Versatile: Alternate World



I expected the result, but the tribe members didn't expect it to be so sudden. After all, they always thought their chieftain was invincible and could not be defeated. It was so quick in their eyes that they didn't even get to follow the speed of how I used a set of movements to quickly end the battle.

The faces of everyone are filled with utter shock and disbelief. Perhaps I shouldn't have done it so quickly so that they at least felt that their chieftain did his best and let him do some hits to me as well. Guess I ended up just overkilling the situation.

He is still alive, just unconscious from my attacks. If not for what I did, he might have not passed out as a result.

"Well, the results are in. What do you guys think? The chieftain is down. What are you all gonna do?"

The men didn't know what to do and looked at each other for a few seconds. I thought they would send out another guy to fight but they just nodded to each other and carried off the chieftain. They left quietly and disappeared from the trees, leaving us there standing as we watched them go.

The girl that I held hostage couldn't help but fall to her knees after seeing the result. It was like she was robbed of all of the remaining hope she had left in her system that her father would bring her out of our grasp flawlessly.

"Well, didn't I tell you, girl? Your father might be strong but he will have a hard time defeating us. Manato's fighting earlier wasn't even his serious mode seeing he didn't use the sword form of his weapon and instead used the gauntlet which he only uses occasionally," Riko not caring for the girl's feelings decided to rub more salt to the wound which is pretty typical for her.

"..." I don't know if I was just imagining it but the girl seems to lost all color after Riko roasted her.

"That's enough, Riko. Look at her being broken-hearted, don't break her too much. Anyways, we should go back, I doubt those guys would come back here for a few days.

"Haha, it's just that this is a good opportunity to roast others without care and it's been some time since I did it, which is why I like to try doing so while I am able to do so."

"I know but just so you know this is not a player. Unlike real players who can take those roasting messages as nothing, these guys might get a severe taste of despair and depression as a result. Don't bother, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Riko scratched her head, disappointed but decided to accept it.

We returned to the mansion still carrying the hostage with us as the tribesmen lost and didn't get to have the privilege of reclaiming her from us. Riko put her back under the tree and tied her back there once more. Almira is waiting for our news after the encounter.

"Looks like you two drive them all away. Did something happen?" Almira asked.

"They challenged us to a fight. I accepted their challenge and they threw me their best fighters. I beat them all up as a result. After losing consecutively, the chieftain stepped in and fought against me. He lost and everyone retreated, leaving behind the hostage. That's how it happened and why they retreated immediately."

"Well, since you clearly overwhelm them in terms of strength, it is natural for them to lose. Anyways, did you ask them the main reason why they attacked you in the first place?" Almira asked.

"Nope. I thought we would have a discussion after I defeated the Chieftain but since he was knocked out cold, I don't know when we will have a proper discussion with them."

"I see. But still, I didn't expect to see a tribe in the middle of nowhere all of a sudden. Have they always existed here in this forest for quite some time or have they just appeared recently?"

"You are familiar with this place, Master?" I asked.

"Of course. How would I know the path to the Elves' encampment if I didn't know this place? I passed here multiple times in the past which is why I know where to go as I familiarize myself with this place to avoid getting lost as a result."

Well, this is natural. With Almira getting her apprenticeship from an Elder Treant living in the Misty lands of Tall Trees, she clearly has been here before. I just didn't connect the dots immediately.

"Anyways, what will you do to the hostage? Her saviors were defeated by you, so shouldn't you get to do something to her?" Almira asked.

"Hey, I may be a scoundrel at times and show some evil tendencies a few times but I don't have that kind of motive to her. We will return her back to the tribe once we get to have a proper talk. Think of her as some sort of bargaining chip. With her here, those men will have less motive to attack us as they don't want this girl's safety to get jeopardized as a result."

"Makes sense. Well, since you guys are already doing how to counter them, I will leave them to you. I don't know about the others as they are quite busy leveling their own stuff but maybe they will join if they find what you were doing to be amusing or a good time waster. Anyways, make sure she doesn't starve or get in a difficult situation alright? It's a bad thing if we suddenly get attacked by them as a result. We don't want to massacre innocent people just because we neglected the hostage we were holding."

"No worries. We will do our utmost best to keep her safe."

Almira nodded before she left us. I went to check on the hostage who is currently being talked to by Riko. I don't know if she was still in function but she seemed to be out of herself.

"Looks like she broke down after seeing her dad get defeated by you."

I scratch my head a bit after seeing this. Looking at her right now seems like looking at someone who is slowly descending into madness. If we don't intervene soon, she might go crazy or something close. I don't want to make matters worse so I decided to be the one to fix this as I am the one who caused her to break down.

"Hey, snap out of it. Are you trying to kill yourself and drown in despair? Your father is still alive and when he wakes up to pick you up, he might end up blaming himself if something happened to you."

She looks at me but her stare is just blank. It was like she wasn't seeing anything.

"Haha, Manato. You suck at encouraging someone. Don't bother too much on it. I know she looks depressed right now but she will cheer up in no time. Trust me," Riko grinned.

"Eh...how can you be so sure about that? Are you some kind of therapist for her?"

"Nope, just a hunch. I can feel that she will recover soon enough. It's not that troublesome and she will be back in no time. I promise that if she doesn't return to her usual self after a while then I will use all my power to make her snap out of it."

I sighed and decided to give this matter to her.

"Fine, if you are so confident on this, then go ahead and go wild. Also, try to talk to her once she recovers. We need to know why she attacked me and why they called us invaders for some unknown reason. That way, once we get to talk properly with the chieftain once he comes back for another negotiation, it would be easier to talk to him and to also explain the things that he thought were wrong."

"Alright. Don't worry about it, I got it all covered. Leave it to me," Riko puts a thumbs up and grinned, seemingly confident.

With the matters on the hostage settled, I decided to scout the matters of the natives and to see what happened to them after I defeated them. Conjuring a Paper Talisman to act as my familiar, I controlled it to fly and spy on the camp of the natives.

At first, I didn't know where the location of the camp was as the forest is quite vast and massive and my talisman is small and doesn't have that much coverage to cover surveillance but I was thankful when I immediately noticed the signs of the tribe nearby. I took advantage of it and it didn't take me long to find the hidden camp or should I say, a hidden village.

I was welcomed by a small village with lots of people moving around. I thought I was wrong at first but after seeing the men that had been there earlier when I fought their elite men and the chieftain currently scattered around the village.

Now that I have reached their place, it's time to see them and snoop at what was happening to them after their defeat.