Chapter 265: The Strongest Bronze (XV)

“A young and promising female talent?” Samimi’s eyes flickered, showing a hint of interest.

The Third Guild’s formation quickly split, and two young girls slowly stepped out from the crowd, walking onto the stone stage.

When Samimi saw that grayish-white hair she had been thinking about for so long, her heart skipped a beat. Her smile vanished instantly, and she froze in place, truly revealing her zombie-like nature.

However, the Hero’s expression was also quite awkward as she looked at Samimi. She seemed hesitant and indecisive, twisting her fingers and avoiding eye contact, as if she didn’t want to meet her former teammate at all.

‘Huh?’ This caused Samimi to snap back to her senses. The Hero of the Storm in her memory was not this kind of person.

As mentioned before, Aigoas was an extremely rational individual—an utterly self-centered and selfish person who liked to hide her true emotions behind the standard smile of a Hero.

But what was going on now? Why was she wearing such a soft expression on her face?

Bizarre. It was all so bizarre.

While she knew these people’s personalities had changed more or less compared to the original plot, the fundamental framework of a character should not change.

But with just one look, Samimi felt that the Hero’s transformation was immense. This woman had already stepped onto an unpredictable Stage of Fate.

Of course, this could be a facade. A show of weakness Aigoas put on to deceive her.

‘Yes! It must be!’

After all, this was Wansen Lihai, the territory of the Southern adventurers. An idol Hero like her, who could act arrogantly in the Royal City’s adventurer circles, would only have to submit to the local powers here.

So, pretending to be like this was a show of weakness to let herself blend into the Southern adventurer circles—a very clever tactic.

And now it seemed that Aigoas’s plan to blend in was very successful.

She had successfully joined the third-ranked Diyuan Shixin Guild, and judging by her treatment within the guild, she was given the highest priority.

Furthermore, according to Samimi’s observation, the overall strength of the third-ranked Diyuan Shixin Guild was actually the strongest.

Because their guild already had a Hero Sword Saint, and now they had the Hero of the Storm as well. Who could compete with them?

As for the two katana users from the first-ranked guild, they didn’t look like they would be able to obtain the Sword of the Hero. Even if it were given to them, it was hard to say if they would even use it.

How could a katana master betray their own katana? They wouldn’t even spare a glance at something like the Sword of the Hero.

Then there was Sai Qichang by her side. She was a Shield Axe Master; it was impossible for her to betray her signature weapon as well.

Based on this analysis, the Sword of the Hero belonged to no one but Aigoas.

Their setup was like the previous alliance between the Saint of Fire and the Saint of Scythes, which had directly led to a regime change in the entire Ecclesiastical Court.

She had thought Aigoas was still playing house in the Royal City’s adventurer circles, but she hadn’t expected her to personally come to the South. Her proactivity was far greater than in the original plot.

If she analyzed it from this perspective…

‘Aigoas, oh Aigoas, you’ve turned into a woman who doesn’t just use gentleness as a disguise, but even knows how to act weak.’

The basic character setting for the Hero of the Storm was that of an extremely rational person. Reputation and dignity were not important; what mattered was the path forward. Therefore, it wasn’t impossible for her to pretend to be a weak, indecisive little girl to climb the ranks.

In most Otherworld stories, Heroes were usually the kind of naive, gentle, and indecisive eccentrics who tried to save the world by shouting some nonsense.

But Aigoas was definitely not that type. She belonged to the category of ruthless Heroes who acted decisively. The process didn’t matter; only the result was paramount.

“Nice to meet you all. I am the Pastoralist, Xia Ruoyan.”

Samimi felt more and more that something was wrong. Her gaze sharpened, and she used Concentration to deal with the Hero.

Unfortunately, this time, the damn Rice Bug was wrong.

To be precise, she was overthinking. She thought Aigoas was on the fifth floor, but in reality, she was on the negative fifth floor.

The Hero was truly just indecisive now.

She had truly lost her self-confidence after being struck by cold reality.

She was being suppressed by the great deeds of the Hongyi Grand Archbishop to the point she couldn’t even raise her head! She couldn’t even catch her breath!

But Samimi felt she was acting.

“Nice to meet you?” Aigoas asked with a face full of doubt, her voice mumbly and very quiet.

“Xia Ruoyan? Heh.” The girl next to her, a Mage in a hood, let out an extremely cold laugh.

“You…” Samimi’s hair stood on end. She had almost forgotten there was another heavyweight figure beside the Hero.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, and to meet on the stage, no less. It truly is the arrangement of fate. Then, enough talk. Let’s fight! Draw your staff!”

The not-so-mysterious hooded Mage girl pulled back her hood, revealing that fanatical expression of a battle-crazed person. She looked at Samimi as if she wanted to skin her alive.

She was the Sinful Witch Belmore, who had been permanently expelled from the Continental Mages Academy’s Fire Department.

When she revealed her true face, the surrounding adventurers were all jolted. They felt the pressure from her fire magic, and the temperature even rose slightly.

The tips of Bemore’s white hair were crimson, as if they were burning with flames. She looked like a deity descending to earth, completely different from the simple style of the surrounding adventurers.

“What are you saying? I’m just a powerless little Pastoralist. I don’t know anything about fighting.” Samimi waved her hand, rejecting the duel request.

Even though Samimi told everyone else she would beat them up whenever she saw them, now that she was actually facing her, she had a different story. ‘Why should I fight you?’

“You don’t want to fight me?” Bemore let out a cold laugh. Her small hand reached up and rubbed her eyes twice, as if signaling something.

Samimi’s smile vanished instantly.

‘She’s hinting at my eye bags. If I don’t agree, she’ll expose my true identity in public! Demon-Hunting Nun Samimi! Hongyi Grand Archbishop Samimi!’

The entire world knew that Hongyi Grand Archbishop Samimi had left the Royal City and disappeared.

Once her identity was exposed, the Ecclesiastical Court would definitely send a large force to capture Samimi and drag her back to sit on the throne of the Hongyi Grand Archbishop.

Samimi and the Ten Treasures could forget about their easygoing adventure. Their freedom would be stripped away. With great power comes great responsibility; there was always a price to pay for being an overachiever.

“Did you guys know each other before?” Cresia asked.

“She was our former teammate in the Royal City,” Bemore answered.

“It’s a small world, and when enemies meet, their eyes turn red with hate,” Samimi said coldly. “Last time, I slapped your face. This time, it’s your turn to be unlucky.”

Setting Aigoas aside for now, she knew it was impossible to talk sense into a troublemaker like Bemore without giving her a beating first.

“Hmph.” Hearing Samimi’s harsh words, Bemore actually laughed. She laughed very happily. It just went to show how much she craved a beating; she was actually happy at the thought of being hit.

She beckoned Samimi and impatiently walked onto the stage.

“No, no, no. A defeated general like you has no right to fight me. Beat my two subordinates first, then we’ll talk.” Samimi hurriedly retreated behind Niubao and Sai Qichang, pushing them onto the stage.

“Huh?” Niubao was confused. She had been dragged into the conflict of the Royal City Hero Party.

The plot had developed beyond just their Hero Party, as there were now multiple hero parties in the South. She had to add “Royal City” as a prefix to be more accurate.

“You coward! Come up and face me!” Bemore shouted.

“I will strengthen them with support magic. I am a Pastoralist, a Divine Official. If you can’t even beat my teammates, why do you think you can beat me?” Samimi waved her hand, feeling that her logic was sound.

“As expected of you… You always find a reason that makes people burn with rage yet find it impossible to refuse.” Bemore laughed manically. “Then it’s fine if I bring the Hero along, right?”

Rarely did anyone in this world laugh so manically. Even Rice Bug usually only gave a formal, polite laugh.

This person who was treated like a nobody in the previous plot was actually acting this arrogant now?

More and more evidence suggested that the Continental Mages Academy was a dungeon for hidden talents. She had really made the wrong choice at the start by entering that place.

“No problem. After leaving the Continental Mages Academy, even a clown can be a king,” Samimi teased indifferently.

“Aigoas, let’s go,” Bemore said.

“Do we really have to fight? Why don’t we sit down, have a cup of tea, and talk about future cooperation? There’s no need for all this killing,” Aigoas questioned.

“What are you saying? Do you think she’s someone you can settle things with just by talking? Between us, there is only conquest! No cooperation!” Bemore sneered.

“Aigoas, you really are still that clever Hero. I admire your rationality, but unfortunately, your teammates are all top-tier idiots.” Hearing this, Samimi felt her previous deduction was even more correct and mocked them casually.

‘She will always take the most rational path and make the most correct choice.’

In reality, there was no need to fight now. It was all a personal grudge. Winning or losing brought no benefit since there was no bet between them.

Her challenge with the Red Ghost and Green Ghost had a stake—the loser had to call the winner “Grandpa.”

But now, her group was just going to fight. Whether they got hurt or crippled, she would still have to spend money to heal them.

“What…” Aigoas was confused by Samimi’s words and couldn’t understand them at all.

“Stop acting. I was your teammate; I know what kind of person you are. I know that in your heart, you can’t wait to hack me, this traitor, to death.” Samimi felt she was feigning innocence and putting on a show for the world.

“Huh?” Hearing this, Aigoas became even more bewildered.

To be honest, the Hero of the Storm had only sent the Pure White Knight to persuade Samimi to go home as a neutral party—she hadn’t hated the Rice Bug much from the start.

However, the Pure White Knight, that brainless person, had executed the mission terribly. She turned the persuasion mission into a situation of kicking someone while they were down. In the end, she successfully forced Samimi to defect completely, vowing never to return even if she died.

‘This can’t be blamed on me, the Hero of the Storm, right?’

But Samimi didn’t know these details. She still thought the Hero had sent Fabiana to her house to harass her for dozens of days and even withheld her bonus. She was full of resentment.