A/N: Sorry for the lack of chapters, was buying parts and fixing up my pc.
*
The outskirts were surprisingly modest, Michael expected them to look similar to Vivum, yet they were nowhere close to his expectations.
There were wooden cabins and a bunch of people walking all around, the village and the city were not that far apart in that matter, it was incredibly lively.
Michael looked over to Kevin who had been sleeping this entire ride, he expected to get some answers, yet was not able to do so without acting suspicious around others.
He didn’t want any bad rumors starting.
Michael didn’t know how he was his so proclaimed friend in the past..or the future? He didn’t quite understand how this time stuff worked yet.
How could he be any different from the past Michael that Kevin knew?
It didn’t seem like he was lying, but the story did not add up at all.
‘What is this time paradox bullshit’
The car finally stopped, everyone got out and gathered together in their own premade groups.
Lena had given each person a note with a number written on it, that was how the groups were determined.
Michael of course didn’t get anything, he was supposed to just lay back and not do anything at all.
Guess your wish of being lazy is being fulfilled congratulations.
‘Lazy? You think I want to be lazy? There is literally nothing for me to do’ Michael shot back at the system, not realizing it was just toying with him.
The usual excuse, not surprising.
‘Kindly fuck off’ Michael said and walked in a random direction, Lena told him he could do anything he wanted as long as it was not helping the others.
As his steps turned many, he eventually arrived in front of an inn, it seemed he instinctually came here.
Michael looked at the inn with a sour expression and walked inside.
Looking around, he saw only a handful of people, however, they were all a bunch of drunkards.
That made Michael’s expression worsen further, he was reminded of himself after the incident happened.
The bartender noticed Michael and seemed slightly surprised, it was not every day someone so young stumbles inside of an inn with such a reputation.
“What would you like young man?”
Michael sat down and acted like himself, he didn’t see the need of putting up his Saintly facade this far away from the city.
“Could you tell me a little bit about this village?”
The bartender flashed an understanding look “You are not from around here, are you? You must be one of the awakened we called in for help, thank you very much for coming” He added with a touch of gratitude and continued.
“As you may already know, due to the sheer amount of villages that exist, we are referred to by numbers, our village is numbered 362.”
Michael simply nodded, he did hear about it but thought it was a joke, it seemed a bit inhumane, treating villages like some sort of plantations, at least it seemed like that anyway.
“Our village is known for our farmers, due to the environment the people were born in, most awakened with the skills to grow crops, even enhance them.” The bartender explained with great pride.
“However, at some point monsters flocked to our small village, destroying the crops we worked so hard to plant. It was strange because they never attacked the people, they merely acted as an inconvenience”
“Some awakened that did have some fighting capabilities fought with them, even killed a few. Though as they killed and killed, the numbers did not decrease, in fact, they increased greatly”
“For every monster slain, a couple more appeared, the same pattern continues even till this day, yet no one knows why”
‘Bears don’t sound like a passive bunch, yet they do not attack anyone and only steal crops? Really?’ Michael found it a bit hard to believe, but it would seem counterproductive to lie.
“I see, is there anything I could help with? I am separated from the other groups, I am also a tad bit stronger than them” He tried squeezing out any kind of task he could, he really was that bored.
The bartender looked to be in thought for a moment “Well there is something” He gestured for Michael to get closer.
“You see, there is another issue that is not related to monsters, there are a few bandits hiding away somewhere in the forest. They attack merchants entering and leaving the village” He whispered.
‘Feels just like my mercenary days’ Michael chuckled inwardly. He understood where this conversation was going.
“So you want me to kill them?”
The atmosphere suddenly became quiet, the drunkards from before stopped laughing and looked towards Michael and the bartender.
“Yes, I want you to kill them” The bartender replied, a small smile creeping up his face.
Creepy.
‘It’s natural’ Michael sighed. Once a certain point of desperation has been reached, a person only sees one path, that being to get rid of the problem, roots and all.
“Alright” Michael replied and stood up, walking out of the inn.
The drunkards acknowledged him with nods, not like he wanted their approval anyway.
He expected some kind of a secret bear hunting request, bandits were not something on his agenda, but regardless, an activity is an activity.
Killing people for enjoyment? Had you done this before, you would have definitely not gotten the healer class.
‘I don’t enjoy killing anybody, however, filth like those bandits do not deserve to live’
Are you god to decide that?
Michael scoffed ‘Don’t give me that religious bullshit, I am no angel, neither am I someone pure evil, I am me.’
And you lack conviction.
‘How so?’
You are only doing this because you are bored, even if you say you want to kill them since they are trash human beings, deep down you know it’s truly not because of that.
‘So what? Do you want me to have some grandiose reason for every single thing I do? I am bored and here comes a bunch of human filth to vent my boredom on.’ Michael shot back. He didn’t believe he was being heartless, he simply saw too many evil things happen in his previous world.
Then came this world, his personality started to warp. Whether it was in a good or a bad direction, he didn’t know.
What do they call it back in your old world? Chuuni? The world is not black and white, find your path before this excursion is over, if not, I will not allow you to gain any more levels.
The system’s voice resounded in his head and shocked him ‘Why are you on my ass because of this?’
You are becoming trash.
Michael was going to refute but held himself back.
He tried ignoring what the system said, but it did irk him a little, he knew he changed but why did that make him trash?
He accepted a request to kill bandits, isn’t that doing a good thing?
Michael walked into the woods, following some man made paths, he hoped this request was easier than it sounded, he didn’t want to look around the entirety of the forest.
After walking for a bit, the path abruptly ended, in front of him were just a bunch of trees, no bandits in sight.
‘Of course, it wouldn’t be so easy.”
