Her mission

Chapter 8: Her mission

"I can't believe it has taken so much time for me to properly introduce myself," said the healer, "I'm Sharla, I have been living in this village for eight months now, and as you can tell already, I am a healer and believer of the Lord."

Donned in a lovely white-red checkered shirt, long pants of the same color, and her long brown hair tied into a bun, Sharla brought warm milk and a plate of cookies alongside a map quietly lying on it.

Because of that map, Bryce felt she wasn't the person he imagined her to be. True, that map could mean that she wanted to adventure by his side and she wanted to start planning their next moves, but that was too fast for it, wasn't it? She has been taking careful steps with him, mainly because of other hunters, so Bryce didn't think she would make such a mistake.

There was a chance that she did, though, because they ended up alone, and she was just his age if not one or two years younger. A bane of young heroes and their supporters often turned out to be girls or boys: a heart is such a fragile and fickle organ.

"I'm Bryce." And with those two words, Bryce waited for her to continue. He didn't want to reveal his information too carelessly, and even a simple introduction such as 'I am a lone hero with a dog' could betray his real status.

Not finding it surprising, Sharla nodded, picked up a cookie, then took a little bite like a squirrel. "This map is for you, Bryce. You should be able to integrate it with your minimap and find many valuable locations on your way to the Freedom Metropolis."

Bryce carefully picked the map. "You know about my identity, just like I thought." He added a hint of surprise to his tone, then glanced at his system window.

The system felt the item in his hand, analyzed and confirmed its nothing else in disguise, then asked whether Bryce wanted to impart its information to his minimap.

"Yes, I sensed your holy mana because I've been trained for it. And I take those words as proof of you not having any amnesia," Sharla replied to Bryce's inquiry in the meantime, her words sounding suspicious already.

It wasn't about amnesia, of course, that much was obvious, but what did she mean by 'trained for it'? And how could it slip out of her lips so carelessly? She knew about heroes and their 'player' bloodline because minimap and other system features were only reserved for them and their counterparts(Some extraordinary existences like a pope also had the same system).

Bryce easily confirmed it during their return to the village and Sharla also brought light to the situation.

People of another world had heavily limited systems; it mostly showcased their levels, stats, and skills, and it allowed them to interact with wonders of the world, such as dungeons, for instance, and see common information about everything around them.

But they couldn't pick a map and use its information through the system: similarly, they couldn't get a skill manual, plant it within their bodies, and use it without any training. Their only option was to open a book, learn in a normal way, and practice until it became perfection — the perfect skill.

Perfect Skills were abilities that residents of the world could use in the way heroes and demon lords did. For example, Bryce's survival skills, he could turn the dead bodies of monsters into edible parts by clicking on the system window; the resident's perfect skill worked exactly in this way.

"Sounds too unfair," Bryce said with the map still in his palm.

Seeing this, Sharla faintly smiled and agreed with him, then started a talk about her identity. "Before I begin, to ensure that you can believe me, I want to ask whether you can let out a faint streak of holy mana. If you wrap it around my finger, you will be able to tell whether I am honest or not. It's a simple trick."

"I don't." Bryce lied.

"Alright," Sharla nodded, then started a talk about her mission, "As I have told you already, I've been living here for eight months now, and while villagers think I am a healer from the Blossoming Flowers Kingdom, I'm here on a mission from the Freedom Metropolis to guide heroes should I find them in this region.

"The Freedom Metropolis is one of the strongest strongholds of our world, the heart of mercenaries, it's a vast city formed two thousand years ago by heroes and villains who had escaped from their summoners, not wanting to shoulder a fate of many lives. They worked together to build a place for themselves, and ever since that day, many people like you have joined their side, finding a home for themselves and new friends.

"There are many people like me looking out for heroes in disguise. I have been told that it's unlikely for me to find a runaway hero in this region, but I actually managed to find you!" Sharla brightly smiled, convinced Bryce was one of those heroes who found a sudden responsibility a burden.

Moreover, it wasn't like every hero or villain had to be strong. People have been summoned for many reasons ever since the first summoning, and nowadays, even beasts can use summoning skills, praying every ceremony that they would get someone smart and kind to push forward their economy.

"I see," Bryce replied, slower and quieter than he usually had done in Sharla's presence; she took it as a given because he had just received a lot of information at once and needed to collect and arrange all of them.

A few breaths later, Sharla's eyes twinkled, and her expression softened as Bryce extended his hand for a cookie, the map in his other free hand turned into particles, and he munched on a snack with a faint smile. Gengo was the same now that his owner trusted the girl a little.

But Bryce trusted what he had within himself, not her. Of course, it was nice of Sharla to save him the trouble of dealing with villagers and provide some information, but Bryce wouldn't have accepted the map into his system had his system not classified it as a map.

If there was even a short interval in the system's analysis, Bryce would have pushed the map back to the plate.

'If the plain-looking sword can turn into the Excalibur, a mere map can be enchanted to hide poison or worse.' Bryce inwardly commented, trusting his bloodlines. He had two of them, in fact, so he had an inkling these two made a stronger player system and surely would find something dangerous within items.

But that alone was not enough, of course, so Bryce wanted to learn good appraisal skills and more. Besides, he wasn't done asking questions and learning more about the world. Therefore, he decided to stay in Sharla's house and live with her for a while.

Her mission was to guide him, wasn't it?

"I hope I am not pushing my luck." Bryce smiled in a little different way than he usually did. It was a smile that worked well on girls, and though he never had a girlfriend, he was aware of his looks. With just a different intent behind his smile and the aura of the heroic bloodline, Bryce made Sharla nod a few times and agree with his request.

But her reaction was so instant that Bryce questioned himself.

'Ah, I can't wait to see some new hero with a harem. It will be so fun to look at.' Bryce rolled his eyes, sniffing his nose at such amusing thought.

He then continued the conversation, "Is there a deep reason all sides summon people from another world, other than their needs like does something change in the world on every summon?"

"Oh, you are on the spot!" Sharla smiled, "More dungeons appear."