Two thousand gold, alongside eight diamonds—that was all that Marcus managed to loot from the cave-dwelling crazies.
He hoped that the individuals involved with the Death God Cult had a lot of money stashed with them. It was likely that he was going to need a war chest going forward.
He let Stella go from his arms, and she quickly gasped and fell on her knees on the ground. Marcus, on the other hand, pulled out his telescope for a quick recce of Almarche from the hill they were on.
[Mass Surveillance].
His telescope glowed, and immediately, he could see everything from miles away. Whether it’s a random rabbit running through the wheatfields or the staff working inside the city’s guildhall, he could see everyone.
[Mass Surveillance] was the upper limit of the [Scout] class’s major skill related to reconnaissance. Throughout the war in the underworld, he used this skill before every fight.
It was, with a reasonable possibility, the skill that made him survive in the first place.
Now, once again, this skill would be quite useful. He needed to understand this world quickly, as it was practically a different one from the world he remembered.
He briefly stopped when he realized at some point that he was being inappropriate in using [Mass Surveillance] after his eye lingered a second too long on an innocent couple kissing in their house’s bedroom.
After spending years in the underworld, that scene was practically alien to him.
“Seems like a lovely place.” He turned to Stella, who was uncontrollably puking beside him near a tree. “...Now that’s new. I’m quite sure [Blink Step] isn’t the same as flying, so it should not have adverse effects.”
“S-sir Marcus,” she said, fully red, pointing her gloved finger at him. “You can’t just grab someone and fly her miles away so roughly!”
“I knew you wouldn’t have approved it, so I just did what had to be done,” Marcus said, raising his telescope again. “I don’t exactly have time to spare. I need to figure things out quickly. That, and it’s best for you to get used to it if you wish to work with me.”
“Is this how Astrean soldiers operate? How crude!”
“Perhaps?”
He heard her grumbling beside him as she stood up and walked close to him. He didn’t blame her, though, reminding himself that being used to teleportation is not exactly a normal thing.
Marcus took a few more seconds scanning Almarche until he was satisfied. Lowering his telescope, he stuffed it back into one of his greatcoat’s internal pockets.
The two talked a bit about Almarche and the plans Marcus had once he went into the city. He even informed her about some shady crap he saw using [Mass Surveillance], including the fact that the local lord seemed to be keeping a few demihuman women bound in his bedroom.
Immediately, Stella’s eyes widened and she sputtered.
“What!?” She fumed a bit. “He’s personally partaking in slavery? How did you find out?”
“Let’s just say I’m very good at using a telescope,” Marcus answered curtly. “Now, if I remember things correctly, didn’t the Holy Church ban that practice?”
“I…well…” She looked to her side. “Many lords here at the Kingdom of Valeon have not been enforcing the rules of the Holy Church recently.”
“I see.” Marcus clicked his tongue, annoyed about that news. He and his comrades had long been motivated to fight for mankind, so sometimes they idealized the people they were fighting for a bit too much.
It was therefore a bitter reminder that even with the Death God and the demon horde defeated, the kinds of trash Marcus hated still remained. Not to mention, these slavers were most likely the slave suppliers mentioned by the Death God Cult.
I really need to investigate.
Marcus tried his best to fix his clothing, and using a limited version of [Unseen Veil], he managed to hide his coat’s Astrean military insignia with a shadow.
Now, he looked like a normal mercenary wearing an unmarked greatcoat. It wouldn’t do well after all if some foreign soldier with foreign markings barged into a foreign land.
Though, I swear, this place was once a frontier territory of Astrea.
He sighed. He was going to sound so old to everyone else. And he thought only long-lived races like elves suffered from this dilemma.
He reminded Stella to keep his actual identity, outside of his name, on the down low for now, and luckily, she agreed to it so long as he did the same for her. She then raised the hood of her cloak, which apparently was enchanted to obscure her face.
Well, "obscure” was an inaccurate term. It seemed like it created some sort of illusion spell that toned down her quite frankly otherworldly-tier beauty into something more muted.
It hid her elven ears too, making her look like a normal human woman. It made sense. Elves like her who didn’t live in far-flung tribes in remote forests generally were a part of the high nobility, high clergy, or royalty in human nations. It was good that she had that cloak.
Once he was done preparing, he gave a quick check on his current stats, remembering that ‘Dual Class’ privilege reward that the system gave him earlier.
[Name: Marcus Lieberman]
[Age: 18]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Hell Ranger (Lv 100), Open Slot]
[Rank: Diamond]
[Strength: 312 + 192]
[Vitality: 302 + 192]
[Magic: 298 + 96]
[Perception: 326 + 512]
[Speed: 318 + 512]
[Dexterity: 303 + 96]
[Class Skills: (Hell Ranger: Swift Blade, Absolute Blaze, Hellfire Aura, Blink Step, Healing Aura, Pinpoint Hardening, Mass Surveillance, Unseen Veil)]
[General Skills: Diamond Mana Core, Identify, Deception, Levitation, Advanced Equipment Repair]
He eyed that ‘open slot’ part with a sense of excitement.
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He confirmed that he could definitely get a new class. That was good. That meant he essentially could strengthen himself beyond his main class’s maximum state.
That, and being able to cast actual magic as a [Mage] instead of relying purely on his [Hell Ranger] skills would be useful if he were planning on being a one-man army against this world’s brand of crazy.
The two soon made their way into the city.
Stella couldn’t help herself.
She was stealing way too many glances at Marcus.
It’s so hard to figure him out.
She tried to smile as the two reached the entrance to the city’s wall. The guardsmen, noticing that they were outsiders, naturally asked for a toll.
Stella summoned her cheery voice and smoothly talked to the two before handing them a few silver coins. It seemed like the town wasn’t under high security, as they didn’t even ask for the two’s names.
And, as a result, they were quickly let in.
She was soon taking glances at him again.
Marcus was quite a strange individual. He was a human soldier who went to hell and returned from it alive, or so he said. Stella struggled to accept it, though. After all, she could pick up the scent of the underworld’s essence on him, a special ability she had as the [Saint].
Not that it meant anything directly—he did come from hell, but still…
What if he’s a demon?
A nonsensical question. He literally just murdered those cultists earlier. But after everything that happened to her, she felt that her ability to trust anyone had been shattered.
She had been using her [Identify] skill on him many times already because of her bubbling suspicion and fear, but all she could see was that he was a level 10 [Scout].
Of course, that could not be true.
The [Scout] class and its subclasses weren't the strongest out there. It was a class focused on speed and perception, not fighting.
Due to this, most of its users were treated quite badly by the military, adventurer groups, or even mercenary bands. Those with a [Scout] class will often be sent ahead of a team, searching and making first contact with the enemy, often dying first.
They still had utility, but a [Scout] was the last thing Stella imagined to be capable of taking down an entire chapter of the Death God Cult on his own.
Which meant that he was lying with the stats he showed to the world. Usually, when someone was a higher level than the one using [Identify], the stats shown would just be a bunch of question marks.
But he was showing what was clearly fake information. This was beyond obfuscation; this was deception.
He must be using a skill of some sort that was capable of throwing off her [Identify] skill, creating a stat sheet that made him look less ominous.
That made him so, so, suspicious.
Yet the way he saved her and cut those cultists down was so raw and real. Why would a demon do any of that? It made her head spin.
“You’ve been staring quite a lot at my back for a while now,” Marcus suddenly said, his tone flat and neutral as usual.
“Ah! Erm…” Stella felt goosebumps as she looked away. “Apologies, I was just…curious about you.”
“You still think I’m something else?”
“I’m simply a bit torn about your conflicting actions.”
Marcus turned into a deserted alleyway, and naturally, Stella followed him. Then, he planted his back against the wall of one of the buildings, and his grey eyes looked at Stella.
Anticipating a conversation, she quickly cast a silencing spell around them.
“So why do you really want to follow me?” Marcus asked. “And don’t give me that ‘I’m just here to guide you, teehee’ nonsense. You don’t seem to fully trust me, but you’re following me, even if you know that I can kill you if I wanted to. You’re ridiculously bold, I’ll give you that, but you nearly died earlier because of that.”
She took a deep breath to compose herself.
“I’ve been thinking long and hard about what happened since the Holy Church sent me against the Death God Cult alone.”
She twiddled with her fingers, looking down.
“Sir Marcus…I don’t understand…” She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Why would they do it? Why would they just throw me to my death?”
“I already told you. There can only be one [Saint] who walks this world. You weren’t the one they wanted. Not anymore, at least. They had to reroll the dice.”
“That’s...what I thought too. Now I don’t know what to do. I can’t trust them anymore, but…” She looked up at him at last, frowning. “As you said, I can’t trust you either.”
“...”
“Sir Marcus?”
“...You really are a newbie at being a [Saint], aren’t you?” Marcus asked. “Loose lips sink ships. Did no one tell you that?”
Stella’s eyes widened.
“Now that I think about it, this makes me terribly curious.” Marcus leaned forward to observe her better, and Stella backed off a bit, embarrassed. Then, he snapped his fingers. “I see then. You only have two years of experience at most.”
“It can’t be. How did you find out? Don’t tell me you read minds too?”
“Who knows?”
Stella pouted. He was beyond guarded about what he can and cannot do.
“Sir Marcus…”
“In any case, I now understand your dilemma. I also understand why you offered to guide me here—you want to figure out if I can help you out, don’t you?”
He caught me!
“I’m so sorry! I’m such a selfish and stupid woman!”
“Don’t say sorry to me. It’s not like I’m giving you any overt reason to be less suspicious of me. And quite frankly, you’re not being stupid right now…at least from my perspective.”
“How so, Sir Marcus? You told me that loose lips sink ships.”
“You’ll find out later.”
“...You’re terribly cryptic, Sir Marcus.”
“That’s just me. Now, let’s move on to the solution I can offer you for your woes.”
“A solution?”
“Yes. I wish to train you into becoming a proper [Saint]. But, should you accept, you’re going to have to face everything related to the Death God with me.”
“Wait, Sir Marcus…you’re serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? There’s a [Saint] in front of me. You’re going to be my key to total victory.”
“You wish to take me as your apprentice?”
“I guess it’s something like that…I’m not that formal, though.”
That sounded like a tantalizing trade deal. Dangerous, yes, but she was the [Saint]. That was the entire point of her class, and it was her dream to become a good [Saint] in the first place.
But it felt so, so wrong for her, a failure of [Saint], to rely any further on someone like him. The deal was too unfair to Marcus in her view.
He already saved her from death; now she was asking for more?
Besides, what if he’s a demon in plain clothing? I’m so stupid and naive. My father and mother were so right…
But she had to give him an answer.
“Sir Marcus, I think—”
“Don’t answer me immediately, silly. Think things over first. In fact, I want you to think about it very hard after what will happen tonight.”
She felt his tone turning cold.
“Sir Marcus…didn’t you say that you’re just conducting recon today?”
“That’s right. But we’re now only a few blocks away from a slaver ring.” Marcus’ two pupils constricted into a small dot, as if his humanity disappeared then and there. “And I can hear them bragging about their sales to the count.”
“...You can hear them from here?”
“Yes. In addition, the cult mainly uses demihumans with high mana for ritualistic sacrifices. Well, those bastards are selling demihumans.”
“...Goodness.”
“Stella, I cannot overlook this as a soldier of humanity.” Marcus then placed his left hand on the pommel of his saber. “This act is an act of militant collaboration with the Death God. So understand this if you wish to take my offer and work with me. These people signed their death warrants.”
“...So you’re saying—?”
“Yes. I’ll kill them all. Immediately. It's up to you to decide if that’s demonic or not.
