"Ile… a nu oa? (You… can understand me?)"
Hearing her words, I silently nodded.
Since I could only use finite words because of my mana points, I was saving the 'conversation time' for the very end. There was a high probability that if I were to talk in the beginning, I might end up wasting a bit of my mana in purposeless chatter.
Her eyes gleaming, she looked at me with even more hope than before. Unchained by the hurdles of the language, she then showed me her weakened expression, her anguished expression.
And then, praying me for help, she joined her two hands before speaking.
"Milea noa oh. Ile… Noire li moea. Jilea nouea lmliea pu… Riv! Riv! Mli na! Joluea nouefa houea nlk al! Klei hlai me! eliea nlmi! Limkla mlie. mliae lkae… lialkea. limeal noua!! (My! My children!! Please… they are in danger. Since you can hear me, adventurer… please! please! I beg you! Save my children from that demon! He is going to kill them! Please save them! I will do anything. No matter what you may ask, I will do it. Just… please save them!!)"
I looked at that hopeless expression on her face before suddenly, time began slowing around her.
It can't be!
And as time finally suspended in front of us, a floating timer formed above the Witch's head with two choices being presented to us.
[Help the Witch!]
[Kill that witch!]
The time window floating above showed [10:00], meaning we had 10 minutes to decide our choice. But for a moment, my mind blanked as I couldn't comprehend the situation at all here.
Isn't it too early for this? I thought as I looked at the choices. My mind was a mess as I couldn't help but doubt what I was looking at.
Because it was early in the game, the other players didn't know. They didn't have a fucking clue just how big of a deal it had become. The importance of this minor quest, which would have been easily overlooked, had now become something that I must thoroughly look into now.
Because it's related to the Main Quest now. I gulped as I recalled the information from my past.
While the Main Quest actually starts after Version 2 comes into effect, there are certain quests before that version that would actually impact the Main Quest and also change the fate of Arcadia's future.
And the only way to distinguish between whether those quests were that important or not was:
The appearance of Choices along with that timer.
Both the choices were right, and will result in two opposite effects that could change the fate of Arcadia, even if it is by a few percentages. In other words, one of the choices could potentially lead to the doom of Arcadia while the other one saves it. It wasn't a simple saving or killing NPC choice anymore.
Though not completely reliable, the timer was also important. It shows how important this decision was going to be. And since it was 10 minutes, then perhaps it was akin to saving a city at least.
But wasn't this place just a random village? And this girl was just an unfortunate girl? Even if there were a devil worshipper, there are many, many more of them hiding within the cities and towns.
Many quests would destroy towns and villages by the devil worshippers. At times, a rebellion will break out in the far future events, heck there was a quest regarding assassination of the King, but even then the choice system didn't present itself.
And this quest is more important than all those events?! I had to recalculate the importance of this quest all over again. Heck, I am going to stay within the town for at least another week after the quest to find out more about what this place hides.
It was too big of a gold mine to be left alone.
10 minutes, huh? I mulled over a bit before turning to Blaze as I asked him,
"Blaze. Tell them the story of the Witch and the Devil. Don't leave out any of the details I have told you."
Since we had 10 minutes, it was better to utilise them in every way we could.
Blaze was taken aback for a second, but then, immediately understanding what I meant, he began explaining things to viewers in his own storytelling way. I liked his efficiency and also the fact that I didn't need to repeat anything twice to him.
"Now then, let's reanalyze from the beginning," I mumbled with a serious expression as I began thinking about how it played the last time I had done this quest and what were the possible reasons that the quest did not appear.
No matter how I think about it, it's the devil worshipper, isn't it? And also Ancient Language. At the time, I wasn't well versed in it, so there was no way I could have triggered this quest back then either.
Once I assessed that, I also thought about the pros and the cons of each choice.
Killing the Witch
It will take me onto the same path as before. Nothing wrong with that, even a high chance that the future will remain the same as before in Arcadia, letting me utilise knowledge that I have to its full potential.
Though from another perspective, it is given that I would be changing the future at a rapid pace, so the importance of that knowledge would surely get diluted, anyway. Plus, there is a chance that things may still not be the same even if I repeat the same things as last time.
Then the choice of Helping the Witch.
I can bet my two lives on it that I would be fighting that devil worshipper if I chose that. He is going to be stronger than the witch, possibly a high-level Boss and with lots of annoying skills. The chances of dying are higher than surviving, and the result might end up even worse than choosing the other choice.
But… It also means that I get higher rewards, better skills, more exp and, most importantly, getting World Favorability for stopping a devil worshipper. Getting the Main Quest is also possible, and saving the Witch in front of so many Viewers will have a positive impact on my image.
Though the key question is, will I really be able to defeat that devil?
"Ezekiel. We are done here," Blaze called out as I saw that less than 5 minutes were left now.
I was more or less sure of my choice now, it was obvious. But then again, I wanted to stir up the crowd for a moment and see their reaction to it as well.
"The witch told me that the devil is coming for the children. She asked me to help her out," I told Blaze, and in turn, the crowd. His eyes seemed calm but curious. It seems like he figured that much out by the choices placed in front of us.
"Link," he called his partner out, who answered with a serious expression," on it."
About 10 seconds later, Blaze looked at his screen before turning to me and answering,
"The polls are out. 72% want to help the witch, 18% want to kill her while 10% stay neutral."
Better than I thought.
"Guess we know what we have to do then," I said before choosing the [Save the Witch] option presented in front of us.