6 The Slip

'What kind of person is this? Is he even human? What is he wearing? What is he doing? What was that weapon he used?...'

As these thoughts accumulated in her mind, she asked in a low voice

"Could you please tell me your name?"

"What? Did you say something?" he turned back while absorbing the last one.

"Can you tell me your name please?"

'The request was given a few months ago by an anonymous person. He paid a few thousand pieces of gold in advance. The target was a witch named Elizabeth Alpenblade. Bring back the head of the target for...'

"Why should I tell you? Miss Alpenblade" he asked back.

Unfortunately his plan to make her freak out failed and she became more curious.

"You can absorb souls right?"

"No I extract memories."

"But memories are apart of the soul right?" she fired back at him

"No memories are memories."

"How about that armour, is it a creature attached to you? What were those weapons you used?" and the questions went on and on.

"Can you shut the hell up,(breathes) for five minutes!" he couldn't bear her annoying questions. The memories he took said she was a shy and timid person. But it seemed like the opposite.

"You don't have to get mad at me." she said as she stood up. She looked very beautiful with a fair face and green eyes. A locket with a blue gemstone was tucked in between her ample breasts that were pushing upwards in a black leather corset. Her slim waist had a single tasset belt on the right side and short black skirt. A knife sheath on her right thigh held a small knife with a brown handle. She wore laced brown leather boots and black stockings that extended up to the bottom of her skirt. A ring with a red jewel on her left hand shone as she tied her long brown hair into a knot.

"I'm just curious that you killed all of them but didn't kill me."

"You didn't pose any threat to me. None of you were strong enough to challenge me. Only you didn't attack me. "

"Huh! You think that I'm that weak?" she angrily pouted.

She got annoyed as he didn't respond and watched him loot the corpses.

He noticed and said "Why are staring at me?"

"I'm not you idiot!" she blushed and turned away.

The voice of the ancient weeb in him awoke. 'Oh my god. She looked at you. This is own 3D magical waifu or is it the beginning of our harem?'

'silence'

[Deploying suppressors...]

[Alert! Armour will retract in 2 minutes]

"Turn around."

"Why?"

"I have to change clothes."

'Why is she questioning everything I say?'

(unnecessary comment by author)

***

He wore a brown leather cuirass with pauldrons. It had many segments that were joined together by metal rivets. On his hip there were two daggers holstered. He didn't hate swords, but he could not find a good one from the mercenaries. Padded leather on his legs and a single armguard on his right hand were all topped by a black cloak. Unfortunately none of the boots were in his size so it was weird to see him barefoot with that much clothing. But it wasn't a problem.

[Partially deploying armour at 'feet' region...]

These black and grey shoes were much better than anything else and looked pretty cool.

"Are you done?" a voice came from the back of a tree.

"What! Why are you still here?" he was angry.

"Hey, didn't you tell me to turn away and wait." Elizabeth came out.

"Obviously you should have left by then."

"What! You're going to leave a defenceless girl in the forest all alone?"

"Both you and I know the truth about you."

After that reply she fell silent. She didn't want to look him in the face anymore. But she didn't feel hate towards him rather embarrassment. The fact was that she was a witch who was alive and lively for nearly a century would easily make others be suspicious of her. Now she was ashamed that even the person who 'saved' her knew this.

'Finally she shut up. Now I can get out of here.' and he proceeded to walk westwards through the forest, leaving her behind because he clearly had no intention of having her accompany him.

***

A few hours later, it was nearly evening. A long walk through the Blackwood forest would be rather dangerous for a normal person, but it felt like a warmup for Kellogg. His daggers were stained with blood as he had to 'convince' a few monsters not to attack him.

The memories he got from the mercenaries told of a town west of the forest. He planned on reaching the town the next day by journeying through the night. He felt a bit hungry but, it didn't matter much since the armour kept suppressing it.

'A few pieces of gold for entry and I'll still have a lot of money left. What should I tell the guards when they ask me where I come from? I guess I'll bribe them.'

While he was plotting his way through the forest, an unexpected visitor appeared. A rather large orc wearing a loincloth and carrying a wooden club stood in his way.

"Aw shit. Here we go again."

[Target Acquired]

[Scanning...]

[Vulnerability detected]

A circle appeared at the orc's neck in his vision.

He pulled out a dagger and burst forward towards the orc. The orc swung its club but it wasn't fast enough to hit him. An opening appeared and rushed forward.

"Eh?"

Just as he took the last step before attempting to pounce on the orc and slash its neck, a slime appeared and a small but major slip occured.

****