Chapter 1233


Chapter 71: Undercurrents in the City

Regardless of what the other party intended, since he had taken away the Priestess’s Adventurer badge, Miss Vilyric couldn’t just dust herself off and leave.

Since she had some time on her hands, Miss Vilyric decided to ask the temporary stand-in, who clearly already knew the high status of the legendary figure present and that her colleagues’ actions were out of line, just like a young staff member who was clearly on pins and needles. She requested a high-level mission catalog and casually picked up the Little Dragon Daughter, placing her on her lap.

Since they were here, they might as well make the best of it. Instead of aimlessly imagining things, it would be better to take this opportunity to see if there were any fun tasks available.

Coincidentally, Miss Le Qiao Qiao, Hong Yan, and her own little dragon had recently studied the “Vilyric Language,” so reading through this content shouldn’t be too difficult.

It would count as teaching someone to fish if she guided them on selecting tasks that suited them well.

As an organization that had been around for over 800 years, the Adventurer Guild had a very rigorous and straightforward system for rating tasks. Especially for extermination-type missions, not only would they meticulously assess the strength of the mission targets, but they would also reference practical aspects such as the environment and current conditions to provide comprehensive advice to adventurers.

Usually, adventurers who hadn’t reached the corresponding level absolutely couldn’t take on high-difficulty commissions. Even fresh-baked novices, as long as they weren’t too ridiculous, wouldn’t normally get themselves killed by accepting high-difficulty tasks.

So, what Miss Vilyric needed to teach these two new girls was essentially just some more practical stuff.

“Look here, there are a total of three tasks regarding [Extermination of the Shallow Sea Demon Shark], all rated as the lowest Earth level and can be taken on by you two. They don’t exceed your current limits and should be relatively easy to handle, plus the rewards aren’t bad. If you’re just looking to make some money… you could consider this kind of mission more, rather than blindly taking on the most difficult ones.”

“Ahem, this is what you call cost-effectiveness.”

The Priestess inadvertently slipped into gaming terminology for roll tasks, clearing her throat before continuing her explanation, capturing the attention of the two girls and the Little Dragon Daughter sitting on her lap, even the attendant girl across from them.

“Now, specifically regarding the tasks, as an example, while a bunch of explanations are cluttered above, to sum it up, they actually fall into three categories: [Passive Defense], [Active Strike], and [Coastal Patrol].”

“Don’t let their rewards look similar; the time cost for each task varies greatly. Generally speaking, if you’re confident in your and your team’s abilities, going out to actively hunt the Demon Sharks will yield rewards the fastest, but that also comes with much more danger.”

“And the task of stationed defense at the beach, conversely, will take a long time, but since you’re only assisting the coastal patrol team and navy stationed there, it should be relatively safe. If luck is on your side, you might even avoid combat. So, adventurers need to weigh what suits them based on their situation.”

“I see, that’s some valuable experience…”

Nodding thoughtfully, Hong Yan was reading through the crowded task catalog on the table but couldn’t help feeling a bit puzzled.

“However, Miss Vilyric, this coastal city looks calm and peaceful, but are there really that many lurking threats? Look, there are actually hundreds of available tasks above Earth level… and they all seem to involve dangerous magical beast extermination and combat tasks. Is this really a normal situation?”

“Also, if the situation is already so dire, why doesn’t the official side step in to deal with the problem themselves, and instead just pass it on to civil forces?”

“Well, your observations remain sharp as always. This situation is indeed a bit unusual. By the way, do you remember that time when we first came here and encountered that group …”

The black-haired girl nodded, just about to say something when suddenly a clear and bright answer came from the other side of the counter.

“It’s not that the official side doesn’t want to intervene; it’s just that the military has its responsibilities, and adventurers have theirs. What you see before you is not even close to the entirety of the problems this city is facing…”

Everyone paused their conversation and looked up in the direction of the voice to find that the young male staff member who had left was now back, accompanied by two young men and women they hadn’t seen before.

Huh? Wait a minute…

It seems they weren’t complete strangers after all?

Coincidentally, one of the newcomers among the two was precisely one of the four key figures who boarded the [Noah’s Ark] when Vilyric and the others had their encounter with the imperial fleet at sea a while back.

At that time, this young girl had been following that red-haired Mage Lord, and though she had never spoken a word to them, it was hard for Miss Vilyric to forget such a close encounter in a short span of time.

She and the young man next to her, who had just begun to speak, both had long, leaf-like green hair, with several unique braids tied on either side. Their ears were particularly pointed and elongated, giving off a fresh, forest-like aura that clearly wasn’t something humans could possess.

Miss Vilyric recognized this race—the Tree Spirits, specifically the Tree Spirit Race, the most powerful and renowned among them.

Tree Spirits are a race that exists alongside plants and largely originated from plants in ancient times, having once been a primary group serving the Earth Mother Goddess and are widely distributed across the world. They can be found in almost every undeveloped primeval forest.

The Tree Spirit Race is already one of the types of Tree Spirits that closely resembles humans, but they still have easily identifiable differences, such as their hair color and ears. It is said that certain organs within them differ significantly from humans, which means, with few exceptions, most Tree Spirits can only reproduce within their own kind.

Plus, lacking a national-level community, they are often classified as magical beasts in the United Kingdom, similar to Min Chen’s disciple, Barta the Tree Spirit, whom they encountered in the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons.

However, the racial prejudice in the Ost Empire isn’t as severe as that in the United Kingdom, allowing them to roam freely without concerns.

As Miss Vilyric recognized them, it was clear the young Tree Spirit girl also noticed something similar. With a slight raise of her brows, she hurriedly whispered a few words in her companion’s ear, causing the latter to show a hint of surprise.

Yet, he didn’t say much, only leading his companion to the counter, releasing the visibly relieved temporary stand-in and politely greeting the young women.

“Praise the Life Goddess, I didn’t expect to meet the renowned legendary adventurer, Miss Priestess, here in this coastal city by the sea. Hello, I am Enrique the Tree Bow, and this is my sister, Sophie the Tree Wall.”

…A legendary adventurer with a title, huh?

It seemed these two were part of a team. If they were based here, they were probably the trump cards of the coastal city’s Adventurer Guild. No wonder that Sophie had previously stood alongside the top general of the imperial navy.

With a quiet scoff, Miss Vilyric subtly nodded, closing the task catalog in her hands.

“No need to be so polite. I’m just here to register my friends as adventurers and see if we’re up for a task. There’s no special purpose; just say what you want to.”

At this point, even Miss Le Qiao Qiao could see the issue at hand.

The attendant wasn’t verifying any badge authenticity; she was simply informing these two about the visit of legendary adventurers and ushered them in immediately to meet.

Indeed, while legendary adventurers have a prestigious status, that doesn’t mean they need to be personally received by two other legendary figures.

Combined with the issues that Hong Yan had sensed earlier, the other party’s intentions became very clear.

It seemed that there were some rather tricky matters unfolding in this city.