"I'll take these fellows away." That deep voice sounded again as Sheriff Redpath came up beside Rhode. "These drunks are a real nuisance. But don't be too hard on them. They're only drinking here because they've lost their jobs..."
"I understand." Rhode nodded. "I won't press criminal charges."
He was a magnanimous mage, after all!
They were townsfolk he would keep running into around town. There was no need to have them hauled off to the police station, detained, or sentenced over something like this.
After his little display today, no one would likely trouble him again, no matter how much they drank.
Most importantly, Lilia hadn't been hurt. Otherwise... hmph.
"Thank you, then." The sheriff gave Rhode a friendly nod and turned to leave.
"Um..." Rhode stopped Redpath again. "Could you teach swordsmanship?"
"Of course I know swordsmanship." Redpath looked up at him in puzzlement. "But aren't you a mage? Why would you want to learn it?"
"It's not for me." Rhode pointed at Lilia, who was still holding his hand. "She wants to learn."
Lilia tilted her head at Rhode, then jumped with excitement. "Really, Rhode? You're asking him to be my swordsmanship teacher? That's wonderful!"
Rhode could only motion for Lilia to quiet down first, then wait to hear what Redpath had to say.
"I see..." Redpath seemed to think it over, then a hesitant expression appeared on his face.
"What's wrong?"
"How about this? Come with me, and I'll explain." As he spoke, Redpath called out to the crowd, "Smithers, take them away first. I'll come find you later."
After someone in the crowd answered, Redpath pulled Rhode toward the road out of town.
Lilia hurried after them.
Rhode had found her a swordsmanship teacher! How exciting!
Judging by the sheriff's martial bearing and the greatsword on his back, he ought to be a good teacher!
Then she heard Redpath tell Rhode, "I need you to do something for me. If you do, I'll agree to teach her swordsmanship."
"Do something for you?" Rhode stopped in his tracks. "Then just tell me. Why do we have to head out of town?"
Redpath smiled. "We can talk while we walk. You know the watchtower outside town, right?"
Rhode nodded.
Sometimes, when Rhode wandered over that way, he saw sentries there. Adventurers also seemed to visit quite often.
But Rhode wasn't an adventurer-at least, he hadn't been before.
He focused only on tending his own fields, so he paid them little attention and didn't really know what they did there.
"Lieutenant Orinel is stationed there with a small force, but they're badly understaffed," Redpath continued. "So they often recruit adventurers to help them complete dangerous missions."
"Oh..." Rhode still didn't understand. "What does that have to do with me?"
"There's a particularly troublesome monster. Many adventurers have already fallen to it." Redpath looked Rhode in the eye. "You're a powerful mage. I hope you can help us."
Now Rhode finally understood.
Redpath had seen the power of his spells and how much he doted on Lilia, so he was taking the opportunity to set conditions.
But if the monster was that troublesome, there was no reason for Rhode to risk his life. He hadn't fully mastered his spells yet. This could wait.
As for swordsmanship...
He could find someone else to teach her when he had the chance. It was only something for Lilia to practice for fun, anyway.
Watching Rhode shake his head repeatedly, Redpath's eyes shifted, and he added, "I heard you have to compensate the miners for their lost wages."
"Yes. What about it?" Rhode looked at Redpath in confusion.
Why was the sheriff suddenly bringing this up?
"Do you know how much you'll have to pay?"
"No. The mayor said we'd discuss it after I cleared the mine entrance."
"We can work it out now." Redpath smiled, looking as though he had everything under control. "A miner earns about fifty copper coins a day. There are roughly fifty miners at the Jade Mine. If we count five days of lost work..."
"T-ten thousand copper coins?" Rhode really hadn't thought it through. It was going to cost that much?!
"Yes. A little over one gold coin."
Good grief!
Rhode's farm brought him only sixty or seventy silver coins a year at most, and that was with a good harvest.
After years of hard work, once he deducted his living expenses, he had saved less than two gold coins.
And now he would have to spend an entire gold coin in one go?
Rhode felt a sharp pang at the thought.
"And the longer you delay, the larger that sum will grow." Redpath drove the point home at just the right moment. "Fortunately, the Jade Mine belongs to the mayor, and he doesn't seem to intend to make you compensate him for his own losses. But if it suddenly occurs to him..."
"Then I'm done for." Rhode lowered his head and told Lilia dejectedly, "I won't be able to find you a swordsmanship teacher, either. I can't afford to pay one."
Lilia pouted.
But she knew that "money" was very important to adults.
"I can waive the tuition, as long as you're willing to help." Redpath knew the moment had come. "This monster has been roaming around out there for far too long and has hurt quite a few people. I need you to help us get rid of it."
"And," Redpath added the most important point, "you can earn a sizable bounty for killing it."
What?
A bounty???
Why didn't you say so sooner!!!
Rhode lifted his head again, took Lilia's hand, and eagerly told Redpath, "Come on, take us to the watchtower! I can't wait to destroy a monster that's been hurting people!"
"..."
They soon reached the watchtower.
It was a dilapidated watchtower.
Its outer walls were peeling and crumbling all over, but a flag flew high at the top.
The flag appeared to bear two stylized letters, "LD," with four swords piercing the "D," one long and three short.
Rhode recognized it as the national flag of the Kingdom of Lordaeron.
Fully armed soldiers stood guard below the watchtower, their outer tunics bearing the same emblem as Lordaeron's flag.
People in various kinds of clothing also came and went around them, all seemingly busy.
When Sheriff Redpath approached the watchtower with Rhode and Lilia, the soldiers let them in without even looking up.
Rhode looked inside the watchtower.
A man who looked like an officer sat in a chair, casting a sidelong glance toward the other side of the room.
Over there, a group of people had gathered around a young clerk to ask questions. The clerk answered while handing them sheets of parchment.
"Have a look around. I'll speak to Lieutenant Orinel," Redpath told Rhode, then walked toward the officer.
Rhode nodded, glanced around, then led Lilia by the hand toward the noticeboard on the wall.
Many sheets of paper were posted on the noticeboard. Rhode first skimmed their headings.
"Wanted: Cunning Leopard."
"Wanted: Man-Eating Grizzly."
"Wanted: Syndicate highwaymen."
"..."
They were all wanted notices.
Beneath each heading were a description of the target, a rough sketch, and the offered bounty.
Just as Redpath had said, the watchtower was short on manpower, so they posted their targets as wanted notices and recruited nearby adventurers to deal with the problems in exchange for rewards.
Naturally, the difficulty of each task was proportional to its reward, with bounties ranging from a few silver coins to several dozen.
Rhode read with interest, and Lilia looked along with him.
She was short, and even on tiptoe she could only see the notices at the very bottom of the board, so she was mostly just joining in for fun.
But soon she pointed at one of the wanted notices and said, "Look, Rhode! A spider!"
Before you continue