Hero Scout

Grumbling, he creaked his aching head upward, his spine screaming resentment, his limbs feeble as leaves. d.a.m.n, perhaps he really was a goblin-slave-runt after all.

"d.a.m.n you weird G.o.d, lady!" Kenji said, shaking a clothen fist at a dusty wooden ceiling.

Staring at that fist it seemed a bit odd, on account of the chains wrapping it and snaking up his arm. Patting his body down he found his aches and pains were well hidden beneath a dark tattered robe, numerous chains, locks and bandages also obscuring his form beneath.

"Well, maybe not a goblin then," Kenji decided

Peering around, Kenji found himself in a storehouse- oh no.

The fear was rushing back as the soothing release of being dead faded. Kenji"s hands began to twitch, his layers slick with sweat, his breathing too loud in his ears - screaming he charged the door and threw it open. Immediately he was blinded by the dazzling light of day.

Disorientated, Kenji charged, wide-eyed and babbling. He bounced around blurry figures, mud slicking his feet, a great bustling noise rattling his ears.

"Watch out!" Someone shouted. A horse whinnied, and Kenji was thrown back several paces to roll through the mud. Eyes finally adjusting, Kenji found himself in the middle of a street. Peering up he found a red-robed knight wearing shining steel and black leather, standing imperiously over him.

"Oh h.e.l.lo, sorry about that, got a bit lost," Kenji smiled sheepishly, the knight helped him up then pulled back his faceplate to reveal sparkling golden eyes and flame-red hair. The Knight also looked quite boyish, and as twin guards appeared to tower over them both, Kenji realised the Knight was a youth. And that Kenji was very, very short.

"Get away from Sir Arthur, miscreant!" Bleated a guard with a few missing teeth, pulling Kenji by a dark beard he didn"t know he had.

"Wait, Donald, wait! Can"t you see he might be hurt?" The boy said, golden eyes welling with concern. He didn"t seem to mind the mud caking boots, nor the strange looks from the crowd. Kenji estimated that he was a [G] at least. Wait, thought Kenji, a [G] what?

"We should take him to the keep, see that his wounds are tended too."

Raising an arm, Kenji realised his bandages made it look like he was covered in wounds.

"Sir Arthur, please, no more. We bring in beggars all the time," the guard spoke in a pleading tone, hands pressed together after sending Kenji tumbling along into an alleyway and down several steps. Just like with the horse and cart, Kenji arose completely unharmed from the filthy street below, if with much stumbling. A hump along the back out his shoulders made him too top-heavy, he"d need a cane to get anything done with speed.

More importantly, taking in beggars sounded like the work of a good person, a real [G] worthy type. Could this rich boy be Kenji"s ticket to his first scouted hero? And perhaps this rating appearing in his head was how heroic a hero he was?

Just Kenji"s luck. While obviously a dragon-slaying [A] was preferable, Kenji would have smiled wide if he could to have found a hero candidate at all. And so quickly! While Kenji didn"t know what he was getting paid yet, crashing at a lord"s mansion for a while didn"t sound too bad. He"d do his duty, of course, to blend in. He would even take full advantage of what luxury awaited so that he didn"t look suspicious.

"Oooh, my back," Kenji cried, wriggling his arms behind him to hold his hump tight. "The humanity of it, a n.o.ble such as myself reduced to such dire straits, what G.o.d has cursed me so?" In games appearing pathetic always was the easiest way to trick newbies into helping you. And Kenji had never been one to hold back either.

"See? He is hurt, and a n.o.ble! We should take him," Arthur concluded, "on my honour, I cannot allow him to remain on the streets!" The guard spared Kenji a sorrowful expression, but Kenji was in too deep to back out now. Not when this quest chain looked so juicy.

"Just a meal for a night my lord, then I"ll be on my way- hey!" Kenji was hauled like a sack of potatoes by the guard and thrown into a cart. Landing atop several crates, Kenji felt their firm texture as comfortable as a feather mattress. It was if this body of his was designed to sleep just about anywhere and feel as if he laid down on a cloud.

"If you"re smart, you"ll not be there by the time we get to the keep," warned the guard. The piggy eyes beneath his helm glinted full of brutish violence. "Understand?"
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Kenji understood the keep was where the rich people were, where his belly could become full, and powerful connections could be made. Besides, he was clearly weak, un-agile, and without any special ability as of yet. So grinding by fighting monsters wasn"t going to be possible. That left only alleviating the rich of their kindness as Kenji"s only means to get by.

"Oooh good guard, as soon as my back is better I"ll be gone I promise," Kenji wailed, pulling at his beard all in distress. Noting the guard still glowered, Kenji rocked side to side and muttered off a long list of his supposed ailments. The guard sighed slowly, then marched away.

As he dozed off, Kenji discovered the sky of this world held two golden suns. They were barely visible past fluttering crimson banners with the image of a flayed man billowing from either side of the street. Forcing his eyes to remain open a little longer, Kenji watched as humans with brown capes riding great lizards pa.s.sed. Each were holding long lances, little ribbons hanging from their ends.

The city they road through seemed armed to the teeth. Castles, keeps, defensive walls, ballista towers and mercenary halls seemed arrayed nearly at random amidst the sprawl of houses. Distantly too towered a light grey Citadel, its walls looming over the land. The towers beyond rose so high they sc.r.a.ped the clouds in the sky, winged creatures fluttering around, those closer with visible knights on their back.

Beside them on the street marched black scaled lizard-humanoids guarding gold wearing n.o.bles.

From a rough tavern barged out a band of huge red-skinned brutes, with tusks bursting from their mouths and spines down their backs.

Even an elf strolled along, with sharp ears and longbow in hand. Beautiful as a super-model, if with a snake-like tongue and a prowling walk that made Kenji feel as if he was watching a tiger. Watching muddy faced humans divert their course just at the sight of the elf, Kenji a.s.sumed this feeling was commonly shared.

And here he was, out of all these fantastic creatures, as a little old man who couldn"t do much of anything at all. No money. No power. No friends. And even the lowest guard NPC seemed able to treat him as if light as a pillow.

A magical world... how nice, Kenji thought. As he settled in, for a very short nap. The warmth of his species" rarity was a beacon in this cold beginning. Because it didn"t matter if he had lost his chance for an easy beginning, for he knew. Knew that of all the possible beginnings, he had the rarest.