25.12.312 (CR). Osric wakes up in the morning while being in pain over his entire body.
'I can't believe I managed to walk to my room yesterday.'
Osric had experienced both pain and improvement yesterday in a matter of hours.
'I wonder how he will train me today.'
When Osric arrived back at the guild's training grounds, Franklin was already standing there waiting.
"Took you long enough. I don't plan to go easy on you just because you're a little bruised up."
Osric exhaled and picked up a wooden sword before getting into position.
"Of course."
Today they trained the same way as yesterday just with more speed and intensity.
Franklin did not slow down to re-explain anything.
The first exchange came sharp and immediate.
Osric blocked. Shifted. Answered.
Not perfectly—but without collapse.
The second exchange was faster.
Then the third.
By the fifth, Franklin had stopped announcing patterns entirely.
Strikes came from angles that would have thrown Osric completely off balance two days ago.
Now he bent instead of breaking.
He still lost.
Still hit the ground more than once.
Still felt the sting of wood across ribs, thigh, shoulder.
But he wasn't scrambling anymore.
He wasn't flinching.
He was fighting inside the structure.
Franklin pressed him harder.
Less distance.
Less wind-up.
No wasted movement.
Osric's world narrowed again to balance and timing. His body screamed from accumulated strain, legs trembling from constant micro-adjustments.
But something was different today.
He was no longer trying to prove himself.
He was trying to last.
And that made him sharper.
The final exchange ended the same way it always did—
With Franklin's blade resting at his throat.
But this time Osric's sword was still in his hands.
Franklin stepped back, studying him.
"You're adapting," he said calmly.
Not praise.
Just fact.
A couple hours had already gone by and Franklin was about to finish the training when someone unexpectedly showed up.
A man in leather armor came from around the corner and jogged towards Franklin.
Franklin was surprised to see him but remained calm.
"What brings you here instead of my office later tonight Aaron?"
The man in front of Franklin was sweaty and breathing heavily with a concerned look.
"I'm sorry Franklin but this is urgent. Can we go somewhere private?" He asked while looking at Osric with untrusting eyes.
"You can tell me here."
"This is Osric and I recently recruited him. You can trust him."
Both Aaron and Osric were surprised by that statement.
"Alright, if you say so."
"The captain sent me here after we finished investigating that cave. What we found is truly unbelievable."
Aaron was part of the mercenary band that worked for Franklin.
"What did you find?"
Aaron hesitated and looked scared but still decided to speak.
"There were dozens of soldiers guarding different parts of the cave. And the cave is much larger than we originally thought."
"We barely managed to see everything without being exposed. Luckily no knight was present or we wouldn't have made it out alive."
"There were rows of prison cells. Chained humans. Men and women. And more shockingly, there were prisons with goblins inside them."
"They even had a couple hobgoblins imprisoned further inside."
"But the most shocking thing we saw was at the end of the cave. There were dozens of "people" inside a more cleanly kept large prison that appeared to be a mix of human and goblin."
"Most looked extremely disfigured and monstrous. But what scared me more were the few that looked more human. They only had some goblin characteristics but I could sense the danger that came from them."
"Although we couldn't figure out what exactly they were doing with them."
"That's my whole report."
Franklin stayed quiet while going through everything in his head.
Osric was also completely shocked.
'What the fuck did I get dragged into?'
Franklin finally spoke.
"I knew that monster Alric Greydell was up to something shady, but this is way beyond what I imagined."
"Where are the others?"
Aaron answered.
"The captain went back to the mercenary guild with five of our guys to make sure our alibi is solid in case someone suspects us of being near the cave."
"The remaining four that have the best hiding skills stayed near the cave to keep watch in case something happens."
"Alright good job." Said Franklin.
"You can leave now. Keep a low profile and tell Bruno to come find me in the office tonight to receive your payment."
'We need to come up with some new plans. I need to report this to that person.'
"Got it. Bye Franklin."
Aaron also nodded at Osric before leaving.
Osric was confused by all that crazy information he just heard.
'I don't really understand everything that's going on but I get the gist of it.'
'I always knew that baron was pure evil garbage. This is all above my pay grade though.'
'Hopefully Franklin won't ask me to get involved in this. My improvement takes priority.'
Franklin interrupted his thoughts.
"You must be shocked by everything you heard. Got any questions?"
Osric calmed down and responded.
"Yeah. What exactly is that cave?"
"After the strange movements of the goblins and hobgoblins I sent out people to investigate that part of the forest when they found House Greydell's soldiers guarding a big cave instead of hunting goblins."
"When I found out about this cave I immediately sent a mercenary band that's part of our faction to the cave to investigate."
Osric quickly understood the situation.
"I see. So what will you do now?"
Franklin noticed that Osric was somewhat worried and smiled.
'I guess even he can't always keep that calm expression.'
"Don't worry, I won't involve you in this matter. You aren't ready yet to start doing important work for our cause."
"Your main focus should be training right now and then grow your experience as well as starting and growing your own party."
Osric was relieved to hear that.
"Okay good. So what happens now?"
Franklin thought for a second before answering.
"Today's training is finished. I have a lot of work to do and you need to rest after that intense session."
"Tomorrow we will continue with something new."