"It's okay. I'm here to rescue you. I killed the guy who abducted you. He didn't do anything sexual to you did he?" I said.

She shook her head no.

"Ok. Good. Well, I'm going to undo this chain. I got the key off the guy," I said. "Please don't attack me when I undo this."

She nodded. I undid the locks on the chain to give slack and then I undid the shackles. She took off the shackles and rubbed her wrists.

[Good Deed committed! You rescued a woman]

[Rewards incoming]

[Choose an ability]

[Muscle Builder: Build muscles and strength 10 times as fast as a normal person]

[or]

[Team Builder: Members of your party get stronger in whatever they pursue 10 times faster]

[or]

[Experience Plunder: Gain 10% of all future experience and stat increases gained by everyone within a mile radius]

Oh, I immediately knew which ability I was going to choose. Experience Plunder of course! Now this was the golden finger I was hoping for! Besides it's just 10%. It's not like people are losing that much, but I'm gaining immensely from it.

'I choose Experience Plunder.'

[Skill granted. Dark aura increased by 20]

'Of course.'

"Why would you save me? How did you even know I was down here?" she said.

"He had blood under his fingernails. I questioned him about it and knew he was lying, so I figured he hurt someone. He admitted it when we were fighting when he thought he was about to win," I said, lying. I'm not going to tell her about my system. I'm not telling anyone about that.

"Oh. So you actually fought and killed a man, just because you suspected and then knew that he had kidnapped someone? Are you crazy? What about your life? Your safety?" She said.

"I didn't really consider that. Besides there's not much of a life to consider. I woke up in the middle of the street with no memory of who I was or how I got there, and I had no money. I was going to starve to death on the streets, so why not die for a cause?" I said.

"You're a weird one. But a helpful one. I thank you for this kindness. I will soon repay it," she said.

"How?" I said, raising my eyebrow. "Please don't try to repay me in sexual favors because that would make me deeply uncomfortable."

"No! In money and honors," she said. "I am a princess after all. That's why I was abducted in the first place. I'll take you to meet my father and he'll pay you handsomely and probably even give you an award!"

"Oh! That sounds nice," I said, in an uncertain tone. That didn't sound anything like the kings I read about in history. Kings didn't reward people for good deeds. They put them in dungeons. "Are you sure that's what he'll do?"

"Why wouldn't he? You saved my life!" she said.

"Because kings don't usually reward peasants. At best they'll just send you on your way and say thank you. At worst, they'll put you in a dungeon or kill you," I said.

"He would never do that!" She said.

'If he did, would you defend me, or would you just watch it happen?' I asked her with Soul Inquiry.

'I would defend you!' Her soul said.

"Ok, let's go then," I said.

I realized this meant I had to follow her out. What I wanted to do was check the basement for a hidden stash of money the baker might have had, but the princess probably wouldn't like that, and I needed to stay on her good side.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Ok," she said. "I'll follow you out."

I showed her the way out. I put the body of the baker behind the counter. She shuddered when looking at it. I opened the front door and let her out, and then locked it behind me.

She guided me this time. We went up a series of stairs and through a series of gates which always let her through once they realized who she was. We made our way to the castle at the top of the hill, overlooking the city.

The guards tried to stop us at first because they didn't recognize who she was. They just thought she was some dirty homeless peasant, but when she raised her voice at them and called them by name, they let us through.

When we got to the throne room, she ran up to the king sitting in his throne and hugging him. She talked with him a bunch. I stayed back so I couldn't hear much but from what I could hear, she just told him what happened and how I'd saved her.

"Sir, what is your name?" The king said when he addressed me. He leaned forward and put an elbow on one knee.

"Tom. Tom Ketchup, your majesty," I said. I made sure to bow. I didn't know the customs here but that's what I vaguely remembered you were supposed to do from history and movies.

"Ketchup? I've never heard of that surname before. Where are you from?" He said.

"I genuinely don't know, your majesty. I woke up in the middle of the street today, dressed like this, and the only thing I could remember was that my name was Tom Ketchup," I said.

I activated Soul Inquiry. 'Can you tell that I'm lying?'

'No. You seem utterly sincere in everything you say.'

Oh yeah, the Absolute Sincerity ability. It made it so everyone believed that I believed everything I said. That was going to be so useful.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Tom. However, for saving my daughter from that dastardly baker, who made really good bread, I will reward you with a sum of money and a medal of bravery. Also, assuming you don't have a place to stay, you can stay in one of the guest bedrooms for now," he said.

A guard came up to the king and handed him a sack of money and a medal.

"Come here, so I can give you the money and place the medal on you," the king said.

"Thank you, your majesty," I approached him. He handed me the sack of money which was far too heavy to put on my belt. Then he put the medal over my head and around my neck. It was a little chunky and heavy, but it fit just fine.

Now I had to figure out what to do with myself. It was still the middle of the day. I couldn't just go into my room and sleep. Maybe there was a place I could get new clothes and an adventurer's guild where I could register as an adventurer.

"There doesn't happen to be an adventurer's guild in this city is there? Also, do you know where I can get decent clothes? I look homeless," I said.

"Yes, you do look quite homeless. But you are homeless, are you not?" The king said.

"Yes, Your Majesty, but I don't want to look like it," I said.

"I suppose that makes sense," he said. "Yes, there is an Adventurers Guild nearby and a decent tailor. Abigail. Please escort our new guest to the tailor and the Adventurers Guild."

"Yes, father," she said. "Come, Tom. I will show you the way."

As we walked away from the castle, I could hear the sounds of guards training in the yard. As I clenched my fist, I realized I felt slightly stronger than just a second ago. And then the next second was the same feeling.

That must have been the Experience Plunder ability at work. I wondered if it was something I could turn off if it got to be too much. I didn't want to be a massive hulk of muscle walking around and getting stuck in doorways.

[You can turn off Experience Plunder's effects whenever you want. You can also toggle off specific effects so that you don't lose out on its other beneficial traits. As to your concern about becoming too large, you can choose how large you get and still gain strength after that without gaining size]

'Really? Well, that certainly eases my concern. Thank you.'

[You are welcome]

I visualized a size I was ok with becoming.

'That's the maximum size I want to be.'

[Noted and input]

'Thanks.'

"So, Tom, do you have a class?" Abigail said.

"A what?" I said. I had seen the class stat on my status screen, but I didn't expect her to know about that.

"A class. It dictates the kind of fighter you would be if you chose to become an adventurer. Everyone chooses one at the age of 18. But you seem a little older than 18 so I figured you must have one by now," she said.

"How do I find out if I have a class? Also, if everyone has a class, wouldn't that make everyone adventurers?" I said.

"You pull up your status screen by thinking 'Status'. And no. Not everyone wants to be an adventurer. It's a very dangerous occupation. And not everyone even has the potential. If your potential is below F tier then you are not allowed to become an adventurer," she said.

"Oh," I said, I closed my eyes pretending to pull up a status screen. I didn't pull mine up because I had already seen it. "Ok, I have it pulled up. It says my class is unassigned."

"Oh, so you haven't chosen a class yet. Interesting. Well, you'll get to choose one at the Adventurers Guild. But first, we need to get you some clothes," she said.

We went to the tailor and tried on different fabrics and cuts of clothes. Abigail ran the whole thing. I wanted to try something more noble-looking, but she said only nobles could look like nobles.

Then I said, I wanted to look like a knight, and she said only knights can dress like knights. We kept doing this on down the list, until she said, "We can dress you like a scholar. No one will object to that."

"Fine, let's do that," I said, exhausted.

She picked me out a form-fitting dark blue robe with red accents and a red cape. I didn't know what scholars dressed like this. To me, I looked like a dark mage, but she thought it made me look handsome, so that's what we went with. The red cape highlighted my dark red hair, she said.

Oh, yeah. I have red hair. I figured it was related to the system naming me 'Ketchup'. It must have thought it was really funny.

[I do, actually, yes]

'Wow.'

After picking out clothes that made me look like an edge lord, we made our way to the Adventurer's Guild. When we walked in, no one was dressed like me. I felt so out of place. There were warriors, rogues, and even mages, but no one was wearing dark colors like mine.

Everyone was dressed in either earth tones like brown and green, or bright colors. I stuck out like a sore thumb. Then again, she wasn't dressed like anyone else either.

She wore a bright pink dress with gold accents. No one else was wearing pink. So I kind of understood why I didn't look like anyone else either. She had weird taste.

We walked up to the front counter and a nice woman with a bright smile said, "How can I help you today?"

"We would like to register as adventurers, and he doesn't have a class yet, so we'd like to assign him one. Checking his potential too would probably be a good idea," Abigail said.

"Ok. Step right over here," the woman came out from behind the counter and walked into the middle of the room with all the adventurers. There was a glowing orb on a pedestal that I hadn't noticed before right in the center of the room.

"Why is it in the center of the room? Couldn't we do this in a more private place?" I said.

"Why would we? This way all the adventurers get to react and judge your class choice!" She said, cheerfully.

"That sounds like a bad thing," I said.

"It's not!" She said, smiling.

"Oook. Let's do this, then," I said. Then I turned to the princess. "Why are you registering as an adventurer?"

"Because my dad never let me before. But he can't stop me if I'm already here, can he?" She said. "Checkmate!" She made some weird hand motions in the air as emphasis to what she said. It made me think she was throwing up some weird fantasy version of gang signs.

"Couldn't he just make you unregister?" I said.

"You can't unregister. Once an adventurer, always an adventurer," she said. She threw up her weird gang signs again.

"Couldn't he just not let you leave the castle?" I said.

"If he did that, I'd beat him up with my magic powers, which I'm going to get," she said, throwing up more weird gang signs.

"Wow. You're a really different person than I thought you were," I said. It was kind of hot, in a goofy way.

"What, did you think I was going to be a normal prissy princess?" She said.

"Uh, yeah. Obviously," I said.

"Well, I'm not," she said, she threw down her gang signs so hard this time that she knocked herself off balance and fell off her heels. She put her hand up and said, "I'm ok!"