Chapter 54: The Ogre's Trail
Chapter 54: The Ogre's Trail
The moment Rain laid eyes on the peculiar glow, his attention was immediately drawn to it.
He picked up the ore and instantly felt its extraordinary weight.
"Damn! Its density is so high, it's probably heavier than Meteorite!"
After learning mineral identification from Blacksmith Boris, Rain was no longer clueless about ores.
He first squeezed it with all his might, then lightly struck it a few times with his greatsword, creating a 'ding ding' sound.
The mysterious ore remained completely unharmed, further confirming Rain's judgment.
Based solely on its hardness and weight, this mysterious ore was undoubtedly a special type.
Moreover, Rain's initial assessment suggested that the value of this ore might even surpass that of Boris's Meteorite.
After some thought, Rain dismissed the idea of keeping the ore for himself.
Even if this ore was extremely valuable, considering his contribution, he was likely to receive it during the loot distribution if he didn't claim other items.
So, Rain dumped everything from the wooden box into his large cloth bag.
Then, carrying the heavy bag, he went to find Captain Valen.
"So much?" Valen exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise as he examined the contents of the bag, "Rain, you're truly the lucky star of our squad!"
Overwhelmed by Rain's quick success, Valen shook his head in astonishment, unable to find the right words to express his admiration for Rain's good fortune.
"Captain Valen, after the appraisal, I want this ore during the loot distribution," Rain said, taking the stone emitting a hazy soft light out of the bag and handing it to Valen.
"It seems to be a special ore, quite rare!" Valen, despite his extensive knowledge, was no better than Rain at identifying ores. He only knew that it wasn't ordinary.
"Rain, catch!" Valen tossed the ore directly to Rain.
Just as Rain was puzzled, Valen explained, "It's best if you take it now. When we bring the loot back to town and have the quartermaster appraise it, there's a chance it might be assessed as part of the three-tenths to be handed over to the Empire."
"Take it now, and if it's valuable, just remember to treat us all to a shot of tequila!" Valen said with a smile, patting Rain on the shoulder.
Clearly, in Valen's mind, winning over Rain, the rising star of the Night Watch squad, was far more important than this special ore.
"Haha, of course, no problem, but..."
Rain understood Valen's good intentions, but he wasn't sure if this distribution was truly fair. So, he didn't know what to say.
At that moment, a Night Watch squad member waved at Valen, who was talking to Rain, and shouted, "Captain, you'd better come and take a look over here!"
The tone suggested that something unexpected had been discovered.
Intrigued, Rain followed Valen over.
On the ground, there was a row of enormous footprints leading into the depths of the forest. As they were near a small river, the ground was damp, making the footprints exceptionally clear.
"So big!" Rain exclaimed in astonishment at the sight of the footprints.
"Four fingers! These are ogre footprints!!!" Unlike Rain's surprise, Valen's expression changed dramatically.
"Rain, we must leave here immediately! Damn it! There's an ogre here, and it seems this small tribe of Evil Fin Fishmen was driven here by the ogre."
"Perhaps the ogre was raising these fishmen as livestock. If that's the case, and we've killed so many of them..."
"We must leave now!"
"Everyone, let's go! No more looting!" Valen immediately called out to the others.
Seeing Valen's tense expression, Rain's heart tightened.
As the Night Watch Captain, Valen's experience far surpassed his own, and the man had just witnessed Rain's combat prowess. Yet, he was now hastily deciding to retreat, indicating that the Ogre's strength was far beyond their group.
Soon, the group loaded their loot onto the warhorse and swiftly mounted their horses, heading back the way they came.
Rain, however, still had doubts.
"Since we've discovered traces of the Ogre, shouldn't we stealthily investigate the situation?"
"Or, do Ogres have extremely keen senses of smell or hearing, making it impossible to get close?"
"After all, we don't even know how many Ogres there are."
After the group hurriedly left the Glimmer Lake area, Rain couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer and asked,
"Captain Valen, are Ogres really that terrifying?"
(End of Chapter)
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