Chapter 57

The man had a neat appearance with a fairly handsome face.

“What do you need?”

“I came to deliver this.”

“Hilde. How could he send something so important with children?”

When I took out the bag and placed it on the desk, the man pulled out a key and opened the bag.

It was the bag that had been warned never to open.

I had no intention of opening it, but even if I had tried, I wouldn’t have been able to due to the lock mechanism.

After opening the bag and checking its contents, the man pulled out a gold coin from his inner pocket and placed it on the desk.

“Take it.”

Aila picked up the gold placed on the desk and tucked it into her arms.

“Oh.”

The man, watching her, let out a meaningful sigh of admiration.

“Don’t you want to earn more money?”

“No.”

Aila quickly rejected him after confirming where the man’s gaze was directed.

“What a shame. You are quite a rare find.”

Despite being disappointed, the man didn’t give up.

“Well then, be careful~”

As the man spoke loudly, the iron door opened.

As we stepped outside, we quickly began to leave the place.

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

Aila didn’t seem to be in a good mood.

We returned to the Commercial Guild in silence for a while.

Hilde was discussing a request with someone else, so we had to wait.

In the meantime, we had a meal at the restaurant inside the guild.

“Oh, there you guys are.”

Hilde came directly to the restaurant to find us.

“Did you deliver the item well?”

“Yes.”

“Here’s your completion reward.”

Hilde quietly placed a gold coin on the dining table.

“But I received the reward earlier?”

“That was from ‘him,’ this is from the requester.”

I pondered why such an easy task had such a high reward yet no one was taking it.

“Can we talk for a moment?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“It’s kind of awkward here. Let’s go to my room.”

We finished our meal and headed to Hilde’s room.

After checking the lock status two or three times, Hilde settled down on the sofa.

“So, what did ‘he’ say?”

“He didn’t say anything.”

“Is that so?”

Hilde tapped her head with her finger, seemingly deep in thought.

“Now tell me, why was the reward so high for such a simple task?”

“You guys aren’t from here, are you?”

For a moment, I thought my identity had been exposed.

“People from here wouldn’t dare go to the place you just went if they value their sanity.”

“It seemed that way, yes.”

“This request is a kind of code.”

Hecar and the surrounding city folks reportedly never take on jobs listed for that area, no matter how high the reward is.

In other words, by accepting this task, we had essentially proven that we were not locals.

“So you used us.”

“I can’t deny that. It’s true, the item you delivered is my funding source.”

“The Commercial Guild might be dealing with something quite dangerous.”

“You have to sell what the customers want to make big profits.”

The item in the bag was likely something that could be shrugged off as worth just one gold from both sides.

“What are you selling?”

“Drugs that should never see the light of day.”

Apparently, it was a panacea that could cure any wound or pain.

However, the side effect was that one would have to take that drug for life.

“The price reflects its value.”

“Is it alright for you to share that with us?”

“You’re outsiders anyway. You can’t prove your identity, can you?”

I had a fake ID, but showing it now could complicate matters.

“So this job is entrusted only to outsiders. We get to deliver the items, and you get to make money, right?”

“That does sound fair.”

Since the reasoning was mutually beneficial, there was no need to argue further.

“How much longer are you going to stay here?”

“We will be leaving soon.”

“Oh? That’s a shame.”

We had earned enough to cover the cost of progressing the request.

As long as we didn’t indulge, the amount would allow us to focus on work for a while without worrying about money.

After leaving the Commercial Guild, we went straight to Sevilla.

We could get there quickly by carriage, but it was also a distance easily walkable.

“Without a carriage, it’s more comfortable.”

“If we walk steadily, we could arrive by dawn.”

Walking was not unpleasant.

This area was not far from Roran, so I still felt a decent amount of mana in the air.

“But how did Hilde know you were a beastman?”

“Who knows. I’ve never taken this off….”

In that instant, Aila looked as if she realized she was missing something.

“Ririan. Wearing a hood even indoors does seem strange, doesn’t it?”

“Is it?”

From my perspective, it didn’t seem particularly odd.

Unlike Aila, who rarely saw anyone wearing a hood indoors, I had occasionally observed others doing so.

“How did she find out?”

“Maybe your tail gave it away?”

“No, that couldn’t have happened.”

Aila lifted her hood and pulled up her shirt to show her back.

The tail was tied with something on the inside of her shirt.

They had taken precautions to ensure it wouldn’t come out in case of emergencies.

“Her ears would have been concealed by the hood, so how did she notice?”

Aila and I decided we should act a little more carefully from now on.

We walked while discussing various topics centered around Hilde.

Before long, the city signposts came into view.

“This is Sevilla.”

The Sevilla I saw with my own eyes was a smaller city compared to Hecar.

However, the buildings were modern, and, as befitting a city, many cars were on the roads.

“We need to find the informant sent by Python here.”

Aila took out a small notebook from her arms and opened it.

“Just go to the bar in the mall.”

It wasn’t easy to find a bar in a place filled with the vibrant lights of a dazzling city.

Since Aila was here for the first time, she asked passersby and shopkeepers for the location of the bar.

“They say it’s over there on that street.”

We started searching for the right place, carefully examining the signs hanging on the street.

“There it is!”

As I shouted and pointed towards one direction, Aila looked up.

“Good job, Ririan.”

The bar was located on the fourth floor of the building.

Since there was an elevator, we easily went up to the fourth floor.

The interior of the bar had one room after another along a long hallway, with numbers marked on the doors.

Upon entering, a staff member at the counter stood up.

“Welcome. Are you here alone?”

The counter was so high that the staff seemed unable to see me.

“I’m looking for someone.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“Roxi.”

Upon hearing Aila’s words, the staff member fetched something from below the counter to check.

“Please wait in room 10.”

I followed Aila into the room marked with the number 10.

The lights were on, but the room had a somewhat dim atmosphere.

With a spacious table and plush sofas arranged, it exuded a fairly luxurious vibe.

Once the door closed, the room fell eerily silent.

“Let’s wait here for a bit.”

I had accumulated some fatigue from walking continuously.

As I sat on the sofa, my eyelids grew heavy.

“I’ll take a little nap.”

“Should I?”

Just as my head was about to touch the sofa, it was gently lifted onto something soft by a hand.

And a hand began to gently stroke my head.

How long had I slept?

I felt a strange scent wafting in the air, waking me from my slumber.

“You seemed tired.”

“Who?”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Roxi.”

She greeted me with a warm smile.

Her long hair flowed down to her waist, and she wore an expensive-looking dress.

As I lifted my head from Aila’s lap, she too came back to her senses.

“Oh, you’re here.”

“Yes. It’s been a while.”

The two seemed to have known each other for some time.

“Before we start talking, let’s quench our thirst first.”

Roxi pressed a bell located on one side of the table.

A short while later, a person that looked like an employee entered the room with drinks.

“Please enjoy your time.”

The staff member bowed politely and left the room, and we took light sips from the drinks placed in front of us.

“Great, then shall we discuss the job?”

Roxi stood up from the seat facing us and moved to a much closer position.

“The job the boss wants to assign you is an assassination.”

“Who’s the target?”

“It’s a guy named Walker.”

Roxi pulled out a few photos to show us.

“This is Walker?”

“He was originally a member of the Knight Order. He killed several comrades from his unit and ran off with the money.”

“Was Python included?”

At that, Roxi smiled widely and nodded.

This request stemmed from Python’s personal grudge.

“If it’s just a k*ll, we don’t need to be involved.”

“There’s a little problem. As you know, most members of the Knight Order know each other.”

Even if he fled to a far-off land, he would remember the faces of those who worked alongside him.

Python believes that among the Knight Order, only someone with Aila’s level of skill and who was not well known would fit the bill.

“So that’s why he’s deemed you appropriate.”

“While I can’t speak for my boss, I hold your skills in high regard.”

Roxi’s hand lightly rested on Aila’s chest.

“You know? I asked to be transferred to the 2nd Knight Order?”

“Please remove your hand.”

“You’re soft.”

Having seen enough of that scene, I blatantly moved into the space between the two.

“I guess I’m causing jealousy?”

“Indeed.”

Aila’s glance indicated she felt I was intruding.

“This is your activity cost.”

“I heard there’s no funding provided?”

“This is personal. I’ll take my leave.”

Roxi left the room, and we checked the pouch placed on the table.

Inside were 5 gold coins and two small potion vials.

“It’s a healing potion.”

She seemed like a bit of an odd person, but she appeared to be providing adequate support.

After leaving the bar, Aila and I found lodgings to stay for the day.

Unlike when we sought the cheapest place with Hecar, we were able to find a pretty decent inn.

In our inn room, we began planning how to capture Walker.

“I forgot to ask the most important thing.”

Due to Roxi’s unexpected antics, I hadn’t asked any of the crucial details at all.

Such as where Walker had recently been spotted, along with various other pieces of important information.

“I think we got played.”

“What do you mean?”

“I need to go meet her again tomorrow.”

Aila seemed to be a bit uncomfortable meeting Roxi again.

“Ririan, how about you meet Roxi alone tomorrow to gather the information?”

“Aren’t you coming?”

“If I go, she won’t talk properly and will just try to feel me up.”