In the next second, all sound vanished.
The guild hall, which had been as noisy as a wet market, fell into a deathly silence.
The mercenaries who were bragging stayed with their mouths open, forgetting what they were about to say.
Strong men who were raising their ale mugs to toast froze with their arms suspended in mid-air.
A man who had just intended to kick his feet up onto a table was frozen in a comical position.
Everyone’s gaze converged on the doorway.
They were staring at Lynn and the three women behind him.
Vivian stood with her arms crossed, her sharp gaze sweeping over everyone in the hall like a lioness patrolling her territory.
Any man who met her eyes felt as if they had been pricked by a needle and immediately lowered his head.
Alicia stood on the other side with a mechanical expression.
She simply stood there quietly, but her holy and cold aura was enough to make the people around her afraid to breathe loudly.
She wasn’t looking at people — she seemed to be judging sinners.
Lilith hid behind Lynn, poking only half her head out to peer curiously at her surroundings.
Her eyes were innocent and pure, yet those she looked at felt an inexplicable shiver run down their spines.
‘I don’t feel like I’m here to pick up a mission,’ Lynn thought.
‘I feel like I’m here to collect protection money.’
**[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 86%]**
**[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 88%]**
**[Lilith’s Blackening Value: 93%]**
Lilith’s Blackening Value jumped again.
Lynn knew it was because there were too many people here and their gazes were too cluttered.
He steeled himself and walked toward the counter.
As he took a step, the crowd automatically parted to form a path, like Moses parting the sea.
Those big, burly mercenaries shrunk their necks one by one, wishing they could squeeze themselves into the cracks in the walls.
Behind the counter, a shrewd-looking female receptionist wearing glasses was currently holding a rag, mechanically wiping a wooden counter that was already polished enough to be a mirror.
Her hands were shaking.
“Hello,” Lynn said, trying to make his voice sound as kind as possible.
“I’d like to… see if there are any suitable missions.”
The female receptionist’s body visibly stiffened.
She looked up, her eyes behind the lenses filled with terror.
She looked at Lynn, then stole a quick glance at the three “death gods” behind him before quickly lowering her head.
“The… the mission board… is over there,” her voice squeaked as softly as a mosquito.
Lynn looked in the direction she pointed.
The massive mission board was covered in various pieces of parchment.
However, there wasn’t a single soul around it.
The people who had originally been gathered there had long since scrambled away.
Lynn sighed and walked to the mission board.
Just as he came to a halt, he heard Lilith’s voice from behind him.
“Brother, it’s so dirty here, and the smell is unpleasant,” Lilith said, tugging at his sleeve while whispering her complaint.
“The way those people look at us is so disgusting, like plates that haven’t been washed properly.”
Lynn felt his scalp tingle.
He saw Vivian’s brow furrow, and particles of Holy Light began to dissipate from Alicia’s fingertips.
The atmosphere in the hall became even more stifling.
Lynn quickly scanned the mission board.
Escorting merchant caravans, gathering herbs, subjugating Goblins… they were all very conventional missions.
He reached out, intending to tear off a mission sheet for “Escorting a Merchant to the Royal Capital.”
Just as his fingertips touched the parchment—
“Ahem!”
A light cough came from the side.
Lynn turned his head to see a short, plump, middle-aged man wearing relatively decent clothes walking toward him.
The man’s face was piled with a smile, but that smile looked worse than a crying expression.
A badge was pinned to his chest, indicating he was likely the Guild President.
“This… this Lord.”
The Guild President walked up to Lynn, first bowing respectfully toward Vivian and Alicia before speaking to Lynn.
“I wonder what brings such Lords to our small place?”
His posture was very low, his waist bent almost at a ninety-degree angle.
“We’re adventurers, here to pick up a mission,” Lynn said.
“Adventurers?”
The fat on the Guild President’s face twitched.
“Lord, you must be joking. How could nobles such as yourselves… do this kind of menial labor?”
He took a look at the mission sheet Lynn had wanted to take, and a cold sweat broke out.
“Escort missions are dirty and exhausting, and the roads are unsafe. If you were to be scratched or bumped, we… we couldn’t possibly take responsibility for that!”
“It’s fine, we have the ability to protect ourselves,” Lynn insisted.
“No, no, no, it is not fine! It’s a huge problem!”
The Guild President shook his head like a rattle.
“Lord, how about this?”
He pulled a heavy coin pouch from his robes and held it in both hands, offering it to Lynn.
“This is a small token of my respect. Consider it… consider it travel expenses from our guild to honor you. Black Iron Town is a small place with poor hospitality, so I must ask the Lords… to please be on your way soon?”
One could have heard a pin drop in the entire hall.
Everyone watched this scene, not daring to breathe.
The Adventurer’s Guild was actually offering money to get someone to leave?
“What kind of move was this?”
Lynn looked at the coin pouch, his heart filled with a mix of emotions.
He wanted dignity and freedom, not charity.
But in the current situation, did he have a choice?
If he refused, the Guild President would probably kneel on the spot.
If he took it, it would be the equivalent of admitting he was here to extort them.
“Brother, why is he giving you money?”
Lilith asked curiously.
Vivian let out a cold snort.
“Presumably because he isn’t blind.”
Alicia spoke indifferently, “This is a vile place; we should not linger.”
Those three sentences sealed Lynn’s fate.
He looked at the Guild President’s face, which looked ready to burst into tears, and finally reached out to take the pouch.
The bag was heavy in his hand.
“Thank you,” Lynn squeezed the words through his teeth.
“No need for thanks! It’s only right, only right!”
The Guild President reacted as if he had been granted a divine pardon, waving his hands repeatedly while beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
Lynn turned and left.
He didn’t want to stay in this place for even one second longer.
He led the three women out of the guild’s main entrance.
Behind him, the suffocating tension instantly snapped.
A long, collective exhale echoed through the hall, as if everyone had just been pulled out of the water.
Lynn walked along the streets of Black Iron Town, clutching the coin pouch.
He looked down at the System Panel.
**[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 85%]**
**[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 87%]**
**[Lilith’s Blackening Value: 92%]**
The Blackening Values had dropped slightly, likely because they were satisfied with the outcome.
But Lynn wasn’t happy at all.
He thought he was here to earn money, but he ended up being a debt collector.
He wanted to integrate into this world, but the world pushed him away like he was the God of Plague.
He wasn’t some Holy Son, nor was he an adventurer.
He was just an Unlucky Guy kidnapped by three yanderes.
Lynn gripped the coin pouch, his palms slick with sweat.
The weight of the bag felt like the Guild President’s miserable face, pressing heavily on his heart.
Surrounded by the three women, he walked down the only stone path in Black Iron Town.
The mercenaries and miners scattered far away as if avoiding a plague, whispering and pointing at them from behind.