Chapter 176 - Paulina

The next morning, Leyvi and the group decided to check out the Forge Quarter's Hall of Fame.

This place kept records of all the tier-5 spirit equipment that the Forge Quarter produced.

When Leyvi entered the hall, he immediately saw many spirit weapons, spirit armor, and other items on display protected by a glass case.

"They are all replicas." He muttered.

"Leyvi, that!" Valenia pointed at a case in a corner.

Leyvi turned his head and saw a metal bat exactly like the one he possessed. "So, this is where they made my new metal bat."

He approached the metal bat replica and read the description. Although the description explained how the weapon works and its date of creation, it didn't name the creators.

"That's weird, why didn't they say who made it?" Leyvi questioned. It wasn't just the metal bat, all the other replicas didn't mention the names of the makers.

"They probably wanted to stay anonymous for safety reasons." Anda speculated.

"Young lady, you are absolutely right. It was made anonymous to protect them."

A woman suddenly chimed in on their conversation. She was wearing a neat dress with a Forge Quarter Hall of Fame badge.

"Paulina!" Nala immediately recognized the woman. She was her past comrade during her mercenary life.

"Nala!" Paulina hugged Nala for a few seconds. She was half a head taller than Nala. She had noticed Nala not long ago from the other corner, so she came to greet her.

"Are you working here now? You didn't join another mercenary group?" Nala asked after noticing the badge on her chest.

"Hmph...men here are getting more and more of a scum. No women wanted to be mercenaries anymore lately unless they don't mind being whores. So I can only work here for my safety." Paulina's expression turned sour, clearly displeased about something.

A few moments later, she realized that she had damped the atmosphere.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I'm not saying that you are a scum. I was referring to the men here." Paulina slightly bowed to Leyvi. She could recognize that Leyvi wasn't a local at a glance.

"Hahaha. Don't worry about it. I know who you were referring to." Leyvi didn't mind.

"Darling, this is Paulina. She was my squad leader in the past. Paulina, this is my husband, Leyvi." Nala introduced them.

"Eh? Your husband? This young guy?" Paulina immediately scrutinized Leyvi, looking up and down.

As someone who witnessed men's despicable acts being done to women frequently, she was very skeptical of men. She was worried that Nala might get duped. As for the other ladies with him, she already guessed that they were his women, too.

"Hehe. Isn't he charming?" Nala tried to brag.

"Charming?" Paulina felt confused. Leyvi's appearance was above average at most, so she must have been charmed by his body. Was it his great body proportion? Or....

"So Miss Paulina, why do they hide the identities of these tier-5 equipment makers?" Leyvi tried to change the subject to avoid being the object of scrutiny. It felt like she was about to check what was inside his pants.

"Oh, excuse me." Paulina realized she had been quite rude. It couldn't be helped. She was a mercenary in the past, so her actions were more masculine than average women.

Paulina adjusted her posture to enter her work role again. "Actually, the Forge Quarter had existed long before this city was built around it. At that time, Forge Quarter still had a different name and things were more chaotic. A famous blacksmith who created many tier-5 weapons once got kidnapped by a group of bad people, and he was forced to be their slave to make spirit weapons until he died."

Leyvi didn't expect that this place had existed longer than the city. It seemed like the city was probably built here due to the existence of the Forge Quarter or whatever its name was at that time.

"After that incident, the Hall of Fame started to make the creator's name anonymous. And it continues until now, even though the city has become a very safe place. It has already become a part of the culture here to keep things a mystery. Every time equipment was made, the Forge Quarter would put it up for sale and outsiders had no way to know who made them," Paulina explained.

"I see." Leyvi nodded. No wonder he hadn't heard a single popular name mentioned by anyone on the street since yesterday. All he heard was people talking about some mercenary groups.

He could understand why they preferred going anonymous. Sometimes, being famous wasn't necessarily a good thing. It could attract unwanted attention. Recently, he felt that he became quite famous in Bara City and it felt troublesome.

Afterward, Paulina guided Leyvi and the group around the hall while describing more details about all the tier-5 equipment. Leyvi learned that the Forge Quarter was the second biggest producer of tier-4 and tier-5 equipment on the continent.

While Leyvi felt amazed by this fact, Anda thought of something else. Since this place could become the second biggest producer, she wondered if she could recruit a skilled blacksmith or craftsman for the Leyan Family.

Of course, she would prefer for the person to be a woman because it would be easier to gain her loyalty.

However, the anonymous culture would make it difficult for her to scout anyone. The people who were going in and out of the smithies were probably just their normal workers, while they kept their real experts from the public.

It was no wonder they could become the second biggest spirit equipment producer on the continent. Their anonymous culture made it very difficult for other organizations to poach their talents.

"So what are you doing here, Nala? I thought you left to continue your nomadic life? Did you come here with your husband to shop at Forge Quarter?" Paulina asked after they finished with the tour.

"Actually, we need your help," Nala said. Initially, she intended to contact her previous comrades after they finished sightseeing. However, since she had already met one, she might as well ask immediately.

"My help?" Paulina couldn't think of anything she could be of help with.

Then, Nala explained everything to Paulina.

"This guy becomes Bara City's owner? And you need a group of cultivators to be your private force?" Paulina became intrigued and scrutinized Leyvi up and down again.

What is so special about this guy? His cultivation is just average. And he didn't mind hiring women?

It wasn't the first time people came to Mercenary City and recruited mercenaries for their forces. It was just they usually recruited mostly men because they were more willing to engage in dangerous situations.

Leyvi felt awkward. It seemed like Nala's friend had a habit of intense scrutinizing. If she became more curious about him, there was a possibility that she might strip him naked.

"Yup yup. Can you help us contact the other girls? We will stay in the city for a while, so you can take your time gathering them." Nala requested.

"Hmm....they all have their own lives now, so I'm not sure if they would agree or not. But I'll try. I'll contact you again later once I gather them." Paulina promised, although she didn't seem to be excited about it.

"Hehe... don't worry, you won't regret it!" Nala leaned forward and whispered something in Paulina's ear after she noticed that Paulina wasn't really entertaining the offer.

"What? She is? That much? Why didn't you tell me earlier!?" Paulina felt surprised by the offers.

Nala nodded with a smile. Most mercenaries like fighting and money. She only needed to tell her about the salary they discussed and agreed to pay them.

Paulina immediately turned to Anda and put on her best smile. "Madam Anda, leave everything to me! I'll do my best to gather them as soon as possible!" She saluted.

Leyvi was speechless. She hadn't become their subordinate yet but was already acting like Anda's loyal subordinate. The power of status and money was truly amazing.

Paulina's change in attitude was well within Nala's expectations. If telling her about Anda's identity and the basic salary they would receive already caused her to be this excited, she could only imagine what their reactions would be if she told her about the other benefits of working for the Leyan Family.

Nala would be happy if she could help her former comrades live better lives. After all, they had helped her a lot in the past.

After the discussion with Paulina, they left the Forge Quarter's Hall of Fame building.

"Hahaha! Ladies, let's go shopping for some spirit equipment next! Since we are going for training soon, you ladies need more layers of protection on your body," Leyvi suggested.

"I want a sexy spirit armor!" Nala excitedly said.

"I want a spirit armor with a cool design. So people can tell that I'm an Alchemic Knight." Valenia also chimed in.

Is there any plant-based spirit armor? Lilian wondered. She imagined herself in one. If it really existed, she would get her hands on it at all costs.

Anda smiled. Instead of armor, she preferred jewelry-type spirit artifacts like the ones Dorin was using.

"Sigh, if you train your body to be as tough as me, we could have saved so much money and spent it on something else." Leyvi shook his head.

The ladies rolled their eyes. Who wants to have a steel body like you? Hell no!