15 14: Reincarnaters

James began to tell his short tale of how he's reincarnated and that he woke up within that forest and was merely fighting to survive while frankly just hating goblins but also having a strange urge to eat a piece of his kills, making sure to omit anything about the system or about growing stronger from killing as well. After a few minutes of explaining how he got here Cloud kept staring into James' eyes with deep suspicion and a small growing anxiety after hearing he was reincarnated which also put even Serena slightly on edge too which James noticed and regretted not omitting that as well.

After James finished Cloud leaned back in his large chair sitting there contemplating as he tapped his finger on his magnificently carved wooden desk while stroking his golden beard letting the pressure off of James for now.

What felt like hours passed over a couple minutes before Cloud made his decision, "James...what you have told me must never leave this room. Whether you reincarnated from this world or another it does not matter but anyone who finds out will immediately brand you a disaster in the making. All known reincarnated beings have been granted some kind of power or ability and most have been very malevolent with their new found strength so I warn you now, do not ever tell anyone about your origins and you best learn some restraint on that biting problem of yours before it gets you truly branded a monster by the populace."

James now realizing his screw up was annoyed with himself for not thinking it through properly but also can't help it now. Hindsight is a bitch sometimes, James then made his decision as even though Cloud seems to be keeping his secret he knows he must leave at the bare minimum this castle if not the town at his earliest convenience.

After a couple minutes of thinking about his next steps and what he needs to do James spoke up, "Lord Cloud why have you decided to keep my secret? Based on what you've said I'm a liability and a possible threat so you could have either killed me here and now or even if not that at least made me a wanted criminal by exposing me. I understand I saved your daughter and have broken no laws but even then the logical choice would be to get rid of me."

Cloud signed deeply at this question before responding, "Because you fool I couldn't bring myself to hurt my daughter like that first and foremost...even if I don't like how infatuated she's become with you if I killed you or made you a criminal just because of what you are she'd never forgive me. That and you have done a lot already for my people and my town by doing what you consider so little. You have shown compassion for others beyond your inner circle which especially for lizardmen let alone most people in general regardless of race is something I respect so for now I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Now enough of this, I'll give you your rewards and answer any questions you have then frankly even more so now you should get whatever supplies you need then leave. For saving my daughter though when I could not I will be giving you a one time use way to communicate and request assistance from me in a dire situation, I can also communicate with you through it but I can do so freely so frankly I'd recommend not wasting it unless you're sure you'll die otherwise."

James remained silent as Cloud pulled out a bag of coins from a drawer and then grabbed at the air beaide him making his hand disappear briefly before pulling out 3 books, a map, a bottle of purple liquid, and a strange orb.

Cloud explained these items before James could ask, "These first two are rare items called skill books which respectively are [Mana Circuit] and [Axemanship], the last book is a spell book which frankly the spell is ironic as it's the [Lightning] spell. Hopefully these will be of use to you and you start learning them right away as it's gonna take you a long time to learn and more so to master even with your special origin. The bag has 20 gold coins from me and another 2 gold from the guild for the goblin infestation as they were becoming a major problem and you can figure out the value of currency on your own, lastly this bottle here which you can take right now is a potion that will increase your mana since you barely have any mana which yes I can see how much mana your body possesses and frankly you're gonna need this or giving you the [Lightning] spell is gonna be useless. The only other thing is this map of the kingdom with all the towns and villages marked down including obviously the capital city. I personally marked down a couple places of rumors of lizardmen in those areas if you'd like to investigate"

James started to pick up everything then stopped, "Do you have a bag or something I could put these in cause I don't have anything to hold these in."

Cloud looked at him with confusion, "Do you not have a dimensional ring or space to put your items like most reincarnated do?"

James was startled by this, "....Honestly wasn't sure if that was normal but even then I should probably have a bag to carry things to not stick out as a reincarnated anyway."

Cloud sighed heavily and said, "You really are both stupid and smart in equal measure kid, alright just cause it'd be easier I'm gonna give you a storage ring, this is a very expensive item even the shitty ones with barely any space are expensive so you better not fuckin lose this!"

Cloud put his hand through the air again and pulled out a large sturdy ring with a red jewel in the middle and handed it to James.

"This one can hold up to 20 cubic meters worth of space regardless of weight and will serve you a very long time. Frankly I should give you a worse one but this is the storage ring with the smallest storage I have."

James immediately took it and put it on his right middle claw and it adjusted to fit his finger perfectly then he put everything in the storage ring other than the potion before taking it and downing it instantly.

[Your Mana has increased by 30]

[Total Mana: 100]

James smiles a toothy grin, "Thank you for all of this, I won't turn down these gifts and I will leave your town once I've gotten some supplies and some armor."

Cloud asked, "Any questions for me before you leave. I know I'm shooing you out but I do appreciate all of you've done so far, I'm more worried about my daughter wanting you and my people treating you with prejudice than anything else but I don't hate you kid."

James nodded, "I know and I understand that, I would like to say goodbye though. Don't want her to be angry at you for kicking me out so I'll make it seem like I wanted to leave."

Cloud looked almost as if he was gonna deflate and die at the thought of his daughter being upset with him, "Please do! If my little Roro was upset with me and decided to ignore me I'd wanna die..!"

James and Serena both laughed at him before Serena walked James out to the entrance of the castle where Romania was already waiting with obvious worry on her face and small tears welling up in her eyes.