Helen

The crowd followed the sound to look, only to see a girl of seventeen or eighteen walking toward them on the street not far away. She wore a sun hat, a dress suitable for a noblewoman out on the town, and pristine white gloves. Her short, shoulder-length brown hair bobbed as she moved; from a distance, she certainly looked the part of a young noble lady.

Unfortunately, the dress failed to flatter her figure—or rather, her figure was simply too "plump" for the garment. Her body, bulging like a round water barrel, strained against the fabric, making her look somewhat ridiculous. The fat beneath her chin wobbled with every movement, appearing particularly conspicuous.

The man in the fine clothes from earlier was drenched in sweat, trotting behind the girl while whispering something. As for the two attendants, they followed at the very back, dejected and crestfallen, with two distinct red palm prints visible on their faces.

"Which bastard dared to snatch this young lady's carriage?"

The girl stopped before the three of them, puffed out her chest, and glared with wide eyes, shouting breathlessly. However, she clearly had no intention of waiting for an answer, instead tilting her head to look directly at the coachman.

"Don't you dare start! Don't you dare take these people away, do you hear me! This is my order!"

"How can you be like this!"

Hearing this, Lize could no longer hold back.

"This is a carriage we rented, how can you..."

"Shut up! What kind of thing are you to speak to me like that!"

The girl let out an angry shout, cutting Lize off. She then placed one hand on her hip and pointed at the three of them with the other.

"You lot just wait! You fat pig, dead woman, sissy! You dared to provoke our family; consider yourselves cursed for eight lifetimes. Watch how I..."

The girl did not finish her sentence, for at that moment, Rhode suddenly raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

"...!!!"

No sound could escape the girl's wide-open mouth. She stared with bulging eyes, clutching her throat with both hands. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, and her once-ruddy complexion began to turn pale.

On Rhode's shoulder, the Soul Bird was staring fixedly at her, a faint magical radiance emanating from its eyes.

"Young Miss! Young Miss, what's wrong! Young Miss!!"

The man beside her saw the girl's state and rushed over in a panic, but before he could get close, he slammed into what felt like an invisible wall and fell to the ground.

"...!!...!!"

The girl's body began to tremble, her limbs flailing wildly. Her mouth stretched wider and wider, and her eyes seemed ready to pop out of their sockets and roll onto the ground.

"Rh-Rhode-san?"

Watching the girl, Lize felt uneasy. Although she didn't know what was happening, she could guess that it had something to do with Rhode.

In truth, Rhode hadn't done much, nor could he have. As a creature formed from wind elements, the Soul Bird possessed a certain degree of control over air currents. All Rhode had done was seal off the air around her. This might have been difficult against seasoned adventurers, but against an ordinary person with no power whatsoever, it was effortless.

"...!!!"

Just as the girl was trembling all over and on the verge of rolling her eyes back, Rhode pressed his right hand downward. The Soul Bird retracted its gaze at the perfect moment.

"Puh-ah!!"

Only then did the girl collapse to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. Her face was ashen, and she gasped for air, unable to recover for a long while.

"Yo-Young Miss! Are you alright!"

The man in the fine clothes rushed over, secretly feeling fortunate that he hadn't clashed with this young man earlier. If he had snapped his fingers at him, he probably wouldn't even know how he died!

"Cough... cough cough..."

Sitting on the ground, the girl finally caught her breath after a long time. She raised her head and pointed a trembling finger at Rhode.

"You, what are you doing? Ben! Kill him! Quickly, kill him! Hurry..."

Regrettably, the girl was destined not to finish this sentence, for at that moment, the Soul Bird on Rhode's shoulder looked at her once more. The girl's face turned pale again, and she writhed on the ground, unable to make a single sound.

"I beg you, I beg you to let her go, my lord! Young Miss Helen is young and ignorant, please do not hold it against her..."

"I prefer things to be a bit quieter."

Faced with the man's plea, Rhode said only this before turning around and boarding the carriage. Lize glanced at the girl, who was once again lying on the ground gasping for air, with a troubled expression. After a moment of hesitation, she followed Rhode inside. Only Mace cast a gloating look at the woman, humming a little tune as he climbed into the carriage at his leisure.

"Rhode-san, this isn't very good, is it?"

Lize asked uneasily, a look of worry on her face. It wasn't that she was angry at the woman's earlier rudeness; having been a mercenary for quite some time, she had seen all sorts of people from all over the world—those who looked down on them, harassed them, or teased them. At first, Lize had been quite angry, but over the years, she had learned how to deal with such people.

"I heard they are from Deepstone City. It will be very troublesome if we provoke these nobles."

"That's where you're wrong, Lize-san."

Mace chimed in from the side, scoffing dismissively.

"What kind of person is Rhode-san? He doesn't need to pay any mind to these third-rate minor nobles. Come to think of it, Rhode-san, that woman is so ill-mannered, we should just ignore them."

"Wait a little longer."

Rhode glanced at the sky outside the window.

"We leave when the time comes. Whether they come or not is their business, it has nothing to do with me. But since I already agreed, I will not go back on my word."

Hearing this, Mace couldn't say anything more and turned away, muttering complaints like "I hope they never come." It seemed his resentment was quite deep.

A few minutes later, the carriage door finally opened again. The plump young lady from before appeared at the entrance. She looked pale and cast a fearful glance at Rhode, who was leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed, before biting her lower lip. To be honest, she really didn't want to get in, especially after her attendant Ben told her that this young man was not weak and could even kill them all. The plump girl's heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She wanted nothing more than to flee from this demon, to run as far away as possible...

But the thought of her father returning in three days forced her to submit. After all, there were no extra carriages in this small village, and it took two days to travel from here to Deepstone City. If she missed this carriage, her secret excursion would surely be discovered. If her father found out she had snuck out to play, a scolding was inevitable, and there might be even worse consequences. After much deliberation, her father's authority ultimately outweighed her inner fear, so she had to bite the bullet and board the carriage.

Poor plump girl, she had been pampered her whole life and had never encountered such a situation. She wanted to speak, but felt it would be a loss of face. If she didn't speak and just sat there in the carriage, that would also be a loss of face. However, she opened her mouth for a long time but dared not utter a single word; she looked truly pitiful.

Mace, on the other hand, chuckled inwardly at the plump girl's miserable expression. Merchants and nobles were never on the same path; although they often had business dealings, they secretly looked down on each other. Nobles thought merchants were full of the stench of copper and had nothing but money, while merchants thought most nobles were just idle people putting on airs. Now that he had finally encountered such a foolish woman, if not for Rhode's presence, Mace would have loved to throw some sarcasm her way to see if he could goad her into jumping out of the carriage—that would have been even more interesting.

"Hello, my name is Lize Noel. May I ask what your name is, miss?"

Lize noticed the awkward atmosphere inside the carriage and felt compelled to break the ice. She had done this sort of thing plenty of times before, and compared to dealing with lecherous little nobles, a chubby young lady was far more adorable.

"I—I am Helen Keller."

Helen's voice was barely audible when she spoke. She cast a fearful, furtive glance at Rhode, terrified that he might get annoyed and use that "evil magic" from earlier to leave her half-dead again. Helen had never experienced anything like this; she had truly believed she was going to die, and twice at that...

Did she use the wrong word?

"Helen Keller?"

Hearing this name, Lize paused, as if recalling something.

"Are you from the Keller Family that controls the Naland Mine?"

"Yes, yes! You know us?"

Hearing this, Helen immediately grew excited. She wanted to say more, but the moment she caught sight of Rhode nearby, she instinctively lowered her voice again.

"Yes, our mercenary group's base is also in Deepstone City. I have heard of the Keller Family's reputation. I heard you started with ore and, in just over a decade, became one of the most prominent mining families in Deepstone City."

"That's only natural. My father is amazing."

A woman's mood is like the weather in June—it changes in an instant. Once the topic turned to her father, Helen began to chat with Lize incessantly, completely shedding her earlier restraint and nervousness. Although she still instinctively snuck glances at Rhode from time to time, she was doing much better than when she first boarded the carriage, looking like a piece of human cargo about to be trafficked.

Rhode and Mace were, of course, uninterested in the conversation between the two girls, but at this moment, they exchanged a look of surprise, seeing the astonishment in each other's eyes.

The reason was simple: Lize was actually managing to hold a conversation with Helen!

Don't let the simplicity of chatting fool you; it's actually a technical skill. You need topics, the ability to pique someone's interest, the knack for making others open up, and the social grace to ensure both parties enjoy themselves. It isn't easy. Rhode had seen many women who looked beautiful, standing there like saints, but the moment they opened their mouths, they would stutter, have nothing to say, or simply not know how to talk. In the end, a pretty face was useless; they would reveal their shortcomings the moment they spoke. Or, there would be a mismatch in expertise, and no common ground could be found to sustain a conversation.

Of course, there were many glib-tongued mercenaries who could strike up a conversation with nobles, but no matter how engaging they were, the nobles usually maintained a condescending, "listening to a story" attitude. This was because many of the topics they discussed had nothing to do with the lives of the nobility. It was like a regular employee discussing celebrity gossip with a company director; the employee might be talking with great relish, only to find out later that the celebrity was currently lying in their boss's bed. The reverse was also true—while a boss might be interested in an employee discussing a discount on goods, they wouldn't really care; after all, they would buy it regardless of the price, so why bother with such small change?

The gap between classes was roughly like that; topics that interested mercenaries didn't necessarily interest nobles.

But now, seeing Lize actually discussing the trivialities of a noblewoman's daily life with Helen was quite intriguing. This girl was a mercenary; by all logic, she shouldn't have been able to attend the social gatherings, balls, or tea parties of noblewomen. Yet, seeing her talk so happily about "rose tea" with Helen...

Rhode frowned. Could Lize's background be more complex than it seemed?

Then again, on the Dragon Soul Continent, most of the Angel class belonged to the upper echelons, so the status of a half-angel shouldn't be too low either.

But if her status really wasn't low, why would she become a mercenary? That didn't make sense.

Thinking of this, Rhode looked at Lize beside him, suddenly feeling an urge to get to the bottom of it.