Chapter 6: You need to earn some travel expenses to go to the capital, right?

The next morning, Dongfang Jiang was woken up by the sound of Pandana opening the door.

Due to the exhaustion from the previous night, his body was extremely fatigued.

Even knowing that Pandana had entered his room, he couldn’t wake up.

“My God, what did you go through last night?”

Pandana’s voice was loud.

Dongfang Jiang rubbed his sleepy eyes.

His body felt severely drained.

He let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his messy hair.

“Do I look that bad?”

“Pretty bad. You look like one of those playboys in a play who’s wasted himself on booze and women.”

Pandana’s description was spot on.

Dongfang Jiang had harmonized most of his energy and given it to Xue.

After that, he confirmed that the exponential increase in energy Xue mentioned was tied to his own life.

‘Only about a year and two months left…’

“Hah… Miss Pandana, what I’m about to tell you might be hard to believe, but please listen.”

Dongfang Jiang recounted everything that happened yesterday to Pandana.

Then, as if to prove his words, he demonstrated what he had learned from Xue the day before.

The dark green swamp energy was smoothly converted into deep blue glacier energy.

Then he harmonized the two into his own internal energy.

“Oh my… that’s… incredible.”

Pandana was stunned by what Dongfang Jiang showed her.

It didn’t match the knowledge she had.

“So, do you believe me now?”

“Of course. Your eyes are very clear, Mr. Dongfang. You don’t look like you’re lying… Even without this proof, I would have believed you.”

“And you have the nerve to say that about me… Don’t you have any sense of caution?”

“Hehe, because your eyes are clear, Mr. Dongfang. You don’t seem like a bad person.”

Dongfang Jiang looked at the smug Pandana and couldn’t help but curl the corners of his mouth.

After a simple breakfast at the inn, the two packed their things and left.

As they walked out, Pandana hummed a tune Dongfang Jiang had never heard before.

He quietly followed her, savoring the moment of peace.

After they had walked for a while, Pandana stopped humming.

She took the water flask from her belt, drank from it, then pulled out her money pouch and shook it at Dongfang Jiang.

“We need to get some travel money. If we tighten our belts, we could make it to the Royal Capital, but with three mouths to feed, we definitely won’t have enough.”

“True.”

Dongfang Jiang agreed with Pandana’s suggestion.

She gently poked him with her finger and pointed at the Adventurer’s Guild nearby.

“So I have a simple idea. We can take on some easy requests.”

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you.”

Inside the Adventurer’s Guild, Pandana led Dongfang Jiang straight to the reception desk.

After a process that was neither too simple nor too complicated, they obtained their credentials.

Pandana waved her card in front of Dongfang Jiang, her expression serious.

“Mr. Dongfang, getting into the Royal Capital isn’t easy. My identity doesn’t permit me to enter, but if I use the credentials provided by the Adventurer’s Guild as a guarantee, I can enter without much trouble. Of course, that’s for later. Our immediate priority is to solve the food problem.”

“I see…”

Pandana calculated the travel expenses needed and their combat capabilities, then picked some high-paying tasks.

Dongfang Jiang left the request-taking to Pandana.

He found a place to sit, listened to the gossip around him, and drank the free tea provided by the guild.

About ten minutes later, Pandana, having accepted the requests, came over and nudged Dongfang Jiang in the side with her elbow.

“What is it?”

“Ahem, we should get going, Mr. Dongfang. I’ve accepted the requests.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, everyone. Let’s chat another time.”

Dongfang Jiang and Pandana left the Adventurer’s Guild and strolled down the street.

Pandana looked at Dongfang Jiang, who seemed in high spirits, and blinked.

“Mr. Dongfang, aren’t you going to ask what requests I took?”

“I’m sure they’re within our ability. I’m not worried about that.”

After spending some time together, Dongfang Jiang knew Pandana was good at careful planning, so he confidently left the task to her.

“Hehe, of course. When I inject my energy into the ground, I can scan the plants growing there. That way, we can take on requests to collect valuable medicinal herbs. I’ve tried it before, but my magic power was limited, so I couldn’t scan on a large scale.”

“I see… Low combat intensity and high profit. As expected of you.”

“Hehe, you can praise me more, Mr. Dongfang.”

The two headed to a nearby forest to carry out the collection tasks.

Just as Pandana had said, she only needed to inject her energy into the ground to scan the plants growing nearby.

In just two hours, they completed the collection.

“The last one… Good, all tasks done.”

“Mm, good work.”

Dongfang Jiang injected some energy into Pandana’s body to help her recover.

She grinned and gave him a light hug.

“Not tired~”

When they were about to head back, Pandana stopped Dongfang Jiang.

He knew she had noticed something, and they quickly found a place to hide.

Not long after they hid, a large convoy of wagons rumbled past their hiding spot.

The clinking sound of weapons colliding made both Dongfang Jiang and Pandana’s expressions darken.

Bandits.

“Hah, this haul is going to be big…”

“Haha… thanks to the Valen Ring reappearing, more and more easy marks have been showing up around here…”

“Yeah, the boss has been lucky lately. Not only did he make a fortune, but he also snatched a little girl from a nearby town. Those big, white—hehe…”

“Hey, that girl was stupid enough to be tricked by our guys.”

Hearing their conversation, Dongfang Jiang immediately connected it to the gossip he heard earlier at the Adventurer’s Guild.

A wealthy merchant’s daughter from a nearby town had run off with someone.

The merchant was now offering a hefty bounty for her return.

“Pandana, we’ve got work.”

Dongfang Jiang explained his idea to Pandana.

She didn’t refuse.

She leaned close to him and thought for a long moment.

“You know, it’s actually a good opportunity. If we pull it off, we’ll earn a lot and live comfortably. If not, we can always slip away. Alright, let’s do this.”

“Let’s go!”

No wonder Pandana was Dongfang Jiang’s Guardian.

These two were birds of a feather in more ways than one.