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They were allowed to rest in the Lord’s villa for the night, and the Lord himself ordered servants to prepare some supplies for Althea and Garan before they left the next day.

Every step in the execution would be handled by Wilem, so there was no need for them to stay any longer. They were also not willing to.

A relationship with this region was nice, but ultimately, they didn’t have to handle it right now, when they were searching for things to save the children’s lives.

They went out to check the town’s nightlife before leaving, encountering a few acquaintances along the way.

Rather, it was more accurate to say they were waiting for them. The ’encounter’ happened as soon as they left the inn that night.

Interestingly, the mercenary teams from before, like the Loop Mercenary Team, were still in Acero. However, they were also preparing to head home the next day along with them.

"You can hire us, you know," Lipin shamelessly offered as if he didn’t have a bandage wrapped around his head.

"We’re heading Southwest. Aren’t you heading opposite from us?"

"Well, as long as you head to a Level 2 Town with a Mercenary Hall, it’s not much of a loss to us."

Even if they were heading in opposite directions, if they could find a teleportation array, that ’lost’ distance could be easily narrowed.

Acero Town was only a Level 1 Town and naturally did not have its own Mercenary Hall. In these cases, the mercenaries would either go on break and not take missions while traveling, while others choose to maximize their time and take on new missions manually, if they could find clients.

Finding clients outside the Mission Hall had various risks. On the client’s side, there was no automatic limitation to mercenaries. This could be remedied by making several oaths, though the effectiveness varied depending on the detail of the oath as well as the mercenary’s level.

On the mercenary’s side, the usual risk laid on the payment. One, the Hall ensured fair payment for missions, with the employer choosing within a range of payment amounts after posting a mission.

If it were a manual hire, then the employer could be a bit more arbitrary. It would depend on their negotiating skills. If the mercenary team was weak, then they might even be pressured to take on certain missions for a low price.

There might even be cases wherein they wouldn’t be paid for their work. The Mercenary Hall, at least, takes the payment and automatically sends the balance to the mercenary leader if the job was completed successfully.

If the client were strong, they would have no choice but to swallow the bitterness.

The Mercenaries who escorted Anna and Wilem did not think they’d have to swallow bitterness from Althea and Garan. On the contrary, they might even swallow delicious food!

Ahem.

Althea looked at the three teams that accompanied them before. She generally wasn’t fond of losing her gold, though, especially when she knew she and her husband could go to their next destination on their own.

Even if they encountered a troublesome monster, if they couldn’t beat it, they had plenty of ways to run away.

"Our hometown, Metteo Town, happens to be a Level 2 Town and is in the Southwest," Maika, the leader of team #3 Kanlun Mercenary Team, spoke up.

Maika was a rare female powerhouse at level 30. She was only 50 years old this year, which was considered young for this level, too. The unfortunate part was that she had a scar on her face extending down her neck, though she didn’t seem to mind it.

"This region is our home ground," she said. "You can hire us and buy the map from us."

Kanlun was a mercenary team that had gone around this region. They were regulars at Illyan, so they were familiar with Wilem. It was also why they took him in when he had to pretend to be a mercenary hire.

Althea nodded and proceeded to buy the maps from them. It was actually why the couple went out to see the ’nightlife’. They were planning on buying off several maps from several people.

Getting such a complete map as soon as they went out of the inn was a pleasant surprise, however.

Althea looked at them and immediately haggled. She was stingy. So what?

Besides, these people would look for a Mercenary Hall anyway. Basically, this mission was just ’on the way’, and they would even get her and Garan’s assistance. Who was going to take advantage of who remained to be seen.

"We don’t have much gold on us," she said. "However, if you escort us safely to Metteo Town, we can send word to Alterra to give your group good prices. We’ll also treat you to a meal in a restaurant owned by our team."

The mercenaries had different expressions at her offer. Many were reluctant. Why would they take a job with no pay? There were even a few who sneered, looking down on Althea for being poor.

Someone even whispered ’just a pretty face’ at the back. Althea had to hold her husband’s hand to stop him from moving.

Lipin and Maika glared at some of their members, though fortunately, most were neutral. On the contrary, the two of them had bright eyes and looked at Althea.

"Our team agrees!" Maika said, and Lipin jumped in to do the same. The other one was reluctant for a second before nodding, though whether it was due to peer pressure was unknown.

"We will be going with Kanlun and Loop."

"What about us?"

The previous mission’s team #2 did not leave a particularly good impression on Althea. They were the team that was always consciously at the back of others, dealing with leaks but refusing to be vanguards.

It wasn’t irredeemable, but she didn’t want to bother with them either.

It was also their members who looked down on Althea the most back then, primarily because she was a woman. They thought her abilities depended on her husband, adding some filters like she could jump well and had good aim only because she was given good equipment, likely given by her ’foolish husband’.

And now...they were looking down on her even more because she was not just a woman, but also a poor woman.

If they didn’t fear being overheard, she could tell that some of their members—judging by their lustful and meaningful stares—might even say more insulting things, like asking her to sell her body since she was so poor.

At the same time, they had not yet done anything heinous, so she didn’t want to cause too much chaos, which was why she was stopping her husband from stabbing them.

Acero Town might be poor, but it still managed to place a no-killing rule.

Of course, if they decided to show their annoying faces to them when they were outside the territory, Althea didn’t know what her husband would do anymore.

The excluded mercenaries gave them a bad look and went away, refusing to humble themselves.

"Heh, who wants to take a mission without payment, anyway?" they said, spitting rudely on the ground, while giving them looks as if they wanted to spit on them instead. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Lipin wanted to make a move, too, but the other mercenary team had already left and turned the street.

"They sure do run quickly," Maika muttered at the side, shaking her head in disgust.

Anyway, like this, the party composition for the next day had been settled. Everyone went to rest for the night, fully prepared to head to their next destination, Metteo Town.