Karl woke early, again, and hungry, again. He checked his inventory, and found that he had eaten all of his snacks and rations. It was far too early for the kitchen to be open. Still, he was awake, and he showered, dressed, and headed to the cafeteria. His stomach was very insistent these days.

Unsurprisingly the cafeteria was closed. Karl briefly toyed with the idea of raiding the pantry, since as owner he had administrator access to everything in the town. But it wouldn't be fair to others, so he consulted his meager coinage and headed over to the Shop. As he approached the empty kiosk, he shifted lanes, and stepped up.

Wait a minute.

Karl was learning to listen to his instincts, and to notice the 'dog in the nighttime.' Or in this case, the empty lane that he nevertheless automatically avoided because it was busy. He stepped back off the platform, and squinted hard at the Shop window he had first approached. After a few moments, he detected the faint shimmer of someone very good at Stealth. He walked closer.

“Good morning, Terry. You're up early.”

He waited, but there was no response. Is it not her? Who has Stealth but doesn't want to talk to me? “I'm sorry, you must be one of the new scouts the Williamses brought back yesterday.”

Still nothing.

Karl considered. They know they've been made but still aren't dropping Stealth. Why? They can hide anything in inventory that they don't want me to see. All they are hiding is their face, and I've met everyone in town...Oh.

He stepped back a pace. “Greetings, stranger. Welcome to Endurance. We are open to all.” Still silence.

He tried again. “We have a Guardian in this town, which is set to attack anyone with hostile intent. It can see through Stealth just fine. So you don't have to worry, I know you don't mean us harm.”

Still nothing.

Now it was a puzzle and Karl's brain was having fun working on it. He grinned. “Okay, there are two possibilities I see here. One, you're actually Terry and having fun seeing how far down the rabbit hole my logic will take me. In which case, well played, young lady.

“Two, you're not Terry, nor any of the other scouts in Endurance, you're from out of town, you're not hostile, you're clearly here to use the Shop, but since you still haven't dropped Stealth I conclude that you are afraid of what I will do if I see you. Well, I give you my word as a paladin that I mean you no harm, since you mean us none, and I will allow you to leave without hassle. Live and let live.”

Silence.

“The only reason I can think of for you not wanting me to see your face, aside from terminal shyness, is that you're an escapee from Solworth Penitentiary.” Karl thought he heard the slightest of sounds.

Karl sighed. “I hope you aren't one of the ones who attacked the Lazy Circle Ranch Safe Zone.” No reaction.

“Well, I'm a paladin. I can tell when someone is lying to me. If you attacked the Lazy Circle, you'd best clear out before our guests from there find you and take revenge for their dead. If you didn't, you can tell me and I'll believe you. In that case, so as far as I'm concerned, you have a clean slate. May we be friends?” Nothing.

“Okay, one more try: I'll buy you a beer if you drop Stealth and say hi. Seriously. I can spare a silver and I'm curious. One second.” Karl went up to another Shop window and bought a couple of ice cold beers. Then he walked over to a table, sat down, and placed one beer on the other side of the table.

“I'm going to close my eyes and count to three. You can either grab the beer and vamoose, or you can say hi. It's your call.” Karl closed his eyes and counted aloud.

When he opened them, a huge black man in filthy clothes sat across from him, eyeing him warily. He was holding the other beer and pried off the cap with his thumb.

“Ethan.” His voice was so deep it rumbled.

Karl did likewise with his own cap, then held out his bottle to clink. “Karl. Pleased to meet you, Ethan.” Slowly, Ethan held out his own bottle and they clinked together. “Cheers.” The man nodded in response.

Karl took a pull from his beer, pleased with himself for deducing so much from silence. Ethan took a swig from his own, and couldn't help a sigh of pleasure. “Aaaah. Damn, I thought I'd never taste this again.” He looked at Karl for a moment. “Thanks.”

“No problem. I don't have a lot more coin at the moment, but I was actually going to grab a meal. You hungry?”

Ethan snorted. “Always.”

“I hear that. I was a frail little old man a week ago, and now I can't stop eating. Well...” Karl summoned a silver from his inventory and rolled it over to the other man. “I'm getting lasagna.” He got up and walked over to the Shop, ordered his food, then went back to the table and sat down. A moment later Ethan returned, still carrying his beer, and a big plate with steak and home fries.

Karl clasped his hands together and murmured a prayer, then picked up his fork and dug in. For a while they ate in companionable silence. Karl checked his inventory and found he only had six silver left in coin on his person. When they were about halfway through with their meals, Karl tried to start conversation.

“Did you get what you needed? From the Shop?”

Ethan paused before his next bite. “Well, I cashed in junk for coin, which was nice. Cleared out the inventory.”

Karl nodded and swallowed his latest mouthful. “Loot anything good?”

“Not really. Shit daggers off of some goblins. Shit like that.”

“Saving up for something?”

“More meals like this, I suppose. Is it really okay for me to Stealth in here and use the Shop?”

Karl shrugged. “Don't see why not.”

“Thanks.” Ethan took another bite. “Nice place you got here.”

“Everybody's welcome.” Karl looked at him pointedly.

Ethan frowned. “I think I'm better off on my own, but thanks.” Karl nodded acceptance.

“Just thought I'd offer. Resources are so tight, and human beings are an endangered species. I hate to let anything or anyone go to waste. You've obviously got skill.”

“I'm guessing you do too.” Ethan looked thoughtful. “Paladin, huh? That mean you're all goody two-shoes and righteous?”

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“Yeah, but I try not to be an asshole about it.”

Ethan snorted. “So, decided against the stick up the ass option?”

“Here's hoping.”

“Were you for real about the lie detector ability?”

Karl nodded.

There was a long pause.

“I didn't do it,” Ethan said honestly and intensely.

Karl looked at him. “You don't just mean the attack on Lazy Circle, do you?”

“Nope.”

Karl took a long swallow of beer, then wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Damn. I'm sorry the system failed you, son. I truly am. I don't know what could make up for that injustice, but...let me know if I can help.”

“Weird to hear that from a rich old white guy.”

“I was only rich for a few hours the other day, but I take your meaning. I'm serious about you being welcome. If anybody gives you crap I'll set 'em straight.”

“They going to listen to you?”

“They'd better. This here is my Safe Zone.” Ethan' eyebrows went up and Karl nodded. “Weird how life turns out, huh?”

Ethan laughed a little. “Yeah, you could say that.” Then he frowned. “And you say you're not rich?”

“Rich, no. Powerful, yes, kind of. I got the ball rolling on all this, got people organized. I looted the monster core we used to build it. For a brief glorious moment I had twenty-nine gold from an auction of spices.”

Ethan whistled.

“Then a couple of hours later I had to spend it all on armor for people so they could live through a battle.”

“What were you fighting?”

“Hill trolls. Rare spawn. Barely two miles north of here. It took just about all our firepower and all my gold, but we killed the bastards and rescued some of my people.”

“You took down a Rare?”

“Word to the wise—trolls regenerate like crazy. They're not dead until you cut the head off. Thank God we've got a pyromancer.”

“Pyromancer? That sounds badass.”

“She is.” Karl finished his beer. “So Ethan, are you interested in possibly making some easy coin?”

Ethan eyed him warily. “Depends. What's the job?”

“Information you already know. Monsters you've seen, things you've learned, any other Safe Zones you've found. Here, I'll show you the bounties.” Karl stood, and Ethan shoveled the last bite into his mouth and took his beer. Karl led him around to the table outside the 'EIA' where the information books were. The notebooks were tied to table legs, not to stop people from stealing them but to remind them not to take them.

“This one is every kind of monster we know about. If you have seen any that aren't in here, we'll pay for that info. Likewise classes, skills, and so on. Here are the requests on this wall. Feel free to look them over.” Ethan looked around warily. Karl waved a hand reassuringly. “Anybody comes by I'll steer them away. Knowledge is power. Dig in.”

Karl leaned against a wall and fiddled around with his interface for a bit while Ethan read through the books. When he finished he paused, then went back and flipped through the book again more quickly. “You guys haven't seen a mutated mountain lion or a giant centipede.”

Karl was startled. “We don't have mountain lions in New Hampshire.”

“You do now. At least one, anyway. I didn't manage to kill it. Gimme a minute.” Ethan proceeded to pick up a pen and add all the information he could think of on the monster, and then on another page wrote more information.

Karl just sat back and thought about different things while Ethan proceeded to write a few pages on the monsters he had fought, locations and times. He tuned back in when the convict stood, counting things on the paper he had just filled, then looked up at Karl. “Can I get paid by you?”

“How much is it all together?”

“One silver, eight copper.”

“No problem.” Karl summoned the coins and handed them over. “Thank you.”

Ethan jingled the coins in his hand for a few moments. “Hey...you said something about auctions earlier? Making lots of gold?” Karl explained what he knew about the auction process, and what they speculated the aliens would be interested in. When he finished, Ethan said, “Damn! Maybe I can get that dagger! Or even the javelin!”

Karl blinked. “Hold up. You need a dagger?”

“I've got daggers I've looted. But I want this one from the Shop, it's fifteen silver. There are even better ones, but those are crazy expensive. Spears and javelins are worse.”

“Just to satisfy my curiosity...” Karl deliberately turned sideways, almost away from Ethan, held out his hand, summoned his orcish knife, and then offered it hilt first to the other man. “How does this compare?”

Ethan stared at him a moment, then took the dagger and examined it closely for quite a while. Then he cleared his throat. “Not as nice as the one I'm saving up for, but better than what I've got. I guess I'll have to find me some orcs to kill.” He held it out.

Karl made no move retrieve it. “Keep it for now. You can return it when you've got something better.”

“Are you serious?”

Karl nodded. “I get the feeling you're somebody worth investing in. Human beings are precious, Ethan. I'm not going to let you get killed because I was too stingy to loan you a damned dagger. I have other weapons.”

Ethan stared at him for several seconds. “Thank you, Sir.”

Karl shrugged. “You're welcome. If I had more coin I'd buy you the one you want, but I'm almost tapped out now. I really need to go out and kill some things today. I think it's been five days since I last leveled. I've been too busy running this place.”

“What level are you?”

“Seventh. You?”

Ethan blinked. “I made sixth yesterday. You made seventh five days ago?”

“Yeah, but 16,000 experience points don't come easily, so I've been stuck for a while.”

“Well, at least you don't have to worry about spawns killing you in your sleep.”

Karl blew air out his cheeks, trying to imagine that. “Phew. Sounds like you could use a place to crash. You're welcome to stay even if you're just visiting. Everything inside the walls is spawn free.”

“I'd really rather keep away from people, Sir.”

“I can understand that. Still...” Karl scratched his head and thought. “You know what? Go back into stealth and follow me. I want to show you something.”

Karl looked away and trusted that the man's curiosity would impel him to follow. He got up and left the cafeteria, holding each door open an extra few moments, as he led Ethan into his apartment. After the door shut, he spoke quietly. “Okay, we're good. Still with me, Ethan?”

With a shimmer the man appeared, standing with his back to one wall. He looked around. “What's this?”

“My apartment. We've got power and running water. Nobody can get past that door but me. I give you my word as a paladin that I won't tell anyone you're here. You don't have to stay, but for God's sake, give yourself a break for a few minutes, man. Take a hot shower.” Those words got a reaction: a look of longing flitted across the man's face.

“It's just sitting here empty for now, you might as well use it. I'm going out on a hunt today. I won't be back before evening. If you want to stay, you're welcome. If you don't, at least you got a chance to clean up and maybe sack out for a couple of hours in safety.”

Karl considered asking the man for his story, but decided not to push for the moment. He walked to the door and looked back at his guest. “I've got to get going now. It was good to meet you, Ethan. Oh! System, record Ethan here as a visitor to Endurance with access to this apartment.” He got the notification that it was done and nodded.

Ethan was staring at him in disbelief. “You're leaving me here with all your stuff?”

Karl stared at him. “Will you abuse this trust, yes or no?”

“Well, no,” he blurted honestly.

Karl tapped his temple and smiled. “There you go. Take care of yourself, Ethan. I hope to see you around.” With that Karl left and shut the door behind him.

God and System, please watch over that young man, he prayed silently as he walked out into the morning.