Shesmu had a certain degree of confidence that with his stats if he wished to, he can reach level 10 in less than a day. However, if he did so, he would be missing out on many epic and legendary quests that could only be done at the beginner stage.

Thus, Shesmu decided to start with quests that gave minimal exp but was generous with other worthwhile rewards. Shesmu already knew a few such quests and had one in mind to start with.

After 20 minutes of jogging, Shesmu found himself at the outskirts of the town, where a vast forest seemed to extend forever. This place was the spawn zone for level 9 wolves. However, Shesmu wasn’t here to grind exp on these mobs but to activate a hidden epic quest.

Shesmu went around the outer area of the forest until he found an old cabin. Knowing that he reached his destination, Shesmu became excited. He dashed towards the cabin and opened the door. A pungent smell able to daze even the most veteran of warriors invaded his nostrils. The smell of blood and gore made Shesmu have the urge to vomit. Even though he knew about the smell, he wasn’t prepared.

Shesmu knew the tragedy that happened here. A small family of nobles, betrayed by their closed ones were killed in the worst way imaginable for their land and fortune. However, according to the information he received in his past life, there was one survivor.

“Hey, is anyone alive?”

If someone saw Shesmu at this moment, they would think of him as a cynical madman with a very bad sense of humor. All around him was decapitated corpse, gouged eyes and torn bodies, their nails were nowhere to be seen, leaving only bloody fingers, and marks of lashes were all over their bodies. It was clear that these people were tortured before they were mercilessly killed, so, who would think that there would be someone still alive here.

However, against all expectation, muffled sounds started echoing in the room. Hearing these sounds, Shesmu made his way through the scattered corpse, towards the source of the sound. He finally stopped in front of a table that seemed to be the main stage on which most of the torture occurred. Blood was flowing everywhere, mutilated arms were scattered everywhere, while many corpses were laying on the table as if taking a nap.

Shesmu looked under the table from which the muffled sound was still coming from while saying.

“If anyone is alive, help has come. Don’t worry.”

As he uttered those words, Shesmu’s heart tightened up at the sight he saw and could not talk any further. In front of him was a young girl, not older than 16, with a gag over her mouth. Her blood mixed with that of the corpses as the injuries all over her arms were infected due to the lack of hygiene. Horror was written all over her face as tears mixed with blood on her face.

Shesmu was worried to the point of losing reason, she may be an NPC, but who in this day and age didn’t consider AIs to be the same as humans. They have their own emotions, their own reasoning, and like humans, they also deal with hardships. And seeing such a small girl, suffering to this point would break the heart of anybody.

However, Shesmu couldn’t show his worry and just smiled.

“Come here, we need to get you some help.”

Shesmu tried grabbing her hand to get her up, but looking at the state of her arm, he was afraid of hurting her even further. Shesmu thought for a bit before he found a solution to this problem. Due to the girl’s clothes, Shesmu couldn’t know which parts of her body were injured and which were not. However, he wasn’t so shameless as to take off her clothes without her consent, so he first took out the gag from her mouth.

After taking out the gag covering her mouth, Shesmu was surprised to see the large amount of blood which came out. He took a look inside her mouth only to find a part of the girl’s tongue cut.

The more he looked at the little girl, the more pitiful she seemed.

“Hmm, I don’t know your name, so I’ll just call you little girl. Anyways, I’m not sure which part of your body is uninjured. So, I’m asking if I can look at your back and legs to see how I can carry you out of here.”

Hearing the unknown man talk, the young girl’s eyes became terrified. However, that only lasted a second as they immediately became resolute. She started crawling under the table trying to get out of the swarm of dismantled legs and arms surrounding her. As she crawled, she took support on her hand, which under the pressure, released puss and clogged blood from her injuries. The pain didn’t faze her as she bit her lips and continued on until she was out in the open.

The sight was gruesome, but more deeply, it was heroic and worthy of praise. Shesmu then helped her get up and take support on his shoulder, he then slowly walked her out of the cabin.

It was at that moment that Shesmu got a quest notification.

Quest Save the Girl Rarity Epic Rewards Unknown Accept Decline

Accepting the quest, Shesmu stopped to talk with the girl for a second. But just before the words left his lips, his eyes were shocked by the sight before him.

‘She has silver hair.. wait, maybe... Let me check.’

“Hmm, little girl, can you look at me for a second.”

The young girl naively looked at him, her teary eyes making her look as pitiful as a stray cat.

‘As I thought, she is a bearer of the silver hair and the silver eyes. She is a high noble.’

While the golden hair and golden eyes were a symbol of high nobility in the Pliyx Stal Kingdom, their silver counterpart also symbolized high nobility in the neighboring country Estrya.

The fact that someone actually dared to harm a high noble surprised Shesmu and a made a chill run down his spine. This hinted at a big conspiracy surrounding the little girl.

‘Anyways, they might dare to touch a high noble from Estrya, but I hold the golden hair and eyes symbolizing nobility in this country. They should at least give me some face. Even if they don’t, I’m still a player, they can’t kill me as I’ll just respawn.’

Shesmu kept looking at the girl before saying.

“Do you want to go to the church to have a priest heal you?”

The girl paused for a second, before nodding her head expressing her consent.

Shesmu breathed a sigh of relief at this reaction. If she refused and reacted hysterically, then that would mean that the church was part of the conspiracy and so he would not be able to heal her. From her reaction, he can assume that even if the church is related to this incident, at least the girl herself doesn’t know about this matter.

Slowly, but surely, the duo finally reached the gates of the town. Shesmu asked the little girl to stay hidden behind the trees so that he can go buy her a cloak so as to hide her. If they went into the town while her hair and injuries were fully exposed, they would bring unwanted attention to themselves. So Shesmu rushed towards a tailor and bought a dark brown cloak, before going back outside the town.

Shesmu then, with the now hidden girl, went back to the town and headed straight down to the church. Entering it, he asked a priest if he could talk with a Tier 2 healer while showing him some of the injuries on the mysterious girl’s arm.

Understanding that only a tier 2 healer could heal injuries of such a degree, the priest didn’t dally and went out to call one out.

“The healer Alan asked you to come see him. It’s this way.”

The priest then showed them the way to the office of the healer, where he left them at the door before going away.

Knock! Knock!

“Come in.”

Hearing the reply, the duo opened the doors, to find a middle-aged man with golden hair and a fair skin.

“Hello, my name is Alan. For what pleasure does your highness come seeking me.”

Lower tier nobles were always subservient to higher tier ones, always calling them using honorific regardless of seniority or strength.

“Hello, Sir Alan. My name is Shesmu. My friend is in a dire state and I beg you to help her.”

Alan was surprised at the humility of the noble before him. High nobles were usually arrogant beyond measure and would always look down on lower tier ones like him. Due to his happiness, Alan didn’t even notice that Shesmu didn’t state his family name.

“With pleasure, your highness. Can you please take off the cloak of your friend so that I look at her injuries?”

Shesmu slowly took the cloak off so that he does not irritate the girl’s injuries and cause her pain.

When Alan saw the injuries on the girl’s arms, he couldn’t help but gasp a cold breath. Looking at her silver hair and eyes, he knew that she was noble. He didn’t know who dared to put a noble through such torture, and if it was any other day, he wouldn’t have cared. He wouldn’t have even come close to her for fear that calamity befalls him and his family. If someone dared to do this to a high noble, why would they fear him or his family? But today was different, the girl didn’t come alone, but was with another high noble, and this time, the noble was from the Pliyx Stal country. He may not fear a noble of a foreign Kingdom since even if they ruled a part of their Kingdom, they had no effect on Stal’s politics.

However, offending a high noble from Pliyx Stal is the same as signing your death certificate, even if you were noble.

Alan didn’t dare waste time in case the girl’s injuries got worse. He started chanting a Tier 2 healing spell, and a golden glow appeared on his hands. For a moment, nothing happened, but as time passed on, puss and clogged blood was spurted from the wounds so as to regulate the blood flow. After the clogged blood and puss were out of the cuts, the wounds slowly healed and the skin started mending. After 10 minutes, all the wounds were healed.

Alan looked pale but managed to say.

“She is now fully healed. However, in the process of healing her, I used much of her vitality, so she needs time and nourishment to recover.”

Looking at Alan’s pale complexion, Shesmu took the hint, so he thanked him and left. After Alan finished the girl’s treatment, Shesmu got a notification that the Quest had been completed.

Quest Save the Girl(Completed) Rarity Epic Rewards Heavenly Time Artifact

Looking at the quest notice, Shesmu was overjoyed at the reward. Artifacts were items that could be stacked on each other, as they merged with the soul of the player. These artifacts were all at least at the epic rank, however, an artifact with the prefix “Heavenly” preceding it was guaranteed to be legendary.

Heavenly Time Artifact Type Artifact Rarity Legendary Effect +50% to all received exp.