CLA.S.S NEUTRAL: Stranger Is Coming

Conversation. Inn. Rest of Strangers.

Of course, it was much better in the village now. Almost half of the players were average brawlers.

"You've managed to drive them away without even using a weapon."

I noticed only now that the three brothers were standing behind me.

Brafmapurta was as happy as a child, "It's cool!"

"To tell you the truth, I didn't expect that an NPC could behave this way," the dwarf whispered. "I almost went back to real life when I saw his grin."

"Me too." Karavel smiled sadly. "We seem to be dealing with a high-level NPC; his AI is incredible. It's far superior to us."

"We've been looking for you," the orc said. He wasn't afraid of me, unlike his brothers. "You didn't tell me where to find you when we complete the quest."

"Well." I smiled. "I guess I forgot."

"Well, how can an ordinary NPC forget about any part of the quest? That's right, it can't. He looks like a human much more than many of our friends," Dwagold whispered to his older brother.

"You're right, especially Rebh; it looks like a robot!"

They all laughed together after Karavel's words.

"I'll be in the capital in two or three weeks. Look for me there," I said seriously. I hoped to get out of it.

"Um... so you mean Skargen city, the capital of the Arenvar Empire?" Brafmapurta asked.

I mentally cursed myself because I hadn't studied the world map in detail.

"Exactly," I said. "I'll arrive at the Central Square in the evening. I warn you in advance that I'll stay in the capital for no more than a week. I don't know my further fate."

"It's great! We'll complete this quest before your arrival to the capital." The dwarf rubbed his hands. "We'll use all strangers' knowledge to help you."

I liked how he mentioned the forum and how he played the role of the elder brother.

Now I need to think about how to cope with the rest of the players. It dawned on me. I didn't want to give any more quests, so I had to find out why the players were here because most of them didn't like these backwoods.

"Listen, brothers," I said to the guys. "Why are there so many immortal strangers in this remote village? I've visited a lot of villages before and haven't seen any strangers there."

"Someone started a rumor that in the middle of nowhere we can find a unique quest, so they started to look for such villages," Brafmapurta explained. "I thought that the developers specifically spread such misinformation to make players wander this world, but now I don't think so."

"Developers?" I pretended to be surprised to hear an unfamiliar word.

"I mean, high-ranking government officials in order to improve the economic condition of the marginal territories, figured out how to make the strangers wander in these places," Karavel replied, helping his brother; the dwarf gave a thumbs-up to the orc.

"Okay, the rest of the strangers should leave the village because you've already got the quest."

"Excuse me, but can we involve a few more friends, as we may need the help of some stronger strangers," the dwarf said. I liked his idea.

"Hmm... okay, but not more than two people."

"That's fine. The innkeeper is waiting for you," Karavel added before leaving.

After saying goodbye to the players, I went to the inn. It turned out that the innkeeper had cooked me a great lunch—fried potatoes and well-cooked meat. The smell was incredible. There was a jug of ravz next to the plates. No one sat at the table with such wonderful meals; it was very strange.

"I'm glad to see you again in my inn," Morm greeted me. I learned the innkeeper's name by looking just above him.

"Help yourself. Your lunch is getting cold; the other strangers have tried to take it three times, but I have not allowed them to do so."

"Thank you very much," I rejoiced and ate my lunch in less than five minutes. The ravz was excellent and really was like a brew to taste. Morm's meals gave a lot of interesting buffs. Each dish was his own recipe, and I liked his food immensely.

I'll have to take some cooking lessons from him. I'm gonna go talk to Morm about training now. But I didn't do it. Instead, a delegation of thirteen players appeared in front of me. I didn't know what they wanted.

"I have no quests for you," I said and leaned back in my chair.

"We know. We've heard about your conversation with Karavel and his friends," a short elf with a thin handsome face and blond hair muttered. "Perhaps you have some other quests? We've been at the village for a week, and we have only been asked to dig up gardens and to get rid of rats."

"Hmm… do you think I should be sorry?" I smirked. "You've only been waiting for a week! I've been searching for power for ten years; you've been keeping people from living for a week."

"M-mm… but… well-"

"Never mind," I interrupted him. "Help the residents with everything they ask of you, and I'll see what I'm able to come up with for you."

"I told you that we need more reputation points to deal with him," a dwarf whispered. "You kept arguing and convinced me that we would get a quest just for nothing. Now we have to help."

The delegation went away, and again I got out of a difficult situation. Despite the fact that I played my role well, I was very afraid of what would happen if this crowd of players found out that I was just one of them.