World of Karik: A Game of Villains 46 A Time to Pay

When the guy appeared with his tombstone on his shoulders, everyone stepped aside, giving way to him. Trying to proudly ignore everyone, he moved forward, but suddenly tripped on a lance shaft placed under his feet and fell.

"Where are you going?" Petrovich seemed to have finally stopped playing. Believing that it's all over and losing their will to fight, our newbies calmed down — it was time to set the conditions. Did they seriously think that they would be taken under the squad's wing and that the leader would leave them alone? Did they really take his word on it? It seemed that even this world couldn't teach the people anything.

"You said that I was kicked out." There was no anger in Innokenty's voice, nothing but pain, hurt and...fear.

"That's right. But don't think that we'll let you go just like that." Vlada, who was standing next to me, was startled by Petrovich's words. She understood that what was happening now would soon affect her, too.

"Transfer twenty of your stat points to me and you're free to go."

Everyone froze for a second. Oddly enough, the redhead was the first that had had enough. I'm not the only one who hadn't been told all of the details, it seems.

"You can't force that," said Dmitri to no one in particular. "Whoever breaks that law will be destroyed."

I wondered where I could see the list of those "laws". I recalled how Baldy got scared of something similar once; it was better not to break them. Why's Petrovich so calm then?

"Well, I won't keep them forever," the lancer said, smiling from ear to ear. "I'll take them as a guarantee of my settlement's safety. If you don't attack us for three months and don't avenge to avenge anyone, I will give them back."

Clever. Petrovich's a genius if that works out, even if he has to give them back. After all, who can guarantee that the person will be alive then; especially if they are kicked out of the settlement together with their tombstone? One could easily "help" them leave the world of the living. There's a pretty good reason for doing something like that.

"Such tricks won't work!" Looking at what was happening in front of her, Vlada got so nervous that she almost screamed.

"Shall we put it to a test?" out leader didn't even think to argue. "By the way, you're next. The newbies will donate twenty points. The points will be returned in three months. Until then, you lot being a little weaker will make you think twice before doing something stupid."

While everyone was processing this information, Petrovich held out the stone for collecting the stats to Innokenty.

"Transfer!" he said, pointing at the tombstone with the shaft of his lance.

"Damn you!" the boy practically burst into tears. "I don't want to leave! Can I stay? I'll follow the rules!"

"You can, but the conditions remain the same. Transfer!" The hand with the stone never changed its position. Innokenty froze for a second, and then, having no other choice, put his hand onto the artifact.

20 dexterity points have been transferred to Valentin, the leader of the settlement.

Duration: 3 months

Together with the inscription everyone could see a flash of yellow lightning striking Petrovich. Satisfaction flickered on Innokenty's face, but our leader was probably prepared for something like that. He threw up his lance, so that it absorbed the electric charge and, caught the falling weapon.

"The law can't be broken, but if you follow the rules and have a patron strong enough, some things become possible," playing with his weapon, Petrovich walked in front of the dumbfounded newbies, yellow sparks twinkling on its blade. What was that? Some kind of a divine punishment? "Who's next? I propose we finish this quickly and return to our new base."

This was spectacular. Whom had Petrovich sold himself to in order to get such power and knowledge? He obviously knew that he would be punished for such a cunning attempt to get someone else's attributes; but he was ready and, most importantly, he knew how to stop the lightning. Who could've taught him all of that? The merchants? That was unlikely; otherwise Baldy would have used a similar plan as he did follow the rules. But who was it then? And what would this mean for me?

"I'll be the first," Vlada broke the silence and came up to our leader. One could not deny that she was being wise; her act stopped a possible massacre, and this was to end peacefully. It's odd that Petrovich didn't try to do something like this to one of us. This surely isn't about being noble… There must be a rule about not harming your own squad that even he can't evade. The newcomers took turns approaching the lancer, and I looked carefully at the artifact clamped in his hand. Ten people donating 20 points each… That's two hundred in total. Now all of them are interested in expanding our squad. They probably know that no one should part with such a treasure. If the squad indeed becomes bigger, some points can be returned to their owners without going to the extremes. But if not, then Petrovich will surely make sure that there's no one left who could collect the debts. What a fine example of the ideal "voluntary-compulsory" cooperation.

Chapter end