"Max?" A soft voice speaks from nearby. It sounds familiar. "Max, are you okay? He is not responding. Someone check him for injuries!"

It's when she calls out that I look over and find Princess Elise standing close by, along with her six guards from yesterday, Daniel, and three men I don't know. One of the male mages from her bodyguards starts to approach.

"I-I-I-I'm fine," I stumble, pushing myself backwards for a moment before switching to moving to my feet. "I-I-thank you. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Lady Elise asks. "You did not respond the first few times Daniel and I called out to you."

They were speaking to me for several moments?

"What happened?" She asks.

"I-there-had to use lightning," I answer. "It was the only way. It was the only way. Lightning was the only way. I hope they're all dead. Lightning was the only way."

"Lightning? Seriously?" One of the men asks.

"We heard the lightning," Lady Elise snaps at him. "On top of his [Flashbang Bomb]s. That is the entire reason we rushed over here. Max, take deep breaths. The lightning is gone."

"I-I-I-trying."

"Breathe in," Lady Elise says, and I listen. "Now out. Breathe in… now out… breathe in…. Now out… breathe in… now out… Better?"

"Yeah," I nod.

That really did help.

"You do not like lightning, do you?" Lady Elise asks.

"No," I answer. "But it was the only way. It was the only way I could get past their barriers. It goes everywhere, jumps around. Barriers don't stop it unless they're all around. It was the only way."

"It is okay," Lady Elise says. "You did good, Max. You were very brave to use lightning even though it scares you. Were Colton and Thomas here?"

"N-no," I shake my head. "I hunt on my own. They keep training in the fields for awhile longer. Colt is training slower than me, he's a lot of Levels behind because of that. He might be in the forest somewhere, but probably not here. I think the stuff here is too strong for him at the moment."

"Okay," one of the unfamiliar men says. "So who took on this outpost? We've got a kid, and-"

"It was him," Daniel says. "You three, come with me. We're going to start examining the kills. Anything of note, the loot is Max's. Also, never mention that he used lightning to anyone. Publicly, he is a four-affinity with affinities for fire, water, air, and light."

"How could a kid-"

"This is that Max," Daniel interrupts. "The one who's been coming in with big loot the last few days. He's a seven-affinity, and again, never reveal that to anyone. We're keeping it secret right now. Now come, we've got corpses to sort through and any remaining monsters to kill."

"By himself?" One of the men asks as they walk into the ruined outpost with Daniel. "Even Lord Colton couldn't do that!"

Of course Colt can't, he doesn't hunt as much as I do. He's also hunting on more safer levels. I'm taking risks and hunting bigger things. Going after the outpost myself was a bad idea, but I thought I could handle it with my [Flashbang Bomb]s and some [Air Spears] and [Air Bolt]s. Having to add in fire magic used up additional Mana. If I was a few Levels higher, I could have done more damage to the goblins' barriers, even gotten through them more easily.

That was too much of a risk.

"How many Levels did you earn?" Lady Elise asks. "I am sure you got a lot, fighting groups of monsters earns more and you took on an outpost by yourself."

"Um…" I say. "Uh… There are several notices. Um… three plus one plus one is… four?"

"That is five," Lady Elise smiles a little. "So you gained five Levels?"

"I-if that's three and one and one added up," I nod. "Um…"

I pull up my Status.

Name: Maxwell Zanroval Age: 12 years Species: Human Sex: Male Level: 21 Experience: 17.43% Mana: 91/374 Mana Regen: 0.374/second Strength: 364 Constitution: 365 Agility: 365 Perception: 366 Magic: 374 Vitality: 367

"Um… I went from Level 16 to Level 21."

"That is five," Lady Elise informs me.

"O-oh, okay," I say.

"So," Lady Elise says. "Is there a story behind your terror of lightning?"

"N-not really," I answer. "I just… it's always scared me. I've never gotten past the fear. I didn't want to use the spell, but I had to. It was the only way I could think of to get past the barriers with what I had left."

"Like I said," Lady Elise tells me. "You were very brave for putting up with your fear to use it. That is a sign of inner strength, Max. The ability to push past your fears to do what's needed.

"It-my life be more important," I shake my head. "I'll do what I must to ensure me safety. Um. Colt told me that ya noticed my spells."

"I did," she smiles. "I am quite glad that he warned me before I left that you might be on-edge and uncomfortable. Our talk yesterday might have gone differently had he not, my guards instead thinking you were planning on attacking."

"It… was only in case they tried to," I shake my head. "I wanted to make sure I could get away."

"We assumed so," she says. "You did not seem hostile, just wary. Do not worry so much, we understand your situation and intent. I am not like some, who would take your preparation for escape as an attack or threat."

"Thank you," I say.

Neither of us say anything. I don't know what else to say, and I'm kind of nervous right now, anyway, because I am around a bunch of people a lot more powerful than me. One of the people here is a princess as well. I have to be careful not to say or do the wrong thing.

Should I clean my face up to be more presentable for the princess? I'm already fumbling my words a lot. It's hard enough to speak properly when I'm not shaken up by lightning or nerves from speaking to a royal.

"Who attacked first?" Lady Elise asks. "You or the goblins?"

"I did," I answer. "I thought I could handle it. I didn't know trolls were so tough. Didn't know they could regenerate so well, either."

"Yes," she nods. "Trolls can be quite tough. A weaker one will take at least 75 Strength or Magic to harm. Fire and ice are the best elements to use against a troll. Burns take trolls longer to heal, and so they are more effective at killing them as a troll can heal even lethal injuries if the damage is not severe enough. The cold will make their wounds take longer to heal, and if you freeze the injury, it will not heal at all until it has unfrozen. A common strategy is to use freezing magics, break the frozen spots, and then use fire to finish it off."

"Fire worked fine for me," I tell her. "But I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the advice."

I look into the ruins of the settlement. Daniel mentioned something about gathering up the bodies and loot, right? Are they going to try to claim some of the reward for themselves? And sell my loot? I won't be able to stop them, they're all far too powerful for me.

"This is a lot for a single person to take on their own," Lady Elise tells me. "So Daniel and his men will do the work for you while noting anything of importance. Once everything is brought to the guild and sorted, they will ask you what you want to keep, what you want to sell, and anything else that is relevant. The kingdom takes stealing glory and battle loot very seriously, and none of us here are inclined to do that."

She could tell what I was thinking? I thought I was good at hiding stuff?

"You are decent," Lady Elise smiles at me. "But you keep looking into the ruins with worry and paranoia in your gaze, so it was easy to guess."

"They ain't able to count the bodies right, though," I say. "Too many be blasted apart. Too many are blasted apart. I got a noticed tellin' me, um, telling me that I be paid per kill."

"You do not need to correct your speech with me, Max," Lady Elise tells me. "I know you are making an effort to speak less like a boy from the slums when you talk with me, but it is not necessary. If I find myself unable to something you say it, I will ask for clarification. As for counting, they do not need to. Father placed the request through the System, so the System counted everything. This is to ensure that hunters are rewarded properly and others cannot claim to have assisted more than they did – or at all when they did not. It also helps in situations like this, where bodies are too destroyed to count."

"Oh," I say. "How do I get paid, then?"

"Go to the guild," she tells me. "Let them know that you are there to report in on the job request, and they will tap into a System Job Crystal to determine the amount. Once you are scanned with it, it will report it and scan you to determine how much are you to be paid. Then, the money will be sent to you. If you are worried about them ignoring that or underpaying, going through the System enacts a guarantee. First, a portion of funds must be paid immediately when creating the job request. Second, the System will incur a large penalty on anyone who shorts a payment. If it is not paid in full in a timely manner, whatever force is behind the System actually directly takes the payment from them, and if they do not have enough, it will take money from their earnings until they pay it off."

"The System can do that?" I don't believe her.

"It can," she nods. "It creates a temporary [Inventory] for the person it has granted the payment to. They can take stuff out of it, but not put anything in. Once the temporary [Inventory] is empty, it disappears. Whichever god created the System did not like people shorting others."

This could just be her trying to reassure me. Just because she's a princess, that doesn't make her trustworthy. I'll only believe her if I receive an undeniable confirmation that it's true.

"Can I ask you something?" I ask. "Or is that wrong? I ain't too sure on how that goes 'cause you're a princess and all. Am I ain't allowed to?"

"You are," she tells me. "We are not in a formal setting, so you are welcome to talk freely with me, Max."

"Okay," I say. "What were ya doing out here? And with Daniel?"

"We were returning from investigating another outpost area," she answers. "There was none where we were investigating. Your [Flashbang Bomb]s could be heard from five miles away. Remembering what Colton told me about the spell and aware that this was where near you had been asked to investigate, I informed them that it was likely you."

"Oh," I say. "And Daniel? Ya went with him instead of more royal guards?"

"I am courting his nephew," she informs me. "Peter was meant to come investigate with me along with his own team, but he came down with a stomach issue and needed to rest even after being treated. Daniel came in his place."

"Oh," I say. "Okay. Do ya know if there's a river nearby?"

Lady Elise looks at one of the female mages among her guards.

"There's one that direction," the guard indicates a direction past me. "Around three hundred yards."

"Okay," I say. "I's going to excuse myself. I's feeling really hot from all the heat and want to splash some water on my face."

"Okay," Lady Elise says. "We will be here, Max."

I nod, then make for the creek. At least she didn't question why I didn't just make water to splash on my face. Then things would be hard to explain without coming off rude, and I really don't want to be rude to the princess.

As it is, I'm struggling to figure out what to say to her. Is it because I'm only twelve? Or is it because I'm from the slums? We're in two different worlds, and I'm pretty sure she's just really nice and not telling me about my slights. She's probably planning on doing something because I keep slipping up and messing up my speech and being too bold with my questions.

When I reach the creek, I pull off my pack and set it down, then pull off my tunic and give it a sniff. It definitely needs washing, so I give it a good working in the creek. That's the best I can do without soap, but it should be good enough for now. I set it on some rocks to dry, then start rubbing water onto my chest and face and hair. I really need to make myself more presentable for the princess.

It does take me awhile to finish scrubbing stuff off of me and out of my hair, but I think I'm more presentable now. Looking at my reflection in the water, I decide I should give my hair a cutting as well. It's a little long and different lengths and stuff, and all of the 'better' males I've met have had shorter hair.

I create a [Stone Knife] and start cutting my hair, using the creek as my mirror at first and then to rinse out the clippings that didn't fall off. When I finish, I stare into the water. I think I'm presentable now. My eyes even seem brighter than they used to. Rather than just a dull blue, they seem almost vibrant now.

That makes me happy. Do they look better because it's a creek, or is it because I've been eating better lately and am getting healthier?

A gasp from behind catches my attention and I turn to find the princess there with her guards, a hand over her mouth.

"Sorry," I tell her. "I didn't know ya were coming, or I'd've pulled me tunic back on. I know it's improper for a lady to see a boy bared."

"No," Elise says. "It is not improper for us to see a boy without his tunic, Max. I was just shocked by… how you look."

"My hair?" I ask. "I wanted to make myself more presentable for ya. This is the second time in two days that I've saw ya and I know I's supposed to look nice for a princess. That's what everyone says, anyway. Though I's probably messed up the cutting."

"Not that," she says. "Your torso, Max."

"My torso?" I look down. "Oh. 'Cause I's so skinny. I ain't had as much food as ya before now, Your Highness. So I's skinny. I's fillin' out, though. My ribs were lots more noticeable a few weeks ago, 'fore I started affordin' food. See? My finger doesn't go deep in 'em anymore, just into 'em."

"The way he talks changed a lot after you said that," one of the male knights tells Lady Elise.

"I's still trying to talk better," I tell him. "But it's hard. But since Lady Elise says it's okay to not be as good, I's letting up a little on being proper 'cause it took a lot o' effort. Someone once said that if a slum resident tried talking to a noble in the way of the slums, the noble'd never understand a word of what they said. Prob'ly a 'xageration, but we slum folk can understand each other jus' fine."

"You simply have a vastly informal way of speaking," Lady Elise says. "It is understandable if one pays attention. I was not shocked by your skinny state, Max. I was shocked by your scars."

"Oh, those," I say. "Is the life of a slum resident."

"Max," Lady Elise says. "I may be ignorant of a few things regarding the slums, but I know that it is not normal for an adult in the slums to have as many scars as you."

I look at the creek again. I have six scars on my back, two on my right side, three on my left, one on my stomach, one on my right breast, four on my left arm, seven on my right, four on my rump, four on my left leg, and seven on my right. They're all covered when I'm dressed, and Lady Elise and her guards can only see the ones on my torso and arms right now.

She just had to mention them, didn't she? I don't care too much if people see them, but I do dislike when they stare or bring them up. They're all accompanied by painful memories.

"Some of us are unlucky and get tortured," I say. "And only by the grace of the gods did I get free."

"Is it okay to ask what happened?" Lady Elise asks.

She asked if it's okay to ask me. Does that mean I can be honest? Why I was tortured and how I got in that situation isn't something I like to talk about. That incident is part of why I learned it's not right to trust anyone until they have earned the trust. Also that anyone who actively tries to prove they can be trusted shouldn't be.

They should be stabbed and left for dead instead.

"No," I tell the princess.

"Okay," she says. "Unless you want to help carry things back, Max, you can return now. Everything should be ready for you to look over in the morning."

This is her telling me that I should go, isn't it? I answered wrong, I should have told her how I got the scars. There's nothing I can do about it now, so I just grab my tunic and pull it on.

"Goodbye," I tell the princess as I pull on my pack.