IV

Before Kiyoshi stood the ,,pearl" of the Count, his beautiful daughter. Drenched in blood, the boy didn't appear to spark any kind of licking from the noble girl. It could be said that she feared him more than anything.

The boy approached the hobbled girl, or with a closer inspection young lady, and removed her gag. Just his touch, dirty as it seemed, made her release a small whimper and the questions began soaring in:

"Who-who are you?"

As he tried to remove the ropes tying her, as if gaining courage, she screamed even more.

"Who sent you?!"

'No one did'

"T-that can't be, y-y-you..."

'Let me explain myself, milady, for you see, my name in Kain'- and he went on. Apologizing for the lack of etiquette, Kiyoshi, now pretending to be a boy named named Kain and explained to the noble girl that ,,he had been living in the mountains with his father ever since he can remember and after some bandits attacked, his father sacrificed himself to save him and he has been roaming the forest in search of civilisation ever since".

Kiyoshi was surprised to see that she believed him, word to word. He couldn't understand why would she trust an obvious lie from a stranger, but put the issue on hold for the moment.

'Can you move?'

Now free, the young lady, presented as Cricillia Petro, the daughter of San Petro's Count, tried to get up, but fell immediately.

"No..."- she seemed disheartened, almost as if she wouldn't be able to ever walk again and 'Kain' picked up on this.

'Your ankle is probably sprained... we should go to the city if you say that one is near'

"B-but how will we do that? My carriage was.... oh no!"

'What may be the problem?'

"W-when we were attacked, my nanny was stabbed by one of the bandits.."-with an unsteady breath-"I n-need you to take me there, t-t-to see how she is!!!

In response, Kain picked her up and asked her to lead the way.

The scene where the fighting first took place was gruesome, even more so than what Kiyoshi had done back at the camp.

The carriage, burning in a field, was surrounded by the ravaged corpses of Cricillia's escorts. Right near the broken door stood what remained of the maid's body. Truly a gory sight. Teeth that looked snapped by hand littered the head cut in half, a head that was surrounded by her dismembered limbs.

Strangely enough, beside these, the corpse was left untouched.('Didn't she say the nun was stabbed?') You'd think they would have done more if the purpose was to send a message.

With nothing else to do, Kiyoshi, carrying the now despairing girl, sets on the main road to San Petro. Only two hours after, the forest no longer looked magical. The breeze had long since dried up. The sun, now for a long time gone into the horizon, made her even more aware of her current misery.

"C-can we camp out tonight? It's al-already night time. Beside, carrying me for so long must be daunting"

'Oh, it is alright. I am used to such long trips, but you can sleep if you can'

She tried to argue, but understood that she didn't have a word in the matter. An hour and a half later, she was soundly asleep. That left Kiyoshi with some time to think.

'Why did I kill them so easly?'- he said out loud. After all, it was bizarre. Sure, he was fond of conspiracies and conflicts, but he was never violent, in fact, he never even got into a fight, so how was he able to target their bodies with such ease? Was it a perk of being a Mimic? But he didn't recognise that he wasn't human...

'Status'

Name: Kiyoshi Sasaki

Level:1

Class: Rogue(Agility=dexterity↑)

Race: Human(+stats)

Skills: Dagger skills lv.1

Survival skills lv.1

-

Agility:15

Endurance:10

Intelligence:10

Strenght:10

Wisdom:5

Stats=‽

He knew that after been seen fighting by the young lady, he couldn't keep being level one, so he should set it higher... actually, how high could he set it? Fiddling with the status screen, he saw that the current limit was ninety, meaning that one bar from his red screen probably meant to represent thirty levels. Not knowing the level of the bandits, Kiyoshi wasn't compare the average one. Forty-three was probably enough.

At around the time where the sun peaked from the horizon, the city of San Petro came in sight. It seemed like a Mediterranean enclave in a continent, a bustling comercial hub, a paradise to all who want or have money. At least that was what he saw from a distance. Observing the gates, he saw a group of horsemen, that were coming in his direction. As he was a gentleman, he waited patiently while walking towards them, still carrying the sleeping girl.

"Who are you, boy?"

'H-hello!'- saluted him while faking his tone.

'T-the l-lady I'm carrying, she's injured!'

"Let me... oh praise the Goddess, we found you!"

Cricillia, now fully awake, immediately recognized the men before her.

"Sir Mercato!"

"What happened to her? Did you...?"

"No, bandits attacked and Kain was the one to save me"

The lightly armored, red-haired knight eyed the boy suspiciously, but put his skepticism aside for the moment." Come with me"- he said. Kiyoshi raised himself on the saddle of one of the other riders, the man, visibly disgusted to have a dirty and bloody teenager behind him, didn't open his mouth. The ride to the mansion, though not long, felt uncomfortable to all involved.

Having arrived, Cricillia was sent to the nuns, to have her foot healed, while 'Kain' was given a new set of clothes and instructed to go see the Count.

...

...

...

Kiyoshi had to admit that he was feeling tired. Staying up while watching documentaries the night before the summon probably also not helped. Still he had to meet a person who could possibly decide his future in this world. At least the clothes were nice and the servants didn't ignore him, even though he was pretending to be a peasant.

Making his way through the engraved corridors, he didn't feel marveled, nor surprised. If Kiyoshi had to imagine in his head how a noble's mansion looked, this was probably it.

Even the door to the lord's office was unimpressive ('Maybe this wasn't much of a commercial hub after all'). The Count himself... that was a surprise. Count Pedro Cavali was a very scrawny individual and very tall at that. The life in his eyes looked like it had decades ago, but his aura... it was very much alive and fiery.

"You are... Kain, if I presume"