CHRONICLES of a PC Gamer Stuck Inside an RPG (Book One: Duelist)

Chapter 11 - The Watch

The cat girl's whiskers twitched when her inhuman eyes reached mine. "You're a real storm bringer, aren't you, Lawrence?" she said with amusement.

"Move aside!" a male voice yelled out from the crowd. The gathered onlookers quickly parted, and a group of a dozen soldiers appeared. They were well equipped, with some soldiers wearing studded leather and others wearing chain mail and carrying shields; each man had a sword, mace, staff, spear, or bow. Apparently, the Watch had arrived. "What happened?" a heavily armored soldier asked. The man had dark brown eyes, a beak nose, and a narrow face. He had the demeanor of a hawk.

I pointed my finger at the fallen man. "I caught this man trying to pickpocket me; he then attacked me with his sword," I explained. I pointed to the large blood stain on my tunic above my right shoulder as proof. "He stabbed me right there."

"I noticed the fight while walking down the street and decided to intervene before either combatant was seriously injured," Kalistra said. "I only knocked him out," she added while pointing her scabbard at the thief on the ground.

The leader of the Watch nodded in approval. Street fights often ended in needless death. Death should only be administered by the Watch or the Executioners, not the rabble here on the street. He caught a glimpse of the specially adorned scabbard. Recognition of the symbols caused the man to examine the cat girl more closely; he recognized her as the star pupil and prodigy of the prestigious Butterfly School of Swordsmanship. A shiver crept up his spine at her presence but the seasoned soldier kept his calm demeanor for the benefit of the onlookers. "You both need to come with me. You are required, by Law, to give official statements to our scribes of this incident. This man will be tried by the People's Court based on an examination of your statements." He secretly prayed to God that the cat girl will voluntarily submit to the Watch; he had a wife and two kids to support.

"But I'm wounded," I reminded the officer while pointing at my shoulder again.

"We'll have a healer deal with it at our offices," he replied dismissively. The wound was barely a scratch in his view. But considering that the target appeared to be a nobleman, the complaint was understandable. Realizing that the cat girl would never jeopardize this man's life due to her Honor, the leader decided to take advantage of his presence next to her.

I heard the officer whistle and the guards immediately surrounded Kalistra and me, effectively preventing us from leaving. I had no interest in getting into trouble with the Watch and thus, I decided to comply. "We will be happy to give official statements at your office," I smiled politely. I may as well try to save face publicly by suggesting that our compliance was voluntary. Once I agreed to leave with the Watch, a pop-up appeared. It read, "+2 Reputation. +4 XP."

I had totally forgotten about the game's reputation system. I admit that when I played the Merlin game, I focused more on dungeon crawling to rapidly raise my character level. I never bothered to check my reputation score. Now that I was forced to spend more time within the city, or at least until I was strong enough to dungeon crawl, I need to pay more attention to my Reputation. Otherwise, I could find myself locked in jail and rot there for the rest of my life.

While the leader was telling the crowd to disburse, I temporarily turned my attention back to the issue of reputation. A high reputation had a number of benefits. First and foremost, it helped relieve a bit of the negative effects of a low Charisma attribute, such as mine. Second, when negotiating with merchants, a high reputation could result in a price discount on merchandise. Third, a high reputation was a people-magnet and drew more potential henchmen and followers, as well as party members, to your cause. Fourth, certain in-game quests had a reputation requirement, whether that reputation was positive (famous) or negative (infamous). Finally, a high reputation was absolutely essential for someone seeking the Crown. Thus, increasing my personal reputation was added to my growing mental to-do list.