Mastery Is Earned

“How about this? Sixty copper for you and sixty for me. An even split?”

“Fine, fine. I'll take a bit of a loss. How about fifty copper for me?”

“I can carry the chest the whole way. Would that work?”

“I know the route too. I've been to the quarry before. It'll be much faster than you following a map and stopping to ask directions.”

“I'm the one who found the commission in the first place. Cutting me out like this is pretty cold, don't you think?”

Teddy hovered beside Raymond and grumbled incessantly throughout the walk back. Raymond remained unmoved and simply kept his head down as he walked. By the time Raymond packed his belongings and prepared to leave, Teddy's tone had grown increasingly desperate.

“Please. I really need the money. If I don't earn anything, I'm finished.”

Raymond finally stopped when they reached the town gate. The smile had long since fallen from Teddy's face, but the moment Raymond halted, he immediately perked up again.

“Thirty copper, and not a coin more,” Raymond said evenly. “The client intended to give me this commission in the first place. I'll carry the cargo. You carry the other supplies and guide me there. If you agree, we leave now.”

“Only thirty copper?” Teddy's eyes widened. “Didn't we just agree to split it evenly?”

“I never agreed,” Raymond said. “I only said I wanted to meet the client first.”

Teddy hesitated. When Raymond looked ready to leave again, he hurriedly asked, “Are meals included? Two of them?”

Raymond nearly laughed. “One. If the quarry feeds us, that counts as the meal.”

Teddy tried to bargain further, but when Raymond showed no sign of relenting, he ultimately had no choice but to nod. And so Teddy took Raymond's pack, and the two set off toward the quarry. The chest remained on Raymond's back. Teddy offered several times to carry it, but Raymond flatly refused every time.

“I just heard that you've fought a lot of goblins. Even killed a Greater Goblin?” Teddy suddenly asked along the way.

“I've encountered one, but I didn't kill it alone,” Raymond replied.

Teddy clicked his tongue in disbelief. “I hear Greater Goblins are enormous. How did it compare with that northerner we met last time?”

Raymond considered the question. “It wasn't as tall as him, but it was bulkier. Also, his name is Henk.”

“Who cares what his name is?” Teddy complained. “These outsiders work hard and charge next to nothing. They're taking all our jobs. Things wouldn't be so difficult now if it weren't for them.”

Raymond paused in surprise. “Have many northerners arrived recently?”

“Yeah. I hear they're all from the north, though who knows if there's really some disaster up there.” Teddy shrugged. Then, as if remembering something, he added, “The other northerners don't seem as strong as that big fellow, though. And they don't look quite so... strange.”

Raymond said nothing. When he had left Sarah's home several days ago, he had heard one of her brothers call Henk a half-orc. Considering Henk's superhuman size, canines, and dark golden eyes, orc blood likely did flow through his veins. But Raymond knew very little about the north or orcs. He had no idea how many half-orcs like Henk lived there.

“Speaking of which, I've never seen a Greater Goblin. I hear they're vicious things. How did you kill it in the end?” Teddy pressed with obvious curiosity.

Raymond had no desire to recall the battle in detail. He gave only a brief account, then stopped answering. Unable to get a satisfying response, Teddy continued asking questions beside him. Raymond eventually grew annoyed and simply fell silent, leaving Teddy to chatter by himself.

Teddy might enjoy playing little tricks and have trouble controlling his mouth, but he truly was familiar with the local roads. If they had another opportunity to work together, Raymond would have to make the pay and their respective responsibilities clear in advance.

“Aren't you curious what's inside?” Teddy fell silent for a little while before speaking again. “The chest weighs under twenty-two pounds, but it's locked and sealed with wax. Does it really need to be secured that tightly?”

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Raymond stopped. He looked at Teddy gravely and spoke one deliberate word at a time. “I advise you not to get curious. Our only job is to deliver the cargo. Nothing else. Understood?”

Teddy shifted uneasily under his gaze, and the smile on his face faded somewhat. Yet he still replied stubbornly, “What? I can't even ask a casual question?”

Raymond ignored him and quickened his pace with the chest on his back. With Teddy leading the way, they followed the road for more than two hours and finally reached the quarry. Two armed guards stood outside its gate. Raymond showed them the chest on his back, and one quickly went inside to report their arrival. Before long, the man in charge of the quarry came out to meet them.

After taking the chest from Raymond and confirming that the lock and wax seal were completely intact, the man visibly relaxed. As agreed, he gave Raymond a copper badge as proof of delivery. The commission was now complete.

He was about to have someone carry the chest away when Teddy suddenly asked, “It's already time to eat. Aren't you going to give us lunch before we leave?”

The man clearly froze for a moment before forcing a smile. “Of course. We'll have the kitchen set out two extra bowls.”

Raymond had not expected Teddy to ask for lunch outright. But since the man had agreed, he saw no reason to refuse.

Lunch at the quarry consisted of a large pot of mixed vegetable soup simmered over a fire, with only a few beans and scattered pieces of meat. Even so, Teddy drank two large bowls in one sitting. When he set down the wooden bowl, he still looked as though he wanted more. Raymond drank one bowl and ate some of the rations he had brought, barely filling his stomach. They still had to travel afterward, so he did not eat too much.

Once they had finished, the two left the quarry together and followed the same road back toward Blackstone. Teddy still carried the pack containing their rations and water. After drinking two large bowls of vegetable soup, however, he now walked noticeably slower than before.

“You still owe me a meal after we get back, don't you?” Teddy said, holding his stomach. “I got this one for myself.”

“We agreed before leaving that if the quarry fed us, it counted.”

“But I'm the one who asked them for it...”

Raymond ignored his complaints and continued onward. Teddy stood behind him muttering for a few moments before finally hurrying after him with the pack.

They followed the branch road away from the quarry for some distance, then rejoined the main road leading to Blackstone. Raymond had taken the same road several days earlier while escorting the caravan to Silverleaf Village.

“Huh? Something seems wrong with that man ahead,” Teddy suddenly said.

Raymond followed his gaze and saw a man hurrying toward them along the road. The stranger wore dust-covered roughspun clothes. Sweat covered his forehead, and his steps had begun to falter. He appeared to have been walking for a long time.

The road connected several nearby villages, so there was nothing unusual about someone traveling on foot. At first, Raymond paid him little attention. Only as they drew closer did the man begin to look familiar.

The man noticed Raymond as well. He froze, then quickened his steps toward them. “Are you Raymond?”

Hearing his name, Raymond quickly remembered who the man was. It was Tom's eldest brother, drenched in sweat. They had met only a few days ago when Raymond returned Tom's belongings.

“I am.” Raymond looked over his dust-covered appearance. “Why are you going to Blackstone alone?”

“Sarah is missing. I'm going to report it to the town guard,” Tom's eldest brother said hoarsely.

“Missing?” Raymond's expression changed. “When did it happen?”

“The morning before last.” Tom's eldest brother wiped the sweat from his face. “She said she was going outside the village to gather firewood, but she hadn't come back by noon.”

“My second brother and I took the villagers out searching for a full day and night. We found only the rope she used for bundling firewood at the edge of the woods. There were too many footprints nearby for us to tell where she went, but there was no blood, and we found no traces left by goblins or wild animals.”

“My second brother is still searching around the village with the others. I had no choice but to come to Blackstone and report it.”

“Sarah?” Teddy finally remembered the girl they had met several days earlier. “The one who brought bread to Henk?”

Tom's eldest brother nodded, his exhausted face full of anxiety.

Raymond's expression gradually grew grave. He immediately remembered the other missing girl Marcus had mentioned some time ago. When that girl disappeared, there had likewise been no signs of goblins or other monsters at the scene. Now Sarah had vanished in a similar manner. The two incidents were very likely connected.

“Could that northerner have done it? The big fellow named Henk?” Teddy could not help asking.

Tom's eldest brother immediately shook his head. “Impossible. Henk was working in the village when Sarah left. Plenty of people can prove it.”

“After Sarah disappeared, he helped us search for a long time. Yesterday, he noticed some traces near the rope and said Sarah hadn't entered the forest on her own.”

“Then he took his axe and followed the trail into the forest alone. He still hasn't returned.”

At the very least, this did not resemble the work of ordinary goblins. When goblins captured prey, they rarely made any deliberate attempt to conceal their tracks. They normally left blood, drag marks, or obvious bare footprints behind—not merely a rope discarded at the forest's edge.

If Henk had found clues the villagers overlooked, then he might already have caught up with whoever took Sarah. But he had yet to return, so his situation was likely grim as well.

“Let's go to Blackstone first.” Raymond looked at Tom's eldest brother. “I'll accompany you to the town guard. Explain exactly where you found the rope and which direction Henk followed.”

Tom's eldest brother nodded firmly. Without further delay, the three hurried along the road toward Blackstone.

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