The warm yellow oil lamp illuminated the mottled wooden wall panels. Mike watched the half-elf woman weave through the noisy crowd to a corner on the other side of the tavern.
"Did I guess wrong?"
Mike clearly felt malice from the half-elf woman, but her warning before leaving didn't seem like a bad person. "Forget it, who cares about her. Whether she's good or bad, it won't affect me anyway."
Human hearts are complex, and constantly prying into others' minds doesn't feel good. Therefore, unless necessary, Mike doesn't actively use [Mind Reading] on others now.
After shaking his head slightly, Mike withdrew his gaze and focused on the map he had just acquired.
The map was crudely drawn, but most areas were marked, making it barely usable.
"I didn't expect that half-elf to actually have some skill." Having obtained what he wanted, Mike had no interest in staying in the hall to listen to drunkards brag, so after asking the bar attendant for a room, he walked upstairs to the second floor.
On the other side, Sophia also found her companions, two tall rangers.
"How was it? Any gains?" David, the older ranger with long hair, asked.
The returning Sophia opened her palm and tossed eight gleaming gold coins onto the table, then carefully put all the gold coins into the pouch at her waist.
One gold coin was enough for a normal family of three for a month's expenses; selling a simple map for eight gold coins was already quite a lot.
"It's confirmed, the other party is not just a big fat sheep, but also a novice. He actually wants to cross the entire continent to Lonely Mountain…" Sophia, having put away the gold coins, said, "So, our 'robbing the rich to help the poor' this time might also be saving his life."
The lives of ordinary rangers were not easy; they generally couldn't deal with strong Orcs and cannibals.
They could only bully the weaker goblins in the forest.
Therefore, to survive, most rangers had their own side jobs, either part-time hunting or collecting herbs in the forest.
There were also individual rangers who occasionally engaged in some unsavory side businesses.
For example, Sophia's ranger team sometimes did "robbing the rich to help the poor" deals.
"I think what we're doing is very wrong…" Just as Sophia was about to make a plan, Sam, the younger ranger beside her, stammered, "With our abilities, why don't we go to the Mirkwood and take on some tasks to eliminate Orcs and Giant Spiders? We can also earn money that way."
Clearly, this young ranger had a relatively high moral standard.
"Don't be silly, fighting dangerous dark creatures is nowhere near as easy as robbing rich people. At worst, we'll go easy this time and leave that 'fat sheep' some money for his journey home. Looking at his delicate skin, it's probably better for him to go home early…" Sophia, who looked younger than Sam but had actually lived for over a hundred years, was the leader of this team due to her superior strength.
Her special half-elf identity had exposed Sophia to too much darkness, so her personality was no longer naive.
"If we act in the Green Dragon Tavern, will there be a problem with Boss Abra?" As an old ranger, David also didn't think robbing a "fat sheep" was wrong.
He just had some concerns before acting.
"I understand Abra's character; as long as we don't cause any deaths, he generally won't interfere…" Afterward, Sophia ignored Sam's opinion and, together with David, formulated a plan to rob the "fat sheep".
...
"Stop right there, you liar! I'm going to make you regret this today!!!"
After trailing Mike to the second-floor accommodation area, Sophia and her two companions put on a chase scene.
David and Sam, acting menacingly, forced Sophia in Mike's direction.
"Help me—" As she approached her target, Sophia showed a delicate expression and hid behind Mike.
"Kid, this is none of your business, get out of the way—" David raised his weapon and threatened, "Otherwise, you can pay us one hundred gold coins as compensation for her, and we'll drop the matter…"
It must be said that the trio's performance captured men's desire to show off.
A hero saving a damsel in distress, what a great script.
However, Mike was not a hot-headed, prideful young man. He watched the trio's performance with interest, confirming that the half-elf woman was indeed not a good person.
"What are you staring at? If you don't pay, don't blame me for being rude to you—" Seeing Mike unresponsive, David began his performance again.
Already tall, coupled with his ferocious expression, he indeed had a certain oppressive presence.
"Isn't it just money? There are over a hundred gold coins in here; the extra is your tip." A pouch suddenly appeared in Mike's hand. After weighing it twice, he threw it directly to David opposite him.
"This…" David looked at the pink pouch in his hand, feeling a sense of familiarity.
At this moment, Sophia, hiding behind Mike, suddenly touched her waist and exclaimed, "That's my money pouch—"
"Yes, losing money to avoid disaster, what's wrong with that?" Mike said seriously.
It was then that Sophia, who didn't know when her money pouch had been taken, and David, holding the money pouch opposite her, simultaneously realized they had run into a tough opponent.
But at this point, even if their plan was exposed, Sophia accepted it.
So, she subtly gave David a look.
"You really are rich. Now I've changed my mind…" David, understanding, stepped forward again and threatened, "Kid, hand over all the money on you."
At the same time, Sophia behind Mike also feigned fear and quietly hugged Mike's arm.
"So, failing to swindle, they resorted to outright robbery." Feeling the pressure on his arm, Mike showed a half-smile.
Then, before Sophia could react, Mike dragged her forward and knocked David and Sam unconscious to the ground with two hand chops.
"How about it? Are you satisfied with this kind of hero saving a beauty?" Mike asked with a smile, holding the pink pouch he had retrieved in one hand and embracing the half-elf woman's waist with the other.
Having played along with them for so long, it was time to collect some interest.
"What do you want to do?" Sophia was a little flustered. She found that the "fat sheep" in front of her was even stronger than she had imagined.
She couldn't break free from the hands on her waist, no matter how hard she tried. This was an incredible thing for a half-elf warrior.
As darlings of the Creator God Ilúvatar, Elves naturally possessed stronger physiques and power than humans, as well as eternal life.
Sophia, as a half-elf, naturally inherited some of the elf race's abilities; at the very least, her strength was much greater than that of an average human.
But now, being held captive, she couldn't use any of her strength.
"What do I want to do? Don't you know?" Mike tightened his arm, pulling the half-elf woman completely against him, then smiled and walked towards his room.
This move was called: a villain is dealt with by a worse villain.
"Cough— Friend, can you give me some face and spare Sophia and them this time?" Just then, a muscular, bearded, mature man walked out from the second-floor corner.
"So your name is Sophia, a nice name." Mike teased the woman in his arms, then turned to look at the newcomer and said, "You must be the owner of this tavern. Since you pretended to be mute and blind before, you have no face with me now."
Mike had sensed this person earlier, who had been watching the show from the corner for a long time.
"It seems I was presumptuous." Seeing Mike's tough attitude, Abra gave a forced smile and retreated.
He was indeed, as Sophia said, not someone who liked to meddle.
"Next, it's time to settle our accounts." With no one in the way, Mike directly picked up Sophia and walked into the room.
And it must be said, half-elf women also had their advantages; they were beautiful but their bodies were not as slender as those of elf women.