Raine went to Kayden’s apartment, knocked on the door, and waited.

Nothing happened. It was quiet.

There’s no way they already left, right? He went to Cecily’s door and knocked. Again, nothing.

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. It’s been what, 15 minutes since Edgar left? He sighed. Fuck it, it’s a three-hour bike ride. I can catch up.

He was in no hurry to see Edgar again. He took his time going down the stairs and wondered if he was more likely to see his teammates at the healing hall than on the road. Edgar could have easily fallen off his bike and gotten injured.

He sighed and went to the bike shop, where he asked the store owner if he’d seen Raine’s teammates.

“Yeah, they were here just five minutes ago,” the man said with a look of mild annoyance. “The noisiest people to walk in all day. They kept arguing.”

Raine rented a bike and left the shop. He put on his arming cap, got on the bike, and was about to ride toward the WRC Healing Hall when he spotted June not too far away, waving at him.

She approached, and Raine saw that she was carrying a small pouch in her hands.

“I’m glad I saw you before you left!” she said. “Here, these are healing potions.”

She passed him the pouch. There had to be at least five inside.

“Thanks, June,” Raine said. “Wasn’t it pretty expensive to get so many, though?”

She smiled. “It’s alright. Ava and I decided you guys should have them just in case.” She looked around. “Anyway, where are the others?”

“Ahaha...well, I think they’ve already started going to Mirham. Assuming no one fell off their bike.”

. . . .

“Are you sure he’s not coming?” Kayden asked. “How bad was his leg?”

“He’s not coming. How many times do I have to tell you?” Edgar squinted at the road ahead. “Anyway, we’re almost there.”

Cecily looked ahead. Beyond a semaphore tower practically identical to the other four or five they’d seen on their journey, she saw a town in the distance.

She only had a vague idea how much time had passed since they’d left Rialis City. Somewhere between two and three hours, probably. Though they weren’t sprinting, they also weren’t cycling at a relaxed pace.

“You know, healing magic is supposed to be uh....magic. I don’t think it reverses that fast.”

“Look, I don’t fucking know what’s up,” Edgar said. “All that matters is he’s reinjured and he’s not coming. We’re already here, so just shut up already.”

Kayden shrugged and glanced at Cecily.

Yeah, he’s full of garbage, Cecily thought, nodding at Kayden. It didn’t really matter, though. Raine wasn’t losing out, considering how brutal six hours of cycling would have been for him. And there was no way they would have reached New Berkeley so quickly if he were with them.

The three of them reached New Berkeley. Behind its walls, they saw what seemed like the conjunction of two smaller towns from different worlds: on New Berkeley’s west side were beautiful homes, busy stores, and high-end restaurants. On the east side were hotels, weapons and armor stores, and cheap eateries. They didn’t see many other hunters, though.

Near the center of the town was a giant white building with a neoclassical architectural style. Cecily’s eyes went to a stone sign on the ground that read, “The University of Rialis at New Berkeley.”

“Cool, Hopkins made New UC, New Berkeley,” Kayden said, slowing down a little while they passed the building.

“Don’t slow down,” Edgar said. “We’re almost at Mirham.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been cycling nonstop for over two hours. We should take a break now,” Cecily said, slowing to a halt.

“Yup. With how fast we got here, we’ll easily get back to Rialis City before sunset even if we really take our time killing the goblins,” Kayden said.

He stopped too. Edgar groaned in frustration but did the same. He pulled a bottle of tequila out of his bag and took a sip from it.

“After this request, there’s another one we can take up north in two days,” Edgar said.

“Woah, hold on there,” Kayden said. “We need time to rest and train.”

“What, you need more than two days to rest?”

“Don’t forget training, man. We have a long way to go before we get good at fighting with swords and spears.”

“We’re good enough to kill goblins.”

“Yeah, we can kill a few. But it’s risky.”

“No one rises up Hopkins’ ranks without taking some risks.”

“That doesn’t mean we should take more risks than we need to,” Cecily said.

“Exactly,” Kayden said.

“So four days should be enough.”

“Oh Jesus.”

“One day to rest, two to train, and one more to rest afterward. Good enough.”

“You know, I’m talking about a solid week of training. Maybe one and a half.”

“Not happening.”

“Fine,” Kayden said. “But we need at least four before the next request.”

They were walking aimlessly while they talked and continued to do so for a short while afterward. Cecily thought it was interesting to see the town. She was somewhat curious to see how well Hopkins governed the country, though she already had a vague idea of it from what she’d read in the library. New Berkeley seemed nice enough, if a bit boring compared to Rialis City.

“That’s enough rest,” Edgar said. “Let’s go to Mirham already.”

He got on his bike and started cycling.

“Hey, that wasn’t even ten minutes,” Kayden said, getting on his bike.

“You won’t die of exhaustion just because you didn’t get two more minutes of rest.”

“Yeah, but what if I’m so tired that a goblin manages to poke me with a sword?”

“Just kill it before it kills you. We’ll take another break when we reach Mirham anyway.”

They cycled to the north gate and left New Berkeley. Although the journey from there to Mirham wasn’t short, it was easy thanks to the road’s gentle decline. After a 15-minute ride, they reached the village.

Unlike Orinbeck, which sat beside the Irin Forest, Mirham lacked a wall and didn’t seem to need one. The village was near a small wood with sparse trees. The occasional tree stump she saw made it clear that the villagers were responsible for that low density.

Edgar slowed down and looked around. “The house is somewhere here.”

While he searched for the client’s residence, Cecily observed the reactions of the villagers nearby. They didn’t seem bothered by the presence of her and her teammates, although some looked like they were curious.

“There.” Edgar headed toward a beautiful grey house, one of the largest residences in the area. Cecily and Kayden followed.

“Woah, this guy’s rich,” Kayden said. Then he suddenly frowned and lowered his voice. “Hey, wait a second. Didn’t medieval villages have slaves? Are we going to be helping out a slave-owner?”

“Early medieval villages had serfs,” Edgar said, to Cecily’s surprise. “Not slaves. Big difference. Serfs are like...semi-slaves.”

“And we’re not in medieval Europe,” Cecily said. “Rialis has no serfs. Or slaves.”

“Ah,” Kayden said.

Edgar knocked on the door.

“Yes?” a man said a moment later. “How can I help you?”

“We’re from the Hopkins Company. We’re here to kill the goblins at your farmhouse,” Edgar said.

“Oh, that’s great. We didn’t think you’d get here so quickly.” The door opened, revealing a friendly young man with a bandaged arm. “Come in, come in. I’ll tell you what you need to know for the request.”

They left their bikes outside and followed the man into the spacious home.

“Jim! Hey, Jim! Who was that?” someone shouted from inside a room.

“The hunters!” Jim responded. He led Cecily, Edgar, and Kayden to a pair of sofas. “Would anybody like some water?”

“It’s fine,” Edgar said. “What’s the layout of the farmhouse like?”

“Yeah, it’s uh...it’s kinda big. It has two floors and a basement. Oh, also an attic.”

“Do you keep all your food on the first floor?” Cecily asked.

“Of course,” Jim said.

“Okay. Are any doors locked?”

“Yup. The back door and the door to the basement.”

“There’s no food in the basement, right? If the goblins smelled anything, they could have broken in.”

“No, no, the basement has no food. It’s all books. My brother has a little library there.”

“Okay. Good,” Cecily said, nodding.

“When we walk through the front door, what will we see?” Kayden asked. “A staircase? A hallway?”

“The living room and kitchen are kind of one big space, and that’s what you’ll see as soon as you walk inside. The staircase is over on the left, maybe...ten? Ten-ish feet away.”

“Great, that’s all we need to know,” Edgar said, about to get up.

“Hold on, hold on,” Kayden said. He looked to Jim and asked, “Does the farmhouse have a back entrance?”

“Yes, it's how the goblins came in,” Jim said. “It doesn’t make much sound, so they snuck without me or my brother knowing.”

“Then that sounds like a good place for us to enter without the goblins knowing,” Edgar said.

“No way. The sound of our mail will give us away instantly,” Kayden said.

“Yeah, it’s worth sacrificing the element of surprise for the extra protection from your mail,” Cecily said.

“Any big windows in the house?” Kayden asked Jim. “Like anywhere you could shoot an arrow into it.”

Jim cringed. “Oof, arrows. I think you could shoot a few through the kitchen windows, but I really don’t know.”

“I’ll try not to shoot anything expensive,” Kayden said.

“Oh no, it’s not that. There’s nothing that valuable inside the house, it’s just that the house itself is really important to us.”

“We can’t promise the house won’t be damaged, but the goblins will be dead soon,” Edgar said. “Lead the way there.”

“Hold your horses, man,” Kayden said. “Let’s take a short break before we go and fight goblins.”

Cecily nodded. “We’re not short on time.”

Edgar sighed in frustration. “Alright.”

. . . .

Raine slowed to a stop and gasped for air. He breathed in and out, in and out, but even after what felt like a good minute, he still didn’t steady his breathing.

Yeah, no fucking wonder they just went ahead. Assholes. Ignoring the pain in his legs, he kept cycling. He glanced at the semaphore off the road. It was the second one he’d seen so far.

Twelve miles down. Just eighteen more to go. Hooray. He looked at the road ahead and sighed. Fuck. Better get cycling.