As I exit the small town my alert skill warns me. I quickly spot four figures trying to encircle me. Realizing they have been spotted they stop trying to hide and come out of the foliage near the main road to town. Three guys I have never seen, all heavily armed. One even has a shield and full metal armor. He will be hard to hit with an arrow. The fourth figure hangs back a bit, but even behind the bruises I recognize Daga.

"You do realize that if you try to get payback with the beater of a beatdown you will get in a lot of trouble with the guild." They seem unphased by my comment, I guess lethal force is justified, as these guys are clearly not planning to let me live. Before I get rushed I summon my bow and send arrows at all my opponents.

One at the armored guy's head just to get him to slow down his approach and duck behind his shield. One at Daga, who easily dodge the arrow. The remaining arrows injure the two remaining guys and bring them to a holt as they fend off my arrows. The armored guy eventually bears down on me intending to bury his sword in my unarmored chest.

Storing my bow and summoning a spear just in time, I run him through at the soft section of his armor around his stomach. I abandon the spear buried in the mortally wounded man, and turn to my next two opponents. As I do, my alert skill warns me just in time to dodge an incoming blade aimed at my head, the second blade hits me in the shoulder, but misses anything critical and falls to the ground.

Without slowing down from my wound I summon another spear and position myself to avoid both men attacking me at the same time. Using the blunt sides of my spear both men get knocked out without too much effort. Their movements hampered by injury meant both were no match for myself. A third time my alert skill saves me as Daga tries to backstab me. Using the blunt end of the spear I give her a second beating. Her movements also seem hampered by injuries from her beating yesterday.

With three of the four knocked out I turn to the seriously wounded man. He looks to be dying. I am surprised by how much the thought bothers me. Why should I care about this guy. Is it because he is human like me? I never felt any remorse killing goblins and other beasts. Somewhere along the line I forgot that killing humans is different. Instinctively I analyze his wounds with healing magic and find a lot of internal bleeding, a punctured stomach and too much blood leaving for him to survive for long.

Remembering how I stemmed the bleeding of my own wounds when I was heavily injured I try to replicate the feat, but this guy does not have my regeneration ability. As I try to fix the internal wounds he goes into shock and further ruptures cause more internal bleeding. I am fumbling in the dark, even knowing a bit about the body's anatomy, I don't know how to fix it without causing more damage. His life slips away and it hits me that I just killed a man. Not a beast, but a human being.

The living companions of the dead man start to move. How long did I forgot about them? Luckily this time I did not hesitate in battle, but if I did I could easily die. Humans are far more dangerous than most beasts. Giving each of the living a kick to the stomach, I buy enough time to tie them up with ropes. I put the dead man in my storage. As the adrenaline leaves my body I remember the wound in my shoulder. With a bit of help from healing magic the wound heals in seconds.

With two of the three prisoners unable to walk well, I rope all three together and drag them back to town. I am still shocked by my strength in this world. By time I get to the guild branch, the three prisoners are covered in dirt. The acting chief of the branch meets me outside. "As soon as I left town these guys tried to ambush me." I punctuate the point by summoning the body of the dead man.

Recognizing Daga, the receptionist inspects the men. She uncovers identical tattoos on all of them. "This explains a lot". The tattoos mean nothing to me. "Care to explain?" "The tattoos are those of a criminal gang operating in a city two days ride to the east. It looks like Daga has been working with them as a killer for hire. That would explain why her level is higher than we originally thought."

So Daga grew her level to be higher than mine by killing people. I thought beasts gave the most life force? "What happens now?" My question is directed at her as the acting chief of the branch not as its receptionist. More tired than I have ever seen her she explains that she will need to find someone to execute the men and force a slave mark on Daga. "Would you be able to help?"

"So Daga will lose her guild membership?" I realize it is dumb question as soon as it leaves my mouth. "Yes. For what she has been up to she will be turned into a slave and sold to the highest bidder." I have no idea how a slave mark is done, but if I am going to get used to killing humans, I guess I can help with the executions. The locals might be afraid of reprisals from the rest of the gang.

While Daga is dragged off somewhere, other guild members help setting up a chopping block right in front of the guild branch. The fact that the local lord is not even involved tells me a lot about how much power the guild wields. Less than half an hour later the last man's head hits the mud and rolls over. You really do feel it a lot less the second and third time you kill. Unlike the first one, they were clean quick kills.

As I leave the town for a second time, the heads are displayed on pikes outside the town gate. A warning for any criminal elements to enter the town. No doubt Daga will be pumped for information on the gang which will enable the guild to issue bounties on the members of the gang. Not my concern anymore. I continue on my journey south.