Rosen Flame B1 — 3. Soul-Pact
Added 2023-09-14 07:33:58 +0000 UTCPoV:
1. Malik (Our MC and Humanity's Hero!)
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Staring up at the brightening heavens, Malik rested his hands behind his back, keeping his legs on the log. The dragon’s listful tail rested by her side, still looking around the destroyed beach. Out of the corner of his eye, he heard shouting from the town, but it would take a bit to rally anyone willing to investigate the unusual disturbance.
“Alright,” he started, letting reality settle in. “First, remain in a human, or at the very least this partial human form for the duration of, before, during, and a time after the human pregnancy. You said yourself that the child could be destroyed if you don’t, and human children need their mother and time to help them mature.”
“Accepted with a modification,” she mumbled, still playing with the seal. “I will remain in this semi-human form throughout this process since dispensing with certain characteristics is uncomfortable for me. I presume the ‘before’ part is due to the courtship process. And do human children really need such attention after their… whatever humans call mating?”
“Yyyes?” He squinted at her arched back, unable to believe he was having this conversation with a demigod dragon that knew so little about humans due to how disconnected she was from weaker life forms; he needed more context. “Do dragons just hatch ready to go? They don’t need their parents?”
Rose seemed to finish her art project because she flicked it away to hover two meters away before getting up to examine her body with disdain. “Well, that depends. It is a mother’s duty to watch over their offspring until they hatch, when possible, but it is on the child to prove themselves capable of deserving its life by surviving. What is it like for… humans?”
“Too complicated to get into in a short conversation. What are you doing?”
Malik choked, turning away as she examined different parts of her body, including pulling up her dress; thankfully, his averted gaze only saw panties, not wanting to get distracted by her perfectly proportionate figure. She was totally ignorant of human culture but seemingly intelligent enough to mirror what she’d seen humans wear.
“Why do most females have these massive bags of fat on their chests where males have muscle? Wider and more awkward hips for movement, layers of fat, odd resource management… Are human females just a massive design flaw by the High Deities?”
“Hold up!” Malik cried, pivoting in another direction. “Do you… love your children or care for their wellbeing?”
“Why are you redirecting the topic.”
“Uh, we can talk about the reason why human bodies are the way they are later… Where did you get your, umm, clothes?” he asked, a little shocked that she’d know enough to wear underwear but not know why women had breasts.
“Such unusual biology,” she commented, dropping her dress down, and Malik noticed Rose’s tail slide through the fabric to the proper hole in the back as if ethereal.
“Humph. No, I laugh at this concept of love that many of you inferior species carry. A dragon’s existence is defined by our strength and defying the expectation of our death… Instilling fear in others by our majesty and discovering ways to make our blood race brings us life! That is what we live for, the thrill of a challenge.”
Her invigorated eyes became confused while plucking at her dress, and Malik’s vision went back, fearing another show as the salted wind pressed it against her enticing figure.
“As for these rags… I took them from the third reincarnate that tried to challenge me, one of the inferior dragonborn pretenders who taint the name of True Dragons. She didn’t require them anymore after I burned away her spirit, leaving her body untouched.”
Malik shivers at the vicious, reflective smile on her lips. “Level 100s within the System are so amusedly arrogant, always thinking they have achieved something. The look on their faces is of some worth when all that pride washes away into hopelessness. It’s pitifully short-lived, though, really; hardly worth a moment of enjoyment, but I take what I can.”
A charming smile brightened the draconic glimpse of what hid underneath Rose’s beauty. “This ‘date’ we are on is interesting. I have not spoken to a mortal like this before. We are still engaged in the ritual. Correct?”
He forced a laugh, unable to stand if he wanted to with the aura of death she radiated. Somehow, Rose managed to stop the colossal waves from paralyzing him, just like her control over her rosy flames. If she didn’t even have the concept of love, then he was only working off her need for a challenge, which meant he had to impose a ton of restrictions—and somehow get her to accept them.
“This is a hell of a first date! Umm, yeah… The second condition, if this is going to work, we’ll need to have human courtship, which leads to raising a strong child, like you want—you want that, right?”
“A strong child… Yes?”
Malik braced for an explosion and threw the next punch. “Then you need to heavily restrict your powers… like, nearer to my level, at the very most. Is that possible?”
Rose’s charm was instantly replaced by a scowl. “Why?”
Had he pushed too far?
She slapped her palm against her left breast in defiance. “Not only do I need to retain this ugly… nonsensical, and inefficient form, but now I must condense nearly all of my mana deep within my core to… what—kill me?”
“Another condition, I won’t—” Malik blurted out his answer before he could think; he couldn’t hesitate, or all of this could collapse, yet Rose cut him short with rolling laughter.
“Hahaha! Not necessary,” she smirked, arms crossing under her bust as her tail wagged with delight. “Such panic in the face of my malice! Lesser beings can be fun, I suppose. Do you know that even if I limit all of my strength, you will still be unable to kill me? It doesn’t work like that for a demigod, you man-human dolt!”
“Ahem.” Malik shrugged uncomfortably and rubbed his throat, looking to the side as he released the tension he’d built up. “Actually, I didn’t ask this to kill you. Ugh… The limit is more about you… not killing me when, you know, we… have sex.”
Rose’s brow furrowed, her tail stilling while processing his explanation. “Kill you during the mating process? Well, that certainly has happened for most of my encounters with demigods.”
Forcing a laugh, Malik shook his head. “You kill demigods by… Let’s look at this in a different way. All of this would be pointless if you got mad and destroyed everything we need for the courtship—like me, as you did demigods—and there are so many more things that we need a community to do… I can’t even take this seriously with you,” he rambled.
Rose’s smug smirk fell, her own face turning a shade of her hair as she half-turned away and cleared her throat in another rare moment of cute embarrassment.
“Right… that makes sense. A weak mortal like you—who hasn’t even reached Level 50 in the System—would be… quite fragile. How annoying. I didn’t think I needed you after the mating. That will be new.”
Remembering the stories he’d heard about the terrifying spiders within the Darkvein, he really couldn’t take any of this seriously. Would she actually go through with this? Unlike the Succubi or other devious seducers on this planet, Rose was totally ignorant of anything related to relationships.
“Black Window…”
“What about the little insects?” Rose snarled, scratching her horn against and fidgeting with her hair. “Do we need one of them for the courtship, as well? How… odd.”
“What?” Malik’s stomach hurt from all the laughing he’d done. “No! I can’t believe this is happening. What must be going through that mind? You’re so touchy but controlled at the same time. It’s weird.”
“I very much am not in the norm.” The dragon’s confidence was certainly legendary as she brought them back on topic. “And, we need other mortals to participate in this courtship, as well? Mmgm. That is quite… troublesome.”
Malik’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about? More… participants?”
“Yes, well, it is not uncommon in other species, I suppose,” she mumbled, looking at the forest as lanterns shown in the distance, “but it has always been a challenge for me to keep other living things alive around me. It is a wonder how your pathetic species has survived this long, but you do have the high deities to thank for that, I suppose.”
Her agitated tail kicked up a soft whirlwind that slowly died as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, a faint pink aura cycling around her as the power she radiated pulled deep within her body. She was actually doing it; he was actually doing it! Did he want to do this?
“Haaa. How’s… that?” Rose grunted, voice sounding unsure how she felt about it herself while holding a hand against her chest. “I’ve never felt so… limited.”
“Does it feel… bad?” Malik hesitantly questioned while looking up at her.
He couldn’t sense any hint of the horrific demigod in the woman standing in front of him; she was still intimidatingly strong, but he now felt like he had a chance to go toe to toe with Rose, even if it was all an illusion.
More shouting came from the forest, but it would be extremely unlikely to find them in the dark without a higher Darkvision Feat.
The dragon woman shook her head, fingers pressing against her breast with a somewhat giddy giggle. “A little exhilarating, actually. This is only a shell, of sorts, that contains and channels my actual soul—which, by the way, will be released once the container is destroyed—but I have never experienced this world while so… small!”
A little taken aback as she spun in a curious circle, she scanned the rocks, ocean, and trees, taking in the sight; it dawned on him that the dragon had likely only known the world through her mighty, draconic eyes, and all of this was some kind of role-play for her. Maybe all of this was just some kind of mid-life crisis for the demigod?
He smiled, finding his feet with the fear of Rose’s draconic presence gone. What if he eventually was able to pivot away from the whole sex part? She was just bored and wanted something new to try.
Brushing himself off, he wanted to laugh at the miracle it was for him to reach this point with the dragon, but he hadn’t even truly begun; this was going to be a long road. He could navigate it, though.
“What a quest this is. Because you’re so powerful, would you be willing to agree not to kill or hurt anyone while we go about this courtship, child-making, and, uh, marriage rituals—the before, during, and after rituals—since it could severely affect the process?”
Rose’s sky-blue eyes tilted to shoot a distrustful glare in his direction, bringing the seal closer to spin in a small circle above her finger. “I am not stupid enough to fall for such a blatant, devilish word game. I like your bold attempts to trick me as a lesser being. I will not make such a vague and broad declaration as a soul-pact and likely commit suicide in that case by causing a cut or inadvertently causing someone’s death.”
“Right…” Malik hissed; he didn’t even fully consider that, but she wasn’t finished.
“What I will pledge is to prevent harm to the best of my ability to do so, given the circumstances. That being said, it is your duty to make me aware of what circumstances those might be within human culture, and I am not obligated to follow it if you cannot convince me of its merits in the rituals. And what is this ‘marriage’ ritual that you have sporadically tacked onto the agreement, hmm?”
Malik nudged his head to the side to get the woman to walk with him along the disaster of a beach after her earlier outbursts. That’s a lot better than what I was hoping to get from her! She really is taking this seriously. This is legitimately binding for her? Can I actually do this?
“Hmm.” Rose’s hands swung at her side in an awkward walk, showing her unfamiliarity with the human form; heels probably didn’t help her case.
It was actually fairly cute and funny to see this world-destroyer struggling with something as simple as walking with her flailing tail throwing her off-balance. He just had to approach this as a quest or job and not fall into the trap of emotional attachment, which shouldn’t be hard with her abrasive personality.
“Well, technically, the rituals go in order. Human courtship generally leads to marriage, which then leads to the next step of child-making—or mating, as you call it—now, it’s not always in that order, but generally, in this world, it follows those steps since birth control is… not all that available here, is my guess. It can sometimes change between cultures, as well.”
He paused, suddenly not so sure about his statement. “Honestly, I haven’t given much thought to it since I’ve been so busy the last ten years.”
“Huh…” Rose kept her eyes on her boots, trying not to trip in the uneven sand; she certainly had set it on hard mode from the flat stone of the wasteland they’d left, but she seemed determined to do it herself.
“Humans, among many other mortal races, really are impractical, confounding, and moronic. Thus far, I am to retain my form, do no harm, and engage in these rituals you have mentioned—all of which, by the way, I can reverse if I believe you are not holding up your part of the bargain.”
Malik internally groaned. Shit. That is a huge out for her. I need to pull it back in.
“Only if you honestly believe I am not holding up my part of the bargain. You aren’t going to just get frustrated and quit partway through?”
“Humph! No, I will not. I will add that I may only void the pact if you cannot properly explain to me why your part has not been fulfilled.”
“Haaa. It’s a process, by the way.”
“A very fast process by my passage of time,” she added.
“Okay. Fair,” he laughed. “Just to be clear, as you wanted, these rituals can take up to ten to thirty years, depending on the child, and we aren’t sure how your child will turn out when created as a, uh, mammal. Correct?”
“Incorr—ah…” She gave a rather adorable squeak as she tripped, and Malik reached out instinctively to catch her.
“Ahem—yes, well, you are incorrect,” she continued, face lightly red while forcing herself away and almost tripping again in the process but ignoring his help.
“Plenty of lesser and blood-muddled dragons exist, but I am not aware of a True Dragon having a child in such a way. They should mentally mature swiftly, given their resonating Dragon Soul with mine, teaching her the basics of what it means to be a dragon.”
“Impressive,” Malik commented, pointing at her boots and getting down to remove his own when they neared a rock. “By the way, I think it will be easier to walk with your bare feet while on the sand—let’s let the surf wash over our feet. Heh. I haven’t done it in a long time!”
“I fail to see the point,” Rose mumbled but complied, taking his suggestion and example of going to the nearby stone to remove the items.
He smiled as she carefully watched his example, not happy with her rather form-fitting boots. Malik pointed out a pattern that magic-fitted items used to remove them by tracing it on the side. As she bent over to remove her boots, he began to notice little details about her body that intrigued him.
Rose’s tail started at the bottom portion of the small of her back to her butt, and while it was somewhat thick, it seemed rather proportionate to her size, if a tad long. Her scales were almost seamless, providing what appeared to be an impenetrable defense, and a puffy, cloud-like accessory was attached at the point where her fin split into its v-shape.
She had ears like elves and light skin that appeared to glow under the starlight. Her dangerous, thick horns curved out in an elegant yet threatening manner, and she looked to be in her mid-twenties, which was a tad older than his current reincarnate body.
“We are supposed to walk in the surf?” she asked, placing her white, black-trimmed boots beside his while studying their pink heel and underside before the size difference of their footwear. “Why does mine have a spike at the end, but yours is flat and more practical?”
Malik’s chest shook as he shrugged. “That’s something you’ll need to take up with other human women; the mysteries of why girls do what they do can go right over my head at times.”
“So frustratingly complicated,” she sighed, fidgeting with her dress as he dropped off his [S-tier Cloak of the Crimson Flame], weighing it down with his boots. “Do I remove this frilly thing, as well, for this activity?”
He rubbed his neck while rolling up his pants legs. “Mmh. A perverted man might say yes, but I’d say not unless we get you a bathing suit; it might feel improper and leave a bad impression if one of the villagers sees us. Not always, but this is a Lawful-Good-based kingdom.”
“So many rules and words I don’t understand!” she seethed.
Her tail crashed against the stone and cut part of it in half while pulverizing the rock where she’d struck to powder; that was still near his own output, but it still gave him goosebumps to see a woman near his own strength.
Rose flipped her hair back before rubbing her horn, which seemed to be a nervous habit. “How can the races have a common tongue with such a vast vocabulary that I haven’t mastered across ages of living? I am even tapping into the System language Feats; the concepts still are so difficult for me to grasp—unnecessary bloat.”
“Haha! I agree,” Malik said, waving for her to join him as he flexed his feet in the sand. “I think it’s more context you have trouble with than definitions. You know, this is kind of what a first date should be like… We’re learning more about each other and setting some boundaries—at least, t-heh, that’s what the dating book for dummies said back in my previous life.”
Rose’s chest shook with quiet laughter as she moved to mirror him, flexing her feet in the white sand. “You are a funny human, calling yourself a dummy of your own volition.”
“And now who’s using bloated words? C’mon, you haven’t lived until you’ve felt the rushing surf against your bare feet. Try it out with me.”
She didn’t look convinced but joined him nonetheless, allowing the foaming surge to splash up to their ankles. Malik tensed as goosebumps spread across Rose’s arms; she let out a choking shriek as her legs collapsed. He was quick to support her again so she wouldn’t fall in.
“Eek—w-why does it tingle—”
“Woah, hey—eesh!”
Her tail whipped out, taking out his feet; she went to her butt while Malik reacted on instinct, twisting and using his strength to enter a one-handed back-bend to flip upright, landing on his feet. A lump lodged in his throat at the tight-mouthed glare Rose gave him as if all of this was his fault.
“I knew it was a trap—again with your plots for my demise—ack, why does it tingle w-when the water goes across my skin?!” she cried, hugging herself; she was like a child experiencing something new and frightening. “What is with all these—these nerve clusters everywhere in this body?!”
Malik carefully walked closer to ‘rescue’ her so she wouldn’t destroy the ocean for making her uncomfortable or drop the whole soul-pact thing and decide to incinerate him. Her tail reflexively lashed out as he neared, spraying him with water and sand as he backed away, holding up his hands; she was still controlling her strength, which showed a lot of discipline.
“Ssss!”
“Woah, Ms. Snake! Hey, let me help… Human bodies are just very sensitive. I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of stimulating places as an invincible dragon? This is the easy stuff! Hah. Can you not take the challenge?”
Rose’s troubled eyes darted to the sea as the tide began to return, and she stumbled back up toward him. “N-No! I can totally handle stimulation—it just didn’t feel… normal. I can do anything!” she swallowed, bracing herself and still refusing his help with the surf’s return.
“S-See?! Hah-haha! You cannot frighten me that easily,” she boasted, heart likely pounding like a drum by her breathless tone, but she sounded proud of herself.
All Malik felt was confused amusement; he did not see the Monarch of the Rosen Flame getting flustered by something as simple as water tickling her ankles or the sensation of sand being pulled out from under her feet. It made him scared to think about what other things might spontaneously excite the demigod. She was happy, though, which was positive.
“You good?”
“Of course I am! Don’t be stupid,” she huffed, puffing up her chest as the water came in again to embrace her feet and make her shiver. “See? I have conquered the challenge of the surf.”
Malik clapped, seeing the dragon in a whole new light as he got to know her better; if he hadn’t invoked the rule to remain near his strength, then he would have likely been dead right now with everyone within a hundred kilometers—no, probably the whole continent.
“Congratulations! So, we are agreed that all the previous conditions are a must on the soul-pact, and you’ll attempt to live a human woman’s life to experience the challenge of it while going through the rituals? Oh, and we’ll need to raise the child afterward since human children aren’t as resilient as dragon egg children—I assume. As I said, it could take up to twenty to thirty years—maybe more.”
Relishing in her victory over the beach, Rose grinned as it came in for another round. She seemed totally taken in by her accomplishment. “Haha. This isn’t so challenging! It is new, though.”
She flashed a confident smile at him, which didn’t have the same effect with her soaking bottom leaving an impression against her thick thighs. “It is agreed with a few of my conditions.”
A devious glint twinkled in her glowing sky-blue eyes as the hidden sun began to lighten the sky and chase away the stars.
“You must provide me a worthy offspring to challenge me in a timely manner—according to these aforementioned rituals—show me more challenges to overcome, and you must not bore me; prove to me the challenges of the human female experience!”
“Well, shit,” he laughed, stepping forward to follow her example as she brought the seal between them, holding up her hand in front of it. “Basically, you’re using me as a source of entertainment to fuel your adrenaline junky tail with. Just to be clear, the only thing I can’t do besides the previous two conditions is not to bore you. Right?”
The water rushed over his feet as he moved to stand across from her, brushing off the sand she’d tossed all over him. He held up his hand with a testing grin that he knew would infuriate her; who was this mortal to smile at a demigod like her? Yet, he had the home-field advantage in this war. She was entering the only life he’d known.
“What if I were to counter by telling you the boring bits are what make the highs so much more enjoyable? Remember that feeling you had just now; don’t you want to feel that surge in your veins again?”
Rose’s grin faltered, eyes squinting with suspicion. “Hmm. Devious tactic. Prove to me that this is the case, and I will abide by it: a conditional acceptance. I will explore this human mediocrity and show you that it may be overly complicated, but hardly a challenge for me. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
Malik felt like he’d spontaneously swapped classes into a Bard, but it was more likely that this terrifying world-destroyer was just extremely ignorant, innocent, bored, and too proud to back down to any challenge someone put in front of her. He had no clue how this would end up, but Titania had guided him to this path, and a high goddess trumped a demigod.
His faith restoring in the fae-like woman that had guided him for a decade, Malik closed hands with Rose, her smaller fingers locking with his as she reflected his confident smile. Pink flames encircled them, sinking into them in a way he hadn’t experienced since meeting Titania.
“Our souls are branded with our word and the pact is made,” Rose stated, a heat sinking into Malik’s chest as she spoke. “Life is our bond; the contract is sealed. Speak where you want the pact shown.”
The symbol of a flaming rose ignited around them, turning the sand to glass and encircling them in a tinted mist from the vaporizing water at their feet. A little thrown off by the sudden option given him, he said what he always thought was the coolest place for a pact tattoo in a romance anime, which, apparently, he was in now.
“The ring finger.”
Searing heat bloomed across his skin, forcing him to clamp his jaw shut; Rose didn’t even flinch at the shimmering light that fanned out her pink locks, the rosen symbol of their pact burning into place between their hands as it wrapped around the digits. The pulse of infinite power that embraced them dispersed into twinkling stars, and Rose stepped back to rub her hand, now wearing a frown.
“Why, in all that is holy, would you choose such a small place. And why is it called a ‘ring finger’—are you embarrassed by my pact sign?”
“No?”
She huffed, looking at her own illuminated finger before her gaze locked on his reflected mark, blooming in the opposite direction. “Odd. Oh, and my mother said it should give you wings—dammit, take off your shirt—I want to see!”
Flustered at suddenly being told to strip by the beautiful, hourglass-figured woman, he went limp as the handy she-dragon helped herself, grabbing at his top. Malik hastily complied as she flipped him around in anticipation of spotting her handiwork, fearful she’d rip his S-tier artifact shirt in half in her impatience.
“Okay, okay! Wings?! Geez. Wait, is this the first pact you’ve ever made?”
“Of course it is,” she growled, gasping as he revealed his muscular back and saw her hand again, the pact now finished. “Look at your finger; isn’t it so pretty! Five flaming rose petals in bloom… I have such a beautiful soul! Wait… My mother lied to me… There are no handsome wings? That tiny snake!”
“Ahem!” Malik’s muscles tensed at her delicate touch in its search for wings, fingernails caressing him in ways that made him uncomfortable. “You had a mother?!”
“Of course, I had a mother. Idiot… She would always bite my tail.”
“Okay,” he coughed, now wondering if an even greater threat was lurking on the horizon, but then realizing she had mentioned ‘breaking The System,’ meaning at one point she had been what she saw as a lesser dragon. “We should go, uh, buy a house or rent a room in the local pub—I’ll figure it out. We should get going, though; there’s a lot to do.”
“Haaa. Humans, always in such a rush,” she sighed, reluctantly pulling her unusually warm fingers away.
After their pact, it felt like they carried a sensual electric pulse that was stronger than the succubi he’d fought on the hellish planes of his homeland. Throwing his shirt back on with the neckwear artifacts that had come off with his top, he pulled away before she changed her mind.
Thinking fast, he made sure all of the powerful items were concealed, including his tag. It wouldn’t be hard to know it was him if his Orichalcum Rank Adventurer’s tag was seen; he only knew of two other Rank-8 Adventurers, period, and they only barely passed as Level 42. He was at the very tipping point of reaching Rank-9 at Level 50: Adamantite.
Malik moved to the side and put on a strained smile as he studied the flowing, pink petal design on his ring finger. It was official; he was a ‘taken’ man.
“Well, let’s get some breakfast, and, umm, I’ll show you what it’s like to live as a human. Well, sort of human. Do you, uh… use the bathroom?”
“Defecate?” Rose asked, lifting an eyebrow and smirking while walking beside him. “No. My body assimilates all ingested things as mana before dispersing the incompatible bits into the Aether. Such a silly question.”
“Not for me,” he laughed. “Right, well, that solves that problem. That’s one challenge of the human experience you can’t have… Damn.”
“That is… unfortunate,” Rose pouted, “but I can do nothing about my base nature. I can only change my form so much as a demigod.”
“Huh. Limitations. Right. We’ll work on it. Oh, and the sealing process dried your clothes. Cool,” he chuckled, pointing at the rock she had destroyed. “Let’s get our boots back on and see what the town is about.”
“A human town,” she repeated with a curious hum. “Typically, they melt down to a pool of lava long before I am able to walk through them. This will be new.”
“Yeah…”
Malik gave the woman a side-long look, reminding himself that Rose had likely racked up kills in the tens of millions throughout her very, very long life. Then again, did she know anything else? Could she feel other emotions like grief and sorrow, or learn them with how she reacted to water running over her feet for the first time in her eons of living? Was there a future where he could change her lifestyle? Time would tell.
After redressing and shaking off the sand sticking to their skin, Malik offered his hand; if he was going to make this work, he had to be genuine. “Ready to see what the town is like?”
Rose smirked at the gesture, clearly not understanding the motive, yet she took it nonetheless; skin contact with the dragon was like live electricity that sparked a rhythm in his heart and warmed his heart. He hadn’t felt this powerful before, and his guess was the soul-pact was the cause.
“You said you would show me the magic of food, and… asked if I’m an angry drunk?”
“Mmh. On second thought, I highly doubt you’d be affected by poison or intoxication, but we’ll see. Wait…” He squinted to the side. “Maybe it wouldn’t be good to introduce ourselves to the town as morning drunks… I’ll figure something out. Let’s just get on the move.”
The dragon didn’t seem to know what was happening, but there was a willingness to her step and swaying tail; from their bond, he could feel she was enjoying herself. Leading them across the sands into the coastal town, he eyed their ring fingers. Was this his proposal? No, he had to focus. This was out of his control and a quest to save humanity; nothing more, nothing less.
What did he need to do? He had to buy something for them to live in that was a small distance away from the locals in case anything happened. Focus. Stay on mission. He had a lot of high currency coins in one of his [A-tier Bag of Holding] to allow light travel, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Doubts started to creep in as he saw the wood-based houses of the town. How did one live as a citizen? A decade of constantly being on the move, dungeon to dungeon, battlefield to battlefield, had warped his perception of what life was like. He had to figure it out, though.
Stay on mission… Stay on mission. Let’s see if I’ve still got it!
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