"This is a mess. Constable George will have a field day." Cless mumbled sarcastically. "I'll go call the guard and deal with it myself. You are dismissed for the day. The inn is closed. Go away. Silverfang, stay behind and make sure they leave the inn after Josefine gets in here."

She picked up Edward's body and walked out. Josefine was loitering near the inn and was already returning.

"Cless I saw some of your guild members... What happened to him?"

"He broke an oath and died. That's what happened." Cless was barely holding the body's full weight. She allocated two points in Strength. "I'm taking him to the garrison. Watch the inn and put everyone out. Silverfang will stay with you."

"Are you sure that is the best thing to do?" Josefine was already tearing up.

"No. But that is the right thing to do. Cya soon, Josie."

She went on toward the garrison, carrying the body. Some guards stopped her halfway.

"What is wrong with him guild master Cless?"

She was worried. She had to get the body to its destination before it cooled and the fluids leaked.

"This boy died suddenly. I'm taking him to the garrison. Would you help me? I need to talk to constable George."

They took the body and wrapped some burlap like a diaper around him. So that's the trick, Cless thought. Escorted by the guard, they made it to the garrison. Cless sat on a bench while they processed the body. She had the whole day and soon someone would be with her to ask questions. Probably George.

She decided to practice her Light prayer. It had a low cost and she could use it almost two dozen times before she ran out of power. Time went by, Cless had no idea what time it was when George came to check on her.

"Cless, are you hungry?"

She looked up at the constable. No, she was not hungry. She was so down that she didn't even want to move.

"No. It happened again, constable."

"Come to my office." He took her by the hand and went to a nice office. Leather upholstery, very functional and utilitarian. Once they were sitting, he poured her some tea. "Here, drink this."

"Thank you." Cless sipped the tea. She looked up and met the constable's eyes. "I am ready. Ask away."

"My guild members made an oath with me. They were bound to never hurt me, physically or otherwise. Edward wanted to get out of it but he got angry and slandered me. He broke the oath and died."

"Cless, this is what? The eighth death? I know you are saying the truth, you know my Skill. But if you don't want to go to jail, you'll have to give me more than that. I need to explain things."

"Actually, disregarding the five mercenaries, this is the tenth death. It all began with the merchant, Cornelius. He broke our agreement and died. Then his nephew sought vengeance and arranged to gang-rape me. I outwitted them and as a penalty for their transgression, I got them to bind themselves just as I told you. So we have the seven last week, the nephew, Edward, and Cornelius. Ten."

"And you can create these oaths with your Skill." That was not a question from the constable. Cless nodded.

"I cannot force anyone. They enter willingly. And I have to offer something back of equal value."

"That is why you told me that one silver ducat was not enough. What is the rank of your Skill?"

"Let me check my Status." Cless fiddled with her windows and checked her notifications. "I have a C-ranked Skill."

She met George's eyes and she knew he caught her in her half-truth. Not with the Skill but with experience. "That is not all, is it?"

"No, that is not all. I also have a D-rank and an E-rank Skill."

She knew that a person with three Skills, even lower ranked was exceptional. She hoped it would be enough. She was so afraid that she just let the dam burst and teared up.

"That is fine. I got enough to work with. I'll try to keep the details of your Skill but I need to know. How many left?"

"Twelve still in the guild and six deserters. I came up with a way to avoid deaths but I have to talk to them so we can adjust the oaths."

"I'll send guards to fetch them," George said as he got slips of cut parchment. "Write the names here and I'll send my men to gather them."

"Yes, sir."

"Constable, I will need absolute privacy while I do the adjustments."

"It can be arranged. Just write down the names."

She did and George left her in his office. About half an hour later, everyone gathered again, in the training arena of the garrison. The smug smiles and some worried faces told Cless nobody was informed of what was going to happen. She took note of who was with what face. Incidentally, the ones bound by Exp debt were the most worried, except for Collin that was on the smirking side.

"I would like to talk to them one-on-one if possible, constable. It won't take long."

George just nodded. Cless started to talk with them, Arnold first. He changed jobs already and was eager to continue in the guild. Since his contract was already non-lethal, she sent him to the other side. Next one was Martin. The ones that already talked to Cless were being separated on a corner of the arena.

"Hey, guild master. The boys were wondering, are you in trouble?" He asked.

"Sort of. But ever since they kidnapped me it's been trouble. Not always a bad one, see?"

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"Tell me about it. What is going to happen here?"

"Martin, what do you think about the guild?"

"You are doing a mighty nice job, guild master. I'm in for the long run."

"I appreciate that. I am going to change our agreement to make it non-lethal."

It went the same way as with Arnold. Next one was Lyle.

"Hey. I hope you aren't too scared of wolves after what happened."

He chuckled. "No. I'm thankful for nursing me, Cless. I was half-conscious some times, I saw you coming and going."

"You know that it was Silverfang that did it, right?"

"Yes, quite a catch." There was some regret in Lyle's voice. It seems he wasn't fine with the critter that almost killed him being the guild master's pet. Cless made a note to check it later.

"I'm changing our terms to become non-lethal."

Lyle went away, the next one was Lawrence.

"Hey, Lawrence. How's the wound?"

"Good as new, Cless. Let me tell you one thing, take care around Lyle. He has his own agenda."

"Okay, I'll take care. Are you staying?"

"Surely am," He glanced at George. "Are you in trouble?"

"Maybe, but that is something I'll solve myself."

After Lawrence, Martin.

"One more of my wounded guildies. Martin, how are you?"

"Pretty good. Without a girlfriend, but good."

"Did Vanessa broke up with you?"

"No. I ditched that psycho. Now she got new boy toys, let'em have her."

"Boy toy. I don't like that term. Boys are not toys."

"So you say, guild master."

He went away and Shane came.

"Cless, do you need help breaking out of here?"

"No. I don't know if I am going to be arrested, but I think I can work it out."

"Good. The boys were planning an escape."

"I'm flattered but no."

Shane was replaced by Collin.

"Hey, guild master. Fancy seeing you here." He quipped, quite happy at Cless' assumed predicament.

"Collin. Are you staying or leaving?"

"I have an Exp debt. I'm stuck here until I pay it off." He shrugged.

"Wanna renegotiate?"

"What's the deal?"

"I will give you enough Exp to reach level five now. You repay it to me as you earn more Class Exp at your own pace, with a fifty percent interest. I will hold collateral, which I'll tell you after you agree to this deal and you'll entirely forget about it and any discussions we have because of the collateral a minute later even if you try a memorization technique. It is nothing that will hinder you going forward, Just to guarantee I get what I am owed if you die. You'll have the chance of backing off after you hear what the collateral is."

"I don't know, Cless. That sounds fishy. Forty percent interest."

"Deal. I'm charging the Exp you missed from guild sessions as well."

They sealed the agreement and Cless felt the Exp being drained from her very being. Collin immediately jumped to level five. Then she explained to him the collateral. She went for five, but the Skill wasn't triggering until she lowered it to three. Equal value and all.

Collin was angry, very angry but he agreed. "It is not like I have any use for these if I am dead. I just hate making you stronger."

>     29,596 Exp transferred to Collin. Collin owes Cless 50,434 Class Exp. Moments before Collin dies, his Skills and three stat points from each basic Stat will be transferred to Cless.

Collin seemed about to burst and dive at Cless' neck. He held himself back as he remembered it would be his doom.

"You are good to go, Collin. And you are expelled from the guild."

Collin didn't go away. He just glared at Cless. The minute passed and he forgot about the collateral. After a moment of confusion, he went away, grumbling. Cless decided to not amend the contracts of the deserters. Or at least make them pay dearly. There was some dark pleasure, a pang of sweet guilt she felt when she made the new deal with Collin. Given his attitude, she had little faith he'd live long enough to get fifty thousand Exp. Either way, to her, it felt like dealing with the devil with Cless as the devil.

She was so going to the church next. Speaking of which, she didn't study the prayer book to get her sixth level prayer-spell.

She went through the other guildmates. Allan, Don, and Brendan also deserted and Cless offered them the same deal as the other deserters to get out of the two-week notice period. She got six thousand Exp from them. She didn't amend their deals to non-lethal. She also talked to all the deserters, offering a different kind of deal.

"I'll grant you Enough Exp to level 10. You have to pay me back with sixty percent interest. I'll enact a little collateral ..." The rest went just like with Collin.

They negotiated and bargained, but Cless proficiency was much higher than theirs. After negotiating with them, she got interest rates between forty and fifty percent and drained all her available Exp. She also added the same forgetfulness clause.

>     210,000 Experience Points transferred. 310,800 Class Exp owed by Joe, Jerry, Alan, Jimmy, Herbert, and Brett. Moments before any of them die, their Skills and three of each Stat point will be transferred to Cless.

It was all done. The boys were escorted out and Cless found herself back in the constable's office.

"Did you change all of their oaths to non-lethal?"

Cless shook her head, "Only for those that chose to remain in my guild. I couldn't change the settings for the ones that deserted," She explained. George raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes, prompting Cless to explain herself. "These deserters will cause trouble, constable. They will surely move against me. I owe them nothing. I told you, I cannot force people to enter an agreement with me. Or use subterfuge to trick people."

"You could use extortion."

"I am a Cleric of the One God, constable. I won't use extortion or blackmail with people."

George nodded as his Skill told him that Cless was being honest.

"Good. I have enough to work with, Cless. But people won't like it if I let you go free. You are sentenced to community service. You are to be present every evening during winter at the barracks sick bay for free healing services. It will be good practice for your class."

"I will comply but only with a few conditions. Silverfang will be with me at all times. If there is any subjugation of dangerous creatures out of town, I want to be assigned to the expedition as a healer. Any cases of grave injury will be brought to me first. I'll be granted my own office with a bunk and a lock for my tenure here. You can have a copy of the key. You'll convince the healer to give me training in non-magical first aid and other procedures. And I am not taking the fall for Edward's death. He officially died of natural causes and I only failed to give him assistance."

George pinched the skin of his forehead and massaged his temples. Cless knew she was asking a lot but she also knew she had backing.

"That is fine. I can do that. You can go now." He opened a drawer and took a coin pouch, "And here is the bounty for the bandits. I sent the sword to Glauchester, we identified the heraldry. There should be a word about it before the first snow, I hope."

Cless picked the pouch without even looking inside. She bade George goodbye and went back to the inn, the dark mantle of the night already enveloping the town in shadows.

From twenty-seven to eight. That is how her guild fared. Balthus was right, these boys were a bunch of deadbeats. Better invest in those she could trust. As she entered the inn, the sound of patrons drinking assaulted her ears. It seems Josefine reopened the inn. That was until she looked at the counter.

Karen was tending the bar and Balthus was sitting on a stool, drinking. They were back.

> Name: Cless (no surname)

>

> Race: Human.

>

> Level: 22 ( 5,173 / 253,000 Exp)

>

> Class: Cleric 7 (22,574 / 28,000 Exp)

>

> Profession: Warmaster 6 (20639 / 21,000 Exp), Weaponmaster 6 (20639 / 21,000 Exp)

>

> Base Stats: Strength: 14 — Agility: 14 [18] — Health: 21 — Intellect: 22 — Magic: 33

>

> Available Status Points: 3

>

> Skills: [ Absolute Contract (S) ], [ Giant's Stamina (E) ], [ Trick Shot (D) ], [ Dangersense ⦅C⦆ ], [ Nimble Step (D) ]

>

> Proficiencies:

>

> Appraisal — Status: 22

>

> Crafting — Crude Weapons: 5

>

> Magic, Cleric — Mending: 19 — Detoxify: 16 — Light: 12 (+10) — Turn Undead: 1 — Blessing: 5

>

> General — Prayer: 11 (+1) — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 6 — Math: 3 (+1) — Reading: 6 — Forestry: 9 — Skinning: 7 — Herbalism: 3

>

> Social, general — Negotiation: 15 (+1) — Persuasion: 3 (+1) — Bluff: 3 (+1)

>

> Social, martial — Leadership: 16 — Intimidation: 17 (+1) — Tactics: 12

>

> Movement — Tumbling: 3

>

> Weapon — Long Blades: 4 — Short Blades: 2 — Unarmed: 7 — Archery: 12 — Spears: 3 — Maces: 22 — Staves: 4 — Axes: 9