Klein sat in front of the bar counter and slammed his fist onto the counter.
"One glass of Southville beer."
Behind him, a few bouncers hesitated about whether to come over to give him a warning or pretend that no one had fired a shot.
The bartender signaled to the bouncers with his eyes as he picked up a glass and chuckled.
"Why don't you try a cup of Sweet Lemon?
"Our boss once went to Trier to learn cocktail mixing. He has mastered many of the cocktail recipes left behind by Emperor Roselle, and he has created the most popular Sweet lemon in Oravi on his own."
Klein wasn't moved as he calmly replied, "I only drink beer."
"Alright." the bartender wasn't in a rush to get the bottle of Southville beer as he said with a smile, "Sir, are you an adventurer?"
Klein nodded without saying an answer.
The bartender didn't hesitate as he said with a smile, "Perhaps you should meet our boss. He's very friendly to new adventurers and is willing to treat them to drinks. Besides, there will be some aid offered to you."
Klein, who had come with the intention of purchasing the supplementary ingredients of a Nimblewright Master, didn't reject the offer. He took out a brass penny and flicked it before catching it firmly.
He placed the penny on the bar counter as a tip to thank the bartender for the information before slowly standing up and walking to the second floor under the lead of a bouncer, where he entered a room at the other end of the corridor.
The room was covered with thick, brownish-yellow, soft carpet. There was a faint smell of high-quality coal burning, mixed with the aroma of a cigar.
A middle-aged man with his blond hair combed neatly backwards was leaning on a reclining chair, sucking at his cigar as he read the papers. Surrounding him were six bodyguards.
Although Klein wasn't a Beyonder of the Spectator domain, and he was unable to determine any unique traits or the strength of these bodyguards, nor was he from the Mystery Pryer or Monster pathway, he could see certain secrets. He could notice things others wouldn't be able to discover, but his spiritual intuition made him believe that these bodyguards were definitely Beyonders, Beyonders who could threaten him to a certain extent.
The middle-aged man put down the newspaper and pulled at the collars of his black shirt before slowly standing up. He extended his right hand and said, "Welcome to Oravi, my adventurer friend."
His blue eyes had a smile to them as he looked rather sincere.
Klein extended his right palm and smacked palms with him without a word. He was waiting for the man to speak.
The middle-aged man pointed to a sofa opposite the reclining chair and chuckled.
"I'm the boss here, Bilt Brando.
"I was once an adventurer with quite considerable strength. I've lived to this day and have earned quite a bit."
He's very confident with his strength; thus, daring to directly say it... Klein didn't stand on ceremony as he sat down. He leaned his body slightly forward as he expressionlessly waited for Bilt to begin talking.
Seeing no response from the adventurer, Bilt sat down again and sucked at his cigar before leisurely saying, "To be honest, there's a motive behind me meeting with every new adventurer."
He pointed to the sea map on the desk in the table. He said with a magnetic tone, "East from the Rorsted Archipelago is where the sea gets progressively messier. The strength of the military and Church begin to dwindle, to the point of them only being able to protect their own harbors.
"The sea around here is a pirate playground, extremely disadvantageous to us adventurers. Therefore, I wish to organize everyone to form a loosely connected alliance, so that we can band together when faced with danger.
"This alliance doesn't have any strong binding terms. You can choose to turn a blind eye when other adventurers encounter danger, and no one will punish you. However, if you were to encounter a similar situation, don't hope for help to be provided.
"In addition, I can promise one point: adventurers of the alliance will be able to get the prices of the lowest nature when purchasing items from me. When selling their spoils, they will at least get market price."
After finishing the description, Bilt smiled at the new adventurer. He chuckled and asked, "What do you think of it? Are you interested in joining this loose alliance? Don't worry. You won't need to make any additional payment. Our purpose is only to render assistance when faced with pirates."
Klein nodded.
"It sounds pretty good."
"Haha, I think so too. I once thought of naming this association the Adventuring Brotherhood, but I felt that brotherhood is overly constrained, so I changed it to Adventurer Association," Bilt said in a self-deprecating manner.
Having said that, he lowered his hand with the cigar and smacked his lips. He shook his head and smiled.
"Sorry, I forgot to ask your name."
Klein maintained his posture and replied in a deep voice, "Gehrman Sparrow."
"Gehrman Sparrow..." Bilt's eyelids jumped as his smile instantly stiffened. The guards around him clearly tensed up as though they were facing a formidable enemy.
Bilt rapidly composed himself and didn't verify whether he was the real Gehrman Sparrow or a cheat who was only passing off as Gehrman Sparrow. He chuckled and said, "Is there anything you wish to buy? I have quite a lot of good stuff over here."
"Sonia's Golden Spring water," Klein said with a calm expression while inwardly feeling cautious.
He didn't mention the drago tree bark since there was a high chance of buying the ingredient at herb stores.
Bilt Brando heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Easy.
"30 pounds for 100 ml.
"Trust me. Even if you head to Sonia Island, it will only be a few pounds cheaper than this price. Those barbarians from Feysac have sealed off the fountain's source, so it's difficult for others to get any of it."
"Deal." Klein had a rough idea of the price of the Golden Spring water, and he knew that 30 pounds for 100 ml was indeed rather cheap.
After completing the deal, Bilt was just about to speak after some deliberation when he suddenly heard knocking.
After receiving his permission, a bouncer entered and leaned over, whispering into his ear.
Bilt's expression instantly sank as his entire person appeared abnormally cold. He suffused an indescribable killing intent.
Indeed, he has quite impressive strength. If he wasn't a famous adventurer in the past, he was a famous pirate... He should be a Mid-Sequence Beyonder... Klein looked at him as he calmly made an assessment.
Bilt turned his head and said to Klein with some difficulty, "Mr. Sparrow, I have matters to tend to.
"We can have drinks together if the opportunity arises."
"Okay." Klein slowly got up, without any intention of involving himself in Bilt's matters.
Of course, this didn't mean that he wasn't curious, but curiosity was never something that could change the way he did things.
After leaving Sweet Lemon, Klein successfully returned to his inn.
...
City of Silver, "daytime" which was marked by frequent lightning.
After Derrick Berg finished practicing all the different Beyonder powers of Solar High Priest, he followed the edge of the training field and headed for the twin towers.
After numerous Tarot Gatherings, he gradually gained an understanding of the pattern and roughly knew the frequency of the alternating lightning before he would be pulled above the gray fog by Mr. Fool.
And now was the final "day."
Because of this, he had to go to the library to read through historical information involving ancient gods, so as to offer them to Mr. Fool.
After passing through the partitioned area of the training field, Derrick subconsciously looked inside and saw exploration members resting inside. It was the exploration team led by the six-member council's chief, Colin Iliad!
They had recently finished the exploration based on the information they had received from Jack, and they had returned to the City of Silver where they were now in quarantine.
Derrick retracted his gaze with a somewhat heavy heart as he went all the way to the steeple and went to the third floor where the library was.
He was just about to walk to the bookshelf that held all the ancient books on legends when he caught a familiar figure through the corner of his eye.
It was a fair and beautiful woman in her thirties. She wore a long black robe embroidered with mysterious purple patterns. Her curly silvery-gray hair cascaded down.
She was none other than the elder of the six-member council who had been imprisoned for a prolonged period of time, Lovia Tiffany!
She swept her faint gray eyes over as Derrick felt his soul being penetrated. He couldn't help but stiffen for a second.
"Greetings, Elder Lovia." He hurriedly lowered his head as he pressed his hand to his chest.
Lovia walked over and nodded gently.
"I've been removed from quarantine."
She turned and left after calmly saying that, as though she was making an announcement.
Derrick stood on the spot as a layer of cold sweat seeped out from his back.
Why has she been released? The six-member council has already determined that she's alright? Derrick thought as his nerves tensed up in an abnormal fashion.
...
Monday afternoon, above the gray fog.
Klein placed his elbows on the armrest as he crossed his fingers and watched as beams of crimson light lit up before receding into blurry figures.
Then, he heard Miss Justice's brisk greeting.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"
