CHAPTER 66: A DESPERATE REQUEST

For Reidar, summoning skills were the perfect equalizer—the one thing that made sense in a world where every few feet seemed packed with monsters, all either living together or tearing each other apart.

Summoning skills were hard to get but weren’t by any means impossible. Keth’moran had offered it readily.

Maybe their vendor doesn’t have them. That would be a problem.

Reidar wanted to buy some new ones. Regardless, in Reidar’s mind, any settlement with access to a Vendor should have prioritized them.

The tactical advantage was too obvious. Without it, every foray beyond the walls became a brutal numbers game. Five humans against thirty monsters was the best a group could do if the level disparity was on the human side.

Martin’s shoulders slumped, the confident leader’s posture dissolving into one of weary defeat. "I’m sorry, Reidar. I didn’t mean to unload all that on a stranger. It’s just... we’re tired."

He scrubbed a hand over his face. He couldn’t take that anymore. "I know you want to get to your parents, but... Would it be too much to lend us a hand? Just for a little while. Help us get back on our feet."

Martin’s gaze dropped to the floor, his fingers gripping his sword like it was the only thing holding him up. That confident tone he’d had just moments ago was gone, replaced by fragility. He cleared his throat, and when he looked back at Reidar, his eyes were full of shame.

"I know I have no right to ask this of you. We just met," he said, his voice low and thick with reluctance. "And you owe us nothing." He shook his head, a bitter twist to his mouth. "Asking for help... it feels like admitting we’ve already failed, and yet it must be destiny for you to have come to our doors in this hour of peril."

Reidar shook his head, his gaze already turning toward the eastern tree line. "I can’t. Every day I delay is another day they’re out there alone."

"Then let me make it worth your while," Martin said. "You should know that the System allows me to generate quests."

"Yeah, I know. The leader in the last town I went to did that."

"Then you know I can create objectives that would benefit the settlement and reward you handsomely. It’s just that the system only goes up to a certain extent with its rewards. The ones it gives are proportionate to the quest I create, but I can also increase the rewards by converting items into survival and C.L.A.S.P. points we already have."

That meant that Martin would give him part of the resources gathered by a whole survivor town. That had to be more than even he could get with his summons.

And yet, he didn’t really want to stay. The rewards were bound to be good if Martin tweaked them, but his family came first.

"I appreciate the offer, but—"

Martin’s face briefly glowed with desperation before determination took its place. Reidar had to stay and help.

"People will die if you don’t," Martin cut in, his voice dropping to a harsh, low tone. "We’re sending our best team out next week to find and eradicate the Ravagers and Maulers’ nest for good. I’m asking you to lend us a hand. It’s a suicide mission without more firepower. But if you join us... if you help us succeed, I can attach some of my elite fighters to your group afterward. They’d escort you most of the way to Creamont. They are strong, high-level protection for your journey can’t be bad. And we would finally have the breathing room to complete the quest chain for the Settlement Token."

Reidar’s jaw tightened. An armed escort through monster-infested territory would shave weeks off his travel time, maybe more. The safety it promised for this part of the journey was undeniable.

Yet Reidar didn’t need them. He was plenty strong enough alone.

Martin pressed, seeing the hesitation. "A week. Give us one week. I’ll issue two high-reward quests to make your time here valuable before we leave to eradicate the nests. Help us secure our walls, and then you’ll have a small army at your back when you leave. You’ll be saving lives and gaining a clear path to your family."

Reidar looked past Martin, at the people hurriedly patching the wall with splintered wood and desperation. He thought of the healer, Mara, stitching together people who would just be broken again tomorrow. He thought of the children he’d seen huddled on the way to the city center.

A week. It was both an eternity and the blink of an eye.

Reidar’s instincts prickled. A settlement leader, a man who commanded respect, shouldn’t be this desperate with a stranger.

Something in Martin’s plea felt wrong; it felt weird. They were all human, all facing the same nightmare, yet this felt less like a plea for solidarity and more like a grab for a lifeline.

Reidar’s gaze swept over the fortified walls again, the recent battle scars.

Martin said the attacks are constant. Too constant. Monsters usually swarm areas of high mana concentration or large gatherings of prey, but this felt almost... targeted.

The Chitinous Ravagers and the Grave-Gill Maulers weren’t wandering predators based on what he saw in the past month. They usually stayed in a territory and hunted there.

They were ambush predators. Something was wrong here.

"One week," Reidar said, the words feeling heavy as stone.

In all conscience, Reidar could not leave these people to their destiny, and if he got some beneficial quests and help to reach Creamont, then so be it.

"The expedition, and that’s it. And your two quests had better be worth my time, otherwise we will have problems."

A wave of relief washed over Martin’s face. "They will be. You have my word. And thank you, Reidar. You won’t regret this."

Reidar already did, but he gave a curt nod. The path to Creamont had just taken a detour, but he’d make sure it was a short one.