Mastery Is Earned

Carrying a parcel of food, Raymond returned to Carter's home. The physician had already left, and Carter lay alone in bed. He was awake, staring blankly at the ceiling, his eyes hollow and unfocused. There was no telling what he was thinking.

Only when he noticed Raymond return did a faint smile appear on his face. “Raymond.”

“I brought you something to eat.” Raymond set the food beside the bed and unwrapped it for him.

Carter was ravenous. The moment he saw the food, he grabbed it with his left hand and tore into it, paying no attention to the meat juices and broth running down his beard and onto the bed.

“About that scale...” Carter said indistinctly around a mouthful of food. “You should hand it over to the town guard. It's proof that we completed the assignment.”

Raymond nodded. Carter was right, and the matter involved another five silver coins in reward money. With that thought, Raymond retrieved the scale from the pack on the table and headed toward the town guard's headquarters.

Blackstone was not large. Raymond had once wandered its streets begging for food, so he knew exactly where the town guard was stationed.

The two guards standing watch at the entrance noticed him immediately. “Halt! Who are you?”

“I'm Raymond, from Carter's team. We accepted the assignment to investigate the disturbances in Blackpine Forest, and I'm here to report what we found.” Raymond briefly explained his purpose.

“Carter's team? Wait here.” The two guards exchanged a glance, and one of them hurried inside.

Before long, a soldier in leather armor emerged. His attire was noticeably finer than that of the other guards. He had a handsome face and striking blond hair.

“Captain, this is him,” the guard who had gone inside said, pointing at Raymond.

The blond, middle-aged man studied Raymond carefully before stepping forward. “I'm Captain Dario. You are?”

“My name is Raymond. I'm with Carter's team.”

“Carter's team? I haven't seen you before. You're an unfamiliar face.” Dario regarded Raymond warily.

Members of the town guard were naturally cautious around unfamiliar armed men, and their captain had even more reason to be wary.

“I'm a new member. I used to work as a helper at the Blackstone Inn,” Raymond answered honestly, making no attempt to hide his past.

“The Blackstone Inn? Oh! Captain, I've seen him before. That's him.” The other guard had thought Raymond looked familiar, and the explanation immediately jogged his memory.

Once Dario confirmed that Raymond was a local, his wariness finally eased. “Where are Carter and the others? Why did they send you?”

“The other three members were killed. Captain Carter was also badly wounded and is recovering at home.”

“What?” Dario stared at him in disbelief.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

A simple search assignment had left three of four experienced mercenaries dead and the last one severely injured?

“We discovered a goblin nest in Blackpine Forest. Besides a Greater Goblin, there was also a goblin that could breathe fire...”

Before Raymond could finish, Dario cut him off. “Wait, wait. What did you say? A goblin that could breathe fire?”

One of the guards could not help muttering, “How could a goblin possibly breathe fire...”

Dario raised a hand to silence him.

Raymond did not argue. He simply took the scale stained with black blood from his pocket and held it out to Dario. “This fell from that goblin.”

Dario carefully studied the scale. It certainly did not look as though it had come from an ordinary animal. But he had little reason to trust Raymond. The young man was clearly little more than a boy, and there was no telling whether he had exaggerated parts of his report. Still, the boy would never dare lie about the casualties suffered by Carter's team.

After considering the matter for a moment, Dario wrapped the scale in a piece of cloth. “We'll keep this scale here for now. I'll show it to the sheriff myself,” he told Raymond. “Go back and look after Carter. We may need to question both of you later about exactly what happened.”

The man's doubts did not surprise Raymond. This world contained monsters such as goblins, kobolds, and gnolls. But within the human kingdoms, no verifiable spell had been seen for several centuries. Records of mages, divine magic, and dragon breath existed only in ancient texts and the tales of bards. To an ordinary person, a goblin capable of breathing fire truly did sound absurd.

By then, it was late. Dusk had settled over the town, and the shops along the streets were closing one after another. Raymond returned to Carter's home and briefly explained what had happened with the town guard.

“Mm. Then we'll leave it at that. We've reported what we know and done what we can. Now we wait for word from the sheriff,” Carter said after considering it for a moment.

Raymond nodded and chatted idly with Carter for a little longer before leaving the house alone and heading back to the inn. The tub of murky water had been removed from his room, leaving it feeling unusually empty. Raymond went to the bed and carefully lay on his back, intending only to rest for a little while. But he was asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Knock, knock, knock!

Urgent pounding on the door jolted Raymond awake. He abruptly raised his head and instinctively looked toward the window. Bright daylight shone outside. He had closed his eyes and slept straight through until the next day! The knocking continued, finally bringing Raymond fully awake.

He instinctively tried to move, only for a wave of soreness to spread through his chest, shoulders, and back. Frowning, he slowly sat up. After taking a moment to adjust, he walked over and opened the door.

Sophie stood outside, looking at him anxiously. “Why did it take you so long to open the door? I was worried sick!”

“Uh, I slept a little too deeply.” Raymond scratched his head in embarrassment.

“There are people from the town guard here to see you. You haven't done anything wrong, have you? Or offended someone?” Sophie asked, her face full of concern.

Hearing this, Raymond relaxed instead. “Nothing like that. Don't worry. It's about something else.”

“Really?” Sophie let out a long breath. “Good, good. Hurry downstairs. They're waiting for you.”

Raymond nodded, quickly washed his face, fastened the short sword at his waist, and went downstairs. Inside the inn, two town guards were laughing and talking over mugs of ale Sophie had served them.

When they saw Raymond come down, their expressions finally turned serious. “You're Raymond, right?”

Raymond nodded. “Yes.”

“All right. Come with us. The sheriff is waiting for you,” one guard said bluntly.

With that, the two men drained their ale, turned, and left, showing no concern that Raymond might not follow.

“The sheriff?” Hearing the title, Sophie looked at Raymond uneasily. As far as she was concerned, how could someone as important as the sheriff possibly have anything to do with this little brat?

Raymond nodded to Sophie, signaling that she did not need to worry, then followed the two guards out of the inn. To his surprise, they did not take him to the town guard's headquarters. Instead, they went straight to Carter's home. Two more guards stood watch outside the yard. When Raymond arrived, one turned and went inside to announce him.

A moment later, the guard emerged again. “Go in. The sheriff is waiting for you inside.”

Raymond nodded, opened the door, and stepped in.

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