It took Kayn and the group of women approximately two weeks instead of the planned one and a half to travel back to Myrem. Only Carline had a mana core among the five women, the last of the five was a maid.
The walking speed of normal people was only so fast, and Kayn didn't want to push them too hard after what they had all gone through and while they were still recovering, not to mention the lack of supplies for a large group. Kayn had to hunt to supplement the food.
The group was exhausted after two weeks of walking and camping. Kayn also forgot that he needed to bring back proof of completion for the mission, but luckily Lady Morath wrote Kayn a letter stating that adventurer Shin had saved them from the goblins clutches and defeated a hobgoblin leader.
Kayn was in a terrible mood after this mission. Even if there wasn't a way to save those women, killing them without realizing what he was doing left a sour taste in his mouth. On top of that, he was getting extremely irritated having to do everything with only one hand. He couldn't wait to regenerate it, but that would be at least a week-long process minimum due to his mana reserves.
It wasn't for nothing that a full hand regeneration would cost people around one platinum coin and at least two for an entire limb. The healer had to have a large amount of mana and the proper spell to perform the process. Most of the time it required a 4th stage or higher healer to perform these types of spells.
Kayn could only succeed in the process by doing a little bit at a time while combing his previous world's knowledge and studying his own body. However, he figured he would probably also have to create a more in-depth diagnostic spell so he could see each working part of his right hand in order to copy it to the left.
He wasn't aware how different the anatomy of his current race was as compared to humans, especially after his body was strengthened during his rank ups, but there was only so much he could do about it besides developing a better spell or dissecting himself.
If worse came to worst he could use his magic to remove layers of tissue to see the inner workings of his right hand first, but he definitely preferred to try the alternative first.
…
After Kayn wished the group of women good luck, they thanked him again and asked him to visit their estate in the future. It was only then that Kayn parted with them and began to make his way toward the Adventurer's Guild building.
He wanted to turn in his mission as soon as he could in order to get back to his lodging at Elder Loren's to begin his healing process and have a good sleep. He needed time to decompress from this mission and mull over his actions and what happened when he lost control.
Kayn was aware his morals had changed in this new world, and he wanted to know just how much. A point of interest he wanted to examine more than anything else was the state of rage and anger he reached. It was important to discover how to control it so that he didn't feel like a passenger in his own body in the future.
It had been over four weeks since Kayn had left Myrem for his mission. He originally estimated that it would take him less than a month, in other words less than three weeks. He expected Kinzie to be pretty pissed off with him for disappearing for that long on her again.
However, when he entered the guild hall, the person he expected to run up and probably punch him again wasn't there. Kayn didn't put much thought into it since it wasn't like she lived at the guild hall and had to go out on missions for a couple days a week to earn money.
He arrived at the reception desk and took the letter out of his backpack. The receptionist noticed his missing hand, but could only shake his head after reading the letter.
He was amazed that a D-rank adventurer that was performing his promotional mission was able to slay a B-class monster alone while only losing a hand. He guessed Adventurer Shin must have gotten a good sneak attack in on the monster or that Shin was stronger than pace he was advancing at through the ranks.
Kayn received his new copper plate signifying that he was a certified C-rank adventurer now and turned around to leave. He had gained practically nothing from this mission but troubles, trauma, and pain.
The mission only rewarded him a total of one silver, especially since he didn't bring any of the corpses back. Normal goblins couldn't even generate core stones as they didn't use mana.
Kayn had returned all the valuables he collected from the ambush site to help the Morath family back to their home. Plus, they were alive and he didn't want to steal from people who had just gone through such hardships.
Lady Morath had offered to pay him a hefty sum if he were ever to visit their estate as her husband wasn't with them at the time and would be more than grateful to his family's savior. However, Kayn wasn't worried about the money and their home was too far out of the way for now.
Also, they never saw his face. He wouldn't just go visit them in his full outfit just to receive some money. If he really wanted or needed money, he could just return home. Kayn currently didn't need the money, but he did miss his family. He was planning to travel and visit them after a few months' time and to stay home for a while.
As Kayn was walking away though, the receptionist called out to him. "Adventurer Shin, if I may have a bit of your time, I have a topic to discuss with you briefly."
Even if Kayn was in a somewhat sour mood, he couldn't deny that it sparked his curiosity since the receptionist had never spoken to him any more than necessary. Kayn walked back to the front desk to see what he had to say.
"I'm aware that you and D-rank adventurer Kinzie have been partying up for quite a while now and I just wanted to inform you that she is out on a mission. However, why I called you is because this was a simple E-rank gathering mission and she has been gone for almost 13 days now.
"In the event that something happened to her and if you're interested in investigating, I will provide you with the location of where she was supposed to be gathering the materials and herbs. If you don't care, I will simply disregard the matter. Adventurer's dying or going missing isn't exactly uncommon."
The receptionist stated his piece and Kayn quickly asked for the location where Kinzie should be. It wasn't like her to just go missing or to accept missions she wasn't confident in completing by herself if she wasn't with him, even if she had a party go with her.
Kayn was a little bit hesitant because he was missing his hand still, but she was his first friend in this world, he didn't want her to see her dead. And if she had died, he could at least see if she had family to inform to give them peace of mind if they had been awaiting contact.
Rather than changing and visiting his lodgings to restock on items and equipment, he just went to various stores and stalls in the town to refill his supplies before heading toward the village entrance again so he could leave to find Kinzie.
He knew being missing for so long on a mission that should have taken 3 days at most due to distance wasn't a good thing. If something happened to her, he was lagging behind already, but he had to go anyway for his own mental state.
Having something to focus on, especially his friend, gave him a renewed determination and focus, practically wiping away any other thoughts from his mind.
As Kayn kept on running as fast as he could without utilizing any mana as he didn't know when he would need it, his thoughts wandered to what had and was currently happening to him.
'This last month has been nothing but a pain in my ass by providing problems one after the other and now this. Hopefully I can get this done quickly so I can get back and rest, but I also hope that she's okay. I honestly think I would miss Kinzie's antics if she were gone, so I guess I better hurry.'
With that he sped off into the forest in the direction of where Kinzie was supposed to have gone.