Ray and the blacksmith were quickly taken away for questioning. Ray's injuries were treated while the blacksmith frantically tried to explain himself to the other guards.
Ray lied and said that the blacksmith first attacked him, and that he tries to calm the blacksmith down but after being hurt more he proceeded to call the guards.
Meanwhile the blacksmith said that Ray hit him on the head with a hammer and stabbed himself with multiple weapons after.
The guards had already secured the scene and took the weapons away as evidence.
The law and handling of criminal activities was actually pretty simple in the kingdom of Cecillia. If someone commits a crime and is found guilty than the local guards and higher ups have the power to simply throw an indiviual into jail and later prison or hard labor.
Thus a lot of power rests within the hands of the guards and guard captains. This had led to multiple cases of corruption yet they were quickly quelled by the military itself untill corruption became much more discreet and lesser.
The blacksmith kept rambling to the guards to set him free and that they were abusing their authority, but the guards kept him in the guard station.
His breath reeked of alcohol and his face was red and intoxicated, thus his words were not very convincing nor pleasant. Meanwhile Ray calmly addressed the guards tending to his wounds that the they should just test for the fingerprints on the weapons to determine who attacked whom.
They used some sort of powder and magic device to highlight the fingerprints and cause them to appear on the weapons, and afterwards they checked Ray's and the bkacksmith's.
The fingerprints all matched the bkackmsith's.
Ray had used his psychic energy to coat the fingerprints on the dagger thrown at him before imprinting the same fingerprints on the other weapons while removing his own.
The blacksmith then went berserk immediately trying to leap out of his chair and assault the other guards, which made the already irritated guards even angrier as they pushed him down and hand cuffed him.
He continues to shout and scream his lungs out while cursing Ray who was just on the otherside of the room.
The guards all had a much better impression of Ray, who obviously seemed like the victim here. Plus the evidence all seemed to point at the blacksmith being the assaulter here thus they let Ray go while they promised to deal with the Blacksmith properly.
"MOTHERF*CKER GET BACK HERE!!! AGHH F*CK YA AND YA B*TCHY SISSY ASS FAC–!!"
A few guards moved over to cover his mouth and restrain him. One even took the opportunity to punch the Blacksmith in the face.
Ray ignored the commotion coming from behind him as he stretched his arms with a few of his bones making a satisfying cracking sound.
The guard who first helped him came out of the station and walked over to Ray. Ray was slightly puzzled yet decided to continue acting.
"Ah hello miss"
Ray's eyes seemed to peer past the guard's face and at the scene behind her. The guard paid no mind to this and looked Ray up and down slightly intensely.
A faint red flushed her ears as she quickly cleared her throat and spoke.
"Ahem–! Well I just wanted to say that all is well, and that you don't have to worry any more!"
Ray's eyes lit up slightly as he spoke with a grateful tone.
"Thank you! Im sorry for causing you guards trouble"
"No no really it was no trouble, it is our job to protect people! In any case I'm glad to see you are recovering well"
"Mhm!"
Ray nodded.
The guard seemed to want to say more but seemed hesitant, which Ray keenly noticed. He looked around for a moment before speaking in a slightly flustered tone.
"Well in that case... If there isn't anything else I'll be going now"
The guard paused for a moment before slowly nodding her head.
"Yes, take care on your way"
Ray walked away while keeping a slight gaze on her. She seemed slightly frustrated as she began muttering words to herself he couldn't hear. Maybe she wasn't muttering but mouthing words? Who knows.
He cracked his neck too before making his way towards the inn him and Feyd were staying at.
He already ate a meal at the guard station so he went straight to his room and fell on the bed. It was already night and he felt unusually sleepy so he decided to go to bed early today.
Ray soon fell asleep as the soft moonlight peered through his window and onto his face.
Just then strange particles began to flow around his body as black, flickering boxes began to fester around him. Soon he dissapeared as though the world itself forgot about him.
The moonlight shone down onto the pillow where Ray was sleeping as an inn attendant who was about to enter Ray's room paused for a moment, confused as to the they were there before walking on over to the next room.
Feyd who rented the previous room had just arrived to the inn. He felt quite expectant while entering yet now he wasn't sure why. What he did know though was that he was hungry, and that tommorow would be a long and tiring day.
Maybe it wasn't a good idea to try and solo an A rank quest.
The next day the receptionist of the inn searched for keys to a room she thought was unoccupied yet couldn't find any. Thus she assumed she just forgot where the keys were and thus spent the whole afternoon searching for them.
Feyd walked out of the inn after a refreshing sleep. He still felt slight regret about choosing to help that old man but what's done is done. He would have to clear out a whole den of rat monsters alone.
He reached the old man's house and noticed many damaged parts, holes, and other traces left by the rat monsters. Next to the house was a small, destroyed garden with dead flowers and tramples grass.
Two gravestones were right beside the garden with a makeshift fence surrounding them.
Feyd said nothing as he quietly glanced at the place. He noticed that the old man was tending to the destruction and hadn't noticed him yet.
He slowly slipped away and headed towards where the old man had said the monsters' den was.
After half an hour of walking he noticed more and more traces of the rat monsters untill he reached a large mound with three holes that led deeper underground.
The mound was more like a small, dusty, brown hill.
Some monsters had very strange behaviors which they followed, especially monsters in the Wastelands.
These rat monsters had terrible senses for a beast, maybe even worse than a human, and would only go out at night. During the day they wouldn't disturb anyone nor would they care much if a rat or two died inside their den, yet when night comes they pour out like a tide and rush out to scavenge all surrounding areas.
Their movements mainly led them away from the city and usually no one was bothered a rat or two appearing during a night walk, travellers moving around, or residents sleeping.
However eventually they began to wander into the old man's house where they found grass, flowers, vegetables and other vfood items to gnaw on.
Although this wasn't good for the old man, it was a boon for Feyd who took up the task to exterminate these vermin.
Feyd crouched over slightly while stealthily surveying the den.
There were no monsters patrolling the outsides with only one or two large rat monster moving around inside each tunnel.
Feyd realized that they couldn't see him even if they looked directly at him, but he felt that the situation inside their dark den might be different.
He suspected that they had night vision but didn't have enough evidence to prove his conjecture.
Feyd slowly walked into one of the tunnels while hugging the walls. He prepared his fire energy and got ready to dodge any attacks that come his way or make a Rift if push comes to shove.
He slowly crept inside as he saw a large, smooth, underground cave that was probably dug out by the rats. It had more branching tunnels that led even more rooms which probably had a few more tunnels each.
There was only a single rat inside.
He threw a pebble on the other side of the room but it didn't react. Feyd threw another pebble but this time closer to the monster yet it still didn't react.
Just as he was about to throw a third pebble it began to move causing Feyd to flinch.
It quickly scurried off inside one of the tunnels seemingly oblivious of Feyd.
With a soft sigh Feyd relaxed as he calmly sneaked inside. He peered through the dark tunnels which he could see with almost perfect clarity due to the inherent dark vision of elves and noticed a few more rats in each room.
He walked out and repeated the process for the other two holes.
Every hole had a similar spacious room inside that branched outwards. In the third hole Feyd had gone into he also explored further untill he found out that the den wasn't as expansive as he originally thought.
The "complex" labyrinth he expected turned out to be approximately only around six to eight large rooms with a dozen smaller ones.
He found the places where most of the rats where sleeping, the room with a large mother rat, or a rat he presumed was a mother rat considering its size that was two metres large, and the place they kept their food.
A few nearly spotted him when he brushed past them and when he was in their direct line of sight in the darkness, and they also seemed to act aggressively to artifical or unnatural sources of light like his fire.
After an hour of his investigation he left the den and walked towards the town.
He had an idea to clear out the monsters, which were a bit much for him to do alone, but that idea would cost him a lot. Maybe would have to settle with breaking even after getting the reward but it didn't to him since he expected that money wouldn't be a problem after he joined the military.
He soon sped up as he realized he could probably get his work done by the end of the day.
...
Ray fell a few centimeters onto the wooden floor of his room. The floor boards creaked slightly.
With an annoyed, pensive look he looked towards his window where sunlight brightened up the room.
'That damn bastard managed to keep me their for a whole night. Should've just broken out myself...'
"Tch"
Ray clicked his tongue before making his way to the door. He inserted his key and opened the door before quickly getting some breakfast.
He had noticed Feyd wasn't in his room, which was normal considering that guy was the restless kind.
He finished his food and walked towards the guard station slightly irritated. Although they hadn't told him to come back he knew how the Wastelands worked and there was something he could do there to relieve himself from some stress.
One of the guards there was the women who first came when he shouted for help. Noticing his approach she came out with a questioning look.
"Hello sir. Why are you back?"
Feyd put on a troubled yet vindictive look that said 'I want to know the blacksmith's punishment for assaulting me'. He gave a sheepish smile.
"Ah well actually... I wanted to know how you guys are planning on dealing with the uhm blacksmith"
The guard paused for a second before giving him a smile that seemingly said 'Ahh, I know why you wanna know. Heh~' but didn't day anything aloud.
Seeing her smile Ray scratched his face as his face seemingly flushed slightly from embarrassment
"Ah well it's perfectly normal to ask this. We are in the Wastelands after all, extra caution never hurts"
She paused for a moment.
"He will be sent to the city of Hearst where he will have to spend a few years mining away to fulfill his manual labour sentence. He also might have to stop being an independent blacksmith and instead work for someone else but who knows what will happen after his sentence"
Ray sighed in relief before giving the guard a thumbs up.
"Thanks for telling me! I was worried he might come back for revenge soon, but a few years will be enough for us to probably never meet again. In any case as long as I don't go to Hearst I won't meet him, and I don't plan on going there anytime soon"
Hearst is a mining city near the heart of the Wasteland with much more activity than other places.
It was one of the only places with resources, that too with a good amount. It was believed to have been occupied by dwarves hundreds of years in the past due to ancient tunnels, ruins and more that indicated so, but nothing can be verified since dwarves were wiped out years ago.
It was a place that truly embodied what it meant to love in the Wastelands. Monsters surrounded the city ready to kill anyone that tried to enter or exit with strange behaviors only locals could understand, scarce resources that made living more difficult than other cities of similar importance, bandits and gangsters that would oppress the people and much more.
The guard nodded in agreement before she looking back for a moment. After making sure none of her colleagues were listening she turned back to Ray.
"Hey..."
She whispered softly.
"Wanna go for dinner some time?"
Ray seemed stunned before he put on a thoughtful expression. He hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"Alright sure. Tommorow?"
The guard excitedly gave him an 'okay' sign as she agreed.
"Sure! Let's meet at 7, at... Wanna go to Terakov's?"
Ray shrugged, "Anything works".
They spoke a little more before parting ways. The guard seemed awfully excited as she quickly sneaked back inside the station.
Ray walked away from the guard station with a happy expression that soon melted away into a slight smile. After a few more steps he put his hands in his pocket before sighing.
"Hah... Well knowing he's going to Hearst really lifts a bit of the burden off my chest. Feels good to know I'm not the only one suffering!"
Noticing that some people were starting to look at him he switched to thoughts.
'But it was surprising when the guard invited me out to dinner... Heh I can rub it on Feyd's face later hehehe'
'It would be nice to settle down in the future, though I'm not sure if she's the one for me. Hehehe if by the grace of Jimmy she is then that would be incredible'
Ray slowly walked in leisure as he felt that the world was a tad bit brighter than before, and thus the shadows he inhabited darker. Maybe he could find away to survive and kill Eribos, who knows?
Hope was like a poison, a poison he stopped drinking after realizing his purpose in existing. Yet after following Feyd and experiencing the increasingly stronger control of Eribos on himself he began to feel thirsty for some reason.
Maybe there really was a better ending to his life than death.
Ray sighed before stopping infront of an Adventurers Shop where he noticed faint traces of Feyd from the corner of his eyes.