The fifteen men that were still out there didn’t return. People wondered if the Holy Knights had captured them. Big Tree had no idea what would happen if you broke curfew, but they assumed the worst.

I had probably gotten lucky that one time, but now we were facing fifteen infractions. The deserters must’ve known the village would be severely punished if they returned.

If they had any shred of loyalty, they won’t mention Little Rock. Not with their families here.

It was the next morning. As he’d promised, Elfindor sent out a search party comprised of the reserves and one veteran from yesterday’s hunt to guide them. He told them to walk as close to the desert as he felt was needed and give it a good search. But he’d leave it at their discretion to abandon the mission and no one would fault them.

The rest of us got to work. The wounded men were taken to be examined by the village nurse. About four of them were in pretty bad shape. And at least twenty had wounds that were starting to fester. It wasn’t much, but the nurses had mild antibiotics derived from herbs growing around the mountain, made into concentrated topical solutions and kept in glass jars.

Butchers had worked through the night to process the wolf corpses, as their meat would start to rot if not harvested and preserved immediately. We scored nearly three hundred pounds of edible meat, half of which went to Big Tree to be divvied up by Albert and his assistants. We also split the hide and the horn, which apparently sell well in Fuoril’s city.

That bit gave Elfindor and me an excuse to leave the city.

“We can just include those in next week’s shipment. No need to go yourselves,” Trent argued.

“Father, we also want to check out the Adventurer’s Guild and ask for info on the monsters we fought. You know, weaknesses and such.”

Elfindor added, “We got lucky. We want to be better prepared next time so no one dies.”

Trent sighed. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll ask Oswald and Craig to pick up the slack with me today.”

Before leaving, Trent asked that I take the headcount and do some assistant duties so my skills wouldn’t get sloppy. It took about an hour.

Let’s see… all the workers of Little Rock accounted for. As for Big Tree, it looks like ten people have caught an illness after using the lake. I’ll have to make a sign that says no swimming.

As I stopped by the tenth house of visiting sick people, Elfindor found me. He was panting, and someone of his physical prowess doing that meant he’d been looking for me for a while now.

“J-joey!”

“What?” I said with slight curiosity.

“You’ll want to see this. Last night, in the tenth wolf corpse, someone found a card inside it.”

My eyes went wide. “Seriously? We have to get it before Trent tries to get rid of it. Why didn’t you grab it?”

“Don’t worry,” he replied firmly. “I told the butcher not to mention this to anyone to not cause panic. Only he and I know. Also, remember what you promised—”

I held up a hand. “Relax. I know. This card’s yours.”

“Also, another thing. He said the one that dropped the card didn’t have a horn when he found it.”

* * *

We hurried over to the site where they had processed the wolf corpses. It was the backroom of the village’s largest building, what some nicknamed the mess hall but more formally known as the banquet hall. A single-story group of cabins connected by doors to form a property that spanned half the size of Little Rock lake. It had a pantry where we stored grains and other non-perishables for emergencies, storage rooms for kitchen supplies, a large kitchen, and of course a large number of bench tables where people could eat.

One of the rooms was turned into an impromptu processing center by hauling inside one of the bigger benches and laying the corpses on it. A group of butchers who normally did cattle were up to the task, filleting slices of the meat after draining for blood and removing fur. The horns were removed and wrapped in a cloth and ready for Elfindor to take.

Elfindor had dismissed everyone in the mess hall, so walking inside that huge cabin felt eerie despite sunlight entering from the many windows on all walls. Oil lamps hung on the wall where sunlight wouldn’t reach, like some of the storage rooms and the processing room.

The old man was a gray-bearded mostly bald man with a skullet he refused to shave off. He was tidying up his workstation after a job well done, having wrapped up meat in neat bundles of parchment marked with their weights. He turned as he heard us approaching.

“Triskott. I’ve returned.”

“Chief. Why have you brought him? I was waiting for you to return and take the you-know-what.”

“It’s fine. Alster is one of my assistants now. We’ll be taking the package of horns to Fuoril’s city now. On the way, we’ll get rid of the card.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Triskott scratched his beard. “I was meaning to ask, Chief. Why not sell the card to the margrave? The funds could replenish the treasury.”

“Between you and me, the margrave’s on edge right now. Trent thinks he’s having problems at home, and that’s why he didn’t send funds to Big Tree village. We don’t want to draw any attention to ourselves right now. So that’s why I’m getting rid of it.”

“Of course. You’re right.”

Triskott nervously handed over the glass card. Elfindor handled it like contraband, immediately wrapping it in cloth.

We went to the village stables and borrowed one of two of the village’s only carts. They had a large wooden base with long white tarps forming arches, held by wide wooden poles sticking out of the center. It wasn’t the best-looking thing, but whoever made it probably thought, “It does the job. That’s all that matters.”

We had eight brown horses, but two would be enough to pull the cart. Grabbing the long leather ropes, we yoked them to the horse and slapped their bums to get them to move. The stablemaster Max said the horses had recently been fed so we were good to go. Elfindor grabbed the reins and handled them.

“You know how this works?” I asked, slightly impressed.

“I saw Trent do it last time. This’ll be my first time.”

The guards opened the village gate and let us through. Lately, I’d become more stressed out ever since becoming a chief’s assistant. I always had the feeling I was forgetting to do something. Lately, I’d been having nightmares that I forgot to check up on someone who was sick and they died, and Trent blew his cap. Then I’d wake up with my heart pounding and cold sweat running down my face.

“We’re not forgetting anything, right?” I asked sheepishly.

“Don’t think so. And if anything, Trent’s got it.”

Fuoril’s city wasn’t too far off by cart. Half an hour at most. More than enough time. Once we were out of sight, I unwrapped the card.

“Yo, Elfindor. Have you had a chance to see what the card does?”

“No. I ran straight to you. Read it out loud for me.”

I peered into its depths. The title of it was Card of Monster Detection, and it had a picture of several question marks floating next to a demon-looking thing.

[This card grants the wielder the Monster Detection passive ability.]

Elfindor cocked his head. “Monster Detection passive ability? What the hell is that?”

I shrugged. “That’s all it says. I think I’m gonna need to register it to my deck to see more.”

“Deck?”

I started explaining what happened when you had two or more cards. Elfindor clenched his fist. “What? That’s not fair, man!”

“Chill. We found this card pretty easily if you ask me. We’ll find another and you’ll get a deck soon. I’ll register it for a moment and see what I can find out.” I then cleared my throat and raised a fist for dramatics. “Register! Hear me, gods! The card is mine!”

Like before, the card began to glow permanently and a bright green cone of light emerged making a hologram of the card above it before disappearing. I opened my deck.

Deck Dashboard (Normal)

Spellcards

Utility: 1

Normal: 2 [Select] _ Passive: 1 General: 1

Great: 0 _ Passive: 0 General: 0 Dark: 0 Holy: 0

Epic: 0 _ Passive: 0 General: 0 Dark: 0 Holy: 0 Summon: 0

Ultimate: 0 _ Passive: 0 General: 0 Dark: 0 Holy: 0 Summon: 0 Creation: 0

God: 0 _ World: 0

Attributes

Strength: 10 (+25%) Mind: 13 (+25%) Spirit: 20 (+25%) Agility: 10 (+25%)

Skills

Shearing, Physical Training

Status

None

The light of registering the card was bright enough to reflect off the leaves we passed and Elfindor noticed. He stopped the cart, unable to contain his curiosity.

“Hey, it’s a Utility card. Look,” I said, pointing to the black floating rectangle with white letters, my dashboard.

“I don’t see anything.”

Hmm. So this thing is only visible to me?

“Hold on. I’m gonna read the info on the card.”

Card of Monster Detection (Utility) (Passive)

(Question marks around a flying imp pictured)

[The wielder of this card obtains the Monster Detection passive ability, granting them a sense of monsters containing the card synthesis passive ability, creating a spellcard upon death. Effect is applicable within a 15-foot radius of the wielder. Pair another Utility card to increase the distance.]

“Holy shit!” I blurted out loud. “This card lets us know if a monster is going to drop a card!”

I read the exact info in the deck to Elfindor. He scratched his chin. “What, like a loot finder? Within a 15-foot radius? So if we’re close to the monster, we can feel it for a card?”

“I guess. Anyway, here,” I said, handing the card over. “Register it and you can start using it.”

His eyes twinkled as he repeated the words I’d said earlier. The card shined the same way it had for me.

“That must mean it’s yours now.”

“Finally… my first card,” he smiled.

“Let’s hurry up now. Feels kind of dangerous out here.”

At least to me. You couldn’t go five minutes without spotting a pair of Holy Knights. Lately, they were helm-less. Sometimes you’d pass by merchants, wave hello, and feel a small sense of relief and forget fear. But then an encounter with armored men with weapons and cards staring at you suspiciously always brought it back.

The ride was fairly bumpy from the cobblestone. More than once, the shock made my body jump and my ass was on its way to bruiseville. The third time my left cheek took in a splinter from this damn cart.

Why’d they make this stupid road out of cobblestone?

I was about to ask Elfindor if we were close when he stopped the horses again. I got out the cart so his huge muscular body wouldn’t obstruct my vision and noticed the stone walls of the city in the distance.

He held out his palm. “Alright, give me the cards. Yours too.”

I was taken aback. “Why?”

“The guards run a pretty thorough inspection. They’ll pat us down and search for contraband before letting us enter.”

“So why didn’t we leave them in the village?”

“Troskitt’s got a pretty sharp eye. I didn’t want him to suspect we might be holding onto the card so I left straight away. Let’s dig a hole in the dirt and mark it so we’ll know where to look.”

Elfindor took out one of the horns and started making a mark on the bark of the tree close to where the hole would be. These things were sturdy, gleaming white with beige accents, and sharp. They were thick at the base and cone-like. If someone told me this belonged to a unicorn, I’d believe it.

He made a “+” sign that wasn’t too obvious, then I got to work clawing out dirt with my hand. It was about six inches deep and I placed all our cards at the bottom and piled the dirt on top.

My hands were filthy with coarse soil stuck in my fingernails. I tried imagining a waterball to rinse myself off, but nothing happened.

They don’t work if I’m too far away, huh.

Suddenly, the clopping of horse hooves smacked my ear drums. Holy Knights. And close. They emerged from trees that had formed a shadow too dark to see past west of Fuoril’s city, in the direction of the hole we’d dug.

“You there, halt!”