Chapter 10: Elric the Unfortunate

As much as I hate thinking about it, this is the truck that killed all my friends. In fact, I survived long enough to see another trick hit this one before it hit me, so I'm surprised to see that the damage done to the trailer is just a dent.

After spending a day just checking everything, I've come to the conclusion that this truck is still functional. There's no motor oil, so I had to make due with whatever oil was available, had to use water instead of anti-freeze, and all that's left is to charge the battery.

After determining how many bolts I needed, I experiment with Luna to get the right amount, but even still, this is a challenge and she may end up frying the battery. But we got nothing to lose. If the battery fries, then I guess we'll just use horses. Still, having a truck would be much better in the long run.

"Alright, Luna," I tell her as I point to the removed battery, "it's all or nothing. Try to charge it."

"Leave it to me, Sir Hero." She taps the end of her staff on the battery's charge socket and emits a small charge into it. After almost a minute, I tell her to stop and go into the driver's seat. I turn the key and to my delight, the dashboard turns on. She only recharged 10% of the battery. This is fantastic, I now know how long much she has to keep at it. We've practically got a modern truck in a medieval-like world!

I head over to Steph and tell her the good news. "So you can drive it out of here?" she asks.

"Yeah, but I don't see an opening to drive it out. In fact, how did it get down here?"

"The truck was in Major Abode along with me and Ronna when we were transported here. Eventually, when I became their Priestess, I had my men carry it down here. I had to use like 2 dozen high-level sorceresses to levitate that truck. If you can drive it, we can dig an exit for you."

"You're men, huh? Looks like you really got used to being a Priestess."

She looks so flustered as she comments, "Well, to be honest, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a Princess. I guess this is the closest thing."

"Yeah, I get it," and we both laugh.

Just as the conversation was going, one of the guards appears before me. "Pardon me, Sir Manuals, but the prisoner you brought in here wants to have a word with you."

"Prisoner?"

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When me and Steph arrived at the dungeon, I saw a man with silver hair looking depressed, sitting on the ground.

"So you're the one I rescued." I ask, now finally seeing him without his gear on.

"Aye. I am Elric Rollone, Petty Guard of The Dark Knights of the Holy Order Serving the Divine Crips of the-"

"Yeah, I get it, you're part of that potato chip cult. But why are you down here in the dungeon?"

"I turned myself in. As a villain, I am your enemy, and as a reformer, I must pay for my crimes."

"Reformer, huh? So you left that cult?"

"The gods have abandoned me. I never thought of it until I was given a chance to eat a Divine Crisp. I ended up with a most severe stomach ache, but my stats never changed."

Then Steph interrupts, "May I see your stats?"

Without answering, his stats appeared for us to see.

Elric Rollone

Level 18

Exp: 4

Max HP: 100/100

Max MP: 20/20

Attack: 334

Defense: 45

Magic: 9

Focus: 81

Stamina: 40

Vitality: 47

Endurance: 19%

Critical: 11%

Luck: 100%

Strength: 99

Resistance: 34

I turn to Steph, "What does this mean?"

"This is weird," she replies. "The stats and level seem to correlate, but his experience points are extremely low. Even babies get double digits in no time."

"I am cursed," said Elric. "Ever since I was very young, every time I level up, my experience resets. I would have to start all over from the very beginning, yet the required points to level up never decrease. How I curse the gods for not even allowing us to see how much we need till the next level. Because of this, I've had to work even harder than everyone else to catch up. I have to depend on equipment to keep myself equal to my peers, but equipment is not enough. That is why, when I was offered to join that cult and have a piece of the Divine Crisp, I took my chances. But in the end, other than getting sick, nothing happened. My stats never changed and my experience never raised.

"Everyone insults me, not just because I can't level up properly and am behind them, but also that I am not as much a warrior as you are, Sir Manuals. I prefer to write poetry, play cards, and draw illustrations of fair maidens. I would rather read tales and folklore than studying, and spar for enjoyment and make-believe rather than training. I am mocked by my peers who would risk their lives to prove their worth, while I would rather play it safe and calculate strategies. I have nothing more to live, so I give up this life and accept my eventual faith. But before I meet my end, tell me young man, why did you spare my life?"

"Why not? I mean, I couldn't just leave you to get killed."

"But I am your enemy. You are Sir Same Manuals, are you not? We've been ordered by the evil Empress to take you in. Why would you spare your enemy?"

"I'm not here to make enemies, I'm just here... well... actually, I don't know why I'm here. I actually died."

"Died?"

"Yeah. I died and came here. We all did, my friends, and Ronna."

"I do not understand what you are saying."

"Where I come from, you don't settle things by killing your enemies. We're above that."

He looks at me with curiosity, but then replies, "I guess we are from different worlds."

"Hey, Same," Step asks, "why did you rescue him?"

"Because he saved my life. If it wasn't for him, one of the dark nights would have smashed my head in. He distracted him long enough for me to..." Then I recollected how I dealt with the situation. I remembered how I took my sword and stabbed that guy in the back. "I forgot, I killed him. I killed him with my bare hands! I can't believe I'm just brushing that like it's nothing."

"Oh, don't worry, you'll get used to it."

I looked at Steph in complete shock, "Get used to it?"

"Yeah. I mean, I've already killed like 20 people or so."

"You killed 20 people? And you just said it like it was nothing?"

She shrugs, "In a way, yeah. I mean, life here is disposable. I'm not saying people's lives aren't worth anything, but everyone here will kill everyone else in the slightest provocation. Hmm. It's incredible how different, yet how similar this world is to our own."

"Steph, how can you just say that!"

"Calm down. I was just as shocked you are right now when I first saw Luna completely fry this guy, only to smile afterward and say 'a job well done.' But the more you do it, the more... normal it becomes. It's like killing cockroaches."

"I can't believe you are saying! Here I am, traumatized that I killed a man, and you're gloating you already killed 20 of them."

"I'm not gloating, I'm just stating a fact, and you don't look traumatized. You sound like you killed that guy with no problem."

What is going on? Steph wasn't exactly above beating someone up if she had to but never kill a person. But then again, I also killed someone and didn't feel a thing until I thought about it. What is this world that I am in?

(In King Ringles' Royal Chambers)

"Your Majesty, most wonderful news!"

"My loyal subject, Taylor. What good tidings do you bring?"

"We have found a bag of Divine Crisps!"

"You have? Bring me the bag! At last, after sending scouts throughout the entire kingdom and beyond, I finally have a bag of the Divine Crisps. Soon, the power of the gods shall be mine!"

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