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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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But the answer came quickly.
“…Is that so? My apologies.”
His gaze towards me shifted once again.
He seemed to realize that the royal family valued me more than he had initially thought.
“As a token of apology, I’d like to formally invite you in the future. Would you accept?”
Knowing that such an invitation was unlikely to materialize under the current circumstances, I readily agreed.
“Thank you for understanding the royal family’s position.”
“Not at all. It was a mistake born of my misjudgment. I only hope the royal family isn’t offended.”
With that, our meeting concluded, and the situation in the territory changed dramatically.
The Doriem Mercenary Guild branch publicly announced the betrayal of the Perseus Mercenary Group and the Moses Merchant Guild, launching a large-scale investigation into the mercenaries.
While the mercenaries seemed displeased with the branch’s actions, the gravity of the situation prevented them from objecting.
Naturally, we weren’t under suspicion, allowing us to operate freely.
However, there was no time to rest.
Ironically, due to the numerous investigations, requests flooded in, and given the Doriem branch’s already high volume of requests, we had to handle a significant portion of the higher-ranked ones.
Colmail pleaded with us earnestly, and given our current alliance, it was difficult to refuse.
This grueling schedule finally ended thanks to Kriang, who brought us our next designated request.
While Colmail seemed disappointed, my companions welcomed the designated request with open arms.
“I thought I was going to die.”
“…I understand this time. We haven’t had a moment’s rest. You’ve endured well.”
Kayla and I had our ways of coping, but the others didn’t.
Even Baldur, an Expert, was half-dead, let alone Annelise.
She even had to be carried by a Living Armor at times.
However, our reputation soared as a result.
“So, what’s this designated request about?”
“…Excavating a ruin.”
“Huh? Excavating a ruin? Again?”
“…Master. Don’t tell me.”
“You guessed it. It’s one of the ruins marked on the map we provided.”
“…They’re asking us to do it?”
Athena looked incredulous.
“Weren’t we supposed to just receive the rewards? Isn’t this a breach of contract?”
“I accepted it.”
“They’re short on manpower, and they want to leverage my recently increased reputation.”
It was an opportunity to legally excavate a ruin and receive all the rewards.
However, that wasn’t the only reason I accepted the offer.
“They also promised to expedite my official recognition as a warlock after this designated request.”
“Oh? That’s…”
“They intend to further boost my reputation through this excavation and skip unnecessary procedures.”
The grueling schedule we had endured wasn’t in vain.
“So after this request, we don’t have to do that anymore.”
“Good job. You made the right call. We can handle this once.”
Athena’s attitude immediately changed.
“A wise decision, Master.”
Kayla also nodded vigorously, praising my decision.
Color returned to Baldur’s face, and the lifeless look in Annelise’s eyes brightened.
However, Annelise quickly masked her expression and subtly gauged the reactions of the others.
Annelise had put in tremendous effort during our hectic schedule.
Despite the hardship, she handled all the menial tasks without complaint, providing the best possible support so we could focus on the requests.
She even collapsed a few times due to exhaustion.
While Kayla and Athena could have reprimanded her for her lack of stamina, they refrained, acknowledging her efforts, which clearly exceeded her capabilities.
‘Not that they were particularly kind to her.’
They still didn’t seem to have a favorable impression of Annelise.
“Oh, and some of the rewards will be discreetly channeled to us.”
“Huh? What kind of rewards?”
“The high request fee is part of it, and they’ll provide additional support disguised as excavated artifacts.”
There was no reason to refuse, and it was impossible to do so anyway.
Apparently, the Demihuman Alliance had sent gifts for Annelise.
They should have arrived much later, but they were sent before the incident.
Furthermore, the royal family would add a few more items to support her fresh start.
‘I don’t know the details, but they said it wouldn’t be insignificant.’
I heard the support we would receive wouldn’t be small either.
‘It wouldn’t look good if the royal family’s support was less than the Demihuman Alliance’s.’
The King himself remembered me, he wouldn’t give us trivial items.
I heard they had chosen potions and equipment for us.
‘Perfect.’
The royal family wouldn’t possess warlock potions, so they were likely for my companions.
‘Anything substantial… would be best given to Baldur.’
They also mentioned a special gift prepared for me…
‘They told me to see it for myself.’
Indeed, I could feel the royal family’s considerable attention towards me and my companions.
After explaining this, my companions were impressed.
“It seems aligning with them was the right choice. Though, is it too early to say that?”
“We should observe a bit longer, but it’s certainly excessive.”
Even Kayla, who distrusted nobles, admitted that the initial support was extravagant.
Indeed, potions were valuable.
While they might not be particularly rare for the royal family…
‘And they said they weren’t ordinary potions.’
I was quite excited.
We traveled to the ruin in a carriage provided by the client.
It was a journey of several days, but the carriage was so comfortable that we had no complaints.
We arrived at a nearly completed base camp.
“Oh, you’ve arrived. I’ve been waiting.”
A middle-aged man greeted us, introducing himself as the client.
“I am Pauli. I’ve been informed by ‘those above’ that you are to be treated with special consideration.”
He was a merchant, and judging by the scale of the base camp, he was no ordinary merchant.
A merchant guild associated with the royal family wouldn’t be small in the first place.
‘For a merchant leading such a large guild to personally greet us…’
It seemed the royal family had put in a good word for us.
“We’ve located the entrance to the ruin. The base camp is also nearly complete. However, we’ve confirmed the presence of guardians inside, so the excavation has stalled.”
They could hire mercenaries to clear the path to the designated location and build the base camp, but they couldn’t share information about the ruin’s interior, so they had to use their own people.
Therefore, securing manpower was a problem, and the guardians inside were powerful, which is why the matter had escalated to us.
“Guardians. Can you tell me more about them?”
“Believe it or not, they’re Living Armors powered by divine power. Two of them operate as a pair.”
My companions exchanged knowing glances.
‘The same as that place.’
It seemed to be the same type of guardian as the ones in the ruin we found while dealing with the Minotaurs.
This simplified things.
We had already faced them and knew their strengths and weaknesses. While we would remain cautious, we wouldn’t face the same level of danger as before.
Especially with my increased power.
Pauli, seeing our nonchalant reaction, seemed surprised.
“You don’t seem concerned. Even after hearing the reports, I found it hard to believe…”
“I have an inkling.”
“…Indeed, they didn’t recommend you for nothing. I understand.”
I asked him further about the ruin, learning that it was larger than expected and contained numerous lesser guardians.
“Hmm… Come to think of it, your equipment seems to be in poor condition.”
That was due to the relentless string of high-ranked requests we had handled recently, with little time for proper maintenance.
We had also been through several major battles.
Equipment, artifacts aside, were consumables. Even artifacts could break, no matter how skilled Mutre the dwarf was, his creations weren’t indestructible.
“We’ve been quite busy lately.”
“Is that so? Hmm… I’m concerned. While you seem to have some knowledge of the guardians, they’re not to be underestimated… It can’t be helped.”
Pauli had his men bring in several chests.
“Please accept these.”
Inside the chests were high-quality equipment, a potion, and a peculiar pouch.
“Ah, this is specifically for Annelise.”
One of the chests was entirely for Annelise.
“…This is different from what we agreed on. I was told these would be provided separately after the request, under a different pretense.”
The pretense was that they would be disguised as excavated artifacts.
However, it seemed we were receiving the rewards before even entering the ruin.
“This much is within my discretion. I only hope it aids you in conquering the ruin.”
It couldn’t help but be helpful.
Of course, it wasn’t a bad thing for us.
However, this meant…
“We’ll need some time to prepare for the ruin’s conquest.”
“I understand. Especially considering you seem to have some knowledge of its contents.”
We needed time to consume the potion and adapt to the new equipment.
Above all, Annelise needed time.
The support the Alliance provided her wasn’t ordinary.
Two books and a black pill.
At a glance, they were a grimoire and a potion.
‘They’re giving that away?’
I couldn’t imagine them giving away a grimoire, even if it wasn’t a particularly valuable one.
‘To give that away so readily… either it’s not that high-level, or they don’t mind it being known…’
At best, it was mid-level. Even then, countless people would scramble for it, but for the royal family, it would be insignificant.
Of course, this was assuming the first scenario.
There was another possibility.
‘It could be something humans couldn’t utilize even if they knew about it.’
Even then, giving it away to outsiders was questionable, so I leaned towards the first scenario.
‘Even considering that, it doesn’t make much sense.’
It was as if she was being cast out while simultaneously receiving support… I was curious about the Demihuman Alliance and the dark elves’ true intentions regarding her.
Furthermore, the Septran royal family gifted Annelise an artifact.
As if aware of her primary weapon, they provided a bow that enhanced aiming and increased arrow power.
It also had a restoration function, making maintenance easy.
‘They’ve raised Annelise’s value considerably.’
Any archer would covet it.
It clearly looked like a dungeon-recovered artifact, not custom-made, and while it might not be a powerful ancient relic, its performance far surpassed most custom-made artifacts.
It seemed they had raised their estimation of her value, seeing the gifts she received and the high probability of her joining my party.
‘The potion… is for mana users, as expected.’
It was mid-level.
The equipment appeared to be dwarven-made, prepared for each member of our party.
Our equipment was also dwarven-made.
However, the quality of the materials was different. Mutre had to craft under harsh conditions, while these were made with high-quality materials in a good environment, making them superior to our current gear.
Especially since our equipment was quite damaged after the recent strenuous requests, my companions welcomed the replacements.
“I won’t interfere with the strategy, but I hope it doesn’t take too long. Of course, success is paramount.”
It was ironic that he was urging us to be swift despite providing the rewards in advance and preventing us from starting immediately.
Still, I had to agree.
We had received preferential treatment, it wouldn’t be right to delay.
Moreover, according to the contract, everything we found inside was ours.
There was no reason to stall.
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