Chapter 66 A Current of Heat

Late at night.

One room in the inn still glowed with warm lamplight.

Jeff sat at the desk with his back ramrod straight. The posture was disciplined enough, but the pen in his right hand looked awkward, as though it had never quite become a familiar tool.

A sheet of paper lay before him, covered in uneven, crooked handwriting.

He had never been good at writing.

Even so, every stroke had been put down with painstaking care.

After all, this letter was for his family.

“Dear Daisy,

“I sent home the caravan’s earnings from last month. I don’t know if you’ve received them yet.

“It’s perfectly normal for Jamie to have someone he likes. He’s old enough now. When he gets the chance, have him bring the young woman home so you can meet her and help him decide whether she’s right for him.

“Lilina said in her last letter that she wanted me to bring back some local specialties. I asked around Rivervale Town, but I couldn’t find anything suitable.

“In the end, I bought a scented candle from a shop called the Verdant Crucible. They said it was made from local plants. The friendly shopkeeper even gave me two small bottles of perfume for free. Looks like I’ll have to visit that shop a few more times in the future.

“I read the letter you sent last time.

“I miss you too, Daisy. But the caravan’s income is important. At least for now, I can’t stop. I hope you can understand.

“Your loving husband,

“Jeff.”

Rumble!

Thunder suddenly exploded outside the window.

Jeff flinched.

The plain, hardworking man who carried his family’s livelihood on his shoulders turned instinctively toward the window, only to see a darkness so thick he could barely make out anything beyond the glass.

“At my age, thunder can still scare me.”

He shook his head and laughed at himself.

Then he carefully straightened the letter, slipped it into an envelope, and tucked it away.

He got up and headed for the bed.

Tomorrow morning, he still had to visit the market and purchase supplies for the caravan. There was plenty to do.

He needed an early night.

…

…

Xia Nan had no idea how his current physical condition compared to the adventurers traveling with him.

The cheat panel only displayed his own six attributes in detail.

Still, with his constitution now sitting at a full 8 points, he was almost certainly far beyond an ordinary person.

And that difference showed in more than simply having better stamina, eating more, or being harder to get drunk.

Ever since he had been teleported out of that cave, which he strongly suspected had been some kind of “secret realm,” he had gradually begun to notice changes in his body during everyday life.

Sleep was the most obvious example.

Before, he had needed eight or nine hours a night just to barely recover from the previous day’s exertion.

Now, six hours was enough.

The moment his head touched the pillow, he could fall asleep. When he opened his eyes the next morning, he would be completely refreshed, his whole body light and comfortable.

Out in the wilderness, where adventurers had to rotate shifts and stand night watch, this was practically the perfect adventurer’s physique.

Not getting enough sleep was no longer a problem.

Inside a town, though, it had become an inconvenience.

Xia Nan simply could not go to bed too early.

If he followed the ordinary rhythm of this world, sleeping at sunset and rising with the sun, then six hours later he would wake in the dead of night with the streets still pitch-black.

There was very little he could do at that hour.

That was why, during his stay in Rivervale Town, he had developed a new habit.

Before going to bed, he would find somewhere quiet and spend a few hours practicing combat techniques.

Tonight was different.

It was his first night in Kalanfor, and the adventurers in the caravan had been in unusually high spirits. They drank, laughed, and made noise around the table until well past midnight.

Xia Nan decided to give himself a night off.

He sat with them, listening to their rambling conversations and quietly sorting the useful, believable information from the nonsense before committing it to memory.

Only late into the night did he finally fall asleep, accompanied by the uneven chorus of snores coming through the walls.

“Mmm…”

The room was quiet.

Only the steady patter of rain against the window remained, a soft wash of white noise in the darkness.

Xia Nan stretched on the bed as he usually did.

Then he sat up, still groggy.

A second later, he froze.

[It’s not dawn yet?]

He looked toward the window.

Outside was completely black.

Instinctively judging from the state of his body, he estimated the time.

It should still be the darkest part of the night, just before dawn.

That was strange.

His sleep had become remarkably regular lately.

As his mind cleared, Xia Nan finally noticed what had pulled him awake.

Heat.

A strange current of warmth surged through the room, moving through the air in waves.

“Hmm?”

His gaze followed it.

Beside the cabinet at the head of the bed, the Decapitating Longsword and the wooden sword [Green Pine] lay crossed over each other.

A possibility immediately came to mind.

Xia Nan got out of bed, crossed the room, and wrapped one hand around [Green Pine]’s hilt.

His eyes sharpened.

[Just as I thought!]

A warm current flowed from the hilt into his palm.

There was something almost unmistakably urgent about it.

A warning.

Xia Nan drew the sword in one swift motion.

The instant the blade left its scabbard, countless tiny droplets condensed in the surrounding air from the abrupt difference in temperature.

Thin white mist spilled along the blade.

For a moment, it almost looked as though smoke were leaking from the scabbard itself.

Xia Nan’s remaining drowsiness vanished.

His mind began racing.

At ordinary times, [Green Pine], a Rare (blue) wooden sword, was little more than a common one-handed weapon with unusually high durability.

But against undead or snake- and scorpion-type enemies, it gained a 15% to 20% bonus to Sunfire damage.

Xia Nan’s expression turned grim.

He remembered what the sheriff had mentioned before they went to sleep.

That strange incident in Kalanfor.

He moved at once.

With one hand, he pulled on the chain shirt waiting beside the bed.

With the other, he hammered his palm against the neighboring wall as hard as he could, making enough noise to wake half the floor.

“Something’s wrong! Everyone, get up!”

Faced with danger that might be approaching, or might already be inside the inn, Xia Nan did not even consider investigating alone.

His first instinct was simple.

Call people.

Ever since [Green Pine] had come into his possession, it had never reacted like this before.

Xia Nan did not know exactly what was happening.

But when there was uncertainty, numbers were safer.

Wake every adventurer and guard in the inn.

If it turned out to be a false alarm, the worst that would happen was a few complaints.

Everyone here had traveled through the wilderness before. Night guards sometimes woke entire camps because of nothing more dangerous than a wild animal passing nearby.

They were used to it.

But if something truly dangerous had appeared, then every extra person awake was another layer of protection.

And another sword.

The fastest to respond was Alton in the next room.

The halfling had not drunk much either.

By the time Xia Nan had finished putting on his gear and picked up [Green Pine], Alton was already fully armed and rushing through the doorway, his exquisite lute strapped across his back.

“What happened?”

His eyes swept sharply around the room.

“No time to explain. Come with me!”

The wooden sword was getting hotter by the second.

Xia Nan did not waste another breath.

Alton looked confused, but he trusted the new friend in front of him enough not to hesitate.

The two of them rushed into the corridor almost one after the other.