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is.”
    Her expression changed to mild irritation at the sound of her name. Staring at him, her eyes unsteady, it was obvious she didn’t know what to do, or how to respond to his statement.
    “Why were you with those lovely men Hannah? They clearly meant the Peasant harm, as simple as she seems to be, and had already murdered her friend.”
    “I wasn’t with those pig fuckers. I was robbing everyone there. I’m a thief not a murderer. I may have killed people before, but never someone that would be missed. Not worth the attention.”
    “I think I get it,” he acknowledged. He moved his head back and forth a little as if he were juggling a thought. “Essentially, you were just capitalizing on them being distracted. You didn’t consider helping them?”
    “What would you have me do? They were stronger than me. Outnumbered me. I’m just a thief from the city, I’m not some ranger like you, traipsing around through the woods and fucking deer by moonlight. Pulling food out of the ground, all magical like, with nary a care.”
    Deer fucking aside, she had a point. It also made him realize he hadn’t looked at her outside of a cursory inspection. Fortunately he had spent the day trying to level Analyze. He’d even managed to work it to beginner level three. Rectifying that, he targeted her and used the ability.
    Scrolling down with a thought he parsed the information and it matched what she had already told him. Hannah Anelie, Thief, level eleven, basic gear, no weapons since he had disarmed her already. She had a series of status ailments, but he wasn’t able to see what each one individually signified.
    Pulling up the game console with a directed mental command, he shook his head to concentrate and focused in on it while selecting Hannah.
     
    /Target
    Target Acquired: Thief0084
     
    /Status
    Flag Status:
    Flag1Active=2
    Flag2Active=1
    Flag3Active=0
    Flag4Active=0
    Flag5Active=1
     
    Condition:
    Starving
    Afraid
    Bound
    Wounded
    Confused
     
    He closed the console window, and looked into Hannah’s face once more. He was pleasantly surprised with how much information he was able to acquire, and what he could infer from it, his mood had only gotten better.
    An immediate problem he had to handle was the Starving condition. While it would take an actual human being a considerable amount of time to starve to death, the game had simplified it. As the time without food increased, constitution would decrease until it reached zero. At which point you would die and respawn in the cemetery. This didn’t apply to NPCs of course as they wouldn’t respawn, they simply ceased to be, replaced by another NPC.
    Doesn’t apply to me either actually.
    He sucked in a startled breath as he checked her constitution. Five percent of her total constitution was all she had left. With that much gone, it was a wonder she hadn’t expired to any encounter she had. Could have been a wild rabbit and it would have ended poorly for her. He’d have to feed her if he wanted to keep her alive. The plan was to keep her alive long enough to turn her over to the town and no more. It was unlikely she would make it through the night otherwise, and Runner didn’t want to lose her as a resource. That, and he was hoping she maybe had a bounty on her.
    He clicked his tongue and opened his inventory, dragging out one of the bunches of wild strawberries. It was the most substantial thing he had foraged as of yet, and had five uses. He’d been looking forward to eating them, but it seemed fate had other plans for him. Alone, it might just get her back up to just hungry status.
    “While I admit to believing what you’ve said, you’re still a thief with a potty mouth. I have no intention of untying you. If I do decide to untie you, it certainly won’t be in the woods at night,” he declared. With mercy forcing his hand, he regretfully continued. “I’m willing to sit you upright, and feed you, rather than have you starve to death over night. I promise