Honkai Impact 3rd: Don't Die For Me/ Book 1: Promise

Chapter 9 A Contract

<Village House>

Otto woke up in the middle of night. He felt weak and cold but his first instinct was to check Kallen's condition. He quickly lit up the fireplace in the house, luckily there was still firewood left in the house. Kallen's wounds had healed at the surface level, the scabs had long come off revealing new patches of skin underneath. Kallen's internal wounds were another matter. Otto judged that it would take her a few more days for her to regain consciousness. He wrapped another blanket around Kallen's body. Hints of frost permeating through her body, an oddity Otto classified as a symptom from overuse of the Oath of Judah.

He had placed hopes on the chance that the village wouldn't be deserted. He was already being tracked so showing his face around town wouldn't have been a problem. Because of the effort being spent in the front line Shicksal would not waste its resources to deploy troops to such a small and far out village. Small villages were of little concern to Shicksal. They would only protect a village if it had something of value to give: an ore mine, a strategic position, anything that was worth investing in. Though Shicksal spread the gospel of their church they didn't enforce it too heavily on useless villages. As a result many villages enjoyed lots of freedoms that came at the cost of protection. Such villages wouldn't bother Otto and Kallen on their journey, they couldn't care less what Shicksal wanted or who the pair were.

Otto holed up by the fire thinking about his next course of action. He was worried about the head of the Schariac family. If she was in pursuit she would definitely catch up in a day or two. It seemed pretty hopeless for Otto but he was a man who wouldn't give up especially if Kallen's life was on the line. He needed a horse, his trackers certainly had a few otherwise they wouldn't have been able to keep up. But Otto quickly dismissed the thought of stealing one. It would be next to impossible for Otto to take them out and steal a horse. Waking Kallen up wasn't an option and even if she did wake up she would be in no condition to fight. As Otto pondered what to do he heard the light pitter patter of footsteps. It was so faint that Otto was sure he imagined it but he wasn't ready to take chances. Honkai zombies? Wolves? What was out there. Otto quietly searched for a weapon in the house but he could only find an old broom that was splitting at the slightest touch.

The voice spoke for the first time in a few days.

'How are you holding up boy?'

Otto didn't respond; he wasn't in the mood to talk to the voice in his head. It never gave Otto the information he needed. He knew it held a vast store of information but refused to deal with the voice. The price would be his freedom, his body and without control of his own body Otto could not save Kallen.

'I have listened through your ears, there are three assailants, all human you're trackers I presume.'

"I take it, you want to help me?"

Otto spoke quietly. He didn't want the trackers to know he was awake.

'I wouldn't be speaking to you if I didn't intend to help.'

"Is there any more information you can give me about them?"

'No, I can only perceive what you perceive, I just have a better understanding of what your senses tell you.'

Otto was silent. The night before the trackers had taken out his horse but they had left him and Kallen alone. Trackers shouldn't do more than what they're told so why are they getting so close to target once more?

'They're rather brash, I suppose and they don't follow orders. Kallen is a great prize, are they motivated by greed?' Otto thought. Many more reasons popped into his mind. But none of them fit the situation. Wrong assumptions were surely to spell the end of Kallen's life so Otto had to be careful.