Ss18 (2/2)
“Alright, we won't use this name. Now that we're good to go, let's go to the city to register our team.”
“…” Aldrizzt cried out, “Wait a second!”
Neo raised an eyebrow and retorted, “Hey hey, elves should mean what they say, right?”
“I am a dark elf, not an elf! To my race, not meaning what we say is a virtue.”
Neo let out an “oh” sound, then asked back, “So can you, this ‘dark elf,' say what you don't mean to your comrades?”
Aldrizzt was startled, and then his shoulders drooped weakly as he honestly admitted, “I can't.”
“Then we're all good; now let's go to a city to register our team!”
Aldrizzt hesitated for a moment. To agree was to agree. Furthermore, looking at how persistent Neo was, he feared he wouldn't be able to do anything to make him give up on his plan. He could only nod and hope that by pulling the hood of his cloak a bit lower and wearing a veil, maybe he would be able to hide his true race?
Right now, he could only hope that Neo merely wanted to enter the city to register their team. He had better not take the opportunity to drink wine, eat a meal, cause trouble, and stay in an inn. Then inexplicably, someone would discover that he was a dark elf, and after which they would really have to act out the scene of getting surrounded by thousands of people in the middle of the night.
“Let's go, Aldrizzt—what are you staring blankly at? Hurry up and lead the way.”
Even though the words in his mouth sounded like he was urging him impatiently, Neo was actually feeling very happy. This maneuver “Use an even worse proposal to make the other party accept the not-so-worse plan” was a trick that Chasel was an expert in, and usually used on Neo himself. It was rare that Neo had a chance to use it on others, even thoroughly embarra.s.sing the other party. This made him feel that all the past resentment he had felt from getting tricked by Chasel had been swept away.
“I'm really sorry, but adventurers need at least three members before they can establish their teams.”
Looking at the female attendant before him, who wore an apologetic expression yet was occasionally winking at him seductively, and hearing a dark elf chuckling behind him, Neo felt his good mood completely vanish.
However, he also could not do something idiotic like having an outburst. Instead he put on a faint smile, propped both his hands on the counter and lowered his head slightly, making the female attendant in front of him so crazy about him that hearts were nearly floating out of her eyes. Only then did he open his mouth and request, “We really do have three members, but one of them has yet to arrive. I wonder if you could be a bit more flexible and let us register our names first, and afterwards let him come and submit his information?”
The female attendant was gazing fixedly at such a handsome guy while her hand slowly slid toward the large hands propped on the counter. Even so, her mouth still dutifully said, “I'm sorry, I really can't make an exception.”
Neo immediately wiped the smile off his face and drew back his hands, letting the female attendant's hand that was about to touch his fall onto air. She looked at him dolefully, but Neo ignored her. If she didn't make an exception, then he wouldn't let her touch even his fingernails.
“Aldrizzt, we're leaving.” Neo coldly turned around and walked off.
Hearing this, Aldrizzt felt glad and nodded repeatedly behind his veil as he said, “Let's hurry up and return to the forest.”
“Return to what forest, don't we need to take on a mission?”
Only then did Aldrizzt remember, not only did they have to take on a mission, they also had to report back that they had completed the previous mission. However, he really did not want to accept a mission in the city. During this period of time, he would have to come into contact with people from the Adventurers' Guild, and it was simply too easy to get discovered by others. Even if he wore a veil and pulled his hood lower, if he continued to look down instead of at the other party when he spoke to them, it would arouse their suspicion or curiosity, and it would be followed by the big crisis of his true ident.i.ty being discovered.
All the previous occasions when his true ident.i.ty had been revealed had happened in a few small towns. There weren't many people in a small town and the moment Neo was unhappy, he swung his sword around wildly, so those few residents did not dare advance and surround them at all. However, in a big city…
“Aldrizzt, what is the name of the mission that we have to report back?”
In the blink of an eye, Neo had already rushed to the front of the counter for accepting missions, and was now turning his head back to ask him. Aldrizzt laughed bitterly. He had once again forgotten that Neo only knew how to take action and never made plans. By the time the words were out of his mouth, he feared that he would have long since taken action, and he wouldn't have any time at all to stop him.
“It's Medicinal Herb Metru—”
“Where did this beauty come from? Her voice is so captivating!”
He was suddenly interrupted by a loud voice taunting him from behind. Aldrizzt felt anything but rea.s.sured. At that moment, sounds of laughter erupted all around him. Even though Aldrizzt's voice was soft, one could still clearly distinguish it as a man's voice. This person was obviously saying it on purpose to ridicule him.
This sort of situation wasn't rare. Aldrizzt had already discovered that his voice was much too soft compared to that of a human male, and so it occasionally attracted several verbal slurs about how he wasn't manly. Personally, Aldrizzt actually didn't mind. In any case he was not a man; he was a male dark elf. However…
“Who said that?” Neo turned around, and with a single glance, saw a big man wearing a contemptuous expression behind Aldrizzt. Without pause, he coldly snorted at him.
However, every time, Neo would always immediately create a scene. Aldrizzt hurriedly said, “Neo, I don't mind.”
But it was as if Neo hadn't heard Aldrizzt's dissuasion at all. He glared at that man, and frostily said, “You can't even distinguish between male and female, what kind of adventurer are you? You probably can't even recognize the roads, so what adventure could you go on?!”
Are you truly qualified to say such things?! Aldrizzt nearly coughed out blood. Who had to spend three days at the beginning before he could finally identify my gender? And now, who was it that couldn't even recognize the way home?
“Mind your own business.” The person who had ridiculed him wore light armor and looked tall and strong, particularly his biceps, which were so buff they were like two giant boulders. He appeared to be a warrior. He took several steps closer toward Neo until the two of them were face to face. Neo was shorter than the other by a full head, so they looked just like an adult and a child.
“He is a member of my team. To insult him is to insult me!”
Aldrizzt was dumbstruck, and because of this sentence, nearly stood at Neo's side to confront the other party together with him. However, this wasn't necessary at all. Besides, he really couldn't bear to watch that man get beaten up by Neo until he was bedridden for a month because of a single taunt.
That's right, he was worried for the other party's safety, and completely unworried about his own companion.
“Neo, I really don't mind…” Aldrizzt broke off, because he realized that Neo didn't actually look angry at all. Instead, he was more eager and excited. When that warrior stood in front of him and turned out to be a full head taller than him, he looked even happier.
Aldrizzt had a flash of realization. Basically, Neo had stayed in the forest for too long, and his hands were itching to find someone to practice his skills on.
The heck about insulting his teammate is to insult him…
Aldrizzt was annoyed. He turned around and queried, “May I ask which is the farthest inn from here?”
Farthest? The attendant was confused. He had heard of people asking for the nearest, but he had never heard of anyone asking for the farthest. He could only ponder for a while, and then inform him of one that was farther away.
“When he finishes fighting,” Aldrizzt gestured toward Neo and said, “please tell him to go to that inn to look for me.”
Let Neo fight until he was content. Then, he would see if this adventurer could find his way to the inn by himself. If he couldn't find it, then he could have fun sleeping by the roadside!
1 ”Dark Human Squad”: Neo formed this name by using the ”dark” from dark elf combined with ”human.” It's a terrible name because the combination of 黑 (black) from 黑暗精靈 (dark elf) and 人 (human/man) to form 黑人隊 (Dark Human Squad) actually means ”Black People Squad.”
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