Thus, through a full night of ‘walking the dog,’ his experience naturally increased rapidly.
The only thing that made Rein a bit displeased was that, as a member of the Night Watcher’s Army in Flashgold Town, there were too few experts in comparison.
On the training ground of the administrative hall, if Rein used the Giant Bear Sword Technique, there essentially wasn’t an opponent who could last three exchanges.
Therefore, when Rein sparred with other Night Watchmen, he would use the Bastard Sword combined with Imperial Military Swordsmanship and then take the time to practice archery as well.
A few days passed, and the results were quite good.
The Night Watchman’s Profession Level had reached lv3 (247/500), and the Imperial Military Swordsmanship and Basic Archery had improved even more, reaching lv2 (245/300) and lv2 (121/300) respectively.
Before he realized it, three days had passed.
Today, as dawn broke, Rein finished a night of patrol and had not been home long before he received a notification from the guards: Lord Hamilton requested his presence.
Rein thought for a moment, then took his greatsword wrapped in sheepskin, donned the Night Watchman’s black standard leather armor, and headed to the town’s administrative hall.
In the office, Hamilton handed Rein a sheepskin scroll.
“For this mission, we have to go personally.”
Rein took the scroll and skillfully flipped through it, starting with the mission description: multiple miners had gone missing at the Elim Mine, and the three Bounty Hunters who went to investigate had since vanished without a trace.
As of yesterday, the number of missing miners had exceeded ten, and the miners at Elim Mine were all terrified, not a single one dared to go down to work again, forcing the mine to close.
….
“Eh! Elim Mine? I seem to have heard news of incidents there before.”
“I didn’t expect it to still be unresolved….”
“The current situation, it’s clearly gotten more serious!”
Rein immediately remembered hearing related news about the Elim Mine from Hamilton.
Continuing to browse through the case file, the end of the scroll only had one sentence about the mission requirement: What exactly happened inside Elim Mine?
“This is an investigation mission?” Rein looked at Hamilton in surprise.
Normally, the official Imperial forces wouldn’t get involved in mere investigations; these are usually handled through bounties, leaving Bounty Hunters to complete them more often.
But this time was different, with the Flashgold Town’s sheriff Hamilton himself taking action, Rein faintly felt the significance of the Elim gold mine.
Hamilton’s following words confirmed Rein’s guess.
“Though the output of the Elim Mine has been declining year by year, its importance to Meister County remains significant. The higher-ups have asked me to figure out what happened in Elim Mine as soon as possible.”
“In addition, although this is just an investigative mission, a mysterious event most likely occurred.” Hamilton’s expression became serious.
“A mysterious event?” Rein pondered these words.
“Correct! The disappearance of the three Bounty Hunters, including one experienced Monster Hunter, can now be classified as a mysterious event. This means it’s possible that monsters or some kind of supernatural forces appeared in the mine.”
“Lord, if it’s monsters, why not offer a bounty for Monster Hunters to take care of it? Of course, I’m just curious, not afraid,” Rein asked.
After all, it was Hamilton who told him that if he wanted to buy Berserker Bear meat, he could find Monster Hunters in County Town.
“That’s because one of the Bounty Hunters, Nedved, was himself an experienced Monster Hunter. His disappearance has led to no Monster Hunters in County Town willing to take on this task.”
After listening to Hamilton explain the circumstances, Rein nodded,
The disappearance of three Bounty Hunters, one of whom was an experienced Monster Hunter, gave him a foreboding sense of unease.
“Lord Hamilton, what do you think might have happened inside the mine?” Rein couldn’t help asking, since Hamilton, with his broad experience, would likely have a judgment about the possible situation.
Hamilton pondered for a moment and said, “Initially, I wondered if Gnolls had appeared in Elim Mine, but Gnolls are not strong fighters, and they usually come in large numbers, yet so far, there are no reports of any sightings of Gnolls.”
“Furthermore, the disappearance of three experienced Bounty Hunters suggests that the likelihood of Gnolls being the creatures inside is slim.”
“Therefore, I suspect that there’s a type of monster adept at lurking and ambushing inside the mine.”
“For instance, the Venomtail Scorpion excels at stealth and sneak attacks, and it also particularly favors the dark and damp environment of mines. If it strikes a miner or Bounty Hunter during an attack, it can swiftly deliver a fatal blow without a sound.”
“Not even a scream would be heard.”
“Of course, it could also be other ambush-preferring creatures, such as Troglodytes and so on; it’s still too soon to say.”
Heeding Hamilton’s reasoned analysis, Rein nodded, feeling somewhat less worried.
With his experienced superior leading the team, safety shouldn’t be a big concern.
“Rein, you were planning to earn more Merit Points to exchange for advanced Magic Potions, right?”
“This might be a good opportunity, as tasks involving mysterious events typically offer three to five times the Merit Points of ordinary tasks, or even more.”
“Additionally, if the monsters are easy to deal with, we can eliminate them directly, and that would mean even more Merit Points.” Hamilton said to Rein with a smile.