After lunch, Anna approached Raine with a shy expression.

"Raine, could you come upstairs for a moment?"

Even after spending a full day in the Raine household, Anna still felt ill at ease. It wasn't that the family treated her poorly. Quite the opposite—they were almost too welcoming.

The two went to the room on the second floor.

"Raine, I... I want to go back to my own house."

Anna kept her head lowered, fingers pressed together as she clutched the hem of her skirt.

Although Raine had saved her life, she grew flustered whenever she faced him now. Her heart always began to race.

"I'm afraid you can't."

Raine shook his head.

"What? Why?"

Anna looked up in confusion and surprise. His answer was nothing like what she had expected.

Could it be that...

While her thoughts ran wild, Raine's expression turned grave.

"Sheriff Hamilton told me that Blackbeard, the man I killed, was the younger brother of the Hyena Gang's leader in Mayst City. They may send someone to investigate his disappearance."

"For now, you're safer staying here. Don't return to your house."

"Ah!"

The color drained from Anna's face.

"Don't worry. I'll be joining the Night Watchmen soon."

To reassure her, Raine shared some of what he and Hamilton had discussed. Anna relaxed a little after hearing his explanation, and some color returned to her face.

"Then... all right. I'll help with whatever I can."

Raine waved a hand. "If you have time, keep Mint company. Usually no one is home with her. She'll be delighted to have you around."

"Of course. Mint is adorable and very well behaved."

Anna's eyes curved into crescents at the mention of the little girl.

"Then that's enough. Don't worry. Our lives will only get better from here."

Anna studied Raine's steady expression and gave a firm nod.

"Mm."

He was only a few months older than her, yet he inspired a remarkable sense of security.

She believed him.

---

That afternoon, on his way to the blacksmith shop, Raine examined the Blacksmith class's other Core Skill: One-Handed Hammer Mastery.

Its icon depicted a flat-headed iron hammer lying at an angle.

[One-Handed Hammer Mastery Lv. 1 (Passive): When the user wields any hammer-type weapon, damage increases moderately.]

Raine frowned.

He had trained with swords all this time. Did this mean he now needed to find a hammer-based combat technique as well?

For the moment, the Skill could not provide an immediate increase to his combat strength.

Even so, Raine was thoroughly satisfied with his advancement to Blacksmith. Both the increase in Strength and the appearance of an active Skill were valuable—especially Blacksmith's Strength.

He turned to the first page of the panel.

Name: Raine Callan

Class: Blacksmith Lv. 1 (1/100) / Militia Lv. 3 (328/500)

Constitution: 6

Strength: 9

Agility: 8

Spirit: 8

Remaining Attribute Points: 0

Remaining Skill Points: 1

Both Core Skill descriptions included level markers, which meant they could probably be upgraded.

However, neither displayed an EXP bar in parentheses. Core Skills likely could not be improved through practice and required Skill Points instead.

Raine's brow furrowed.

His Skill Points had already been scarce. Now the demand for them was even greater.

He stared at the single remaining Skill Point on the panel. After considerable hesitation, he left it untouched.

*I'm still practicing the second posture of the Great Bear Breathing Method, and progress is steady. The third posture will take much longer.*

*My original plan was to reach Great Bear Breathing Method Lv. 3 through practice, then spend a Skill Point to raise it directly to Lv. 4. Improving the breathing method strengthens my entire body, so the return is excellent.*

*But now I have Core Skills that can't improve through practice. What a headache.*

Raine continued pondering as he walked.

*At this rate, the shortage of Skill Points will only get worse.*

*As for solving it...*

*I could try to trigger more classes, but that's far too uncertain. A full week of training with the Greyhound War Dogs didn't produce a Houndmaster or Beast Tamer Class Panel.*

*That leaves only what I can control: raising Blacksmith or Militia.*

Once his priorities were clear, Raine arrived at the blacksmith shop with his enthusiasm rekindled and resumed learning horseshoe forging from Boris.

After another afternoon of practice, he handled the hammer with growing ease, and Boris needed to do less and less of the work.

The blacksmith could not help reassessing him. He had never expected the boy to possess such a gift for smithing.

Unfortunately, an entire afternoon of labor yielded only 5 Blacksmith EXP.

[Blacksmith Lv. 1 (5/100)]

It appeared that after advancing, his old forging tasks provided progressively less EXP.

As darkness fell, Raine left the shop and made his way back to Habsburg Estate.

He exchanged a few words with George at the page boys' dormitory, then fell into a deep sleep.

---

The next morning marked the beginning of a new week of training.

This week's subject was archery.

Their instructor was once again Humbert, one of the estate's senior guards. Both swordsmanship and archery were mandatory parts of the Habsburg Estate guard assessment.

The page boys marched to the northwestern corner of the outer bailey, where ten targets stood in orderly rows. Training bows of different sizes and draw weights rested under a nearby shelter.

Raine examined the selection. There were shortbows, war bows, and longbows more than a meter and a half in length.

"Today, we begin archery training."

Instructor Humbert stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his voice deep and firm.

"Go to the shelter and select a bow suited to your strength, along with a quiver."

The page boys hurried over and began choosing their equipment.

Most of them lacked the strength for anything beyond a shortbow. Many of the merchant boys, who tended to be taller and stronger, selected standard war bows.

Raine also chose a war bow, though he deliberately picked one near the middle of the available draw weights.

With his actual Strength, he could have used the heaviest war bow there.

Bushy Brow glanced over and snorted when he saw that Raine had chosen a bow with a heavier draw weight than his own.

*That doesn't make sense. Raine should be weaker than me.*

He said nothing, however. His expression darkened, and he turned away.

The memory of their unpleasant fight was still fresh. Merely thinking about it made his stomach ache again.

*Damn it! What is Drunk Jack doing? It's been a full week, and I still can't find him.*

*He probably ran off somewhere to chase women.*

It had happened before. Once, after earning a little money, the man had vanished into a widow's house for half a month. He only reappeared after she emptied his purse down to the last penny and threw him out.

Bushy Brow shook his head in disgust, bitterly regretting that he had paid Drunk Jack in full.

The man was hopelessly unreliable.

Raine was eager to learn archery, but he could not afford to spend a precious Skill Point on it now.

Despite training seriously for the entire day, he made little progress. Only one new icon appeared on his Militia panel.

[Basic Archery Lv. 1 (8/100)]

Rome had not been built in a day. Accurate shooting required countless hours of practice.

Humbert had expected great things from Raine, and disappointment briefly entered his eyes.

Bushy Brow, who had been anxious at first, was delighted.

Archery was a mandatory part of the guard assessment. Raine's poor shooting would drag down his overall score.

By contrast, Bushy Brow ranked second in swordsmanship and first in archery. His combined score was certain to exceed Raine's.

Victory was assured.