"The hyena gang of County Town was wiped out. 'Dog King' Kole and a number of the gang's key members were found dead in their lair—the Dog Fighting Manor—three days ago," Weilun narrated slowly.
Weilun had considered whether the young man before him, who was only a few years older than his daughter, might have done it.
But after some thought, he concluded it probably wasn't him.
Although 'Dog King' Kole's body had been burned to ashes and was unrecognizable,
the deaths of the other gang members suggested they had all perished from severe poisoning.
This approach was likely the work of a well-trained assassin.
Therefore, there was a high probability that the hyena gang, used to their arrogant ways, had inadvertently offended some noble who then hired a hitman to exterminate them thoroughly.
"Oh? Captain Weilun, do you know who did it?" Rein asked, feigning surprise even though he had a clear idea.
"Not sure, but according to my colleagues in County Town, the investigation at the scene suggests that it was the work of a professional killer. Many of the gang members and dogs in the manor that weren't burnt died from severe poisoning," Weilun explained, shaking his head.
Hearing this, Rein breathed a sigh of relief.
"Coating my weapons with poison was initially just to increase the efficiency of the kills. I hadn't expected it to also mislead the investigation."
"Next time, if necessary, I can continue to use this method."
After chatting for a few more moments, Weilun remembered the purpose of his visit and said,
"Right, Rein, if you're not busy, come with me to the town's administration office. Lord Hamilton is waiting for you in his office."
"Okay, let's go now," Rein nodded immediately.
He also had questions he wanted to ask Lord Hamilton.
When Rein arrived at Hamilton's office,
As soon as he entered, Rein noticed that Sheriff Hamilton, although a formal Knight, looked exhausted, rubbing his brow with one hand while flipping through case files with the other.
Seeing Rein come in, Hamilton nodded and said, "Rein, take a seat."
"Things have been a bit off lately."
"There are too many security incidents, along with some mysterious events involving cults, monsters, and so on. Even the Seasonal Winds and the Church of the Ocean Goddess in County Town are constantly preoccupied."
Hamilton complained off-handedly.
"By the way, Rein, the reason I called you here is because your Night Watchman paperwork has all been processed." Hamilton smiled, and handed Rein a circular silver badge, two sizes larger than a Gold Coin.
Rein took it and examined it carefully.
On the front was an upper body image of holding a torch in one hand and a sword in the other, with a bow slung over the back, while the back was akin to a Bounty Hunters' badge, also inscribed with 'Rein Carlan' and a long string of numbers.
Rein quickly determined that the badge was primarily made of pure silver, mixed with a small amount of other metals to prevent it from being too soft.
"This represents the elite badge of the Night Watchman."
"Generally, it takes a common Night Watchman about two years to accumulate enough Merit Points to be promoted to the elite level," Hamilton said with a smile.
"Thank you, Lord Hamilton," Rein said with a happy expression, bowing slightly to show his gratitude.
"You don't need to thank me, it was just a small effort on my part. You're the one who has worked hard. This is your deserved reward."
"Right, here's the exchange booklet. It lists all the items you're currently eligible to exchange for, you might want to take a look," Hamilton said, handing over a small booklet to Rein.
"Also, you should have over a hundred Merit Points. Let me see, Rein... Gnolls, Murlocs, your total is...119 Merit Points," Hamilton stated after revealing a number.
"Thank you, sir," Rein said, unable to determine just how much the number of Merit Points he had would allow him to exchange, but guessed it wouldn't be anything particularly useful since it was only over a hundred.
Rein opened the booklet Hamilton gave him.
On the cover of the booklet were the bold words: 'Dragan Empire Security and Guard Troops Merit Points Exchange Booklet (Non-commissioned)'.
"Eh! Isn't it supposed to be exclusively for the Night Watchman?" Rein looked up at Hamilton, a touch of surprise in his expression.
"Haha, of course not. The Night Watchman, constables, including the City Guard, all belong to the category of the empire's security and defense forces, so Merit Points are universal," Hamilton explained with a laugh.
"I see," Rein realized, finding the system reasonable, and so he began to leaf through the pamphlet.
"At the elite level, the redeemable items include... potions... weapons..."
Rein quickly found that his 119 Merit Points were neither a lot nor a little.
Basically, his Merit Points were enough to exchange for four Fine Steel Greatswords.
"Wow! You can even exchange for Dragan Empire military swordsmanship and the corresponding Military Breathing Method?"
"Is it really 1200 points for these Merit Points?"
This made Rein a bit astonished!
After all, he only had 119 points, not even a tenth of what was needed.
It was hard to know if any of the elite members of the Night Watchman had successfully redeemed the Dragan Empire military swordsmanship and corresponding Military Breathing Method!
However, the Dragan Empire military swordsmanship and the Military Breathing Method could be exchanged separately, requiring 400 and 800 Merit Points, respectively.
Additionally, the Military Breathing Method was the only breathing technique available in the exchange booklet.
That is to say, the Dragan Empire military swordsmanship he had obtained from that middle-aged man was actually worth 400 Merit Points.
Indeed, a 'counter-kill' like that was the fastest way to make money!
Unfortunately, he did not see the Black Kirin Oil, or anything related to the Giant Bear Breathing Technique available for exchange.
He wasn't sure if it was because his elite level in the Night Watchman wasn't high enough, or for some other reason.
However, as Cleya mentioned, the Giant Bear Breathing Technique was widely disseminated, with many noble families passing it down and studying it, so in theory, the imperial military would naturally have carried out research into it.
In that case, it was probably because he was of too low rank.
"By the way, my lord, does the Night Watchman have a specialized training ground?" Rein asked.
For him, improving his strength was always the most important thing.
The woodland near his house, he definitely wasn't suitable for going there in the short term.
And Anna's house was fine for one or two makeshift training sessions, but it wasn't a long-term solution.
"Haha, of course, it's right behind the administrative office of the small town," Hamilton said, standing up and laughing as if he had thought of something, brushing off his previous weariness.
"Come, I'll take you to see it, and by the way, it's a good opportunity to introduce you to the others."
"At this time, except for those who were on night duty yesterday, most of them should be at the training grounds."
After leaving the office and making two consecutive right turns, Rein followed Hamilton to a training ground, not very large, just a few hundred square meters, but it was equipped with various dummies, targets, and all kinds of longswords.
At the moment, many people were training on their own here, and after sweeping the area with a glance, Rein noticed that the majority, about sixty percent, were practicing archery.
"Constable, my lord!"
Upon seeing Hamilton's arrival, the training members of the Night Watchman, constables, and others all stopped their activities and greeted him.
"This is Rein, a new member who joined our Night Watchman today; everyone, please make his acquaintance," Hamilton introduced.
"Right, Rein, to let everyone gauge your strength, go ahead, use all your power, and throw a punch right here," Hamilton turned his head and, with a smile, extended his palm towards Rein.
Actually, Hamilton had always been curious about Rein's strength and potential.
Since the previous occasion when Rein had managed to stop that ferally transformed werewolf, Hamilton had been harboring this thought.
But firstly, at that time, he was hindered by his own injuries, and secondly, Rein had not officially joined the Night Watchman, so Hamilton hadn't spoken up.
But now that Rein was an official member of the Night Watchman and directly under his command, Hamilton naturally thought it was time to test this young man whom he regarded highly.