At first, Drunk Jack's eyes held nothing but contempt.

*You?*

*A scrawny little brat?*

*You think you can kill a man?*

He didn't believe a word of it.

Then Raine laid out a practical plan, one precise step at a time. The contempt in Jack's eyes gave way to fear.

Raine caught the terror the moment it appeared.

Good.

The man was all bluster.

Raine continued in a flat voice.

"By then, what will be left of you? Probably not even your bones."

"And no one will suspect me."

"Because I'm only a child."

Submission entered Drunk Jack's eyes.

*A child, my ass.*

*What kind of child is this ruthless?*

Richard had only asked him to break Raine's hand.

Raine was threatening to take his life.

Drunk Jack had always feared death. Otherwise, he wouldn't have abandoned the mercenary life after only a short time.

Living on the edge of a blade simply hadn't suited him.

When Raine removed the sock again, Jack shouted immediately.

"It was the tavern owner's son! Richard! He paid me to break your hand!"

So it had been Bushy Brow.

Raine had considered the possibility that Jack might lie, but genuine fear made deception difficult.

More importantly, Richard had a clear motive.

Raine's talent for swordsmanship had infuriated him.

The look on Richard's face after losing their spar earlier that day now made perfect sense. Raine stood between him and one of the estate guard positions.

Even so, Raine hadn't expected that thick-browed bastard to be so vicious.

As for Jack...

Raine looked him over from head to toe.

Jack interpreted the scrutiny as preparation for bloodletting and screamed.

"Raine, don't! We can talk this through!"

Raine shook his head.

"You still need to be punished."

Smack!

The club struck Jack's ankle with a heavy crack.

Pain nearly knocked the man unconscious.

"Aaaah!"

Raine swung once more and struck his temple.

Drunk Jack went limp.

A search of his clothes produced a purse containing more than a dozen Silver Coins.

Raine's mood improved at once.

He could buy meat now.

Once he finished, Raine loosened the vines around Jack, dusted off his hands, and turned toward home.

Only then did he summon the system panel.

[Militia EXP +23]

Raine smiled at the generous reward.

Real combat granted far more EXP than sparring. The difference wasn't even close.

Then his entire body locked.

He turned his head.

A tall black silhouette stood a short distance behind him.

The figure hadn't attacked.

Raine forced down his unease and assessed the stranger.

Tall. Broad. An oppressive presence.

He wore well-fitted noble hunting clothes, with a longsword at his hip.

This was no bandit or bounty hunter. The man looked more like a noble.

Bushy Brow couldn't have hired someone of this caliber. Drunk Jack certainly couldn't.

That did nothing to reassure Raine.

The former Raine's memories were clear. Nobles in this world enjoyed sweeping privileges.

A noble who killed a commoner without cause could escape punishment by paying a substantial ransom.

If he could prove that the commoner had stolen from or attacked him, he could kill that person without punishment at all.

A commoner, meanwhile, could be hanged for merely stealing a noble's purse.

The world was profoundly unfair.

That was why so many people fought to enter the household of a powerful noble.

High nobles rarely dealt with minor matters themselves. They left such work to senior servants like head maids, treasurers, and butlers, whose status stood only slightly below ordinary knights and minor nobles.

Another concern troubled Raine.

How long had this stranger been watching him?

If the man had been inside the woods from the beginning, then everything Raine had done had unfolded beneath his gaze.

While Raine studied the stranger, the man studied him in return.

Hamilton had heard strange sounds coming from the woods.

As the newly appointed sheriff of Goldflash Town, he took the security of his jurisdiction seriously. Confident in his own ability, he had slipped into the trees to investigate.

The sight before him had been astonishing.

A thin youth was binding and interrogating a grown man.

Hamilton recognized the prisoner.

Drunk Jack was a local man with a terrible reputation. He spent his days idling, committed petty theft, and boasted to widows about his former life as a mercenary. Hamilton had already marked him as a potential threat to public order.

Jack's confession soon revealed the full story.

The bold young man before Hamilton was merely the son of commoners, currently enrolled in Habsburg Estate's page boy training program.

When the interrogation ended, Hamilton had considered revealing himself. He worried the boy might kill Drunk Jack in a moment of anger.

As sheriff, he expected fights within his jurisdiction. A death, however, would stain his record.

To his surprise, Raine only knocked Jack unconscious, took his money, and prepared to leave.

One detail caught Hamilton's interest.

The boy acted decisively without displaying a thirst for blood.

Such restraint wouldn't have surprised Hamilton in a noble child. In a commoner's son, it was rare.

Raine possessed his own sense of right and wrong, along with an understanding of where to stop.

Many commoners who acquired strength beyond the ordinary became intoxicated by it. They answered every minor conflict with violence and killing.

Hamilton knew the temptation personally.

His knightly talent had carried him from a blacksmith's son to a lord. When he first gained power far beyond that of ordinary men, he too had become lost in killing.

Gaunt thieves. Desperate swindlers. He killed them all.

Only after joining the imperial military had he pulled himself back from that path.

Seeing another common-born youth with both ability and sound character awakened a faint desire to nurture his talent.

"Young man, your Basic Swordsmanship is quite good."

"But you're also remarkably bold. Private punishment, a broken ankle, and robbery. Under the Empire's public security regulations, do you realize..."

Hamilton's low voice rolled through the trees.

At the first sentence, Raine began to relax. The man's tone was friendly and carried no hostility.

Then the second sentence changed everything.

Raine's heart jumped. Every hair on his body stood on end.

In the next instant, he shot into the woods like a startled monkey.

His only option was to flee deeper into the forest and lose the man among the trees.

Hamilton stared after him.

Then understanding dawned, leaving him caught between anger and laughter.

*What an interesting little brat.*

The soil beneath Hamilton's boots exploded.

His burly body tore into the dense forest like an arrow, moving nearly twice as fast as Raine.

He gave chase.