The village of Millbrook appeared just before sunset on the fourth day.
It wasn’t much to look at. Maybe two thousand people if you counted generously. A main street with a general store, a smithy, what looked like a small chapel, and a building with "Guild House" painted on a weathered sign above the door. Houses clustered around the center in rough circles, fields stretching beyond them toward forest.
The rchant dropped Hiroshi off in front of the Guild House with a grateful nod and continued toward the general store to arrange lodging for the night.
Hiroshi stood in the empty street, pack over his shoulder, looking at the building.
It was smaller than the Guild headquarters in the capital. Single story, timber construction, practical rather than impressive. But the sign was official and the door was solid, so it served its purpose.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The interior was a single large room. A counter along the far wall with papers pinned to boards behind it. Several tables scattered around the space, most empty. A fireplace in the corner with a few chairs arranged near it. The sll of wood smoke and old paper.
Two people occupied the room.
One was a young woman behind the counter, maybe twenty, with brown hair tied back and the tired expression of soone who’d been doing paperwork all day. She looked up when Hiroshi entered and offered a professional smile.
The other was a man sitting at one of the tables near the fireplace.
He was older than Hiroshi expected. Mid-forties maybe, with gray streaking through dark hair pulled back in a short tail. His face was weathered, the kind that ca from years of outdoor work and hard living. He wore practical traveling clothes, leather reinforced at the shoulders and elbows, and a short sword hung from his belt with the casual ease of soone who knew how to use it.
He was reading a book, one finger tracing lines of text, completely relaxed despite being alone in an unfamiliar building.
"Can I help you?" the woman behind the counter asked.
"I’m looking for the Guild observer," Hiroshi said. "I’m here for the retrieval mission."
The man at the table closed his book and looked up. "That would be ."
He stood and walked over. Up close Hiroshi could see scars on his hands and a thin line across his jawline that looked old and well-healed.
"Hiroshi?" the man asked.
"Yes."
"Elias. Guild observer assigned to your mission." He offered his hand.
Hiroshi shook it. The grip was firm but not aggressive.
Elias studied him for a mont, expression neutral. "You’re younger than I expected."
"How old did you expect?"
"Fair point." Elias gestured toward the table he’d been sitting at. "You want to sit? We should talk through the mission paraters before we head out tomorrow."
Hiroshi followed him to the table and sat across from him. The chair creaked slightly under his weight.
"First things first," Elias said, pulling a folded map from his coat and spreading it on the table. "The caravan we’re looking for belongs to a rchant nad Baros. He was transporting dical supplies and general trade goods from the capital to three villages along the northern border. Millbrook was his second stop. He never arrived."
He pointed to a mark on the map. "Last confird sighting was here, at a waystation about eight miles northwest. The station keeper said he stayed the night, paid for feed and lodging, left the next morning heading this direction. That was four days ago."
"And nothing since then?"
"No indication of what happened." Elias traced the road between the waystation and Millbrook. "This stretch is mostly forest. So hills. Not heavily traveled but not completely isolated either. If bandits hit the caravan, soone should have noticed."
"Maybe they did and didn’t report it."
"Possible. But the local farrs use this road regularly. They would have seen signs of a fight or at least found abandoned cargo." Elias folded his arms. "Which ans either the caravan went off-road for so reason, or sothing took them before they could make noise."
Hiroshi looked at the map. Eight miles of forest and hills. Plenty of places for things to go wrong. "What’s the most likely scenario?"
"Honestly? Broken axle or similar chanical failure. Caravan pulls off the road to make repairs, gets stuck, driver walks to the nearest settlent for help." Elias shrugged. "That’s the boring answer. But it’s usually the right one."
"And the interesting answer?"
"Monsters. There’s been reports of increased goblin activity in the area over the past month. Nothing major, just scouts and small raiding parties. But a caravan would be a tempting target." He tapped the map. "We’ll follow the road, look for signs of where they might have gone off course. With luck we find them intact and just help fix whatever broke."
"And without luck?"
"We find out what happened and retrieve what cargo we can." Elias looked at him directly. "You understand this is primarily an observation mission for , right? I’m here to evaluate your capabilities and file a report for Guildmaster. Not to do the work for you."
"I understand."
"Good. That ans if we run into trouble, you handle it. I’ll step in if things go sideways enough that you’re about to die, but otherwise I’m just watching." He paused. "You have a problem with that?"
Hiroshi thought about it. Being evaluated while working wasn’t ideal. But it was better than being dismissed entirely. And if this went well, it could lead to better assignnts in the future.
"No problem," he said.
Elias nodded. "What’s your current skill set? I read the basic file but I want to hear it from you."
"Dodge, Fighter Instinct, Sword Mastery, Pain Suppression. All level one."
"That’s it? Four skills?"
"Yes."
"No magic? No ranged capability?"
"No."
Elias was quiet for a mont, processing that. "Most Adventurer your age have at least eight or nine skills by now. So have more."
"I’m not most like those man."
"Clearly." Elias leaned back in his chair. "Walk through how you got those four skills."
Hiroshi explained briefly.
Elias listened without interrupting. When Hiroshi finished, the older man was quiet for a long mont.
"That’s unusual," he said finally. "Most unique abilities don’t work that way. They have clear paraters, defined functions. Yours sounds like it’s still figuring itself out."
"That’s one way to put it."
"You know what your ability is called? The official designation?"
"Adaptive Evolution."
"Evolution." Elias repeated the word slowly. "That’s an interesting choice of terminology. Implies ongoing change rather than fixed developnt." He stood and walked to the counter, returning with two cups and a flask. He poured amber liquid into both cups and slid one across to Hiroshi. "You drink?"
"Not usually."
"Special occasion then." Elias raised his cup slightly. "Try not to die tomorrow. Makes my report easier to write."
Hiroshi picked up the cup and drank. The liquid burned going down but settled warm in his stomach.
"We leave at dawn," Elias said. "Get so rest tonight. Tomorrow we see what you’re actually capable of."
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