The path leading outside of the village is rather long, and all the mist that served as a natural barrier to protect the village made it impossible to see anything a few feet away. And even for us Otherworlders we could easily get lost in it without the road that leads to the outside world.

If anyone were to stray from the path, they could easily get lost for days even if they could move at speeds surpassing the speed of sound. But as long as I take my time and keep to the road I’ll be absolutely fine. Well not absolutely, I mean there’s always the possibility that a monster can find it’s way onto the road and kill me, but as long as it’s not anything higher than a B-Class monster I’m confident that I’ll be able to survive. Especially with all these absurd gifts I’ve received.

Now, since this little journey is going to take a while, and there's not really much to narrate in all of this mist I might as well pump out another info-dump right? I mean I've hardly explained everything, and you still barely know anything about myself. I've only ever talked about my personal abilities, my appearance, and equipment and a few other minor things that are hardly relevant to the plot.

But I’ve never talked about my level, or my stats or any other of my abilities really. So why don't I show you my Status Screen, after all a picture worth a thousand words. Though this isn’t really a picture, it's still a bunch of words. And the total word count doesn't even reach a hundred, let alone a thousand.

STATUS SCREENName:DanielRace:HumanLevel:22Class:OtherworlderStrength:36Intelligence:98Agility:22STATUS POINTS:20

Anyways, this is how the World System is works. It only has three types of stats, and each stat on covers a general subject. Strength covers Health,Physical Damage, and Physical Defense. Intelligence covers Mana Capacity, Magical Damage, and Magical Defense. And finally, Agility covers Speed, Critical Chance, and General Evasion.

The Hero System is supposedly setup like this, except it's split into more specific categories like Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Dexterity. It allows for greater specialization, allowing someone to focus on their defense or their offense. But I work with what I have.

So, for the most part I’m built like a Mage, though I’m closer to an Alchemist rather than an actual mage. The number of spells I learned are limited to a few basics after all. And those spells are simply for convenience after all what spell out there could match the power of a Personal Ability.

And as I grow stronger, and as my level increases my Personal Abilities will naturally grow stronger as well. I'll basically be invincible to anyone who's not an Otherworlder after I level up enough. I probably could have easily taken down that Reaper myself if the level gap between us wasn't so extreme. If only I were about half of it's level, I probably could have killed it.

But that's easier said than done, a Reaper is an S-Class monster who's at the weakest a Level 70. I still have a ways to go before I reach half of his level. But that's fine, I mean the chances that I'll end up seeing another Reaper in a village are astronomically low. If it weren't for the fact that this village in particular is one filled with Otherworlders, I probably wouldn't have seen an S-Class monster until I was around level 50.

It's the sort of monster you need to actively look for, and it's not the type that would just pop up in the middle of nowhere.

Well anyways, that's enough of that. I’m finally out of that thick mist, I should be able to proceed a lot faster now. I pull out a silver ring with two wings engraved on both sides, from my Spatial Storage. This is one of my going away presents that I received, and it was originally supposed to be your ordinary Ring of Speed, but since an Otherworlder crafted it, it ended up like this.

Mercury’s Ring of the TravelerGrade: EpicA Ring of Speed crafted with such splendor that the God’s couldn’t help but praise it. For any traveler this ring is a literal godsend, it will allow one to tirelessly traveler for weeks. One’s running speed will increase by over 200%. This ring’s blessing will make running as easy as walking, and walking as simple as breathing.

I asked for gifts that weren't to extreme since there would definitely be thieves out there trying to steal it, but I can’t complain this is still a great gift. And besides it's already coming in handy, I might as well make the most of it.

I put the ring on, and it magically adjusts itself to perfectly fit my finger. I activate the ring by supplying it will a small amount of mana, and a pair of translucent wings appear on both of my feet.

And as the translucent wings disappear, I suddenly feel weightless. I've never felt so light before! I quickly dash from one part of the rode to another, and I easily covered over a dozen meters in an instance. This is rather slow in the eyes of most Otherworlders, since quite a few of us can teleport, blink, or break the sound barrier but this easily surpasses anything I've ever done.

So with the help of Mercury's Ring, I quickly traverse the road intent on reaching a town by the end of the day. But sometimes things don’t go as planned.

As I was running on the road, I happened to hear a loud clamor to my right. There was the loud sound of metal hitting metal, and a number of painful shrieks. I knew it probably wasn’t the best thing to do, but the curiosity got the better of me. So I quickly headed towards the source of the noise.

I thought it would be fine, my Intuition didn’t tell me there was anything dangerous. And well there wasn’t anything really dangerous at all, well for me at least.

The source of all this chaos was a single carriage being escorted by a number of knights. This was your typical, random encounter in the forest sort of scene that usually happens when someone is traveling.

There's always going to be a bunch of bandits ambushing a merchant's caravan, or a bunch of bandits attacking some villagers, or some country's soldiers attacking some villagers, or a bunch of knights fending off bandits, or a bunch of knights fending off another countries knights, or a princess being escorted somewhere by a bunch of incompetent knights.

Now, I don’t exactly know who’s in that carriage, but......

“Hurry, don’t let them get the princess!” (Knight 1)

Correction, I now know who is in that carriage.But I don’t plan on getting involved. It might have been fine if It was something else, but usually these sort of events lead to some rather inconvenient events. This is especially true when it comes to the princess encounter.

But I’m sure that these knights can properly protect the princess, those weird tropes should only happen in stories. There's no way the Imperial Family would ever assign a bunch of incompetent knights to escort the princess....

“Quick, we need back up we won’t be able to properly protect the princess despite all the training we’ve undergone. You would have thought that they would have sent more competent knights since we’re dealing with Royalty!” (Knight 2)

Or not. Well, damn it. I guess I’ll have to help out, but I’ll just help out from the side. I’ll make sure no one sees me.

I crouch down and hide behind a tree. And as I touch the ground, I activate disassemble, creating potholes where the attackers stood causing all of them to fall to the ground.

Now, for the Knights to finish them off….

Or not….

The couple of knights that made it out alive, were looking at each other dumbfounded, and the attackers were quickly regaining their composure. Some of them were already even climbing out of the potholes. They really need to hire better knights.

I activate Disassemble again increasing the size of the potholes causing the attackers to once more fall down. But yet again the Knights simply stood there dumbfounded.

I guess I have to do this myself. I activate Synthesis and Disassemble and create a number of spikes piercing the attackers. Then I closed the potholes up.

“W-We…..We won!” (Knight 1)

The knights looked rather confused, but nonetheless the attackers were dead.

“We actually managed to kidnap the princess!” (Knight 2)

“All Hail the Evile Kingdom, All Hail!” (Knight 3)

Wait…

Did I just kill the wrong people…

God damn it, I charge forward and activate Disassemble turning the rest of the knights into dust. I quickly approached the carriage, and opened the door and there she was. A beautiful, short blonde haired princess was tied up sleeping inside the carriage. I just assisted a bunch of kidnappers.....

And I killed the people trying to rescue her didn't I?

Ah, God damn it! Intuition why didn’t you warn me! What have I gotten myself into…..

…

Well, nothing I can do about this now. You reap what you sow. I wonder if I have a mask or anything that I can use to hide my identity, and maybe like a robe or something.

I look through my Spatial Storage, and I managed to locate a plain white mask, and entirely black robe. Hmm, this is good enough.

I quickly put both of them on, and after cutting the ropes that tied the Princesses hands I woke her up by lightly shaking her.

“Hey, wake up” (Daniel)

And soon enough she slowly woke up, and looked at me in a daze. And when she came to , she looked at me frightened, and screamed, “Kidnapper! Kidnapper!” (Princess)

“No, I’m not-” (Daniel)

“Rape! Rape!” (Princess)

“I’m not a-” (Daniel)

The princess ignored me, and continued kicking and screaming, “Someone! Save me! Save me!” (Princess)

“I’m not a kidnapper!” (Daniel)

The princess backed up all the way to the other side of the carriage, and looked at me teary eyed.

“Look, I’m not a kidnapper okay. I saved you.” (Daniel)

“Liar….” (Princess)

“If I was going to rape you, or kidnap you I would have to do this no would I?” (Daniel)

“No….” (Princess)

“Then you see I’m not a-” (Daniel)

“Fireball!” (Princess)

The Princess raised her hand forwards, and launched a fireball straight towards my face. The explosion of hard rock and flames blew me back and burnt a part of the robe I was wearing.

Thankfully, I wore the Everlasting Snowflake otherwise I’d have some rather bad burns right now. I quickly put out the flames, and as I stood up I noticed that the Princess had opened up the other door and ran away.

“A crafty one aren’t you….” (Daniel)

But you can’t underestimate a Second-Class ability like Intuition, I already know exactly where she is. I quickly ran after her.

And as I chased her, she seemed to have noticed so she stopped where she was and hide in a thick bush. But Intuition is tracking her, and pointed it out. Her hiding just makes it a lot easier for me.

But as I approached, Intuition flared up. Ah, shit that’s dangerous…

I speed up ,and land right next to the princess. I unsheathe the sword hidden under the black robe I was wearing and swung downwards killing a snake that was about to bite the princess.

I heaved a sigh of relief, but suddenly Intuition flared up again. And I followed it's instructions and quickly jumped back. And in the moment after, I noticed the Princess was tightly holding a small dagger and it was currently position where my leg was just a moment before. If I was any slower, she definitely would have stabbed my leg. And where did she even hide that knife?

I sighed, you know I get that she can’t trust me, and she’s doing all this for her protection, but something about this just really irritates me.

“Don’t come any closer!” (Princess)

The princess, held the dagger her hand up to her throat.

“If you come any closer I’ll kill myself!” (Princess)

This girl, she’s crazy....

She's not joking, Intuitions warning me that if I want her to live, I shouldn’t move forwards. If I take even a step forwards she’s really going to kill herself!

“What do you want….” (Daniel)

“First off, who are you. Who do you work for, my father, my mother? Or is it one of my brothers, or my sisters.” (Princess)

“I don’t work for anyone.” (Daniel)

“Well, it’s not like just anyone can take a fireball to the face and suddenly come charging towards you at such speeds. You’ve definitely been hired by someone. “ (Princess)

“No, I’m really not working for anyone.” (Daniel)

“Then, put down your weapon and take off that robe.” (Princess)

God damn it, I sheathe my long sword and throw it along with its scabbard onto the ground. I also take off my robe and throw it over the sword.

“Take off the creepy mask too.” (Princess)

I reluctantly take off the mask, and throw it towards the pile of accumulating items.

“Do you believe me now, I didn’t want to get caught in anything so I disguised myself. I’m not your kidnapper, as a matter of fact I killed your kidnappers.” (Daniel)

“And where are their corpses?” (Princess)

“I got rid of them” (Daniel)

She began pondering for a moment, “I can’t trust you, form a contract with me” (Princess)

“A contract?” (Daniel)

“Yes, as I have with me a special Magical Contract. You will assist me in returning to the Capital, and you will not be able to harm me directly or indirectly. If you break the contract you will die, but if you fulfill your duty you will naturally be compensated.” (Princess)

“And if I refuse?” (Daniel)

“Then, you will have to die.” (Princess)

“And are you capable of killing me?” (Daniel)

“Me? No, the Imperial Family however is another matter entirely.” (Princess)

“No one would know a thing If I were to kill you right here ,right now.” (Daniel)

I made a little threat in attempt to scare her, but she simply smiled, “But is that really a risk you’re willing to take? You can’t underestimate the Imperial Family you know.” (Princess)

“But if I were to simply walk away right now…” (Daniel)

“That’s pointless, I’ve already seen your face.” (Princess)

My Intuitions telling me she's not bluffing, but she's not telling the truth. This is difficult....

Damn, I’m really not going to get out of this unscathed. I can run away right now, and rid myself off all of this, but she's saying the Imperial Family will kill me. I can run as far as I can, away from even the Imperial Family, but that carries risk of it’s own. Or I can help her, but that's….

“So do you accept?” (Princess)

“Hey, Princess how old are you?” (Daniel)

“That’s irrelevant.” (Princess)

“Is that so? Well, I’m Daniel, 15 years old.” (Daniel)

The Princess glared at me, silently

“And you?” (Daniel)

“Silvia, Silvia Ver Teres. 7th Princess of the Kingdom of Teresta. 14” (Silvia)

How young…

To be like this at this age, nobility huh…..

“Then Silvia, it’s nice too meet you.” (Daniel)

I held my hand out, "Y-You're going to accept the contract?" (Silvia)

"Why not?" (Daniel)

Authors Notes

It's late, I'll fix anything later.