This adventurer is overly righteous.

"Hey, Carter."

After confirming that the soul of the man who called himself Skartut had gone north and would not linger in the mortal world, Kroya came to Carter's tent and gently patted the tent flap with his sword sheath, making a "thump" sound.

It's already close to midnight, so waking Carter up to relieve him wouldn't be a problem, but Croya wants to wake Carter up to deal with Skartut's matter.

"Carter, I killed someone."

Upon hearing Kroya's words, Carter, who had been dozing off, suddenly woke up. He had been holding the sword in his arms and instinctively reached out to draw it.

"You...killed someone?"

Looking at Kroya's face, Carter found it hard to imagine that the other man would kill someone. From the beginning, he thought the other man was more like a bard who recited poems and painted, or a kind but pedantic priest.

In short, he's not the kind of person who would calmly wake someone up after they've killed them.

However, Croja's expression was serious, and he seemed to be serious. Carter also calmed himself down and said in a low voice:

"Who did you kill? Did he have any other accomplices?"

Carter didn't ask Croya the reason for the killing. This was the wilderness, and no one could investigate. Besides, most of those who were active at night were bloodthirsty thugs, so killing them was no big deal.

For adventurers like Carter who live in the wilderness year-round, uncollected corpses are not uncommon.

He was more concerned about whether the other party had accomplices and whether killing that person would invite retaliation.

"He called himself Skartut, and I didn't see anyone else." Croa recounted what had just happened to Carter, and Carter nodded slightly after hearing that Croa had killed the other man so swiftly.

At first, Carter was thinking to himself that while Kroya was indeed upright and honest, if he was soft-hearted when faced with danger, then the adventurer's profession was not suitable for him.

It now appears that Croya is more astute and decisive than he had imagined.

"What should we do now?"

Croya inquired, suggesting that he believed Carter should be experienced in such situations.

"Since they have ill intentions towards us, and there's only one of them..." Carter walked confidently toward Skartut's corpse, seemingly unconcerned about the body, "then killing him is fine too."

"But he might have something good on him, so we can't waste it."

Carter rubbed his hands together with some anticipation, then groped around on the corpse, stripping off its clothes and leaving no place unchecked where something might be hidden. Croya found the scene rather offensive.

"As expected..." Carter's hand continued to stroke Skartut's face, a confident expression on his face. He pinched the edge of Skartut's face with his fingers and pulled it upwards.

Carter removed a transparent human face mask from Scartot's face.

"Not bad workmanship, looks like a professional." Carter's tone was mocking. The other party was killed by a single sword strike from Kroya, a newcomer, so the so-called professionalism was a joke.

If nothing unexpected happens, the so-called Skatuit is also an alias, and Carter begins to try to identify the other party's true identity.

"It's Mousse."

Looking closely at that face, Carter vaguely remembered it, and his tone turned somewhat wistful.

"Maws," Croya repeated the unfamiliar name that Carter had uttered.

"An adventurer, a veteran, also in the Adventurers' Guild in White Rock, who's been here for about five or six years," Carter kicked Mouss's corpse. "I even drank with him."

  

Most adventurers knew each other, but few were true friends; most were just drinking buddies. Carter was like that; in his eyes, Mousse was just someone he could talk to, nothing more.

"I'd heard before that adventurers who team up with this guy for quests lately tend to run into accidents."

It now appears that it wasn't just bad luck.

For adventurers, truly trustworthy companions are few and far between; people like Mousse are commonplace, and Carter is used to it.

Even if someone starts out as an innocent and kind-hearted boy, he can turn into a greedy and cunning old adventurer after a year or two.

Carter glanced at Croa.

Hopefully, this guy won't be led astray in the future.

"These clothes are worthless, just burn them."

Nobody will recycle the clothes of a dead person; it's considered unlucky. Unless you wash off the bloodstains first and then sell them at a very low price, but that's not worth it.

Beside the campfire lay a considerable number of items that Carter had taken from Mousse: a set of inner armor, a dagger engraved with magical runes, the mask, a money bag, and a pair of boots with magical runes engraved on the soles.

If Kroya had chosen to wake Carter in the first place, Carter would probably have used the magic on the boots to escape.

In addition to the short sword and bow and arrows that the other party had initially discarded, the haul was so rich that Croya had to write down the details on Mousse's clothes and add Carter's valuation at the end.

"Mask, forty silver; magic dagger, thirty silver; bow, fifteen silver..."

How should we divide it?

This is why several adventurer teams eventually fell apart; the process of dividing up the spoils gained during a shared adventure could be even more dangerous than the entire adventure itself.

Even Carter was tempted by the entire fortune of an adventurer who had been in the business for several years, but he knew that these things were not his to take, so he did not contribute.

Only adventurers who are generally well-behaved and widely recognized can receive the task of taking care of newcomers from the Adventurers' Guild.

Carter was more worried about what Croya would think. Even if he had no ill intentions, Croya might develop some fear and suspicion of him because of this.

So what will Croa think?

What was Carter thinking about this most naive new adventurer he had ever met?

"Shall we split it in half?"

"Is there anything you want?"

After sitting by the fire and taking inventory of everything, Kroya spoke. The firelight illuminated his pale face, and a pleased smile played on his lips.

The shock of the murder had been somewhat diminished by the joy of the harvest, and seeing Carter's seemingly indifferent attitude towards the corpse, the pressure hidden in Croya's heart dissipated.

"I want those boots, and that bow."

The boots have magical runes engraved on the bottom that can increase movement speed. They can be used a total of about five times, and there are three uses left. According to market prices, they can probably be sold for close to eighty silver.

For Kroya, having some means of escape would indeed make him feel more at ease.

As for the bow, apart from the good material, there was nothing special about it. It was just that after he had chosen the most precious boots first, it was not appropriate for him to take other valuable items, since they were to be split in half.

Moreover, the dagger and mask seemed to be specifically designed for assassins, and Kroya didn't think he would need them.

Mousse had a total of nineteen silver and fifty copper coins in his purse, just right.

Your generosity in sharing your gains with your partners is commendable.

[Charm slightly increased]