My next assignment came sooner than expected.
A minor subjugation request near the outer trade road. Monster sightings. Disrupted caravans. Low priority, but time-sensitive.
I accepted without hesitation.
The creature was exactly what the report described—aggressive, poorly adapted, relying on numbers that no longer existed. It charged when it saw me.
The fight ended in three movements.
I returned to the road to find a merchant caravan halted several hundred meters away. Guards stood tense but uninjured, weapons half-raised as they watched me approach.
"It's done," I said.
Relief spread quickly.
One of the guards hesitated. "There was another group," he said. "A village militia. They went after it earlier."
I paused.
"Did they request support?"
He shook his head. "No. They were confident."
Then they miscalculated.
"They might still be out there," he added carefully.
Possibly.
Intervening would require deviation. Time. Unnecessary exposure.
"The threat is neutralized," I said. "Any further action is local jurisdiction."
The guards exchanged looks, then nodded. They were not paid to argue.
I left.
Later that night, as I reviewed my system interface, a minor anomaly appeared—nothing alarming. A fluctuation in ambient mana density in a nearby region. Within acceptable variance.
I dismissed it.