"Burnt our food?" demanded Bishop Cornelius, his friendly nature evaporating as I pulled away from the door and slammed it shut. Thankfully, it had a heavy wooden bar with which I could lock it closed. "What did they mean by that?"

  "Those bandits I mentioned? They were kidnapping children from other cantons to lessen the burden on yours. I was one of their victims. It has since turned out that they were also obtaining large quantities of food from somewhere and providing it to this town. Whether they got it by theft, or trading using the profits they made from selling kids and killing any merchants passing through the canton, I couldn't say. Either way, they're all dead now, so there's not going to be any more food deliveries."

  The bishop frowned, his eyes glowing as he stared at me. Literally. The sclera of both eyes lit up in a faint yellow.

  "You aren't lying. To think I have been living these past months on the charity of evil men. I had believed the food was coming from Sir Leonard."

  "It was. He was the leader of the bandits."

  Cornelius fell into silence for a moment. "... That poor man loved this canton too much," he muttered. "That he would sink to such depths to aid it is... pitiable. Truly pitiable."

  "I agree, but... uh... is there another way out? Actually, why aren't the mob trying to break in?"

  After all, we'd been talking for long enough for the group that had spotted me to rush over and start pounding on the door, but they hadn't. From outside came nothing but silence.

  "They wouldn't dare," said the bishop.

  Of course. I was still in the mindset that the gods didn't actually matter, but they apparently mattered very much and probably wouldn't take kindly to a mob breaking down the door of their temple.

  "That's a relief, but I still need to get out before we're surrounded."

  "You still wish to leave, despite knowing you are safe here? In that case, let me show you to a back door," said Cornelius. "Not that it matters anymore. It seems someone has stirred up the town against you, and now they know you are here. You will not make it to the gates. Even if you escape Greyforge, no matter how fast you are, aid will not come in time."

  "I can be quite stealthy when I need to be," I said. "I can't do anything about my speed, though. Is there really no way to hang on?"

  The bishop didn't answer, simply leading me out of the main hall, down a few dimly lit corridors and to another door, sunlight bleeding in around its edges. Hurrying in front of me, he didn't notice the way I was stripping down to my underwear as I followed.

  "Go," he said.

  "Two seconds!" I answered, as I desperately tried to pull a new tunic over my head.

  I'd worn the first set of clothes I'd stolen continuously ever since taking them, despite the way I had a couple of changes stuffed in my pack. It wasn't as if I'd had the chance to take my time washing. The pursuit notification I'd had earlier was likely from the bandit, who had somehow summoned up a mob after losing track of me. Given how quickly the townsmen had recognised me, and at such distance, I'd bet my clothes were a part of whatever description he'd given. My hair, too, which made me really glad I'd thrown in a coif when I was looting Leo's hut. Maybe that had been some subtle advice from [Expert Stealth] even back then.

  Of course, it was all still too large on me, which was a bit of a tell. Besides, no disguise would help if all the exits of the temple were being watched.

  "Okay, ready," I said, and the bishop opened the door and looked out.

  "All clear."

  "Really?" I asked, surprised. "Not that I'm complaining."

  And with that, I darted out of the temple, crossing the street as fast as I could manage before slowing, standing straight, and walking down the cobbled road as if I knew exactly where I was going.

  Alas, I didn't. And even if I did, how in the hells was I going to get out of the town? There was no way in heck I'd be able to simply walk out of a gate. Even the guard that was loyal to Sir Galahad had mentioned food supplies, and it seemed unlikely he'd be pleased with me if he'd since heard that I was the reason they hadn't turned up.

  I tried not to let any expression show on my face as I continued walking. Through the corner of my eye, I saw a few people hurrying in the direction of the temple, but I didn't dare turn to look at them properly.

  Another group passed, not giving me a second glance. With my ill-fitting clothing and face that must have matched any description they had, they should have done, but [Expert Stealth] continued to bend reality in small ways, cloaking me from notice. As long as I didn't attract attention, and no-one looked too closely, it seemed I was safe.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  I certainly couldn't pass out of the gates without anyone looking closely, though. Nor could I climb the walls; they were too tall and smooth.

  If I walked around town for long enough, perhaps I'd gain another level and could raise [Expert Stealth] to its final stage, but even that wouldn't be enough to leave the town unseen, especially since guards very likely had Skills to negate it.

  Hmm... Everyone I passed was heading in the opposite direction, toward the temple. Was the escaped bandit organising his mob to congregate there, thinking I'd gone there for refuge? Bishop Cornelius had been surprised I wanted to leave. Perhaps the bandit hadn't planned for it, either. In that case, maybe I could use that mob to my advantage.

  I had no chance of fighting my way out, so if I couldn't sneak out, I'd have to talk my way through. What would it take to get the guards at the gates to leave their posts? Or maybe I didn't even need to get them to leave, if I could distract them badly enough. I had the beginnings of a plan, but how things would go in reality was anyone's guess. The gods had told me to sort things out myself, so surely they wouldn't complain if I made use of them a little. I just needed to be sure not to actually lie, because as the bishop's glowing eyes attested, Skills to confirm the accuracy of statements seemed to be reasonably common.

  I chose to attempt the western gate, since I'd never interacted with the guards there and they wouldn't recognise my face or voice. The main gate—a good six metres across—was closed, just like the eastern entrance, but a smaller door was open, guarded by a couple of men. I walked resolutely towards them, doing my best to look like I wasn't the target of a fairly sizeable riot.

  "And where are you off, brat?" asked one of the guards. "No-one goes in or out without a very good reason."

  "For the moment, the where is less important than the where not. Given what's going on over there, I feel it would be safer outside the walls for the next few hours."

  I thumbed backward the way I'd come. That wasn't even a mere technical truth; it was a hundred percent accurate. I sure as heck would be safer outside, and not just for the next few hours.

  "Oh? And what's going on over there?"

  "Can't you hear them?" I asked, completely unable to hear anything untoward myself and hoping that these guards had more points in whichever Stat boosted hearing.

  "There does seem to be a certain... angry... component to the usual town background," said the other guard suspiciously. "What's happening?"

  "Well, you know how the most recent food shipment is late? Rumour has it that a saboteur burnt it all, and now he's holed up in the temple. People are pissed. Maybe even angry enough to smash their way in and drag him out."

  Both guards paled.

  "Sorry, but let me check I heard that correctly. There is a mob organising itself in this town who want to break into the temple?"

  "I saw with my own eyes how someone inside the temple was sufficiently concerned that they closed and barred the main doors, so can you blame me for wanting to put some distance between them and myself? Hopefully nothing will come of it, but... well, why risk it?"

  "He... He's not kidding, is he?" said the other guard, squinting at me. "Why in the hells would they do that?"

  "Maybe they figure there's nothing left to lose?" I answered. "Without food shipments, this town will go to hell within days anyway. Why not go out in style? And if they can get the one responsible at the same time, they'd probably consider that a bonus."

  The pair of guards looked at each other.

  "Fuck this shit," said one. "If there's no more food coming, I'm out of here."

  "You're just going to believe that insane story?" said the other. "This isn't the first time Sir Leonard has been late."

  "The kid believes it."

  "Maybe he's mistaken. We can't just abandon our posts. The count would have our heads."

  "Fuck the count, too. Who's even seen him in the past four months? For all we know, Sir Khris killed him ages ago, and all the madness that's happened since has been that black knight's fault."

  I blinked, never having heard that name before. One to commit to memory, perhaps? No-one else had expressed concern that the count might be dead. Could I extract more information about him without sounding suspicious?

  Actually... There seemed to be something more important to deal with. "Can you smell something burning?" I asked, turning back and peering back toward the town centre. I wasn't even joking. I could smell smoke.

  I could see it, too. A thin rope of black rising from the town centre, growing as I watched.

  Suddenly, a blinding bolt of lightning shot from the clear sky, impacting near the scene of the fire. The thunder rolled over us, rattling windows and shaking up dust from the street even at this distance.

  All three of us spent a few moments trying to blink the stars out of our eyes.

  The pair of guards shared a glance, then fled. I followed out behind them. None of us looked back.

  Well... That just happened. I'd been trying to scare the guards away from their posts with the fear of some sort of collective divine punishment, but I hadn't been expecting it to actually happen. Maybe it hadn't been collective, as such—it was only a single lightning bolt—but whoever it hit was unlikely to be in a position to tell the difference.

  Was that lightning bolt for my benefit, or had someone actually tried to break in? Or, given the smoke, set fire to something they shouldn't have? Maybe it was both, although I thought it unlikely. The gods had explicitly told me to sort things out myself, so why would they help after that? Just a happy coincidence.

  Besides, I'd been doing fine. I didn't need the gods to bail me out. I'd almost successfully talked the guards into deserting! Technical truths seemed to be a weapon as powerful as any sword. I just hoped they never worked out that the person I saw barring the temple door was me.

  In any case, I was out of the town. I was no longer a serf, even if my method of obtaining citizenship was a little non-standard. I was butting up against my next level, and only a few more away from the first growth milestone. All in all, things were looking good.

  Too good, really.

  I peered around suspiciously, but not a single bandit leapt out from behind a rock. Still, I imagined it wouldn't be too much longer before the next thing went wrong.