Chapter 15

The capital of the Great Baharuth Empire, Arwintar, Its street is always bustling with the noises of life. Its residential areas are always filled with the happy noises of children and the excited chatter of housewives. In the working areas, rows and rows of weapon shops and horse ranches line up, attracting men and women of battle and the sounds of hammers clinking and horse neighing never stop. The market area, too, as always, is filled with the sounds of the numerous street vendors bargaining with their customers, grocery and clothes shops selling their items to eager buyers and cute poster girls attracting customers to their shops. 

In amongst this cacophony of sounds, a group surrounded by silence walk down the street. The people around them, as if silenced by some higher power, all widen their eyes and, with slack jaw expressions, gawk at the passing group. After the group passed by them, the dumbfounded spectators recovered their composure, and if a higher force amplified the voices of the market dwellers. The conversation shifted from the objects in the market to the miracle they had just seen. 

"Dame, I didn't know people could be that beautiful. Were they some divine beings or something?"

"Ya, that was unreal. I was so enamoured looking at them, that I forgot to breathe, hahaha. If they had stopped to buy something, I would have died."

"Hahaha, if you died, you died witnessing something beautiful. Can't ask more than that, hahaha."

*In another corner of the road*

"Hey, they are the ones that I told you about yesterday. He is so hot."

"I can see why you would think about him, but forget it, girl. Didn't you see the girls around him? You won't stand a chance. Listen to me and just tie the note with Konom."

With these remarks all around them, Lemon's group made their way to the meeting spot. It is an unobtrusive pub a short distance from the market's hustle and bustle, though you won't refer to it as such with the tiny crowd of people following them. 

'We really should have thought this through when we gathered attention at the guild. Now, I regret not putting up a concealing spell. How then, do you brush them off without creating a scene? Suppose I need to use up one of these items.'

Lemon pulled an item from his pocket that looked like a semi-transparent green ball. Anyone inhaling the air inside this magical object will experience hallucinations of the images the users intended to show them. He was reluctant to use a limited item and, if he didn't have to act inconspicuous, he could have used one of his spells instead, but, as he did not specialise in illusion magic, there was no silent illusion spell in his arsenal. 

As they near their objective, Lemon silently drops the ball, breaking it. Their group quickly passes, and transparent smoke starts emitting from the broken item, enveloping the people trailing them. They then, as if following the polar star, quickly walked forward, not noticing the subject of their admiration was casually standing at the side watching them as they went. 

"Must be nice being so dumb." Caenis sneer, seeing the masses disappearing back."

"Let's just go, and Yuri, buy some cloak. I don't want to cast spells every time we.....no that would be conspicuous too...., well, buy them just in case." Lemon said with an irritated tone. 

They then continued towards a different corner. After a few minutes, they saw a recognisable figure of a young girl holding a staff in front of a building. She was looking in the direction of a loud group in confusion. Lemon approached the girl and greeted her amiably.

Did you wait long, Arche? (L)

The girl was surprised by the sudden voice coming from her side, instinctive swang her staff. 

"That's dangerous cute lady, you mustn't swing around that thing without looking." The blow was caught safely by Solution, and as if intrigued by this human, she moved her body closer as if to inspect her. Making the girl move back, but as her staff was still in her hands, she couldn't retreat.

"Amm, Solution-san, you are too close." Arche pleaded with a subdued voice on recognising the culprits of her sudden fright. And as if to respond to this, a fist of steel struck on the head of the blond.

Control yourself Solution. You are acting too rude towards Arche-sama. (Y)

Feeling her sister's fist, Solution crouches while holding her head. Yuri, not bothered by her unsightly figure, spoke to Arche.

I am very sorry about my sister, please forgive her. She is experiencing some internal dilemmas right now. Yuri bowed at her, making the slightly confused girl shake her head and hands. (Y)

"Are you done with this play? It's getting boring." Caensi chimed in annoyance. She then looked at the shabby-looking pup and gave a feral smile. "Now, this place fits my tastes. A little run-down structure, drunk people fighting, and an overpowering alcohol aroma. You guys know how to pick bases. That's a point from me. "

Caenis then wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders and started to walk in. As Arche was swiped up in the flow, she remembered the reason for her being there and tried to stop them from entering, but her voice never left her mouth. 

A sudden bang erupted from inside one of the more private booths of the establishment, gathering the eyes of some of the patrons. This kind of trouble was an everyday occurrence in such places. However, the hour it was occurring made all the eyes gather towards the ruckus, and even if the pub was not at its busiest time yet, a fair amount of customers were already there, making the group basking in such gazes feel uncomfortable.

Oi, quiet down bastard. I knew you were spoiled, but to think you didn't even have common sense as well. Imana growled, looking at the young man in front of her, the anger in her eyes evident towards this group of interlopers that suddenly introduced themselves as clients of a big job. (Imana)

They were supposed to meet with a group of crazy-strong newcomers and give them a tour of the city. But they were running late. It was so late that Imana told her commander Hekkeran to forget them. Hekkeran, on the other hand, just gave her a laugh and told her to relax, and as they didn't have any pressing matters to attend to -coming out from a big job- insisted on boozing up the rest of the day while waiting. To which Roberdyck agreed heartily with his fruit juice in hand. It was when Imana angrily snatched the beer cup from Hekkeran's hands that a party of three called out to them. 

Hekkeran was wery of the group, but like any Workers, they didn't deny opportunities to make money or at the least to hear out the details of the job. The man introduced himself as Alonso, an heir of an influential noble family, then dropped a bag of silver coins in front of the group as a caveat before asking about their recent exploits in the Great Forest of Tob, asking Hekkeran what monsters they encountered there, what condition is the forest's topography, what kind of herbs and plants could be found, and how deep have they travelled into the forest. Hekkeran found it odd that an heir of a noble family would seek such information, especially when such info is easily accessible in the adventure guild. Regardless, if they gain easy money with publicly accessible info, then good for them. But the signal in Hekkeran's brain flared up when he heard the last question, and the sense of incongruity finally clicked. The next question from Alonso's serious face solidified his suspicion as-well-as the answer he would give to Alonso's eventual question.

"Thank you for the information. Now, here is the actual mission. Can your group guide us to a specific area inside the forest?" Alonso asked in such a tone that it might have sounded like an order, and if they were a random worker team, his pressure, both from his authority as a noble and the physical presence he directed towards them, would have made them submit. 

Hekkeran, however, did not falter on this open command. Although his career as a worker is short, he has dealt with many unreasonable nobles and had his fair share of losses when things didn't pan out. Thus, he opted to keep mum until he heard about the price and other crucial details. Assessing the reason for his silence, Alonso spoke up, putting a much larger bag on the table.

This here is 150 gold. I will pay this up front and pay another 200 after the job is done. On top of that, aside from the cores, you can do whatever you want with the monsters we kill. Will you take it? (Alonso)

The enormous quantity that was set in front of Hekereran tempted him. The entire amount of 350 gold coins, of which each received 87 coins, would accelerate his dream of becoming a merchant by many years. In addition, they could take the materials of the monsters. Sure, the loss of the core is painful, but to people like Hekkeran, every part of a monster's body had value, especially if those monsters are from the inner parts of the Forest of Tob. At the same time, he understood the dangers that forests hold. His mind was very vivid with the image of that Basilisk. He could say for certain that their team could not have dealt with that monster without any sacrifices on their part, and he was grateful to Lemon's group for dealing with that before they encountered it. After a few minutes of contemplation, Hekkeran looked into Alonso's eyes. He will decide after hearing the answer to the question he is about to ask.

So, How many people are in this expedition of yours, and "this specific place" is too vague. Where is it exactly? If I don't know those, I can give you an answer. (Hekkeran)

Hearing Hekkeran's words, Alonso's face turned complicated. He dreaded this question because he could see the ending of this conversation if he answered. He has thought of ways to go around this question but ultimately couldn't justify deceiving both himself and his potential employee. 

As for the place, if you bring a map, I can show you, but it's quite deep inside the forest. Some adventures for the guild are also preparing to travel to the place. Unfortunately, I had some arguments with the guild' so I can't rely on them, at least when it comes to the swiftness of the matter, leading to our lack of heads. To be honest with you, I have asked other groups for this mission, but they all refused. (Alonso) 

Alonso stood up from his chair, his eyes full of desperation, guilt, dread, and humiliation all mixed and bore into the face of Hekkeran, demanding him to respond. And the response that came was a silent shake of his head. Negative emotions twist and turn inside Alonso's head, and, as if some dark-murky substance was slipping from his heart, his fist went above his head and hammered down the table.

Why? Is the money not enough? I can add more if that's the problem. I just need you guys to lead me. You don't even need to fight. We can take care of that. I really need to hurry. I have already wasted so much time, but you people always giving excuse after excuse to make me lose the only family I have left. (Alonso) 

"You are Workers, right? So just take the fucking gold and nod your head." The anger and resentment Alonso bottled up inside his heart flew out of his mouth, insulting Hekkeran's profession and the fact that he did not accept his request. Imina, having enough of the man's unjustified attacks, smashed her hand that was holding the map down on the table.

As the tense air began to turn violent, they heard Arche's voice attempting to bar someone from going into the private area. Moments later, her figure was dragged into the space by a white-haired amazon that was breaming with untamed excitement.

Oh, oh. So this is the place, and look at this, the tension here is so palpable, you can cut it. (C)