Chapter 429 Roaring Sea (1/2)
”It seems that I came a little too late?” Barter stroked his chin as he sat on the tall war horse, smiling cheekily towards Rhode. Rhode rolled his eyes in response. He was so exhausted that he couldn't stand up and he didn't have the mood to argue with Barter. The timing of Barter's arrival was perfect. He came five to six minutes after Rhode's group had defeated the Necromancer.
”Doesn't matter. Anyway, I know that reinforcements always come after the main character defeats the BOSS.” Rhode gave Barter a cold stare and ridiculed him. Barter was slightly astonished as though he didn't understand what Rhode meant. At this moment, Paris arrived before Barter and reported the happenings softly.
Rhode couldn't help but think of Marlene as he observed how attentively Paris reported to Barter while he listened closely. Rhode was wondering what that rich young lady was up to… Although according to logic, there shouldn't be much of an issue with Canary's help, Rhode was still somewhat concerned about how they were managing the Fortress.
”Leader, what are you thinking?” Anne sat beside Rhode and stretched lazily with her arms out. She turned to Rhode and asked curiously.
”Master must be thinking of women; it's just that we don't know who he is thinking of,” Gillian approached them casually. On the other hand, Grendy and Natasha were handed over to Barter since their request was to send them to the Purple Lily Guild. Now that the leader of the guild was here to take over, Rhode could finally focus on his dungeon mission.
”Eh?” Anne widened her eyes curiously at Gillian's remark. ”Anne is also a woman and Leader has two women beside him now. Why does Leader need to think of women?”
”All men in the world are like that.” Gillian swayed her tail playfully as she placed a finger on her lips while smiling slyly. Rhode shrugged his shoulders and ignored the fox-eared young lady because he knew that he would get his fingers burnt if he spoke anything.
At this moment, Barter and Paris's group approached Rhode and Barter burst into loud laughter upon hearing Gillian's words. ”Miss Gillian is right. But I think that all men would rather be stuffed to death than to be starved to death. Look at the small stature of your leader. Heh heh, if he doesn't eat a bit more, perhaps he can't keep up.”
Barter stroked his chin and laughed mischievously at Rhode. Rhode shot a cold stare in response to the muscle man's taunts before standing up. Barter kept his smile as his expression turned serious. ”I've heard from Paris and those two brats what happened. Did your group really eliminate a team of Undead Legions? That's great work, but… Heh heh heh. I think the garrisons will have a hard one since they allowed the Undead Legion to mess around. I think there's no future for those guys anymore.”
Even though this was a matter that happened in Barter's territory, he seemed nonchalant. Although the guild was responsible for managing and constraining the mercenary groups and troubles in their territory, almost all the guilds and officials had strained relationships. Without a doubt, such strained relationships weren't due to them treating one another as enemies. After all, the official leaders wished to maintain peace and harmony in their own territory and didn't have any prejudice against the guilds.
However, troubles occurred when it boiled down to their status. No matter in which region, guilds and garrisons didn't have favorable relationships. A guild was a civilian association and their mission was to manage the requests and troubles amongst the civilians. However, the garrison was an official association and although maintaining territorial security was also their responsibility, their main priority was to prevent territorial turmoil, ensuring peace on a larger scale, as well as protecting the important nobles and officials.
Because of this, guilds had a better reputation amongst the civilians. Although those high-ranking officials who had been vigorously protected by the garrison would cause a great impact on the civilians if they were hurt, these effects and changes were too high-level for the average civilians to feel the difference. As a result, the civilians preferred receiving support for managing the atrocious beasts plundering their fields and such. This was why guilds were more popular amongst the civilians while garrisons were often seen as the villains. Due to this, garrisons and guilds would often get into conflict. Of course, it was impossible for their battles to be all-out as they needed to worry about the prestige of their higher levels. However, it was still common for them to mock one another whenever they had the chance.
Due to this, guilds and the garrisons didn't have a good relationship. Furthermore, a guild's mission was to manage the local mercenary groups and not to protect the safety of the entire region. This was why Barter was unconcerned that a team of undead creatures had crept into his territory as it had nothing to do with the guild. Instead, those unfortunate garrisons would definitely be punished. Moreover, there were even generals that betrayed the Munn Kingdom.
”That's a problem which you need to handle,” Rhode said with an uninterested tone. ”What do you plan to do next?”
”Don't worry about it, Little Rhode,” Barter smiled and gestured. ”My men will be arriving soon and I will send the two little brats and your group to the Eagle City by then. Oh yes… I heard that you intended to visit the Castel Plateau Ruins?”
Barter paused for a moment before gazing at Rhode pensively. ”What about your men? I don't see Miss Marlene and the few others around. You can't possibly visit the Castel Plateau Ruins with just the three of you, right? Heh, it's not that I look down on you, little Rhode. But that place isn't that simple. Our Purple Lily Guild had been there and we almost couldn't make it back, so I would advise you to be careful.”
”Don't worry about this, Sir Barter,” Gillian said cheekily. ”We will only be there to explore the area and we won't go too deep, so you don't need to worry about us.”
”I have no intentions of meddling with your matters either, Miss Gillian,” Barter laughed heartily and gestured. However, at the next moment, he kept his smile and revealed a stern expression. ”But since you guys are heading to the Eagle City, let me remind you of something. There isn't much peace in the Eagle City recently, no… I would rather say that there isn't much peace in this whole region. I hope you will be careful and of course, since we're in the same profession, we will assist you if we can. But just don't get caught by those people; if not, there will be a lot of trouble.”
”Those people?” Rhode puckered his brows as he sensed the slight fear in Barter's tone. If it were Viktor, it would seem normal for him to be this cautious. However, it was rare for this scatterbrain of a guild leader to be this hesitant of someone.
”Actually, it's nothing much.” Perhaps sensing his own weakness, Barter regained his tough attitude as he gazed at Rhode with some dissatisfaction. ”It's just a bunch of Southerners causing some troubles. Come to think of it, it might be related to you.”