Steel clashed against steel as the bandit leader's sword met Ren's blade. The man was skilled—his movements spoke of real combat experience, not the desperate flailing of common highway robbers.
"Not bad for an F-rank," the leader grunted, pressing his attack. "But let's see how you handle this!"
He gestured with his free hand, and spikes of stone erupted from the road around Ren's feet. Earth magic—at least D-rank level, just as Ren had suspected.
"Careful!" Vermillion called out, engaging two of the other bandits with movements that were surprisingly graceful for a civilian companion.
Ren rolled aside from the earth spikes, making it look desperate and clumsy while his enhanced reflexes easily tracked the attack. A normal F-rank would have been skewered, but he managed to make his dodge appear lucky rather than skillful.
"Lucky!" the leader sneered, advancing with his sword raised. "But luck runs out eventually."
The fight continued for several minutes, with Ren carefully controlling his responses to appear just skilled enough to survive while still seeming overwhelmed. When the bandit leader finally overextended on an aggressive strike, Ren's counter looked more like desperate instinct than calculated precision.
His blade found the gap in the man's armor, and the leader collapsed with a shocked expression.
"Impossible," he gasped. "You're just... supposed to be..."
"Derek," Ren said, kneeling beside the dying man. "Derek hired you, didn't he?"
The leader's bitter laugh was his only confirmation before the light faded from his eyes.
The remaining bandits, seeing their leader fall, broke formation and fled into the woods. Vermillion had handled her opponents with efficiency that definitely wasn't civilian-level, but in the chaos, there were no witnesses to question it.
"So Derek suspects something," Vermillion said as they caught their breath.
"More than suspects. He's actively investigating." Ren looked at the bodies scattered across the road. "This was a test, and now he knows I'm hiding something."
They spent time arranging the scene to look like the bandits' earth magic had backfired catastrophically—bringing down tree branches and causing the kind of environmental chaos that could explain their defeat. By the time they finished, the story looked plausible: desperate F-rank gets lucky when enemy mage's spell goes wrong.
The message delivery was completed without further incident, but the journey back to Millbrook was tense with anticipation.
Derek was waiting for them at the guild entrance.
"Back already?" the Earth Warrior asked casually, though his eyes were sharp with interest. "How did the delivery go?"
"Had some trouble," Ren replied, affecting a shaken demeanor. "Bandits on the forest road. Got lucky when their mage's spell backfired and brought down half a tree."
Derek's expression didn't change, but Ren caught the flash of frustration in his eyes. The man had been expecting either a confession of hidden power or a corpse to examine. Getting neither left him with more questions than answers.
"Bandits?" Derek said. "That's unusual for that route. Well-traveled road, regular patrols. What did they look like?"
Ren described the attackers in general terms, making sure to emphasize how overwhelming the odds had seemed and how miraculous their escape had been. Derek listened intently, clearly trying to reconcile the story with whatever he'd expected his hired thugs to accomplish.
"Six professional fighters," Derek mused. "And you managed to survive through... environmental hazards?"
"Sometimes the gods favor the desperate," Ren said with a shrug that he hoped conveyed humble gratitude rather than smug satisfaction.
Derek's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "Indeed they do."
Over the following days, Derek's scrutiny intensified. He began showing up wherever Ren took contracts, asking pointed questions about his techniques and magical capacity. Other C-rank adventurers started paying attention too, drawn by Derek's obvious interest in what should have been an unremarkable F-rank flame mage.
"He's building a case," Vermillion observed after Derek had spent an entire afternoon "coincidentally" being at the same tavern where they ate dinner. "Gathering evidence, looking for inconsistencies in your story."
"Let him look," Ren replied, though privately he was growing concerned. Derek's investigation was drawing exactly the kind of attention he'd hoped to avoid.
The situation came to a head a week later when Derek made his move publicly.
"I have a proposition," the Earth Warrior announced loudly during the guild's busy evening period. "Our friend Ren here has been having remarkable success with his contracts lately. Unusually remarkable, one might say."
Conversations throughout the hall quieted as adventurers turned to listen.
"So I thought," Derek continued, "why don't we give him a chance to really prove himself? A joint exercise, C-rank difficulty, with proper witnesses to document his capabilities."
It was a challenge, issued publicly with no graceful way to refuse. Derek had maneuvered him into a corner where backing down would confirm suspicions while accepting would risk exposure.
"What kind of exercise?" Ren asked, knowing he was trapped.
Derek's smile was triumphant. "Goblin nest elimination. Northern woods, estimated twenty goblins including a Hobgoblin chief. Standard extermination contract, but I'll personally oversee your participation to ensure... proper evaluation of your abilities."
The crowd murmured with interest. A C-rank supervising an F-rank on a challenging assignment was unusual but not unheard of. What was unusual was the predatory gleam in Derek's eyes.
"When?" Ren asked resignedly.
"Tomorrow morning. My team will provide backup, but you'll take point on the assault." Derek's grin widened. "After all, if you're really as capable as your recent record suggests, this should be well within your abilities."
As the crowd dispersed, already buzzing with speculation about tomorrow's exercise, Ren realized that his days of quiet anonymity were numbered. Derek had forced him into a situation where hiding his true capabilities would be nearly impossible.
The Earth Warrior was about to get his answers.
The question was whether Ren would survive giving them.