*** Real-world, somewhere in Africa - Boris’ POV ***

The weather report wasn’t ideal; they expected heavy rain, but that wasn’t an excuse to abandon the op. Boris carefully lay on the top of old, almost broken roof and observed the situation in scope of his trusty sniper rifle. City was busy with people running around, shopping, or visiting near bank. In Boris’ mind civilian casualties were acceptable, if the op was successful.

According to his hastily constructed plan, the ambush near the Loco company building was ready. Observing one last time his companions, he counted all twenty of them. Each one of them clutched the signature rifle of this region, AK-47. Old, but reliable, and that mattered the most in this damn scorching sun and unbearable humidity.

“Target’s on the move,” Kwadwo said in a radio, with his breathy voice. “I repeat, target is on the move!” he reported again. Boris scanned the area for any hostile activity, but everything seemed normal. The target hadn’t brought backup. What a fool. Gods in the sky opened a flood of rain, but that couldn’t stop them. No, this was a golden opportunity.

“Commence the attack,” Boris said, and the trap closed in. Just when the strange man, with a sword at his hip, walked out of the building, Boris pressed his trigger. He had him in sights, but when the bullet reached five feet of him, it disintegrated in the air.

“Pizdets!” the involuntary word came from his mouth, followed by, “Abort! Abort the attack!” But it was too late. His soldiers swarmed at the target, the weapons ready and hot. Not a single bullet reached the mystery man though; he drew his sword and his mouth distorted into the smile of a maniac.

“I haven’t expected this one, my adversary! You are the worthy opponent!” he screamed for the entire district to hear and run the sword into the nearest person, not even Boris’ man, but an innocent person who wanted to escape this situation.

Only one word could describe what happened next - a massacre. Every slash of Hawk’s sword met and severed heads. The blood colored the street and heavy rain washed it away.

Naturally, Boris didn’t wait for the result of the melee; he knew very well he couldn’t kill him. Not today. He jumped down from the roof to the rough yellow sand; the rain turned it into the mud and ran for his life. At the end of the road, an escape vehicle waited for him - a hover jeep.

“Comrades…” his voice broke when he remembered how he persuaded them for this one last mission and fired up the engine. He called the man responsible for all of this - Lucas.

“Boris? Is it done?” Boris heard Lucas in his earpiece when he was maneuvering through the streets. His face hardened, and for the first time in his life regretted meeting this man.

“No. That bastard was wearing a kinetic shield. Bullets were useless. I presume my entire unit is dead,” Boris said, and the other end of the line fell silent. “Do you understand? Whole Kwadwo’s squad is dead. Who is this man? Even our top-elite unit had only one kinetic shield user. Let’s fight fire with fire.”

Silence. “Not an option, Boris. We talked about this,” broken Lucas’ voice was mixed with even more sadness.

“Lucas, he won’t stop until he finds you and Charlie. You know that the only one who can stop someone using the shield is… another shield user,” Boris’ professionalism took over his emotions. One of the most dangerous enemies walking the surface of Earth was on his heels. The time for grief will come later.

Lucas tried to protest, “Charlie. But as I told you, she can’t remember anything! I don’t think-”

“Lucas! My comrade. Don’t. Just don’t. She needs to know. If you won’t tell her, I will and you don’t want that.”

Duke’s strange look concerned me, but I kneeled before him without a second thought. You never oppose the Duke, I had learned it the hard way last time, and I sure wasn’t about to repeat it now. Slowly, he pulled out his sword and pointed the end at me.

“You disobeyed our order and went ahead with our secret weapon. That’s not behavior of a soldier! Soldier needs to obey the orders of their superiors and heed every decision, even if they think it is wrong. Is that understood?”

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“Yes sir,” I said and lowered my head. Damn, what a good run it was. As the Duke’s sword inched closer to my neck from the right side, I held my breath. Although, I still rock the main quest in my pocket and after respawn I’ll walk by foot. It will take a few days, but… Whatever.

“Only the noble commanders can express their concerns. So I offer you the title of Baronetess; vassal of the Empire. Do you accept?” No way. I raised my head and met his warm smile. How… how was this possible?

It didn’t matter. Noble title was something you needed to grab and hold. “I do, my liege,” I said and closed my eyes again. Familiar blue light blinded the entire crew of the ship, and a cold metallic object materialized on my finger. A beautiful signet silver ring with a snowflake insignia.

Hey! Why it was a snowflake? I wanted to have the most beautiful coat of arms, but the system used the existing one? Was it bug, or a feature? Sadly, I could only sigh and examined the flood of system notices.

[You received a reward for be: the first to defeat ‘World Boss’]

[Your title is now: baronetess (Empire)]

[Congratulations, you own a fief! Your path as noble can continue.]

[East Fortification has been set as a primary fief.]

[East Fortification has reached the rank of fortified position, the further development has been unlocked.]

What an unexpected boon. Wasn’t Lucas amazing beyond means? The time it took him to rank up was remarkable; perhaps he used some exploit? An unknown feeling filled my heart and stomach, and I smiled happily. If stare could kill, Istvan would kill me ten times over. He still might, with his bare hands. Take that, my old friend.

After a while, the raging storm slowly settled, and the last fights died down. An uncomfortable silence fell on us, the adrenalin clouding our pains faded away, and our grief for fallen soldiers and friends settled in. First time young soldiers, huh? The Duke examined the result of the battle and he visible shivered at the loss of his people as I came near to him.

“Is there anything I can do for you as a reward, Baronetess Princess?” Duke said, and I could hear the amusement in his voice. Yeah, it sounds stupid, I agree. What if I get that title? Will they call me Princess Princess?

“Thank you, my liege. Master Teorn sent me to a quest, when I met him in a village. He heard about a strange activity on the Island of Dead. My task is to find what is causing the problems and try to solve it. For that I need a mean of transportation - a sailboat.” Unexpected politeness in my voice surprised even me. They used to call me rude knight because I didn’t know how to behave with nobles. Look at me now, Lucy!

“You say there are problems? Maybe it relates to my aunt, Queen Irwen? She’s resting there, sealed in her tomb for hundreds of years.” Duke nervously played with his short hair and then hastened to the edge of the ship where he peered into distance.

“It might, my lord. Was she fighting in the rebellion on royalist’s side?” I walked toward him, but I didn’t know how to comfort someone like him. Was I supposed to touch him, as I saw some people at the bar doing it with friends? Or maybe punch him in his shoulder and laugh like Lucas used to? Even my combined lives left me in a fog, because human contact is my mortal weakness.

“Yes, I fought on the wrong side, but the loss was inevitable; humans were stronger than us. It has been three centuries, but if is someone trying to awake her, it would explain the stirred floaters…” his voice trembled as he relived his painful memory.

No consolidation, I leaned on a railing and gazed with him into distance. “I will investigate it with my knight, my liege; the incidents may be unrelated.”

“You do that. We need to recuperate and regroup on the shore. We will await you there, take the ship you sailed with,” he said, and the resoluteness in his voice returned.

When I came back to my ship, I found Don alive and well, sleeping. Although the crew suffered a big hit, plus the damage to the ship was extensive, the sailors were professionals and cheered for me and Captain welcomed me with a big grin. I waved at him and nimbly avoided his bear hug.

“I saw you slew that monstrosity, you were as magnificent as the heroes from legends. I heard you are a noble now? Should I bow?” He didn’t wait for any conformation and bowed almost to the ground. The laughter echoed from all around, and I felt something I didn’t ever before. Some kind of feeling near my heart, some kind of belonging, a bond I shared with sailors I fought with. Nonsense, I fought with armies the most dangerous dragons and felt nothing like this! Why now?

“Captain, I don’t want to spoil the mood, but I have orders…”

Dismissing my answer with a wave of his big hand, he said, “I know. You have an important mission on the island everyone stays clear off. Hear me, you lazy bastards! We are sailing with a princess here. Be gentle as you can and show some respect! A hero needs her ship to sail smoothly!”