Playing along

An Kai had once envied Reed immensely. The man could stumble across a valuable, down-and-out noble just by going out.

At this moment, An Kai's envy of Reed vanished.

Because he had picked up a princess!

He had no idea how much Sally Bukelin would fetch at the Bounty Tower.

But one thing was certain: it would be an absolute fortune!

He had heard Hanks mention that anyone who got hold of the Five Princesses of Bukelin and handed them over to the Bounty Tower would be set for life!

Of course, that was assuming the person before him really was the Fifth Princess of the Bukelin Duchy!

"You say you're the Fifth Princess of the Bukelin Duchy? How can you prove it?"

An Kai asked cautiously.

He didn't want the woman at the Bounty Tower to look at him with the same disdain she had shown Polpi of the Mountainbreaker Gang.

Because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to resist slapping her to death...

Sally Bukelin heard An Kai's response.

She let out a long sigh of relief inwardly.

At the same time, she began to form a few guesses about An Kai's identity.

An Kai probably wasn't an assassin sent by her four dear brothers.

Instead, he was someone who already lived in the Desert.

She could only blame her rotten luck. She had finally found an oasis, only to encounter this monster here!

A monstrous mage who could instantly cast an enormous Fireball!

Having figured out the situation, Sally Bukelin reached toward her waist, pretending to unfasten something when she was actually disguising the act of taking something from her Storage Ring.

Unfortunately, An Kai sensed the fluctuations from the Storage Ring perfectly.

That had a great deal to do with the level of his [Meditation].

The magical fluctuations flashed and vanished. An Kai pretended not to notice and didn't expose her.

But in his mind, he was already ninety-five percent certain of Sally Bukelin's identity.

Only one last question remained. Sally Bukelin was a prodigy of the Bukelin Duchy who had become a Third-Tier Mage at an early age, so why was she now weaker than an ordinary person?

Until he cleared that up, An Kai wouldn't act rashly.

For instance, even now, he kept more than two meters between himself and Sally Bukelin.

When Sally Bukelin took out proof of her identity, An Kai gestured for her to toss it to him rather than stepping forward to take it.

[Fifth Princess of the Bukelin Duchy Medallion]

[Notice: A medallion crafted from three gold coins.]

Holding the medallion Sally Bukelin had tossed over, he saw its system notification appear before his eyes.

Only then did An Kai relax.

Confirmed. She really was his source of resources!

He immediately changed his tune. "So you really are Her Highness! I'm a citizen of the Bukelin Duchy too!"

"I was terribly saddened by His Majesty's passing as well... Ah!"

"Your Highness, what happened to you? How did you end up in such dire straits?"

One second, An Kai had been cold and aloof.

The next, he was so enthusiastic that Sally Bukelin didn't know how to react.

It wasn't that An Kai had suddenly become a lovesick bootlicker. He simply knew that, at the Bounty Tower, the Five Princesses of Bukelin were worth many times more alive than dead!

An Kai was afraid that acting too coldly would drive Sally Bukelin to despair, leading her to kill herself or something of the sort.

If that happened, he would suffer a huge loss!

So if changing his expression a few times could earn him a wealth of resources, An Kai considered it worthwhile.

His sudden change in attitude stunned Sally Bukelin.

If An Kai hadn't stayed rooted to the spot and pocketed her medallion without any intention of returning it, she might really have believed every word.

Although she didn't know why An Kai's attitude had changed so drastically, Sally Bukelin couldn't help feeling relieved...

I survived!

Next, I need to figure out how to use this man to help me escape my predicament...

Indeed, the death of the [Typhon Giant] had left Sally Bukelin in urgent need of a new protector.

And An Kai, who had killed the [Typhon Giant], was the best candidate in Sally Bukelin's mind.

Sally Bukelin was very confident in her ability to handle someone who lived in the Desert!

At that thought, Sally Bukelin's expression abruptly changed. She put on a fragile look and began explaining her experiences in a soft voice.

As she recounted her story, she occasionally let out a few sobs, prompting repeated words of comfort from An Kai.

Sally Bukelin looked so pitiful that anyone who heard her would feel heartbroken, and anyone who saw her would shed tears.

Unfortunately, the audience for her performance was a man wholly intent on selling her for resources.

Every display of concern was merely An Kai playing along to keep Sally Bukelin from thinking about suicide...

Ten minutes later.

Sally Bukelin finished recounting her tragic experiences in fits and starts.

It amounted to little more than her being on the side of justice, framed by her evil brothers, stripped of all her mana, and left too weak to hurt a fly.

She had been forced to flee into the Desert in disgrace.

Although she had been forced to flee because the Bukelin Mage Association had lost the power struggle,

the Mage Associations elsewhere could help her turn the tables. Her master, the president of the Bukelin Duchy's Mage Association, had already gone to the Mage Associations in other countries to seek help.

Before long, she would make her comeback.

The implication was that An Kai should protect her, and she would reward him generously in the future, even giving him a position as vice president of a Mage Association.

In short, to make An Kai devote himself to protecting her, Sally Bukelin dangled some very enticing promises before him...

Unfortunately, An Kai was a practical man. He only cared about benefits he could actually get his hands on and had never had any interest in empty promises.

"Ah! Please accept my condolences, Your Highness!"

"Let me take you to Chaos City. I have a safe place to stay there!"

"There are too many dangers in this oasis. I came here to collect [Desert Crocodile] heads myself."

"But for the sake of Your Highness's safety, I'll put that aside for now!"

With a sorrowful expression, as though he shared her pain, An Kai offered his suggestion.

Sally Bukelin nodded without a second thought.

She had been searching for Chaos City for a long time. Now that An Kai was offering to take her there, Sally Bukelin couldn't have asked for more!

Once she reached Chaos City, Sally Bukelin could use the resources in her Storage Ring to secure more protection for herself at the Bounty Tower.

Then she would have a much better chance of staying safe.

Sally Bukelin still had no idea that the Bounty Tower had long since placed an enormous bounty on her...

She had intended to use a little trickery to get An Kai to take her to Chaos City, but she hadn't expected him to be so obliging!

To make An Kai even more obedient, Sally Bukelin ran to the lake and washed her face clean.

Revealing her delicate, beautiful features, she gave An Kai a sweet smile and said in a soft, lilting voice, "Brave warrior, let's set off!"

An Kai put on a foolish grin, inwardly marveling, Someone from a big city really is different. She's so much prettier than Widow Wang!

In Sally Bukelin's eyes, his expression was that of a drooling lecher. Suddenly, she felt that An Kai wasn't anything special after all!

He's just a barbarian mage with a bit of talent!

All it takes is a simple little move, and I can have this barbarian wrapped around my finger!

An Kai walked ahead, not caring in the least what Sally Bukelin thought.

At that moment, all his thoughts were focused on one question: after he sold Sally Bukelin to the Bounty Tower and obtained a huge amount of resources, how much food would he need to prepare for his secluded training?