Chapter 5 – Sometimes the best way to negotiate is a good fight
The sun has begun to rise suggesting that the morning has finally begun.
I get up and stretch out.
"So it wasn't a dream, huh..." I say this looking down at my hands and checking my body.
I received an invitation to this strange world by something or someone after killing the final boss of an RPG several times and after I was crushed by a truck I ended up in the body of my avatar who is a child. If someone had told me a week before that this was going to happen to me I would have said that this person is too crazy to make up such a story.
Beside me my partner and subordinate Mio, also wakes up. She puts her hand over her eyes appearing to be a little sleepy.
"Good morning, Master.
"Good morning, Mio" I say giving her a slight smile.
After getting ready and eating a bread from my inventory we went outside the tent where the other children were.
"Look who's awake, come on, come on, join the other children, tonight you will finally be auctioned on the black market by our collaborators so enjoy your free day until then" Dan says with a smile on his face pointing to the children who were in a part of the camp. For a kidnapper he is quite friendly.
We went to where the other children were, some had blank looks on their faces, others were talking and some were crying while in the fetal position. It is a pretty depressing place.
I get close to a lone girl who is standing looking at a tree.
"Are you okay?"
I try to give the girl a look but she doesn't seem to be listening to me, she just looks alienated at the tree saying very low: "Mom, Dad... Gone... All gone..."
What I am going to do is insensitive but this is a perfect opportunity to try a skill I have not used so far.
I touch the girl and she doesn't even move so I start chanting the skill, "[Clear Mind]"
Small blue particles appear around the girl and her eyes come to life again.
The girl starts to panic looking around, when she notices me and Mio looking at her she collapses into my lap as if I were a pillow and starts to cry like a baby saying Buaa buaa buaa as tears fall from her face.
"Okay, okay, it's over, it's going to be okay" I stroke her head a little trying to calm her down.
After a few minutes of this the girl finally calms down and starts to speak.
"I'm sorry for using you..." Says the girl with her face red with embarrassment.
"Don't worry, can you tell me what happened?"
Then the girl starts telling me how she ended up here: apparently her name is Ana and her parents were famous traveling merchants selling cloth from the Highland Kingdom who were going to come to the empire to pick up some supplies, however while they were passing a road they were attacked by dozens of bandits who surrounded them.
Ana's parents had even hired adventurers as escorts but seeing that the number of enemies was too great the adventurers fled leaving Ana's family behind, in the end Ana's father was killed and her mother was captured along with Ana, but Ana's mother, seeing that she would be raped and used as a toy, preferred to kill herself by biting her own tongue leaving her daughter behind.
Ana seeing all this with her own eyes ended up breaking down, not being able to believe what happened.
"And that's how I ended up here" Ana says feeling a little more refreshed
"I see..."
"Master, can I kill them now?" Mio has a deep hatred in his eyes listening to Ana's story of how the gang operates.
It's not like I didn't get angry too hearing the story however I had a better idea of what to do.
"Of course not, killing them would be too simple." I give a mischievous smile to Mio and she understanding what I meant also gives a mischievous smile back.
Ana however seeing this scene between Mio and me tilts her head with a doubtful expression.
"Let me see if I understand you correctly, you are asking me to free all my slaves, including both of you?"
"Yes"
"And then you want me to show you where I keep my spoils and give them to you?"
"Exactly"
"With nothing in return?"
"What part didn't you understand of what I told you to give me everything you have?"
Mio and I are currently in Kent's tent while he and I are having this interaction.
Kent then looks at his assistant who also doesn't understand what is going on and then looks at Dan who is standing in front of the door, all with confused expressions on their faces.
Guhahahahahahaha Everyone from the gang present then starts laughing at us for several minutes.
"Hey, I like you girl, you have attitude!" Kent says this staring at me as if I am his prey.
He then stands up and stands in front of me trying to intimidate me, we both stare at each other for a few seconds looking into each other's eyes.
"You know girl, you remind me of me when I was your age. Obstinate, always wanting more."
"But there is something that sets us apart, you know what it is?" says Kent seeming to give up on our game of who blinks first.
He then picks up two wooden swords from the back of the room and throws one at me, I then catch it in the air.
Half a second later Kent comes out of his desk and tries to hit me with his wooden sword, by the contraction of his muscles I knew he would stop before he hit me so I stand there with my arms crossed and my face expressionless.
As I predicted he doesn't hit me but the sword comes so close to my face that a strand of my hair is cut and falls to the ground.
"Experience" Kent says this, moving away from me a little.
This arrogance of his is already pissing me off, time to get it over with.
I then position myself and give a little boost to the muscular man in front of me, placing the wooden sword under his chin.
"Tell you what, in fifteen minutes we'll have a fight, if you defeat me you give me everything you have, if not I'll give you everything I have, including my body and Mio's."
Kent then makes a bitter expression on his face but ends up agreeing with his head.
"I knew I shouldn't have brought you here, have you gone crazy?!"
"You're going to be slaughtered"
"Say goodbye to your purity"
Ten minutes after our "meeting" with Kent, we are now in the middle of the camp, while I am listening to a sermon from Joseph, Garudo and Gerudo.
"Don't worry, I already told you, didn't I? There's no way I can lose this fight."
"Or have you forgotten what happened yesterday?" I speak this giving a childish smile.
The three then, remembering what happened on the road, end up shaking a little and stop pestering me.
As I sit there waiting for the duel, Mio comes up to me.
"Master, why are you going so far? If you wanted to you could have easily intimidated them and freed these people" Mio says worriedly
"Yes, but in the end what would happen to all these bandits? When this gang dissolves the only thing that will happen is that the gangsters that are part of it will break up into several small groups until someone like Kent comes along again"
"To stop this we have to nip it in the bud" I say this as I stand up.
After more than thirty minutes of waiting Kent finally appears.
"Hey, what part of fifteen minutes don't you understand?!" As a former executive, to me the worst thing anyone can do is to be late for an appointment.
"Sorry girl but I have more important things to do besides playing with you" Kent says as he yawns.
"My name is Medaka!!"
I end up putting my hand on my head giving up and give a small sigh.
"Anyway lets get this started" I take the wooden sword Kent gave me and point it at him.
"Yes, but first I have something to tell you, if you don't give me a single attack in this fight I want you to become my subordinate and mostly my disciple" Kent says this while also taking his wooden sword.
"One attack, huh" A vein ends up popping in my head in anger. How much this guy is underestimating me!
Everyone from the border gang and the slaves gather around us in a circle to watch the show, I don't want to pay attention to them but they keep saying things like "Who is this?" "Aff, another wife competitor" "so cute!!!".
Dan acts like a judge and starts the show.
"So... start!"
As Dan kicks off I activate [Boost] and boost myself to the ground starting with a frontal attack.
Kent is surprised for a moment at my speed but quickly repositions himself to dodge. Before he can dodge a second time I spin my body around hitting his belly.
Kent falls to the ground and ends up rolling for a few seconds before stabilizing himself again.
"Too bad it looks like I'm not going to become your disciple, huh" I hold out my tongue and squint my eye as if I were a naughty child.
"That surprised me, time to take this seriously then and show you why one should respect one's elders!!!"
The two of us started exchanging blows with each other, every time he tried to hit me I would take a step back and every time I tried to hit him he would dodge, we stayed at it for several minutes as if we were dancing.
"Why are you here?" Kent asks after he distances himself a little.
"Huh?" I tilt my head in doubt
"There is no way those three goofy guys would stand up to you, I'm sure you are in this place of your own free will" Kent points to Joseph,Garudo and Gerudo who were in the audience.
"So why did you then come to this place? Are you an adventurer? Or maybe a knight prodigy who came to subjugate us?"
"Well nothing like that, I was just passing by and was approached by those three so I thought it was a great way to pass the time"
After I quit my only goal was to try to find something to do so it's interesting to see different things, I mean how often does someone get the chance to be kidnapped? It's sensational!
"Passing the time? You see it as just passing the time? Guahahaha Very good!"
"Well enough chatter, time to get serious about this!" I say this making a stance with the sword to attack.
What, you really thought I was serious until now?
While we were in the forest I discovered that there is a difference between my powers in the game and in this world in my powers.
Basically if I were to make a parelelo it's like the difference between automatic and manual. While automatic is much faster and easier, manual is much slower and time consuming.
But on the other hand the manual is much more flexible in what you can do than the automatic.
Take for example the [Boost], even now it is pulsating in my body through all my fibers, but at a much slower pace than when I fought Mio, making me much weaker.
I then activate [Boost] truly this time causing all the flesh of my body to contract
"Then let's go!" I give a much bigger boost than at the beginning
When I get close to Kent at a speed that caused an afterimage while I'm running I duck slightly to deliver my last blow.
However as if to betray my expectation Kent drops his wooden sword and puts his hands up.
"I surrender" says Kent with his hand raised.
I parry the blow, causing the force of the attack to create a wave of wind that causes several of the onlookers behind Kent to fall.
Dan surprised then stands up and proclaims, "So.... The winner is Medaka!"