"That’s more like it." Kase let go, dropping him to the ground.

The Dwarf scrambled to his feet and handed over the pouch hanging from his belt, saying, "Do you want to count the Gold Coins now?"

With stern faces, a few of the Adventurers took the pouch and began to count. It held exactly fifty Gold Coins—not one more, not one less.

’This guy is really shrewd,’ Colin thought. ’He was prepared for both outcomes.’

Colin thought to himself that in this world, aside from Donkexes and his batch of more honest Dwarves, there were also shrewd, shameless ones like this... Of course, his own party had an even stranger Half-Orc and a Tiefling Priest.

"Are we splitting the money now?" the Mage asked.

"Let’s do it now," Colin said. "We can sort out everything else easily enough anyway."

After the split, the fifty Gold Coins and other loose change found their way securely into the pockets of Colin and his party. In addition, there were two pieces of Gemstone Ore they had yet to handle.

All in all, they were definitely going to make a good profit.

On top of that, the Dwarf had also given them a good amount of Antiseptic Oil. Considering it would have cost a fair number of Gold Coins to buy in a shop, the group reluctantly considered the matter settled.

After they finished dividing the money, the group found a corner and built a few fires.

With practiced ease, Kase found three branches to make a tripod, then hung an iron pot over the campfire.

Orelia chopped the cured sausage, bread, mushrooms, and onions they had bought before heading up the mountain into small pieces and threw them into the pot. She added a little water, then half a pouch of beer.

Before long, the concoction in the pot began to bubble and churn.

Colin took his wooden bowl and ladled out a serving of the stew for himself.

He then sat down on a nearby rock, resting his newly acquired Magic Giant Sword against his leg.

"The way you’re looking at that sword is kinda creepy," Kase commented from beside him.

Orelia said, "That’s just Mr. Colin. He cares deeply about anything that can make him stronger, be it knowledge or otherwise. He even had me copying books with him in the Divine Hall before. He was so driven, I felt too embarrassed to rest."

"Is that so?" Kase breathed a sigh of relief. "Good thing I can’t read."

The stew only tasted of salt and mushrooms—it was hardly delicious, but it was a hundred times better than cold bread and cured sausage.

’Now that I have the money, it’s time to check the rewards from that quest.’

This time, there were no extra Attributes; all the rewards were in Skill Level.

That was a good thing. If I’d received even a little less Skill Level, I would have had to wait to get my new Casting Specialization.

Without hesitation, Colin put all two hundred and fifty Skill Level points into his Casting Skills.

As before, after a sudden flash of an Illusion, the skill progression Panel appeared before Colin’s eyes.

-----------------

Casting (Expert) 1256/2000

[You have used Close Combat Magic and Evocation Magic in multiple battles. Your control over Flame has improved.]

[Acquired Specialty: Blade Spell Mastery]

[Blade Spell Mastery]: 1. The maximum Damage of spells cast using a blade, such as "Emerald Flame Sword," is increased by two points. 2. After the spell ends, you can choose to cancel the Damage to other units and imbue the blade with Flame. For the next eighteen seconds, your weapon attacks will deal an additional two points of Damage. Usable three times per day.

-----------------

’So it’s true, the more you use a certain kind of Magic, the stronger that Magic becomes.’

’But speaking of which, is Close Combat Magic like Emerald Flame Sword actually part of a larger school of magic?’ Colin wondered. ’Does that mean there are also things like an Ice Sword or a Poison Sword?’

’Overall, this Specialty is pretty useful.’

’The increased maximum Damage can be combined with the burst from [Combat Mage], and the ability to temporarily imbue my weapon with Flame is also excellent.’

’It always felt like a bit of a waste using [Emerald Flame Sword] on a single target, since the Flames that scattered to other enemies were still part of the spell.’

’With this Specialty, I can finally put all of its power to use.’

Having sorted things out in his head, Colin stretched and gazed silently at the star-filled night sky, watching the white smoke from the campfire rise and slowly vanish into the endless darkness.

Unlike the world he came from, the star-filled sky here was crisscrossed with brilliant bands of light that seemed to form some kind of strange pattern.

Since it had nothing to do with combat, Colin hadn’t bothered studying things like astrology, so he couldn’t make any sense of it.

"You’re the ones who took care of that thing?"

A voice came from nearby. Turning his head, Colin saw two soldiers staring at the Scorpion-tailed Lion’s wings. Their chests bore the emblem of Torrent Bay, meaning they were likely soldiers under the Baron of Torrent Bay.

Kase, who was in the middle of applying Antiseptic Oil, eyed the arrivals warily.

"Relax, we’re just having a look." An old, white-bearded veteran waved his hand dismissively. "You know, we fought these monsters three months ago. It was a true brush with death."

"So, what happened then?" Colin’s interest was piqued.

"The moment the Scorpion-tailed Lions entered the village, they caused a commotion, and our men went to deal with them. Half of us were carrying Long Spears, and the other half had Longbows."

The other soldier added, "The ones with the Long Spears had Shields, too."

"Right, and Shields." The veteran continued, "There were over twenty of us on the mountaintop, holding a shield wall. That whole swarm of monsters was flying around, stabbing at us with Bone Spears, and we fought back with everything we had."

"It was pitch black at the time. We couldn’t even see where they were," the soldier chimed in.

"After a standoff that lasted for over half an hour, the monsters vanished. We then decided to head to the summit to check for a nest."

"No, the one leading us back then was Glenn, from the village. He’s the oldest Hunter, and the sharpest," the soldier said. "He was directing us from the start, and he was the one who found the nest. After the monsters vanished, he told us to go straight up the mountain and raid their lair."

"Right, right, that’s what happened."

After they finished speaking, both soldiers sighed in unison.

"Unfortunately, after those monsters disappeared, they went straight to the village and started killing people. When we got to the mountaintop and saw they weren’t there, we knew something had gone wrong.

Just as we were heading back to the village to help, we were ambushed on the path. Glenn lost a leg right then and there."

Kase couldn’t hold back. "And you did nothing after that? You just let those things live until now?"

"The village chief said he’d found a way to coexist peacefully with them. What could we do?" the veteran said. "Besides, I’m not exactly eager to risk my life fighting those things."

"If I were that Hunter, I would’ve charged in to fight them to the death, even if it cost me my life!"

Though it sounded like a boast, Colin believed that if Lady Rime herself were standing there, the Half-Orc really would have charged in.

"Living is much harder than dying, Half-Orc," the old soldier said with a smile. "Especially when you’ve lost something precious. For the best Hunter to lose his leg... that’s no different from losing his life.

Anger and regret weigh on your heart like a stone, making it hard to breathe. The more comfortable your enemy is, the heavier that stone gets. That’s why hatred is far more terrifying than death."

Kase grunted twice, as if in agreement.

Sitting nearby, Orelia let out a quiet sigh.

After exchanging a few more words, the two soldiers went off to resume their patrol.

Orelia sighed. "That must have been so painful for him, even though to us it was just a bit of casual conversation."

"That Old Guy was right. Sometimes, living really is worse than dying. You could say that Hunter has already conquered something more terrifying than death," Kase said, mulling over the conversation.

Colin, who was arranging his sleeping bag to the side, commented quietly, "When you decided to stay behind and earn money for your tribe, weren’t you also conquering something more terrifying than death?"

"I... I think so, too," Orelia added, nodding earnestly.

Hearing this, Kase just grunted, turned over, and lay down on the ground to sleep.

"I think he’s embarrassed," Orelia mouthed to Colin.

"Well, you go on and get some sleep, Kase," Colin said deliberately loud. "I’ll take the first watch tonight."

Kase rolled over, offering his backside as a cold reply.