The sky sure is blue. Five clouds, no six, that cloud over there sneaky in my peripheral. I'm breathing hard at this point, and everything hurts. That punch felt like it hit my soul. I think I hit my head when I fell down. I hear voices getting closer, I don't care to look up.
“It's not a goblin.” Well that's good, guards tend to kill goblins on sight, I think.
“If it not a goblin, why it bounce off the barrier like that.” Barrier? That's a new word.
“I don't know, he clearly a boy, mayhap he got some noble blood in him, the title weird enough.”
Haven't even spoken and misgendered already. I prop myself on my elbow and look at the incoming comedy routine. One has sandy brown hair, the other green, both closely cropped. They have grey metallic looking spears and brown jerkins. They must have come from the guard house.
“Boy, what does the [Voiceless] title do?” That's not funny.
My elbows give up against gravity, nothing to do now, I turn my head and stare at the grass. They reach me shortly after, there is some hesitation and arguing, and maybe a game of rock paper scissors. One of the guards lifted me up but I stopped caring already and promptly faint.
-----
I woke up laying on a bench, my arms draped over either side. It's not comfortable, I roll and fall off the bench. I catch myself on my side, I'm practiced at the art of landing on my side. The noise catches the attention of sandy hair, who was busy at the well.
“Oy, boy, good that you're awake, get over here to get cleaned. We can't be asking you questions if we can't stand to be near ya.”
Ah, right, I didn't take the time at the brook, it was cold and I was hungry, still hungry. The water from the well is poured into a bucket in front of me. Sandy hair goes back to draw more. I stare at the water, dip my hands in forming a cup and raise it to my lips. Pain in the back of my head forces my face into my hands. Cold.
“You’re going to get sick drinking that.”
I look at him, the water running down my face. He looks away, mutters and hands me the canteen off his belt. As I greedily drink all the water in it, he goes back to the well. Putting aside the canteen, I start to wash my hands in the bucket. It's gross and the water is already cloudy with mud and blood flakes. It's hard to be meticulous, I'm thinking of strawberries. I don't think I've ever had them, but the memory there. Do they exist in this world? What's the [Common] word for strawberries? Is it like oak trees, and it's the same word? My thoughts are interrupted by a bucket of water that is raining on my head.
“Stop looking all agog and get cleaning already, boy.”
I mutter something under my breath, starting to shiver.
“What was that?”
“I said not a boy” I look around as I repeat myself.
Sandy hair stares at me a bit, squints and replies, “So you ain't, if you're looking for your blood soaked mess of a cloak, Jacob took it to the burn pile. You'll get your knife back after we talk with ye.”
No big loss there, didn't even notice the knife was missing. Cleaning took longer than sandy hair wanted. He demanded I remove my clothing, admonishing me that a twig ain't worth looking at, and left me while muttering something I couldn't hear. Taking off my clothes was more like peeling at this point. Memories of skinning the wolf were being unkind. Naked, I come to one conclusion, my boots are missing.
By the time sandy hair comes back with a grey tunic and some pants, I've dripped dried. The clothing he brought are comically oversized, I think they might be his. I'm too cold to care. I cinch the pants at the waist and roll up the bottoms to my ankles. Then the shirt goes over my head, it comes down to my knees. The neck hole is too large, I have to keep a hold of part of it to keep the tunic from sliding past my shoulders.
“More for the burn pile I reckon”
Sandy hair looking at what was left of my old clothes. He ushers me to the guard house. Green hair walking back and sandy hair points to my rags. Green hair complains, and walks off with what's left of my clothes held as far away from himself as possible. Guessing green hair is Jacob.
-----
The room I'm brought to has a plain table and three straight back chairs. There is a fourth chair facing out from the corner. There is an open window opposite the doorway that is providing the room with light. I took a seat and sandy hair leaves.
Sandy hair and green hair came back with an older man. The older man places a stone on the table and sits in the fourth chair in the corner. Sandy puts a mug of water in front of me but more importantly some bread. It's super dense, not fluffy at all, I don't care, my life is now gnawing bread with an occasional dipping in the mug. There is some shuffling around me and voices but my life is bread.
The table thumps, a new voice demands, “Girl, pay attention.”
I look up, the bread gone, my simple life is over. I see a woman with long blue hair that goes behind her shoulder. She wears a breastplate that doesn't look like it gives any room for her chest. I look into her hazel eyes.
“Name”
“Sara”
“Well Sara, you're going to touch the stone and we're going to record what the system tells us.”
I see the stone the old man brought in. There was some paper, no, parchment and an ink pot in front of Jacob. He has a quill in hand. I reach for the stone and touch it. Whatever energy I had, left me at that point. It was like touching the fountain orb, another mile sprinted. No voice is coming from the stone, instead a blue translucent screen popped up in the air. My status screen.
Tier 1 : Human lvl 1 - 4 stat point unassigned. [NOTIFICATIONS]
Title: [Voiceless]
Str - 7
Agl - 10
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Per - 14
Con - 6
Cha - 8
Men - 14
Int - 40
Skills: [English] Intermediate 9 [Math] Intermediate 8 [Yell] Basic 2 [Speak:Common] Basic 8 [Running] Basic 5 [Tough Skin] Basic 1 [Status Screen] Basic 9 [Tell Lie] Basic 3
Earned Titles: Voiceless
I gape at it. So do the others, the word notification pulses, and Status Screen becomes apprentice 1. Plus signs appear next to my stats, Per and Men are now 15. Brackets surrounding multiple words appear to thicken. I stare, confused at all these changes. It hasn't changed that much since [Voiceless] replaced my [Child] title. Some of the faces are looking confused as well. Not, sandy hair though, he speaks up.
“Ah well, if she got [Status Screen], taking down her status going to be easier.”
“Not if we can't read it.” retorts Jacob.
“Can't read it? Weren't you preening about that you were able to combine [Common] to a Competent level two.”
“How does a level one child manage to have a status screen? The skill levels alone should have pushed her past level five at the very least.” The woman mused.
The old man is standing at the table with a hand to his chin answers, “Perhaps she inherited a language. It's fairly rare but not unheard of. Tell me Sara, what is your soul level.”
I start paying attention to the conversation at that point and open my mouth to speak.
The woman interrupts me, “Don't answer that.” Turning to the old man. “You know better than to ask that. If mages want to evaluate her, they can do it on their own time.”
The old man scoffs and returns to his seat. The woman holding the bridge of nose. I'm focused on the word mages, what sort of people are those and what would they be evaluating, maybe soul the old man referred to. Second languages are hard. The woman removes her hand from her face and continues.
“We'll just have to go line by line. First line should be tier, a number, then race, a level, what are those after that?”
The old man chimes in, “I think those are unallocated stat points.”
The woman nods at that. “That may explain why the child is still level 1, [Identify] already says she's human, Sara, what is the number next to your tier and how many stat points are unallocated.”
I feel I'm going to be learning a lot of new words today. Going by what she said I answered. “One for tier and four for unallocated.” Jacob starts writing things down.
“Good, onto the second line, should be title and I see [Voiceless], what does that mean?”
It's the one of two words on the [Staus Screen] that's not in [English], the other is Common. My best guess is that since the title came from here there is no equivalent in [English]. I shrug my shoulders, it's always been just a title for me.
“You don't know?” The women ask incredulously.
“How would I?”
The woman looks aghast at me, the old man considers and then speaks up.
“If you touch the word the system should provide a description to you.”
I frown at that, “It never worked that way before.” Let me tell ya, it was the first, second, and third thing I tried when I got the [Status Screen] skill. I reach up and tap the place [Voiceless] hung in the air to demonstrate the futility.
A screen pops up in front of my face and I start reading it aloud, my eyes growing wider as I go.
“Voiceless - gives off an aura of worthlessness, Title holder is unable to gain new skills while this title is slotted and is unable to mentally direct changes to one soul. One additional soul level when leveling up.”
Is this why I can't improve? My hands are cradling my head at this point. I'm out of my seat and have gotten under the table. The tears are coming and I'm trying to make myself as small as possible. I hear shouting but I don't understand it. I'm worthless, I have a title that proves it. No wonder they left me. Didn't bother killing me, why would they, that's more effort than I deserve. Worthless, the table moves. Still worthless, more speaking, worthless, a hand is on my shoulder. I start trembling, no, someone is shaking me. I look up, everything I see is blurry. I think it's the old man.
“Sara, listen to my voice, I need you to calm down.”
There's power in those words, the spiral I'm in slows down. I'm still worthless but I feel numb to it now. I step back and the table is moved back to where it was, my chair is stood back up. After I'm seated, I drink the rest of the water in the mug, ignoring the soggy crumbs at the bottom. The old man nudges sandy hair, points at my mug. Sandy hair gives an annoyed look at the old man and leaves the room with the mug.
The woman clears her throat, “Care to explain your outburst, you started babbling and then hid under table crying about how you're worthless.”
Did I do that, it seems so distant now.
“Sara, answer the captain,” the old man intones.
“The description I read is in [English], it explains why I am worthless.” Sara replies with a monotone voice.
The captain gives a hard stare to the old man. Sandy hair back with more water. The old man explains.
“Her mental fortitude stat must be low, I didn't expect to affect her this much. I'll pull back after we get a proper translation of what she read. It clearly distresses her. Sara can you give me a word for word reading in [Common] of the [Voiceless] title.”
Sara obliges, “Voiceless gives off a” a pause “bubble . . . area of worthlessness, title holder is unable to gain new skills while this title is slotted um .. er”
“Equipped?” Jacob Interjected, the captain gave him a look that said not to interrupt again.
“Equipped and is unable to” another pause “to use head to make changes to one ghost um being. One added being level when leveling up.”
“Considering that being levels up I think she means soul” the old man clarifies. “Bubble area is probably aura, considering the shift in the room I suspect her aura can intensify off her emotions. Sara I'm going to slowly ease off the spell I am using to calm you down, I'll need you to try to suppress your aura.”
I start feeling again. It's creeping on me, I'm trembling but remain seated. I try to drink from my mug, but the sloshing of the water is making it difficult. The captain speaks.
“That's one cursed title, what's the point of an extra soul level up if you can't actually assign points to level up.”
My trembling increases at that. The old man looks at me, then considers the screen. He then points to the plus sign next to the Men stat. “If you tap this point, I think it should increase your mental fortitude stat. I fear your aura might be affecting you the most Sara.”
The captain gives another hard stare at the old man while I reach up and tap the plus sign four times. The number increments for each tap. The first tap causes a minus sign to appear next to the Men plus sign. After pulling back my hand a confirmation window appears.
“Wait, stop, you shouldn't level your stats that fast!” Captain says after I've already pushed the accept button.
I scream, there is a massive headache I'm ignoring since it feels like my very soul is on fire. I'm holding my sides, trembling at a greater rate than before. My shoulders are through my tunic neck hole at this point and the tunic crumples down to my elbows. It feels like an eternity. The fire is subsiding, the headache already gone. I'm breathing hard trying to focus. I feel less worthless. The notification button pulses again.
The captain giving a lecture to the old man, he replies back “It was only two levels, it should not have affected her that much.”
“Two levels for her is four soul levels or have you forgotten what the rest of her title does.” The captain's voice is even louder now.
The old man winces at that, he approaches me and kneels before me. “Sara, I, Bartholomew Lancas, wish to formally apologize for causing undue harm, my carelessness in this matter could have been avoided if I had considered the impact of my suggestion.”
I look around unsure what to do. Sandy hair looks annoyed, Jacob is shocked, and the captain just nods. I clear my throat. “I accept your apology, it's a good lesson to learn now, father always told me the quickest way to learn not to touch a fire is to touch the fire.”
The old man stares at me for a moment, then he gathers himself and reclaims his chair. Sandy hair speaks up. “Are we almost done here, I can't see why we're spending so much time on this girl?” There is real hostility in his voice now, girl came out as a sneer.
“Guardsman Johnston, if you're looking for other work I can certainly oblige.” The captain is still yelling.
The old man looks up at this. “If I may interject. While Sara may have gained greater resistance to her aura, she also has increased its power by leveling up.”
I blanched at that, the feelings start to creep on me again.
“Suppress your aura, Sara.” A command from the captain.
“I don't know how.”
“Drink your water, focus on the cup, we'll give you a moment.” The old man shuffles out of the room. Jacob and Johnston follow. The captain takes a moment and follows after.
