The Useless Skill Became The Most Powerful

009

For a moment, nobody spoke. The people who had been laughing at Ronan stared after him, trying to get another look at the bag.

Then a loud laugh came from one of the stalls. It was the same trader who had dismissed Ronan earlier. He looked towards the man pointing at the egg, his face full of amusement.

"Are you trying to be funny?" he asked. "That useless healer, carrying a True Bond egg? Are we in the afterlife already?"

The man turned towards him, but before he could answer, another trader joined in.

"You should be more careful about what you say. You almost made me believe it."

"Perhaps he saw an ordinary egg and got excited," someone else added, causing several people to laugh.

Their attention returned to Ronan, who had slowed down to adjust his bag. The movement had exposed more of its contents than he intended, and he reached inside to settle the eggs properly before drawing the opening closed.

"Look at him hiding it now," the first trader said. "If he really had something so valuable, do you think he would be walking around like that?"

"He would have found somewhere better to sell it," another replied. "He wouldn't have wasted his time coming here."

Ronan heard the remarks, but he only checked that the bag was secure. He wasn't going to let an egg fall out because people wanted to see what he was carrying.

The trader mistook his silence for embarrassment and laughed again.

"See? He isn't even trying to defend himself. Even he knows he couldn't possess something like that."

A few people nodded, looking satisfied with the explanation. The possibility that they had dismissed someone carrying a True Bond egg seemed to have been forgotten already.

Ronan continued walking, leaving their voices behind him. He had the payment for his crystals, and the only thing on his mind was reaching the hospital to settle his sister's bills as quickly as possible.

Whatever they wanted to believe about him didn't dent his surface.

Meanwhile, Darius stood behind the desk in his office, glaring at the Hunters gathered before him.

"We were so close!"

He slammed both hands against the table, causing the men nearest to him to straighten.

"The eggs were right there. We had them in our hands!"

Nobody answered him. The Hunters who had escaped from the nest stood around the desk, careful not to meet his eyes.

Darius looked from one face to another, his anger growing at their silence. He had spent money preparing for the expedition because he expected to return with something worth far more.

Instead, they had fled the nest and left the eggs behind.

"Do you realise how much I paid for the clearance and the intelligence?" he demanded. "Do you think that information came to me for free?"

One of the Hunters lowered his head. Darius turned towards him immediately.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

The man raised his head again, but he still had nothing to say.

Darius pressed his palms against the desk and leaned forward.

"And now we've even lost our cheap labour."

The Hunters exchanged brief glances. When they had dragged Ronan towards the eggs, none of them had hesitated, and they had been too busy escaping to think about what would happen afterwards.

"Where am I supposed to find someone else who will take every injury you receive?" he continued. "Do you know what a proper healer will charge us?"

He had kept Ronan working for the guild for three years. Whenever he became difficult, there was always his sister's treatment to remind him of.

Even that morning, he had come running to the headquarters as soon as the hospital contacted him.

Darius had expected to return with the eggs and enough profit to make the expedition worthwhile. Instead, he would have to pay for the next raid without the healer who had helped keep their expenses low.

He straightened and dragged a hand across his face.

"We could go again," one of the Hunters suggested.

Darius slowly turned towards him.

"What did you say?"

The Hunter shifted under his stare.

"We know where the nest is. If we prepare properly this time..."

Darius stepped around the desk and slapped him across the face before he could finish.

The man's head turned with the force of the blow. He staggered against the Hunter beside him and quickly steadied himself, pressing a hand against his cheek.

"You want us to go back?" Darius shouted. "Were you asleep when that thing attacked us?"

The Hunter kept his hand against his cheek, but he didn't answer.

"We've already angered the Mother Worm. We killed its young and tried to take its eggs. Do you think it will let us walk back into that nest?"

Darius glared at the others, waiting for someone else to suggest it. None of the Hunters answered him.

They had all seen what the creature did to the B-rank Hunter who attacked it. If Ronan hadn't taken his injury, the man would have died before they even managed to escape. Now there would be nobody to take the injuries for them.

Darius had just returned behind his desk, still breathing heavily, when the office door suddenly opened.

A female staff member hurried inside, her face pale. She stopped when she saw the Hunters gathered around him, but she was too frightened to wait outside.

Darius's eyes narrowed.

"Who gave you permission to barge in here?"

"Sir, there's something..."

"If this isn't something serious, you're dead," he interrupted. "What could possibly be so important that you couldn't knock?"

The woman swallowed, her hands trembling at her sides.

"The Mother Worm is dead."

The office fell silent. Darius stared at her, the anger slowly disappearing from his face. Behind him, the Hunter who had been slapped lowered his hand from his cheek.

"What did you just say?"

The colour drained from Darius's face, but the staff member hadn't finished.

"And Ronan has been seen in the market," she continued. "There are even rumours that he has the egg."

The Hunters around the table stiffened, and Darius remained motionless behind his desk.