“Heh, how’s that?”
Gillian burst out laughing as if she had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
“Eileen, I don’t think you’re that stupid, are you? Do you really think… I only wanted that little bit of meal money?”
Gillian’s meaning was already crystal clear.
Her target from the very beginning had been Atia.
Everything about letting her join the Light Society and sending her to collect debt had been a smokescreen. Her real goal was simply to make Atia willingly go to that kind of place and become a cash cow for the Light Society.
Once this cash cow was completely dried up, they would simply find another one to replace her.
Atia’s delicate body trembled violently upon hearing this.
“S-Sister Gillian… D-Don’t tell me… all those things you said before… were lies?”
Gillian nodded, her eyes filled with disdainful mockery. “What else? Did you think the Light Society was some kind of charity organization that would keep feeding a useless waste like you who can’t do anything right?
If the boss of the little room hadn’t said that customers lately really like girls like you, I wouldn’t have even glanced at you even if you had starved to death in a stinking ditch that day.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the light in Atia’s eyes instantly disappeared.
Was her entire life nothing but lies?
No…
At least right now, the hand that was holding hers and trembling was not a lie.
“Cough cough… Well then, Gillian. Since you were already planning to sell this child to the little room anyway, why not just sell her directly to me instead?”
Eileen still wasn’t ready to give up on Atia.
No matter what, she was still someone who had cleared the game once and saved this world. Although her level and equipment had all been wiped clean, the game experience she had accumulated was still there.
The Light Society was nothing more than a small-time thug organization holed up in a tiny city like Crisel. Was she really supposed to be afraid of these rotten fish and shrimp?
“Sell her to you?”
Gillian looked at Eileen like she was an idiot. “You should finish paying back what you owe first. Though if you want to take Atia’s place and go to the little room, that’s also possible.”
“What kind of nonsense are you saying?”
Eileen took a deep breath and directly removed the clearance ring from the ring finger of her left hand, placing it in front of Gillian. “I’m done pretending. I’ll be honest. Actually, I’m a millionaire!”
Seeing this, Gillian’s expression became even stranger.
Had this girl gone crazy?
A bottom-tier E-rank adventurer actually claiming to be a millionaire?
“See this ring?”
Eileen ignored Gillian’s look and continued speaking to herself. “This is a magic ring passed down in my family. Just this one ring is worth over ten thousand gold coins. Using it to buy Atia shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Go fuck your—”
Gillian was about to start cursing.
A pitch-black ring could be worth that much money?
Did she really think she was a three-year-old child?!
But just as the curse left her mouth, Eileen directly tossed the ring to her.
The moment her palm made contact with the ring, it felt as if an electric current had shot through her entire body. Immediately afterward, an unprecedented surge of magic power began flowing into her.
This ring… was probably not ordinary at all!
She wasn’t skilled in magic and didn’t know exactly what the ring did, but any item related to magic was generally not cheap.
Gillian put the ring away. Greed surged wildly in her heart.
Eileen actually possessed something this good. Who knew how many more things she was hiding? If she could snatch them all…
“Make way, make way! Miss Connor has arrived!”
Just as Gillian was about to take this opportunity to extort more from Eileen, someone outside the hall suddenly shouted.
In an instant, the entire hall erupted. The crowd surged toward the guild entrance like a tidal wave, creating complete chaos.
After all, this was Kate Connor—the youngest S-rank adventurer in the world and, without a doubt, the strongest adventurer in the Navora Principality!
How could people not be excited when such a figure had personally come to a small city like Crisel?
Seeing how chaotic the situation had become, Gillian temporarily suppressed the thoughts in her heart.
As the strongest adventurer in the principality, the guild naturally gave Kate plenty of face. All the high-ranking nobles were personally welcoming her at the entrance.
Causing trouble at a time like this would be suicide.
Eileen and Atia were indeed easy to bully, but she was afraid they might fight back desperately if pushed too far.
If things blew up, no one would benefit.
She had already obtained a valuable ring. It wouldn’t be too late to threaten Eileen into handing over the rest of her things after Kate left.
“I’ll let you two off for today.”
Gillian gave them a vicious glare before turning to leave. Only then did Eileen let out a sigh of relief.
“E-Eileen… wuwuwu… thank you…”
Atia was crying so hard her face was covered in tears.
She had truly thought her life was over just now. She never expected that Eileen would reach out to help her in her moment of greatest despair.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry. Gillian already left, didn’t she?”
Eileen helped wipe away her tears while looking around anxiously.
She wasn’t worried about Gillian coming back. She was looking for a way to slip out of the guild.
Are you kidding me? Kate was about to arrive. If they didn’t leave now, they might never be able to leave again in this lifetime…
“But… that ring must have been very important to you, right, Miss Eileen? How about I… I go find Sister Gillian and ask her to return the ring to you?”
Atia didn’t know how valuable the ring was, but she had seen Eileen remove it from the ring finger of her left hand.
In this world, besides engagement and marriage, anyone who wore a ring on their left ring finger definitely held that person in extremely high regard.
Yet Eileen had given something so important to Gillian… for her sake.
“Huh? It’s not important, not important at all. It was just some cheap trinket I bought by the roadside to trick her with.”
Eileen waved her hands repeatedly.
That clearance ring didn’t actually have any special function. It was just a key item for clearing the game. She wouldn’t even feel heartache if she threw it away.
[Congratulations! You have deeply moved Atia Knight. The latest intimacy level has been unlocked. Would you like to become lovers with Atia Knight?]
Ah, this…
Become lovers?
Eileen glanced at Atia.
She was very cute. And she was a legal loli.
If she were still the player sitting in front of a screen, she would have chosen “yes” without the slightest hesitation.
But now…
She felt she should be a little more careful.
Not only because of the rewards from maxing affection, but also because she had to take responsibility toward Atia as a real person.
Of course, the main reason was that she had more urgent matters to deal with right now.
“I-Is that so?”
Atia seemed a little unconvinced.
But Eileen didn’t explain. Instead, she said, “Atia, come with me to the back door of the guild.”
“W-Why?”
Atia was confused.
She still really wanted to catch a glimpse of the principality’s strongest adventurer’s heroic figure.
“I’ll explain later. Don’t ask so many questions for now…”
“Miss Connor has entered!”
However, before Eileen could finish speaking, the guild’s higher-ups walked into the hall. Walking in the middle of them, clad in golden holy armor, was none other than Kate Connor.
We’re screwed!