Not a single silver coin less

There was no limit! Those were staggering words. That meant every goblin was a walking silver coin. Even for second-rank adventurers, that was no small temptation. A hundred goblins equaled one gold coin.

There might not be enough goblins for all these adventurers to share, but everyone could at least earn a little spending money.

"It's time for you to set out on an adventure. Go, adventurers of Blue Town!" Rukta swept his arm out, his powerful voice carrying to everyone in the Guild hall.

"ROAR!!! WOOHOO!!! AHHHH!!!"

In an instant, the entire adventurers' hall erupted. In less than ten seconds, every adventurer had cleared out except the four members of Kana's Squad.

It wasn't that they didn't want to hunt goblins. Guildmaster Rukta had asked all four of them to stay, along with counter supervisor Yue Sisi, hall supervisor Guligus, and the plump, middle-aged swindler.

The plump swindler sighed in relief when he saw that the four-person squad hadn't left. Merchants like him feared unreasonable adventurers, especially those who simply walked away. Those adventurers were their worst nightmare, because merchants had very few ways of dealing with them.

"All right, now it's quiet." Rukta sighed. There had been too many people earlier, and they were far too easily swayed by Guligus.

After all, getting rid of a squad with a level-five honor rating was good news for any other team. Every level-five honor squad was formidable competition.

So all those adventurers had essentially just been stirring up trouble. Even if they realized Guligus was a dangerous threat, dealing with him still came second to getting rid of a squad with a level-five honor rating.

"All right. Now it's time for me, as Guildmaster, to make the final judgment!" Rukta looked at Kana. "What do you think, Miss Kana?" As he spoke, he lowered his head slightly.

It was only a slight bow of his head, but it still showed that Kana's status was anything but ordinary. Of course, Rukta knew nothing of her true identity. Otherwise, he would have done far more than merely lower his head.

"You're the Guildmaster, so naturally, you should decide. It isn't my place to interfere!" Kana shook her head. She didn't want to draw too much attention to herself.

"Understood!" Rukta had a fair idea of what Kana meant and smoothly took charge of the situation. At least, that was how he saw it.

To everyone else in the hall, leaving the matter to the Guildmaster was the proper choice, while Kana seemed more like a younger woman of considerable standing.

Guligus sensed that things were going wrong. Apparently, the Guildmaster was clearly siding with Kana's Squad. That alone wouldn't have mattered, but now Yue Sisi, the counter supervisor, was plainly inseparable from them.

And the person he feared was precisely Yue Sisi, the woman who was about to rise above him. In an instant, Guligus's mood turned foul.

He had intended to use this opportunity to cause Yue Sisi some trouble and delay her promotion above him. Then he could find a way to lower her rank in the Adventurers' Guild—or kick her out altogether.

But now his little scheme was about to fall apart. Who could have known that the Guildmaster, who hardly ever involved himself in anything, would suddenly meddle—and happen to interfere with the very thing he was trying to do?

As for the plump swindler, he was still lost in fantasies of recovering most of his silver coins. After all, twenty silver coins were at stake. Even if that wasn't a particularly large sum, he still wanted to pay out as little as possible. Besides, he now held the key to the matter, with reason and evidence on his side.

So the swindler was much more optimistic than hall supervisor Guligus. He even thought the Guildmaster had come to uphold his so-called justice.

"Hall supervisor Guligus, I've learned what happened. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that Kana's Squad completed the bounty mission perfectly. On top of that, they brought back even more important intelligence for Blue Town!" Guildmaster Rukta didn't mince words.

He spared the hall supervisor no dignity whatsoever. "You've disappointed me greatly in this matter, Guligus. From this moment on, you are no longer the hall supervisor of Blue Town's Adventurers' Guild, nor are you a member of the Adventurers' Guild. You can get out!" Rukta barked the final words.

Get out!

Those words alone frightened the old man into stumbling back several steps. "No! Even if you're the Guildmaster, you can't dismiss me so easily! I won't accept this! Rukta, do you know who's backing me? Have you really thought through firing me?"

A hint of madness crept into Guligus's eyes. How could he accept this sudden reversal of right and wrong?

"It's precisely because I'm the Guildmaster that I can dismiss you. And don't even think about getting your pension," Rukta said expressionlessly, as though he no longer wanted to waste even an expression on the old man.

Yue Sisi had been too furious to speak just moments earlier, but now she was positively beaming. She didn't know why the Guildmaster had suddenly made this decision, but the outcome was certainly a good one.

Perhaps this little boy brought me good luck! With that thought, Yue Sisi cast Dean an intrigued, flirtatious wink.

Dean had never expected Mousse's older sister to do something like that. He stood rooted to the spot, unsure how to react, and finally did nothing at all, pretending he hadn't noticed.

"Dean, my little mage, what did you do to her?" Kana's cold voice suddenly rang out, carrying a trace of annoyance. Of course she had seen it too. Standing where she could see exactly what Dean saw, she couldn't have had a clearer view.

Lamore, meanwhile, looked thoroughly impressed. He said nothing, but Dean, Kana, and Yanxi could more or less guess what he was thinking.

"You rascal, when did you get so good at this? When did you chat her up? Your moves are even better than mine!" Those were probably the words Lamore was about to say. All three of them could feel it coming.

Lamore suddenly felt awkward. The other three were looking at him strangely, making him feel as though he were the odd one. He only had a few little questions for Dean. This just wasn't the best occasion to ask them.

"Shh, is this really the time for that? Let's see how much of our bounty reward we can get back. Every extra silver coin counts!" Dean hurriedly changed the subject. Thankfully, it worked beautifully. As soon as the other three heard that their silver coins were at stake, each paid closer attention than the last.

"Dean, once this is over, we'll have a nice, long chat about that pretty older girl. That pretty older girl!" Just as Dean breathed a sigh of relief, Kana suddenly leaned close to his ear and whispered with a wicked smile.

(End of chapter)