"What are you talking about?"
Naturally, Lumian-na wasn't about to admit that she had come here specifically to help Franca. She scoffed, deliberately letting a trace of hurt seep into her voice-subtle, but still noticeable to Franca. "Are you saying you don't want my help?"
She had no intention of letting Franca see her true feelings. That would be far too embarrassing. To prevent it, Lumian-na even employed a little of her Instigator's technique.
"That's not what I meant-" Franca shamefully lost her nerve. Suddenly feeling that she had wronged Lumian-na's wholehearted sincerity, she couldn't continue. Instead, she stiffly changed the subject, raising her voice slightly. "Ahem. Shall we head inside?"
By raising her voice, Franca successfully drew the attention of the other two.
Their next assignment was to find the gatekeeper of Deep Valley Monastery in the Hillside District. He had been missing for three days, and the client believed he was most likely already a corpse. Finding either him or his body would earn them twenty thousand verl d'or.
Deep Valley Monastery belonged to the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery and housed many ascetics who had resolved to devote their lives to researching machinery and steam.
They could also be called "monks."
The three of them were currently outside Deep Valley Quarry. Before this, Franca had performed some Magic Mirror Divination and taken Jenna around the area, pretending to run into Lumian-na during their investigation. They had even earnestly acted out probing each other
and fighting.
Although Franca doubted anyone was watching them, she felt Lumian-na was right to be cautious about such things. Thus, she had obediently taken Jenna through the whole process of pretending to be strangers.
Of course, Franca had no intention of sneaking straight into Deep Valley Monastery. Predictably, there would