Chương 102: Good Talk

[Headhunter - Bogumir Landa, Reclaimer] Weapon modification: Grants a phantom limb that is able to manipulate the weapon this totem is attached to. +7 Strength +7 Attunement Gear modification: While this totem is equipped, lost limbs may be reattached to regain function. +7 Strength +7 Attunement I burst out laughing.

"I guess you're giving me a hand after all."

"What are you talking about?" Bogumir said. I weighed the options of reading the System information out loud. On one hand, it would immediately reveal to Bogumir what one of my best skills was. On the other hand, I did want to share this information with Vasil and Kasia. I decided to just tell them. If Bogumir decided to become a problem, there were ways to deal with him. So I read the text aloud.

"What kind of madness is this?" Bogumir asked.

"Alright, I will be honest with you," I said.

"These are upgrades your head provides me. It's the only reason I took it… you. It's the only reason I didn't blow your brains out, actually."

"That's impossible."

"No, not impossible. There are similar skills, but with fingers and ears, maybe other things. None of them are as… potent… as this one, though, I think. I have a feeling this skill isn't very well known. I only stumbled upon it myself by accident." I considered for a moment.

"Though I suppose that even if more people knew about it it probably wouldn't be the most socially acceptable skill. So I doubt many would take it."

"You really are a demon," he said.

"I'm really not. I'm just a girl, and if you Church guys hadn't decided I had to die for no reason, I probably never would have taken this skill. I might have even settled down here and lived my life in peace. Well, peaceful for you. I have some unfinished business back home that can't be resolved peacefully. Either way, the Church had other plans for me, so here I am. It's all gone too far for me to stop now anyway. The only way I see out of this is to burn it all to the ground.

I'm sure the common folk here agree with me. Try to see it from my point of view. Should I just accept I deserve to die for having a class someone has decided is not allowed without giving a reason why? In Graecia no one had a problem with witches. From what I've seen, most of the people you guys kill under the guise of burning witches, weren't even witches. That doesn't really convince me you guys are on the right side."

"Stvora says the witches must be burned."

"Does he? Did he tell you that personally? Or did one of the Bishops say that? Do you even know what a witch is? Who gets to decide? Have you ever stopped to think about why you're really doing this? And for who? If Stvora really wanted me dead, and he really is all-powerful, then why am I still alive?" That gave him some pause.

"I… I don't know."

"You can't just accept everything they tell you as truth, Bogumir. You don't even have to accept what I say as truth. I just want you to think about it. Draw your own conclusions. Why are they so afraid of classless girls? Why are they so afraid of me?"

"You singlehandedly killed an entire dungeon squad. I think they are right to fear you, and I've never seen a bounty as big as yours. You must have done some heinous shit for them to do that. Bad enough that they didn't even tell us what you did." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Alright. Fair enough," I conceded.

"What about the classless girls, though?"

"That… That I do not know. I admit I never thought about the witches. We are… were… a dungeon squad. We mostly cleared dungeons and monster infested areas. We rarely cross paths with purge squads, and I always assumed they, like us, were just doing what Stvora demanded. If someone was labeled a witch, they must have been a witch."

"Come on, Bogumir, you can't be that naive. I've seen them kill children with my own eyes! More than once!" I gestured at Kasia.

"They tried to kill her, for the Goddess's sake. She's seventeen, Bogumir. She doesn't even have a class. She can't do magic. She can't do anything besides trap rabbits and fix clothes. Only a damn idiot would believe she's a witch."

"If she was with you, then it makes sense to me."

"But she wasn't! And if I hadn't been there she'd have been dead! And for what? Because some asshole accused her of being a witch. Zero proof required? What the hell is that about, huh? That's what you call protecting people?" He hesitated.

"Like I said, we were assigned to dungeons. It's possible there are some inquisitors who have strayed from the path."

"Some?! From where I'm standing you all look like a bunch of assholes, Bogumir."

"And you're a saint?" he scoffed. I shrugged.

"Depends who you ask, I guess. But you're right, I don't consider myself a saint. At least I can admit that."

"Hmm."

"Hmm," I replied.

"Good talk. I'll give Pavel a break and hang you from my belt if that's alright with you. I'm still doing it if it's not alright, by the way." Since I could only equip three totems, and I had Lubomir, the [Flame Adept] on one revolver and Jerzy, the [Kinetist] on the other, the most logical one to swap out was Pavel. I'd take a hit to my Stamina, but I probably wasn't going to be winning over Bogumir if I threw him in my satchel with the other heads.

If I attached him to my revolver he'd be inside of me, or part of me somehow, and I wasn't comfortable with that idea, so on the belt he went.

"Adio, Pavel," I said as I tossed the head into my satchel and replaced him with Bogumir. Bogumir didn't say anything, so he must have thought the arrangement acceptable. Vasil hopped next to me.

"Without Pavel your Stamina is back to one point. During the last battle you seemed a bit winded. May I suggest putting your free stat points into Stamina." I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes. The plan Perry and I had come with had been to pump everything in Dexterity and Attunement. If I strayed from that plan was I betraying Perry? I shook my head. No. Perry wouldn't care. He'd want me to live. Plans change. Especially when you receive new information. Not changing the plan would be betraying Perry.

It's what he would have done.

"You're right," I said.

"And a little goes a long way when you have nothing to begin with." Vasil nodded approvingly. I assigned my six free stat points to Stamina, taking it from 1 to 7. I should probably put some more points in it in the future, because I had a feeling the previous fight wouldn't be the only drawn out fight against multiple opponents. And Stamina helped with walking, which we also did a lot of. Now that I thought about it, I probably should have put at least a couple of points in it sooner.

At least I wouldn't have to put anything in Strength for now. Thanks to Bogumir's stat boost I was sitting comfortably at 8. Unless something crazy happened I didn't really see myself unequipping him. Switching from gear to weapon, sure, but taking him off completely? Unlikely. I also had three skill points and two skill upgrade points I could use, but honestly, I was tired. Exhausted, really. Maybe I needed rest more than I thought. But where should we rest?

"Any suggestions on where to rest?" I asked Vasil. He thought about it for a moment.

"The forest would be the wisest. Most of the people here seem to be on your side, but as you have seen during the fight, there are likely still those who will try to collect that bounty. If you sleep at someone's house they might kill you in your sleep. News of a saint spending the night at someone's house will travel fast and may attract desperate villagers. Same goes for an inn, though there may not even be another inn. I have not seen any others when we passed through." It was hard to argue with that.

One million gold was a lot of money, and he was right that some people might wait till I was asleep to try and collect. It may happen, it may not. I didn't intend to find out. I gave him a nod.

"Let's go." So we left the village behind us. I looked back every once in a while to see if we were being followed—we weren't. That was positive. After about an hour we went off the road and into the forest. We walked until we came across a small clearing with a pond.

"Here," I said as I let myself fall backwards onto the grass.

"Let's rest here." As soon as I closed my eyes I was out.