“Hello, Miss Krecia. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
While Krecia was immersed in the thought of her stable monthly salary, a nun from the White Sanctuary walked over to her and extended her hand.
Krecia responded with a polite smile, reaching out her right hand for a gentle shake.
Of course, she knew about the White Sanctuary, but considering her current identity, she wasn’t supposed to.
So she pretended to be a stranger.
“Um… judging by your attire, are you from the local Church?”
Krecia asked softly.
“You could say that.”
The nun admitted with a reassuring smile.
“My name is Anna, a nun from the Church. This is Isaac, a member of the Church’s Paladin Order.”
Krecia glanced at the paladin named Isaac. He didn’t react, his head covered by a fully enclosed knight’s helmet, with only a few gaps for vision and ventilation, making it impossible to see his expression.
This made Krecia a bit curious. Would wearing such heavy, vision-obstructing full-body armor really not affect combat?
Compared to him, Anna’s outfit looked much more comfortable.
Perhaps it was due to their different builds. Anna appeared to be an extremely mature woman at first glance, so while her clothing style was very similar to Elvie’s, there were still some differences in the details.
For example, the openly seductive upper garment, with the entire southern hemisphere exposed.
You’d never guess the God of Light had such tastes.
“The Church received an abnormal report from the Adventurer Association and dispatched the two of us to assist the Church’s adventurers in handling and investigating the matter.”
“At the same time, we’re gathering all Silver-level and above adventurers in the area to help. Miss Krecia, your strength is very important to us.”
“You were the only Silver-level adventurer yesterday who engaged a mutated monster head-on, not only unharmed but defeating it directly. Your experience is equally valuable. Therefore, we invite you to join our subjugation team.”
Ah, from the looks of things, they’re planning to wipe out those mutated monsters in one go.
Such efficiency—the abnormality appeared one day, and the countermeasures were already prepared by the next, with the personnel assembled as well.
This is a level the inland regions could never hope to reach.
But thinking about it, since this is near the border with the Blood Clan Territory, if the response were slow and the border was overrun before the interior got word, they’d be doomed.
Seeing Krecia remain silent, Anna glanced at Sensa out of the corner of her eye. Sensa blinked at her.
She seemed to recall something.
“This operation has been designated by the Adventurer Association as a Temporary Emergency Event and issued as a B-Rank Extermination Quest with additional gold coin rewards. The minimum reward is 100 gold coins, with extra rewards based on the number of Tier Four or higher mutated monsters killed during the mission.”
“For each one defeated, the bounty is 100 gold coins, and the Magic Crystals and Magic Materials harvested from the monsters will be purchased by the Association at 200% above market price.”
“CNM, I’m in!”
Her blood surged instantly.
Krecia felt she was definitely sick—seriously ill, even.
She hadn’t been this greedy for money before.
How could she lose her usual composure just from hearing the quest rewards?
Krecia, Krecia, you can’t let yourself fall like this!
But then again, who hates money?
Seeing how quickly Krecia agreed, a trace of imperceptible surprise appeared on Anna’s face before she looked toward Sensa.
Sensa’s expression remained calm, and she discreetly gave a thumbs-up with her right hand.
A star-like sparkle seemed to flash in her eyes.
“Then, on behalf of the citizens of Vanor City and the surrounding villages, the Church thanks you, Miss Krecia. May the light of the gods bless you.”
Anna intertwined her fingers, clasped her hands at her chest, and performed a prayer gesture toward Krecia.
A gesture of gratitude from the Church.
Krecia turned to observe the adventurers participating in the subjugation.
Counting Krecia and the two from the Church, there were thirty people in total. Aside from Krecia, all the others were Silver-level adventurers.
However, Falco and Fana were nowhere to be seen.
Recalling the conversations they had when they parted ways yesterday—
Fana was likely heading back to the Academy to submit a report after successfully ranking up as an adventurer, but Falco’s whereabouts were unclear.
As for Elvie… this kind of mission wasn’t suitable for little girls.
Though, biologically, she wasn’t much younger than herself.
“Biological age?”
Ko’s voice suddenly appeared in her mind. Krecia was already used to this, so she didn’t react much.
“Speaking of biological age, little one, you’re only a year old.”
“?”
“Is there a problem? Your body has only existed for two days since birth—today’s just the third.”
Fine, you’re right. I’m too lazy to argue with you.
Krecia was gradually getting used to Ko’s verbal jabs.
She had noticed earlier, while checking the Commission Board, that all the quests requiring entry into the Mageling Forest had been removed.
Now, only relatively safe escort jobs and low-risk, low-pay commissions like searching for cows, finding sheep, and fixing donkey hooves remained.
She had originally planned to take on a C-rank commission for some extra cash while entering the Mageling Forest.
After experiencing the thrill of fast money, Krecia’s mindset was steadily shifting toward that of a working warrior.
***
A group of thirty entered the Mageling Forest smoothly.
From the moment they left Vanor City, Krecia sensed an indistinct gaze following her, making her uneasy.
She even checked her hair just in case.
It was still black. The disguise Magic was intact.
She tried several times to find the source of the gaze, but whenever she focused, it would vanish.
It made her uneasy.
It didn’t seem to come from anyone in the group…
She frowned, unable to pinpoint the anomaly, and continued deeper into the Mageling Forest with the team.
From the moment they entered the outskirts, the frontline warriors responsible for perimeter defense formed up, while the mages in the middle each cast their familiar support or secret-type Magic to probe the surroundings.
It was obvious—the mutated monsters had caused a massive rampage here the previous day.
The once lush forest was now devastated by brute force and destructive Magic.
Every few steps, there were ruined patches and the mangled corpses of monsters that had been devoured.
(1/2)