The city's prison, a tower used for that purpose, was located at the Silver Gate on the other side of town, where the road to Silver City began. Near the gate stood the Silver Shrine. On the opposite side of town, the Golden Gate marked the beginning of the road to the Golden Empire, and it was where we entered the city.

If one took the right turn at the bifurcation, it led to the nun's camp where we had left Ayra and further away, along the border, through the republic. The monastery where the nun camp was located was practically independent and tolerated by the three countries surrounding it.

The city measured about two kilometers in length and a little over one and a half kilometers in width. One could easily jog from the east gate to the west gate in about ten minutes and twelve minutes for the North-South route.

The South district was where the main market was located, and people from the Republic and the Golden Empire came there to sell their goods. In contrast, the North district was an administrative district, with clean and well-maintained streets and people rushing up and down.

The military barracks were also situated near the North Gate, which I thought was strategically unsound since the neighboring countries were to the South and East.

The marquis had banned the sale of alcoholic beverages and prostitution in this district, so there was only one inn in the whole area and no tavern. Almost all the shops were in the South, grouped in two areas: the cheaper ones near the Golden Gate and the more expensive ones covering the town center. The main market was in between the two.

As I walked quickly along the clean streets of the North district, lost in thought about my interface problems, I didn't realize I was already approaching the tower when a voice interrupted my musings. Two soldiers stepped out of the shadows and menacingly blocked my path. Trying to be friendly, I said, "Hello! I'm looking for Sergeant Tuxson. I need to talk to the prisoner."

One of the soldiers recognized me and said, "Lady Cala! Sergeant Tuxson is not here. He's in the market. There were some issues reported there again."

From the tower, a stone's throw behind the soldiers, I heard a familiar voice:

“Cala, Cala! Take me out of here!”

I saw him at the jail’s window. He was not enjoying the stay behind bars. I yelled back:

“What happened?”

My fears were immediately confirmed.

“I wanted to test the new rogue!”

“To test her?” - I asked, dumbfounded.

I should not have asked. A stupid rhetorical question, and the answer would only worsen everything, but you cannot absorb your words.

He yelled back:

“Yeah, there was a fight, the guards came in, and I ordered her to shoot at them. I wanted to see what she's worth.”

I sighed. Me and my big mouth. The fact that they let me talk to him was a friendly gesture. There was no need to aggravate the guards with unnecessary comments. And he now confirms the things I feared.

A soldier growled with an angry voice:

“Take care what you say!”

I stated the obvious.

“You cannot kill people in town!”

I did not know what else to say. I refrained from adding 'you noob' and/or 'idiot,' but it stayed on my tongue.

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He protested, making it certainly not better.

“What the hell? I didn't mean to kill them, and besides, I didn't mean people, just spawns. She just had to show that she was ready to listen blindly to me. She should have, without hesitation, put an arrow in her bow and possibly asked me who to start with. She said nothing and left. Not worth the contract! Tell her she can go back where she came from!”

I sighed. Hell, I talk about people, and he understands players. Furthermore, he doesn't even know what the consequences of his test are.

A soldier approached the barred window.

“And what are you, man? What are you!?”

“I am a player, not a spawn, you spawnshole!”

Ow, What is he trying to do? Probably he wants to provoke them to attack him to give me a reason to intervene!? This is not a good idea. Besides, he should not talk about being a player!

Meanwhile, the conversation between the guard and him continued to escalate.

“A player? What is that? Are you a kind of a devil? Do you confess you are not a spawn? You will be burned for this, not hanged, devil!”

“Ha, ha, this makes the shit much better. Cala is a player, too; try to burn her!”

What on Earth does he do? This here is a role-playing game; what the fuck! Kid! I sighed.

The soldier turned to me. I only made the sign with a finger: 'he is nuts' and turned away. I don't want to start a fight and destroy my reputation with the faction. This town is no buccaneer town where you can do stupid stunts. If he does not like it, he should leave the game, but Spartacius, his character, will stay in prison. I don't think he can make a complete logout to remove his character from the game whilst in prison.

Noobs do not understand that hardcore Mephi is the most realistic game ever; this is its motto. You need to live it; it is not only playing.

Oh boy, dealing with noobs in this game is like herding cats.

And as if that would not be painful enough, that idiot of a merc tries to off herself on her first day because she refused to comply with a silly order. Ugh, talk about drama.

But hey, maybe there's a way to save him from the sergeant's wrath. He did say he just wanted the merc to show some willingness, right? Maybe I can spin it as a drunken mistake at the tavern. It'll cost some coins to grease the sergeant's palm, but it's worth a shot.

Gotta love this game; it always keeps me on my toes.

Damn interface not working, and I cannot explain these things to him. Where is that fucking group chat? I will not ask him about the bug with the guard here; these NPCs seem too aware...

Well, I just need to keep in mind that he is a kid. I am not the kind to let somebody down at the first difficulty.

I turned back towards the tower and hollered at him, "What did you drink with the raid gang?"

"What did I drink?" he mused.

"Yeah. Did they slip you something, or did you order drinks from the innkeeper?"

In this area, there's a tradition of playing pranks with various drinks. You can buy strange recipes in the market or even get some funny drink drops from goblins.

"Well, we ordered from the innkeeper, then Torcius pulled out a special ale. I think it was called Merry-something."

Ah, I knew it!

"You dolt, you got drunk! Merrymaking rum, that's even worse than the poison that innkeeper sells!" I said.

"That's just for laughs! I might've stumbled around like a drunken sailor, but I can't get drunk."

"Oh yes, you can."

"But the system..."

Uh, I need to get him to play along!

"That's rum and a kind of debuff. They made fun of you and gave it to you. Just stay quiet there; I'll go talk to the sergeant. I think he's in the market. I'll be right back."

OK, I have the perfect solution! All I need to do is convince the sergeant that the noob was drugged with some crazy-making drinks. He'll just be another drunken fool spewing nonsense. Sure, I might have stretched the truth a bit since the kid was actually sober as a judge, but who cares? It should work for the spawns!

Unfortunately, the kid doesn't quite get it and keeps messing up. And don't even get me started on those damn NPCs - they take everything so seriously that I cannot explain a thing! Uh, I hate these bugs!

But at least Alice seems to have sorted out the mess. She's heading towards me now, and I can see from her face that everything has gone smoothly. That's the beauty of our bond - we just get each other.

Now, let's hope I can convince the sergeant to let the noob off with a slap on the wrist.

Good that I took that gold from the bank. After all, a couple of coins can work wonders.

We walked towards the market silently. I saw that two soldiers were following us at a distance. I looked at Alice, and she nodded; she also had seen them.