Trading With Another World

Melbach and Odorin

Several patrolling guards started to gather when they heard the commotion from their current location.

"So what are we going to do next?"

"Other than running away? Shouldn't we still catch the three merchants you mentioned earlier and take their money as a reward?"

Of course Alex did not forget their work bonus. He hoped that the three merchants in the Northern district who helped the Blood Star Church had abundant treasures. With that, he would obtain a certain amount of gold coins to increase his strength.

Jean nodded and took Alex away from there. "Then follow me. We'll catch those merchants one by one."

Then the two left the location undetected by the approaching guards.

***

The sun was on the western edge of the sky of the city of Xyras, coloring the sky with a reddish orange glow reflected by the surging clouds.

After five hours since the start of the mission, Alex and Jean have returned riding in a horse-drawn carriage covered in tarpaulin.

Inside the train, three men were seen with their hands and feet tied and their mouths covered in cloth.

When they stopped the horse carriage behind the guild building, the two found Zeff standing as if waiting for their arrival.

"Welcome back. Is your work going well?"

"According to the plan, we managed to get rid of the five gray disciples as well as the Siren blue priestess in the North district." Alex then walked up to the horse-drawn carriage and pulled out a tarp cloth to show the three merchants listed on their mission list. "These three people also managed to hold us down."

"That's great. Surely you've already taken a gift from the three, haven't you?"

The two nodded then took the three merchants out of the horse carriage. "We'll hand them over to Mr. Zeff."

"thank you. Meet Big Three and the others on the first floor. I'll catch up with you after taking these three merchants to the holding room."

On the first floor of the adventurer guild, Alex discovers the Big Three, Christopher, and Mina are circling a table full of food. Surprisingly, other than the three of them Alex did not find any other adventurers seen there.

"Leon, Jean, come here! We're just about to start eating."

Mina looked at the two and shouted out a call.

He and Big Three and Christopher have also just returned from their jobs. The distance between the adventurer guild and the enemy location in the Eastern district was only about a half hour walk away. This causes the three to have a gap of travel time with Alex and Jean for one hour.

That's why all three can get the job done faster than Alex and Jean.

While devouring the food on the table, Big Three asked Alex. "How much money do you get?"

"About four hundred gold coins."

"That's a lot. The three of us only managed to collect around five hundred gold coins. Too bad we can only take gold coins stored in their storage pouch."

"Bahhh... Right, that's a pity."

On the other hand, Mina shook her head at Alex and Big Three's conversation. Then he nudged Jean and asked. "Everything went well?"

"Yes... Thanks to Alex's attack artifact, none of the enemies managed to escape."

"Aren't you guys caught by the guards patrolling?"

"They did come to us after hearing the commotion. But we managed to escape after making sure the whole enemy was dead."

Jean nodded and was amazed. "There's also a way like that!"

"of course. It's Zeff's own fault that didn't give us an official mission. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we used his name to escape the guards."

Along with the food on the table, Zeff walked down the stairs and approached them. "Please follow me for a moment. I want to make sure of something with you guys."

The five looked at each other confusedly looking at Zeff's back who was walking away.

Although Zeff believed the five were not traitors, Zeff wanted to dispel a hint of doubt in his heart.

He asked them a few things and told the five to say something similar to the previous four receptionists.

After making sure the five were a hundred percent safe, Zeff breathed in a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry for doubting you guys a little."

"Is something going on?"

"Right, one of the receptionists named Elisha turned out to be a member of the Blood Star Church. Moreover, he turned out to be a high-ranking member who led the entire Blood Star Church movement in this Great Forest suburb."

"really?"

"That's right. He was a black deacon who possessed strength equivalent to a mithril rank adventurer. I have also confirmed it with the headquarters. Inside the Blood Star Church, there was a black deacon with the title of the shadow. Looking at the strength he showed earlier, I'm sure that it's him."

"Wait, so how did Mr. Zeff manage to survive him? Did he just run away?"

Zeff smiled wryly at Alex's question. "For that I also apologize to you. Actually, I lied about the arrival of the mithril adventurers later tonight. Both of them arrived this morning. To dismantle the traitors who infiltrated, they were forced to hide themselves and monitor from the darkness."

"So now they..."

"Right, we've been here since this morning."

The female voice sounded from the two figures that appeared.

Behind the woman, a large-bodied man comparable to the Big Three laughed at the expressions of the five who were shocked to see them. "Hahahaha, apparently none of you are aware of our existence. You guys need to train harder."

Alex was speechless at the resemblance of the man's nature to the big man beside him. If his main body was here, he was sure to at least be able to sense their existence despite being vague.

"Include the two mithril adventurers who were sent headquarters to guard the city of Xyras. This big-bodied man is Melbach, while this beautiful woman is Odorin."

Zeff introduces the two to Alex and the others.

"It's actually not very precise. Even though we were sent by the headquarters, we were only adventurers who were having free time. The two of us had never set foot into the mysterious headquarters. The former The Number was the one who told us and took us to this place."

"really? Then did the former The Number come with you? I want to talk to him!" Christopher enthusiastically replied to Odorin's statement.

"Cannot be. We even just found out that the old man is a former The Number. It seemed that he did not want to deal with the current state of the world. Before, we even only knew him as the old man guarding the city library."

"That's right. It is very difficult to understand the mind-path of those who are at the top of this world."

Melbach chimed in on the conversation with a nod.

"Alright, since I've introduced these five people to you before, let's go back to the second floor and directly discuss the plan ahead."

The others approved of Zeff and followed his steps towards the workspace on the second floor.