In The Face Of Adversity, Loyalty Has No Price

After a fast meal in the kitchen, Kary took a good shower. She had been deprived of such luxury for almost a week, forced to wash with wet towels. She then looked into her room and found clean clothes in the wardrobe. It was 10 sets of white shirts and pants with socks and underwear, but she still wore them. Better clothed in guinea pig suits than not clothed at all she thought.

She then walked back to her living room and entered her pod. She laid down comfortably and initiated 'Sword of Fantasy'. With a whirl of white light and the usual sinking feeling, She woke back up in her room back at the town Inn. Her wallet had quickly depleted while she was gone, automatically paying the room she was in.

She got up and walked to the Inn lobby. She checked out and headed for the town square. On her way there she left a message to Anthony telling them she was back. When Anthony saw the message, he quickly replied to her to wait for him. So Kary reached the square and sat down at one of the many benches. She had barely been seated for 2 minutes that she got surrounded by the town guards. Wondering what was happening she slowly got up.

" What can I do for you gentlemen? " She politely asked.

" Are you Wandering Hero? " The man in front asked her brutishly.

" Indeed I am. Were you looking for me? " she replied, getting a bad feeling about this.

" Yes, we were. You are under arrest for the aggression of a merchant. Follow us and don't resist " The guard said, his hand on the pommel of his sword.

Kary looked up his stats.

~City Guard Captain~

Level: 8

Race: Human

Class: Guardian

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 6

Intelligence: 5

Wisdom: 4

Toughness: 15

She guessed the other men were a little lower. She was tempted to fight her way out, but looking at their numbers, Kary wasn't so confident. Therefore she quietly followed them. She was led to the city manor, where she was seated in a fancy looking reading room. A guard stayed with her and she was asked to wait. The City Lord wanted to see her before she was sent to jail.

A little while later, the City Lord entered the reading room. He was a small fat man with nice-looking clothes and a lot of jewelry on him. The typical fat pig with power, Kary thought with a smirk.

" Something funny young woman? " asked the Lord, noticing her smirk.

" No my Lord " quickly answered Kary. She knew she was not yet strong enough to alienate an NPC town.

" Do you know why you are here? " He continued, taking a seat across the desk in front of her.

" I was told you wanted to talk to me. I was also told I was under arrest for attacking the town's appraiser " Kary plainly answered.

" Do you deny this accusation? "

" No, I do not "

" Good! " The Lord said. " Then you do not mind facing the consequences, do you? " he added.

" No, my Lord, I do not "

" Perfect. Then you are to give that spirit pet to my appraiser as compensation. If you refuse, you shall face a sentence of 2 months of prison " The fat man simply said.

" Preposterous! " Kary yelled, getting up. The guard immediately drew his sword and stood behind her.

" I knew you would refuse. But now you have disrespected me. I cannot let that go. I hereby sentence you to death! " The fat Lord said a vicious smile on his face. " MEN! "

With that order, the guards swarmed the room. They were clearly all on standby for this. Understanding her situation, Kary knew she had been framed. She drew her sword and prepared for combat. The guards could not take her sword away since she was a player and they were simply low authority NPCs.

With a growl, Kary charged over the desk, jumped over the fat lord, using his face as a springboard, and jumped through the window. She dropped from the second floor into the manor's garden. She landed with a roll and jumped back to her feet. She ran with all her strength towards the manor's wall. Once she saw the wall, despair appeared on her face. It was a 10 feet high wall. She could never jump over it. At this moment, Nala appeared next to her. Nala had fed on the inner energy of Kary during a week and was now the size of a big dog, only, much stronger. She had little flames spewing from the back of her paws.

" Get on! " Nala said in her head.

During her seclusion in Kary psyche, Nala had learned to talk and could now efficiently communicate with her human partner. Kary was baffled. She jumped onto Nala's back, checking her stats at the same time.

~Nala~

Level: 5

Race: Feline/Fire Attuned

Sex: Female

Class: Pet

Strength: 7(+9)

Dexterity: 9(+8)

Intelligence: 5(+4)

Wisdom: 5(+4)

Toughness: 9(+8)

She was now much stronger, and with the added stats from her link, Kary believed Nala could jump over the wall easily. When they got there, Nala corrected her angle of approach towards a tree near the wall. She jumped onto the tree and bounced back from it, going over the wall. They kept running towards the city gate. On the way, they passed a few guards, who got scared seeing a big white lion carrying a person at such speed. They all moved aside. But then they snapped out of it and recognized the person. " After her! " They would yell, charging behind them.

Once they reached the gate, it had been closed. Nala had to stop her mad dash. They were cornered.

" I'm sorry Master. I couldn't make it in time " Nala said pitifully.

" Don't worry about it. You did well " Kary answered with confidence.

On their way, Kary had messaged Anthony again and informed him of the situation. He had told her that he would find a way to get her out. To hang on until he got there. So she would.

" Are you still okay to fight? " Kary asked Nala, getting off her back.

" Yes master, I'm fine " Nala answered, lowering herself, ready to pounce.

The men surrounding her all hesitated. They had all heard about how strong spirit pets were. They also knew players were really strong themselves. Not one of them wanted to charge first. Unluckily for them, someone behind them did it for them.

Anthony had managed to gather a dozen of players together, telling them the town was being hostile to another player. The most player's eyes, the NPC were only data. They were lesser beings. So this riled them up and they all agreed to follow him to battle to help that other player out.

As soon as they dived into the guards back rank, chaos ensued. Players killed guards, guards fought back, it was a real mess. In the middle of all this, Kary fought her way towards the city gate. She had seen a small group go directly the barracks to the side of the gate. They were going to fight their way in control. Not long before she made it to the gate, it started opening.

" All players! Retreat! " Kary yelled. She then defended the gate until all players who weren't stuck in combat ran past her. She did all she could to help the others, unfortunately, a few of them died once surrounded.

Once she was sure no one was left, she ran back herself. She saw the small group that opened the gate jump from the tower. They got back up and ran towards her. When they got nearer, Kary recognized them. They were her 3 partners. They grouped up and kept running into the forest.

" Thanks, guys. I knew I could count on you " Kary said whilst running.

" No problem " said Anthony. The 2 others simply nodded, they seemed out of breath already.

After running for half an hour, no one was chasing back, so they stopped to rest. Kary knew she had to thank everyone here, but she didn't know how or what to say. An idea suddenly struck her. She did a headcount and arrived at 15 plus herself. She could do it.

" Listen, all of you. I have something to say. " Kary spoke up, gathering their attention. " First of all, I would like to personally thank you all for helping me out of that sticky situation " Kary said, cupping her fists. " I would also like to apologize to all of you since from now on, you guys can't go back into that town " She continued. Amongst the people there, some started realizing they might have made a mistake. Looks of doubt started appearing here and there.

" But I have a solution to offer all of you. There is a guild function in the game, which lets us form up with many players and access many raids and such together. It also has a function of guildhall, from where we can build a base of operations and have access to all what that town had to offer "

Some people were starting to look resolute, a few had neutral expressions, and only 2 or 3 of them showed no interest at all. She continued her sales pitch.

" I only need 10 of you to sign the guild chart with me as an original founder. Then with time, we can accumulate enough money to build the base and become self-sustained. I will not force any of you, on the other hand, I promise all the ones who will sign, as you can see, you will never lack an adventure with me around " Kary added with a little laugh. The players around finally started to be more receiving.

Kary then applied for guild creation in her interface. The guild chart appeared in her hands. She started going around for signatures. She evidently started with Anthony, Marc, and Carol. All had no hesitation whatsoever and signed. They had already thought of the same thing while Kary was gone.

After going around all of them, Kary had 10 signatures. Three of them right out refused to be bound to such a troublesome player and the 2 others politely declined, stating they liked playing solo. Kary didn't try to force any of them. She understood their standpoints. She would have thought the same way given the situation. When she looked back at the scroll, all that was left to do was to set a name.

" I would like to propose a name for the guild. I believe 'Vagabond Mercenary Group' sounds adequate " She said aloud.

" Aye! " Hollered Anthony.

" Aye! " Jointly said, Marc and Carol.

" Aye! " " Aye! " The others followed one by one.

With that set, she wrote the name down and sent the application. A few seconds later, the system dinged in all their ears.

" Regional notification. Congratulations to player 'Wandering Hero' for establishing the first guild in the region. Awarding player with 'Special Rewards' gift box. Also, rewarding guild members with 'First Guild' title. Please check stats for title specifics "

They were all excited to hear that. This was the start of their legacy, they thought. Kary then turned around to her three friends.

" How can I repay you guys for all you did? " She asked

" Don't worry about it Wanda, that's what friends are for. To me, in the face of adversity, loyalty has no price. And I'm loyal to all my friends " Anthony proudly said, thumping his chest.

" He's right " Marc and Carol both added.

Kary was at a loss of words. But she knew one thing. With these friends of her's, she would conquer this game.

" By the way, my name is Kary. Kary Laflamme " Kary said.

" Pleasure finally meeting you, Kary Laflamme. For real " Anthony solemnly said. Marc and Carol just smiled widely.