Another Party

"Uncle Glenn, don't tease me like that!"

Theresia blushed and let out a protesting voice, seeming very unused to being joked with like that, and the roots of her ears turned a bright rosy red.

"Sorry, he's actually just like that, looking all honest and simple on the outside but full of more tricks than anyone else, serves him right for getting poisoned by the demon."

Seeing the girl was actually this innocent, Galan was somewhat surprised and took the initiative to chime in.

"Hey, you brat, you're not even grateful!"

Glenn shook his head, wearing an expression of disappointment in him.

Hearing Galan's words, and looking at the two of them acting like they despised each other, Theresia was amused for a moment and let out a snort of laughter.

She really is easy to coax... At least easier to coax than Lia.

Watching the softly smiling girl, Galan couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion.

He remembered there was once when he accidentally knocked over a dish Lia had carefully prepared, and as a result she stayed gloomy the whole day without recovering, leaving Galan with no idea what to do.

"This is Mr. Reno, although it's our first time cooperating, he's also a very excellent priest."

Galan looked along Glenn's hand, and the man called Reno was squinting at this moment, looking at him with a smile.

"Hello, Mr. Galan."

He took the initiative to extend his hand, looking very approachable.

"You know me?"

Galan was somewhat surprised, wondering why the other person could call out his name the very first time they met.

Seeing the other party's friendly gesture, he couldn't bring himself to refuse either, and extended his hand to shake his.

"Apothecary Galan, I've heard a lot about you, how many people in Rogley haven't heard of your name."

Reno still wore a smile, and his answer left Galan with nothing to dispute.

Yet for some reason, Galan always felt something was strange.

"So this is Mr. Galan!"

Theresia cried out in pleasant surprise, and the look she directed at Galan held a bit more admiration.

"Why would Mr. Galan come to participate in this subjugation request? Could it be that there are medicinal herbs you need in that Windmill Village?"

Seeing the young girl's eyes shining, Galan hadn't expected his "star effect" to be so exaggerated, that a little girl could be this excited, and immediately couldn't help smiling foolishly.

"Hmph!"

Looking at his pathetic appearance, Glenn let out a huff as if out of spite.

However, Glenn didn't seem to have disclosed to them the fact that he was a warrior, which made Theresia somewhat worried...

Galan pondered, not knowing how to explain.

Since he was here for training anyway, he would inevitably have to make a move when the time came, so rather than fabricating a bunch of lies, it was better to speak a half-truth or two.

No... letting a young girl worry about his safety was indefensible no matter what...

"Don't look at me like this, I've trained as a warrior alongside Glenn, you know."

Galan pounded his chest in a showman-like manner, seemingly wanting to display the fruits of his training.

"Pfft—then when we get to Windmill Village, Mr. Galan must be careful, if anything happens I can help too—oh, Grandma was able to recover smoothly precisely because she took the medicine you prescribed, thank you so much Mr. Galan."

Theresia stood up and bowed toward him.

So that's how it was, no wonder this girl had such a favorable impression of him after learning his identity.

He scratched his head.

"Still, you don't have to address me as 'Mr.', actually I'm only a few years older than you, just call me Galan."

"Oh oh, okay, Ga...lan?"

She stuck out her tongue, looking like she still wasn't very accustomed to this form of address.

"Ahem!!!"

Glenn put on a serious expression, coughed heavily a few times, and interrupted their conversation.

"Stop flirting, the people cooperating with us have arrived, it's time to talk business."

At this moment, standing behind him were the four people who had originally been sitting at the nearby table.

At the lead was a middle-aged man with a deep knife scar over his left eye, a long saber belted at his waist, and an eerie light flickering within his sole remaining right eye.

"This is Sith, the captain of this cooperative party."

Glenn introduced him to everyone.

The man named Sith merely swept a cold gaze over Galan and the others without speaking, his eyes lingering on Galan for a moment, and then he unexpectedly turned and walked away.

Yet Galan noticed that the moment he turned, his gaze gave Reno an imperceptible glance. He turned his head to look at Reno and found the other man was also looking at him.

After their eyes met, Reno flashed that polite smile again.

"Eh? What does this mean, aren't you planning to discuss the subjugation plan with us?"

The other party's initial move left Glenn somewhat bewildered.

Even though this Sith had a deadpan look about him before, this kind of action was still going too far.

The meaning conveyed was as if they looked down on this squad completely, treating them merely as fillers to meet the commission requirements.

"Don't mind it too much, our captain is just like that... he looks down on mob characters."

The bewitching woman holding a magic staff covered her mouth with a chuckle, looked at Theresia with a provocative look in her eyes, and put on a nauseated expression, causing Theresia to furrow her brows involuntarily.

Clearly she had never seen this woman before, nor had she provoked her in any way...

Seeing that the captain had already walked far ahead, the three team members didn't linger either, trotting up to follow him one after another, and walked straight out the doors of the Adventurers Guild.

Before going out, one of the yellow-haired sword-wielding youths did not forget to look back and make a grimace at the group.

"We're leaving first, don't drag us down, you newbies—"

Hearing a youth say such a thing, coupled with that team's exceptionally foul attitude, even with Glenn's good temper he grew somewhat angry.

"What's wrong with these guys? Are adventurers nowadays all this devoid of basic decency... Damn it! When I was out making my living, they didn't even know whose milk they were drinking!"

Seeing that the other side not only departed directly like that, but also came over to make an appearance just to put down this cooperative party, Galan's heart felt somewhat perplexed as well.

He always felt these people were strange, especially that Sith, whose uncontainable murderous aura really didn't look like something that belonged on an adventurer. If he had to find a word to describe it...

"Glenn."

"Hm?"

Glenn, who had been grumbling, stopped, and Galan looked at him, slowly opening his mouth to speak:

"Did you know them beforehand?"

"No."

He spread his hands and said speechlessly,

"It's just that the condition for this quest is that it takes two parties to accept the commission, and they happened to be waiting for another party, so I temporarily called you guys, along with Reno who volunteered to join the party... If I'd known they were such a bunch of birdbrains, I wouldn't have taken this job!"

Galan silently watched their retreating backs, a myriad of thoughts swirling in his mind.

"Forget it,"

Glenn gave a big wave of his hand and sat down irritably in his seat.

"Let them be, we just need to do our own job well. Since they think we're a mob, we'll let them go take the vanguard, and we'll set off later."

"Is this really okay, we don't even have a shred of intelligence right now, didn't the guild provide related information?"

"No."

Glenn shook his head,

"The village fell the day before yesterday, there probably isn't a single survivor, after all this matter was discovered by a passing merchant caravan and only then spread here... Hey! Bring me a drink!"