Reliable Teammates

T-Tail!?

Only then did Elaine see clearly that a huge furry tail covered in black spots was trailing behind Celine!

She was actually a beast-turned Orc? What beast's Bloodline was she...

Lynn, meanwhile, quietly put a little more distance between himself and Celine.

His feelings were very close to Elaine's. After all, since crossing over, aside from Celine deliberately visiting him once at the Iris Inn, he himself had barely spent any time with these three teammates.

According to the original owner's memories, these three had known his father for a long time. After his mother died young and his father passed away from illness, the original owner had taken a handwritten letter from his father and traveled a thousand miles to Colin Town to find them.

In other words, all three of them were his elders...

Seeing Lynn lower his head without speaking, a hint of amusement surfaced in Celine's eyes. This kid really can't take teasing.

She bent down and picked up the long spear weapon leaning against the side of the stool, then said in a lazy voice, "Follow me. I'll take you to find those two."

The Gambler Tavern was even larger than Lynn had imagined. Celine led them around the noisy crowd of drinkers and slipped through an inconspicuous little door on the right, one hung with a thick cotton curtain.

The racket of bragging and urging people to drink instantly changed into another atmosphere, the clatter of dice shaking mixed with laughter and curses.

It was a small casino.

Dice, cards, roulette... People with obsessed faces clutched chips in their hands, crowding before all kinds of tables, the purses of loose change at their waists completely unguarded.

Just then, a nimble halfling was roaming through the crowd. His expression was entirely different from the addicted gamblers', his gaze falling now and then on the pockets of their clothes.

Finally, he fixed his sights on a middle-aged man whose full attention was focused on the "Rat Fighting Game" before him. While that man stared deathly hard at the gray rat he had bet on as it pounced and bit at the opposing rat, the halfling reached toward his coat pocket.

Smack.

A hand with bright red-painted nails seized his wrist, its strength astonishingly great.

Blue veins bulged on the halfling's forehead. He turned his head, just about to curse, only to see that charming, amorous face.

"Celine? If you're not drinking your booze properly, why come catch me?"

Then this short fellow, whose looks hovered somewhere between mature and youthful and whose eyebrows were astonishingly thick, saw Lynn and Elaine behind Celine.

A pleasantly surprised smile immediately spread across his face. In the blink of an eye, he broke free from Celine's grip and swiftly rushed up to Lynn.

"You brat, you finally recovered? If you hadn't gotten up soon, I was about to forget what you looked like!"

He spoke warmly to Lynn. He had wanted to imitate long-bodied folk and reach out to pat his teammate on the shoulder, but his height seriously limited him, so he could only withdraw his hand awkwardly.

Lynn smiled and nodded. "Liam, long time no see. Did you lose all your money again? How come you've started stea—"

Before he could get the word "stealing" out, Liam raised a forefinger to his lips and gave a fierce "shh."

Then he leaned closer to Lynn and whispered, "Don't mention that word in a casino, or they'll all suspect me!"

As a halfling and a rogue, if anyone lost something in a place, he was definitely the prime suspect.

Though he was not innocent.

Lynn did not want to dwell on the topic either. He gestured toward Elaine with his palm and introduced her:

"We've got a big job. This is the client. We'll talk details once everyone's here."

Then he swept his gaze around, trying to find the third teammate.

Liam reminded him, "Ulshi isn't here," then pointed behind him. "He's in another room."

There was more? Lynn was speechless. The range of services this tavern offered was really quite broad...

They passed through another small door. This time, the experience was completely different. Inside the door, it was astonishingly quiet.

But the air was filthy, like a sealed smoking room, with smoke curling through the dim yellow light.

"That's the smell of Laman Grass..." Lynn heard Elaine mutter softly.

As they walked, the beast-turned Orc Celine waved her leopard tail. Hearing this, she lowered her head and teased, "Oh, so the young lady knows how to enjoy herself."

"No, I don't," Elaine hurriedly defended herself. "It was at some social occasions. I saw them gather together to smoke it..."

Lynn naturally understood that the so-called social occasions she spoke of were all high-end noble gatherings.

It seemed that no matter what class people belonged to, they all had a fallen side.

But at this moment, he felt puzzled. According to his memories, the last teammate, Ulshi, was not some addict.

On the contrary, in his impression, Ulshi had an aloof personality and was extremely rational and restrained.

The pungent gas released after large amounts of Laman Grass were burned gathered into an inescapable thick fog.

Fortunately, aside from its sharp smell, this gas was not addictive. Instead, it was the gray-white powder left after it burned that could plunge the user into intense hallucinations.

As far as Lynn knew, among some mages, it was even popular to use the hallucinations of Laman Grass as a substitute for meditative practice.

As for how effective that was, he had no idea.

Passing through layer after layer of dense fog, the four finally reached the deepest part. Then they saw a figure sitting upright in the corner.

A middle-aged man with pale skin and deeply etched features. When he saw the four of them, there was still a twisted smile on his face that had yet to fully fade.

And... Elaine blinked. Had she just seen horns on this man's forehead, there and gone in an instant?

Elaine felt uneasy, but a mage's excellent memory told her they had indeed been horns, a pair of exaggerated horns that absolutely did not belong to any normal creature.

Could this person be an evil demon? Or was he a demonkin tainted by an evil demon?

If it was the former, she already wanted to run.

"Don't worry," Lynn noticed Elaine's strangeness and explained to her in a low voice. "Ulshi is human, and he's a pretty decent person."

Only then did Ulshi stand up, as if somewhat displeased that they had disturbed him. "You came all the way here to find me. Is there something urgent?"

Celine stepped forward and stroked Ulshi's arm with one hand. "What, can't we come find you if it isn't urgent?"

The halfling Liam was choked by the thick smoke and coughed a few times before saying to him, "This place is far too depraved. Only you would always like staying in a place like this for no reason!"

Expressionless, Ulshi said, "One of you is a lecherous drunkard, and the other is a thieving gambler. You have the nerve to call my place depraved?"

Liam's thick skin blocked his mockery, and he turned his head to point at Lynn and Elaine. "Have they finished their recent training? It's about time we went on a mission, right? Or are you saying Silaman Grass smoke can be addictive too?"

Dew Street, in the home rented by Celine and the other two.

In the spacious living room, several people sat around the long table.

Liam carried a steaming plate of food out from the kitchen oven.

"Here it comes, my specialty dish, 'Dream Dragon Fish Pie'!"

When Lynn's gaze fell on the plate, his face nearly turned green.

On the huge pie crust baked crisp and golden, more than a dozen salted fish heads stared up at him, dead with eyes unclosed.

Wasn't this that "stargazy pie" produced by some ocean nation in his previous life?!

Before he could recover from the shock of meeting dark cuisine again, Celine had already reached out, grabbed two salted fish heads, and started crunching them down.

Did all felines like eating fish this much?

Lynn stared blankly at Celine eating and felt a faint ache in his stomach. Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of the pale-faced Ulshi staring straight at him, the corners of his mouth twisting slightly.

Uh, this guy Ulshi did like negative emotions, saying they could help his cultivation...

Could he even like stomachaches?

"All right, all right." Liam took off his apron and said loudly, "It's been a long time since our squad gathered together so neatly. I heard that not only has Lynn fully recovered this time, he's also brought us a big commission!"

As he spoke, he looked at Lynn, signaling for him to take over.

Lynn sat up a little straighter and said in a calm tone:

"Everyone, first, I would like to introduce our client for this commission, Miss Elaine Frey!"