From Human to Skeleton: Revived with Infinite System Crystals

Chapter 63: A Threatening Proposal

The morning sunshine streamed through the window, casting a shimmering light across the room. Nana, who had been complaining about the intrusive rays, suddenly jolted awake. Blinking sleep from her eyes, she noticed a sheet covering her small form, and her gaze shifted to Ty.

He was at a desk, face-planted down on a pile of papers left by Kirana. Realizing that he must have covered her up, Nana couldn't help but feel a bit shy. She muttered to herself, "Why does he make me so mad and confused at the same time?" With a soft sigh, she gave herself a gentle slap on the cheek, as if trying to shake off her own thoughts.

Walking up to Ty, who was still snoring atop the mound of papers, she tapped his head with her tiny hand. "Did you pass out or something?" she inquired, her voice carrying a mixture of curiosity and mild annoyance.

Ty picked himself up his face, stating I guess I just dozed off for a moment while studying all these papers. Honestly, some of them are very vague. They mention the houses and the King. But not much else about the general people.

Ty pondered aloud, his finger lightly grazing his lip as he lost himself in his thoughts. "Anyone without a weapon is pretty much deemed bottom of society and is often robbed or murdered. I wonder why that guy didn't even mention that to me," he mused, speaking his thoughts out loud.

Nana, fully awake and now quite curious, asked, "Guy? What guy did you meet?"

Ty explained, "Oh, I went for a little midnight walk and ran into General Mattison. A little strict, but he's straightforward and to the point. Just odd he didn't mention anything. Though it was a bit late." He glanced up at the clock, which showed it was now 9:00 AM. Then, he looked back at Todd, who was still peacefully passed out, lost in slumber.

Nana considered the situation for a moment before responding, "I think we should let him sleep a bit longer. He doesn't seem to get much rest."

Nana pondered for a moment and then decided, "No, maybe we should let him sleep in for a bit. This might be a sort of vacation for him," she said with a slight chuckle. "The Demon King had him doing a lot of training and fighting people for almost four weeks straight. So, I imagine this might be some overdue sleep."

Ty raised an eyebrow, surprised by this revelation. "Huh. He never mentioned that, but I suppose he isn't one to complain much."

Nana chuckled again and remarked, "You have no idea."

Ty agreed, "I guess not. But let's go ahead and explore the village to see if we can collect any clues about the blade we need to find."

"Sure, sounds like a plan," Ty said as they walked out of the room and down the hall.

On their way out, Ty shouted to the innkeeper, "Hey, Ms. Innkeeper, if our big guy wakes up, just let him know we're heading around the village to get acquainted, and he can wait for us. Have him help you with anything you need, okay?"

The innkeeper gave Ty and Nana a wave and replied, "Sure thing, sweethearts."

As they stepped out of the inn's doors, the bright sun broke over the distant mountains. The town was bustling with people going to and from various small huts and some sturdier-looking rectangular buildings. Small lights adorned some of the buildings, with random assortments of words that Ty couldn't fully understand.

"Seems they have electricity and other forms of it figured out," Ty mused, looking around in amazement at the intricate details of how the lights worked above the buildings, blending in with magic.

"I suppose so. All of this is new to me as well," Nana replied. "We didn't get this advanced back on Alexira, so I hope to learn about this stuff sooner or later. But let's see if we can find the church in this village. They might know about the sword we're looking for."

Ty gave a slight nod. "Good idea. The notes did mention that the churches handled the handing out of weapons to the youth."

They continued to walk around aimlessly for about 30 minutes before finally spotting a long dirt road leading away from the small village. A giant building that resembled what Ty thought would be a church back on Earth came into view.

"There we go," Ty said, pointing towards the structure.

"I think that would be a good place to start; we should check in with whoever runs the place about the process and then slowly build up to asking about the sword," Ty stated as they were walking down the long dirt path with empty fields and an assortment of lively trees around them.

They were about halfway through the path leading to the church-like building when a blade suddenly came flying from a random tree, inches from Ty's neck, before landing in another tree.

Ty abruptly stopped in his tracks, thrown off by the sudden blade piercing the morning air. Nana screamed for him to watch out as another blade grazed his cheek before a crackling voice spoke out, warning them not to move another inch.

A man with black, curly hair and a thin frame emerged from behind a tree where the blade had come from. He addressed Ty and Nana with a confrontational tone, "What is bottom weaponless trash like you doing walking out in the open?"

After a moment, two other individuals emerged from another tree. One was large and bulky, while the other had a similar thin build as the first man but with a colder and darker expression.

Ty quickly tried to defuse the situation, saying, "Sorry for any confusion, but we're just passing through. I'm escorting Lady Nanako back to the capital. Let's not cause any unnecessary trouble."

Nana, grabbing Ty's pant leg, chimed in, "You want me to take care of all of them right now? I probably could do it before they even notice."

Ty responded in a hushed tone, "No, I want to try and reason with them. And I want to keep your power a secret for now." He noticed a crow far off in the distance, not directly watching them. "We never know who's watching, and your power might come in handy later."

However, the man with the curly hair had had enough of their hushed conversation. He angrily interrupted, "Hey, you dumbasses, stop whispering when I'm talking to you!" He unsheathed a blade from his hilt, revealing a plain bronze-colored handle and a steel blade with blue lines running along it.

The man with the curly hair continued his aggressive demeanor, yelling out further, "Give us all your valuables and your gold coins, and we'll look the other way, you worthless trash!" He wore a pathetic frown on his face as he made his demand.

Ty quickly signed to Nana, asking her how much she had on her right now. She replied with concern, "About 34 gold pieces and 20 silver pieces. You aren't actually thinking about giving them this stuff, are you?"

"I see," Ty responded before shouting out to the loudmouthed man, "We are new around here. How valuable is 34 gold pieces and 20 silver pieces?"

The man stammered, "Wha-what do you mean? That's enough to buy just about anything other than a house."

Ty thanked him for the information and then said, "That's how much we have on us right now."

Clutching his sword and with a smile on his face, the man demanded that they hand over their valuables, and he would spare them. But Ty's expression turned dark as he replied, "I'm sorry, that won't do. How about I give you 6 silver pieces, two for each of you, and you can all leave with your heads attached to your shoulders."

A shiver ran down the man's spine as he stumbled over his words, saying, "Y-yeah, right, like some weaponless weakling could do anything against my blade!"

"Then be my guest," Ty responded. He signaled for Nana to stand back and loosened his collar. Walking up to a nearby tree, he continued, "If you can beat me, then all the gold is yours, and I'll even give you the 200 pieces of gold my other buddy has back at the local inn."

"But if you can't," Ty's eyes began to bleed red as he took his fist and struck the tree, causing it to crack and break before tumbling over with a loud thud. "I will kill each of you one by one, stealing your very soul," he finished, his voice filled with dark determination.

"The option is yours, my fellow travelers," Ty declared, leaving the decision in their hands.