Chapter 26 Token

“Wood, we’ve already wasted far too much time in Rivervale Town.”

Silver-white strands of hair stirred in the breeze as Hai’an spoke quietly to Wood, the guard he trusted above all others.

Like the “long-ears” who lived deep within towering seas of trees, the half-elf had been raised under the guidance of his family’s elders and had inherited their fundamentally kind nature.

That did not mean he was never stubborn.

“Mother once said that the waters of the Vina River never stop flowing. It’s an elven proverb. We can’t keep delaying.”

Wood had been preparing to take a firmer stance, but the moment he heard a certain word in Hai’an’s sentence, his mouth opened, then closed again.

In the end, he swallowed whatever he had been about to say.

Unreliable as Larry usually was, his suggestion just now was not actually a bad one.

Hai’an silently weighed their situation.

He had yet to take up a class, so his strength was limited. He knew several combat techniques his mother had taught him, but they were all geared toward ranged combat.

Larry looked soft and pampered, but his family was wealthy enough to hire professional adventurers to train him from childhood. He had some fighting ability.

Some.

As for Doris…

Best not to count her for now.

Wood, meanwhile, was a genuine class holder. Almost nothing in the outer reaches of the Misty Forest could threaten him.

The problem was that, judging by their previous outings, no matter how fierce the battle became, Wood would stay beside Hai’an.

Their destination was still some distance away, and they were traveling through the Misty Forest. Avoiding every single fight was simply impossible.

With that in mind, their party really did need an adventurer with decent combat strength who could fight up close.

Hai’an raised his head and looked across the clearing at the wary black-haired young man.

After taking a few seconds to choose his words, he spoke.

“As compensation for accidentally dragging you into this, I’ll give you thirty gold coins.”

Normally, no matter how kind a person was, there was no reason to go that far for a complete stranger.

But Hai’an wanted to repair the impression his party had left on Xia Nan. More importantly, he wanted to invite him into the group afterward.

After weighing his options, he chose the most straightforward way to show his sincerity.

Money.

“Then I’d like to hire you for another seventy gold as a temporary member of our party and have you assist us with our current mission.”

Xia Nan had been debating whether to take the gold and leave immediately or hand over the spoils he had collected from the two men.

At Hai’an’s words, he froze.

His first thought was extremely simple.

[30 + 70 = 100 gold.]

His heart gave a small leap.

Then he immediately reined himself in.

[No. No, no, no.]

Xia Nan began seriously evaluating whether the invitation was genuine.

First, the things he was carrying were already worth close to eighty gold coins, including the Glowgarlic Vine and the loot from the two men.

As long as he made it back to Rivervale Town safely, he would already be walking away with a huge profit.

There was no reason to take an unnecessary risk for another hundred gold.

As a low-level adventurer who operated alone, he also had to consider the possibility that Hai’an’s invitation was fake.

Maybe they just wanted to lure him close enough to surround and kill him.

Second…

There was something distinctly wrong with the four people in front of him.

Even a bottom-of-the-barrel adventuring party like Bunch of Scrubs had a proper lineup.

Gagu was a warrior who held the front line.

Maji was an archer who handled ranged attacks.

Elki was an assassin.

What did these four have?

The half-elf and his guard looked normal enough.

But what role was that fat guy supposed to play?

His gear barely fit, and he somehow looked even more like a newcomer than Xia Nan did.

Then there was the pale blonde lady at the back, who looked as though a strong gust of wind might carry her away.

Rather than an adventuring party, they looked like rich kids from the city who had come out to the countryside for a sightseeing trip.

Xia Nan’s train of thought abruptly stopped.

He stared at the four of them again.

Then his expression turned strange.

[Don’t tell me they actually are…]

For a moment, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

He had almost let this group talk him into boarding a doomed ship.

[With a lineup like this, forget a hundred gold. I wouldn’t join for ten thousand.]

His face remained perfectly blank.

When Hai’an looked at him expectantly, Xia Nan gave a firm shake of his head.

“One hundred gold! I’ll give you a hundred gold!”

Larry immediately panicked.

He raised one finger and shouted his new offer as though that settled everything.

[I just said I wouldn’t do it for ten thousand!]

Xia Nan silently shook his head again.

“You…”

After being rejected twice in a row, Larry’s face flushed red.

He waved his arms, his mouth opening and closing as though he were desperately calculating a number so outrageous that Xia Nan could not possibly refuse.

Smack.

A pale hand with long, defined fingers settled on Larry’s shoulder.

“Forget it, Larry.”

Hai’an’s silver-gray eyes rested on Xia Nan across the clearing.

The black-haired young man looked as though he could disappear into the forest the instant anything went wrong.

“There’s no need to force him.”

Xia Nan had not said a word, but the determination in his refusal was obvious enough.

Hai’an reached into the pack behind him, pulled out a coin pouch, and tossed it across the clearing.

“Thirty gold. Keep it.”

Xia Nan was genuinely surprised.

His vigilance did not ease.

He used the tip of his sword to pry open the pouch, then carefully checked the contents for anything suspicious.

Only after finding nothing unusual did he tuck it away.

[He actually keeps his word?]

Xia Nan had already made it clear he would not join them.

Yet Hai’an had still handed over the thirty gold he had only promised verbally.

Was that just his personality?

Or were elves in this world all like this?

Feeling the heavy pouch against his clothes, Xia Nan had to admit the half-elf suddenly looked a lot more likable.

At the same time, Wood, who had been standing silently to one side, visibly relaxed when Xia Nan refused.

“Young Master, the Misty Forest is still too dangerous. It’s difficult for me to guarantee your safety by myself. Why don’t we return to Rivervale Town, rest for a few days, and make another plan?”

“Our destination is only in the outer reaches. Aren’t you a class holder? What’s there to be afraid of?”

After being rejected twice by Xia Nan, Larry was already in a foul mood, and a note of complaint slipped into his voice.

Wood turned his head and gave him a cold look.

He said nothing.

Larry instantly hunched his shoulders as though someone had dumped him into an ice cellar.

His mouth snapped shut.

Wood treated Hai’an with unfailing respect.

As for everyone else in the party?

He had no obligation to smile for them.

“And those people just now didn’t look like adventurers,” Wood continued when Hai’an seemed to be wavering. “I suspect they may have been from Neum…”

He stopped there.

But Hai’an clearly understood the rest.

His expression immediately sank.

“No. It isn’t time yet… They shouldn’t go that far.”

The words sounded less like an argument and more like something Hai’an was telling himself.

As he spoke, he reached inside his clothes and took out a pitch-black token.

“Wait!”

Xia Nan’s voice suddenly cut through the clearing.

He had already been preparing to leave with his newfound fortune of more than a hundred gold coins.

Now his feet stopped dead.

The token in Hai’an’s hand was narrow at the top and broad at the bottom. Some kind of ancient-looking symbol seemed to be carved faintly into its surface.

Xia Nan only needed one glance.

An intense sense of familiarity struck him.

That distinctive classical style…

He had seen it countless times in his memories.

But those memories did not belong to the original owner of this body.

They came from…

His previous life.