Ragen had befriended Butler, or more so, Butler had befriended Ragen. The man had enthusiastically introduced himself at the Soldier Academy, having searched for the elusive child player. Despite Ragen's initial fears of getting beaten up by a stranger, the man happened to be a gentle person, a valuable source of information too.

He helped the boy train for a time and then talked to him about the world war. About how the western Hurdland, eastern Amaratsu and the island nation of Churash all battle for control of the world map.

Currently Hurdland was regrouping after a major defeat by the Amaratese forces in a southern region called The Sands, a massive desert, while also pushing against Churashi raiders on an island off the eastern coast of their motherland. Amaratsu seemed to be holding position on the border of Hurdland's outer most territory, while their interactions with Churash were not widely known at all.

The subject of Ragen's appearance, his apparent youth, had not been discussed, though he did expect it to come up in the future.

It was finally a great introduction to the game, and Ragen was enthused with the politics and stories of military manoeuvring. This soon fell short when Butler seemed more concerned about Ragen's lack of quest experience, of which he had none. Thanks to this other Soldier, Ragen was now taking part in his very first quest.

Butler had explained to him the merits of accepting these tasks from NPCs that lingered in the cities and towns of the world. Supposedly a great source of experience in order to ready oneself for advancement in a chosen Job Class. This quest came from a fairly wealthy family in the centre of the city whose family heirloom, a bronze statuette, had been stolen by thieves.

Ragen and Butler had met up with the mother of the family, a Lady Tarbuck, and her two sons Jeremy, the elder son, and Roger, the younger. They were aware that the thieves had a hideout in the forests to the north of the city, and wished for the two Soldier's to find the location and take back the heirloom. Simple enough, according to Butler. Ragen was not so sure, but this was a learning experience after all.

Increasing the intrigue, the mother handed the two an enveloped letter. They opened it when in private. It read: “My darling sons are too soft to understand, but my family's honour must be preserved. I will double your reward upon the deaths of those who have wronged us. Bring back what is mine, and proof of the bloody deed, and you will not go wanting.'

It was a troubling request. Ragen had not yet seen battle, let alone had to kill a person. Not only that, but there were no clues from Lady Tarbuck or her sons on how to find the robbers. It took the better part of the day examining the Tarbuck estate and the surrounding area for some sort of lead. It was only when they found footprints at the foot of the Tarbuck home's back windows that they had a lead. One impression in the ground had a single oak leaf pressed into it, though none of those trees were in the area. Ragen deduced that the leaf must have come from afar.

The two would-be detectives found themselves traipsing through a dense oak forest that Butler had led them to outside of town. How they were to find the thieves here was lost to them, but a chance meeting with a group of foresters became their greatest help. The working axemen had sighted unruly looking men gathering in a particularly dark part of the woods. Ragen found this to be too much of a coincidence, as if the game itself was throwing them a bone. They followed the given directions and did their best not to get too lost in the woods.

The walk was long, Butler was talking about his plans for the future when Ragen struck up the subject of the man's job choice. He was now aware that there were other job classes, and wished to know why Butler chose to be a Soldier.

'I picked it because it's the most flexible job. I can use any weapon, but I get a bonus to my damage using swords, bows or spears. Plus, it's the easiest to level up.' He looked at Ragen with a matter of fact expression. 'And you know, we're the most important and valued Job Class. We make up the bulk of every army there is. Without us there's no winning any war.'

'I understand the versatility of the class, I think it's very good.' Ragen responded. 'But I wish I knew more. I've tried finding out what I can on the web, but-''

'Let me stop you there.' Butler approached him. He was much taller than Ragen and his presence seemed quite intimidating at such a close proximity. 'I'll say this once to you, because I'm breaking the rules here too. Only because no one else is around. People hate, hate, anyone breaking character and meta-gaming.'

'Breaking character?'

'You're supposed to be role-playing a character, your character can't know things from outside of the game. Not only that, but your character can't know things that the player has learned on the outside, they're supposed to be separate from each other. What happens in the game, stays in the game. And what happens in the real world, stays in the real world. For the most part anyway, you can relax about it with me.'

'That explains why I couldn't find out a lot, and why I only knew about one Job Class.' Ragen shook his head to himself. 'Even the game's tutorials only teach you about the Soldier skills. If I'd known, I'd have learnt about the others.'

'You don't need any others.' Butler continued to walk with Ragen in tow. 'You get to see all of the action when you're a Soldier. And our greatest warrior is a Soldier. The Field Marshal.'

Ragen could not agree, at least when it concerned himself. He was a child, a terrible choice when he could have given himself the body of a strong adult. His size and strength would be better suited to something else. But Ragen always played a character true to himself.

In any game, if possible, he designed an avatar based of his own body type and played a character that was essentially himself, his own personality. He adored fictional game worlds and the lore, but was terrible at acting in any other role but as himself. This was a hindrance in The Law of War, as despite the ability bonuses a person's Job Class provided, the physical capabilities and skill of a player in the real world, transferred over to this one, and Ragen was not very physically adept on the outside, so other Job Classes may have offered him an advantage, or at least a boost.

'I know...' He feigned agreement, but was still very interested in other things. 'But what are the rest of the Job Classes?'

'Why do you need to know that?' Butler seemed almost insulted, or at least irritated for some reason.

Ragen was taken aback, he felt that Butler was going to be less than forthcoming on this subject. A stark contrast to how he had been when they first met the session before. His heart was beating, nervous. He had to think fast, as for some reason this was a sore subject. 'If I'm going to be the backbone of an army, I think it makes sense to know an enemy that might be made up of other classes.' Ragen coughed. 'You know, for strategy.'

Butler was quiet, but Ragen noticed his shoulders relax. He spoke as if his irritation had never shown itself before. 'Do you know about the advanced Soldier classes? Swordsman, Bowman?'

'Yes.'

'Then I'll tell you what others I know.'

'You don't know all of them?' Asked Ragen.

'I don't know. I might know all of them or very few of them. There's not much information about all of the classes, you learn from experience or word of mouth.'

'OK.'

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Butler continued. 'There are the Squires, who can level up to become a Knight, then the Knight can level up to become a Shield Breaker, or a Defender, which is an elite class.'

'What's an elite class?'

'Super powerful.' Answered Butler. 'Amazingly hard to level up to, so most people don't even try. Elite is just a title that people used, then it stuck.'

'How many players have reached an elite class?' Ragen was intrigued.

'I only know of two. Commander Arkright, Hurdland's Surpreme Leader's bodyguard. He's a Defender. Then there's Princess Ashara, an Overheater.'

'What does an Overheater do?'

'I don't know the details, but I've heard that they can turn their entire body into fire. So hot that you'd melt just by standing close to them.'

'Have you ever seen her?'

'No... Anyway, after the Squires, you have Scrappers, they can become a Grappler. They're all about unarmed fighting, and they can level up to becoming a Wrestler or a Striker. You have to become a Scrapper in Holta on Trine, so I'm surprised you never found out about them sooner.'

'I may have seen some of them fighting, but I...' Ran away? I can't say that. Ragen remembered the first bout of violence he ever saw in the game. Nothing like the highly choreographed violence he had seen in other games.

Butler hardly heard Ragen over his own talking. 'Then you've got Pistoleer's, who use guns. They can become Riflemen, and then Cannoneers.'

Guns? Fire magic? Why doesn't Butler seem impressed by any of these? Ragen was certainly impressed by the variety.

'Then you've got Druids, they're all about nature and talking to the animals. I don't know much about them. I don't think anyone does. After that I know about Traders, players who make money from trading I guess. I think they get discounts from shops. They can advance to Makers, and then Blacksmiths or Gunsmiths. Then I've heard about Medicine Men, who can heal people, and Spiritualists, who can power up people in a fight. I've never seen them. And then there are Climbers, people who get buffs to climbing, and can advance to Jumpers, who can jump really high.' Butler faced Ragen and shrugged. 'That's all.'

That's all? Ragen held his tongue. I could be a gun user? Or use fire magic? Or jump and climb really high? I would have chosen any of those to give me an edge... Now I'm stuck with a short sword swung by my short arms, I'm useless...

'Think you can come up with some strategies with that info?'

Ragen took a second or two to process what was said, his head swimming. 'Uh, yeah, I guess so.'

Butler heard the low tone in his voice. 'You're not worrying about being a Soldier are you? I told you, Soldier's are the best.'

'No.' Ragen lied. 'I'm just taking it all in.'

'Cool.'

The conversation died there. The two walked and walked in the direction that the foresters had pointed them in. It was half an hour before they came across a clearing, a moss covered section of ground, a small wooden shack with a straw thatched roof sitting on the furthest side from Ragen and Butler. Butler motioned for Ragen to crouch and take cover while he crept up to the tree line and then back. 'This has to be the place, hidden all the way out here.'

Butler seemed confident, but Ragen needed to know more. He crept to the edge of the clearing himself and took a look. Though Butler whispered for him to return, he decided to pretend that he didn't hear. The sky was becoming dark and any small details that Ragen wished to see and analyse were hardly visible at all. What he could make out were the dark and dirty windows on both sides of a rotten looking door. The place was quiet, apart from some birds chirping above. Ragen crept back to his partner. 'It doesn't look like anyone's there, but who knows?'

'We should take the chance while it's quiet and break in, find the heirloom and get out.' Butler was keen.

'We could, but we never know what's inside.' He thought for a moment, handling the short sword at his hip with his left hand. It hadn't become a comfortable part of his attire yet, the weight feeling strange to him. The old looking leather armour he had been given at the Soldier Academy was decent enough, but the greying black rags beneath left a lot to be desired. 'We should wait and see if anyone shows up. This could be the wrong place and we might cause more trouble than we're after.' Wait a minute... Ragen thought to himself. I'm worrying about causing a ruckus when it's just a game? The game world was catching Ragen off guard with its realism, he was naturally considering consequences as he would in his own life.

'I don't know... This could be our chance.' Butler chewed his bottom lip. 'You're new to this, you should listen to me.'

Ragen sighed but gave him the benefit of the doubt. 'OK, I'll follow your lead.' He motioned for Butler to show the way.

'Let's go!' Butler strode out of cover, forgetting any stealth, and made his way out of the trees and across the mossy clearing. Ragen followed more cautiously. The older Soldier made directly for the door of the shack, he reached out his hand to push the door but then stopped. 'It could be booby trapped.'

'Is that a thing in this game? Traps?'

'Everything's a thing in this game, I think...' He slid to the side of the door and pushed his back to the face of the shack. 'Let's see.' Reaching over, he pushed the door gently, it was unlocked and opened up a crack. Nothing happened.

'Is it safe?' Asked Ragen, standing what he considered a safe distance away, which was near enough on the other side of the small clearing.

'Looks like it.' Butler stepped to the door and pressed both hands to it, opening it completely. Then came the bang.

Ragen dived instinctively to the ground, all but inhaling the moss. There was a muffled thud, the sound of something metallic too. When he eventually lifted his head, his eyes darted to the doorway and to his companion who was prone in front of it. 'Butler?' He called out while scrambling to his feet. 'Butler!' Ragen half ran half crawled to the body before him. The man was on the ground, eyes staring up at the ever darkening sky. In his hand was the hilt of a shattered long sword, nearby was the other half of the broken blade, cushioned on the moss. 'Butler, are you OK?' Ragen shook him, then looked to the doorway but couldn't see anything within the shadowed shack, then shook Butler again. 'Butler!' He pounded on the man's shoulder.

'I'm OK.' His eyes were wide. 'I'm OK, I'm OK.'

'What the bloody hell happened?' Ragen pulled Butler up to a sitting position.

'You know...' He looked Ragen in the eyes. 'I have no idea.'

'Bloody hell.' Ragen stood up and approached the door. He stood to the side of the frame and peeked his head in through the doorway. Though dim, he could make out what was inside. Nobody, only furniture, and the pistol hanging from the ceiling and pointing at the doorway, with cordage wrapped around the trigger and cleverly wound around various beams and posts, finally attaching to the inside of the door.

'It was trapped.' Ragen turned back to butler who was brushing himself off. 'How did you survive?'

'I had my sword drawn, it must have hit the blade. Well it did, my sword's broke.'

I don't remember you having that sword drawn at all. 'OK.' Ragen leant the threshold, not daring step into the single room shack fully. 'We should probably search the place quickly, that bang might bring someone back here.' He looked around for their objective, but could only make out a ring of metal at the centre of the room, reflecting what little light there was from outside. A trapdoor maybe?

Butler did not answer.

'Butler?' Ragen glanced behind him and saw four shadows standing in the clearing. One was Butler, a knife at his throat. The second was his hostage taker, a grubby young man, bare chested with woollen trousers. The third could be said to be the other man's twin, only much cleaner looking. The fourth was a familiar face, the youngest of the Tarbuck sons. Jeremy or Roger was it? He could not think of what to say. Does your mother know you're out this late? That was his first thought, but all that came out of his mouth was: 'What the bloody hell?'

'I did not think you would survive my little trap.' Roger said quite calmly, until his temperament changed explosively. 'The family fortune is mine!' He said quite angrily. Then he charged Ragen, dagger at hand.

Ragen backed away but stumbled into the door frame, his hands fumbling for the sword at his side, he was too little practised. He tripped and fell, all the while Roger's dagger was flashing about him. He knew he was being killed. Knew he should fight back and defend himself. He was trying to think of some way to act, but all that came to mind was “relax when you fall!”