"Well now, what's this?" sneered the leader of the group of horsemen. "A kid heading towards the mithril mountains? Deliberately? Looks quite well dressed, too."

  The sneer was a good one, well practised and self-assured. I'd seen an inferior version on the face of John often enough to know what it was about: it was the sneer of someone who was in a position of superiority and was enjoying it. John had been a big fish in a small pond, but this guy was playing in a different league. His sneer proudly proclaimed that he could do whatever he liked to me, and there was no-one and nothing with the power to stop him.

  There were a dozen of the men in total, each wearing identical chain-mail and open-faced helms. They each carried an identical halberd, with short swords sheathed at their belts, and wore white tabards stamped with a coat of arms that displayed crossed mining tools with a lump of white ore between them. Even the horses had metal helmets. Quite ornately carved, too.

  Soldiers of the local count, no doubt.

  "Aren't you going to answer your betters?" needled another of the horsemen. "Or do you need to be taught some manners?"

  "Yes, I am headed to the mithril mountains," I agreed, feeling it would be ill advised to admit that I had no idea what the mountains in the distance were called, and hence had no idea if I was actually heading to the mithril mountains.

  "It's nice to see that the new generation of youth know their place," nodded the captain. "If you're so eager to join the excavation, perhaps we should take you the rest of the way."

  "I wouldn't dream of imposing," I said. "I'm perfectly happy to walk."

  The captain guffawed. "It's been a while since I've spoken to someone so... composed," he admitted. "A brave one, aren't you?"

  "Not really," I said. I meant it, too. My entire adventure was based around running away. How could I claim to be brave?

  "Hey... Captain," spoke up another of the group.

  "What?"

  "He has [Murderer II]."

  The captain's eyes narrowed, while I frowned at the soldier who had spoken. Some sort of appraisal Skill? He obviously hadn't seen everything, or else [Murderer II] would not have been the part he focused on. It was literally the final item in my ridiculous Status. It would make sense if a group of soldiers had someone with Skills that could identify possible criminals, so maybe there were appraisal Skills around that could detect certain Marks.

  I'd never actually looked up the description of [Murderer II]. Not really the best moment for it, but if they were going to call me out on it, it would be best to know what they were talking about.

  Not much changed from the first version, then. Although, I did note that it said 'sapient, non-monstrous beings' rather than the far more concise 'humans'. What other sapient, non-monstrous beings were there?

  "Curiouser and curiouser," said the captain. "A mass murderer? You must have only just unlocked."

  "He's carrying weapons, but [Danger Sense] doesn't think much of him," spoke up another soldier.

  This was bad. Even if none of them had a Skill that let them see my full Status, between them, they seemed able to collect enough snippets of information to get a decent read on me.

  "Some peasants thought my clothes would look better on them than me," I said, shrugging as if it was no big deal. "I convinced them otherwise."

  The captain's eyes narrowed further. "Liar. Anyone can see those clothes don't fit. I think it's more likely the opposite. You decided some villager's clothing would look better on you. The only question is whether you decided that before or after they were dead."

  "I'm afraid I can't offer any evidence either way," I said.

  "What level are you?" he demanded.

  "Eight," I answered. It wasn't a lie; just a half-truth. Literally. I'd simply only told him half of the digits.

  "Hmm..." he said. It was a very deliberate 'hmm', and I couldn't help but feel that this entire conversation was not boding well.

  To be fair, the bodes had been distinctly unwell from the moment the dust kicked up by their horses had appeared on the horizon.

  "You're coming with us," he declared. "Corporal Leeroy. He can ride behind you."

  "Uh... I wouldn't want to impose," I said. "I'm fine with walking."

  "Oh, it's not an imposition at all," smirked the captain, as the soldier who must have been Corporal Leeroy trotted up.

  Yup, the bodes were not merely unwell. They were dead, buried and well on their way to becoming fertiliser.

  I briefly judged my chances of running, but decided there was a better chance of success praying to whatever gods were out there that the ground would open up and swallow the soldiers. Alas, a quick prayer achieved nothing, so I obediently hopped up behind the corporal.

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  "Hmm..." said the captain again, before seemingly losing interest. "Right then, that was an interesting detour, but we must get on our way. Lord Harvent wants the traitors dealt with by sundown."

  "That was some impressive Dexterity," said Leeroy as the group set off at a gallop. "Level eight, you say?"

  I frowned, glad he was facing forward and hence couldn't see my face. It was obvious in retrospect; leaping onto the horse probably wasn't something I should be able to do with the Stats of someone of that level. I should have pretended to need help getting up.

  "I have a Dexterity-heavy build," I lied. "It's my highest Stat," I added, to make the overall construct another half-truth. It was possible these people had Skills that could see through lies, and while I had no idea if fancy wordplay would fool them, I needed every edge I could get. How I was going to get out of this, I had no idea.

  Hopefully, an opportunity would present itself, because I sure as heck wasn't going to be assassinating this lot in their sleep. This was going to take brain power, not muscles.

  "If you don't mind me asking, where are we going?" I asked. They were still heading toward the mountain range, but a different individual mountain from the one I'd been aiming for. There was also the mention of traitors to worry about.

  "Not at all. Ask away. It's no secret, or rather, the publicity is the point. The news will be spread all over the canton by tomorrow. The village of Greystone has declined to supply their mandated amount of manpower to the excavation efforts. Not tried and failed, but refused. Suffice it to say that Lord Harvent is somewhat upset by this rebellious behaviour, and has decreed that an example be made. We're on the way to make that example."

  "Oh..." I answered. So they were on their way to burn down a village for not sending their kids to the slave mines. That was...

  I didn't know what that was.

  I did know that I kinda did want to stab these guys, but I also remembered my lessons from the bandits. I had no chance of victory. Maybe I could get one of them, by dint of pure surprise, but after that I'd be dead, if not worse.

  Since this guy seemed willing to talk, maybe I could extract further information from him. The problem was picking questions that wouldn't seem suspicious.

  "Why are they getting through so many people, anyway?" I asked.

  "Beats me. The mithril mountains have been mined for their namesake for centuries, but it's never been particularly dangerous. The rock is stable, and they don't have problems with the explosive gases that you hear about in other mines. The mithril only occurs in very small nuggets, but it at least has the decency to form along very obvious veins, so it was easy to follow. Digging it was as safe as anything can be with half a mountain between you and the sky. But then suddenly, half a year ago, all this started. Rumour has it they dug up a dragon, and it keeps eating the miners."

  Interesting. This had only been going on for half a year?

  Well, obviously. Their current behaviour wasn't sustainable. That also implied that the count had an end-goal in sight. Perhaps the destruction of the canton was the end goal, to aid in a foreign kingdom capturing the mines, for example, but that wouldn't change the fact that there was an end goal. The count couldn't be expecting to keep taking slaves forever.

  That seemed kinda obvious, now that I thought about it. Yay for raised Reasoning.

  The fact that this soldier didn't know the reason was a little concerning, though. It implied it was something the count wanted to hide. That didn't necessarily mean he'd turned traitor to the kingdom; a bunch of soldiers happy to burn down a village for not sending their kids to die were unlikely to have qualms about betraying the kingdom, as long as the pay was right.

  I had no idea what mithril was, but from context, it seemed like some sort of hugely valuable mineral, like gold. Alas, the way he talked about it made it sound like common knowledge, so I couldn't really ask. Could the 'safe' seams have run out, and the remaining seams were more dangerous? But again, there was the sustainability issue. Perhaps there was a dangerous patch, but they had reason to believe it would grow safe again. I knew nothing about mining, so I had no idea how plausible that was.

  The dragon idea was silly. I didn't know much about dragons, beyond them being one of the biggest and baddest varieties of monster to walk the continent, but that was enough to know that the theory immediately failed the sustainability test.

  "And why was your captain so insistent I come with you?"

  Leeroy snorted. "You kidding? You have any idea how many soldiers and knights have deserted over the last few years? I'd consider it myself, if not for the way it keeps my kids out of the mines. Someone turns up with [Murderer II], an impressive level for their age, and the balls not just to stand up to the captain, but to lie to his face? Welcome to the team, kiddo."

  "Oh..." I said. There wasn't really much else to say.

  I'd tried to bluff my way into the bandits and failed miserably. Here I'd apparently succeeded without even trying. That was... a problem. A different sort of problem to imminent death, but a problem nonetheless. I didn't need my earlier Reasoning boost to work out exactly what was going to happen at the restive village, if the captain was hoping to recruit me into the merry band of marauders. There was no way in heck I was going to cooperate, though, which meant that these soldiers would shortly become a lot less friendly.

  Alas, my Reasoning boost failed to provide me with a way out, and it wasn't long until the band of horsemen had arrived at their targeted village. It was set a short way up the slopes of the mountain, where the barren rock finally gave way to some green—a patch of woodland populated by tall, straight, deciduous trees, which were in the process of shedding their leaves—and like the other village I'd seen, was surrounded by a palisade. Unlike the other village, it was also defended by cheval de frise, a length of sharpened poles pointing outwards from a sturdy-looking wooden frame running in front of the village gate. Between it and the gates, a row of thirty men stood, holding poles that must have been four metres long each, with an assortment of knives strapped to the end.

  One of the soldiers spoke up as we approached. "Captain, [Expert Tracking] says that a large group left the village for the forest a few hours ago."

  "Everyone riding to my left, after them. Bring any women and children back alive," ordered the captain, and six of the twelve peeled off, including the tracker.

  Did they have another one? With its lack of undergrowth and low branches, the forest didn't look like the best hiding place I'd seen, but the trees still limited line of sight, and [Expert Stealth] would give me a decent chance, at least until that tracker returned and was ordered to start looking for me.

  "Are you sure you want to face us with half your number?" shouted one of the men from behind their defences. They were obviously under no delusions as to what was about to happen. The approaching horsemen would have been visible from far away, so they'd had some time to prepare, but that didn't explain the well-made defences. With the state of the canton, they'd probably have known this outcome was inevitable from the moment they defied the count.

  "I would be more than happy to face you alone," replied the captain. "However, a village like yours is a valuable source of experience points, and I am a most magnanimous captain. Therefore, I will share the bounty with my men. I do, however, have an offer for one of you. Which one of you would like a chance to survive?"

  Ah, so that was how he was going to play it. Could be worse, but even so, I'd really rather not be here.