Karolina kept running, Ada and the redheaded woman at her side. They hadn’t noticed any signs of pursuit, but someone from the other camp would eventually come looking for whoever had killed the man with the club.

Karolina had killed someone. She hadn’t meant to, but she had. The thought kept repeating itself in her mind, reminding her over and over of what she was now. What would her parents think of her? Their daughter, the murderer.

“I murdered someone,” she whispered, barely aware that she was speaking aloud.

“Murder? Nah, you didn’t mean to kill him. Manslaughter at worst,” Ada said flippantly.

“Do you think this is a joke? How do you not get how big of a deal this is!” Karolina whirled on her angrily.

“Honestly, I don’t get it. Killing people might have been taboo before, but it honestly seems inevitable now. He was going to hurt that woman, and you stopped him. You did the right thing in my book,” Ada said seriously.

Karolina didn’t respond, exhausted. She was a murderer now. Nothing mattered anymore.

When Karolina didn’t respond, the scout turned to the other woman. “Speaking of, what’s your name? Calling you ‘that woman’ is getting old.”

“My name’s Natalia. Thank you both so much for saving me and helping me escape. I was being held captive—” Natalia said.

“Don’t really care,” Ada interrupted. “But I think Karolina normally would. Unfortunately, she’s not handling the situation too well.”

Karolina felt them both turn to stare at her, but she didn’t look up from the ground. They kept running in silence, the conversation killed by Ada. As they ran, she felt the fog begin to lift from her mind.

What were they doing? They were running away like a bunch of criminals. They needed to go back, she needed to explain what happened. She stopped abruptly, the other two running a few steps before they realized that she wasn’t with them anymore.

“I need to go back,” Karolina said. “If I could just explain…”

“I don't think that's such a good idea, boss,” Ada said carefully. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but she stopped herself.

“She’s right. I’m not going back, and you definitely shouldn’t either,” Natalia chimed in.

“But I… I need to make this right, somehow. I killed someone. That’s wrong,” Karolina said dully. She didn’t know what to do. Ada looked at her with obvious concern.

“Look, Natalia, was it? Take a walk. We should be far enough away that they won’t find us. I need to talk with Karolina, alone,” Ada said. The redhead looked concerned, but agreed and wandered off. She eventually stopped moving once she was too far to hear them, but still close enough to be seen.

Ada gently grabbed both of Karolina’s hands, and then sat down on the ground, forcing Karolina to sit too. She took a deep breath, and then looked Karolina straight in her eyes.

“Look, I was glib about it before, but you didn’t do anything wrong. You tried to protect Natalia from a person who was about to break both of her legs, just because she was trying to leave the camp. Killing him was obviously an accident, but I think you would’ve been justified even if it was on purpose,” Ada said.

“Look, you’re right. I know you’re right, but…” Karolina said.

“But?” Ada asked.

“I still… I still killed someone. It’s not as easy as saying ‘he deserved it, so it’s fine’, you know?” Karolina asked.

“I don’t, really. But that’s okay. I trust that you’ll figure it out,” Ada said.

“Okay, I have to ask, why do you trust me so much? Is it just because I saved you from that direwolf? I don’t want to hold that over your head. You’ve saved my life too, after all,” Karolina said.

Ada shook her head. “No, it’s not that. Or not just that, anyway.”

“Then what?” Karolina asked.

“Ok, fair warning, I’m about to bare my soul to you. Metaphorically of course, I know you can already see my literal soul, you voyeur,” Ada smiled a little. “Back in the old world, I was kind of a loser. I know, I know, hard to believe, right? But it’s true. I dropped out of college, got disowned by my parents, and couldn’t even hold down a job. Apparently you need to always be polite to customers, even when they’re assholes. I wasn’t very good at that.” Ada let out a big sigh. “Essentially, I couldn’t be trusted with anything. I was a useless burden. But you don’t treat me that way.”

Karolina looked up at Ada.

“I messed up enough that I almost died and you needed to step in to save my life. But despite that, you always believed in me. You trusted me to protect you and carry out assignments for you. You believed in me, and while that might not have meant much to you, it meant the world to me. You’re really important to me, you know? That’s why seeing you agonize over this hurts me so much. I don’t really understand what you’re going through, so I don’t know how to help you get past this. Whatever I can do to help, tell me. I’ll do it, no questions asked,” Ada said.

Karolina took a moment to process what Ada said. “I think you’ve already done it,” she said softly. She was still the same person she had always been, despite the man she had killed, and she still had people who cared about her. For now, that was enough.

“So, let’s grab Natalia and get back to camp. I want to know why that man was attacking her, and what exactly is going on in her camp,” Karolina said authoritatively.

“Good to have you back,” Ada said.

* * * * * * *

Karolina looked around the table in the lodge, giving everyone she was sitting with a once-over. Ada was there, of course, looking bored. Karolina had also grabbed Thomas and Aaron, figuring that they also deserved to know what was going on. They were both staring intently at the reason they were all there: Natalia.

The red-haired woman’s wide, expressive face was curved into a frown. Karolina considered her for a moment. She was short and looked like she was in her mid-twenties. Apart from her appearance, what did she really know about her? A quick inspection told her that Natalia Frey was a level nine healer, but that didn’t really tell her anything. She opened her mouth to start asking her questions, but Aaron beat her to the punch.

"So," Aaron said, then paused for a second. "What's going on? Who is she?"

“Oh yeah,” Karolina said. She hadn’t actually explained anything to Aaron and Thomas, just told them that they had something important that they needed to know. How should she explain—

“We were going to another camp to do a meet-and-greet, but then we saw some guy attack Natalia here and Karolina killed him. We left in a hurry after that, and figured we should probably loop you guys in,” Ada said. Karolina guessed that worked.

“Killed? Karolina, are you okay? I’m sorry, I should’ve been there,” Thomas said.

“I’m fine, Thomas. Or… I will be fine, anyway,” Karolina said. She still wasn’t totally over the guilt of killing someone, but she hoped that she’d get there eventually.

“You should have kept me in the loop,” Aaron said, looking annoyed. “I’m in charge of the camp, which means I need to know about things like plans to make contact with other camps.”

“We’re telling you now, aren’t we?” Ada said. Karolina gave her an irritated look. That wasn’t the tone she wanted to set with Aaron. Especially since he had a point.

“You’re right, Aaron, I’m sorry. I’m the one who pushed you to take on the responsibility, I should respect it. I just wasn’t thinking about it,” Karolina said. Keeping him apprised of the situation was just common sense, especially if she wanted to have a better relationship with him than she had with Buckley.

“Thank you,” Aaron said, looking surprised. After a second, he turned to face Natalia. "First, introductions. I'm Aaron Smith, and I'm in charge of the camp. This is Thomas Hargrove, our expert on the System, and you’ve already met Ada King, our scout, and Karolina Grant, our strongest fighter.”

After that, Aaron fell silent. It took Natalia a few seconds to realize that she was supposed to introduce herself, as well. “I’m Natalia Frey, and I’m a healer. I spent the last week being held captive in Weber’s camp.”

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“Now, Natalia, what can you tell us about Weber, your camp, and the man who Karolina killed?” Aaron asked calmly.

“Lucas Weber is the man who took control of our camp when we arrived here. Honestly, he didn’t seem that bad at first, but he showed his true colors after a few days. On the fourth day after we arrived, he started restricting who could leave the camp, and then…” Natalia said.

“And then?” Karolina asked.

“And then he started having people who disagreed with him hurt or killed,” Natalia said.

Karolina hadn’t expected that. She was pretty sure something bad was happening in the other camp, but a person taking over and killing people was much worse than she had expected. How could anyone do that?

“So this Weber guy installed himself as an absolute dictator, and everyone just kinda went along with it?” Ada asked sarcastically. She seemed to be the only one in the room taking this lightly. Everyone else in the room seemed as shocked as Karolina was.

“That’s not fair,” Natalia frowned. “Everyone was suddenly torn away from their lives, they were confused and vulnerable, and Weber took advantage of that. I don’t think anyone realized what was happening at first, not before it was too late.”

“You’re absolutely certain he’s killing people in your camp?” Aaron asked, expressionless. Karolina could see by looking at his soul that he was trying very hard to keep calm.

“Yes, I’m completely sure. Jared and Angela disappeared after they started trying to rally people against Weber, and I personally saw George, the guard who was trying bring me back, murder Harold when he tried to escape the camp. I can still hear his screams,” Natalia said, tearing up a little.

George. The name of the man she had accidentally killed was George. It seemed like such an ordinary name, especially for someone who had apparently killed people before.She didn’t know if knowing his name made her feel better or worse. She didn’t have time to think about this now.

“We need to tell someone about this! Weber can’t be allowed to… to do this,” Thomas said.

“Tell who, Thomas?” Ada asked, surprisingly gently. “There’s no police here, no government. There’s no one to tell, and no one to stop him.”

“Then we’ll stop him!” Thomas said, the words bursting from his mouth. “Right, Karolina? He can’t be allowed to do this.”

Karolina thought back to a head cracked open on a rock, brains leaking out. She thought about the guilt she was just beginning to figure out how to live with. She didn’t know if she could hurt another person again.

But what was the alternative? Leave Weber alone, let him continue hurting and killing people? She definitely couldn’t do that.

“Yes, we will, Thomas. We’ll stop him,” Karolina said.

“You’re getting ahead of yourselves,” Aaron said brusquely, but not unkindly. “First, we don’t even know if Ms. Frey is telling the truth. She could have been imprisoned for completely legitimate reasons, and is currently lying to divert attention away from herself. Second, protecting this camp has to be our priority, not saving a different one.”

Karolina realized that she had never even considered that Natalia could be lying. Was that because she wanted there to be a good justification for her accidental killing? Was she just seeing what she wanted to see?

She looked at Natalia’s face carefully, then instinctively checked her soul, and realized she actually had a good reason to believe Natalia. She had been instinctively watching Natalia’s soul during her whole explanation, and hadn’t seen anything that indicated that the woman was lying.

Her soulsight seemed to function as a makeshift lie-detector. She smiled. She was getting better at using her natural skill by the day.

“I’m not lying!” Natalia said, getting angrier with every word. "You think I'd lie about this? Lie about being trapped in that tiny room for over a week, with nothing to do but count the floorboards and wait for injured people to be brought to me? Lie about the worst experience of my entire life?"

“She isn’t lying,” Karolina confirmed when the angry Natalia took a breath. “I have a skill that detects if someone is lying.”

“What skill?” Aaron asked.

Karolina kept silent.

Aaron sighed. “Okay, so she's telling the truth. That still doesn’t mean that you should go after this… Weber. What would that even look like? We have a duty to protect this camp.”

“We have a duty to protect everyone,” Karolina said firmly. “Everyone in the other camp deserves help just as much as the people in this camp. Look, all we need to do is make sure that Weber is no longer in a position where he’s able to hurt people. We can put him in a jail cell or something.”

Aaron sighed. “I can’t stop you, and I don’t know if I even want to. You need to be careful, though. I don’t want you getting yourself or someone else killed.”

“Thank you for the concern, Aaron. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Weber might even decide to give up quietly once we get to the camp and confront him, although I doubt it. So, who’s going to help me deal with Weber? It would be nice if some of the camp defenders could come as well, a show of force might help,” Karolina asked. She looked around the table, making eye contact with everyone.

“Do you even need to ask?” Ada said. “Whatever you need, always.”

“You’re really going to do this? Help me save my camp from him?” Natalia asked.

“Of course. If we don’t help, who will? Just because we’ve been transported here doesn’t mean people should stop helping each other. We’re all still human, after all,” Karolina responded.

“Then I’ll help however I can. I can heal you guys if you get hurt, and I can tell you a lot about Weber and the camp,” Natalia said, looking hopeful.

Aaron sighed. “My first responsibility is to this camp. I’ll help as much as I can, but you need to understand that. I don’t think I could task more than a few of the camp’s defenders to help you.”

“That’s fine, Aaron. We’d appreciate all of the help you can give,” Karolina said carefully. She’d much prefer to have as many people helping as she could get, but she understood why most of them were needed in their current position.

There was only one person who hadn’t replied to her question. Karolina looked Thomas over, seeing the sweat bead at his temples. He was obviously uncomfortable.

“It’s okay, Thomas,” she said softly. “You don’t need to help. I know you’re not ready to leave the camp.”

“Are you kidding? I can’t just hide away in the camp while you guys go after a murderer. You’re my friends. What if you got hurt because I wasn’t there? Of course I’m going to help,” Thomas said. His soul still showed some fear, but he also seemed resolved. She was proud of him.

“Okay. Thank you, Thomas. Your help will be invaluable,” Karolina said. “And hey, I’ll keep you safe. It’s going to be fine.”

Thomas nodded, but didn’t say anything else.

“So, Natalia, what can you tell us about Weber? What class and level is he? How many people are loyal to him? What levels are they?” Karolina asked.

Natalia winced. “I don’t think you’ll like what I’m about to say. Aaron said that you’re your camp’s strongest fighter, right? Well, you’re five levels below Weber. You are a few levels above the rest of his sycophants, though.”

Karolina took a moment to process that. “He’s level 23? How?” She had been pushing herself constantly since the start of the tutorial, and she’d thought she’d done a pretty good job of leveling up. Learning that a murderer was a higher level than her was frustrating.

“Well, from what I’ve figured out, there’s a couple reasons. First, because he’s a Sergeant, he gets experience for being in control of the camp. Second, he’s very aggressive in his leveling. He takes a large squad of people loyal to him and Jason, the other healer, with him to go hunting for high-level monsters. He regularly risks his life going after strong monsters and always makes sure he gets the killing blow, but since he has a safety net he’s easily managed to survive,” Natalia explained.

Karolina stared at her. That was a very thorough explanation, and didn’t seem like something you could just “figure out”. She at least knew that Natalia was telling the truth, but the others seemed skeptical.

“That’s a lot to figure out,” Thomas said, suspicious. He looked like he was examining Natalia with fresh eyes. “In fact, that explanation required a very in-depth knowledge of Weber’s habits.”

“Weber likes to talk about himself. Narcissistic bastard,” Natalia said. “He also used to take me with him instead of Jason, because I’m the better healer. That was before I tried to escape the first time. If I’d just been a little bit faster…”

She didn’t seem to be lying, and her anger was still genuine. Karolina was still pretty sure the woman could be trusted. That meant that she needed to deal with not just a murderer, but one that was a much higher level than her. She didn’t know if she could do that right now, which meant that she needed to prepare.

“You got away eventually,” Karolina said. “What will Weber do now that you’ve escaped?” Karolina asked.

Natalia kept silent, obviously carefully considering the question. Karolina hoped that they had a few days to prepare at least. She wasn’t sure if she could incapacitate Weber right now, but she knew that she couldn’t wait too long, either.

“He’ll spend the day searching for me. He’ll probably assume that I got away on my own, because no one expected anyone from another camp to come to our camp. People in the camp have stopped openly speaking out against him, so he shouldn’t have any reason to hurt any of them. I think he should be harmless for the rest of the day, but I can’t predict what he’ll do once he figures out that I’ve escaped for good,” Natalia said.

“Good. We at least have the rest of the day to prepare. Aaron, what do you need?” Karolina asked.

“More information. Ms. Frey, what else do you think I need to know to plan an assault?” Aaron said.

“Well, there’s a wall around the camp that is constantly guarded, so getting into the camp unseen is probably impossible. Weber has around fifteen people who are personally loyal to him, and the rest of the camp just goes along with him out of fear or apathy. I know that Weber’s people average around level fifteen from his bragging, but I only personally interacted with a few of them so I don’t know their classes or anything.”

“That’s enough for now. I’ll take one of the communication crystals, and Ms. Frey should take the other in case I have more questions,” Aaron said. “For now, I’ll get Mr. Schwarz to build a jail cell and then go have a talk with Ms. Lewis and Ms. Davis.”

Karolina paused for a second. It made sense to her that he was going to talk to Jasmine, one of the camp guards, but Davis… wasn’t that— “Selena?” Karolina asked without thinking.

“Yes. Her talents as an advisor surprised me too, but she’s been very helpful over the past few days. I think the attack forced her to take our situation seriously,” Aaron said.

Karolina looked at Thomas and Ada. They seemed as uncomfortable about this information as she was. Unfortunately, Selena’s growing influence over Aaron was a problem to be dealt with later. She just couldn’t take the risk of Aaron believing Selena over her while in the middle of planning an attack on another camp.

“Good. While you’re preparing people to go tomorrow, the four of us will focus on leveling up more and getting some useful equipment. That is, if you want to come with us into the woods Natalia,” Karolina said.

“Anything I can do to help,” Natalia said. Karolina took a moment to consider the healer. It was almost funny, how just as she solved her Selena problem she had to deal with a different, much worse problem.

“Great. Now that we have your help, Natalia, I think we can head for the supply depot,” Karolina said. She hadn’t gone there after capturing the forward barracks because she didn’t have a reliable healer, but now she did.

According to the directions, it shouldn’t be that far past the forward barracks. They should be able to get there and back before it gets dark. Hopefully there’ll be something there worth the trip. She had been feeling a little tired after dealing with the orc, but the idea of finally heading to the supply depot gave her a second wind.

“The supply depot? What’s that?” Natalia asked.

“I’ll explain on the way,” Karolina said with a smile. “Aaron, we’ll see you soon.”

“Good. Try not to die out there,” Aaron said.

“I always knew you cared,” Ada said sarcastically.

After some quick goodbyes, Karolina, Thomas, Ada, and Natalia left to raid the supply depot.