"Good. Remove the bodies and clean up the room."

Hamilton nodded.

A human-skin mask?

Wanted criminals?

Scarface?

The string of clues initially left Raine confused. Then realization struck, followed by a chill of delayed fear.

These two had been hardened criminals on the wanted list. His success in killing them had owed no small part to luck.

Scarface had been deceived by Raine's thin frame and frightened-child act. Blackbeard had been consumed by lust, with almost all his attention fixed on Anna.

If either man had shown even a little more caution, he could easily have turned the tables on Raine.

Still, why did the name Scarface sound so familiar?

Then he remembered.

That man was worth five whole Imperial Gold Coins.

Raine's eyes brightened as the bounty listed on Scarface's wanted notice returned to him.

Did that mean he could collect a substantial reward?

And since Blackbeard had been Scarface's boss, surely he was worth even more.

Anticipation surged through Raine.

"Lord Hamilton, about the bounty..."

"You want your reward? Come to the town administrative hall tomorrow."

Hamilton gave him an enigmatic half smile, then turned and left.

Raine sensed something hidden in that look. Collecting the bounty tomorrow might not be as straightforward as he hoped.

The Night Watchmen soon carried away the bodies from the room and the porch. They gave the bloodstains a cursory cleaning, but the heavy metallic stench lingered.

Two men had just died here, after all.

Raine looked at Anna, who was still trembling. She clearly could not remain in this room tonight.

After some thought, he saw only one option: take her to his own house.

"Anna, please don't tell my parents or Mint what happened tonight. All right?"

Raine crouched and met her frightened eyes, speaking gently.

Anna said nothing. She simply nodded on instinct.

That was enough.

Raine carefully lifted the weak-kneed girl and carried her next door.

Perhaps because he remained nearby to protect her, Anna fell into a deep sleep during the latter half of the night, though tears still clung to her long lashes.

The crisis was over, and Raine was exhausted, but he couldn't sleep. The scene of the killing replayed in his mind like an endless slideshow—the twisted expressions on the two men's faces at the moment of death.

Then he remembered the system notifications he had heard earlier. He still hadn't checked them.

[Militia EXP +121]

[Militia EXP +129]

[Basic Swordsmanship EXP +34]

Raine drew in a sharp breath.

Militia had gained that much EXP?

He stared at the panel.

[Militia Lv. 3 (328/500)]

He was already more than halfway to the next level.

It seemed that dangerous, genuine combat was the fastest way to earn EXP.

A girl was sleeping in the same room as him, but there was nothing romantic about the atmosphere.

Anna lay curled tightly into herself, her posture betraying a profound lack of security. Looking at this frail girl whom life had treated so poorly, yet who remained resilient and kind, Raine felt no desire whatsoever.

As for women...

Miss Claire, with her long, powerful legs and striking figure, held far more appeal in his mind.

---

Early the next morning, Raine brought Anna downstairs for breakfast under his parents' astonished gazes. Only Mint looked delighted.

"Father, a stranger knocked on Anna's door last night. I thought of the recent child disappearances, so I brought her here. Let her stay with us for a while."

Raine mixed truth with falsehood as he explained.

Old Raine looked at Anna, who was eating with her head bowed and her face shy, then smiled.

"Fine. Lucky you, brat."

"Raine, you had better treat Anna well," his mother added with a knowing smile.

Anna's face turned scarlet. She lowered her head until it nearly touched the table.

"Mother, we don't have the sort of relationship you're imagining." Raine rubbed his forehead helplessly.

"Don't you? Then answer me this: did the two of you sleep in the same room last night?"

With Anna present, his mother apparently decided not to put it any more bluntly.

"That was because Anna was frightened..."

Raine's explanation sounded weak even to his own ears.

Old Raine interrupted, his expression growing serious. "Raine, a man must learn to take responsibility. Anna is a good girl. Don't let her down."

Wonderful.

The misunderstanding had grown enormous.

Faced with a lecture from both parents, Raine could only nod obediently. He would find a chance to tell them the truth later.

After breakfast, he fled to the town administrative hall.

The guard at the entrance announced his arrival, and an attendant escorted him to Hamilton's office.

As town sheriff, Hamilton ranked second only to the magistrate. In some respects, his command of the constables and Night Watchmen made him even more important to regional stability than the magistrate himself.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The attendant rapped on the door.

"Enter."

A deep, resonant voice answered from within.

The attendant opened the door. Raine entered and found Hamilton seated behind a redwood desk, dressed in a nobleman's hunting attire and reading through a document.

Hamilton glanced up and dispensed with ceremony.

"Sit down, Raine. I'm reading a case file. Give me a moment."

Raine nodded, pulled out a chair, and sat while studying his surroundings.

The bright, spotless office covered roughly forty to fifty square meters. Several soft deerskin chairs and a tea table occupied the center, while bookshelves lined the walls.

Hamilton's redwood desk stood against one wall, piled high with parchment scrolls that appeared to be case files.

Before Raine finished surveying the room, Hamilton set down the parchment and smiled at him.

"Raine, you've grown faster than I expected."

"Would you be interested in joining a Night Watchman squad and helping me?"

He pointed toward the desk.

"See these case files? Every one of them is still open. That fool Kuzma left all of them behind."

"I'm severely short of manpower. In fact, public security throughout Mayst County is poor at the moment. Three miners disappeared at the Elim Mine southwest of Goldflash Town the day before yesterday. Supposedly an unknown creature has appeared in the gold mine, but only bloodstains were found at the scene."

"Then, just yesterday, my guards reported signs of Evilfin Murlocs upstream of Shimmer Lake, Goldflash Town's water source to the northwest. Those disgusting creatures can severely contaminate the water, but I don't have enough men available to drive them away."

Hamilton jabbed an angry finger at the mound of parchment on his desk.

"Kuzma?"

Raine had heard the name before. The merchant boys had mentioned him in passing.

Kuzma was the previous sheriff of Goldflash Town. Apparently, he had left the newly appointed Hamilton an enormous pile of unfinished business.