Nom de Guerre

Chapter 29

Once I was done laughing, a few moments had passed. Elim sulked a bit, but I chose to ignore that. With nothing more to examine in his data, it was time for the reset.

“I’ll reset you now, if you're still sure you want to do this,” I said.

“Please do,” Elim said with a begrudging nod. It seemed he didn’t enjoy my mirth at his expense.

“Don’t take it the wrong way. I’m impressed, not laughing at you,” I said, as I okayed the reset. I wasn’t lying either. His mentality was interesting and it had made the situation comical, rather than him.

As soon as I okayed the reset, his level counter greyed out and his class had a drop-down arrow. Selecting it, I found a list of classes I found familiar.

“Oh, it looks like I can give you pretty much any class. Your options are fighter, mage, rogue, bard, and cleric. What would you like?” I asked. Picking a completely new one might present issues, but I was willing to deal with it if it happened. Elim had been a good sport and I felt like I should deal with him as fairly as possible.

“Fighter, thank you,” Elim said, more relaxed this time. I nodded and did as he asked. The level counter went back to normal and displayed he was level one. After what he’d told me, I’d expected it, but there was an arrow next to it, which was curious.

I selected the arrow and it changed from one to two. I felt my orbs flicker and kept selecting it until it wouldn’t go any higher. It topped out at level four. Elim looked at me in open-mouthed shock and I just shrugged.

I had no idea why it had let him advance like that. I did have a hunch though, and looked at his other stats. They were significantly higher this time, despite his level being lower.

“I think it converted your warrior levels at half value, rounded down,” I explained. NPC classes sucked but tended to be cheaper, which sort of balanced them in the few RPG systems that used them. It was also possible the fifth level of warrior was still counted as experience points of some kind, but I didn’t see a counter.

“Oh, where do you want to put your stat points?” I asked when I noticed more arrows had appeared by his vital statistics.

“I… Don’t know. The Earl has a crystal where we can check our levels but normally we don’t get to make choices like this,” Elim explained.

“Really? You don’t get a notice or anything when you level?” I asked. I’d overlooked that I didn’t know how the locals interacted with the system.

“Only once, when I prestiged to fighter from warrior. Such communications are considered holy, and not many people receive them. Most of the time, you have to go to a church or even a temple and pay to use magic crystals,” Elim explained, looking deep in thought as he answered. My mind drifted back to the censored part of the encyclopedia entry about blessings. It seemed like something screwy was going on, but it was out of my hands.

“Well, try thinking about how you prefer to fight and let that guide how you use your stat points,” I offered. It was all I could really do, since I had no experience with the class.

“You’ve also got skill points to assign,” I added and Elim looked a bit overwhelmed. I couldn’t really blame him and let him take his time.

“Agility, strength, and intelligence,” Elim said finally. I was a bit surprised by the third choice but it made sense. He was a living breathing person, not a game character. Dump stats were not a smart thing to have in his case. His skill points also increased a bit after the intelligence stat bump.

“Uhm… Spread the skills evenly after maxing out survival,” Elim said, more decisive this time. Not a bad choice really, since that was a skill where you’d be hosed if you didn’t have it when you needed it.

“All done,” I said once all the skill points were spent “how do you feel?”

“Not exactly different but… A few things seem a little clearer than before. Like I think I could actually manage a decent deadfall trap on my own now,” Elim said, and gave a rueful chuckle.

“Fair enough. Once you're out in the world and using your abilities, you’ll probably feel something a bit more concrete,” I said without concern. I knew he was stronger than before going by the numbers and that was good enough. He could take his time feeling out and getting used to the changes.

“Thank you, for everything… Uhm, what should I call you?” Elim asked. I felt my orbs flicker. I’d forgotten about picking a name.

“What are these mountains called?” I asked, my map not telling me.

“The mountains of Lorrel, named for the goddess who made them,” Elim said, surprised by the question.

“If someone asks who you work for, I’m the hermit of the Lorrel mountains. Between us… call me 42,” I decided, doing my best not to laugh at the joke.

“As you wish, Mistress 42,” Elim said and bowed to me. It made me want to ruffle his short hair, but I held off. He was an adult already by the standards of his society and a father. He wouldn’t have taken me treating him like a kid very well. At least not once he realized that was what I was doing. I did a little imitation curtsy.

“So, at this point, I don’t really have a reason to keep you. Would you like to leave today or tomorrow?” I asked. It was still early in the day, but I didn’t know how he was feeling. Despite his wound being healed, he could be sore.

“Today please. I’d like to get to the post town and send a letter ahead of the report of my demise to my mother,” Elim said. I felt bad because my brain instantly added ‘greatly exaggerated’ to his words.

“Alright, I’ll put out a bath and some clean clothes. You can leave after you change,” I said, which earned me a confused look.

“Are baths not a thing?” I asked, as a deep dread filled me. I knew on a certain level some cultures in my old world just wiped themselves down, but outside of very specific contexts, I couldn’t get behind that idea.

“They are, I’m just surprised. Surprised and grateful,” Elim said quickly. I nodded and pulled up a stone block before adding a body-length depression and filling it with water.

“Might be cold,” I warned, as I deposited a makeshift towel and clean set of clothes. Since I didn’t have a human standard sense of temperature, it would have been pointless for me to check the water.

Reasonably, I could have warmed some up over one of the hounds or used the lava areas somehow and let Elim judge it, but I didn’t try. So long as there wasn’t any ice in the water, the worst outcome was he’d be uncomfortable. If I fucked up with hot water though, the consequences could be unfortunate.

With my hosting duties on the point fulfilled to the best of my ability, I left the room. Since his departure was imminent, I busied myself getting Elim’s pack ready. I upgraded things to a better level than I had for his comrades.

I even upgraded a horse. I didn’t feel as squeamish about it unlike with dismantling. Since I hadn’t summoned any of the horses I was using I felt more like they were a concept of a horse rather than actual animals. I could be wrong but I accepted the idea out of convenience to keep my stomach or its equivalent from roiling.

Once they were done I put the bags of gear into the room without looking. After a while, Elim emerged from the chamber clean and freshly dressed, carrying the lantern I’d provided. I’d been a short way down the tunnel waiting and floated over.

“Did you check the gear? Did you need anything else?” I asked, wanting to make sure he was good to go. It wouldn’t do for him to leave and find he was short of something important. To that end, I’d filled two backpacks to bursting with everything I had thought he might need.

“I did and you’ve outfitted me quite generously,” Elim said with a wry smile.

“Alright, try putting your spare bag in the item box then. Just so you can get familiar with it,” I said, having forgotten about testing that earlier. I’d included access in the contract, but until I saw it in action wasn’t sure if he got his own or just used mine.

Elim did as I asked and it turned out he used mine which made things easy. I’d be able to pass him stuff and receive things without him needing to visit.

“Neat, you can also stow the horses in it if you’d rather not fuss with looking after them,”

“That's… useful,” Elim said, looking surprised then mulling the implications over. I’d already become accustomed to that combination of expressions from him. The various “wtf” wonders of my powers had inspired it quite a lot during our short acquaintance.

“Last thing before you go... I wasn’t responsible for it, but some of your comrades died. I paid the others off to keep my secret but not them so… If you could pass some money along to the families I’d appreciate it,” I managed to get out haltingly. I really had nothing to do with their deaths, but I’d benefited from them. It felt wrong not to offer something in return after they’d given me points, however unwittingly

“I can do that Mistress,” Elim agreed with a warm smile. I handed over a pair of coin purses and he finally started for the exit. It was hard to make out, even with lamplight, thanks to the shed and I made a quick decision and removed the structure from the tiles I owned.

A patch of light appeared ahead in the tunnel. Elim stepped into it, becoming little more than a silhouette to my vision. He waved goodbye and I waved back.

This might be the last time I’d see him. He’d agreed to the contract, but I hadn’t put in any clauses about needing to visit. It would be easy enough for him to fulfill his job without ever returning, just sending the occasional report.

“Mistress…” Stalin whined, giving me puppy eyes.

“Friend, not food,” I said quietly which only caused the whining to intensify.

“What?” Elim called from mine’s entrance, not many yards away.

“Nothing!” The lady hound and I both said at the same time, though with very different tones.