Ch 103. Guardian

"Keep it away!" Marcella screamed, nearly losing her mind.

"It's fine, just calm down." I let her know I had the situation covered. Having already strangled to death one of the lizards, I kept the other restrained while putting a good bit of distance between her and the beast. Even without armor, the lizard was mostly incapable of breaking my toughened skin, the sharp claws and teeth barely drawing blood with its frenzied struggle as I held on.

Checking my attributes after the lizard stopped struggling so much, clicking my tongue in disappointment that no class was being awarded. Well, I suppose that in order to be 'protecting' her, she needs to be in danger in the first place.

"Marcella, come over here. You're too far back!" I yelled while keeping up the headlock I had on the dog-sized lizard.

"N-no!"

Frowning as I wrapped my legs around the lizards hind claws to adjust my leverage.

"It's perfectly safe, just look." I replied as the green-scaled monster chewed down on my arm like it was biting on tough rubber, shaking my arm a bit to demonstrate how the beast was subdued, the beast refusing to let go as it repeatedly tried to sink its teeth in. A little frustrated that she was still hesitating, even after the deal we had made.

"If you want better treatment, you need to hold up your side of the bargain. You're a former adventurer for godsakes, so stop moping around back there and do your job." Chastising her for being so afraid of a damn lizard, her face flushing in embarrassment as she slowly approached, until she was right next to me, the lizard struggling even more after it realized a second human had approached it while it was in such a compromising position.

Still not working? What more could the system want? I had a man-eating lizard subdued here, and I wasn't getting any credit for it.

"Marcella. I'm protecting you right now, am I not?"

She just looked at me like I was crazy.

"I-is this a trick question?"

My temper flaring up at her unhelpful response.

"Should I let this lizard go so that you can find out?" Loosening my grip on the lizard, causing it to thrash and claw at the earth.

"Hiiiiii--" Marcella let out a scream, backing up away from the beast again as a notification popped up on my stat window, visible in hand mirror I had positioned next to me.

Class: [Tormenter]

Skill: [Intimidation Aura]

Frowning at the unexpected gain, more classes were never a bad thing but this was not what I was trying for. At the very least this gave me another clue as to why my tactics weren't working.

"Marcella, speak honestly. Am I scaring you right now?" My instincts telling me that the reason it wasn't working had nothing to do with my own mindset, but rather the mindset of the one I was trying to 'protect'. It could be that both of our intentions had to be synced up for this to work. Becoming annoyed at how intricate some of these class conditions were becoming.

She looked hesitant to answer, as she picked up on my own irritation, misconstruing that irritation as being directed towards herself.

"I'm not going to get mad, or do anything to you... so just answer the question. You can consider this is as part of the experiment."

She nodded her head somewhat timidly, still unsure if it was a trick.

"Y-you do scare me."

"More than the lizard?" I asked, turning the beast's head so that she could see it.

Seeing her nod again, I realized that this probably was the problem.

"I'm not the one trying to eat you right now... you realize that, yes? I'm trying to protect you right now."

Seeing her watch silently from the side I had no choice but to explain to her what I needed her to be doing.

"Marcella, I don't know what you're thinking right now, but I need you to visualize for a second. Think of the most safe and comfortable place you can think of. Now imagine me as your knight, or your guard, or as anyone that you trust. Picture me as a person that you trust, and as someone who is there to protect you. Can you do that?"

It might sound like a strange request, but Marcella nodded again, closing her eyes like she was trying to picture what I was saying in her head.

"Now pretend that this lizard is a threat, that it's coming to eat you, well... actually it is trying to eat you, but just visualize that part too. And I'm fighting this lizard right now as a means of protecting you."

She closed her eyes tight, like she was thinking of what I had just told her, as I watched my mirror in anticipation. Finally a new class appearing on the class window.

Class: [Guardian]

Skill: [Protective Instincts]

Snapping the lizards neck now that I had no more use for it before brushing myself off as Marcella looked on in a dazed and confused manner.

"Thanks for your help Marcella. I'll make sure you get three meals a day from now on." I said while smiling genuinely.

The two of us returning to camp, as if nothing had happened. My clothes a bit dusty from being on the ground, but my skin practically unblemished. The teeth and scratch marks having been minor from the start, were rapidly disappearing as we walked.

Out of curiosity, I activated my Guardian class, testing out my newly acquired skill. Overwhelmed with a new sensation, like the air was on fire. Feeling a strong pull around Marcella like an ocean tide, and a weaker pull from what felt like two people who were in the direction of the encampment, almost certainly being Belle and Tammy.

The skill was greatly unsettling, feeling like I was being screamed at constantly, the skill urging me to pick up the pace and run towards my loved ones as fast as possible. But the strange thing was that it prioritized Marcella over Belle and Tammy, who I certainly valued more than Marcella.

It felt like the skill was telling me there was danger, and that the danger was around us, but as far as I could tell I had already killed all the monsters and yet it was still giving me these signals. I looked around and saw nothing but grassland, even if the light was almost gone, there was still enough that I should know if a monster was close enough to threaten us. 

What was even more unsettling was that this feeling of unease was happening with just a level one skill, the intensity with which it was broadcasting danger didn't make sense to me and I didn't want to find out. Hurrying Marcella along as we made the short return back to safety.

Keaton's Stat Window