where she wants to blink to ?
She clenched her mark hand into a fist and it glowed red , as she focused on the stony platform beneath her , some kind of ... squashed red sphere appeared where her focus was .
She focuses in on it and in a second-
She feels a wind that doesn't exist in the world itself .
And she's now standing on the stony platform itself .
Mein lets out a gasped breath , the feeling of teleportation was very ...strange to say the least .
" Damn ..." Mein looked at her marked hand in a mixture of amazement and anger .
Mein clenches her fist and the mark glows once more , as more stony platforms rise a few meters away from her . She focused the target of her next blink and used the skill .
As Mein 'blinks' through the Void and onto the stony platforms , she notices that there was an extra bar below her MP bar that wasn't there before . It seemed to get a little lower each time she used Blink , Mein figured out that it was her SP bar based on her status screen from before . Mein remembers in her history lesson of heroes of old and on how only heroes had skill points or SP for short , it felt ... weird that she had this extra bar now and all these strange new abilities .
Its not like she had a choice to begin with ...
Finally she reaches a stony platform with some kind of strange shrine on it .
Mein deduces that this is some kind shrine dedicated to the Outsider , she recalls back to sometimes reading reports of followers of the Outsider being arrested or a shrine being destroyed after it was found by the knights . Mein carefully approaches it and sees some strange ... artifact set on it , and it may have just been her imagination but ... the artifact seemed to be drawn to her .
She picked it up and inspected it , for some reason it felt ... natural . As if she could hear it speaking to her .
Its like its ...calling to me .
In another second , the Outsider appeared once more out of thin air , surprising Malty by making her jump back slightly and almost dropping the strange item in her hand .
It took everything she had to not scream at this dark god for almost scaring her half to death .
The Outsider only mildly chuckles at her jump " Sorry if I scared you there princess , but its how I get around this place so quickly , don't worry you'll get used to it soon enough "
Mein held back the urge to yell at him , instead she directs her attention to the strange item in her hand " What is this ?"
" Those are ancient runes , they can be used to upgrade your powers or gain new ones entirely "
" To answer your question , first I would like you to first consume the rune " The Outsider says , as if she suddenly understand what he speaks of .
" Consume it ? Consume it how ? " Mein looked at the rune and the Mark on her hand , this was not like the Legendary Weapons which had gems imbued onto them , which allows them to simply insert materials into them to unlock new weapons .
Am I supposed to ... insert it into the Mark ?
The Outsider lets out a sigh as places to fingers to his temple " Before you have any stupid ideas about actually inserting it into your Mark , try aligning it with your Mark with the one inscribed onto the rune "
Mein wasn't sure whether he was reading her mind or just guessing what she was thinking but either way she felt a little unsure of whether this god spoke the truth or not , but she placed her mark over the rune as he instructed .
She starts to feel something ... powerful , coming from the Mark itself as it glows with the rune .
Mein's eyes widen as the entire rune starts to turn to dust itself , as the dust of the rune flows into the Mark , she feels something powerful inside of her ...
I can feel its power ...
In a few seconds , Mein receives a notification about a new skill she has .
Dark Vision
Allows the user to see living beings through walls
Passive Effect: Improves Night Vision
Mein couldn't stop herself from feeling surprised by this , the ability to see through walls ? This was simply unreal ! She could not -
"If you are done feeling amazed at your new skill , can we please get this over with ?" The Outsider interrupts her train of thought which Mein turns to him with a slightly annoyed expression .
Before Mein could actually say something about it , the Outsider cuts her off once more " Anyway , take this " Some kind of strange object ... very difficult to properly describe appeared in the Outsider's hand , it looked to be made out of skin and flesh , Mein almost gagged at the sight of it " The Heart of a Living Thing , this will help you locate the runes of the world once you come within 50 meters of one or more runes and will tell you the secrets of places and people on occasion "
Without any warning he threw the heart at Mein , who with a shriek somehow managed to catch it . Mein had to hold herself back from throwing up what she had ate for dinner , the damn thing felt like real flesh and ... it beat like an actual heart .
Without thinking , Mein clenched the heart ... and heard a strange voice .
" I ... I don't know you ... but you are familiar to me "
A strange womanly voice that only Mein could hear seemed to come out of the Heart .
" What the hell is this thing ? " Mein asked the Outsider with a mildly horrified expression .
" Don't worry about it , just use it whenever you need to learn secrets of places or people " Outsider shrugged her off " Also if you want to absorb materials like the Heroes than just focus on absorbing the material and it'll work . Same thing with runes if you want to upgrade your powers . Just absorb the rune and you can find them in your inventory to upgrade your powers. You'll figure it out "
Wait , what ?
" And now I return you to your world , but know that I will be watching with great interest " The Outsider simply crosses his arms at her , as she examines the Mark on her hand .
" Oh and by the way , 9 in the morning " The Outsider says out of the blue
Mein looks at him confused " What ?"
" That's the time your hero is going to wake up , suggest you get a move on "
And like that the Outsider disappeared and Mein's world was plunged into darkness once more .
Mein's shot up from her bed like a bolt firing from a crossbow gasping for breath . She looked to around the room to confirm that she is no longer stuck in that eerily blue cold place .
Everything seemed ... normal , like she was finally back in her world . She gets up from her bed and looks out the window , to pleasantly see no blue void outside , she even opened her rooms door to check outside to make sure there was no sudden drops waiting for her .
She walked back to the window , as moonlight illuminated her face , as she thought about what had just happened ... or what may have happened , there was still a chance what she experienced was hopefully nothing more than just a very bad dream .
Was any of that ... real ? Did I really go to the Void ? And meet the very god that the Three Heroes Church and so many other Churches condemn ? Or was it all just a dream that seemed way too real ?
Too many questions plagued the red princess's mind , but there was one question in particular that stood out among the rest .
Did I really become one of the Agents of the Outsider ?
Mein lifts a hand to her chin ... only to stop partway , as she finally noticed a tattoo on her hand , mocking her for ever hoping for not even being there to begin with .
Oh heroes of old why ...
She looks at the top left corner of her vision , to see her brand new SP bar still there .
Why me of all people ...?
She could still see the 2 new icons on the bottom right side of her vision , along with the fact that she still had the Blink skill equipped ..
Is this my punishment for whatever sins I've committed in a past life ?
On her dresser , was that ... thing . The Heart of a Living Thing , beating away .
And finally ... next to her name at the top of her 3 main bars , she could see that her level was nothing more than a measly 1 .
Why am I cursed with such misfortune ?
At that moment , Mein Sophie had to hold back the urge to scream bloody murder , for she felt the overwhelming urge to .
However she bit her tongue , almost literally to stop herself from waking up the whole damn inn . As much as she hated her current predicament , she could not allow Naofumi to find out about it , him of all people , mainly due to his status as a Legendary Hero .
She thinks back to her history lessons of old , about the Marked and the Legendary Heroes . According to what she remembers learning , the Marked and the Legendary Heroes are sworn enemies to each other , due to the Marked being considered the equals to the Legendary Heroes , they are considered to be a threat to the Heroes .
This is quite worrying , if Naofumi were to find her out as one of the Marked ... well than that would be it for her plan of reclaiming the Throne , the Marked are heretics in the eyes of the Three Heroes Church and being found out as such would make any chance of succession completely null . Mein wonders if Naofumi will immediately turn on her as soon as he finds out , while she quite frankly doubts Naofumi could actually kill her with his low attack stat , if he were to report her to the other heroes or worse the Church that would be it for her .
Though it would serve as a cruel irony for the Church , having their supposed Devil bring in a heretic ...
But refocusing on Naofumi ... she's not sure if he'll instinctively know that she is an enemy as soon as he finds her out or he'll need somebody to actually tell him the Marked are his enemies . And even if she somehow manages to sway Naofumi to her side under the pretense of his gratitude towards her for saving him during the trial , who's to say one of the other heroes won't find out and try to kill her ?
Mein's closes her eyes , as she compiles all the information she has brought up and comes to a conclusion .
It's settled then , the only thing she can do is to keep her status as the Marked a secret for as long as possible , she'll take it to the grave if she has to !
Mein scowls at the tattoo on her hand , she isn't gonna let some stupid dark god get in the way of her plans .
For some reason the Marked glowed dimly , as if it heard her internal debate .
Mein redirects her attention now to her level problem at the moment , this is quite troubling , Naofumi knows for certain after he partied up with her today that her level was 17 and even she doubts she could lie to him about how her level somehow reverted back to 1 . The Shield Hero may be mildly naive , but he certainly wasn't stupid for that matter , in fact he was quite intelligent and perceptive .
Mein sat down on her bed once more , thinking about what to do , she toils around with many different ideas and how they could potentially play out in her head . Around 10 minutes pass , before she finally comes up with an idea ... but it is one that is none too pleasant .
The only way to keep Naofumi from knowing about her level and the Mark at this moment ... is to actually get her level back up to 17 again .
As much as Mein hates the idea of going out at night to fight monsters in the plains alone like a crazed lunatic , she has but no other choice but too , before Naofumi wakes u-
A realization suddenly hits Mein like a brick .
Is this ... what the Outsider meant when he told her that Naofumi was going to wake at 9 ? While she has no real way of knowing whether he speaks the truth or not , for now she'll have to take him at his word . And if his word is anything to go by ... she's running out of time .
Before she can leave though , she realizes the single gigantic glaring flaw in her plan , is that she and Naofumi are party , which means every enemy she kills he'll get exp as well . If Mein goes out there to hunt monsters until her level is 17 again , Naofumi's level will rise as well overnight from her hunting even if he's asleep and when he wakes up and finds that his level has risen overnight , he is certain to start asking questions that she won't be able to properly answer .
Mein wonders if she can leave his party temporarily and come up with some excuse for why she left his party momentarily ? No , Naofumi is certain to suspect something is wrong , the second she leaves his party . As Mein ponders the situation and her options , her eye eventually falls on the icon with the words 'Party ' underneath it .
Unless ...
Mein opens up the icon and sees the system for it and a bunch of different options for the party .
She opens up the option for 'Leveling Parameters ' and sees that the exp gain is set to 50-50 between everybody in the party , which is pretty much just her and Naofumi .
Alright ... now I just need to set this to divert all exp claimed by the party solely to me and disable all notifications for exp claims .
She changes the 50-50 , to a solid 100-0 for her alone , she'll have to change it back to 50-50 when she gets back .
Okay , time to get going .
She grabs her sword , cloak , veil and other things and quietly opens the window to look down at the alley below it , she should consider herself lucky that Naofumi got her a room on the 1st floor instead of at the top .
Without another thought , she leaps out of the window and down onto stony alley , bending her knees and grunting a bit from the impact but luckily she was unhurt .
Pulling her hood over her beautiful red hair and raising the black veil to cover her face , she takes off in the night towards the plains .
She wisely decided to keep her head down as much as possible , as she passed through the capital gates , she didn't want to get recognized or stopped by any of the knights stationed there . Fortunately , the knights seem to be to asleep to actually notice her pass , she really needs to tell father to hire knights who are better at their jobs , than these sorry pathetic excuses for knights that are supposed to be the fine soldiers of the nation .
A sudden burst of thunder made her look up to see the clouds moving and more thunder following after it , it made her scowl underneath her veil .
Fighting at night in the rain ... great , simply amazing .
She pulled the hood further over her head as the first drops of rain started to come down on her .
By the time she finally made it back to the grassy plains , the rain was already coming down hard and in full force as well , Mein grit her teeth and ignored the cold of the freezing rain as she pops the first balloon to jump at her with a simple slash of her sword .
Many more balloons start coming her way , she readied her sword as they approached , confident in her -
CHOMP !
"AGH !" Mein couldn't hold back the scream that came from the sudden pain she felt in her left leg , she looks to see an orange balloon biting down on her skin , even though they were supposedly the weakest monster in existence , they still hurt like hell !
She quickly ripped the balloon from her leg and threw at one of the oncoming balloons that were headed her way .
Pop ! Pop ! Pop !
" Die you stupid balloons ! " Mein yelled at them as if trying to incite some sort of fear within them , yet they just kept coming .
Pop ! Pop !
More balloons just kept on coming , of different variants of course , the red and yellow ones seemed to give her more exp than the orange ones .
Not like it mattered much anyway , they were all going to die .
Pop ! Pop ! Pop !
Fighting in the rain like this ... how she imagines her mother , nobility and servants alike would be laughing at her misfortune . How the Proud First Princess of Melromarc , Second in Line to the Throne , fights in the freezing rain like a common sell sword .
Damn them all to hell ...
She doesn't know how , but she can still remember the whispers of servants , nobility and knights alike , talking about her and Melty when they think no one is listening .
Pop ! Pop !
" Melty is really improving ! I saw just earlier today the young princess , demolish the targets in her sights with a single aqua spell ! It's no wonder she is the heir to the Throne ! " A knight boasts of Melty's accomplishments to his comrades
'In comparison to her older sister , anyway ...'
Ever since the day her brat of a sister came into the world , people started having doubts about the First Princess ...
By the time she was 6 and memorizing the entire history of Melromarc and the Church , people were outright looking down on her .
The humiliation of living in the shadow of somebody so much younger than her ... it ignited a rage like no other .
Pop ! Pop ! Pop !
" It's no secret that the second princess is in line to the Throne , while it is officially said that an heir has not been chosen as of yet , it's not a secret that the Queen gave up on the first princess long ago . Why else have a second child to begin with , if the first wasn't such a failure ? "
Pop ! Pop ! Pop !
" You disappoint me Malty ... you disappoint me ..."
Her memories of her childhood fueling her rage , she hacks through all the balloons as if she were some violent beast .
Rather fitting as she let out a cry that could only be described as inhuman as she charged the next batch of balloons in her sight.
For what felt like around 4 straight hours of monster killing later , she had finally hit level 10 again , but she had to completely massacre the entire community of balloons , mush and anything else that was stupid to get close to her to do it . She took cover underneath a big tree that provided a little cover from the rain , as she needed a moment to catch her breath and get her bearings .
Oh how if father could see her now , his daughter being the companion to the supposed Devil himself , fighting in the rain like a common low life adventurer .
She's taking this to her grave if she must , she would sooner die than give any of those nobles a chance to mock her or potentially use it to jab at her in regular conversation .
Sitting down she pulls up her status to get a look at how far she's come .
Mein Sophie
Level : 10
Class : None
She places a hand to her chin in thought , her stats were a pretty decent amount , although from some unexplained reason her agility stat was much higher than anything else . Even when she was at level 1 , that one particular stat was still exceedingly higher than everything else . Which was weird considering most people at level one have stats ranging between 10 to 20 .
But my defense stat is trash ...
She briefly wonders if this is how the Shield Hero feels about his inhumanely high defense stat and low attack stat .
Mein let out a sigh , she still had 7 more levels to grind ...
She casted a glance at her Mark and Blink power that was still selected .
The more she uses it , the more likely she is to slowly start to get comfortable with it , which is quite literally the LAST thing she wants .
The tattoo on her hand glows dimly as if it knows what she is thinking ...
I'm not going to use you ! I know what you do to people , who use you !
Her internal conflict is cut short however , when the sound of something large came from within the forest interrupts her thoughts .
What the ...
Standing up and looking into the forest , she sees something she was not prepared to see ...
A group of undead all armed with jagged swords and spears , are walking her way , with a hulking undead golem behind them.
Mein couldn't hold back the gasp , she let out which of course alerted the undead of her presence .
As she stared at them her HUD suddenly activated and appraised them .
Undead Golem , Level 14
The health bars for each of the undead , appeared above their heads as well as their levels . Though Mein was hardly focusing on that as they started making their way towards her .
Mein's heart rate heightened , her legs trembled a little and she felt a tinge of fear drip into her heart . She should run , she probably would be able to with her high agility but ...
If you run away from every enemy you face , you're never going to have the courage to fight an even stronger opponent that doesn't give you the luxury of running away .
Mein remembered hearing those words from so long ago ... those words giving her courage once upon a time .
So despite the fear eating at her from the deepest parts of her stomach , Mein stood her ground as she pulled out her sword and assessed the enemies in front of her .
5 undead in total , 3 wielding curved swords , one spearman and of course a hulking golem on top of them .
Should handle the small fry first , than I focus all my attention on the big one .
With that plan in mind , Mein quickly moved forward with speed , even she didn't know she possessed and with a single slash of her sword , she completely decapitates the first undead and quickly cuts down his undead brethren .
Mein wasn't able to move out of the way in time as the spearman thrusts forward . The undead abomination isn't able to land a direct hit , but he manages to cut her right arm .
"Fuck ! " Mein hisses in pain as she jumps as back , clutching her arm .
Mein removes her hand to take a quick look at the wound , it isn't that deep a cut , she'll live ... hopefully .
She barely had time to recover when both the undead swordman and spearman attacked her at the same time , she managed to dodge their attacks ... barely .
It kept going on until her back was to the golem and the two undead were in front of her , they got me surrounded ...
All in the blink of an eye , the golem raised its giant axe at her as the two undead charged once more at her ...
At that moment , it felt as though time had slowed down for her as she could view every possible way this could end for her ...
All of them ended in death ...
Is this how the proud First Princess of glorious Melromarc dies ? Killed by a pack of disgusting undead in the freezing rain ? With her corpse than being used to feed the very monsters that killed her ?
The mark on the hand glows brightly , as if telling - No screaming at her to use it .
Goddamnit ...
Aiming her Blink right above the two undead , she blinks right above them and lands a drop stab attack on the undead's head , using its body to break her fall . She slashes at the side of the last regular undead and with a single swipe of her blade , it crumples into dust .
Now her Mark was in full force glowing and reddish smoke started coming out of it .
I can't die ... I will not die here !
Running at the golem with renewed determination , this being an undead golem with a higher level than hers , she uses her extra agility to her advantage , slashing at the golem multiple times before it even had the chance to react . After a couple dozen slashes , she sees that its down to its last few points of HP .
With a confident smile on her face ,she aims her blink directly at its head as she raises her sword . The moment she blinks , she brings her sword down on its head , causing blood to gush out of it as she lands gracefully on the soft grass .
Mein breathes in heavily , as the rain continues to pour down on her hard . She looks at the Mark , as it still continues to glow and smoke comes out of it . She momentarily looks back at the undead bodies ... or what is left of them .
A notification pops up telling her that she has reached level 14 now . It seems that golem and these undead were worth quite a bit of exp .
As much as she hated to admit it ... if she hadn't used the Mark than she most likely would have died or worse be used as food for the undead .
She clenches her fist , as deep within her heart , she makes a self declaration to herself , as she walked to undead golems body .
No matter how much I hate using this power ... it is the only way for me to survive !
In this world where only the strong and the smartest prevail ...
I will need to make use of everything I can !
She placed her hand atop of it as she focused on absorbing the golem , as expected the entire body turned to dust and it was absorbed into the Mark .
She receives a notification on her HUD about what new power she had unlocked .
Enhancement Unlocked !
Fallen Golem
Increased Damage Dealt with Axes ( Small )
Increased damage with axes ? Not very useful , but she'll take it ...
She'll take whatever she can get to become stronger .
Her mind comes back to her mother , the nobility , the knights , the servants ...
Every single person in her life that has ever looked down on her ...
She will show them all ! And make them all regret ever looking down on her !
Mein looks at the remains of balloons and other monsters she has killed along the way
She's still got a lot of absorbing and work to do .
Enhancement Unlocked !
Orange Hater
Increased Damage to Orange Balloons ( Medium )
"Tch ! Useless ..."
Mein grit her teeth as she unlocked yet another useless enhancement ...
Why couldn't she get anything useful ? Like the ability to turn invisible or throw a gigantic ball of fire or something !?
She had just spent the last few hours absorbing a bunch of different monsters while grinding her level back up to 17 , as well as other seemingly useless items such as rocks or grass . While she had her doubts at first , she supposed it certainly didn't hurt to try to absorb other materials outside of monster parts .
And it wasn't like she was getting any good skills or enhancements from the monsters around the grassy plains anyway ...
The balloons she absorbed only gave her an enhancement that increased damage against them .
Great ! Now I'm officially the worlds greatest balloon killer !
She moved deeper inside the forest to scour for other materials to absorb , at this point she didn't even care if it was going to be useful in battle or not , she just wanted it to be useful .
As she walked past a tree and approached a small pond , she noticed some strange plants growing by the tree . Upon closer inspection , it was just as she has suspected , the Aelo Leaf .
Mein plucked a leaf from one of the plants and absorbed it and let it flow into her mark .
Enhancement Unlocked !
Aelo's Blessing
Foraging 1 +
Foraging 1 + ? What the hell does that do ?
Mein looks to the Aelo plants in front of her and wonders .
Maybe , it works like Naofumi's Leaf Shield ?
She plucks one of them and her Mark glowed dimly as the plant did as well , and in the next instant she received a notification on the bottom left side of her HUD .
Aelo Leaf (Quality: Normal - Good)
Mein's eyes widened in surprise , it really improved the quality of the plant by that much ?!
She smiled a bit at this , finally she had unlocked something useful ...
Mein decided to wait underneath a big tree to give herself a moment to think and get her head together , she also wanted to use this time to fully understand what all those other icons do and can do for her . Though she ignored Status ,Magic , Contract ,Party and Help since she had already knew what they did for her , so all she had to check out were Items , Recipe , Skills .
She started with Items , admittedly she wasn't expecting much if she was being honest , but after opening it up and browsing through it , one of the options caught her eye . It was labelled ' Inventory ' , she didn't know what it meant at first , but after a quick check with the 'Help' she discovered that this gave her the ability to store items in it !
This was an extremely valuable ability that she had observed Naofumi using earlier and now she has it too .
She also discovered from the 'Help' , that she could access something called ... 'drops' through the Items system . Once again , having to check with the Help for information , she discovered that some monsters had ... drop items , such as armor , equipment and other useful items . Though she could only obtain these drops , if she were to actual absorb the monster itself , and according to the Help even if she has already absorbed and unlocked a skill or enhancement from a different monster of the same type , she won't unlock any new abilities from it but she will obtain its drops . She found it very weird at the idea that a dragon or griffin could 'drop' as this system puts it , armor and equipment , where would they even store such items ?
She checked out the Recipe icon next , opening it up , she finds 3 different options , upon inspecting them , Mein discovers that they are all recipes for potions .
Now this is interesting ...
Checking with the 'Help' , Mein discovers that the Recipe icon , refers to some of kind crafting ability and the list of recipes that she knows . It would appear that as long as she knows the recipe and has the ingredients at her disposal to make a certain item , she could create it using the Mark . Though the Help warned her , that the quality of the item will always be normal , no matter how high level ingredients are used to make it .
An interesting ability , she has to say .
After checking with the 'Help' she found that her skills were divided into two categories : active and passive . It would seem that active powers would be called skills while passives were called enhancements . The latter seemed to be active at all times without the need for any activation or SP , while the former required both of them .
Checking her new Skill tree to do a quick check , she sees the only skills and enhancements she had at her disposal that she would consider actually useful were Blink, Dark Vision and of course Aelo's Blessing...
Looking to the sky , she had noticed the rain , had finally started to let up , though that was only because it was nearing dawn .
Focusing on her clock at the top right corner of her vision , it told her it would be 7 AM soon enough .
She stores the balloon skins away for now , she decided it was wise to take it with her since it would be a waste to leave all this loot behind .
And just like that , Mein left the grassy plains behind .
Mein kept her head down as she passed the gates of the capital , fortunately for her , the still pouring rain provided cover and hid her face . And the guards by the gate looked more concerned about keeping themselves dry than making sure nobody dangerous entered the capital .
Not that it would really matter since any of the elite espionage squads from any of the rival countries would easily be able to slip past them without them even knowing about it .
Or literally anyone with a high enough stealth ability.
There were days when Mein seriously questioned how well trained the Order of the Knights Melromarc really were ...
She swears , one day when she's queen , she's going to raise the standards for recruitment for the Order . Thinking about it more , anybody with a big enough coin purse or the right connections can become a knight nowadays , even noble children who are second or third in line to inheritance tend to join the Order since the chance of them inheriting ... anything is quite slim .
What was she even thinking about to begin with ?
She walks back to the store where she and Naofumi had sold their balloon skins the day before . Mein silently hoped that it was open since most of the stores in Castletown , only opened around 8 to 9 in the morning , though there are a few store owners who open up shop extra early to catch the early birds of the morning .
Her hope was not in vain however , as she approached the store , the man had looked to just finish opening .
" Welcome miss , what can I do for you ?" The same fat man from yesterday greeted her .
Mein didn't say anything instead she simply placed the balled up balloon skins on the counter . The merchant seemed to be surprised to see that many balloon skins , reasonable she supposes , not many people come around selling this many skins in one day .
" How much for all them ?" Mein kept her voice as monotone as possible , she didn't want him picking up that she was the Shield Hero's companion .
The man picked up a few of the balloon skins and counted them " Huh ... orange balloons are they ? I think there are quite a few red and yellow skins here as well " The fat pig looked up to Mein with a sneer " Damn miss , there's gotta be at least 40 of them by my count , what did you spend all night fighting balloons ? "
Mein flinched behind her veil , trying her hardest not to let it show in her eyes " Something like that , how much for all of them ?"
" How does 10 coppers for the entire lot sound , kid ?"
Mein grit her teeth , while she herself is certainly no expert on the market price for balloons , it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this pig was trying to rip her off " That's only two-fifth of what they are really worth , the red and yellow balloons are certainly much more valuable than the orange ones " Mein didn't even bother trying to keep the anger out of her voice , but the pig just continued to sneer at her .
" Are they now ...? I'm not sure to sure, you have to understand miss , I do have a business to run and- "
" Is that so ?"
Mein grabbed the pig by his head and slammed it down on the counter with tremendous strength , she also took her knife out and slammed it down next to his head just inches from the pig's face .
" Listen to me , you money grubbing scumbag , I did not just spent the entire night fighting in the fucking rain just to be ripped off by a pig who refuses to do business fairly " Mein's voice is low , but the pig can tell her murderous intent and anger , which makes him whimper a bit in terror .
" I'm not gonna ask for a higher price , all I want is a fair deal , got it ?" She released the man's head , but kept a hand to his collar , to see his terrified face .
" Y-Yes miss ! So sorry ! " The pig sputters out words of apologies , as she let him go .
" U-Um ... how does 40 coppers and 5 silvers sound ? "
"Deal ..." Mein smirked behind the veil as he handed her the money . She thinks she's starting to like this veil and hood . She didn't even notice it before , but the veil seems to muffle her voice making it difficult to discern it from her real voice .
" Oh and by the way , if you even think about trying to rip off the Shield Hero the next time he comes by here ... " She purposefully keeps her voice low to frighten the man " Your entire store burning to the ground , will be the LEAST of your worries , got it ? "
"Y-y-yes miss ! Of course ! " The pig fidgets a bit in fear , fear clear on his face " I-is there anything else you need miss ?"
Mein looked at the Mark on her hand momentarily before turning back to him .
" You got any gloves for sale ?"
Adjusting her new leather brown gloves on her hand to make them feel a little bit more comfortable . She knew she needed to cover up her hands , so people wouldn't see the Mark , fortunately that pig merchant had a pair just her size .
By the time she got back to the alleyway , she dropped down from her room , the rain had finally stopped and the first lights of day were beginning to shine . She used blink and climbed back into her room from the window .
Guess these skills are useful for something ...
Mein took off her wet cloak and veil , they were mostly soaked from the rain , while the rest of her outfit was relatively saved from the rain .
Mein pocketed the coins she made from selling the balloon skins , you never knew when you may need some backup money .
She pulled out one of the copper coins and at that moment , her Mark started glowing and it wasn't glowing dimly , it was almost as if it was ... telling her to absorb it .
Mein pondered it for a second , before she absorbed the copper coin .
Skill Unlocked !
Appraisal
Allows the user to judge the quality of an item .
(Upgrade Requirements : Silver Coin )
The ability to judge the quality of items ? Should be useful , with Naofumi's reputation in the country , of being the supposed 'Devil of the Shield ' , its not unlikely that many people in this country would attempt to sell them faulty equipment or bad potions .
She tests her Appraisal skill out on her sword .
" Appraisal "
Iron Sword
Quality : Normal
With this ability , she should be able to avoid all of that entirely .
She takes out a silver coin and absorbs it , she didn't want to waste her time , searching for runes to upgrade this skill , and she fortunately had a few in her possession when she threatened that merchant earlier .
Appraisal (Tier II)
Allows the user to read the effects and stats of items such as weapon , potions , etc .
(Upgrade Requirements : Gold Coin )
Tier II ? This must be the upgraded version of that skill , now the requirements to upgrade it to the next tier is a whole gold coin but ...
Mein isn't entirely sure if its worth sacrificing an entire gold coin just to see the upgrade version of an appraisal type skill .
After some back and forth in her mind , she decided why not and reluctantly absorbs the gold coin .
Appraisal (Tier III)
Allows the user to read the resistances , stats , drops, elements and other info on an enemy .
Mein looked mildly impressed at what this upgrade brought her , enough to put a small smile on her face . This should be pretty useful in battle , after all fighting and killing your opponent is only half the battle , knowing your enemies weaknesses and strengths were the other half . With this skill , she would be able to come up with certain strategies on how to kill enemies .
But that's enough absorbing for the night or early morning , its about damn time she gets some sleep .
And so she finally falls onto her bed , she doesn't even care if it isn't half as comfy as her bed back at the palace , she just enjoys the softness of it .
Unfortunately for her a knock at her door cuts her off , before she can even fully fall asleep .
She gets begrudgingly and opens it slightly , readily prepared to yell at whoever is out there .
"Oh , good morning Mein ! I'm sorry if I was interrupting your sleep " The bright smile of Naofumi standing in front of her door , cuts her off before she can say anything remotely insulting .
" Its fine , Naofumi , what is it ? " Mein just barely manages to stifle a yawn that was rising in her throat , keeping her body hidden to hide her wetness.
" I was thinking , that after breakfast , we should go grind some levels a little bit early " Naofumi smiles at her , completely unaware of the twitching of her eye .
" Of course Naofumi , that sounds like a great idea ... just uh ... please give me a moment to get ready ..." Mein's voice comes off more as a plea than a request to be honest .
After her little night fight , Mein isn't even entirely sure if she'll be able to even wave her sword around or even just poke at balloons until they pop .
" Hey Mein ... are you okay ?" Naofumi's looks at her concerned over his companion .
"Y-Yes Naofumi ... I'm perfectly okay " Mein tries to keep her voice steady , but its difficult when she's trying to fight off fatigue and sleepiness at the same time .
"Then why do you looks so tired ? And you look awfully weak today , are you sure you're okay ?" Naofumi presses forward with his perception of her condition.
An idea comes to mind , which forces her to hold back a smug grin on her face .
" To be honest Naofumi , I really didn't manage to get much sleep last night , I was quite troubled by these nightmares I was having all last night " Mein doesn't keep any of the fatigue or tiredness out of her voice , making Naofumi look even more worried for her " Listen Naofumi , I know this is quite a selfish request , but could we perhaps take the morning to rest ? I'm not sure if I'll be able to fight properly today without any sleep "
" Say no more Mein , take as long as you need "
If Mein wasn't so sleep deprived , she would take this opportunity to give a small kiss on the cheek , but even the simple task of standing up is an uphill battle for her .
" Thank you so much Naofumi " Mein closes the door on Naofumi , as he walks away , once she is certain that he is out of earshot , she walks over to the bed and lies down on it once more .
Before she lets the joy of sleep take her completely , her mind wanders back to her childhood .
" Be careful not to overwork yourself kid , if you keep fighting day and night than eventually you're going to wear yourself out "
That saying could not ring more true as Mein was out like a light from a candle .
And finally our star has finally made his appearance ! I hope you all enjoyed Outsider's big debut in this story and of course Mein acquiring his Mark .
I didn't name this story Dishonored Princess for nothing you know .
:P
Let's say that some stuff will be changing in the future of this fic . That is all I'm going to say about that .
With that said , see you all in the next one .
Angel Out .