Chapter 337: At the entrance (2)
As both the young boy and the old elf were waiting side by side near the fake cliff for the hidden village's elder, Mirabelle, to show up.
Of course, Zombie wasn't supposed to know that Mirabelle was actually the village elder as Olive only named her as a friend without any details and this was Zombie's first time meeting the elves in this playthrough, but that actually wasn't the first playthrough, was it?
It was taking Mirabelle a while to arrive, but this wasn't really her fault since Olive showed up out of nowhere with some stranger no less and called for her presence - as someone in a position of power it wasn't easy to just drop everything at a moment's notice despite her own intention.
|I don't like this...|
Zombie sighed internally, looking around, waiting for the important elf's arrival.
|It's alright, everything will be fine. Just try to not think about it. She will be here soon and everything will be fine. You will propose helping them with stoping Envys abuse of their race and negotiate them providing you with the appropriate artifact.|
Patience spoke in a soft, reassuring voice, that made it sound like she cared very much about the boy's feelings.
|I didn't mean it like that. I don't mind waiting for her. Truth to be told I hope she will take even longer...|
|Eh...?|
Zombie smirked and explained with a mixed expression, causing the sealed being inside of him to gasp in confusion.
|I'm not very strong right now, and I don't have a lot of believable arguments to back me up. I'm kind of worried that I will have to open up to them even then will get rejected and sent back, even though this plan really is the best option at our disposal... I really want it to work...|
The boy confessed and his shoulders dropped subconsciously in defeat.
|I'm sure that it will be alright. And even if this plan will fail, it's not like we don't have a backup! Come on, cheer up! You have me and Kopia on your side! We will make the secret ending a reality!|
|Yes. You're right. Thanks, Patience.|
Patience did her best to cheer Zombie up and indeed managed to make him smile - it was a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless.
After a bit more time have passed, the hidden entrance - in a completely different place than the fake cliff - opened, and a tall, fair-skinned elven woman with long flowy hair emerged, wearing a plain but sturdy-looking set of travel clothes.
|They are going hard on attempting to hide the fact that this is actually the entrance to their village, don't they?|
Zombie scoffed and shook his head at the redundancy and faced the newly arrived elf without showing any excessive reaction.
"...the fuck...? Who the fuck is this banished dwarf supposed to be?"
Mirabelle asked, motioning at Zombie with her chin and furrowed her brows.
"This one is a human child who fucking knows about the Prophecy of the Eternal amongst other things and is looking to make a deal with us."
Olive came forward and explained.
"...you're fucking with me? If he's human, he looks six at most. There's no fucking way that he is saying the truth, and even if he is, that's probably because someone from some assholes had messed with his head or..."
"He has the superbia skill."
"!!!!!"
Mirabelle shook her head and waved her hand, completely rejecting any positive outcome of the situation until Olive's words made her flinch and stare at him intensely.
"Bullshit."
She exclaimed, squinting her eyes at the old elf.
"That's why I fucking brought him to you. You rank up the truth seeker, right? I want to know whether he is fucking trustworthy or not."
Olive shrugged his shoulders and waved at the young boy in the barrel-like armor to come forward.
"..."
Mirabelle closed her mouth and glared at the old elf as if she was barely holding herself back from calling him on his bullshit again.
|Truth seeker...?|
Zombie asked, getting more anxious by the second.
|A ranked up version of the lie detection skill, it's extremely hard to get because that process requires the player character to stay true to themselves at any given moment for at least a couple dozens of years - something basically impossible for a human, but not so much for an elf.|
Patience didn't fail and delivered a proper explanation within just a few seconds.
|As a tier 3 skill, the truth seeker gives its user the ability to instantly recognize whether the information is true or false. It doesn't just detect when the target is consciously sharing the information he thinks are fake and allows to see right through any deception - even if someone has been lied to or is firmly convinced that what they are saying is true, the truth seeker will see right through it all and let its user know the correct answer.|
She added.
|Huh... fine, then I must not say anything that's false as for this moment, or else we will be in deep trouble.|
|Basically, yes.|
Zombie asked and got an immediate answer.
"...fuck... fine! But as soon as it will all turn out to be a trick to find the location of our village, you will get rid of this guy immediately and have dinner with me, just the two of us, preferably naked!"
Mirabelle groaned and declared, pointing her finger at the old elf.
|Ah, yes, I remember - she's a pervert with hots for Olive. Now I see what you meant about staying true to oneself.|
Zombie raised his brow and glanced between the two elves.
"Well fucking then... Start talking."
Mirabelle frowned and glared down at the young boy, crossing her arms as her eyes began glowing with intense white light.
"My name is Kiwi, but I don't react to this name anymore, if possible, call me Zombie."
Having in mind that the truth-seeker checks the validity of the information and not just whether the person was thinking was the truth, Zombie started with a basic test that should prove the skill's worth.
"Like I fucking care about that! Who are you and why did you come to this forest for?!"
Mirabelle scoffed and shook her head angrily, but since she didn't call him a liar, it looked like her skill really gets to the bottom of things instead of just subjective opinion.
"Sure, well..."
Zombie nodded and took a deep breath.