Jax swiftly descended into the impact crater where Kael lay, immediately calling for Ragnar's assistance to pull the unconscious man from the fragmented earth. Despite Ragnar's own severe injuries, the duo worked together to carefully extract Kael from his confinement.
Initially, Lysa fiercely protested the decision to save Kael, questioning the senseless risk and cost, but Jax's unyielding insistence on their moral duty eventually left her with no choice but to begrudgingly comply. They laid the stranger supine in the cart and rapidly began their desperate journey toward the town.
When they finally reached the outskirts, Kael was barely drawing breath, his heart rate plummeting to a near-fatal level. The group urgently rushed Kael to the nearest infirmary, a healing center staffed by doctors and mages skilled in restorative magic who treated the injured and sick for a necessary fee.
The infirmary was far more crowded than usual that day, and combined with Kael's precarious proximity to death, the staff initially refused to admit the group. However, when Jax desperately offered the Crimson-Eyed Bear's Mana Crystal—the very prize they had bled for—as payment, the infirmary owner instantly commanded that Kael and the group members be given special, immediate attention and all necessary treatment.
Infirmary workers swiftly ushered Kael into a private room to commence his critical treatment, sternly advising the rest of the group to tend to their own wounds and take immediate rest. Ragnar and Mora went to seek rest, while Jax and Lysa, needing immediate funds, headed to a stall specializing in the purchase of magical crystals and monster corpses. All their collected spoils yielded only eight hundred silver pieces, a paltry sum amounting to just two hundred silver per person.
Their final hope rested solely on claiming the reward promised in the advertisement. When they reached the military headquarters, they learned the bitter, crushing truth: they were too late. The reward had already been claimed by the group led by the foul-tempered, ax-wielding man they had argued with back at the inn. They were left with no choice but to commence the long, disheartening journey back home.
The following day, they reconvened at the inn. Each member took their rightful two hundred silver, and the somber mood quickly shifted to an intense deliberation over their most pressing concern: Had they made the right choice in saving Kael, or was their act of mercy a grave mistake? Lysa and Ragnar vehemently argued that they should have left him behind in the forest, while Jax and Mora passionately maintained that their righteous action was the only acceptable course. Their discussion escalated rapidly, threatening to erupt into a physical brawl, when the inn's heavy door creaked open.
A woman entered, accompanied by a Guard. Her face and entire figure were shrouded beneath a ragged cloak, and she carried a small child cradled tightly in her arms. The Guard instantly silenced the inn's commotion and proceeded to describe Kael to the patrons, announcing that a substantial reward would be offered for any information regarding his whereabouts. Jax, without a second's hesitation, immediately jumped in, declaring that he knew exactly where the man was, and then quickly left the inn to escort the Guard and the mysterious woman to Kael's location.
Approximately twenty minutes later, Jax returned to the inn alone, taking his seat at the table where the rest of his group waited. Lysa immediately turned to Jax and said,
"Was he the man they were searching for?"
"Most likely, yes. She simply handed me this and then immediately departed."
Jax placed exactly sixteen gold coins—a staggering fortune—onto the table before them. The sight of the gold instantly rendered everyone speechless, their minds unable to process the sheer scale of the wealth. After a prolonged, heavy silence, Mora could no longer contain herself and finally tore down the walls of their collective silence.
"Four gold! Exactly four gold pieces each! The reward for that accursed quest that nearly cost us our lives wasn't even three gold pieces, yet... yet that woman just casually handed over all this gold just like that?"
"You are right. Finally, the gods have smiled upon us; we no longer need to constantly risk our lives in the dark. But... where did that woman go?"
"You're right. She must have been a noble, judging by that payment. Do you know where she went?"
"I don't know her current location, but I recall her mentioning something to the Guard about heading to the Capital. And besides, what good would chasing her do? It's far safer to simply let her go. We'll figure out what exactly is going on when the man we found finally wakes up."
Driven by mounting apprehension over Kael's status, the group returned to the infirmary. An attendant, recognizing their familiar, worried faces, silently guided them down the corridor toward the specific private room where Kael had been confined. Pushing the heavy wooden door open, the group's gaze swept across the room—only to discover that it was utterly, bafflingly vacant.
Kael had vanished without a trace, his critical treatment interrupted by an abrupt, unexplained disappearance. Just as they were about to demand an explanation from the bewildered attendant standing beside them, they were instantly stopped by the sight of the attendant's own face: an expression contorted in disbelief and utter shock, perfectly mirroring their own profound confusion.