As soon as I stepped on the coast of Harith-Hodor island, a system message appeared in front of my eyes.

Attention!

You're allowed inthe closed area of The Empire of Nazhar due to belonging to the human race. Don't forget that if you don't have a permissionletter signed by the King of Nazhar, the island's guardians could send you to prison for an indefinite period or return you to the mainland.

Be careful not to break the law.

The system had a knack for stating the obvious. Well, as for the law...I planned to do my best and not to break the rules, at least not so obviously.

As the boat sailed across the water, I sat by the water lost in thought.

The most important part of the plan to liberate the mysterious wizard was over: I was on the island.My next move involved getting to the Ardal Monastery, One option was toenter the monastery under the cover of invisibility, cutting downeveryone who dared to block my way, but considering how weak I was, I had to abandon that idea.On the other hand, even if I were at the five hundredth level, I probably wouldn'thave risked breaking into the prison situated under the monastery. It was unlikely that the security would be as weak as in Siaren.

I had to find a less risky way of getting into Ardal. As far as I could gather, the people who lived there needed food, wood for their stoves, as well as other goods. They were probably able to supply themselves with the most basic necessities of life. There were many mobs in the forest, as well as trees. Still,you can'tlive just on meat. They got their supplies from other nearby settlements, which helped decide on my next course of action.

I had to explore the island onfoot. The map was useless for the moment since the area with the territory of the island was hidden by a black haze.I could've tried to buy information from strangers, or even buy a map from a player or a local NPC. However, it probably would have been a waste of time and money. I wasn't exactly surrounded by respectable players,and I was in no hurry to reveal my identity to anyone. I knewexactly where the first village was located — a couple of miles to the right, along the coast. That was where I wouldtry to purchase a map.

The ground gradually changed from warm wet sand to pebbles and shells. The trip was uneventful for the most part, except for the giant crabs, and a couple of unfamiliar creatures that crawled out of the water. However, I didn't come there for the sake of the mobs, so in order to avoid them, I went farther inland. I walked along the soft path of grass that stretched near the forest that ended sharply near the coast, as if cut off by aninvisible border.

The forest teemed with life and was rather dangerous for outsiders. Death lurked in its shadows, waiting for an unwittingtravelertoventure into its fold. There was too little information about Harith-Hodor, but I knewenough. The local mobs were all above level fifty, even seventy. In general, the deeper you went into the forest, the strongerthe wolves became. There were real wolves in there, and there were a lot of them on the island. They were the toppredators of the area.

Finally, I caught a glimpse ofa part of the moat, and the fence just behind it. They surrounded the village, protecting it from predators. I walked across a wide bridge thrown over the moat and reached the gates, my high collar adjusted so that it covered up the slave collar completely. I knocked once, but only silence answered. I knocked again, but it was obvious no one was going to answer, so I was prepared to wait.

Suddenly,someone cracked open one of the doors and called outrudely,

"Come on, don't just stand there, redneck!"

I slipped inside and immediately bumped into something. At first, I thought I had hit a wall, and I wasn't far off. The titan towering above me was a guard. He was wearing full armor, a sword resting in a sheath attached to his.

The door closed with a creak behind me, and another guard appearedbeside me.

"Who are you?" His voice was a little hoarse.

"Uh, well…" I said thoughtfully, "I'm looking for a job. I've recently arrived on the island. So, I decided to come here."

"I see that you've just arrived. Do you have the King's permission?" He scrutinized me with his piercing eyes. It was clear that he'd have been glad to find a reason to send a newbie to prison, or most likely to a simple cage.

"Oh, sure," I hurriedly got into the inventory bag and took out a scroll. "Here it is!"

The guard grabbed it with his hefty paw, unfolded and read it carefully.

"So you're Kraven, right?"

"Well, yes," I nodded eagerly.

"You've come from Odour village, not far from Savmer...", the man let out a sound that sounded a lot like a donkey bray. "Odour... I was here wondering why it smacks of something shitty, and all the time it was you, skunk!"

His companion grinned happily, showing his rotten teeth and drowningme with his foulbreath.

I could hardly restrain myself, but I had no choice but to keep quietand smile in like a moron.

"Well, let's check the authenticity of the document." The second man immediately put his hand on his sword and stepped behind me.

The guard took out an amulet and held it over the unfolded scroll for a while. It looked quite strange, like a clenched eye, emitting a slight golden glow.When he was done, he returned the paper to me,

"The seal's genuine. You can come in."

That was all. Both guards immediately lost any interest in me, instantly forgetting about my existence.

With ashrug, I moved deeper into the village. I was planningto find the headman of the settlement and ask for work. Getting a job from him personally was important. The headman was supposed to have various connections with people from the monastery. After all, it was unlikely that the head of the settlement would miss the opportunity to reap all the benefits of trading with the monks.

Passing bythe forge, I got into a small market, where the local NPCs sold everything they managed to grow, mine or produce.

"Young man, don't pass by!" Asquat bearded man with a reddish nose and a bruise under his right eye tried to lure me to his forge.

"You shouldn't walk unarmed! Take a look at all the swords I have. The hauberk! It's exactly your size. If you wantthe blade, I'll give it to you for half the price!"

"Hide your rubbish, Creel!" A tall stout man shook his head ruefully. "Did you manufacture your swords in a drunken stuporagain? Well, your sword wouldbreak after the first strike! Better look at my weapons, young man. Everybody knows me on this island for the quality of my swords! Even merchants from Fadlas come hereto buy my goods. I alsosell my goods onthe mainlandsometimes!"

"Stop lying!" The bearded man was furious. "Even the widow Riala's dogs don't recognize you when you climb to her overthe fence at night. Despite the fact that you've been sharing her bed for a whole month!"

A heatedaltercation for the attention of aclient ensued between the men, and I slippedaway quickly before they managed to drag me into their quarrel.

The settlement was quite large. There was a market and several forges, as it turned out from the conversation. There were at least thirty different little houses.

"Mister, hey, mister! Why are you looking around so carefully?" A tricky little boy of eight pulled meat my sleeve. "Are you looking for something specific? Give me a coin, I'll help you."

"Get lost," I pulled my hand away, "I can manage by myself."

"What a greedy man you are!" The child snorted, slipped behind the nearest shop and disappeared from my sight.

I went to some old woman, who was selling pies, bought one with jam and asked,

"Ma'am,can you please tell me where I can find the headman?"

The old woman narrowed her eyes, peering into my face: "Oh, why do you need him?"

"Why?" I was surprised. "I'm looking for a job!"

"You are looking for a job," the old woman repeated, examining me from top to bottom thoughtfully. "But we have no work ... And I don't recognizeyou,so you must be new here. Go back to where you came from!" The woman waved her little hands fussily, driving me away from the counter. "Get out!"

It looked like Ishould have asked the guards about the headman. Alas, I missed the opportunity!

"What a horrible woman!" I grumbled irritably as I moved further along the market.

"Hey, you!" Aguard appeared right in front of me.

It was the same man who checked my permissionat the gate.

"Get out of here," he said rudely. "You can'tjust go around annoying people and offending children here." The dirty boy quickly peaked from behind the guard and hid again.

The little bratcomplained about me.

"I'm just looking for the headman," I repliedcalmly.

"Atthe market?" The guard'slooked genuinely surprised. "Why do you need him?"

"I want to get a job."

"You want to work for Toad?" The man grinned.

I had no idea whether "toad" was a name or a nickname...

"Well, good luck to you. The headman lives inthat street," the guard pointed out. "He has a two-story red-brick house at the very end. You won't miss it!"

"Thank you."

I went towards the street he pointed me to.

It was a big and massive house like a fortress in miniature. The yard around the house, overgrown with thick flowering shrubs and fruit trees, was surrounded by a high metal fence with the thick rods ending with sharp triangular tips at the top.

Ironically, the gate was open wide as if inviting anyone to come inside.

However, as soon as I entered the yard, two large dogs with wild bloodshot eyes and bared teeth jumped out from the nearest bushes, butthey didn't make a single sound. I was completely dumbfounded and slowlystarted to retreatto the saving gates. The dogs followed me closely but didn't attack. It was eerie.

"Uh ... no! I'm not tasty!" I whispered.

The dogs were like zombies. They neithergrowled nor barked, they just watched me with unblinking eyes. It became quite clear why the gate stoodso carelessly open. Very few people would risk entering the courtyard voluntarily.

"Shoo, beasts!" A gruffvoice rang out, and, a short, crooked old man with a cane pushed through the bush with great difficulty. "Don't just rush at everyone! Damned dogs!" The man swung at the dogs, and ... they humbly loweredtheir heads and ran off to the side but nevertooktheir horribleeyes off me.

"What do you want?" He turned to me.

"Um…" I hesitated, unable to look away from the dogs, "I want to see the headman."

"What for?" The old man raised his eyebrows, leaning on his cane.

"I'm looking for work…" I was aboutto start explaining my motives for the umpteenthtime, but the old man cut me off.

"Aha! Interesting," the old man said joyfully with a strange gleam in his eyes, "There's always work to find... What can you do?" He looked to be appraising my appearance.

Frankly speaking, I was unsettled by his gratuitousenthusiasm and the maniacal lookinhis eyes at the sight of a new employee. But I was resolute because I had to start my mission. I didn't even care whether he was a toad or any other amphibian.

"I can do everything," I lied unscrupulously.

I wasn't far off point though. You could hardly think of anything worse than cleaning the toilets in Noar-Rahor. I was a professional in cleaning and restoring order toany premises, so to speak.

"Really?" The old man was both surprised and confused. He was probably the headman's manager.

"Of course!" I confirmed.

"That'sgood. First,I'll need to see it for myself. Come," the old man grunted. He turned and threatened the dogs with his finger. "Damn creatures! If you dare bite someone, I'll punish you!"

He was one crazy NPC. Hewasn't at all afraid of those dogs. However, they, apparently, respected and feared him: their tails between their legs, they looked absolutely plaintive.

"My name's Cleto," the headman's manager introduced himself whilewe rounded a heavily neglected and overgrown garden and stepped ona path leading to the house. "I've been doing all the work of our esteemed headman for forty years already. I used to manage his father's house long ago."

Suddenly, all his senile antics disappeared.He appeared to be just a normal, albeit old man, speaking to a new employee. He was confident, strict and responsible.

"The manor's decaying," Cletosighedsadly. "Our headman loves hunting and entertaining himself with women. His parents were different, the patron gods blesstheir souls. But they couldn't educate him properly and he wasn't well brought up. I myself have to deal with all the matters." The manager invited me into the house, stepping aside. "I hope you can cut trees and grass?" Without waiting for an answer, he waved his hand.

"Well, what was I talking about? It's evident that you're from a village. Of course, you know how to handle tools. I'mgoing toshow you a part of the backyard garden. If you manage to put the garden in order inan hour, I'll hire you. But if you don't... then this job obviously won't suit you." He spread his hands.

I wisely didn'tinquireofthe headman whereabouts. It was clear that he had no say when it came to employment. The old man himself admitted that he was the head of everything there. In addition, if he hiredme, I'd soon get acquainted with the owner of the house anyway.

In general, I wondered where the rest of the workers. Although, judging by the neglected state of the house and the layers of dust in every room Cleto led me through along the hallway, there were no workers at all, except the manager himself.

"Here are the tools. Take the pruning shears, thesaw, thescythe and thecart," the old man pointed out, opening the lastdoor in the corridor, which revealed a storeroom with gardening tools.

Taking the items pointed outby Cleto, I put them into the cart and went to the backyard. Several rows of trees, and berry and flower bushes grew there. Stone-paved paths were barely visible between them, and there werea few benches and a couple of gazebos peaking between the shrubs. In general, there waseverything a rich man's yard had.

"Do you see that path?" Cleto pointed to the central row of trees nearly fifty yards long. There were about a dozen trees. "Start there, time is ticking," the manager pulled out an ancient watch from his breast pocket. It was the first time I saw anNPC use awatch. He opened the lid and peered at the dial. Then he snorted, snapped the lid back on, and putthe watch back.

"You can dump the garbage at the end of the alley. There's also a ladder, use it.The upper branches must also be cut. I'll go have a drink of tea with buns. Larona should have already brought a basket and left it at the entrance." He turned around and walked to the house too quickly for an old man with a cane.

Available task: Clean the alley in 1 hour

Reward: Getting a job

Penalty (if you don'tfinish by a certain time): Relationship with the NPC, Cleto, will decrease to "Dislike"

Ten minutes after cutting off dry branches and trimming the local lawn variety with an ancient work tool as the scythe, I began to curse the whole island, and the village, and the nameless headman, and especially his manager, Cleto! I only managed to trim one tree and process the grass belowit in those ten minutes.

The time allotted for the task was ticking by, and I still had four trees left. If I failed to complete the task, I'd probably have to go to the city or the nextvillage. The city was preferable.

Based on the position of the village I was in, Fadlas was located on the right side of the island. The Ardal monastery was on the left,high in the mountains and surrounded by the forest. The second village was exactly opposite to it, on the other side of Harith-Hodor.

Apparently, there were more dogs in the backyard. I noticed a couple of scary dogs circling nearby.

Soon the manager came out and walked over to me lazily. I assumed that he would start berating me for my sluggishness and fire me for my failure to complete the task. Hastily straightening my collar again, I put the instrument aside and leaned againstthe trunk of the tree, waiting for the old man. I planned to change my clothes to ones that are more comfortable, if possible.

"You didn't cope, did you?" Cletorumbledwith contrived irritation. "On the other hand, your work is meticulous," he slowly walked along the cleared part of the yard, which I'd trimmed with the pruner and the saw.

"You know, I think I'll take you on. You suit me. I'mgoing totalk to the owner about your salary when we discuss our matters. He should be back in the evening. Here's your key," Cleto unbuckled one of the massive elaboratekeys from the bunch and handed it to me. "Your room's next to the utility room."