Victor let out a moan of pleasure, as he sank in the warm, hot bath. So good!

Lynette’s inn was a top-notch establishment, a stone mansion renovated into a resort for adventurers and merchants; he had his own room with a king-sized bed and full access to a private bath in the back.

Victor had left his clothes and weapons nearby, just in case. He had had a nasty experience with a naked ambush in the past, and it didn’t hurt to be paranoid.

Victor glanced at the copper plate around his neck. Following Ogron’s ‘last meal,’ the adventurer guild had upgraded him and Vainqueur to copper-rank adventurers. Of course, from what he had gathered, the guild itself still had no idea how to handle the dragon and simply decided to follow due process until King Gardemagne or the Shining Crusade ‘settled’ the matter.

Victor had no idea what to make of the dead cyclops’ axe however. It didn’t have any magical powers, and it was too heavy for anything but a giant to use. He figured he would let Vainqueur toy with it, then sell it behind the dragon’s back.

The former outlaw had a more important problem to deal with. Namely, the love letters, and the maiden blushing at him when he walked through the street. Now Vainqueur had agreed to settle in Haudemer for a few days after Victor conned him into fighting the Scorchers, he could fool around again. Lynette was also quite easy on the eyes…

The bath’s door opened behind him, Victor’s hand moving to grab his daggers on impulse. Was it Lynette, bold enough to join him in the bath? Damn, this just kept getting better and better.

Except it wasn’t a maiden, but a disheveled Henry, and fully clothed at that. “Sir Victor!” he smiled at him with enthusiasm, ignoring or uncaring about Victor’s weapon. “Here you are!”

“Henry, why are you in my bath?” Victor asked the obvious question. Especially since he must have gone through the bedroom to get here.

“I couldn’t wait! I’ve been studying your case since yesterday, and it has been bugging me since—“

The Class Scholar suddenly noticed the black sword tattoo on Victor’s left shoulder and paled. “That’s the mark of the Nightblades.” He knew what the mark meant, and the organization which issued them.

Damn, the outlaw thought. He would rather keep that little secret to himself.

“Let’s call them legitimate repossessors of private goods, and I left them when I became an adventurer.” A lie. No one ever truly left the Nightblades. “And if you’re smart you will hold your tongue about it.”

Henry wisely dropped the matter, more interested in class discussions anyway. “I’m sorry, but it has been bothering me for a while,” he said. “Why not Crusader?”

“Crusa—what?”

“The class! With his immense strength, the dragon would reap the best benefits of its stats’ growth, and the self-healing would make him nigh impossible to put down! Think of the optimization potential!”

“You’re seriously considering making that dragon impossible to kill,” Victor said.

“Y-Yes, isn’t it your job?”

Yes, but he wasn’t going to do it well! “Look, all he cares about is money,” Victor replied. “He’s probably strong enough to handle anything short of legendary adventurers, so unless you propose a class that can farm gold without doing ‘minion work’, I’m not interested.”

Congratulations! For being perfectly in tune with your master’s desires, you gained a level in [Monster Squire]! +10 SP, +1 STR, +1 SKI, +1 AGI, +1 INT, +1 LCK!

You gained the [Minion Trainer] Class Perk!

Minion Trainer: you and your minions gain fifty percent more experience when fighting side by side.