Chapter 17- Negotiations With A Viking

"You know what an ogre is….. " I trailed off as I waited for the barbaric-looking man to respond. He was odd, most likely a resident of this world. He had spiraling tattoos on his arms and was pretty tall. Taller than me surely and about twice as wide. He looked like a bonafide Viking.

"Ivar is my name. But no I've never heard of an Ogre" the man replied as he kept his distance and eyed my gauntlet with trepidation.

'Ivar? That definitely sounds Norse, not to mention his accent. But if he's really an ancient Viking there is no way we could understand each other. He's got to be a resident in this fantasy world'

"You can call me Ace. But to explain it's a nine-foot-tall hunk of muscle and fat that could kill either of us with a single attack" I explained to which Ivar just raised an eyebrow in disbelief or maybe amusement. 

So he doesn't know what an ogre is yet he lives in a fantasy world? Or is that just my misconception?

"I doubt it's that powerful even if it's that big, from the way you're talking it sounds like you've beaten him before." It was a good observation but the more he talked the more his Swedish accent became more pronounced.

Nodding to confirm that his deduction was correct. He entered a thinking posture before he said something that surprised me.

"I was actually following your footsteps since I arrived on this floor," he said with an air of honesty as he finally relaxed and sat cross-legged across from me. I paid special attention to the fact he removed his weapons and placed them beside himself. Still in reach but his intentions were clear.

It was an obvious olive branch that showed where he was going with this.

"An alliance then? I was going to suggest the same thing to take care of the ogre at least" I replied as I offered my interest in his proposal. He smirked at my reply before he changed his composure and began scratching his hair.

"Well, the main reason I proposed this is that you seem to know more about this place than me. Hell, I just appeared here out of nowhere three months ago. So I mostly needed information. But a partnership would be a wise thing to do. This place is too damn dangerous" he said with a chuckle that caused my eyes to widen. I was surprised for two reasons, one of them was that I was sure he was from this world but it seemed he was like me. As for the other….

"It took you three months to complete the maze..." I asked in mild disbelief as I watched the guy twitch and curse a few times in anger. 'What level is this guy if he's been here roughly six times longer than me….'

"Yeah, that cursed place. I didn't think I would ever get out for a moment there." Ivar replied with a disgruntled sigh after recounting his time in the Rat King's Maze.

"The idea has merit but I have a few conditions" I decided after a moment. He nodded for me to continue. It was beneficial to me since I doubt I could continue much farther on my own, hell this entire scenario I'm in screams 'party combat'. Creating a stable and reliable cohort should be one of my main goals at this point. But that didn't mean I should go around blinding trusting people.

"As for the drops, there's two ways we could go about it, either we go fifty-fifty or whoever gets the final blow gets the item drop. Any disputes can either be decided by a flip of a coin." I said as I realized I lost him somewhere as he looked slightly confused.

"The hell is a drop?" Ivar asked when I realized the problem, I was speaking in gaming terms.

"The loot, like your bow or spear. Some monsters drop enchanted items" I said as I held up the bag of Arcane holding. 

"Hmmm, that is a problem if we work together. I'm partial to the final blow option but splitting it down the middle works as well. I assume the flipping of a coin would happen if we only got two items and whoever wins gets the better item?" Ivar asked as he brought up an example of how the process would work. I nodded as I also agreed to the second option.

"Secondly, if we're going to be long-term partners we should be completely transparent in terms of dungeon life." I replied as I brought up a point that mattered to me more than the loot. I noticed his confused look as I explained simply. 

"I'm level 25, I intend to focus on learning whatever magic I can and use my spear and other melee weapons as a secondary. So I'll be focusing on increasing dexterity, agility and intelligence" I gave an example but it seemed that I lost him even further, if his completely confused expression was anything to go by.

"Where did I lose you, Ivar?" I asked with a sigh as the Viking-like man smiled slightly. 

"All of it" he said unashamedly as I smacked my forehead dumbfounded. I couldn't help but chuckle as I thought I was walking around in the dark, has this guy even leveled up? How the hell did he kill the Bullywugs?

That question made me take a longer peek at his equipment. The pure white war hammer was impressive but the blue bow and thunder bolt-shaped quiver answered my question.

"Did….. did you not rest at the golden campfire?" I asked between chuckles as the guy put on a confused expression before his eyes widened in remembrance.

"Rest? Gods no. If you had seen that flame devour that monster's corpse….. Completely turned it to ash in a mere moment. I ran like hell." Ivar replied which caused my chuckling to turn into laughter. I could tell he was getting annoyed after a few moments when I put a hand up to console him. 

"Man…. How did you survive this long?" I asked as I finished my chuckles and began rummaging in my enchanted bag.

"The rats were simple, they were surprisingly agile. The green monster thing went down by a lucky shot…" he was going to continue but I cut him off. 

"That is called a boss monster, they usually guard doors and drop loot" I said as I guess he faced a similar boss fight as me. He nodded in thanks for the information before he continued.

"The bipedal frogs are troublesome in comparison. Luckily my bow can take them down in a single hit, but if I were to be surrounded….." he trailed off as I just nodded and pulled out an entire chair from my bag.

"Odin's beard!" Ivar said in understandable surprise. It was a rather comical scene watching a chair come out of such a small bag.