“Miss Eileen, aren’t we going to take two commissions before we leave?”
Atia looked up, her eyes filled with confusion.
“Commissions? We need to get out of the city right now!”
Eileen had no idea what this child was thinking. She had already been treated like a pig by the Light Society and still didn’t realize it. She even wanted to take two commissions?
She really wasn’t afraid of earning money she wouldn’t live to spend…
“But… where are we going?”
“Anywhere is fine, but we absolutely cannot return to Crisel.”
Eileen patiently explained, “You don’t really think Gillian and the Light Society would let us off so easily, do you? As long as we dare to stay in Crisel, they have ten thousand ways to throw both of us into the little room.”
Atia was terrified.
“T-That shouldn’t be the case, right? Even if it’s me, Miss Eileen already said she would repay them, didn’t she?”
“Are you stupid?”
Eileen was completely out of options. She lightly knocked on Atia’s wooden head. “They raised the interest so high in just one week. It’s obvious they never planned to let you repay this money. They want to use this huge debt you can never pay off to force you into selling yourself. Do you understand now?”
Back when she was playing the first playthrough, she had roughly looked into the market rates for that kind of thing. The price for a woman with good looks was not low. Let alone someone like her?
If they sold her to that kind of place, the gold coins would be counted in units of ten thousand.
“T-This…”
Clearly, Atia had never considered that angle.
After all, Gillian had tricked her into joining the Light Society with just a few words. How could she possibly imagine such a dark side of the world?
“Now you should understand why I want to leave, right?”
Of course, for Eileen, the main reason was still to avoid Kate…
Being hunted by an S-rank adventurer was far more dangerous than being chased for debt by thugs like the Light Society.
“This… I understand now. But our money…”
In this world, travel costs could be high or low.
The high cost mainly came from carriage fares. Although ever since the current Demon King reached a peace agreement with humans and sealed the magic power leaking from the demon realm into the human world, the number of magical beasts had decreased significantly compared to before, it was still impossible to rule out encountering them on the road. Therefore, carriages traveling between cities would usually hire some adventurers to ensure safety during the journey.
This portion of the cost was naturally included in the carriage fare.
It wasn’t impossible to travel with low costs either. One could simply walk to their destination. However, there would be no safety guarantee during the journey, and accidents could easily occur.
Generally, aside from adventurers who were a bit higher in rank, no one would choose this method of travel that was practically suicide.
But right now…
“We’ll buy some dry rations and walk to the neighboring city.”
Anyway, they were going to die either way. They might as well take a gamble.
Even if they ended up being killed by magical beasts on the road, it would still be better than being sold to that kind of place.
Atia also understood how dangerous this journey would be. But as long as she could stay by Eileen’s side, she wasn’t afraid even if she died.
Although Atia was a bit timid, her ability to take action was truly impeccable. It didn’t take long before she finished buying the dry rations. Eileen also returned to the inn to pack her things, and then…
They snuck out by climbing through the window.
They had no choice. She still owed the inn owner a week’s worth of room fees. If they walked out the front door and got caught, they wouldn’t be able to leave…
Once everything was ready, Eileen took Atia and walked out through Crisel’s city gate.
At the same time, on the second floor of the Adventurer’s Guild, in the meeting room.
“Miss Kate, this is the list of adventurers who have been killed or gone missing recently. Aside from some who accepted commissions outside the city and encountered accidents, the three B-rank adventurers our guild sent out have also lost contact. They have probably… already perished.”
Frank placed the list in front of Kate with a heavy heart.
The reason A-rank magical beasts were called A-rank wasn’t because their strength could match that of A-rank adventurers. It was a comprehensive assessment based on their size, weight, destructiveness, and other factors.
Generally speaking, one or two B-rank adventurers would be enough to deal with a lone A-rank magical beast. But this time, they had sent out three B-rank adventurers and it still hadn’t been enough.
Clearly, the danger level of this A-rank magical beast had far exceeded their expectations.
Kate carefully examined the list and analyzed the profiles of the three B-rank adventurers.
Warrior, mage, priest…
A very well-balanced party composition. If they cooperated properly, let alone one A-rank magical beast—even a group of them wouldn’t have been a problem.
These three adventurers had been in the guild for over ten or twenty years. They were all very experienced. Even if they were only temporarily teamed up, it should have been impossible for them to be wiped out by an ordinary A-rank magical beast.
There was definitely something strange about this magical beast.
“Guild Master, Miss Kate is an S-rank adventurer. It’s just one A-rank magical beast. Miss Kate could destroy it with one hand. You don’t need to make such a big fuss in front of her.”
One of the higher-ups spoke.
Back then, Kate had single-handedly slain an S-rank magical beast leader, the Chimera. That was how she had been exceptionally promoted to S-rank.
Even at their strongest, A-rank magical beasts could only barely trade blows with A-rank adventurers. In front of Kate, they weren’t even worth mentioning.
“I think the guild master being this cautious is not a problem at all.”
As soon as the higher-up finished speaking, Kate directly refuted him in Frank’s defense. “A friend once told me that there’s an old saying in the East: it is better to be safe than sorry. No matter what kind of opponent we face, we must treat them seriously. The price of underestimating an opponent is often fatal.”
“Y-Yes, Miss Kate is right.”
The higher-up quickly lowered his head.
As the only S-rank adventurer in the entire Navora Principality, Kate’s status was even higher than Frank’s, let alone that of a local guild higher-up like him.
However, this also let them witness the rumored style of Kate’s conduct.
Serious and cautious. She never underestimated any opponent.
Even if the opponent in front of her was just a slime that could be killed with one stick.
It was said that this personality was also related to that scumbag who had deceived her feelings, but those were mostly just rumors. Their authenticity remained to be verified.
“Miss Kate, according to our guild’s adventurers, the most recent place this magical beast appeared was right outside our city. It might not have gone far these past few days. We can use this as a clue to search outside the city first and see if we can find any traces of it.”
Frank said, “However, Miss Kate has had a tiring journey today. I think it would be best to send you back to the inn to rest first. We can also dispatch an advance team to scout the surrounding area…”
“No need. Since this magical beast is so dangerous, sending an advance team would be the same as sending them to their deaths. I’ll start searching right now.”
Before Frank could finish speaking, Kate interrupted him and made her decision directly.
“Then I’ll have someone arrange a carriage right away.”
Since Kate had already made her plan, Frank had no reason to refuse. He turned around and began arranging the carriage.
Kate remained seated in her original position, one hand supporting her head. She seemed to be thinking about strategies, but her mind kept returning to that somewhat familiar figure she had seen in the hall before going upstairs.
Could it be…
Really her?