Side story: Serie's instructions I

"You're that Galan?"

Before the captain could even speak, Pass stood up first and challenged Galan.

The moment he saw the other person, his face was filled with disdain:

Compared to his own strong muscles, Galan looked like a freshly plucked, boiled chicken, with almost no visible advantage in physical fitness.

The captain had just said this guy was a warrior.

"Yes... right."

Galan, who had initially felt fortunate to have found his group after hearing their commotion, suddenly sensed something was amiss. These people... didn't seem very welcoming...

Looking at their unfriendly behavior and indifferent eyes, he couldn't help but recall the times when he and Glenn teamed up everywhere. Wherever they went, they would receive a warm welcome, which was a stark contrast to the cold reaction of these people now.

Did I join the wrong team?

"Yes, you've got the wrong person. Goodbye!"

The red-haired man stood with his arms crossed, looking sullen. Galan wondered what he had done to warrant such a strong reaction. This was their first meeting, wasn't it? This was utterly inexplicable.

"Pass, stop messing around... Galan, so you're the one who wants to join our team, right?"

That's the case as far as I know.

Finally, someone who could speak normally arrived. Looking at the group's bitter, resentful expressions, Galan felt a surge of anger. "It's not like I wanted to do this! If you have any complaints, talk to Serie! Why are you arguing with me?"

If you can convince her to let me leave your group, I'll have to thank you properly.

I'm Captain Clinton. Since you want to join our team... why did you bring someone with you?

Clinton extended his hand and shook hands with Galan as a friendly gesture, then pointed to Lia beside Galan, looking quite puzzled.

"We're not going sightseeing; we're here to conquer the Dungeon. Why did you bring such a child with you?"

A kid? Are you kidding me? All of us combined probably aren't even as old as her!

Galan shook his head. Although he had thought so at first, since he had already promised Lia... and since he was already here, it was just a matter of bringing one more person.

"Well... anyway, I promised her I'd bring her along. It's just one more person, it won't get in the way..."

"It's alright?"

Upon hearing Galan's words, Pass, who had just sat down, stood up again and glared angrily at Galan.

"Kid, I don't care who you are, we're all about ability in this line of work. You're already a burden to us, do you want to add another piece of trash to our team? What do you take us for?"

His voice was so loud that it drowned out the noise of the people around him, drawing the attention of many groups who were wondering what was going on.

"Pass, don't do this!"

Clinton clearly felt that what he said was a bit too much, so he quickly stepped forward and grabbed the other man's clothes, trying to stop him from escalating the situation further and prevent it from getting out of control.

This guy... I knew he'd cause trouble.

Although I was quite disgusted by the other party's indifferent attitude and behavior, since we had already lost the ability to compete with other teams in this operation, it really didn't matter if the other party brought one person along.

As long as we can bring them back safely, that's all that matters.

But Pass had no time to listen to his captain. He shook off his hand, took two steps forward, and stood in front of Galan.

"Kid, if you know what's good for you, don't cause us any more trouble. I can tolerate you alone, but if we have to bring on another burden, whether Captain Guan agrees or not, I'll be the first to object!"

His tone was firm, indicating that he was absolutely not going to budge on the idea of Lia going with them.

Seeing the current situation, Lia looked somewhat flustered, feeling that it was her fault that Galan was being targeted by everyone.

"Galan... I'm sorry... I'll stay in the city and wait for you."

She tugged at Galan's sleeve, clearly not intending for him to remain the target of everyone's criticism.

"It's alright, I'm here, they can't drive you away."

Seeing their aggressive attitude, Galan was also getting annoyed. What were these guys up to? Did they really think he wanted to come here?

If it weren't for Serie's threat, I wouldn't want to get involved in this...

He constantly uses terms like "useless" and "burden."

You think too highly of yourself!

"First of all, I haven't offended any of you. Secondly, joining your team wasn't my choice, so don't come looking for trouble with me if there are any problems. Finally, I said I'd take her with me, and I definitely will. What do I care if you agree or not?"

Galan couldn't take it anymore. Being verbally attacked right from the start was already outrageous enough, but now the other party was even trying to drag Lia into it. Did they think he was easy to bully?

His answer was undoubtedly the fuse that ignited the conflict, making Pass completely furious.

"What do you mean by this? Want to fight? Come on, kid!"

The surrounding crowd began to stir, and more and more people gathered around, wanting to see what kind of conflict had occurred in this elite adventurer team. Seeing the current situation, Clinton's face was extremely ugly. Pass, although he was a very calm person when fighting, was completely an idiot when it came to this kind of social matter.

I must have mentioned that the other party was sent by the association, right? Yet he still disregarded everything and let things escalate to this point.

They've even attracted so much attention; how are they supposed to survive in [Äußerst] now?

"Pass, stop right now!"

Clinton finally lost his temper. Although he was usually very good-tempered and always had a smile on his face, appearing to be a gentleman, he knew that he could no longer let his players continue to act recklessly in the face of the current situation.

"But Captain..."

"No buts! Apologize to Galan right now!"

What?! You want me to apologize to him?

"Give this piece of trash who could only get into our team through connections?"

Seemingly very dissatisfied with Clinton's actions, Pass refused to obey his orders and loudly revealed in front of so many people how Galan had entered, causing the latter to roll his eyes and almost faint from anger.

How could this guy be so brainless?

Are we really going to ruin several people's livelihoods?