Chapter 267: Sheep and Wolves

Chapter 267: Sheep and Wolves

Chapter 267 - Sheep and Wolves

There were close to forty seekers gathered, from teens who had barely gotten their profession, to veterans with white beards. Given the short notice, Kai had offered one gold, hoping to get a handful of people interested. The prices of the central district made him misjudge how much the average adventurer earned.

Like Dora always told him, nothing good came from rushing things. In his urgency to leave, they’d waste more time sorting through this mess.

Hmm... You live, you learn.

Several pairs of eyes followed him, taking stock of his newly tailored clothes. Kai headed straight for Rain and Flynn to not give anyone the chance to approach him.

“The post worked!” The siren held his hands on the straps of a waxed leather backpack, an eager grin on his face. “I didn’t think we’d find so many volunteers.” His enchanted bracelet would keep their words private.

“Yeah, it went a little too well.”

“Do you want me to handle it?” Flynn offered—he had been the only one to caution him to lower the reward. “We’re in front of the Hall of Seekers. I doubt anyone will make a scene.”

Kai bit his cheek. “I put my name on the posting. I’ll deal with the initial selection.” While he might not be a social butterfly, he trusted himself to judge people—especially if he used Hallowed Intuition. “Any preference?”

Flynn scratched his neck to sneak a peek at the crowd. “If we pick a team, I’d stick with two people at most. It might become problematic to handle more.”

I should have worded the post more carefully...

Some adventurers were indeed staying close together in groups. The contract posed no limitations on the number of applicants, as long as they knew their way to Limgrell.

“You think they’d be a problem?” Rain has no qualms staring directly at the crowd, even gesturing with a smile. “The Hall will record their names in case something happens. And they look quite weak.”

“If we are willing to pay a gold piece for a guide, they might think we’re worth taking the risk,” Flynn said, keeping up with his nonchalant act for their spectators. “And you actually carry enough mesars to settle a family for ten generations. The fact we’re foreigners also doesn’t help. No one mioght come looking for us if something happened.”

“That's bleak.” Rain tilted his head. “You really thought about this. Guess the surface isn’t much different from the deep.”

“Yeah, I—” The teen stared at his new boots, embarrassed. “I just want to avoid problems. We’ll still need to sleep with them around. I’d rather not watch my back every second.”

“Uh... That’s a good point.”

They briefly discussed a few more red flags to avoid. Kai examined the cluster of people with Mana Observer—no one seemed to react to his skill. There were four adventurers at early yellow: a woman with honey-colored locks, a man with flaming red hair, and a graying couple who looked to be married. A dozen more had only advanced their profession, while almost everyone had their race at the peak of Orange.

They’d be quite the force back home.

While none of them looked particularly impressive by themselves, how easily he had gathered such a crowd still impressed him.

With the siren and Hallowed Intuition on his side, Kai wasn’t particularly worried about getting mugged, though Flynn also had a point. He didn't want to sleep with one eye open for more than a week—or be left without a guide because they thought themselves clever.

Time’s up.

Seeing the crowd grow restless, Kai walked out of the muffling bubble to address them.

A man with a deep scar carved across his upper lip stepped forward. “Are you really going to pay us a piece of gold?” he grunted. It was hard to say if he was trying to intimidate him or it was his natural look. His question was echoed by many of the people present.

Spirits, I shouldn’t have asked Rain to suggest a reasonable amount.

“You’ll get paid as stated in the contract,” Kai said, loud enough to be heard by everyone. “If you bring us to Limgrell in less than two weeks.”

At least I wasn’t completely brainless.

The crowd of strangers turned to stare at him. Kai clenched his jaw to not squirm under the uncomfortable amount of attention. “I’m the quest giver. Since we only need one guide, I’ll have to tighten our requirements.” He’d rather sell the arrogant young master looking to make his pick, than the gullible newbie overwhelmed by the situation.

The ginger-haired man shoved his way to the front, using his grade advantage. “Hey, kid! I’m the most experienced—”

A dozen voices rose to drown his words. In seconds, half the people gathered were shouting what made them the better choice. A few adventurers even looked ready to start a fistfight.

This is going to be worse than I thought.

He vainly raised a hand to ask for silence. The crowd continued to squabble, forcing him to expand his aura to dissuade the fools who attempted to touch him.

Guess this already cuts the numbers.

This guy is so full of shit.

Two days of research had been enough to check a few maps and gather general information. Kai was pretty sure there was no Swamp of Fool, or Moron River between them and Limgrell.

“Thank you,” Kai intervened when it was clear the guy had no such limit. “We’ll let you know after we talk to the others.”

“Why waste time with those amateurs?” Skar scoffed.

“I’ve already said I would.”

“Well, if you must. But don’t make me wait too long. There are many looking to hire Skar the Redaxe.” He left, performing another Dexterity trick with his hatchet.

Did he reach Yellow with bullshitting skills?

The woman with honey-colored locks was up next—they had probably arranged themselves by grade.

“Hi, I’m Arlynna. It’s nice to see three young new faces.” She offered to shake their hands and get their names. “You can just call me Arly. I’ll be happy to accompany you to Limgrell. You must be new to the province. Ask me anything you want.”

Arlynna appeared to have been to Limgrell, though she wasn’t ready to leave on the day and expected them to cover her supplies. If that weren’t enough, she kept making not-so-subtle inquiries about their background.

Hallowed Intuition gave him a foreboding feeling. The whispers were too subtle to figure out the nature of the danger, but Kai didn’t need it to make his choice. “I don’t like her.”

“I agree...” Rain seconded him. “She lied only twice that I could tell, but she isn’t going to settle for one gold.”

“She’s out too then,” Flynn looked at the line. “We still have options.”

Last of the Yellow line was the old married couple: Mr. and Mrs. Celisia. They must have advanced later in life or be positively ancient to have graying hair at their grade. Among everyone present, Kai held his greatest hopes for them. They didn’t look boisterous like Skar and were already dressed for the road, carrying weathered bags that told of countless travels.

He quickly changed his mind once they started talking, struggling to keep a casual smile.

“Don’t you have any uncle to accompany you?” Mr. Celisa scolded them as if they were naughty children. “The road to Limgrell can be quite perilous if you’ve never threaded it. Have you packed food and dry clothes?” He squinted at the cloudless sky. “There’ll be rain before the day is over.”

“Come on, Vert. They’re not children.” Mrs. Celisia patted her husband’s arm. “I’m sure these young men can take care of themselves.” She gave them a grandmotherly smile. “But if you want a guide, we’ll be happy to accompany you. We were already planning to go to Limgrell to visit our nephews. Little Randell must have just started walking. I try not to have favorites, but his red cheeks are so adorable.” She sighed with contentment, gaze lost on the cobblestones.

Mr. Celisia cleared his throat. “We’re in front of clients, honey.”

“Oh, right.” She jolted from her daydreaming. “Forgive me. Do you know how long you’ll be staying? The Lake of Myst is quite lovely in spring. Not so much in winter. You know, it’s too misty.” She chortled. “Our grandson will be happy to show you all the best sights. Oh, but don’t feel pressured to come with us. The offer still stands even if you want some younger bones to be your guide.”

“Barren Skies! You always do this Marta,” Mr. Celisia grumbled with an exasperated look. “How’re we going to pay for Micha's education if you ditch all our jobs? I can take any of these youngsters with both hands tied behind my back.” He narrowed his eyes at the other adventurers.

“We already have enough savings, dear. And it would only do you good to skip some meals.” Mrs. Celisia smacked his belly before turning to them. “You know, Micha has quite the talent for magic. We were hoping she’d get accepted into an academy.”

Between one grumble and several anecdotes about their nephews and grandchildren, the couple answered every question about Limgrell. They even went into great detail about different routes to take depending on the season.

“What do you think?” Flynn asked once they were alone. “Everything they said checks out with what Thomil told me about the town.”

“No.” Kai rubbed his arms, his skin still crawling about their experience. His back was drenched in cold sweat. “We can’t go with them.”

Rain furrowed his pale brows. “Why? They seemed like quite nice humans, and I couldn’t detect any lies.”

“You didn’t notice?” Kai struggled not to focus Mana Observer on the threat.

The fact the siren hadn’t perceived anything was all the more disturbing. Hallowed Intuition had been bellowing to get away since the couple started speaking. While with Arlynna there might have been doubts, here there were none: if they went with them, they would never reach Limgrell—not alive anyway.

There had been sharper dangers in the Sanctuary, but the whisper had never sounded so insidious and ominous since the marine horrors had almost ripped him to shreds. “We should make sure they don’t follow us. They’re not what they seem.”

They don’t just need money for all their nephews...

Kai barely listened to the next interviews, too disturbed by what had happened. They might have gotten killed if he didn’t have Hallowed Intuition.

After excluding the liars and the incompetent, the candidates weren’t so numerous anymore.

There must be someone who's not looking to rob or murder us, right?