Enforced by the Continental Ascendancy Authority
Rankings:
1. Thomas Hale | Leader | Merit points 220(195+25)
2. Mara Hale | officer of the guards | Merit points 180
3. Edwin Carter | teacher | Merit points:150
4. Samuel Brigs | butcher | Merit Points 141
5. Martha Hile | pharmacist | Merit Points 126
…
- Rose Doyle | Guard | Merit points 86
- Justice Green | Fisherman | Merit Points 81
- Kael Arden *Firefighter* Merit Points 79(44+35)
***
After Kael and Thomas discussed the fire and concluded that the provisional caravan would not arrive until early next week, Kael finally made his way to Lady Martha’s to get patched up.
He knocked on the wooden door. A few moments later, a familiar voice called from inside.
“Kael, is that you? Come in, you reckless boy.”
Kael opened the door and stepped inside with a grin on his face.
“Sometimes reckless is worth it if it gives me an excuse to visit the village’s favorite pharmaceutical shop,” Kael said with a playful snort.
Lady Martha laughed.
“Alright, you fool. Sit on the couch and let me take a look at that wound of yours.”
“Pretty deep… hmm.” Lady Martha leaned closer to inspect the wound. “Oh, I know,” she said suddenly, then hurried toward the kitchen.
A moment later, she returned with a small bottle in one hand and a piece of medical parchment in the other.
She dipped the parchment into the liquid and looked at Kael.
“This might hurt a little.”
Then she pressed it directly onto the open wound.
“A little” was the greatest understatement of the year in Kael’s opinion. Agony exploded through his side like fire given form. The liquid burned fiercely as it cauterized the wound, searing the flesh closed. Kael clenched his teeth, gripping the edge of the couch until his knuckles turned white.
After a few moments, the burning finally faded.
“There,” Lady Martha said calmly, as if nothing unusual had happened. “All set. Let’s put a little balsam on it, and you’ll be good as new in a couple of days.”
Kael exhaled slowly.
“Ouch, Lady Martha. You really do enjoy hurting people, don’t you?” he said with a weak grin. “Anyway… what do I owe you?”
She waved her hand dismissively.
“You fool. I heard what you did today. Consider it on the house tonight. But don’t expect any special treatment tomorrow.”
A grin spread across Kael’s face.
“Thank you, Lady Martha.”
In truth, he didn’t want to spend his newly earned Merit Points just yet.
He left Martha’s house with one thought in mind.
Maybe I do matter after all.
A loud gurgle erupted from his stomach.
He sighed.
“Make that two thoughts,” Kael muttered. “I need food. I’m starving.”
He turned down the street toward the village tavern.
A weathered wooden sign swung gently above the door.
The Picnic.
Kael pushed the door open.
He was immediately greeted by a terrible screech.
The sound was so sharp it made him instinctively wince.
Kael looked toward the small stage in the corner and quickly identified the source of the noise.
Mara Hale.
Number two on the local leaderboard.
Captain of the Grayville Guard.
She wasn’t much older than him—twenty-four years old—and already one of the most respected people in the village.
Tonight, however, respect was struggling to survive.
She stood proudly on the small stage, mug in one hand and the other raised dramatically as she attempted to sing.
Attempted was the keyword.
Kael leaned slightly toward the door as another high note burst from her throat.
It sounded like someone strangling a goose.
Painfully loud.
The few unfortunate souls inside the tavern endured the performance with mixed reactions.
Two guards sat at a nearby table, each holding a large pint of beer. They tried very hard to look supportive, though one of them had both hands clamped firmly over his ears.
A couple of farmers sat farther back, staring into their drinks as if hoping alcohol might dull the sound.
Kael slowly scanned the room.
Rough wooden tables.
Old chairs.
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The familiar smell of roasted meat and spilled ale.
Home.
He spotted an empty table in the corner and headed toward it before Mara could reach another note capable of shattering glass.
As he sat down, another ear-splitting attempt at singing filled the room.
Kael sighed and rubbed his temples.
“Well,” he muttered to himself, “at least the fire didn’t kill us.”
A waiter approached Kael’s table wearing a strained, sympathetic smile.
“Evening, Kael,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry you have to endure that. It’s… her way of relaxing.”
Kael glanced toward the stage just as another painfully high note echoed through the tavern.
He winced.
“Don’t apologize, Marcus,” Kael replied. “We all know no one in the village is more capable in combat than her.”
Another screech from the stage made several patrons flinch.
“But we also know,” Kael continued dryly, “that anyone who survives a fight with Mara Hale will eventually perish from her attempts at singing.”
Marcus chuckled, clearly relieved to hear someone say it out loud.
He set a steaming cup of tea in front of Kael.
“What would you like to eat tonight?” Marcus asked. “We just started serving the first cuts of the boar you brought in today. The steak is on the house, of course.”
Kael’s stomach immediately growled in response.
“Yes, please,” he said without hesitation. “I’m starving.”
Marcus nodded.
“I’ll bring it right away.”
He turned and disappeared toward the kitchen.
For a moment, Kael sat alone at the corner table, warming his hands around the cup of tea.
The day replayed in his mind.
The fire.
The panic.
The collapsing sheds.
Three hundred lives that could have been lost.
Before his thoughts could drift further, a loud voice shattered the quiet moment.
“Kael!”
Kael looked up.
Mara Hale had spotted him.
She swayed slightly on the stage, a mug of ale raised triumphantly above her head.
Her voice carried easily across the room.
“Kael the firefighter is here!” she shouted. “Yehoo! Our local hee…ro!”
A few people laughed.
Others clapped.
“Come on up here, Kael!” Mara called again, pointing at him dramatically. “You owe us a song!”
The entire tavern turned toward him.
Kael froze.
Some of the villagers looked at him with gratitude for what he had done earlier that day.
But most of them wore a different expression.
Hope.
The hope that someone—anyone—might finally replace Mara on the stage.
Then someone started chanting.
“Kael! Kael! Kael!”
Others joined in immediately.
“Sing for us!”
“Kael! Kael! Kael!”
The chant grew louder.
Kael slowly leaned back in his chair and sighed.
“Well,” he muttered under his breath, “saving the village was apparently the easy part.”
Kael slowly stood and walked toward the stage, his knees trembling slightly with every step.
He hated being the center of attention.
The entire tavern watched him.
Mara grinned and nudged him forward, pushing him gently toward the middle of the stage.
Fear tightened around his chest.
This is it, he thought.
Tonight I die of embarrassment.
“Sing for us!” someone shouted.
“Sing for us!” the crowd repeated, clapping along.
Kael swallowed and closed his eyes.
For a moment the noise of the tavern faded away.
He thought about his mother.
How she used to sing to him when he was little… before the plague took her.
Her voice had always been soft and warm, filling their small home with a quiet kind of comfort.
Kael took a breath.
Then he began to sing.
A stony pathway
Leading far away
Laid in secret all these years
Waiting for the brave to appear
Windy days lie ahead
Watching every step we tread
Light will rise and guide the way
Chasing longing, fear, and gray
The tavern fell silent.
The laughter vanished.
Even Mara stopped swaying.
Kael’s voice carried through the wooden room with a gentle strength no one expected.
It was Clear. Warm. Steady. Full.
No one in Grayville had ever realized how beautifully Kael could sing.
The villagers watched him with quiet amazement.
Farmers.
Guards.
Merchants.
Neighbors.
They looked at him differently now.
Not just the boy who hunted recklessly in the forest.
Not just the boy who had stopped the fire.
Something about the song stirred something deeper.
Hope.
Kael slowly opened his eyes.
For a moment, no one moved.
No one spoke.
They simply stared.
And in that silence, Kael realized something strange.
They looked…
Inspired.
Kael finished the last note and the tavern remained silent for a heartbeat.
Then his insignia warmed suddenly against his chest.
It pulsed once.
Then again.
Kael blinked in surprise.
“What?” he murmured under his breath. “Points for this?”
A faint blue glow appeared along the edges of the metal insignia, and a notification formed in his vision.
***
Individual Notice
Subject: Kael Arden
Event: Public vocal performance
Analysis complete.
Observed effects:
Anxiety reduction among nearby individuals
Positive emotional response detected
Social cohesion increased
Individuals measurably influenced: 11
Allocating merit.
Merit Points Awarded: +5.5
Status unchanged.
End of Report
***
Kael returned to his table as the tavern slowly settled back into its usual rhythm.
A local bard had taken over the small stage, gently strumming his instrument while humming a quiet tune. No one else seemed eager to risk singing after Kael’s performance.
Mara Hale had already fallen asleep where she sat, slumped sideways on a chair with an empty mug still loosely clutched in her hand.
Her two subordinates stood beside her, whispering to each other while trying to figure out the safest way to move their unconscious captain back to her house.
One of them sighed.
“This is the third time this month,” he muttered.
A few minutes later Marcus appeared from the kitchen carrying a wooden plate piled high with food.
He set it down in front of Kael with a satisfied nod.
“Here you go, Kael. Enjoy.”
The smell alone nearly made Kael forget every other thought in his head.
“Thank you,” he said quickly.
Marcus returned to the bar just as Kael picked up his fork and knife.
The first bite disappeared almost instantly.
Then the next.
And the next.
Kael devoured the meal with ferocious determination, as if the boar might somehow escape if he didn’t eat it fast enough.
But even while eating, his mind kept returning to the same thought.
The system notice.
He stared down at the plate for a moment, frowning.
“You can get points for singing?” he muttered quietly to himself.
He shook his head in disbelief.
“What in the world…”
Kael took another bite, chewing slowly now as the idea settled in his mind.
If the system rewarded something as simple as singing…
Then what else counted?