Legend

You head into the nearest tavern and find it practically empty. The barkeeper seems friendly enough though.

"Well a new face! Don't see too many of those any more, not since the trouble and all."
"You mean the Manticore?"
"Manticore? Where'd you hear that from? We had a Manticore make a lair in the hills by here a few weeks back, but some adventurer like yourself came through here and said he was going to kill it, and then went off into the hills. We haven't seen the thing since, so he must've succeeded, though he never came back for the reward that we were offering, so I gather he either did it out of the good of his heart, or he died of his wounds."
"Well didn't you ever go to the hills and find out?"
"I'm not climbing up some damn hills! I'm too old for that nonsense! If someone else in town wants to do it they can be my guest, but mostly everyone was just content that the Manticore was gone, plus we got to keep the money for the town as well. Win-win situation I'd say."

Well this is another twist that you've come to expect in Raltec's missions, though perhaps a beneficial one. If the Manticore is dead, all you have to do is go find the cave and retrieve the heart from the corpse. That's assuming if it is dead or if its body hasn't rotted beyond retrieval.

Of course if you're feeling inquisitive, you could ask what other trouble the innkeeper was talking about.