Chapter 1642 - Rheia (2/2)
While White Maple Leaf City was a cosmopolitan city, the presence of this team was still rather obvious. Even with the excitable Lily and the terrifying Y’zaks’ penchant for turning heads aside, their nine-men team was made out of four to five different races. Such a well-equipped team was a rarity in itself. Probably because of that, Rheia had a pretty deep impression of them even when these were the people standing in front of the guild hall that she had only swept through with a glance.
“You actually remember us.” Nangong Wuyue was surprised. “Good memory.”
“A goldfish can’t be a scholar, you know.” Rheia did not let down her guard, and while she may have seemed arrogant, that did not mean she was careless. Think about this, she had just gone on a rampage before the guild hall, and now, a group of unknown mercenaries had tailed and cornered her in an alley… That did not look good by all accounts.
As she tried to bide for time, she studied the group, trying to ascertain their motive and nature. The group did not seem like bad company. They were probably the more polite-looking ones among the unscrupulous mercenaries. That was obviously after discounting the demi-giant. His face alone increased their hostility level by many folds, and even a group of saints would look like a crime syndicate with him around.
Hao Ren, of course. knew that his method would arouse suspicion and conflict from the target, but in order to avoid attracting the attention of passersby, he resorted to tailing the mage and appearing in the alley. The mission now was to dispel the misunderstanding and the tense atmosphere.
“Don’t worry, we mean no harm.” Nangong Sanba was the smoothest of the lot, and he quickly put on a gentle and convincing smile – the smile usually seen on snake oil paddlers or direct sellers. He held his hands apart to show that he was unarmed before speaking slowly, “You can see for yourself. We are travelers that have just arrived here without much knowledge of the place. We planned to visit the guild hall and we ran into you… sparring valiantly with your razor tongue, and that piqued our interest.”
“Interest?” Rheia asked cautiously, her opposite numbers speech and getup did match the part, but the last sentence clearly meant something was afoot. “What sort?”
“Your commission,” Hao Ren said directly. “Frankly speaking, we need money, and we are looking for an employer, so we are interested in what your commission is all about.”
This was just an excuse, and the real reason is that he needed to make contact with a local to better understand the situation of this world. But in a totally foreign world, finding someone and building a stable communication platform was not easy.
Going to the guild hall or a pub would be a decent choice, but the former required proper identification and registration while the latter requires local currency and god knows how many pints of liquor before people start talking. Currency was not an issue, the talking was. The team did have a number of bullsh*tters but gathering intel and bullsh*tting were not the same talents…
So sudden appearance of Rheia became the best possible breakthrough : She seemed to have a mission that needed helpers, and she would not be able to get any help from the proper channels…
Rheia gave Hao Ren and Nangong Sanba a suspicious look. “My commission? I don’t know how much you saw earlier but surely you’re not blind to see that almost no… Alright, no one was interested with my commission, and you actually came looking for it? Are you right in the head?”
“Going through the proper channels would be troublesome,” Nangong Sanba went through his prepared speech, and purposely kept it ambiguous, letting Rheia do the mental acrobatics herself.
“Proper channels…” Rheia took a slight step back. “Wait a minute, don’t tell me you lot have screwed up majorly before and have been blacklisted? Or are you adventurers who have never registered as mercs?”
“Ahem, we are clearly not bad people,” Nangong Sanba coughed dryly, “We just have yet to register that’s all. We came from afar and never thought of being a mercenary. But we ran into trouble along the way and our coins are pretty much gone, so we have to try our luck without going through the guild.”
“Not bad, people…” Rheia mumbled suspiciously as her eyes kept shifting towards Y’zaks.
Vivian sighed before looking at Y’zaks. “Big guy, probably should wear a helmet the next time around?”
“….My fault then?”
“Ah screw it, even the blacklisted ones are fine!” Rheia waved her hand in a defeated motion. “Besides, aside from you guys I probably won’t be able to hire anyone else. Right, so follow me!”