***

One quest pending

—

Prove–

Grace ignored the window after seeing the first line. She didn’t want to read it right now. Right now, Grace needed to see what she could find on these men and get out of there. If more guards appeared or anyone saw her right now, she had no doubt things would go badly for everyone she knew.

When she searched Sergeant Miles’s corpse, Grace couldn’t believe how much money the man carried on him.

“Ten fricking silver… who carries this much silver?” she asked the empty room.

She quickly swallowed two coins before she stopped herself. The old habit existed, but now she knew she didn’t have to do this.

Max won’t search me, and no one will expect me to have this much money on me.

A smile appeared even as she stood over the bloody corpse she had created. Believing she might never have to dig through her crap again to recover the coins she swallowed meant life was changing for the good.

None of the other guards had any coins or valuables on them. Grace noticed they had sun lines where wedding rings must be, but the three men who had them didn’t wear them while on duty.

I’ve killed men who possibly have children…

It took Grace a moment to push down the remorse she felt at that thought. She didn’t have a choice.

Finally finished with that task, she turned her attention back to the screen that itched in her mind.

*****

One quest pending

—

Lure More Sheep: Return to the guard outpost and bring more followers of Grimdon to the butcher's block. **Lure more than six, and a bonus reward will be granted**

Reward: Stat Gained

Failure: Levi’s Death

*****

She blinked, rereading the last line.

How… why…

Questions ravaged her mind, but no answer came as to why failure would result in her brother's death. A pit began to form in her gut, and she wondered if every quest from this point on would be so brutal.

“Mother… goat humping…” Grace cursed under her breath and realized she had no choice. There would be no better time than now to go and accomplish this quest.

She looked at her outfit and grimaced. It would attract more attention than she wanted, but it would also give her the ability to sell the story she was coming up with.

Moving to the pair of guards she had first killed, she pulled out a dagger. It looked exactly like the one she had, and there was no option but to do what she knew needed to be done.

Gritting her teeth, Grace took the dagger and plunged it into her left shoulder half an inch. Blood began to pour from the wound, and she wanted to curse. Grace had been careful. Grimacing, she then stabbed her left leg a little, making sure to not go deep and only to pierce a place she knew wouldn’t cause her to bleed out.

From there, Grace tore off the bottom part of her shirt, exposing her stomach and the hard muscles that lined her core.

She snorted as she saw her abs, realizing how, as a child, food was plenty, and she was soft. Now, Grace was grateful for any food she had, and was anything but soft.

Wrapping a strip of cloth around her leg and tying it off, Grace realized she might have been a little overzealous with her first wound, packing some of her shirt into the hole she had created.

Closing her eyes, Grace took a deep breath and slid the blade into her side, carefully staying on the outer edges. It burned and hurt, but she continued to push it in, feeling her blood start to pour out the moment she pulled the dagger free.

Tossing the blade over the house across the street, she ripped off part of the dead guard's clothing and pressed it against her side.

She then started the trip back to where she knew danger awaited.

The chaos that ensued as she limped toward the guard station was greater than she had expected. The man she had initially talked with saw her and ran toward her, holding his sword out and looking beyond where she was, seeing if anyone else or his brothers in arm were coming.

“What happened?!” he demanded as she saw more guards coming.

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“A group… a group attacked and butchered them… I… I played dead after one of them attacked me… seven… I saw seven of them. They ran off…”

Grace stumbled; her words were slow, and now more guards were getting close.

She fell to her knees, and the guard put his sword away, pulling a small water flask from behind his back and popping off the cork.

“Drink. Wait and tell everyone.” His voice was gruff, but she knew he was worried. Something in how his eyes looked at her told Grace that he was overly anxious about this news.

Almost twenty guards stood around here a few minutes later, clamoring and shouting, demanding they set out.

Finally, an officer arrived and quieted them down.

“What happened!” he shouted, causing every guard there to move into lines that faced each other as he strode toward her. Walking behind him were two young men with blond hair and blue eyes.

The officer looked almost too old to be in the army, and his armor was far nicer than the standard chain and leather the guards around her had.

Covering his chest was a brightly polished silver piece of solid metal, and a massive red lion’s head faced her as he stared at the girl bleeding on the ground.

His grey hair was cut short, and his face had a few scars, one that ran down the side of his left neck. His grey eyes were a color Grace had never seen before, and felt like they pierced her soul.

Even though he was covered in wrinkles and aged by the sun, she could feel a strange power coming from him.

“This girl came earlier, and Sergeant Miles and his men went to investigate another murder of guards. This was about an hour ago, sir! She just returned an–”

The officer held up his hand, and the guard she had first met went silent.

He turned and faced Grace, his eyes moving over every inch of her.

“What happened, child?”

His voice compelled her to talk. It was like she wanted to spill everything. Something tugged at her tongue, wanting it to dance to its own tune. She wanted to tell him the truth about everything.

Her mind was shouting at her, warning her, telling her to resist and fight.

Inside her mind, a battle raged, and it felt like she was going to lose when she realized what would happen if she told the truth.

If I tell the truth, Levi dies…

Whatever had been overcoming her mind was replaced with her own will and desires.

“I… I found another house with bodies while searching for food or items to sell. I came and told Mr. Miles as he told me to,” Grace replied, her words coming faster than she could believe. “We arrived at the house. Miles and two others went inside. We were ambushed… seven men in dark cloaks and masks set upon us… they killed… butchered them, and left me for dead… I…”

Grace watched as the man stared at her as she spoke. At no point had he reacted to a single word she had said.

“I thought I would die and came here… Mr. Miles always rewarded me for telling him things… I… I have nowhere else to go and–”

“Enough.”

The tone of the man’s voice cut her off, and he motioned to one of the two men behind him. The young man came up to him and leaned forward, listening to what the officer told him.

A grunt came from the younger man, who turned and ran back to the house where most of the guards had run out of.

“Can you still walk? Can you lead a group to where this happened?”

Squeezing her shoulder, she was holding a bloody cloth while keeping her other hand pressed against the wound in her side she had wrapped with her shirt. Grace winced and nodded.

“I’ll be slow, but I can,” she replied meekly.

He nodded and glanced at the men around him. Using his finger, he began to point at men.

“You four, go with her and Knight Michael. Return with their bodies.”

“Only four?” Grace asked, squinting her face at his words. “I saw seven… what if there are more… what if they kill me fo–”

“Silent!”

His words made her head almost snap back. It carried a weight she had never felt before from someone. She saw him frown as his eyes watched her. She tried to appear timid and afraid.

He let out a sigh and a deep grunt before shaking his head.

“Michael, take six men with you. I want you all back within an hour, and I want a report, do you understand?”

The man behind him nodded and banged his fist against his chest.

“As you command, Lord Knight.”

The old man nodded, never taking his eyes off Grace.

“Someone bandage her quickly and give her more water. We don’t need her bleeding out or dying on us.”

He turned sharply on his heel and moved toward the guard house the other man had run into.

“And someone give her a coin!” he shouted after a few feet.

The young man with those deep blue eyes moved forward toward her. He moved so smoothly it looked like every step took no effort.

He bent down before her and smiled.

“You’re a brave girl, and Grimdon blesses you for doing what was asked of you.”

He reached into a pouch on his hip and pulled out a coin. Taking Grace’s hand off her shoulder, he smiled and pressed it in her palm before closing it around it.

Grace watched as he leaned close to her ear. Her skin itched as he touched her, almost burning. When he whispered in her ear, his breath felt like nails raking across her skin.

“Hide that coin. Each of these men will gladly kill you for it.”

He stood up and began barking orders at those who were to join him and the others who needed to return to their station.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, Grace opened her right hand slightly and immediately clenched it shut.

A GOLD COIN!

Her mind couldn’t believe it, but she knew what it was the moment she saw it. There in her hand was five times what she had taken from Sergeant Miles. That single coin could feed her entire house for more than she could imagine.

Why? Why would he give this to me? Surely he knows…

Then, the realization set in. The truth of what that Knight had done.

That bastard! I can never spend this coin or show it… no one would have change, and getting to a bank and even getting change would be impossible… I’ll never be able to use this…

She glanced up and saw Knight Michael watching her. He winked at her before turning back to his men again. She saw the briefest smirk cross his face.

Inside her, a fire began to burn.

I may kill him even if no quest requires it.

Lifting her hand to her mouth, she quickly slid the coin into it and swallowed. Anger washed over her as, once again, she was forced to do something she had thought was no longer needed.

Trying to not glare at the man’s back, Grace took deep breaths as she stared at the ground.

And then the sound inside her head came again.

The red window appeared again, and she had to bite down hard on her lips to keep from laughing and smiling.