Chapter 3 - Section 1 - Stata

We arrived at the village of Stata gate in the evening before the sun had fully set, thanks to an item I purchased along the way with my skill, I was able to slip inside the city uninterrupted by the guards. When I had pulled it out of my inventory and activated the item.

"Cosmetic Change" <Satou>

Everyone in the cart along with me gasped in shock, right before their eyes, my black hair changed to be orange, my eyes went from black to a reddish purple, and my skin went from a sickly pale to a deep tan even my details within the character sheet had changed my age now showed to be 21 though my race, and gender remained the same.

In the game this item was purchased to change your Avatars looks to fit your personal style, when I saw the item in the shop I had the thought it would help me to hide my identity within the kingdom. It cost me more than a pretty penny (30 small gold) to purchase and considering I'll have to buy it again if I want to change back my superior finances might not last to much longer, at the same time i'd also gone the extra mile to purchase a similar but much less costly name change item to change my own name to Satou leaving behind the wanted name Kokei possibly forever.

As soon as we'd passed through the gate, the Marked Wolves all offered to take the Orc's, and Goblin's ear's n fangs in to the local Adventurer guild to cash in on their reward, I agreed handing over two bags from my inventory.

It'd be good for me to do it since i could possibly rank up but well since only Kokei was registered and i'd thrown that guild card away i wouldn't be able to receive the rewards and to turn in materials right after registering would draw quite a bit of attention.

So while waving them off Raisa and I continued further down the street towards the local merchant's guild where Raisa needed to make a delivery of her goods. Once we'd arrived I removed all of her goods from the folder I'd created in my inventory, stacking crate upon crate in the warehouse.

[Huh considering my Strength and Stamina are still the same rank as before when I was a Level 1 but this work has become quite a lot easier so i guess the stat itself will rise until it crosses a threshold ranking up to the next level, guess it really is like in a video game, and here I though the status was just for show]

"Wowee Satou, your skill is amazing, I mean without you I'd have had to make 4 trips to the capital before I would be finished, even with me paying you a transport fee you don't know how much money you've saved me!" <Raisa>

"Uh errr… no worries consider it my thanks for helping get me out of the capital." <Satou>

"Oh right the king was after you right? Well after seeing your skill I can kind of understand why, I mean what's the point of a party of meathead heroes without a supporter behind them right?" <Raisa>

"Uh yeah that right, who knows what kind of danger those kid's would try to rush into with me chained to their heels" <Satou>

"Not exactly a life one could say they'd be happy to live huh?" <Raisa>

"Nope, I don't have any experience with slavery but I know in my heart what they would try to do to me is indeed slavery, and in that state I would lose my mind, becoming a husk." <Satou>

"Whoa that's pretty dark… So yeah anyways you're on your way off to the Meritocracy after this from what I heard right?" <Raisa>

"Well I'm not quite sure if that's where I'd stay but it certainly sounds better than here, and as far as I know once I cross the border no one should be looking for me" <Satou>

"That's true, I mean a sizeable mountain range separates the two countries, so Joquet has never had to fear invasion before, at least from the kingdom, as a result the kingdom doesn't have much influence or presence there either." <Raisa>

"I'll just have to do my best not to stand out to much when I'm there otherwise I'll have to run again or just change my identity once again… *sigh* this world is such a pain." <Satou>

The last of my words trailing off almost as a whisper.

"Well we are all done here for the day, we should do any shopping we want now since it'll be the last chance to buy something in the kingdom, I know your contract was to get you here, but if you want I'd offer to hire you as my transporter to carry my goods that are being put together in your item box while we cross the border until we reach Bobel?" <Raisa>

"Uh yeah I think I could do that" <Satou>

"Ok well if you're interested It'll meet you and the Marked Wolves here again in the morning, then we'll all set out for Joquet" <Raisa>

[Her offer is nice and all but still if word gets out I might not even make it to the border, and even worse would be to cross the border only for my infamy to spread throughout the meritocracy, for me secrecy is my security.]

Walking my way slowly through the streets, peering into the stalls lining the pathway.

[Perhaps it's best if I split from them now and start heading to the border as soon as I can, sure my appearance looks different now but even still, if I wait too long the Kingdom could close the borders to prevent my escape]

As I scanned the marketplace I spied a team of five rough looking men, all geared in heavy leather armor, a look of vigilance on their faces as they inspected the swords for sale at one of the stalls.

[These guys look like they could protect me, and with enough money I'm sure anyone would make the journey even if we have to go by foot]

"Excuse me" <Satou>

A quiet voice escaped my lips in the direction of the men.

Spinning around one of the men stared me eye to eye; the others all just grinned and carried on what they were doing.

"Uh are you all adventurers?" <Satou>

"In a manner of speaking yes. We're also mercenaries so we do work outside the guild as well." <Scary Guy>

His response was straight but his voice remained gruff.

"Oh I see, are you on a job right now? Cause if you're not I was wondering if I could hire you?" <Satou>

Hearing this his stern face soften and he placed an arm around my shoulder.

"Oh is that all shoulda said so sooner, names Basle and this here's my crew we go by the name Cursed Warriors, but don't let that frighten you it's just cause we kept finding cursed items when we went into a dungeon once" <Basle>

"Whoa a Dungeon!" <Satou>

"Yup was a Rank 4 dungeon to." <Basle>

He started smiling ear to ear.

[No idea if that's a high rank or not, I should act surprised to be safe, either way it'll bloat their ego's from my ignorance]

"Whoa!" <Satou>

"So what kind of a job do you need to hire this kind of power for kid?" <Basle>

[Kid? I'm 27 years old, but i did set my age to 21 along with my looks from that item but even still kid...??]

"Oh yes sorry, I'm looking to find a party to escort me on my journey into the Meritocracy, I don't have a horse or cart however so the journey would be on foot."<Satou>

"Pretty expensive y'know sure you can pay?" <Basle>

"Oh yes of course there's no worry there, I uh lost most of my things due to an incident in the Kingdom, but managed to keep hold of my wallet." <Satou>

"Well if we're going by foot trip'll take 5 days, so it's going to cost you 10 small gold" <Basle>

"Alright if I pay half now and half upon our arrival in Bobel?" <Satou>

"ha ha ha sure thing kid totally alright with us, when do you want to set out? We could manage a couple hours yet before nightfall really sets in, or set off first thing in the morning" <Basle>

"If we start now kid we can hunt for some good meat outside of town." <Cursed Warrior 1>

The others in the group all joined in.

[Well I was thinking of leaving now before the others found me but still seems these guys are almost pushing me to head out now]

"Sure we can head out now, I've got no reason to stay I haven't gotten a room at an inn or anything yet" <Satou>

Handing over the 5 small gold coins the Cursed warriors all gathered their gear together and we set out from the western village gate just as they were about to close it for the night.

Travelling along a dirt road on foot under the setting sun sure seemed peaceful but when compared to sitting in a cart while traveling I realized just how slow the travel would be, not to mention only after an hour of walking my body started to sweat considerably even with the increase to my stamina.

After pulling up my menu I checked my character profile and noticed my Stamina bar was considerably low.

[huh so even just walking lowers my stamina, perhaps when we setup camp I should look for some items that boost my stamina recovery rate to offset what I'm burning]

We encountered a couple of small monster parties along the way, a pack of night wolves, and lesser kobolds, the Cursed Warriors took care of them handily, and recovered what they wanted from the bodies, I meanwhile remained content at just collecting the drops the other's couldn't see.

Collected: [[3 common night wolf cards, 2 common Kobold cards, 6 Night wolf pelts, 7 wolf fangs]]

Night was almost fully upon us, when everyone in the party stopped, it took me a couple of steps to notice, my place in the formation was at the rear so by the time I came to a stop I was now at the center of the five members.

"Something wrong?" <Satou>

'Rustle Rustle'

"Nope all going according to plan kid" <Unknown 1>

A voice I didn't know rose from the darkness in the direction of the forest.

As I continued to focus I saw 3 shadowy figures covered in cloaks emerge.

"Thought you weren't supposed to be coming with a target until tomorrow?" <Unknown 2>

"Well this kid offered us 10 small gold, so of course we weren't going to pass it up" <Basle>

"10 small gold huh, good catch this kid will probably net us more than any other merchant you were fishing for back in town" <Unknown 1>

[What the hell are they talking about, the warriors know these guys but I don't like the way their talking]

"So kid what's so important you'd hire our crew for protection huh?" <Unknown Leader>

As this question was being asked the Cursed Warriors at my sides grabbed both my arms and wrenched them behind my back and forcing me to my knees.

[Ow! Great so trying to escape a possibly untrustworthy group I went ahead and hired an even more untrustworthy group, I'll be lucky to escape with my life.]

"Ok ok ok, I'll tell you, I'm a transporter see I have the item box skill allowing me to transport goods without anyone knowing I have them on me, and I need to take them to Joquet" <Satou>

"Oh ho an item box, superior find boys we drink for sure tonight!" <Bandit Leader>

That was the last thing I heard as a crushing blow landed on my neck and everything faded into black.

I awoke sometime later in a cave who I assumed was the leader smacking my face back and forth.

"Rise and Shine! Sleepyhead" <Bandit Leader>

"Ugh mpphh urugh" <Satou>

Trying to speak I only managed to mumble since a gag had been placed over my mouth tightly.

[great now I'm a prisoner, and they know I have an item box]

"Good now" <Bandit Leader>

'Shting'

Drawing his sword and pointing it towards my throat.

"If you want to live you'll empty your item box right here right now" <Bandit Leader>

Resigned to my fate I opened my item box and removed all the Goblin, Orc, Wolf, and Kobold loot along with one of the big bags of gold I got from the merchants guild.

"That had better be everything!" <Bandit Leader>

His roar echoed off the cave walls.

Shaking my head violently up and down.

"To think an item box could carry this much, you're an even rarer catch than we first thought, bwahaha" <Bandit Leader>

Walking away with some of his men they began to dig through the pile of treasure I'd just released onto the floor of the cave, attempting to move was impossible my hands and feet were bound and hogtied, my only choice was to remain in my seated kneeling position or fall over and lay down.

[Well guess I should wait for a chance to escape, or until rescue comes]

Closing my eyes I began to meditate watching the clock of my menu tick by, scrolling through my menus, the shop, and all the tabs I had as of yet not checked out so far.

Further away in the cave sounds of merriment and boisterous laughter were heard.

Hour after hour passed until finally all was silent, opening my eyes I saw not one of the merc bandits were keeping watch over me.

[Seriously I mean I know they think I'm a kid, and I'm all tied up but to leave me all alone without even having someone stand guard how careless can you get]

Accessing my menu once again, I quickly purchased some lvl 5 gear;

[Leather Armor of Illusions, Gauntlets of Vitality, Quickstep boots, Mantle of Preserve life, stocking up on potions as well.]

[It's a good thing I had already placed so much gold into the menu for purchases otherwise I'd be stuck for a little bit]

Equipping every item via my menu, before operating it once again to draw out 2 Summon Orc Cards, and 1 Summon Kobold cards.

Under my breath I carefully cast the summoning

"Summon Kobold" "Summon Orcs" <Satou>

Directly in front of me spawned two level 7 Orcs they were slightly smaller than the ones I'd encountered before but since their lower in level I guess that makes sense, the kobold on the other hand looked nothing like the ones I'd seen in the forest, they looked like rabid wolves, while the while standing on two legs before me looked closer to the depiction of a Foxman, but only 2.5 feet in height.

Once again brushing aside the naming screens that appeared I set my plan of escape into motion.

"Orcs I want you to go and attack the humans in the next section of the cave, if you see anyone who appears innocent do not harm them" <Satou>

With a nod of their heads they slowly trundled off.

Turning once again to look at the Kobold before me.

"Ok as for you little guy, draw my sword, and cut me free from these bindings"<Satou>

Doing as commanded it pulled my recently equipped sword from its sheathe almost falling over in the process before making its way behind me and slicing through the rope freeing my arms and hands from their bindings.

Rubbing my wrists as I got back up to my feet, I could head quite the ruckus going on in the next section as roars and screams pierced the air.

[Heh heh guess I'd scream to if I woke up to Orcs rampaging, though I don't feel good about abandoning my summons I can't risk staying here to get caught again]

"Ok I'll take the sword back, you watch my back while I get out of here and back to town ok" <Satou>

"Ruff" <Kobold>

Taking that as a sign of agreement, I looked at the mini map and made a mad dash for the exit, making sure to do a rushed collection of all my gear that had been tossed haphazardly around the gathering area.

[Uh Oh one of the orcs was killed I should summon the last one to be safe]

"Summon Orc, guard this exit and prevent anyone from following!" <Satou>

Running as fast as I could past the newest orc and into the dense forest.

I drank countless stamina potions and ran for hours until finally I burst through the forests edge and onto the road.

There I spotted a familiar face riding along from the coachman's seat of a cart.

"What the!" <Raisa>

"Raisa!?" <Satou>