“So, finally you’ve come to your senses. I knew after giving it some time you’d make the right decision."

  Matheus had double checked every single person in the city, from clerks from the stores to beggars on the street. No one else was eligible to be his vassal.

  He sighed heavily. His vassal’s tab had been the one he had ignored the most so far, and with good reason. ‘Better to be alone than in bad company’, Matheus had always said to himself. Especially when the bad company had a tendency to beat him up.

  Part of him wanted to wait until the next city, to see if there would be others he could choose. But knowing the System, probably every option would be even worse. He was sure he wouldn’t ever be allowed to get someone really useful to join him.

  Well, complaining would get him nowhere.

  “Yes, oh great Rick,” Matheus said, trying his best not to sound sarcastic, “I still can’t pay you one gold coin.”

  Rick turned and left, dismissing Matheus completely.

  “But I have some money! Maybe we can negotiate a different deal?”

  “How much do you have?” Rick asked, raising his eyebrow.

  Matheus had a total of 4 coins, but he wasn’t about to let this opportunist know about his funds.

  “I can give you 2 Silver Coins right now. You help me catch the Golden Deer, we can share the rewards of the quest. 12 Silver Coins each.

  Rick extended his hand and waited. Matheus took the coins he had separated previously from a pocket on his hood, and gave to him.

  Rick looked at the money with hunger in his eyes, then quickly pocketed it.

  “Alright. I’ll accept those 2 coins now, then 24 Silver Coins after we finish the quest.”

  “What? That was not what I said!” Matheus exclaimed with indignation.

  “You can’t expect me to help you out for such a frivolous payment. I, Rick from Nervarnia, the Endless Cut, known from many deeds and qualities, including my humbleness and generosity, still have to eat.”

  “Well, I won’t let you keep all 24 coins.”

  “As you wish.” Rick shrugged and turned again, leaving with Matheus' money.

  “Wait!” Matheus yelled. Rick stopped and raised the same eyebrow again.

  “Yes?”

  Damn bastard. Matheus was more interested in the Stat and Soul points anyway, but it hurt to give this much money away.

  “You can keep 20 coins, and I only get 4. You know, I’ve got to eat, too.”

  Rick stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, left hand on his chin.

  “Alright, alright. Songs will be made of my kindness here today. Rejoice, starting today you’re officially a temporary ward of Rick, the Endless Cut!” he said, putting his hands on his hip and doing an imposing pose.

  Rick has been included into your party!

  Current party size: 2

  “Well, let’s go then…uh, what’s your name?”

  “Matheus,” he answered with exasperation.

  “Wait, what is that on your hood?”

  “Oh, this is Captain. He is my cat.” Matheus had got so used to having Captain there, it sometimes slipped his mind he was carrying him. The cat slept profoundly, taking one of its many short naps during the day.

  “That is a cat?” Rick gave him a funny look, but seemed to lose interest almost immediately, “let’s go then, Nataniel.”

  “It’s Matheus,” Matheus complained, but Rick was already on his way.

  They walked together to the forest, while Rick kept bragging about a great variety of things he’d accomplished, each more unbelievable than the other. Matheus couldn’t believe anyone could be so shameless.

  “Yes, the dragon almost got me, trapping me against that cyclops, a formidable foe to each side. Yet, they weren’t read for Rick, the Endless Cut. They were relentless, but only two, and at least 5 monsters would be necessary to get through my defenses,” he continued, monologuing.

  “And how exactly did you defeat them?” Matheus asked, finding a chance to gather some information. His new “ally” was useless until he knew what skills he had.

  “With courage and unprecedented determination, of course! Which is exactly how I survived my peregrine through the dark realms, weeks of battle with no food or water. Still, I…” Rick continued his story flawlessly, like he had never been interrupted.

  Matheus gave up on finding anything.

  When they arrived at the area, Rick was still talking.

  “Listen, we are already here. Could you wait just for a second?”

  Matheus took Captain from his hood and put him on the ground. He yawned and stretched, apparently having been napping on their way here.

  And there he was, his three-legged, one-eyed and now four-eared cat.

  Matheus felt guilt overcoming him.

  He’d ended up adding two small antennae to the top of the cat’s ear. A small and simple modification, and it gave him a good enough advantage. A fair trade.

  Captain didn’t seem to care, either. He only messed with his new antennae with curiosity for a few minutes, then soon accepted them like they had been there this entire time.

  Still, he couldn’t help but to feel bad. Was he playing Frankenstein with his new Familiar?

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Matheus shook himself from those thoughts. What was done was done.

  “Captain. Sonar.”

  The moment Matheus finished saying it, Captain’s antennae gave a soft ring and started vibrating. After a few seconds, a notification appeared in front of him.

  There are 0 monsters on a fifty meters radius of your position.

  “There’s nothing here. Let’s keep walking northeast for some time and I’ll check again.”

  “Oh, now I get it. That’s why you keep that thing with you.”

  Matheus gave him an annoyed look, but Rick shrugged and started walking.

  They kept going, checking with the radar every few minutes. Most of the time it didn’t catch anything, as expected from something with such a low range.

  When it did, Matheus didn’t waste the opportunity to earn some experience.

  There is 1 monster on a fifty meter radius of your position.

  This time, the skill also gave him a faint feeling of the general position of the monster. It didn’t tell him the distance from his target, though.

  “We should circle this area, walk a few paces from each other, until we can locate the deer and ambush it.”

  “Locate, ambush, and create a new tale for the ages!”

  “Whatever, just don’t scare it away before we can get to a good position, alright?” Matheus was quickly losing his patient, but he knew it was foolish to try to catch the deer alone.

  Rick didn’t answer, but he did as Matheus instructed and moved farther for the left, letting them cover a bigger space.

  When they approached, Matheus saw it was another Grape Monkey.

  He sighed, gestured to Rick to wait and made quick work of the creature, killing it with only one slash of his knife.

  Matheus was tempted to cut the head out and store it, but he already had enough to easily kill any of those creatures.

  He left the body behind and they kept going with their search.

  It took them over an hour to finally find the Gold Deer. And yet, listening to Rick bragging during all this time made him feel like he’d been hunting the whole day.

  Very slowly, Matheus approached the animal while it ate some grass, careless of its surroundings.

  Sneaking has reached level 2!

  Thanks to Captain, he’d known it was important to be extra careful to not scare the deer away long before he’d managed to see it. Without the warning the skill gave him, he doubted he would have managed to get close enough to analyze it.

  Gold Deer - Level: 10

  It’s a deer with golden skin!

  Health: 30/30

  Mana: 0/0

  Good luck trying to catch it. This creature will do its utmost to flee from a fight!

  The plan was simple. They each would approach from opposite sides, Rick would scare the animal to Matheus' direction, and he would incapacitate it before it could get away.

  He half expected Rick to do something to fuck it all up, but to his surprise, the young man did exactly what Matheus asked of him. When they were both in position he went after the deer yelling, an axe in his hand.

  “AAAAAAAAAH,” he screamed maniacally.

  That was not what Matheus was expecting, but it would work.

  He prepared to ambush the creature when it got near him, ready to unleash an echo clap. But the deer never got close enough.

  While it ran from Rick, it looked straight into Matheus’ direction, pivoted to the left and escaped in another direction.

  “Damnit!” Matheus said in frustration. All this work, and it had been over before he even could do anything.

  He couldn’t afford being this slow.

  “That was a close one!” Rick said cheerfully.

  Matheus didn’t answer, still angry with the whole situation. He shaked his head, trying to calm down.

  Then something grabbed his attention.

  In his exasperation, he’d almost missed it. He had stopped analyzing everything a long time ago, mostly because the System usually only gave useless information. A branch was a branch, a rock was a rock. However, there was something different with this plant.

  CloudFlower

  Uncommon cooking ingredient.

  That was the first ingredient Matheus had found, not counting the Simple Herbs growing in his safe cafe. He happily took his backpack out of his Inventory, put the CloudFlower inside it, and stored it again.

  It was a small victory, really. The day still had been mostly a waste.

  At this rhythm, he wouldn’t be able to catch up.

  They returned to the city, Rick again talking the whole time, unfazed by their failure.

  Matheus gave an excuse and went a separate way as soon as they crossed the gate. He needed to think about his next move, and find another way to improve his situation.

  “What are you doing?” someone said, taking him away from his thoughts.

  He turned to see a blonde girl, just a few years older than him and with an enormous bow on her back, staring at him.

  “Why are you wasting your time like this?” she asked, face impassive.