With these thoughts in mind, I did not realize I had already gotten close to the tower used as the city's jail.

“Who’s there!?”

Two soldiers stepped from the shadow and blocked my way. I greeted them bravely:

“Hello! I am looking for sergeant Tuxson! I need to talk to the prisoner.”

One of the soldiers recognized me:

“Lady Cala! Sergeant Tuxson is not here. He is in the market. Some trouble has been reported there, again.”

From the tower, I heard a familiar voice:

“Cala, Cala! take me out of here!”

I saw him at the jail’s window. He was not enjoying the stay behind bars. I yelled back:

“What happened?”

My fears were immediately confirmed.

“I wanted to test the new rogue!”

“To test her?”

I should not have asked. Stupid rhetorical question and the answer would only worsen everything, but you cannot absorb your words back.

“Yes, I ordered her to kill a couple of spawns to show she is worth.”

I knew it.

A soldier growled with an angry voice:

“Take care what you say!”

I stated the obvious.

“You cannot kill people in town!”

I did not know what else to say. I refrained from adding 'you noob' and/or 'idiot', but it stayed on my tongue.

He protested, making it certainly not better.

“What the hell, no people, only spawns. She just had to show the willingness to do it; that's what the test calls. She should have put an arrow in her bow without hesitation and eventually asked me if now or later. Instead, she just said no and left. She is not worth the contract! Tell her she can go back!”

Oh fuck, he does not even know the consequences of his test.

Besides, this is a role-playing fucking game. You cannot talk like this in front of the spawns. If you are lucky, they might ignore such statements, but it did not happen this time. A soldier approached the window.

“And what are you, man? What are you!?”

“I am a player, not a spawn, you spawnshole!”

Ow. Obviously, he was a bit manhandled by the guards and showed his displeasure. A bit? OK, maybe too much. This is a rough border town. He is probably new to Mephi hardcore and never had a problem with the guards before.

Meanwhile, the conversation between the guard and him continued to escalate.

“A player? What is that? Are you a kind of a devil? Do you confess you are not a spawn? You will be burned for this, not hanged, devil!”

“Ha, ha, this makes the shit much better. Cala is a player too; try to burn her!”

What on Earth does he do? This here is a role-playing game; what the fuck! Kid! I sighed.

The soldier turned to me. I only made the sign with a finger: 'he is nuts' and turned away. I don't want to start a fight and destroy my reputation with the faction. This town is no buccaneer town where you can do stupid stunts as people can do for recruiting in chapters 3 or 4. If he does not like it, he should leave the game, but mister Spartacius, his character, will stay in prison. I don't think he can make a complete logout to remove his character from the game whilst in prison. Or, if it works, that may be seen as an escape from prison.

Noobs do not understand that Mephi is the most realistic game ever; this is its motto. You need to live it; it is not only playing. This is hardcore Mephi, not a comfortable version for beginners!? Noob, complete noob. The story with Ayra was sweet, yeah, we saved that NPC from being captured, and we freed those poor villager NPCs, but this?

OK, he said he did not want her to do it but just for her to show willingness. How can I use this, what can I present to the sergeant to exonerate the noob? Or at least only fine him?

And that idiot merc who tries to kill herself! Oh, well. Her first contract, the first day and she refuses to fight. You get only trouble with these noobs who try to play Mephi-hardcore as if it would be a cheap history or adventure game.

Damn interface not working, and I cannot explain these things. Where is that fucking group chat? I will not ask him about the bug with the guard here; these NPCs seem too aware...

Well, first I cannot leave, second I spent some good hours with him before, he is not stupid. I just need to keep in mind that he is a kid. What example do I give? I am not the kind to let somebody down at the first difficulty; I think I'll give him another chance… not everything is yet lost; I'll try to save him, but if it blows up… how far should I go to save him?

“Cala, Cala, take me out of here, blow out these walls. I want out! You can do it! What the hell!”

Speaking of blowing up, he is making a noise, certainly not helping.

Fuck, a thought came suddenly to my mind:

“What did you drink with the raid gang?”

“What did I drink?”

“Yeah. Did they give you something to drink, or did you order drinks from the innkeeper?”

“Well, we ordered from the innkeeper, then Torcius took out a special ale. I think it was Meritaerum or something like this”

“Meritaerum or by another name Merityrhum...”

“Ahm. Possibly. Why?”

“You idiot, you got drunk! Merrymaking rum.”

“That's only for fun! It's true that I moved like a drunkard, but I cannot get drunk?”

“Oh yes, you can.”

“But the system...”

“Special ale! That's rum! It is a kind of a debuff. They made fun of you and gave it to you. Now stay quiet there; I'll try to talk to the sergeant; I think he is in the market. I will be right back.”

OK. I have the solution with the sergeant. I can tell that he was given some crazy-making drinks, not the ordinary drinks from the innkeeper. This should work. Just another drunken idiot spewing nonsense.

What I said was only partially true. His character had moved like a drunkard, but his mind was completely clear. What he did, he did by himself, but I need this excuse for the sergeant, and the kid does not understand that he needs to play his part. How can I explain it to him without the group chat?

Besides this, the stupid NPCs take the whole conversation too seriously. This is another bug. They should ignore his awkward comments. Anyway, I was happy to see that there was a chance to save the situation... if he would stop aggravating it.

Relieved, I saw Alice coming toward me. Our eyes met, and I knew she was successful. At least this works correctly, the deep understanding between my merc and me. Nobody died, so I had good chances to convince the sergeant to free him on bail or even to drop the charges on him. Good that I took some gold. A couple of coins should make him change his mind.

We walked towards the market silently. I saw that two soldiers were following us at a distance. I looked at Alice, and she nodded; she saw them too.