“Very well! Remove the body and clean up the traces in the room,” Lord Hamilton nodded.
“A human-skin mask?”
“A wanted poster?”
“Scarface?”
Upon hearing a string of keywords, Rein’s heart was initially puzzled, but then he was startled, obviously frightened. He hadn’t expected these two were wanted criminals; he was indeed lucky to have killed them both, it was partly due to luck!
Scarface had been fooled by his frail appearance and acting skills, while the black-bearded man was driven by lust, focused entirely on Anna.
If they had been slightly more cautious, under normal circumstances, he could have been turned over by either of them!
But… why does the name Scarface sound so familiar?
That’s right! It’s that guy, worth a full five Imperial Gold Coins!
Rein’s eyes lit up, instantly remembering the notorious bandit known as Scarface and the bounty amount on the wanted poster.
This means he could claim a substantial reward.
And what about that black-bearded guy who called Scarface boss? Shouldn’t he be worth even more?
A wave of joy swept over Rein’s heart.
“Lord Hamilton, about the reward…”
“You want the reward? Come to the town’s administration office tomorrow to find me!” Lord Hamilton glanced at Rein with a smile that was not quite a smile, then turned and left.
Rein felt that there was something hidden in the other man’s eyes; getting the reward tomorrow might not be so straightforward.
The Night Watchmen quickly carried away the bodies inside the room and at the door and dealt with the bloodstains crudely, but the room still reeked of a heavy scent of blood.
After all, two people had just died here.
Rein glanced at Anna who was still shivering violently; clearly, it was no longer suitable for her to stay here.
He was quite troubled but eventually thought that the only option was to let Anna stay at his home for the time being.
“Anna, please don’t mention what happened tonight to my parents or to Bo He, alright?” Rein crouched down, gently speaking to Anna whose large eyes still held traces of fright.
Anna didn’t speak, but instinctively nodded her head.
That was enough.
Gently picking up the somewhat limp girl, Rein returned to his own house next door.
Perhaps because Rein was guarding her side, the girl fell into a deep sleep in the latter half of the night, with tears glistening on her long eyelashes.
Although the matter was resolved and he felt very exhausted, Rein couldn’t fall asleep at once. The scene of the murder and the ferocious expressions of the two men as they lay dying replayed in his mind like a slideshow.
Suddenly, Rein remembered that the system seemed to have sent a notification, but until now, he hadn’t had the chance to check it.
He opened it to see:
[You have been through a battle, Militiaman Professional Experience Points +121]
[You have been through a battle, Militiaman Professional Experience Points +129]
[Your skill, Basic Swordsmanship, has improved, Experience +34]
Hisss!
The Militiaman Profession Level has risen that much?
Rein stared at his Militiaman lv3 (328/500) on the panel, lost in thought.
“`
It seems that dangerous real combat is the best way to increase Experience Points!
Although there was a young girl sleeping in the same room with him, the atmosphere couldn’t be any further from being romantic or intimate.
Looking at Anna, who was curled up and exuded an extreme lack of security even through her sleeping posture, Rein couldn’t muster the slightest desire for this pitiful but tenacious and optimistic fragile girl.
Talking about women?
Clearly, Miss Cleya with her bouncy long legs and curvaceous figure held more allure in Rein’s heart!
The next morning, under his parents’ astonished gazes, Rein took Anna downstairs for breakfast, with only Bo He looking quite happy about it.
“Father, Anna’s home had some strangers knocking on the door yesterday, and considering the recent cases of missing children, I decided to bring Anna over. Let’s have Anna stay with us for a while,” Rein said, mixing truth with fiction.
Old Rein glanced at Anna, who was eating shyly with her head down, and said with a smile, “Alright, it looks like you’re the lucky one, you scamp!”
“Rein, you have to be nice to that girl, Anna!” his mother chimed in cheerfully, mincing no words.
This made Anna blush deeply, her head nearly touching the table!
“Mother, we’re not in the kind of relationship you’re imagining!” Rein helplessly rubbed his forehead, saying.
“Is that so? Then let me ask you, did you or did you not rest… in the same room with her last night?” The mother, considering Anna was right beside them, didn’t put it more directly.
“That’s because Anna was scared…” Rein explained, powerless.
At this point, old Rein interjected with a somewhat serious expression, “Rein, as a man, you must learn to take responsibility! Anna is a good girl, and you can’t let her down.”
Great! Now look what’s happened!
The misunderstanding couldn’t be any bigger!
But faced with his parents’ advice, Rein could only listen obediently for now and find an opportunity to tell them the truth later.
After breakfast, Rein almost fled to the town hall. After being announced by the guard at the door, a guard escorted Rein to Lord Hamilton’s office.
As the town’s security officer, Lord Hamilton’s status was second only to the Governor.
In some respects, given his control over the security forces and the Night Watcher’s Army and from the perspective of maintaining regional stability, a region’s security officer is an even more important role than the Governor.
“Knock, knock, knock!” the guard knocked on the door.
“Come in!” a deep and resonant voice responded.
The guard opened the door, and as Rein walked into the room, he saw Lord Hamilton, dressed in noble hunting attire, sitting behind a mahogany desk in the room, currently browsing through some documents.
Lord Hamilton looked up, and without bothering with pleasantries, simply said, “Rein, take a seat first. I’m looking at a file here, give me a moment!”
Rein nodded, pulled out a chair to sit down, and then began to look around.
The office was bright and spacious, about forty to fifty square meters in size, with several soft deerskin chairs and a coffee table in the central area, and bookshelves on the sides.
The wall side of the office held the mahogany desk where Lord Hamilton was currently seated, atop of it stacked a large number of parchment rolls that appeared to be various files and documents.
Before Rein could finish surveying the room, Lord Hamilton put down the file he was examining, looked at Rein with a smile, and said, “Rein, your growth has exceeded my expectations.”
“Are you interested in joining the Night Watchman’s squad to help me? See all these files? They are all unresolved cases, left by that fool Kuzma!”
“Recently, I’ve been severely understaffed! In fact, the entire Meister County’s security situation is not looking good. The day before yesterday, in the southwest of Flashgold Town, at Elim Mine, three miners went missing. It is said that some unidentified creatures appeared inside the gold mine, and only bloodstains were found at the scene.”
“Also, just yesterday, my guards reported finding traces of foul Finmen around the source of water for our town, upstream from Glimmer Lake. Bear in mind these disgusting creatures heavily pollute the water! But right now, I don’t have enough manpower to drive them away,” Lord Hamilton pointed at the stack of parchment files on his mahogany desk, saying with a hint of anger.
“Kuzma?” Rein had heard this name before, mentioned by the faux-rich kids during their idle chatter. He was the former security officer of Flashgold Town, and it seemed he left Lord Hamilton, the new appointee, with a multitude of messy issues to deal with.
“`