Chapter 5: Flora, Is It Thrilling?
Flora convinced Abyss not to pull a passing spirit for directions and they asked a passerby for the location of the Mercenary Guild.
Forty years of slumber hadn’t diminished Flora’s social skills. Even though she was no longer the revered Saint, her good upbringing and approachable demeanor made people willing to help her and Abyss. They found the Mercenary Guild, located on the outskirts of the city, with little effort.
“You ask for directions as quickly as a rabbit’s heart,” Abyss said to Flora with an excited expression, for some reason. “If possible, I’ll leave all the direction-asking to you from now on.”
“Do you have trouble asking for directions?” Flora looked at Abyss in surprise. Although pale and seemingly perpetually tired, Abyss had delicate features and wasn’t unpleasant to look at. He also seemed to have a cheerful personality.
“I’m not good at dealing with the living,” Abyss pointed to the passersby. “They instinctively want to sleep when they see my eyes, and they don’t quite like the way I talk.”
“Oh… I understand. I’ll take care of it from now on,” Flora immediately understood. Abyss always liked to spice up his sentences with mentions of internal organs, which most people with normal tastes wouldn’t appreciate.
“My Flora, you’re such a good teammate! Let’s hurry inside, find a request, and after we complete it and get the money, we can go to the library,” Abyss said, pointing to the Mercenary Guild’s sign. Flora agreed readily and even walked a little faster than Abyss.
As soon as they pushed open the doors of the Mercenary Guild, a strong smell of alcohol wafted towards them. Many mercenaries were guzzling down cheap ale at the tables, shouting vulgar curses and laughing raucously. It was less of a guild and more of a tavern, except that the person behind the counter wasn’t a bartender but a receptionist holding a book. The Mercenary Guild was simply an organization that facilitated mercenaries earning money. It had no disciplinary restrictions on its members, with the only bottom line being local laws. Flora, who had entered first, quickly became the center of attention—she was too beautiful, her skin too delicate. She didn’t look like someone who belonged in the mercenary world.
As for Abyss, he was too thin and dressed in black, so he was completely ignored.
“Hey, little girl, you’ve got the wrong place. This is the Mercenary Guild, the Maiden’s Club is on the other side of the city!” a mercenary with dried bloodstains on his armor shouted.
“I say, you’re not here looking for your brother, are you?” someone laughed. “If your brother hasn’t come back in a few days, he’s probably dead!”
“Or how about I be your brother instead? Or your husband? I’m quite good in bed, ahahaha…” A bare-chested, bearded man roared with laughter, silencing the other mercenaries around him.
Flora’s face flushed red. No one dared to speak to her like that when she was a Saint, let alone make such vulgar jokes.
“Big guy, watch how you talk to a lady,” Abyss said calmly, stepping in front of Flora and the bare-chested man, his green eyes fixed on him.
The man was interrupted, clearly annoyed, but he felt inexplicably tired and didn’t lash out. Instead, he snorted at Abyss and sat down to continue drinking.
“Excuse me, what can I do for you two?” the receptionist, well aware of the behavior of these blood-money-earning mercenaries, glared at the man and approached them politely.
Abyss immediately replied, “We’re here to take on a request and earn some money.”
“Please tell me your Dou Qi and magic levels so I can arrange a suitable request for you,” the receptionist asked routinely.
“No need, just show me all the requests,” Abyss said, shaking his head and pulling Flora towards the request notices pinned to the wall.
The receptionist didn’t say anything. Mercenaries often danced on the edge of life and death, and not many were mentally stable. This resulted in some mercenaries being difficult to deal with. He didn’t bother correcting these eccentric individuals. It wouldn’t be worth it if a conflict arose and he ended up getting chopped up.
“Abyss, this boar hunting request is exactly thirty imperial coins,” Flora said excitedly, tugging at Abyss’s clothes. “We just need to kill four wild boars that are harassing farmers and bring back their right ears. It seems quite simple.”
Abyss glanced at the request Flora was looking at and nodded. “Receptionist, please make a note that we’re taking this request.”
“Boar hunting, is it? Please tell me your names or titles,” the receptionist nodded, pulling out a charcoal pencil from his breast pocket, preparing to write in the book in his hand.
“Ah, not boar hunting. It’s this request to exterminate the ghosts in the ancestral mansion,” Abyss said calmly. “The reward for this one is twenty thousand imperial coins.”
The receptionist nearly broke out in a cold sweat. Which rich young master was this, choosing requests based on the reward instead of the difficulty?
“Um… Sir, I’d like to remind you that this request is S-rank. It’s been temporarily upgraded to ‘very difficult.’ In the past few days, more than ten people have taken on this request, including a few teams of two or three, but none of them have returned.”
“Is the haunted house far?” Abyss asked.
Was this guy completely ignoring him? The receptionist suppressed his urge to scream and continued, “Sir, you don’t look like a warrior, and if you’re a mage, you don’t even have a staff. You’re also too young. Taking on this kind of request will get you killed, really killed!”
“You’re saying I’m weak?” Abyss narrowed his eyes and walked towards the receptionist.
The receptionist instantly regretted his good intentions. Why did he bother trying to dissuade this guy? Wouldn’t it be better to just let him die? Had he somehow offended this young master’s pride? Was he going to cause trouble now?
Abyss grabbed the receptionist’s wrist and pulled hard—
The receptionist didn’t budge.
“To be honest, I am weak,” Abyss said to the receptionist with a grin, then pointed at Flora. “But she’s different. She’s very strong.”
“Eh? Me?” Flora was completely caught off guard, waving her hands frantically. “I’m not strong! I can’t do anything…”
“Puahahaha, are you two here to entertain us?” At that moment, the bare-chested man who had been interrupted by Abyss earlier stood up and strode towards them. He seemed to be drunk, his nose as red as a ripe strawberry. “I thought you were some kind of tough guy, but you’re just a moron! What are you still doing here? Get out of our guild! If this little beauty wants to stay, she can!”
“Flora, slap him,” Abyss said to Flora, wrinkling his nose at the man.
“No, no!” Flora wouldn’t dare slap such a burly man. She only reached his chest, and she would have to stand on her tiptoes to slap him.
“Oh? You need a woman to protect you, you scum? I don’t care if she’s your wife or your maid. If you don’t leave, your woman will be mine today!” The man grew even more arrogant and grabbed Flora’s wrist.
Flora didn’t mind being held by Abyss, her master, but being suddenly grabbed by a stranger, she felt a surge of anger. However, her upbringing as a Saint prevented her from struggling like a frightened deer. She quickly calmed down and delivered a graceful, ladylike slap to the man’s face.
Slap!
Boom!
Before Flora could react, the man was already on the ground, groaning. It seemed the slap had sent him flying. His heavy body, at least two and a half times Flora’s weight, crashed through two tables and finally embedded itself in the wall, creating a human-shaped crater, before landing heavily on the floor. He couldn’t get up, his teeth scattered on the ground, and his mouth full of blood.
“See? I told you she was strong,” Abyss shrugged at the dumbfounded receptionist. “We don’t have any money now, but we’ll come back and pay for the damages.”
“Ah… okay…”
“Flora,” Abyss suddenly called out.
“M… Master?” Flora looked at Abyss with wide, beautiful golden eyes.
“Is it thrilling? Punishing a hooligan with your own hands?” Abyss smiled faintly.
Flora instinctively shook her head, then paused and nodded.
“Yes!”
“This isn’t over yet. Help me carry him to the alley outside. I have important questions for him—I might have encountered a colleague,” Abyss said mysteriously, pointing to the groaning man. “I’ll take on the request and come find you. Don’t worry, he’s in no position to resist.”
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