Two days later, we were back to town. A liveried servant was waiting for us. He had a spare pet carrier, this one clearly enchanted. Couldn't miss the glowing runes even if I wanted to.
"Guild Master, Officer George, the Lord wishes to see you at your earliest convenience. He also sends this premium pet carrier with stabilization, cleaning, protection, tracking, and comfort enchantments."
Only a fool trusted an enchanted item out of the blue. I exchanged a glance with Alice. She nodded as she glared at the servant. I guess only a bigger fool would try to piss off an immortal elf stuck at the level cap. I took the carrier along with a rune that allowed the bearer to know where the carriage was and the health status of the occupants.
They had a carriage ready for us. The ride was silent and uneventful. Sleepy curled up and fell asleep in the enchanted carrier.
*
*
Kara was afraid. She knew she did the right thing but not even in her wildest dreams she thought she would be held prisoner inside the castle. She had a huge room for herself, a Maid to take care of her, four lavish meals a day, two baths. What she didn't have was the freedom to leave. Even the maids stayed with her all the time. Probably a spy.
Army officers came twice on the last four days to rudely question her. They showed her the warrant and asked all sorts of questions. She wasn't tortured, so it was good? Kara had no idea.
Then, a castle servant came to fetch her. She had a Guard dress uniform. "The Lord has summoned you. Wear this."
The maids assigned to her looked eager to do her job.
She examined the uniform. "This is wrong. I'm not a lieutenant."
"There's no mistake, miss. Here," the servant handed the uniform to the maid and left.
Kara had no choice but to comply.
*
*
The carriage didn't enter the castle. Instead, it stopped in front of a fancy inn by the castle square.
"Adequate accommodations are provided here. Please freshen up and change." The servant said.
As I got down from the carriage, a big wooden stage occupied the width of the square, right in front of the main gates.
I shivered as I anticipated what would transpire on that stage.
*
*
We stood on a balcony at the left end of the stage Chairs with velvet upholstery formed three rows, with a more ornate chair in the middle of the front row for the Lord.
Some high Army officers and the magistrate sat with us. We didn't wait long before Hector and his father arrived.
A huge crowd covered every inch of the square in front of the stage. Trumpets blared demanding silence. The lord stood up and moved to the front. Sound magic projected his voice.
"Today is a dark day for our city. A dreary conspiracy took hold in the heart of our honorable and respectable City Guard. But fear not. Due to the diligence of one of their own, we uncovered the corruption and excised it with great prejudice. You surely know the Guard garrison in the Guild district was destroyed in the fight for our honor. But we stand stronger for it; victorious and cleansed!"
The wavering crowd cheered.
"Now, the time for justice is upon us. The guilty have been judged and sentenced! Today, they shall pay the utmost price for their transgression!"
The bloodthirsty crowd cheered. The effect of the Lord's ridiculously high Charisma score was bullshit.
One by one, the Guards involved in the scheme were brought on the stage. They wore vomit-stained tunics and ragged threadbare trousers. Did they have a haberdasher that produced these prison clothes? The prisoners had to hear the crimes pinned on them, and then lost their heads to the executioner's ax.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Blood poured in a waterfall off the center of the stage.
The crowd celebrated this macabre ritual, expelling their negative energy in a cathartic sublimation. I bet that id the corpses weren't already beheaded; a novice necromancer would have no trouble raising them.
Then they brought the Captain who signed my warrant. He was taken to the side and held in place by four knights. It was necessary because of the Captain's levels. The lord stood once again.
"This is the mastermind behind the corruption. You shall witness how we treat the crime of sedition in our fair City."
One by one, Hector made good on his promise as the Captain's family died before his own eyes. His father, the Baron of whatshisname, glared daggers and disowned his son seconds before vacating his title. The wife was thrashing and screaming. Her wails gave me nightmares in the following days.
But what broke the Captain was to see his son, a lad of fourteen years that had the muscles of twenty, die and take to the grave all hopes of perpetuating his bloodline.
The daughter was missing. I hoped she was okay. Nobody sane, and I mean, nobody, should see a child this young get executed without even understanding why. The son, at least, knew his father had screwed up in the worst way possible.
Two uncles, two aunts, and four cousins also died cursing the Captain to the ninth generation. Good luck, daughter, and sole survivor of this shitshow.
Thus, a broken man was made the brokest, and then a corpse.
The crowd had mixed feelings. The once excited people now questioned if they would become the next victim of the Lord's cruelty. They feared him.
The Lord stood. His mood was regal, happy even. "And now, l present to you the heroine of the day. She was the one who saw hints of corruption and stopped at nothing to save the Guard's reputation. Only her devotion to duty and diligence was able to save the day!"
I saw a woman in an officer dress uniform. She looked familiar. Hector took a medal box and walked to meet her in the one-third mark. Nobody wanted to step on the blood-soaked middle.
My jaw dropped when I recognized who the officer was. Kara. She visited me in the jail so I knew she was involved but not to that point. Was she being is d as a political pawn? Most likely.
I looked at Alice, who had a smug "I win" smile.
"Did you have anything to do with Kara being out there?" I asked, more than a bit flustered.
"Nothing at all. From what I heard, she deserved to be there."
That calmed me a bit. I focused on the scene unfolding. Hector opened the box and attached a medal to Kara's uniform. He said something to her and then she almost fainted. Hector had to hold her waist to keep Kara from hitting the stage floor.
*
*
With the medal affixed to her uniform, Kara suddenly found herself assaulted by a huge System window.
> Congratulations! You earned a hidden achievement! "Become your Class."
> Awarded for sticking to your ideal image of your Class despite all odds.
> Not gonna lie, there's few things more righteous than a woman risking it all to repair injustice done to a guy she dumped. You could pretend you didn't see it; you could have obeyed your boss; you could have even found the bad guys and demanded a share of the action. Do you have any idea that even the privates were getting dozens of silver coins? You didn't do any of the above because of your moral code. Damn, you weren't even expecting any reward of this kind either, which is kind of how you might want to sit for what is coming next. Alas, the chairs are too far away. Welp, at least you won't fall face-first on the blood.
> Rewards: You gained five levels. You are now a level 34 Guard Clerk (Uncommon).
> You gained the Perk, Authenticate Document. Gain a 100% bonus to Intelligence and Wisdom to determine if a document is legitimate. You can imprint your MP signature on documents. The difficulty to forge your MP signature increases by (100+ Endurance + Wisdom)%.
Five levels? Five WHOLE levels?!?!?! Kara had struggled for the best part of a year to gain her last one... All those documents filed for scraps of Experience, then picking Lawyer as her sub-class...
Dive levels were more than a fair reward for...
A chime rang in her ears. More blue boxes appeared.
*DING*
> Your Class has evolved to Guard Paragon (Very Rare). Yeah, two whole rarity degrees. Holy Moly. Let nobody call me a stingy System.
> All your previous Class and Sub-Class features are kept, including ways to gain Experience.
> A Guard Paragon gains Experience by training her fellow Guards, keeping the city safe, and refusing corruption. Its harder than it sounds.
> You gained 340 Attribute points because of your Class' new rarity. Since you are a Human, good luck with the anxiety crisis of deciding where to put them so you don't ruin your build.
> You gain a Perk every 10 levels, down from 15.
> You need 5,000 Experience points to level, up from 3,000.
> You gained the Perk, Untarnished Badge. Your Guard badge and Uniform are (200+ Endurance)% tougher and cannot be soiled, stained, or dirtied. Your badge is indestructible and mitigates 75% of heart damage dealt to you when worn and displayed by you. While worn, your uniform also self-repairs at a small cost of MP. Your socks are always clean, cool, and dry no matter the circumstances. If you underappreciated the last effect, you are no soldier.
> You gain the Trait, "I'm not Batman… yet." Should the City administration be stupid enough to unjustly fire you, your Class will change into another of the same rarity. This Trait doesn't take effect if you quit your job or manage to get fired for a just cause. You also gained 50 points of Endurance, one at each sunrise for the next fifty days. This trait is lost if you ever speak of it. In fact, I'll make you stutter for ten seconds the first time you try. Only the first time. Can't fix stupid. Also, don't talk about Batman to anyone else. It's been public domain for thousands of years but we don't want it to disseminate in your world.
> You gained the Skill, Investigate. Rank I benefit: Clues are 20% easier to spot per rank. No, 100% easier doesn't mean you automatically find them.
Kara stared at her Status Window in utter shock. True to what the System said, she should've sat down.
Her legs faltered and she saw the stage floor approach quickly.
*
*
The crowd gasped in shock.
I had no idea what happened.
Kara found her legs. Hector quickly put some distance between them, to mitigate the rumors.
Mitigate. The gossip mill would go wild tomorrow. I was dying of curiosity. I kept my full attention on Kara, trying to read their lips.
"What happened?" Hector asked.
Kara was dazed, with that look people had when reading System messages. Which was rude in the presence of important people but Hector didn't care.
"The System. It recognized–."
Hector raised a hand. "Say no more. Congratulations."
Hector glanced my way and winked. "Lucky bastard," he mouthed.
What the hell? Kara wanted nothing to do with… she glanced my way and turned her head away. See? She hated me. I was sure she was blushing because of her blunder.
At the time, I was too overwhelmed to understand. Later, I learned that Kara had skipped two rarity grades and saw her Class catapulted all the way to Very Rare. Just regarding Attribute points from levels, they doubled.
Guard Captain Kara joined us on the balcony. She sat on the last row, one chair to my left. I didn't dare look behind myself. Alice's face was unreadable, on purpose.
The Lord made a speech but I heard nothing. I was dazed, under a spell.
I should go talk to her. No, don't be stupid. She helped because it was her duty. Kara hated me.
*
*
Kara found out she didn't hate George. Yes, she was still pissed Alice had wrecked her home and now her workplace. But what fault lay on George's feet? Worse, he was being held hostage by the bandits.
Not to mention that processing that many bounties helped a lot to push her to gaining level 29. But did she like him? Asking him for a date was a spur of the moment.
Perhaps things between them were better left as they were. Even the System said he was just 'a guy that she dumped'.
Kara had a lot on her plate and she was sure George was just as busy. She had to give both of them some room rather than push her insecurities on him.
Starting on how to spend all those Attribute points.