Note: This chapter has not gone to my editors and events may change before final release. The below is also unedited and in a raw non-polished form.

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Toaby appeared in Midgard again. The same spot he always appeared when being reborn. It was still the middle of the night, but without the trees obscuring the moon, he could see fairly well. It wasn’t as good as daylight, but moonlight was legs above the vast darkness of the forest.

As he appeared, his equipment materialized on him. At least those people didn’t steal my stuff.

Judging by the moon’s position, daybreak couldn’t be more than a few hours away. Rather than attempt to navigate the forest at night, Toaby explored the plains. Rather than exploring aimlessly, he kept the forest to his side. He wasn’t looking for anything specific, but was pleasantly surprised when he found another odalon tree near the forest’s edge.

Throwing his axe a couple of times netted him a handful of the delicious snacks. He did his best to tuck them under his belt, but that forced him to carry his weapons. At least I won’t starve. Annoyed by the lack of a backpack or bag, he pushed on with his axes in hand.

He trekked on for a few hours, avoiding any wildlife he saw, and luckily didn’t run into any wolves. His luck continued to prove positive when he came across a river. Running over, he checked for any signs of life. Water being a key resource for any civilization, he knew he would find Humans if he just followed the water but which way.

In one direction, the water led toward the mountains, and in the other it led directly into the forest. Better to go with the enemy I know rather than the one I don’t. He started walking into the forest, following the river into its depths. He stopped a few moments later when a spotted a lone rabbit drinking from the river.

I need to level up if I’m going to be an effective arbiter and it's just a single rabbit. I can kill a lonesome rabbit. He was pumping himself up but the only thought that kept going through his head was, how can this go wrong? Taking aim, he tossed one of his francisca at his target.

The axe landed in the dirt a couple of inches from the rabbit whose ears went up in surprise. It turned to face Toaby, but only saw the second axe as it split the rabbit in half.

“YES!”

You deal 3 slashing damage to a Wild Rabbit.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Wild Rabbit.

You have been rewarded 5 experience.

“That’s what I’m talking about! Take that, rabbit!” Toaby jumped up and down in joy before running over and grabbing his loot. He touched the corpse and reached out for the only item held within.

You have received Rabbit Meat x1.

Do these little creatures not drop anything other than meat? Seems like a big waste. Shrugging, he tucked the rabbit under his belt alongside his fruit hoping to find a use for it later.

Continuing to follow the river, he had a newfound pep in his step. That pep only increased when he found and killed three more rabbits without harm to himself. He just kept his distance and tossed his axes. He was sad when only one rabbit dropped meat. The other two dropped nothing, but he was overjoyed when he received the following system message:

Congratulations! You have learned the skill Axe Mastery.

Axe Mastery: Who knew all that fumbling around would lead to something useful? If at first you don’t succeed, keep basing an axe against it and eventually something will happen. Provides a 1% damage bonus per skill level.

As long as you provide me some nice skills, mock away, Loki. Following the river for a few more hours, he finally spotted what he was looking for. The top of several tents were sitting in the distance. There were several figures he couldn’t make out from his distance walking about the small community. They weren’t positioned directly on the river, but in a small clearing nearby. Several downed trees sat in a pile to one side.

With a destination in sight, he picked up his pace. As he closed the gap, he could make out additional details. For starters, the tents were made from bound together animal hides. Mostly smaller animals like squirrels, rabbits and fox, but there were some larger hides thrown into the mix. There were less than ten, and each seemed large enough for a couple of people to be inside at the same time comfortably.

When he was still several dozen yards away, someone spotted him approaching. The settlement was now in full panic mode. Most people ran into tents, but three men grabbed weapons and came running toward him. To appear less hostile, Toaby stopped his forward advance.

When the men were about fifteen feet away, they stopped and gave Toaby a once over so he did the same. Two of them were wearing basic cloth clothing while the third had similar leather armor to him. For weapons, they all had crude spears. Spears was a generous word. They were rough sticks with sharp rocks tied on one end. They all appeared to be in their twenties and were in decent shape.

The man in the middle took a step forward and spoke. He was the one wearing armor. He has roughly six feet tall and had similar hair to Toaby. Short, brown and unkempt.

“Who are you and what do you want with us?” The man questioned as he pointed his spear toward Toaby.

Toaby followed the man’s eyes and realized he was staring at Toaby’s weapons. The weapons he was still gripping in his hands because his belt was full. I’m such an idiot. “I’m new and looking for others to join up with. I don’t mean you any harm.”

“Funny coming from a man holding several axes!” A dark-skinned man blurted out.

“Curtis!” The man standing in-front glanced behind his shoulder and the dark-skinned man, Curtis, looked embarrassed.

“Sorry. I ran out of space in my belt with these bunny corpses and fruit, so I had to carry them. I’ll set them down if you set your spears down.” Toaby offered.

“That won’t be happening, sorry. But if you really mean us no harm, you’ll drop the axes.” Their leader responded.

Contemplating his choices, Toaby slowly and deliberately lowered himself to the ground and dropped his axes. “As I said, I mean you no harm. My name is Toaby and I’m new to this world.”

The man pulled his spear back and used it as a cane. Tension visibly leaving him. “My name is Thomas, but everyone just calls me Tom. I’m a hunter.”

“I kinda got that by the whole spear thing.” Toaby pointed up and down at Tom’s spear.

Tom chuckled. “No, I meant that’s my class. This is Curtis, he’s a blacksmith, and that’s Sam, another hunter.” Sam waved when his name was called.

“Oh. I’m an arbiter.”

“Arbiter?” Tom inquired.

Toaby scratched the back of his neck. “It’s like a peace keeper class.”

“You’re a cop?” Curtis blurted out again.

“Sorta.” Just what I need. To be the only cop in a world full of criminals. What the hell was I thinking agreeing to this?

“That’s great!” Sam exclaimed.

“It is?” Toaby asked sheepishly.

“Yeah! This place is like the wild west but with no sheriffs. Our settlement gets…” Sam was excited and talking fast, but a stern look from both Tom and Curtis shut him up.

“It’s possible that we could use someone with your class around here. Do you have any proof of your claim?” Tom retook control of the conversation for his team.

“How can I prove it? I have a few skills to enforce the laws, but I don’t have badge or anything.”

“What kind of skills?” Tom questioned.

I wonder if he’s just trying to get information about my me. It won’t hurt sharing some of it with him, but I think I should keep my lie detecting ability a secret. “Um, I can enforce laws without penalty if I can find a guilty party. I can also challenge them to trial by combat.”

Tom raised an eyebrow. “Without penalty? Not really sure what that means. Trial by combat sounds interesting.”

“Hey, Tom. He’s probably the one the world message was about yesterday.” Sam chimed in.

“World message?” Toaby questioned.

Tom gave Sam another stern look before speaking with Toaby. “Yeah, a world message. You didn’t read it?” Toaby just looked confused, so Tom added, “Click the globe icon in the bottom left of your vision. Normally world messages appear right in your view unless you’re in Helheim at the time the message goes out.”

“Well, I was in Helheim yesterday. Rotten squirrels got me. Let me check the message.” Toaby clicked the designated icon.

Attention inhabitants of Midgard! At last, law has come to the land. An arbiter has been chosen. They have the power to enforce the laws that the Gods set. If you are tired of a lawless existence, search out the arbiter for a better life. And if you are a lawless individual, you should run and hide, for the arbiter is here!

Toaby’s face drooped. Way to lay on the pressure, Heimdall. You do realize I’m level one, right? Scratching the back of his head again. “Yeah. That message was about me.”

“And now were back to the whole, needing proof thing.” Tom rebutted.

Toaby wasn’t sure what to say. He really didn’t have anyway to prove he was the arbiter unless one of them broke the law. That's it! “I think I can prove it.” All thee men looked intrigued. “I can only use it once a day, but I’m able to set the conditions of victory. Here,” Toaby took one of his pelts and dropped it on the ground. “Theft is one of the new laws. This is my rabbit.” He pointed to it and kicked it toward Tom. “Now pick it up and say that you’re stealing it.”

Tom, looking confused, picked up the rabbit's corpse and said, “I’m stealing this.”

“Perfect! Now I just need to activate the skill.” He coughed to clear his voice. “Trial by combat.” He pointed at Tom. “I caught you stealing. If you win, all charges will be dropped if you return the stolen goods. If I win this trial, I’ll drop the charges, but the stolen goods will automatically be returned to me.”

A new message popped up in Toaby’s vision.

You have challenged Tom to a trial by combat for the crimes of theft.

Win: Stolen goods will be returned to their original owner, but the crime will be forgiven.

Loss: Crimes will be forgiven if the stolen goods are returned.

Returning his gaze to Tom, Toaby noticed two things. Tom’s eyes had a distance appearance and his body had a slightly red glow. That’s what someone’s eyes must like when they read a notification, but what's with the glow?

Tom smiled and met Toaby’s gaze. “So you are the arbiter.”

“How do you know that?” Curtis questioned.

“The notification I received. I can accept a trial by combat for my crimes, just as he said, but the first line in the notification says ‘an arbiter has offered you a trial by combat in order to answer for your crimes’. I also got this new debuff that I can’t explain. It says I’ve been marked.”

Attention inhabitants of Midgard! The first crime has been committed since the appearance of the arbiter and the guilty party has been marked! A number of marks are earned based on the severity of the crimes committed. Once the guilty party is brought to justice, or dies, the time penalty related to death will increase by 1 hour per mark. Your actions have consequences, Humans. It’s time for reform!

“How many marks did you earn?” Sam asked.

“Just one.” Tom answered. “Should I accept this trial thing?”

Toaby nodded. “Yeah. You can see the outcomes spelled out. Nothing bad will happen to you, and I’m really curious how the skill works. It should remove your marks when its all said and done.”

Tom shrugged and his eyes went distant for a moment again before a countdown appeared in-front of both of them.

Trial by combat, accepted!

Trial will commence in 5… 4… 3…

When the countdown hit zero, both Toaby and Tom started to vanish in a familiar kaleidoscope of colors. Toaby received one additional message before they disappeared.

Quest updated! New Laws - Number of times a law was enforced: 1/10

I’ll give you this freebie, but no more. Real crimes next time or no quest progress. Sincerely, Heimdall.

Congratulations! You have increased your Trial by Combat skill to 2.

When Toaby reappeared, he was near one end of a large oval coliseum. There were levels of seating cascading upward from the outer ring. The stands started at the top of the twenty foot tall walls. There didn’t appear to be any doors leading into the arena, and no one was sitting in the audience. The only other person around was Tom standing on the opposing side, looking just as confused as him.

A loud voice rang out from an unknown source in the sky. “Fight!”