CH 374

“Middle-aged mercenary?”

Looking at Andre who was getting more excited, Claire felt like he wasn’t all that reliable, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. Thinking about it for a bit, what he said did make sense somewhat, which made him even more enthusiastic.

“Yao Zi should be an old granny, and she’s surely wearing specially made magician’s robes with a pointed hat to cover her wrinkled face. Lin Xiao must be a middle-aged mercenary with tanned skin because of his constant traveling, his numerous battles also probably left behind scars on his face!”

“Andre, so you’re saying that Yao Zi is an old witch wearing a pointed hat and Lin Xiao is a yokel with scars on his face?” Calorie summarized in a slightly ridiculing and sarcastic manner.

He’s never even seen them yet he described them in such detail, wasn’t he being too ostentatious.

“Hehe, princess Claire, your summary is spot on.”

Unfortunately, Andre couldn’t tell her underlying tone and thought she was praising him.

It was laughable, if Lin Xiao and Yao Zi heard what he said, they would probably want to cry.

Actually, this was also Abra’s fault. He only focused on praising Lin Xiao and Yao Zi and forgot some crucial information which lead to this distortion of their image.

It would have been better if Andre hadn’t said all that crap, now even if they were standing in front of Claire, she might even mistake them for frauds.

“Forget it, rather than placing hope into the special investigation team, we should rely on ourselves.” Claire shook her head and suddenly stood up as she leaned over the table.

“Princess Claire, believe in us! Even without that bullshit special investigation team, just with my brother and me, we’ll definitely save Caesar! Just rest assured and leave this mission to us!”

“…”

“What are you still hesitating for? Princess, I know you’re worried about Caesar, but you’re the highest-ranking commander, if you come with us, who’s going to manage all these investigators here?”

“… Enough, don’t say anymore!”

After some turmoil, Claire clenched her teeth and still made a difficult decision.

“For this rescue mission, not only can we rescue Caesar and we can also investigate the situation at Yellowstone while we’re at it… I won’t be able to do anything hiding here all day, I would have to give it my all to solve the plague!”

“Princess! Don’t be impulsive!”

“Princess Claire, you can’t go! Can you reconsider?”

When Andre heard Claire made that decision he was stunned. He actually leaned over the table and started crying and begging her not to go.

“You, what are you guys doing!?”

The others who didn’t know the truth also started to try and persuade her when they saw Andre crying.

Although Claire was annoyed she still coldly stared at them and wasn’t moved.

As the office was becoming a sorrowful memorial service, there was an intense argument that came from outside.

“Caesar is my friend, I’m going to save him, who are you to stop me?”

“Hm? Someone’s causing trouble?”

That voice was unfamiliar and it sounded like a youth. Claire had a sudden idea to get away.

She didn’t want to look at these depressing fools anymore.

“This matter is already decided, so stop saying those depressing things and do as you’re told! … Be quiet! I’m going to see what’s going on outside.”

…

…

An hour ago

Outside the gates of deep and dark city.

Lin Xiao and they just entered the city and didn’t know that Claire and they made them out to be some strange people. They also didn’t anticipate having an unpleasant conflict with the arrogant and bossy princess…

“Phew, we’re finally here.”

Lin Xiao breathed out when they finally entered the city.

This city was much more imposing than the prior shabby and poor villages. It still couldn’t compare to Winterless City but it is at least more of what a capital city should be like.

But there was no chance for them to relax.

After entering the city, they were going to join up with the local investigators and get assigned to complete other missions.

On the way here, Lin Xiao got a preliminary understanding of the situation.

Gotham Kingdom was in trouble internally and externally, several dukes and generals took away a good chunk of the military and rushed south to station themselves at the north bank of the black road river to prevent the resistance army from advancing. Even though the kingdom’s army had poor logistics and lacked supplies, but the natural hazard of the river was enough for temporary peace.

On the other side, the kingdom’s plague situation wasn’t very optimistic.

Because they lacked people, all the capable leaders rushed to the south to prepare for the war that could erupt at any moment, Gotham Kindom had no generals left, and a 17-year-old brat that didn’t even have all her hairs grown was left as the highest-ranking commander.

The people were in complete despair, but thankfully Claire used her abilities to shock everyone.

She may be young, but she trained since a young age and was already a sixth-level warrior. She was deadly accurate with her bow and her practical experience did not fall behind an experienced mercenary.

Not just that, more importantly, was her outstanding leadership skills. Claire was a princess, but she didn’t have any of the delicacy and weakness that princesses had. She was appointed in a crisis and shouldered all the heavy responsibility alone. She gathered the investigators, managed them, distributed missions, and methodically carried out various tasks and showed significant results.

Before she was appointed, the plague kept spreading and no one knew whether their city would be next, so they all started moving east. This large wave of migration ended up in a famine, the already not so wealthy kingdom became even poorer and crimes and disorder came along with that which lead to the scene that Lin Xiao saw when they entered the kingdom.

Thanks to Claire’s hard word, the refugees were reassured and the criminals were punished. The disorderly cities gradually recovered order and more importantly, the scope of the plague was effectively controlled and stopped spreading. This news filled everyone with confidence towards Claire and made her out to be a savior!

“Leopard queen, that was the nickname people gave her.” The well-informed ShenDai Ying took on the role of a guide again and patiently explained to Lin Xiao the knowledge he needed before arriving at the office.

They were going to receive orders from Claire, so they definitely had to better understand this leopard queen.

“Leopard queen? … That doesn’t sound like a complimentary nickname.”

“Hehe, you’re right.” ShenDai Ying smiled and started talking about the leopard queen story.

Even though Claire won everyone’s respect with her leadership ability and was firmly sitting in the commanding position, but there were also a lot of people who secretly hated her. Since they couldn’t criticize her ability, they chose to criticize her personality.

Claire was a genuine leopard queen, she was essentially a tomboy.

This woman really wasted her body, she had a good figure and was good looking, if she dressed up a bit she would surely be a beauty, but she never cared about her appearances. She never wore makeup or took care of her long hair and always liked wearing a fitted combat uniform with a super short skirt. Other than her white legs, she had no other feminine charm.

There were even people who ridicules said that if she cut her hair and was tossed inside a group of men, no one would even notice that there was a beauty among a bunch of stinking men.

“Princess Claire is not only handsome, her personality is also very direct. I heard she once drank all night with a bunch of rowdy investigators and she out drank all of them.”

“Oh, a woman among heroes, Mulan in the army, impressive.”

When Lin Xiao heard that, he couldn’t help but applaud that bold tomboy, and gained confidence in that.

It sounds like Claire should be a reliable person, and with her in lead, Lin Xiao believed this mission would be very successful.

“What’s Mulan in the army? … Well, anyway, it might not be as good as you think it is.”

“Eh? Why?”

“Because her personality is a bit, um.. should I say, stubborn?”

“Stubborn? No problem, that’s a necessary trait for any outstanding commander, as long as she’s reasonable, I don’t have to worry.”

“Hehe, is that so.”

ShenDai Ying watched his confident manner and smiled but didn’t say anything and just silently remembered what he said.

Based on what she knew, this leopard queen wasn’t going to be that easy to deal with… receiving her orders probably wouldn’t be a pleasant experience for him.