Detect

Seshat and her level three human that stood by her side were talking within the main room as Mallory was approaching. "Oars how is the defence of the city going? Visa City cannot last long if we have to deal with all these attacks along with the internal problems. There has been something weird going on in some places too.."

Oars lowered his head in thought and then answered. "The monster attacks have been happening too much recently, although the walls are holding up thanks to our familia's efforts. The adventurers and capable fighters are becoming much less as the battles progress and we are becoming more cut off from other cities. Most merchants are unwilling to take on the dangers to transport supplies to us."

The Seshat familia was well spread out but their main home was in Visa City which had been designed and built mostly by the Seshat Familia which is why the city was so functional and sturdy even though it was a smaller city.

While the familia did have many level ones, their level twos were only three while Oars was the only level three who had levelled up through fighting outside of the city walls so his experiences were no less of those in the dungeon.

Oars then asked. "What about the new addition? Do you see any hope in her or did you just buy her to satisfy your desires?"

Although he did speak a little rudely towards his goddess, she did seem to mind as if it was a regular thing she heard from him.

Seshat rolled her eyes and answered. "It is too soon to tell. Those types tend to do well if they work hard but if they are lazy… sigh. Speaking of which."

As Seshat finished speaking, there was a knock on the door then Seshat answered. "You can come inside."

Mallory came in and bowed. "Goddess Seshat, 'Visa's Spear' Oars. Mallory greets you both and asks for your assistance."

Seshat smiled with satisfaction. "What do you need?"

Mallory spoke calmly. "Goddess, I would like to learn more about the city and the surroundings. If possible I would like to take a trip to somewhere that is safe to trade."

Oars looked down at the small child and asked. "What can a small child like you possibly have to sell? Don't tell me that you are going to sell something from the familia?"

His suspicions were not wrong since Mallory was brought in as a slave and she did not have anything of value, the correct assumption for most people would be that she intended to sell one of the items within the familia home.

If Mallory intended to do so, he would not let her off and give her a swift punishment according to the rules but Mallory did not show any guilt as she raised her head. "It is just something that I made with the materials I have been given. I believe that it is my right to use them as I please?"

Seshat interrupted Oars who was about to speak. "It is within your right but you will get no replacements for what you have used. You will have to buy new ones for yourself until the regular replacements are given much later."

While Mallory did get some pocket money, clothing, food, blank books or paper, a quill and ink to help her adjust to the familia, they would only be given to a certain amount a month so if she wasted it then she would have to figure out how to get some on her own until then.

With Mallory's bad luck, it was strange that most of her things were still intact after she had been living in the familia.

While she had been absorbing the bad luck or karma from the surroundings, she had yet to suffer any unfortunate events once she joined the familia so she put it down to having a goddesses blessing, being around a goddess or living within a goddesses home which can be recognised as a shrine or holy place where the god collects faith and prayers from its surroundings.

For that reason she only carried her talisman with her as she left the familia home so she could avoid any accidents.

Seshat gave a warning. "You must come back before it gets dark and not venture outside the city walls. As you know from experience, it is not safe right now and especially so for you. As you exit the main gate you will continue down the road until you see the market place. If you need to sell anything then find a place to the side where you can sit or stand."

She told Mallory all kinds of things about the city and then let her go but as Mallory had left, she turned to Oars. "Watch her for me."

Oars frowned. "Do I really have to watch over a small kid like her?"

Seshat rolled her eyes again. "She interests me. I want to see what her future looks like."

Oars looked a little shocked. "It has been a long time since a person has interested you this much.. well besides those you take a fancy to because they have cat ears and a tail."

Seshat did not deny it as she said. "I know that I did buy her for that reason but now I am glad I did do so."

Oars bowed and then left the room to follow Mallory from a distance until she arrived at the market place and found a place to sit down.

Mallory was occasionally calling out to people and shouting. "Sir you seem to have a strange aura about you. It is possible that you may encounter trouble in the future, if you purchase this talisman then it will help you detect it before it happens. For only sixty Valis you can detect that danger ahead of time and avoid it. Think about it please, for a little over a price for a meal you can avoid a poor fate."

As if she was experiencing the poor fate of her own, her words only seemed to anger the people who tried to shove her away and continued walking. "Move! Hmph! Such useless things are not even worth looking at."

The day was passing by as she suffered many rejections but a man which looked like a mercenary was walking by and her persistence did not let her let an opportunity go. "Sir, you have an aura of death on you. I recommend that you but this talisman so that you can detect the danger before it happens. I will give you a discount if you are willing to put your faith in my words. It was originally sixty Valis but for you to live on I will only charge you fifty. If it was others I may not have done so but you have a warm aura and I believe that your life is worth saving."

The man looked hesitant and then stepped forward ignoring the mocking taunts from around him.

"Haha so she finally got a fool to buy it."

"Silly child and her superstitions."

"I almost feel sorry for him for being fooled."

"Maybe he is just humouring the child."

The man took out the fifty Valis and asked. "How does this work?"

Mallory handed the talisman over and explained. "This is a detection talisman which will activate once it detects evil and incoming harm. It will rip once it has detected it so you will be able to know when that is so you need to keep it somewhere on your body so you can hear it rip or see it happen. That will be the warning to prepare yourself for incoming danger or to run away."

The man accepted it looking a little skeptical but he still chose to keep it on his body as he walked away.

Mallory let out a relieved sigh as she went back to the familia and filled up her body with food before attempting to make another talisman but on her way she had to avoid a stone lying in her path and had to avoid a chamber pot being emptied over her head.

Outside of the city a group of mercenaries had journeyed into the forest to gain more experience and gather some herbs for a task which was issued by a potion maker.

Just as they had found a batch of the herbs, they had nearly met their target so they continued to look around the area.

The man which had a talisman sticking out of his chest pocket was among them and he was looking around seriously when suddenly he heard a ripping noise. "What.. it cannot be true."

He stopped and checked his pocket then the appearance of the talisman was no longer whole as it had been split in half.

His captain turned around as he saw his subordinate stop. "What are you doing? Keep moving."

The man looked a little complicated as he went over the things in his head which had been told to hi by Mallory. 'If it is true then it may not just be my life at stake here so I cannot ignore this. I do not care if it is fake, I cannot risk the lives of my friends if I have even the slightest doubt about whether we could be in danger. I cannot mention the talisman yet since they will only be sceptical and ignore me.'

He then looked seriously towards his captain and answered. "Captain, I think we should head back with what we have for now and look another time. The sun is starting to go down and the monsters are more dangerous at night."

The captain shook his head. "We just need a little more then we can head back."

The man did not give up and said. "We may only need a little more but there is no guarantee we will find the remaining ones anytime soon. All we would be doing is risking our lives by journeying further into the forest. Our odds of escaping if we encounter danger will be much lower."

Two among the group agreed with his words. "What he says does make sense." "I do not mind searching together another time."

The captain looked annoyed. "Either you follow me and complete the mission or you will have your final pay deducted. It is your choice, you can stay or go. He will surely look like a fool later for being such a coward. Anyways we need to stop talking among ourselves since it will only expose us to the nearby monsters."

He looked over coldly towards the man. 'If he has attracted any with his worrying then I can use this to pin the blame on him and regain order. Hmph.'

The man shook his head with a look of determination on his face. "I will be going back, if you do not wish to join me then it is fine with me. It is your own decision."

One hesitated and then followed him while the other remained with the captain as the two of them hurried back to the safety within the Visa City walls.

Meanwhile the captain and three others were ambushed as they ventured a little deeper into the forest by many monsters which attacked aggressively without giving them a single break.

As the sun had gone down, they had more difficulty dealing with the monsters and they were eventually overrun as they were unable to escape and they were unable to hold their battle formation.

The captain was in danger and pulled his subordinate in front of him for protection which resulted in their death as they had their throat ripped apart.

More of his subordinates fell down and he was left alone with many monsters that surrounded him with glowing red eyes full of maliciousness. "Hah.. hah.. I should have listened. Hah.."

His eyes were full of despair as he cut down several monsters but he was soon overwhelmed and died.

The final result was that Mallory had been able to avert two deaths and as she was resting in her room, she felt a strange warm but gentle sensation within her body as if she had gained some kind of reward or growth of some kind.

The detect talisman helped one person to detect the incoming danger but since the danger involved more than one person, her reward was given to match the two lives which were saved after that one person had taken the warning seriously.