The Hive organization was established within these past two months.
Although it could be considered a “new organization,” the difference was that from the very beginning, it had integrated nearly all the powers in the city with lightning speed.
Thus becoming the current “Hive.”
The entire city was like a giant beehive, connected in all directions, with their outposts everywhere.
So this was the newest organization to emerge, yet also a collection of the city’s old organizations.
Moreover, this organization wasn’t stingy about telling others that their backer was the Young Lady of Marquis Castle, the legendary “Bloodblossom Demon.”
Recently, there were even rumors that the Bloodblossom Demon had set out and directly slaughtered everyone on an entire street in Gilliris.
Anyone standing on that street, no one could escape. All had their heads chopped off. At the time, blood seeped into the bluestone street, staining the entire avenue red… Terrifying screams echoed through the whole city.
The storyteller spoke vividly, as if they had experienced it themselves.
And coupled with the previous example of her executing the Lady and eldest son of the Bell Knight family on the street, those who heard it believed it without doubt and were all terrified.
At this moment, Ileya’s fearsome reputation could be said to resound throughout the East Capital, even capable of stopping children from crying at night.
Naturally, no one dared to provoke the Hive, which was linked to the Young Lady.
So… in just two and a half months, plus the accumulated assets of the organization’s members, the Hive had rapidly gathered nearly all the underground industries both inside and outside Crystal Capital.
It could be said that if you wanted to start a career in Crystal Capital now, without the Hive’s tacit approval, you couldn’t achieve anything.
Thinking of this, the group that had been arguing with the Hunter Blade Mercenary Group looked at their opponents ahead with even more anger in their eyes!
You know people from the Hive… and they seem to be high-ranking members—why didn’t you say so earlier?!
If you’d said so earlier, none of this would have happened, and they wouldn’t have tried every means to grab territory and play dirty tricks!
Bastards… these guys were trying to drive them to their deaths…
“You… Xiao Yaba? You’re…” Not only were the people opposite surprised, but Beina was also staring blankly at her sister before her, who seemed completely transformed.
“Back… to see you all.” The carriage slowly stopped. The girl in a white long dress gracefully stepped down and stood before the mercenaries.
Instantly, even the rough mercenary men who were quite familiar with Reliel all turned red-faced.
Although Reliel in her leather armor was also spirited and beautiful, now… this smiling girl, though young, was already clearly an absolute beauty in the making.
Perhaps… not even slightly inferior to that “Pearl of the Eastern Capital.”
“Hey!! If any of you stare any longer, your eyes might stick like glue out of greed! Get the hell away from me! If you keep looking, I’ll gouge your eyes out!!” Beina glanced back at the crowd and scolded sternly!
Others might not know this Miss Beina’s skills, but members of the same mercenary group certainly did. Unless they wanted to be cursed awake all night, they wisely backed off.
Along with them, the group that had been arguing with the Hunter Blade mercenaries also retreated.
Although Reliel didn’t say anything, Beina, who had grown up with her, could see from her eyes what she was thinking.
“Sigh~ It’s been rough outside lately… Those refugees are scraping the land like a plague of locusts. Forget gathering herbs or hunting—if you’re not careful, you’ll end up in a conflict with those guys…”
As she spoke, Beina sighed deeply again.
“You know those guys are just commoners with families—old people, children… When they charge at us with scythes, should we fight back or not…”
As the telegram girl sighed, Reliel thought to herself upon hearing her words—
If they attacked proactively, just kill them.
But then, the next second, she felt a little lost.
What… was I just thinking?
“So that’s how it is~” Beina pointed at a few stalls on the street.
“Who knows when this storm will blow over, so Dad decided to stop taking missions for now. We’ve been setting up stalls in the city lately. Those assholes who were causing trouble just now…”
The girl pointed at the backs of the fleeing troublemakers.
“They’re from the Windcatcher Mercenary Group. They had the same idea as us, but the spots where our two mercenary groups set up stalls keep overlapping, and we sell similar stuff… so these frictions keep happening…”
“I see…”
Reliel nodded, but before she could say anything, the chatterbox spoke again.
“But you’re doing pretty well now~ Already a high-ranking member of the Hive?” As she spoke, Beina casually slung her arm around Reliel’s shoulders.
“You’ll have to watch out for us from now on~”
Seeing that she didn’t mock her for her outfit or distance herself because she had left the mercenary group…
Little Mute’s heart finally settled, and the corners of her mouth slowly curled up into a faint smile.
This smile momentarily startled Beina.
‘Just a change of clothes… Why does it feel like Xiao Yaba…’
‘Seems more feminine?’
‘Maybe… I should wear skirts too sometimes?’
“Cough, cough. Let’s go~ Dad has been thinking about you since you left~” As she spoke, Beina patted Reliel’s shoulder, abandoned her own stall, and led her in a certain direction.
“Hey…” The little maidservant driving the carriage was about to cry.
‘Could you at least get in the carriage and tell me where to go?’
But… Beina clearly didn’t have that idea. She just kept talking nonstop about things that had happened in the mercenary group these days—
Like how Sha Lin, whose tongue was destroyed by some unknown, terrifying existence on that horrifying night, had become mute.
She recently quit the mercenary group and married a blacksmith in the city.
Or how she had seen Aisika in the city. Not only was he not dead, but he was doing well, actually staying by the side of Queen Bee Jenny. That meant you two were colleagues now, right?
Or how the Young Master of the Gold Vein Chamber of Commerce was pursuing Queen Bee Jenny in every possible way, making a huge spectacle that the whole city knew about.
But Jenny neither responded nor rejected him, just left him hanging.
Throughout the walk, her mouth never stopped.
But Reliel didn’t find it noisy at all. In fact, her heart felt warm.
She could sense that Beina’s fiery heart was the same as before.
That put her at ease.
And so, with one talking and the other listening, they soon arrived at the current headquarters of Hunter’s Blade.
However, the environment here was even worse than Reliel had imagined.
There were no buildings, just a large open field on the outskirts of the city.
And obviously, Hunter’s Blade wasn’t the only mercenary group here. A quick glance revealed several other mercenary group flags.
“Rents in the city have skyrocketed lately, and rooms are in short supply, so we have to set up tents~” Beina shrugged, clearly not caring about where they lived.
After all, they’d stayed in even tougher places before. As long as they could sleep, it was fine. Their sleeping bags were even more comfortable.
“Speaking of which, since you’re back, you should stay tonight~”
“Mm.” Reliel nodded, and the two walked toward the central tent.
Just as they approached the central tent, they saw a carriage parked in front of it.
The carriage looked very plain, with no coat of arms on it. It was grayish-black overall, appearing quite low-key.
“Huh? Ah… Beina, this is…”
A mercenary standing guard at the entrance waved to Beina the moment he saw her, but paused when he saw Reliel.
“Pfft~ Take a closer look~” Beina let go of Reliel, leaving the cool, quiet girl standing gracefully on the spot.
“Are you… Reliel?!”
The mercenary’s mouth gaped slightly. His expression shifted from shock to realization, and finally blushed unconsciously.
“Pfft~ How about it? My sister’s cute, right~ But don’t even think about it. Find time to take a piss and look at yourself… Oh, is Dad inside?”
Seeing his reaction, Beina laughed and was about to lift the curtain to enter the tent.
“Hey, hey! Beina! The captain has an important guest! You two ought to wait…”
“Huh? Wait my ass! What guest is more important than his daughter? Get lost! Don’t make me kick you…”
The young mercenary on guard was clearly no match for the fiery girl. Beina grabbed him with one hand and flung him aside.
Without any hesitation, she brashly lifted the curtain of the tent and stepped inside.
“Dad! Look who’s back… Huh?”
Beina paused as she entered the tent.
Because she saw that the main seat in the tent was not occupied by her father, but by a woman with snow-white hair and pale blue eyes.
She wore a veil, making her true appearance impossible to see, but…
Just those eyes alone, one glance at them and there was a kind of…
Breathtaking beauty that made you forget to breathe.
“Huh… Huh?!”
“D-Dad… Maybe you should give up? A woman of this level, you really can’t handle her…” Instinctively, Beina looked at her father sitting in the adjacent seat and spoke.
“Huh?” The captain, who had initially had a calm expression, suddenly looked bewildered. When he realized what his daughter was talking about, his forehead darkened and his eyebrows twitched wildly…
“W-What nonsense are you talking?!” The captain stood up with a dark face, only to notice that behind Beina followed another girl.
In an instant, all four people present froze.
Especially the veiled white-haired woman sitting in the main seat.
The moment she saw Reliel’s light golden half-long hair and pale blue eyes, her body trembled involuntarily.
“Father.”
But… Reliel’s single word seemed to instantly snap the woman in the main seat back to reality, causing her body to tremble once more.
“Reliel, you’re… back, huh… Heh heh…” The captain’s weathered face gradually shed its astonishment, replaced by a gentle softness.
“This outfit… suits you. A girl your age really should dress like this.”
“Tsk~ But you never bought me a little skirt either~” Beina snorted with her arms crossed.
“I… still prefer wearing pants.” Faced with the bickering between father and daughter, Reliel chose to voice her own thoughts.
Watching the intimate interaction of this family, the white-haired woman’s eyes gradually softened. She turned her face away and gently wiped the corners of her slightly moist eyes with her sleeve.
It was at that moment that Reliel slowly looked at the woman.
But she didn’t catch the woman’s eyes clearly. She only saw that head of snow-white long hair.
‘That hair… Why does it look so familiar?’
“So… who is this sister?” Beina tilted her head, seeming to realize that chatting about family matters in front of a guest wasn’t quite appropriate.
“This…” The captain suddenly found himself at a loss for words.