Chapter 7.1 - The Addition of a New Companion; the Riddle of Steinbeck Fief’s Hidden Treasure Part 1 (2/2)
“Big Sister Ista, why did you settle on my big brother? He is a newcomer. It was his first time coming into contact with these types of missions.”
“It was honestly nothing, just intuition. That’s all. I felt that he is very amiable.”
In the carriage, Lucifer continuously pestered Ista. Facing the clingy offense of this Lolita, Ista didn’t seem to have any means to resist. On the other side, Princess Saras finally revealed a relieved smile. Before Ista had come, Lucifer had always pestered her. Now, she could finally relax a bit.
Clyde, in the driver’s seat, directed the carriage towards Steinbeck Fief. He now had a white gem given to him by Ista, worth at least 1,000 gold coins. Although Ista didn’t speak openly about it, Lucifer used various kinds of mysterious probing methods to fully understand Ista’s identity.
Although Lucifer didn’t know Ista’s background, she had determined that Ista was a witch. Because the various rare treasures she wore functioned as concealment, no one else had perceived the dark aura on her body. If Clyde had gotten closer to her, he would have also similarly seen through her. Lucifer, however, was very close to Ista. The two people were practically stuck to each other. At this close distance, Ista was unable to conceal everything.
Even within the magicians, ordinary magicians couldn’t be as well-off as Ista. Her status must be quite high. Each ring she wore on her ten fingers was a treasure worth several cities. As for her combat power, it was also concealed. She claimed that she had just graduated from being a Magic Apprentice not long ago, becoming a Junior Magician, but in fact, her mana reserve surpassed Magic God, the highest-level magician of Human Race, by several times. Basically, she was not a weak woman.
Clyde was too lazy to bother about these issues. In any case, it was fine as long as the other party could pay his employment costs. As for the background and past of his employer, he had nothing to do with it. When the carriage set out again, no one in the underground black market of Tas City dared to have any thoughts about this carriage. Just some time ago, after discovering this carriage had just two girls inside, many people with bad intentions had taken the chance to approach the carriage, wanting to capture Lucifer and Saras and sell them as slaves.
The ending of those unlucky ghosts was self-evident. Before they could even approach the carriage, Lucifer’s bloodkin familiars had wiped them out, not even a corpse was left behind. Compared to Clyde’s means, Lucifer’s slaughtering methods were more hidden, making it difficult for others to detect. For these cowardly wicked souls, a mysterious death was most terrifying. After those good deeds, the journey of Clyde’s party was very smooth. No one dared to disturb them in fear of an unknown death.
When Clyde arrived at Lawrence River’s bank again, it was far livelier. Although the bridge connecting the two shores had collapsed, a large group of people resembling a mercenary group camped there. The craftsmen they had hired were building a temporary floating bridge that was already more than halfway completed. Upon seeing their actions, Clyde was speechless. If he had known this earlier, he wouldn’t have had to visit the underground black market of Tas City.
“Brother, did you all also come here to make a fortune? The floating bridge is almost complete. Here are some simple foods. Just put up with it until we can all cross the river.”
“Well, thank you!”
These mercenaries were a joint force composed by many mercenary groups. When they saw Clyde, they thought that he was also a mercenary that had accepted this task and notified him to go to the big boiler to receive food. As it turned out, not long after Clyde’s party had purchased Steinbeck Fief, when Clyde’s party had still been on the road, an iridescence light beam had suddenly risen from Steinbeck Fief. Rumor had it that it was the radiance of a divine artifact.
Therefore, many mercenary groups had gathered together to hunt treasures in this terrifying land. They had heard that the noble lady who had purchased this fief had merely bought it for fun, so there wouldn’t be any issues from the suzerain complaining about their intruding her domain. In fact, they guessed that she would never even know if they entered. They directly joined together to form a joint party to explore this area without asking for permission, never expecting to encounter the real suzerain at Lawrence River’s bank.