She Was Too Low Level Kniezy

Kniezy Brigthforge, Level 3 Faun Artificer

"Thank you so much for letting me know that traveling merchant was going to be in the area for so long," the young Faun girl with a glowing smile said as she approached the Guildmaster's counter.

He'd enjoyed the special kind of eye candy the young exotic Faun adventurer was but found himself unable to ogle her at that moment. The massive weapon the small girl had lazily resting on one shoulder as she approached him was too impossible it ignore.

The girl, Kniezy Brightforge, was one of the Fauns that had more of the goat in her than the deer. It came across not just in her small, downward curved horns but in how stocky her body was. The girl was both shorter than most of her kind and plumper, yet also more muscular as well. There was a strange, almost disorienting daintiness to the tough-looking girl.

It's in how she moves, too,

the Guildmaster thought. Fauns tended to be quick and agile, but also skittish and too quick to react to surprises.

She's the calmest, most confident Faun I've ever seen and that makes her seem almost ethereal alongside the agile quickness of even her laziest moves.

Above all, she was small. Short for her race, which already looked smaller than others regardless of height. A result of that skittish quickness and their normally lean limbs.

The Guildmaster would have been fascinated if any man, regardless of race, as small as her had entered his Guild Hall with a weapon as big as the one she carried with such ease. A massive two-handed war hammer, it would have been big for her with a normal head on it. But it didn't have a normal head. The "hammer" part of it was constructed out of a massive chunk of pink crystalline ore nearly the size of her torso that glowed with barely contained arcane power.

"I see you were able to come to an arrangement for materials to make a weapon. I'd not expected you to work out a deal, construct the weapon, and be back so soon. Nor had I expected it would be so large and...

impressive

."

She hefted the huge hammer, the immense weight of the item clear for only a moment before the handle shimmered. A moment later the Faun girl was holding the weapon as if it weighed no more than a dagger. "My finest work," Kniezy declared proudly. "If the arcanists that had trained me could see it they'd be proud."

"And made of such impressive arcane ore. Surely, though, you did not have the coin to afford such a large and expensive chunk?"

The bright smile on Kniezy's face faltered. She let the head of the hammer drop to the floor with a thud then leaned on the handle, looking sad. "It did take a small fortune to purchase along with the other components I needed for its construction. When I left my home I hadn't realized how rare the material my people used to create artifacts were. I've only been an adventurer for a short time and have barely been able to use my abilities as an Artificer."

"Until now," the Guildmaster pointed out.

Kniezy nodded, the bright smile returning to her face. "Until now! With this I'll be able to take on threats far above my level, and all by myself. Which is good, because I'm going to need to make a LOT of coin in a short amount of time."

"And why is that?" the Guildmaster asked, not revealing he already knew the answer.

"Well... the merchant allowed me to purchase what I wanted from him on credit. I have until he leaves the region to pay him back. I promised it wouldn't take long and even agreed to sign a magically binding contract."

A magically binding contract the little twit obviously didn't read closely enough,

the Guildmaster thought.

If she had read what happens if she CAN'T pay him back she'd never have signed.

"Luckily, it seems he's not interested in leaving right away so I should have time to make the money I need. And, as I said, that should be easy with this. Which brings me to my visit to the Guildhall. I need a quest, one that pays well. And I'm

NOT

looking to share the payout with others. I'm going to be doing quests solo to make as much coin as I can."

How perfect, I don't even have to convince the little bimbo to head recklessly out on her own. It's a boon that her mix of youthful attractiveness alongside being so skilled in her craft is something most find so off-putting. Everyone wants to bed the little slut but almost no one is willing to listen to her drone on and on about the intricacies of creating magical artifacts, nor are there many adventurers who will happily sit by why she details the flaws in all their gear.

"I just need to pick the right quests," she continued. "Killing even some of the biggest monsters should be easy with this. And mobs of smaller ones should be no problem for me, it will be like cutting down stalks of grain."

She's almost certainly correct. Although I could set her up against a truly powerful monster that could simply gobble her up like the little snack she is. But no... there's no art in that. And I do have my deal with the merchant to think of.

"There is a small dungeon not far from where the traveling merchant is staying that would be just perfect," the Guildmaster said, opening the tome where he kept his open quests logged. "It's always attracting new monsters to it. They start breeding and then cause problems for the nearby villages and homesteads. They keep a growing pool of coin to payout for having the dungeon cleared. It's accrued a small fortune as the dungeon hasn't been cleaned out in a while."

"Clear out a dungeon on my own?" she asked, looking a tad nervous.

"Just a small one," she replied quickly. "As you said, that impressive weapon should be able to kill anything within the dungeon with ease."

"You're right! I don't know a lot about monsters yet, I just know this should be able to kill them all. I'll take the quest!"

The Guildmaster smirked, pulling out a piece of parchment to copy down the information she'd need to find the dungeon.

He did not include the list of creatures known to inhabit the place, although he doubted that omission was needed. Thanks to the powerful weapons she could craft the annoyingly upbeat Faun would almost certainly gain the experience she needed to have a long career as an adventurer. He'd encountered her at the right moment to ensure that never happened. She was deadly, yes, but inexperienced. She hadn't yet learned there were some monsters dangerous despite not being particularly deadly.

She's too low level to realize there are things that live in dungeons that are more of a danger to her weapon than they are to her. I'll just need to make sure the merchant knows where he'll need to be to check up on his investment...

* * *

I couldn't tell someone the names of half the monsters I've killed so far but they've all died the same,

Kniezy thought.

One swing of my hammer and they're all done for.

Kniezy had been nervous as she'd set out on the quest. The initial thrill of having created such a powerful arcane weapon was fading and it was sinking in just how much she owed the traveling merchant. But once she'd gotten down into the dungeon and started cutting her way through the various kinds of monsters inhabiting the place all that worry had melted away. She'd be able to clear the dungeon in one go and would be back to collect the reward for completing the quest by evening.

It won't take too many quests like this to earn all the coin I need to pay him back, especially since I'm not splitting the reward with anyone else! I might even be able to earn enough to buy

more

materials from him before he leaves. I craft myself a nice set of arcane-infused armor and I'll be nigh unstoppable!

Her thoughts were interrupted when she slipped on something slimy. Only thanks to using her weapon as a counterweight was she able to keep from falling on her ass.

"Ew. What is this goo?" She took a step back from it, trying to wipe it off her boot. It was a very light shade of blue and looked like a half-melted jelly. She'd stepped in a small patch of it but she could see there was a trail of the stuff leading ahead and turning down a passage to her left. Some of the slime was even on the walls and ceiling around her.

"Maybe there's huge mutant Gloop hiding down here. I'm sure I heard something about a creature like that once. Well, whatever it is, I'm going to go kill it!"

With just enough caution to keep from slipping on the slime and falling over she followed the slime trail. She turned the corner and found what had been leaving it and was so shocked by the thing's size she had to take a step back and stare in fascination at it.

She didn't think it was a Gloop, one of the strange little jellied blobs so many low-level adventurers cut their teeth on. But it might have been a distant relation. The thing was huge, filling up almost the entire corridor. As she watched it wobble and slowly move forward like a giant semi-transparent slug she saw it occasionally bumping into the walls and ceiling, leaving dripping bits of slimy goo behind.

"Gross," Kniezy muttered, hefting her hammer. "But just another monster." She began approaching it, careful not to slip on the slime trail it was leaving. "Oi, Monster! Can you hear me?" The Dungeon Gloop stopped moving then jiggled violently before beginning to slowly slime its way back in her direction. "Guess you can. Well, at least you'll know what killed you before you die."

She glanced at the floor, making sure she knew where the step then charged, swinging the hammer and slamming it into the thing's center mass. As the crystalline hammerhead slammed into the jellied, semi-transparent body a shower of arcane energy blasted out. Kniezy grinned, knowing that the energy more than the blow of the hammer was what doomed her enemies.

Except she didn't see the arcane energy soaking into her opponent. She didn't see its body sizzle and turn to ash or form glowing fissures before falling apart. The Dungeon Gloop just swallowed the energy, vibrating as if it found it delicious.

Stunned, it took Kniezy a moment to notice the head of her hammer was stuck onto the outside of the thing's gelatinous body. When she tried to pull it away it not only didn't come unstuck, the hammerhead started to get

sucked

in.

"No! Give it back you gross blob!"

The Dungeon Gloop didn't give it back. Instead, it sucked her hammer in further.

Kniezy almost moved to brace her foot against the thing's body to gain some leverage to pull her weapon out but thought better of it. What if it started sucking

HER

in? She glanced at the ground and saw dirt and small rocks on the ground under it slowly being pulled into its body and dissolving, making her realize how important it was she not let it get hold of her. By the time she'd had that realization her hammer had been pulled in almost to the handle. She had no choice but to let it go less she wanted to grab her hands and pull her in as well.

Kniezy was hyperventilating as she backed away, staring in horror as the weapon she'd gone so far into debt to create was sucked to the center of the creature's jellied mass. "How am I going to get it back," she whimpered, barely holding back tears.

A moment later she dropped to her knees and wailed in despair. She watched, completely powerless to do anything about it, as her hammer began to dissolve. The crystalline head lasted longest and by the time it had disintegrated her whole body was racked by uncontrolled sobs of despair.

"It's g-g-gone!" She wanted to collapse, go limp and give up on life. Let the blob come and do to her what it had done to her precious,

VERY

expensive weapon. The desire passed when she realized the Dungeon Gloop was slowly oozing its way towards her and that if she

didn't

get up and run away that was very likely to be what would happen to her.

So she fled, crying hysterically and holding her fists against the sides of her head.

"What am I going to do? How am I ever going to make the money I owe the merchant now?"

She tried to calm herself. She wasn't hurt. She had enough coin left to buy a cheap weapon. She could join a low-level party, do some quests with them and earn enough to buy some better gear and eventually make herself a new magical artifact. But that would take time. How much would she have before the merchant was ready to leave the area? He'd not been very clear how long that would be...

After reaching the dungeon's entrance and stepping out into sunlight she stopped, not understanding the sight that met her. She thought for a moment she'd gone mad with grief and was hallucinating.

"Why hello there, Kniezy."

It was the traveling merchant. A tall, plump, middle-aged Human man. The large carriage that he kept his wears in and that doubled as his home was parked nearby, the horse that pulled it tied to a nearby tree and happily nibbling on a patch of grass. He was sitting on a chair, a fire before him with a pot of something brewing above it.

Why is he here? Why has he made camp in front of a dungeon, and not just

any

dungeon but the one I've been inside of?

"W-what are y-you d-d-doing here," she asked, struggling to stop crying as she wiped away the wet mess running down her face with the back of her wrist.

"Why I'm checking on my investment! It was a big risk selling such valuable crafting materials on credit. But as young and pretty and dumb as you look you were able to prove to me you had the skills to craft them into an impressive weapon." He paused, smirking as if he suspected the answer to the question he was about to ask. "Where is the glorious weapon you crafted, anyways?"

"It... It... It's gone!" Kniezy wailed, beginning to cry again.

"Gone? What do you mean?" the merchant asked, standing and walking up to the girl.

"D-d-dissolved. By a big gross blob!"

He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close to give her a reassuring hug. "Shhhh... calm down. A Dungeon Gloop ate it I'd wager. A real shame, only an adventurer who was too low level would know you can't kill one of the beasts with a weapon, even an enchanted one. But it will be okay, you'll make a new one. A better one worth a lot more money. I've all the supplies you need."

She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight as she kept crying. Only after calming down did she pull away, wiping tears from her eyes. "T-thank you," she said, breathing heavily as she struggled to regain her composure. "Thank you so much."

"For what," he asked. "I'd think thanking me would be the last thing you'd want to do in your predicament."

Kniezy stared at him, confused. Confused by what he'd said. Confused by the way he was looking at her. His eyes were full of greed. It made her intensely uncomfortable. Painfully aware of how slutty and revealing her clothing was, she hugged herself to try and hide her body from him. It wasn't enough. The way he was looking at her... She had to take a step back away from him.

"I don't understand," she asked. There were no tears anymore. Her ears, normally hanging limply above her down-turned horns, were standing erect at attention. Her short stubby pointed tail, her tight pants tailored so it stuck provocatively above the waistband, was vibrating in agitation. She felt a building sense of dread, that she was in far more danger here than she'd been anywhere down in the dungeon.

"Of course you don't understand, you pretty little twit."

Kniezy's ears twitched as the merchant reached into his jacket and pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment. "Your contract," he said, holding it up like it was a weapon he was pointing at a disarmed enemy. "Come now, girl, how are you going to pay what's owed? With the weapon gone it could take you ages to earn enough money and you only had till I decided to leave. And I've decided to leave tomorrow morning."

"B-but you said I'd have time."

"With the hammer. So I need not stick around to wait for a return on my investment. I'm going to collect now and be on my way."

Her ears twitched again and she held herself tighter. "But how am I supposed to pay you back? I don't even have a weapon."

"I told you," he said, tucking the contract back into his jacket, "you'll build me another one. And one after that and one after that. I'll be able to make

FAR

more money with an Artificer turning my raw material into arcane-infused weapons. And I won't even have to pay the pretty little twit, either."

She took a further step back. "I don't understand. I don't want to pay off my debts working for you."

"Which is good," the merchant said, grinning evilly at her, "because that's

not

an offer that's on the table. Although it would have been something you could have thought to add to the contract. But you didn't even bother to read it all the way, now did you? You're a pretty little thing, and so skilled. But dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. So, dumb pretty little Faun girl, pay up."

She looked at the hand he was holding out, confused. He was holding a leather collar in it, like the kind you'd put on a pet only sized to fit a person.

"But I don't have anything worth as much as I owe you," she asked, not understanding.

"Come, now, girl, you're literally selling yourself short. Your sexy little body alone far more than is owed to me. Add in your skills as an artificer and it FAR exceeds what you ow. But a person isn't exactly something you can break up and give back as change." He stepped closer to her, still holding the collar out. "Put it on. You have to be the one to do it. You have to choose to do it knowing what will happen when you put it on."

As he spoke runes lit up around the collar, sizzling arcane energy steaming off them.

Kniezy gasped, finally understanding. "No," she whispered, shaking her head in refusal as she looked at the collar in horror. She knew what it was now, knew the arcane magic woven into it. It was one of the few things Artificers had forbid the creation of, a taboo so deep she'd thought the knowledge of how to make it was gone from the world. "I can't put that collar on. It will make me your servant for life!"

"Yes, it will," he said. "But for the magic to take you'll have to choose to put it on. I can't physically force it on you, can't trick you into putting it on thinking it was something else. You have to choose to put it on knowing what it means, what it will do. You'll be the collar owner's slave for life. Not

their

life but

YOURS

. If the original owner dies or sells the collar you go to a new owner. An unbreakable, irreversible, magically binding submission."

"I won't do it," she said, taking a step further back and almost falling back into the opening of the dungeon she'd so recently fled.

"You will. You have to. You owe me. You signed a magically binding contract. I'm calling in my debt, as the contract allows. You

MUST

pay me what is owed, and

YOU

are the only thing you have that will cover the cost."

"You can't make me."

"No, I can't. I'm not a violent man, at least not in that way. And even if I was forcing the collar on you with physical strength it wouldn't do anything. But you

WILL

put it on. You've no choice. You signed the contract, girl."

"I- I'll refuse!"

"Do you

KNOW

what happens when you break a contract like the one you signed?"

Her eyes opened wide. She shook her head from side to side.

"Neither do I," he replied. "But we have to assume there is a reason you never hear about it being done."

Kniezy bit her lip. She was shaking, wanted to turn and run as fast as she could to get as far away from this odious man as she could. But she couldn't. She couldn't so much as lift her foot. She understood why. She'd signed a magically binding contract, one that couldn't be broken. She

COULDN'T

flee. She

HAD

to pay the debt.