After a full lap around the market, Ileya looked at the large, rust-covered pot Jenny was holding… It was filled to the brim with scrap metal.
She felt like they’d made quite a haul.
This big pot had almost tripped the little catgirl earlier, so Ileya had immediately bought it on the spot.
As for everything else, as long as Mierpasi had looked at it more than three times, Ileya bought it all without exception!
Add in that iron rod she’d snatched from Franlot’s hands, and this trip was a resounding success!
“So… Miss, what are you planning to do with all this junk… uh… old stuff?” Jenny held the huge pile of pots and pans, genuinely unable to wrap her head around her young lady’s thinking.
“These might all be good things~” Ileya said with a smile, glancing at the catgirl beside her, then casually tapping the broken basin in the little green tea’s hands.
Maybe… good things? Queen Bee said she honestly couldn’t see it, nor could she feel it.
But whatever… Even if she didn’t know what these “good things” were, the young lady must have her purpose in doing this~
Just as the group was about to turn back from Obsidian Street… a bald man came rushing over in a panic!
“Young Miss! Queen Bee!”
Jenny poked her head out from behind the pots and pans, looking at the shiny bald egg running over…
She recognized this guy. He was a minor leader in the Hive, going by the street name [Lao Ge]. He used to run things around Obsidian Street.
Those thugs who had surrounded that pretty boy earlier were his underlings.
“What’s with the panic?” Jenny raised an eyebrow slightly.
“It’s… something happened!” Lao Ge took two deep breaths, pointing at a spot behind him.
“That person you told us to investigate earlier… He has two companions at the Mercenary Guild! One of them, a sword user, got into a fight with someone inside the guild!”
“That little miss is pretty tough too. She trashed the whole lobby of the Mercenary Guild!”
What?
Jenny was momentarily stunned, while Ileya raised an eyebrow with interest.
“Doesn’t the Mercenary Guild have guards on duty?”
She’d only been to the Mercenary Guild a few times, but they always had people watching the place.
“To answer the young miss, the Mercenary Guild’s regular guards are five Sub-Bronze Rank soldiers, but according to the information we got, the two fighting… even Sub-Bronze Rank couldn’t get close.”
“Oh?” Ileya rubbed her chin.
“Are those two Transcendents?”
Lao Ge scratched his head, a look of confusion on his face.
“I dunno…”
“Useless!” Jenny frowned, scaring Lao Ge so much that he dropped straight to his knees, kowtowing to Ileya like a pounding pestle!
“Alright, alright~” Ileya waved her hand with a helpless smile.
“As for what’s actually going on… let’s just go take a look… and we’ll find out.”
…
Franlot walked back to his lodgings, exhausted—the Mercenary Guild of the Crystal Capital.
Just like Jenny had thought earlier, the situation in the city wasn’t great right now.
Ordinary inns had long since been filled to capacity.
If it weren’t for the special circumstances of this period, where the Mercenary Guild required Sub-Bronze Rank strength to check in…
Perhaps Franlot and his group would really be wandering the streets right now.
“Ugh…”
Having just walked to the outside of the Mercenary Guild, Franlot heard a commotion and shouting from inside!
Every now and then, mercenaries would run out, faces full of terror.
What’s going on?
The young man paused for a moment, then quickened his pace forward…
Clang! Bang!!
“Again! Again, again!!”
Faintly, he seemed to hear a familiar… sickly, wild voice.
This is… Xue’er?!
The heart of this “Heaven’s Chosen Transmigrator” immediately leaped into his throat!
He hurried into a jog but didn’t go inside right away. Instead, he stood at the edge of the crowd on the side.
The moment he saw the scene ahead, Franlot felt his blood pressure spike!
The lobby of the Mercenary Guild was in complete shambles!
Four or five tables and their accompanying chairs around the area were all destroyed, and at the center of the chaos, Xue’er was holding the Demon Blade, facing a bald giant over six and a half feet tall.
This bald warrior had a stern face, and his arms alone seemed thicker than Xue’er’s waist… Besides the saber in his hand, he carried six different weapons strapped to his back…
He was swinging his saber in wide, sweeping arcs, but Xue’er moved like a ghost wrapped in bandages, weaving through his ferocious attacks, her [Karmic Hell Bone Forest] meeting the heavy blade whenever it came close!
Clang!! Sparks flew everywhere, and anyone with eyes could see… in terms of raw strength, Xue’er was at a disadvantage.
“Ugh…” Franlot watched Xue’er, who seemed to be suppressed at the moment, with absolutely no intention of rushing in to help.
After all, if he charged in, he might not even survive one swing of that bald man’s blade before being reborn again.
Xue’er is here… then what about Teres?
Franlot scanned the area and finally spotted the Demon Eye Sage in a corner.
She was hiding far away, holding a book in her hands, flipping through it as if nothing was wrong.
Ugh…!? What is she even doing?!
Franlot pushed through the crowded masses and ran over to Teres first.
“Hey! What the hell is going on here? Why… why didn’t you stop her?!”
Looking at Teres, who seemed completely unfazed, as if she hadn’t even noticed the battle happening right beside her, the young man spoke with some indignation.
“?” Teres frowned slightly, her eerie purple eyes glancing at Franlot.
Immediately after, Franlot’s System directly notified him that Teres’s [Affection Points -5].
Ugh?!
“Who am I to you? A babysitter? Do I have to look after that mad dog too?”
Teres slowly flipped through the pages of her book, her tone cold.
“Your questioning confuses me. In other words… are we really that familiar?”
Franlot stood frozen in place.
Indeed, he’d assumed from the start… that they were all companions, that they should support and help each other.
But… he’d overlooked the fact that these two had only been tricked into coming along by his schemes.
They might have some history with him, but as for each other, they really were no different from strangers.
“My apologies… that was presumptuous of me.”
With that thought, Franlot lowered his head and spoke with some helplessness.
The main thing is… who can handle losing affection points over every little thing like this?!
Teres gave no response to Franlot’s apology. She simply turned her head back to her book, and the affection points didn’t recover either.
“Hm?” Just as the atmosphere between the two became quite awkward, Teres frowned slightly and lifted her head.
Huh? What’s wrong…
Whoosh—!!
Before Franlot could figure out what was happening, a black shadow came crashing down from the upper floor of the Mercenary Guild like a falling meteor!
Boom!!
As dust billowed up, Franlot only caught a glimpse of the black shadow that had fallen from above landing right between Xue’er and the bald man!
“It’s… the President!”
“The Old Guild Leader!!”
Several Mercenary Guild staff members hiding under the tables nearby were the first to spot the scene in the dust…
It was a sturdy old man, now standing between the two troublemakers, his left hand gripping Xue’er’s sword-arm, his right hand clutching the bald man’s wrist.
That’s right, the one who had come down from upstairs to stop these two was none other than the Old Guild Leader of the Mercenary Guild, who had crossed paths with Ileya once before—[Medel Hablo].
“You two youngsters have decent strength, but that’s no reason for you to cause trouble in the Mercenary Guild…”
The old man’s voice was soft, but the strength in his hands was heavy!
Crack, crack, crack…
Xue’er and the bald man both realized at the same time that their wrists couldn’t move at all now, not even with the slightest force…
This meant that in terms of sheer strength, they were completely suppressed… with no room to resist whatsoever.
The bald man took it in stride, and after being stopped by the old president, he stopped resisting.
But Xue’er’s temper was far more explosive!
“Bastard…” The Hundred-man Slayer gritted her teeth, seemingly willing to break her own arm just to fight to the bitter end!
“Hey! Wait! Wait!!”
Seeing Xue’er about to go berserk, to keep things from escalating further, and to keep from losing an ally over something like this…
Franlot quickly stepped forward!
“Xue’er! You… calm down first! If you cripple yourself for nothing, you’ll never swing a blade again! Think… think about what kind of person you want to become!!”
He had to admit, Franlot’s words worked remarkably well on this crazy woman.
If she couldn’t kill, couldn’t hear their terrified screams, couldn’t be drenched in blood… then living would have no meaning for her.
So… Xue’er eventually calmed down a bit and reluctantly stopped struggling.
Seeing that neither of them had any more intention of fighting, President Medel released his grip on the two.
But even though he let go, the expression on his face remained quite stern.
“I don’t care what grudges you two have, but causing trouble in the Mercenary Guild means you have no respect for the rules!”
That booming voice didn’t sound like an old man at all. It was more like a tiger roaring through the mountains, making the other mercenaries watching from the sidelines hold their breath in fear.
“If not for this special period, and the possibility that you might be needed later, I would have crippled both your arms long ago!”
As expected… this is the president of the Crystal Capital’s Mercenary Guild.
“Sigh, I was too impulsive. I came here to contribute to the Human Kingdom… Elder, I am willing to pay the price for causing trouble.”
The bald man with a full rack of weapons on his back spoke first.
His words didn’t match his physique and martial prowess at all—his voice was actually quite deep and gentle, utterly polite.
Then he pulled out a dagger inscribed with countless runes from his chest.
The knowledgeable people around him all had their eyes light up!
A Transcendent item!?
“Hmph…” The president snatched the dagger from the bald man’s hand, then turned his gaze to Xue’er.
But…
The crazy woman, just barely restrained by Franlot’s words, still had a “come at me if you dare” look on her face, glaring at President Medel with her pink eyes.
Compensation… Franlot was at a loss right now.
He didn’t have a single thing on him…
The only thing of value Xue’er had was that [Karmic Hell Bone Forest]…
But making her hand over her blade as payment…
That would probably really be a fight to the death.
As for Teres, there was no point even asking. Not only would he get no help, but he’d probably lose more affection points.
The only thing I have now that’s more valuable than money is…
He really had no other choice…
Franlot could only resort to his old trick!
“Hm… Elder President, I am the second son of the Kelvidi Grand Duke, Franlot Kelvidi.”
Having learned from the last two lessons, this time Franlot didn’t dare act arrogant.
He could only bow respectfully at the waist, revealing his identity.
Oh? President Medel narrowed his eyes slightly.
He naturally knew of the Kelvidi Grand Duke—royal bloodline, and a close friend of the Uncrowned King of the East Capital.
And in this special time… it was indeed possible that the man had brought Transcendent guards to the Crystal Capital…
But… was this noble young master really this low-key?
He’d come to the Crystal Capital without any word… and even gone to the Mercenary Guild to lodge?