CLA.S.S NEUTRAL: Stranger Is Coming

Variants of solution. King's task. Anger.

"Hmm… Your Majesty, could you please provide evidence of their guilt?" I emphasized the word 'evidence', I would always do the same in a conversation with this guy.

"Are the king's words not enough for you?" Ragan grimaced.

"I want evidence that I can touch or see. I also want witnesses and mages of mind to scan their brains. As for the king's word, I can only hear it, but I can neither see nor touch it."

The king grimaced again.

"May I see them?"

"All the evidence is now in the Secret Investigation office. The servants carrying them here will take too long. I'd like you to make a decision much faster."

Do you really want me to act this way? Like you? Without checking the evidence, and not knowing anything about these people, I must make a decision. Normal people don't do that, but I'll let you hear what you want.

"I have three answers. The first is I sentence the first three to death, and the rest of them I'll kill myself." A smile appeared on the king's face.

"The second is I'll kill everyone at once, as I don't understand anything and it all infuriates me." The king was very pleased with me.

Well, he certainly didn't expect such bloodthirstiness after my words about the evidence.

"The third one is you need to make the cripple climb to the highest tower about a hundred times without any help. The guy must be sent to clean stables and pigsties for a couple of years. The old woman must be put into a dungeon. The woman must go to the kitchen and peel onions and potatoes for five years without stopping, and the girl… must be put on clothes like the cripple's and be given a kick."

After my words, the king stood up from the throne and intended to continue the conversation a little differently. Fear and horror appeared in the defendants' eyes, but they continued to smile, and the thirst for murder, which I'd felt, didn't disappear.

Reputation with the King of Mernor increases by 100 points!

It meant that Ragan was cruel, and he liked cruelty. I wondered why the word 'king' in the box was capitalized? Had the developers decided that it would be better? However, it didn't matter.

"I see that you are suitable for my task." The king slapped me on the shoulder. "You've passed the ordeal perfectly. I didn't expect it. I didn't think that this ambitious Kurbakht could find someone like me.

You'll be a great successor. Now listen," the king made a quick movement with his hand, and a veil appeared around us. It was a sphere of silence to protect against someone overhearing us. "There are some people who threaten my power, and, consequently, the kingdom of Mernor. I think they are preparing an assassination attempt on me, and the mages are involved in this."

King Ragan offers you the Quest 'Elimination of the threat to Mernor's throne'.

Description: The king thinks that his life could be in danger, which could overtake him, despite the protection of his regalia and royal artifacts. The mages may be involved in this assassination attempt.

Terms:

1) Save the king and Mernor, because the country will immerse itself in chaos without a ruler.

2) Eliminate the head of the Mages Guild, Atark Weyerhold.

3) Eliminate his possible adviser, Wilgerd Gorgor.

4) Eliminate the head of the Thieves Guild, Treff Groff.

5) Eliminate the head of the Merchant Guild, Nargon Karnad.

Optional:

1) Eliminate all who will prevent you and who will help these people, regardless of their titles and status.

2) Determine which of these people the leader is and eliminate him. If there isn't any among them, then find him.

Reward:

+ 500,000 to the Experience

+100,000 gold coins

+5000 to the Reputation with the King of Mernor

Any artifact from the royal treasury

A title of Duke of Mernor

Status: Successor of the King of Mernor; answers to any questions if the king knows the truth.

Class: unique

Penalty for refusal: - 5000 to the reputation with the King of Mernor.

Accept the Quest: Yes / No?

There are a lot of bonuses, but I don't like killing people. Moreover, Wilgerd Gorgor is Kurbakht's friend. I also don't understand what 'possible adviser' means? So, the king doesn't know whether Wilgerd is alive or not, but he judges by the actions taken against him and compares the information. The king isn't a fool, but such cruelty toward people is unacceptable.

Nargon Karnad seems to be Nars' son and a good man. I'm sure the head of the Mages Guild is also a good person. I wonder why it's necessary to kill the thief. Is he bad? Or am I mistaken? Maybe he didn't share the loot with the king.

"I ask you to excuse me, but I refuse to complete your quest." I didn't care about this man. In this world, I could do anything, and I didn't need to deserve someone's mercy.

This world was different: I had the power to stand alone against superior forces here and win. I felt no reverence for rulers. "However, before leaving, I'd like to say something else. I have a good solution to your problem.

"Let the girl go with her mother and grandmother since they aren't killers. Give the promised reward to this man and take him to the city. The cripple needs a life mage who can return his feet.

There's no need to control people with the help of magic, killing them just for nothing. This is disgusting. Their lives are no less valuable than yours, King.

"How dare you!"

"Since I'm right, I can conclude something: your answers to my questions were lies as well as everything you have said. These people aren't killers. You are a liar, and it's impossible to find something true in the oceans of your falsities.

Skill 'Deductive Method' increases, current level: 4

Your Intelligence increases by 1 point

I'd worked well and got two levels of the skill. I had gotten smarter.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll execute you or put you in the most disgusting prison?" Ragan barely restrained his anger.

Reputation with the King of Mernor reduces by 500 points!

"Listen, guy," I decided to play the role of an ancient stranger, but something went wrong. "Do you know how many times I've heard this? I'm older than the moon in the night sky, and you're trying to threaten me, small bastard.

"You're too stupid, damned worm, to think that you are smarter than me. Or do you want to walk in the endless expanses of the Interworld or the Gardens of Death? It has beautiful flowers and always boasts with them." I didn't understand what I was saying, as if someone was speaking instead of me.

"Bas—" the king tried to interrupt me, but I shut him down.

"SILENCE! I don't allow you to speak!" My voice bounced off the walls and intensified many times. The king fell silent. "You took a place that you weren't supposed to take, but it won't last long. No one will help you avoid punishment. No one. Not even your patron.

"Now I am leaving as I don't want to deal with a dishonest liar, mocking and scoffing at those who can't fight back." I walked toward the exit, but the feeling that I hadn't said everything I needed to stopped me. "If just one of these people dies, I'll kill you. I'll tear off your head and throw it into a cesspool, but you won't die, and you will suffer for at least a thousand years. Don't forget to do as I've told you."

The king was clearly shocked, and his eyes were full of fear.

Hmm, why am I so cruel? However, I do really want to tear off this monster's head. The king deserves death, an agonizing death. Such a monster mustn't have the right to be a king.

The doors opened easily. Kurbakht was standing there.

"What do you think?"

"This is a brute, not a king. He doesn't deserve to rule people."

"I'm glad to hear it," Kurbakht's outward placidity cracked, and he took a deep breath when he heard my answer. I seemed to hear a terrible burden fall from his shoulders, loudly crashing to the marble floor.

Reputation with Kurbakht increases by 500 points! Status: Friendship

"By the way, the crown is rather strange. Could you tell me everything you know about it?"

"Hmm... it's really strange, but no one knows anything about it. They say that the first king found it in the city, and he started wearing it as a symbol of good luck. When he put it on, he won any battle, and sometimes he completely avoided it with diplomacy.

He was always lucky, like his ancestors, right up to the last king. I'll answer your question, although I think that you've already guessed."

He was clever: questions appeared in my head, and he answered them a couple of seconds later.

"Ragan was able to take it when the king removed it.

"However, there is a problem here. Only the first king's blood relative could wear the crown. Ragan isn't one, therefore, there are two options.

"Either the crown that he wears is a masterfully made copy or a very powerful illusion. The first option is unlikely, since no one has ever found such material from which the crown is made, but I don't dismiss it. Sorry, but that's all I know."

"Okay, then I'll probably take a walk around the city. I need to relax a bit."

"Be careful. The king doesn't like it when something goes wrong. Visit Nargon Karnad: he wants to thank the man who helped find his father's murderer."

"Haven't you told him about Eleya?"

"She isn't a killer, but that monster is who made the girl do it. So I didn't lie to Nargon when I told him about his father's fate. Thank you for showing me what justice looks like."

"That's okay. Where can I find him?"

"Here." He pointed a finger at the map. A shining dot and the note 'Merchant Guild' appeared there immediately. "Don't wander around the city for too long; I need to talk to you."