After the deal with the ruler of Town Allure is now stated, the stone-ranked members that sat beside me raised in applause. They were excited about the good news about the reward that will be given
"Oh my god, Thank you Lady Roxy, we will be promoted to silver-ranked in no time" Natalie said happily
"One gold, that's literally a life's fortune, Hell yeah I will join this. Plus the promotion is great" Ned joins and said excitedly
"A promotion, I could get rich from this shit, Let the party started!" Carin said
"I would not waste this opportunity, a promotion and one gold is enough for retirement" Barry said blissfully
As the stone-ranked members shook excitedly upon hearing the rewards, I decided to join in. The deal has struck, now we will fulfill our promises from Lord Phillip.
"With extra credit from your guild members, if you get into trouble with our hands from here on out. I personally vouch for all of you. The title of Town Allure holds a lot of clout you know. And I have a lot of personal connections within the guild as well. You five seem to attract quite a lot of trouble so it's not a bad deal, right?" Philip said in a grinned face
"You're being quite generous. I can't imagine it's worth going that far just for you friend's son."
I lapsed into thought as I listened to Lord Philip pour his heart out. It seems that Lord Philip and Cassius Calico are even closer than I thought then. He tried to look calm, but it's obvious he's really desperate. After all, the longer it took to find them, the greater the likelihood that they had died in the meantime.
The fact that he'd offered such extravagant reward was proof that Lord Phillip was starting to run out of options.
"Well… the one who recommended Cassius take that particular request was me. I was the one that motivates him to become an adventurer. I was the one who also convinced the party to let him join. While it is a rather difficult request, I though he would be fine if he was together with a strong party. He'd never actually fought before, you see…"
As Lord Philip grew more darker and darker, I knew that he was deeply protected by his friends son, even with all means. He didn't give up. Then he continued
"From the start, Cassius was never interested in living a noble's life. He always dreamed of being an adventurer… Sadly, he didn't possess the requisite qualities for one. So I hope that by sending him on a mission together with a strong party, he'd see the dangers adventurers face, and realize he wasn't fit for such life. That he'd give up on becoming an adventurer." Philip said
"Oh, so that's why Cassius wanted to live his life to the fullest" I replied
"I've known the boy for quite some time, you see… that's why I wanted him to see his limits give up, but…"
As Lord Phillip continued his sad and boring story, I started to get tired of making excuses for the members lack of honor, and having the support of an influencer ruler would make Town Allure visits a lot less of a hassle.
After weighing his options, I decided it would be more beneficial to explain my circumstances to Phillip, make sure he wouldn't speak about them to others, and use his influence to deal with any problems that might arise
"Considering how much he seems to care for this Cassius dude, he wouldn't turn on us if we brought back him alive" Plasma muttered
"Plasma, that's a great idea!" I said through my thoughts
As Plasma theory was correct, Lord Phillip will reward us handsomely, as long as the kid is alive. A promotion for gold-rank determines my fate in this world
"We absolutely cannot support you in any potentially criminal endeavors. Your secret from the guild is safe from me. No worries about my petition, I'm the ruler of Town Allure, you know."
"Well, that is usually makes sense… That's fine. As for the reward, we'll take it once we complete the mission. I just have to bring the kid back, right?"
Of course, even Lord Phillip is the ruler of Town Allure, he promised not to say anything, there was no guarantee he'd keep his word from the guild's possession. Eventually their unique traits would become public knowledge, but I decided to keep the guild's secret as long as possible, for not to destroy White's profession.
"Roxy, keep the boy safe would you?"
Whether for good or I'll, I would give Philip closure on the matter that had been tormenting him thus far. Hopefully that would make him feel indebted to me and therefore more likely to keep his mouth shut. Hence why he had decided to claim the guild's reward once the request was complete
"As you said, Roxy, all you need to do is to find any trace of Cassius, regardless of whether he's alive or dread… Barry, Natalie, Ned, Barry, and Roxy. Please find him"
With a serious expression, Lord Phillip bowed his head through the ground. The ruler of Town Allure, lowering his head to an adventurer. Not a sight you saw everyday
The stone-ranked members of Yellow Flower Guild stood up and said casually,
"We will, Lord Phillip!"
They received a token around of funds to get supplies, a letter of invitation to the guild branch to the nearby lake village outside of Town Allure, and documents detailing the request of the previous adventurer party had taken from Philip, including the sightings of Cassius. As all things settled, the group left the balcony.
As the search rescue finally began, it was time to prepare ourselves from finding the lost boy, Cassius Calico, the third son of Calico family and one of the esteemed families of Caria City, that man sure is valuable
First, we need to change our clothes, The group headed to the dressing room of the Flower Manor, there, Several maids including Kiera was waiting inside the room. It was fashion time…
"Greeting Kiera, tell me, where is my all-black clothes, you do wash them, right?"
"Yes, Lady Roxy, here is your blood-stained clothes that I washed last week!"
Kiera's attitude didn't change as always, she is in a moody or more sarcastic expression. She definitely smell the rotten-stench on one of my clothes last week, and since Kiera is the laundry manager of the Manor, she definitely hates my odor.
"Here's your all-black outfit, the odor is fragrant. But I will never forget what you did to me!"
Kiera gave me my folded attire while maintaining its gloomy face, she is definitely upset about me, from what I did to my clothing the other day. But I shrugged a little and immediately changed clothes
As Kiera said it's thing, the rotten odor vanishes and replaced it with a more, elegant smell. There were no signs of blood from my clothes, no tinted red was seen through the mirror, I admired myself and my clothing
"Roxy, back in action!" Plasma said in my thoughts
"Yeah, I heard you. I want to taste some blood now!"
As I was fully clothed, I left the dressing room just to meet my fellow members. Ned, Barry and Carin all equipped with thick and sturdy armor, while wearing a shirt. While Natalie and I wore lightweight armor, enough weight to move freely.
"Ned, did you brought any arrows for me" Natalie said to her brother
"Definitely, Natalie, all of your poison-tipped arrows were placed in this very backpack, a hundred for sure"
Ned carries a fifty-pound backpack along the way, filled with arrows and crossbows from his little sister. While Ned wields a spear that the scabbard was tapes on his back, all of us are ready then
As we were prepared for rescuing the lost boy. The group left the manor and immediately proceeds to the town's gates. We're we been setting off outside of Town Allure
It is the second time since I will be leaving my hometown again. The first time is when my previous party goes out monster hunting all the way to Karama Village, basically a half-day trip to there. It was filled with memories where I began to start my adventuring days.
There, we hopped onto a nearby wagon heading to the southern mountains outside of Town Allure, we payed each of us our tolls and began our mission to find Cassius Calico.
"Now, the real fun begins…"