CH 474

The deep forest of Brusk City, known as the Free City, in the southern region of the Coristel Continent, within the borders of the Gabriel Empire, was the gathering place of Demonic Beast hunters, hence the chaos. Bella and the others were strolling in the streets. This was the sort of city that would become more chaotic at night. They planned to look for the Mercenary Union first.

With information from the soldiers, they quickly found the Mercenary Union location, which was barely a hall. Along the way, many men stared at them with sinister intentions. Since her team was full of women, it was easy to be targeted by the wicked in this chaotic zone. Bella couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to these guys and certainly wouldn’t stop any cannon fodders from courting death.

Bullying women in broad daylight wasn’t something most wandering mercenaries would do. However, it was hard to say at night. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Bella would have to look for a safe hotel to spend the night. The Mercenary Union hall was rudimentary at best. Despite several holes in the roof, no repairs had been made. Perhaps they didn’t have the funds or were too lazy to repair them.

The seats in the hall were already full. The mercenary groups in Brusk City were basically here to hunt Demonic Beasts. Many of these mercenary groups couldn’t register in the usual Mercenary Union halls in the big cities. To incur the employer’s losses in the event of a task failure, regular mercenary groups were required to pay a certain amount in guarantees.

If these mercenary groups couldn’t afford it, they could only visit the underground hall of the Mercenary Union since they didn’t require a guarantee here. Hence, they were known as wandering mercenary groups. The main task of the wandering mercenary groups was to hunt Demonic Beasts in exchange for rewards. Generally, they didn’t undertake any bodyguard missions or escorting tasks because a guarantee was less significant. Anyway, if they were defeated, the entire mercenary group would be wiped out.

“Collecting demonic cores. Demonic cores of the Forest Boar go for five gold coins. Demonic cores of the Green Field Horned Deer go for eight gold coins.”

“Collecting materials from demonic beasts. The more you sell us, the more we’ll pay you! The skin of the Green Python goes for one gold coin. One feather of the White Headed Eagle goes for five silver coins.”

“Looking to form a team. We’ll split our earnings 50-50. We urgently need support hunting the Earth Demonic Bear!”

The Mercenary Union hall was filled with a cacophony of voices. When Bella and her team walked in, no one paid any attention to them. They were now wearing gray cloaks, so outsiders could only tell they were women based on their size. Since they couldn’t see their appearance, Bella’s team was regarded as young ladies who had come to travel.

Bella entered the registration office and registered a temporary mercenary group with the staff in charge. After paying dozens of copper coins for the registration fee, Bella filled out a simple form, wrote several fake names, and obtained the copper mercenary badge symbolizing a temporary mercenary group from the Mercenary Union.

Without even verifying their details, the attendant went to receive the next mercenary group who came to register. After handing the copper badge to Kriss and the others, Bella planned to search for a hotel. There was a quarrel at the other end of the hall that caught Bella’s attention, only because it involved the gentle voice of a girl.

“Miss, I can find what you want. I’ll charge you a thousand gold coins per item.”

“That’s too expensive. A thousand gold coins can buy a lot of things. The Demonic Beast materials from other places cost over a dozen gold coins at most.”

“The teeth of the Black Striped Saber-Toothed Tiger and the feathers of the Horror Bird are both from A+ class monsters which are pretty dangerous. The price of a thousand gold coins is considered cheap. If you don’t believe me, you can check elsewhere. You can’t buy these items at that price.”

The dispute involved a group of wandering mercenaries, led by a burly man led by the nickname of Dragon One-Eye. He was blind in one eye and wearing a black eye patch similar to a pirate. Apparently, he was blinded while hunting a Demonic Beast. Few wandering mercenaries in this area could hunt A+ class demonic beasts. However, he liked to drive up prices.

The one negotiating with Dragon One-Eye was an aristocratic lady who was wearing a bold strapless red dress. Her chest, shoulders, and collarbones were exposed. She had pale-gold hair, a pair of light blue eyes, and appeared dignified and elegant. A few soldiers from the Gabriel Empire accompanied her.

“Bella, that is Prince Brad’s granddaughter, Sarah. Since she’s not very good at politics, she isn’t liked by the prince.”

Kriss whispered into Bella’s ear. The lady turned out to be one of Prince Brad’s family members, his youngest granddaughter Sarah. Since she was too innocent and didn’t know how to scheme, she failed to gain his favor. Prince Brad valued his granddaughter Cathy more. These two ladies also participated in the emperor’s matchmaking event.

Miss Sarah looked like an aristocratic lady with little combat prowess. Apart from her attention-grabbing bosom, she could be considered as a noble lady with little worldly experience. If not for the few imperial guards by her side, she might have been kidnapped. In Brusk, a disordered city filled with crooks, it was very dangerous for girls to act alone or even in groups. The security here was quite poor.

“A thousand gold coins is too expensive. I can’t afford that. Can it be cheaper?”

“Miss Sarah, you are a noble lady from the house of Prince Brad. A thousand gold coins for an item isn’t expensive.”

“I’ll give you the two items for free. You don’t have to talk to this guy.”

“Where are you from? Don’t you know the rules here?”

A dissatisfied Dragon One-Eye turned to Bella, who had suddenly disrupted their talk. Wasn’t she deliberately causing trouble? The teeth of the Black Striped Saber-Toothed Tiger and the feathers of the Horror Bird in Bella’s possession were genuine materials. Since Dragon One-Eye wasn’t sure of Bella’s strength, he decided against a violent confrontation. If she personally hunted the two A+ class Demonic Beasts, this woman’s strength shouldn’t be underestimated.

Miss Sarah looked at the two precious materials in Bella’s hand and hesitated. She wasn’t the kind of person who took advantage of others. Bella knew that Miss Sarah didn’t want to take the items for free. After contemplating, Bella offered a solution.

“Miss Sarah, are you going to the imperial capital? Hire our temporary mercenary group. Whatever you pay us will be considered as compensation for these two materials!”

“In that case, thank you. I accept this offer. I will pay you when I get to the capital.”

Glancing at the members of Bella’s mercenary group, Miss Sarah confirmed that they were all girls and hired them with confidence. Her status as the prince’s granddaughter was superficially distinguished. There were very few people available at her disposal. The guards who followed her were lent to her by Miss Cathy as she hadn’t been assigned any guards.

Bella and her team left with Miss Sarah. Having been robbed of his business, Dragon One-Eye felt displeased. As he stared at their backs, his eyes were shrouded. Miss Sarah was now accompanied by the soldiers of the imperial army. Therefore, he couldn’t do anything in broad daylight, but the same couldn’t be said for the night.

Bella originally assumed that she could stay in a good hotel with Miss Sarah. But who knew Sarah couldn’t even afford to live in one! After her conversation with Miss Sarah, Bella wondered if this lady had a stepmother, hence the poor treatment. She didn’t even have a servant on her journey from the academy to the capital and was forced to take shelter from Miss Cathy’s team.

They could forget about hotels. The hotels in Brusk City were basically backed by powerful local mercenaries. Sarah only had a dozen gold coins. Compared to other nobles, she was considered poor. Bella wasn’t in it for the money. She had only offered her services upon noticing this beautiful girl. The payment Bella wanted was something else entirely, not money.

Except for Bella, Kriss and the others hadn’t spoken to avoid revealing their identities. Since Sarah was an aristocrat, there was a high probability that she knew the princesses of the imperial family. Even if she couldn’t see how they looked, she could tell from their voice alone. The two who chatted with Sarah were mainly the loli beauties, Demon God Angel and Evil God Mia.

“Captain Bella, is your mercenary group newly established?”

“Yes, Miss Sarah. If you want to change your mind now, it’s not too late!”

“Bella, you must be joking. Except for you girls, I have no other guards.”

There was a bitter smile on Sarah’s face. Upon hiring Bella’s team, the imperial soldiers belonging to her sister Cathy left immediately without the slightest respect for her. Since Sarah wasn’t interested in politics, she wasn’t very familiar with some of the great nobles in the empire. Even when Bella chatted with her face to face, she failed to recognize the blond-haired and blue-eyed girl who was currently the greatest warlord of the Gabriel Empire, the Duchess of Sarnia Duchy, Dragon Knight Bellina, the only female duchess in the empire.

Bella and her team were reluctant to sleep outside the city. After traveling on the road for two consecutive days, the princesses were exhausted. After some deliberation, Bella decided to look for residential buildings in the small towns for lodging. But who would have thought that the citizens of Brusk City had such a poor impression of mercenaries? As soon as they noticed their identities, they refused Bella’s team.

No matter how much Bella offered to pay and despite the fact they were all girls, the town residents refused to provide them with rooms. Bella finally understood why the mercenary soldiers at the city gates showed such unnatural expressions upon hearing her request. Obviously, they were well aware of their negative image.

“Miss Sarah, these residents refuse to rent out their houses. It’s not like we’re not paying them.”

“Bella, mercenaries don’t seem to have a good image. Many of them stay at inns. Why don’t I sleep outside the city with your team? Although I’ve never slept in the wild, I won’t be an inconvenience at all.”

“There’s no need for that. I’ll fight for it.”

Touched by Sarah’s kindness, Bella didn’t intend to trouble her by sleeping in the wild. They went straight to the largest hotel in Brusk City, Brande Hotel, which was also considered the most luxurious hotel. Its guests were the leaders of the large mercenary groups that controlled Brusk City, as well as some passing nobles, such as Sarah’s sister, Prince Brad’s favorite granddaughter, Miss Cathy.

“Stop. Our rooms are fully occupied. If you’re here to offer your services, come back at night, or else…”

Bella slapped the guard in front of her with a loud smack, causing him to fly several meters away. Was he blind to think that they were prostitutes here to provide special services to the hotel? When the other guards noticed the situation, they drew out their swords and were about to attack but realized they couldn’t move.

Behind Bella, Time Space Demon Noesha stretched out her fingers disdainfully. In an instant, these unlucky fellas were thrown out of Brusk City by teleportation magic. A swarm of mercenaries appeared around the hotel. They originally wanted to watch those female mercenaries make a fool of themselves. But who knew that those guards would be immediately killed.

Miss Sarah stood aside, staring blankly. She didn’t expect Bella to be so strong that her slap could send a person flying several meters away. After Bella cleared the guards, she walked to the hotel’s reception desk and stared maliciously at the old man behind the desk. It was Swordsman Peter who watched over the hotel.

Ranked among the top ten in Brusk City, Peter was now covered in a cold sweat. He had watched over the hotel for many years, but this was the first time he had an intruder as strong as Bella. Aside from being able to tell that Miss Sarah had no powers, Peter couldn’t judge the strength of these female mercenaries, which showed their disparity in strength.

It wasn’t just a problem of disparity in strength. The look in Bella’s eyes made it clear that she was here to cause trouble. Her urge to beat them all up was obvious. The Brande Hotel had been open for so long, so he was well aware he couldn’t offend the strong. In this case, avoiding conflicts as much as possible was the best choice.

“Mercenary Captain, the guards at the door were blind. Please forgive us. I will make sure to discipline the guards better. Do you think we can forego the matter?”

“Get us a room. I will pretend that nothing happened. We’ll leave early tomorrow morning. As for payment…”

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“I understand; the room is free. We’ll take care of all your accommodation expenses.”

Bella easily threatened for a hotel room. She had arranged their accommodation for the night. Saying the rooms were fully occupied was an excuse. In this type of hotel, there were usually a few rooms reserved for guests to prevent the embarrassment of having no rooms available when important guests would come to the door. If the hotel security staff had a better attitude, perhaps Bella would have considered paying for the room. However, Bella had decided to stay for free.

Bella noticed Miss Cathy standing on the balcony at the viewing passage entrance on the second floor of the Brande Hotel, watching everything quietly. Cathy wore the same dress as Sarah, except for the color. Her black dress showed the same revealing parts. Judging from their clothes, the two were indeed sisters.

Cathy had black hair and dark eyes, with delicate features. With calm eyes, she had no obvious change in expression. Bella figured she was the sort of calm beauty. There was a black Sword Shadow behind her. Cathy was known as the Shadow Swordsman and rather strong, unlike her sister Sarah who was merely a pretty face. Cathy’s disdain for her naive sister was understandable.

The guards around Cathy were elites of the Gabriel Empire. She stared at Bella and her team with a look of inquiry. She was familiar with Duchess Bellina, but because Cathy was on the second floor and Bella had deliberately lowered her head, she couldn’t tell that Bella was Dragon Knight Bellina. All she could see was part of Bella’s face.

“Miss Cathy, isn’t that Miss Sarah? Shall we send someone down to pick her up?”

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“No, leave my loser sister alone. Anyway, the mercenaries will escort her. Pay more attention to those female mercenaries. I feel as if I’ve seen them somewhere.”

After instructing her guards, Cathy left. She hadn’t discovered the true identities of Bella and her team but was rather interested in their strength. There weren’t many powerful female mercenaries, and few ever stepped foot in Brusk City. Since Bella hadn’t used any weapons, it was difficult to gauge her identity for the time being.

Bella looked up in the direction that Cathy left. This young lady wanted to explore Bella’s secrets. Then, she wasn’t afraid of being captured and educated by this Demon King. Cathy’s bust was slightly larger than Sarah’s and must feel good when caressed.

Besides Miss Cathy, many nobles at the Brande Hotel were rushing to the imperial capital to participate in this matchmaking event. Since they traveled on the official roads, they moved much faster than Bella’s team. Thus, all the better rooms were already occupied.

Bella and her team quickly moved into the room upstairs. There were too many people watching them in the hall. Staying here any longer would only make Kriss and the others uncomfortable. In the process of walking, Poison Origin Betty, who had been silent all along, suddenly grabbed Bella’s right hand and motioned for Bella to bend down so she could whisper.

“What’s the matter, Betty?”

“Big Sister Bella, outside the city…”