Nathan hit the ground harder than he meant to.
His legs gave out the moment the tension finally released, daggers clattering against stone as he dropped onto his back. Nott was already retreating to his soul space, seeing that he didn't need her anymore and wasn't cooking food. The ceiling spun slowly above him as his chest heaved, every breath burning on the way in and out.
For a long moment, he didn't move.
''…How was that even possible,'' he thought distantly. "Something that strong ranked E. Even if there were five more of me, that fight wouldn't have been any easier."
The silence pressed in, broken only by his breathing and the faint drip of water deeper in the cave. The oppressive weight that had filled the chamber was gone, leaving the air hollow in its absence.
Nathan closed his eyes.
The hum behind them was barely there now. Not gone—just distant. Finished.
His body hadn't gotten the message.
Pain flared the moment he shifted. Ribs screamed. His shoulder protested sharply. Something on his side felt wrong in a way he chose not to think about.
"At least it's over," he told himself. "Time to move."
He rolled onto his side and pushed himself upright, pausing to steady his breathing until the dizziness passed. When he finally looked up, the goblin chieftain lay where it had fallen.
Even dead, it felt wrong. Smaller, but still dense. Heavy in a way that didn't match its size.
Nathan watched it for a moment longer than necessary.
It didn't move.
"Good."
That was enough.
He stood up and retrieved his daggers, making his way to the goblin chief's body.
The chieftain's head was heavier than expected—thick bone, dense muscle, a faint pressure that made his skin prickle as he secured it. The two goblin warriors followed. Their maintained gear and frozen expressions told a story he wasn't interested in unpacking right now.
The cave felt empty when he finished. Not safe—just vacant. Whatever order had existed here died with its leader.
Nathan didn't want to see what came next.
He slung the pack over his shoulder and went to leave before noticing something glinting on the gobin chief's finger. Nathan walked over, realizing it was a ring made of black metal forged using techniques the goblins could have ever come up with or been taught.
'I guess I can take it and ask Nott about it later. If anything, it looks like I can sell it for a lot after getting it appraised.'
Nathan, giving one final look at the battle fiend, turned and left, the air growing lighter with every step away from the chamber. By the time the forest swallowed him, the hum had nearly faded.
His injuries still hurt. His exhaustion lingered. But the darkness felt calm again, settled.
'Next time,' he thought as he moved, 'I won't be this broken after winning.'
He picked up his pace.
The fastest route back to town was the only one he considered, ignoring anything that didn't force the issue. By the time the gates came into view, his body already felt more responsive—bruises fading, fractures mending.
The guards barely glanced his way as he passed through.
'How long was I down there?' he wondered briefly, then dismissed it.
The guild hall greeted him with noise and motion—steel on wood, overlapping voices, laughter, and arguments filling the space. Normal.
Nathan crossed it without hesitation.
Bloodstained armor drew looks, but he didn't shy away from them. If anything, his posture straightened as he reached the front desk and set his pack down with a dull thud.
The receptionist looked up with a practiced smile. "Quest turn—"
Nathan cut the strap and tipped the pack forward.
The first goblin head rolled onto the counter.
The smile vanished.
Conversation nearby dipped, then resumed uncertainly.
"Goblins," she said.
Nathan nodded casually. "Three normal goblins."
He placed the next two beside it.
Attention shifted. Adventurers leaned closer.
"Forest types," he added lightly. "Annoying."
The fourth head landed more heavily.
The receptionist inhaled sharply. "… Tha-That's a warrior!"
Nathan smiled. "Two."
The fifth head—the chieftain—hit last.
The counter creaked.
Silence spread through the room in uneven waves as people realized what they were seeing.
"Their camp had structure," Nathan said, unbothered. "The leader thought he was clever."
The receptionist stared at the heads, then at him.
Alarm replaced disbelief.
"That's a chieftain!"
Nathan shrugged, ignoring the sting in his side. "Yeah. Took longer than I expected. Warriors were trained. Coordinated."
He glanced around, enjoying the looks.
"E-rank, right?"
No one laughed.
The woman straightened, eyes flicking toward the back of the hall. "I need the guildmaster."
The word rippled through the room.
Nathan leaned back, arms folding loosely as he spotted a familiar guard in the crowd and couldn't quite hide his smirk.
'Guess that worked.'
Heavy footsteps approached.
Measured. Unhurried.
The crowd parted.
Nathan didn't turn. He already knew who it was.
Arduin stopped at the counter, gaze sharp as it settled on him. "Did you kill all of these by yourself?"
Her aura pressed down, demanding honesty.
"Yes," Nathan said evenly. "I killed all of them alone."
Arduin studied him for a moment, then turned toward the hallway. "Follow me. I need to validate the quest."
Nathan gestured lightly and followed. She led him to a familiar room with only a table in the middle of it, this time with chairs on either side of it.
The door sealed behind them with a muted finality, and whatever spell Arduin had invoked settled so cleanly that the ambient noise of the guild vanished without echo, leaving the room wrapped in a silence that felt deliberate rather than empty.
Arduin did not sit.
She remained standing as she gestured for him to take the chair opposite her, her gaze steady in a way that suggested she was already weighing his words before he spoke them.
"Start from the cave," she said. "What did you notice. Not what you think it meant."
Nathan leaned back slightly once seated, posture relaxed despite the ache still threading through his body. "It wasn't chaotic," he began. "The entrance had been reinforced. Not professionally, but intentionally. Patrols rotated instead of standing watch, and nothing was left unattended long enough to be careless."
Arduin's expression remained neutral, though her attention sharpened almost imperceptibly.
"Inside," he continued, "they'd spread out. Stone huts arranged to break sightlines. Fires kept low. Weapons centralized. The smaller goblins handled logistics while the larger ones watched movement instead of wandering."
He shrugged faintly. "Efficient, I guess."
That was when the quiet certainty settled in her chest.
'He isn't embellishing,' Arduin realized. 'And worse—he isn't alarmed.'
"And the chieftain?" she asked.
Nathan tilted his head as if considering the question more out of courtesy than difficulty. "Smarter than the rest. Didn't overextend. Had two warriors guarding him—disciplined ones. They fought to control space, not to overwhelm."
He paused, then added with a hint of satisfaction, "If I slipped once, they would've killed me."
Arduin turned away under the pretense of thought, though her mind was already racing.
'Goblins do not evolve command structures,' she thought. 'They do not produce coordinated sentries, and they certainly do not train guards capable of adaptive containment.'
She turned back to him. "At no point did this strike you as unusual?"
Nathan frowned slightly. "Hard, sure. But that's what E-rank parties are for. I just handled it solo."
He said it plainly. Logically.
'He assumes this is the baseline,' Arduin thought. 'That means either his frame of reference is catastrophically skewed… or his potential is.'
She pulled out a new adventurer card and set it on the table between them.
"You exceeded the quest parameters," she said. "You'll receive triple compensation. Quietly."
Nathan smiled. "Good."
"Your rank will be adjusted to D-rank," she continued. "Effective immediately."
He picked up the card, turning it once with satisfaction. "Guess that was inevitable."
'And visible,' Arduin thought. 'Which is exactly what I need.'
She folded her hands together. "There's another matter. There's a serpent in the river north of town," she said. "Large enough that trade routes have shifted. Aggressive enough that the deaths are no longer isolated."
Nathan leaned back. "River monsters happen."
"This one has a name," Arduin replied.
She spoke it clearly.
"Jorm."
Nathan stilled, attention sharpening. "As in the World Serpent?"
"According to local myth," Arduin said. "Yes."
She let that sit.
"People believe it," she continued. "And belief spreads faster than fact. Especially when there are survivors."
She leaned forward slightly.
"I want you to confront it," she said. "If you can eliminate it, do so. If not, return alive."
Nathan studied her. "You're not asking anyone else. I just got back from a quest and would like to rest with my newfound wealth," He said as he was leaning back in the chair, propping his feet up on the table with a smirk.
"No," Arduin said evenly.
'Because if he succeeds,' she thought, 'his name carries further than any proclamation I could issue.'
'And if he returns alive, that alone reshapes how people speak about him.'
She stood and deactivated the sound barrier with a gesture, the noise of the guild flooding back into the room.
"Rest," she said. "Prepare."
Nathan rose, slipping his card away. "Sounds like a challenge. Can I wait a couple of days before going?"
"You won't be leaving for another week. I already have another party going to that area for something else, so that they will escort you there. Make sure to get along with them. They are our guild's number one party!" Arduin said, flashing him a thumbs-up.
Nathan left with his mind racing at his new task, just as he thought he could have some peace of mind.
As he left, Arduin remained still, eyes lingering on the closed door.
'A reputation built on truth,' she thought, 'is far harder to dismantle.'