“W-w-wait! Sky! Hold up!” Cortez was catching his breath.

“They are getting away faster then us, we cant catch up to them!” I slowed down and waited for Cortez.

“They are really close to the city, maybe someone saw her injured and dragged her back to heal her?”

It could be possible.

“True, lets rest a bit, but we have to keep moving soon”

Sniff sniff.

Cortez caught his breath and sniffed something.

“Someone’s here…..Close, two people are closing in!”

Author note: The abilty to sense/smell people are unlocked at a high tracking lvl and a low tracking lvl can be used to see footprints, therefor not used earlier in the lower lvls.

I entered stealth mode, Cortez was sitting completely still, like he was meditating.

An arrow was shot from the snowy forest behind us, Cortez anticipated it and managed to dodge.

“Who is there? Are you the once who shot us down?” Cortez had his bow ready and aimed at the forest.

I ran to the forest silently.

“Stop right there! I know you’re here! I saw you got invisible, I can sense you with my tracking, show yourself!” Raul screamed!

I ran towards him and was about to strike his back, but then my leg got caught in a trap! I was dangling from the tree.

“Don’t kill him, Raul!” Odin tried to stop Raul.

“We need what they have! This is the golden opportunity we have been waiting for!” as they were arguing Crotez managed to shot down the rope, I immediately tried to strike Raul, but Odin parried.

“There is no need for this!” Our blades were hold up against each other, sparks were flying.

“Drop your weapons!” Cortez was aiming at Raul and everyone was glaring at each other intensely, but Odin slowly drew back his swords and sheeted them, so did I.

“Raul drop it, I bet we can come to an agreement instead.”

“……Never” Raul drew his bow at me.

I reappeared behind Raul and shoved both my knives down his neck aswell as he got hit by an arrow in the chest.

Raul fell to the ground, dead.

“Raul you fool!” I force my blade at Odin’s throat.

“Don’t move or you will die like your friend” he gulped.

“Don’t hurt me please, I tried to stop him and also back when he shot you guys down, its all his fault I am here, didn’t you see I wanted to settle things peacefully?

I sheeted my blades and distanced myself.

“My name is Odin, I was assigned to be partner with Raul doing the tournament but we were thrown out of the city because of his behavior”

“Tournament?” What is he talking about?

“In the city, the main attraction is the tournaments, if you win you will be rewarded with gold, fame and you will be able to join killing the rare monsters.”

“Rare monsters?”

“The first rare monster encounters starts close to the city, but it will require a full party with skilled members to take one down, it can take a long time and everything has to be done correctly, if everyone wants to survive that is.”

“This tournament you speak of is it lethal?”

“It counts as a regular duel so there is no way to die, but the city is not a nice place, you will only be judged by your strength, those who don’t participate or doesn’t reach a high tier will be treated worse then crap.”

Odin seemed a bit sad.

“My family is really poor, we live in the slums, me, my mother and my younger sister Emma. I wanted to become strong and win at least one of the fights worthy of some mesetas so I can help bringing food on the table and do something useful”

“Isn’t food really cheap?”

“Food is not really the main issue, the hotels cost money, fixing our cloths and gear cost money and the enemies here are way more difficult to kill then the once before. Your gear looks very good compared to what I got, I can barley kill mobs on my own, risking my life every time for some food. My family lives on the streets and going out of the city is risky, other players can kill you for the fun of it. Getting our own house outside is also very expensive.”

“Why are people here so bad? The people I have met so far haven’t been all that bad”

“Those brave enough to go through the winter forest and then down the grand fall are people with guts, those who want to venture forth and level up instead of sitting at the same level for years, but those who cant get any further then this become…Mad savages, fueled with misdirected anger and put it out on those weaker then them selves. That is why I want to become strong, I want to help my family!”

“You seem like a good guy Odin, but I still cant fully trust a person who shot us down and nearly killed me a second ago, our friend have been kidnapped and dragged into the city as we speak, because of you and Raul.”

“I see, I am sorry I hope there is a way to make it up for you guys.” Odins face got even more sad, I figured he was just a kid who was trying his best in a fucked up situation.

“Show me where your family lives, we can help you out with some spare money we got, if what you say is true though, that you actually got a poor family.”

Odin was smiling.

“Thank you so much! I can show you the best way to the city from here, but first—“ Odin looted all of Rauls gear.

“OK, now I am ready.” Clearly they weren’t friends at all.

Elisa woke up.

“Where am i? What is this?” Elisa was tied to a sled.

“Who are you?” Elisa checked out a small coated silhouette that was dragged the sled by a rope over her shoulder.

“Don’t speak, your hurt and I will get u well, just hang in there!” it was the voice of a young girl, but the snow and sun made it hard for Elisa to see her face.

Elisa passed out again.

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