Chapter 142: Meeting the Client

A few days later...

"Is this the place...?"

Killian frowned slightly as he looked around the area.

Today was the designated date where their escorting job would start. It was also the first time they would be seeing their clients.

Regis also looked around in confusion, "I guess this is it...?"

Currently, they were in a secluded alleyway in the district near the Southern Gate of the Corelli Fortress.

It was away from the workshop, entertainment, and other bustling districts.

"This seems to be where the lowest classes of the fortress reside..." Regis commented, feeling a little nostalgic since it had a vibe like that of the slums back then.

That was one of the things he noticed back when he and Pandor arrived in the Corelli Fortress: the lack of slums.

The slums of Toran City back then were just outside the city walls.

However, the surrounding areas of the Corelli Fortress were clean.

Killian nodded, "This is indeed the residential area of the less fortunate commoners of the fortress. Although they weren’t that well off, they still had enough salary to feed themselves, essentially preventing this area from turning into a slum."

Meanwhile, Pandora curiously looked around the area while the two were having a conversation.

They also talked about the details of the quest.

In the past few days, they had also reviewed the information about the client, their path towards the Bakurad Fortress and the current situation there.

The journey would take around five months or even longer depending on the number of carriages they would be escorting.

Furthermore, according to the information the secret force of the Gladius Family had gathered, the current situation in the Bakurad Fortress didn’t seem peaceful.

The battle ongoing between the Bakurad Fortress and the monsters of the Drakaroth Heights seemed to be at an all time high.

However, what really eluded them was the reason behind the Midas Merchant Organization’s exclusive quest.

After all, they seemed to be the biggest Merchant Organization in the whole of Acheron Kingdom.

Therefore, it was confusing as to why they settled with hiring Adept Adventurers instead of those with the rank of Veteran and up.

Added to the fact that it was specifically stated in the exclusive quest form that this was a classified mission.

Therefore, the three of them couldn’t help but be confused as it was a normal practice for the Adventurer Guild to treat exclusive quests with utmost confidentiality.

To indicate that it was a classified mission on top of that, they were sure that this escort mission wasn’t so simple.

At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded while they were reviewing the information they had.

"Are you the people that my dad hired?"

The voice was high pitched, prompting the three to look towards the origin of the voice.

However, what greeted their sight made their eyes go wide as they couldn’t help but glance at each other.

Standing there was a girl with black hair and black eyes, wearing a cute black dress and a couple golden accessories.

She had her hands that were covered with white gloves on her hips as she looked at the three children who were slightly taller than her with wary eyes.

It was only after a second that Regis was able to react, "Umm, are you the one who sent us the mission?"

With their experience as adventurers, they had learned of the different policies of the Adventurer Guild.

Thus, it was natural that Regis would omit the words "exclusive quest" and the name of the requestor.

After all, blindly saying "Are you from the Midas Merchant Organization?" when looking for their client would only lead to trouble.

Besides, if she truly was their client, she would surely know what their words meant.

However, before the girl could reply, Killian stepped forward with a friendly smile, "Little Miss, are you lost? We can guide you to the nearby guard station or we can look for your pare—"

Before he could continue any further, he saw a gold coin flashing right in front of his eyes.

"Wha—"

"Is this not enough?" The little girl sighed before reaching inside her pockets.

Before long, there were now two gold coins in her hands as she gestured for Killian to take it which made him speechless.

Seeing that he wasn’t moving, the little girl kept adding gold coins in her hand.

Three...

Four...

Five...

Six...

Seven...

Eight...

Nine...

Ten...

When it reached ten gold coins, the little girl had difficulty holding it all with her tiny hands.

She raised a brow, "Mister, can’t you see that I can’t fit any more than this in my hand? Why don’t you just take it and go?"

However, Killian seemed to have been frozen in time as he didn’t know what to say, "Uh– Wai– Thi–"

Before any of the three could react, the little girl rolled her eyes.

"To think that beggars these days would be so greedy..."

"Pffft!"

"Hahahahaha!!"

Finally not being able to contain it, Regis and Pandora burst out laughing with teary eyes as they heard her remarks.

Killian couldn’t help but protest, "H-Hey, kid! I’m the successor of the Gladius Family!! How dare you mistake me for a beggar!?"

"Oh! The sword maniacs!!"

"Wha—"

The little girl’s eyes brightened, "Ah yes, I remember now. My dad also made deals with you back then..."

"What did you just call my famil–" Killian wasn’t able to finish his words as he soon realized something.

He then looked at his two companions, who were still laughing, with a deadpan expression as he asked, "Aren’t you being too happy?"

"Hahaha– I’– Haha I’m sorry..." Said Regis as he wiped the tears on the side of his eyes.

Pandora also calmed down, though the subtle smile on her face was extremely obvious.

Sighing, Killian pointed at the little girl, "We have our client right here, Boss."

A serious expression immediately appeared on Regis’s face, "Oh?"

As he trusted that Killian wouldn’t mistake the wrong person for being their client, he cleared his throat.

There was also one thing that they had learned in the years of adventuring: to treat their clients with utmost respect.

So with a friendly smile, Regis walked towards the little girl before kneeling in front of her, "We are the Decadence Tea Party."

He then began introducing himself and his companions.

"You can just call me Regis, Little Miss."

"The boy with blonde hair and blue eyes who you’ve mistaken for a begga– ehem– is the successor of the Gladius Family and one of the members of our party."

Regis almost lost his composure as he remembered when the little girl called Killian a beggar, making the latter side eye him.

However, the two paid no heed to him as the little girl pointed at Pandora, "How about the beautiful girl back there?"

Hearing her words, Pandora couldn’t help but smile in delight.

"Her name is Pandora, my sister. She is also a promising mage that will surely be one of the strongest in the future."

His praise made Pandora’s smile even deeper as she lowered her head.

The little girl had a satisfied expression on her face, "Very well. I’m glad that there’s someone who’s decent unlike that guy..."

Killian felt as if her words were swords that impaled his heart, making him feel pained.

"...since you have introduced yourselves,it would be rude of me to not reciprocate."

With a slight curtsy, she said, "My name is Aurelia Midas. I hope that you will take care of me in this adventure!"

Her formal tone and cute high pitched voice contrasted with each other.

"Then Miss Aurelia, you can just address us comfortably since I think that we’re all the same age here."

"Same age? I thought that you were all eleven years old, though?"

"That’s right."

"Then that will make me older than you three. After all, I’m already thirteen."

"Eh?"

Regis couldn’t respond properly as he looked at Aurelia, whose head barely reached his collarbones.

He glanced at his companions before smiling a little, "W-Well, what would you like us to call you??"

"Just Aurelia is fine." Replied her as a cheeky smile crept its way on her face.

Regis then scratched his neck, "Then may I ask where the carriages are? We thought that this was an escort mission to send supplies to the battlefront in the north."

"Oh!"

Hearing his question, Aurelia seemed to have remembered something as she reached inside her pockets once again.

The three waited patiently, curious as to what made her make such a reaction.

A few moments later, she took out a black envelope with a white seal on it which contained a certain emblem.

The emblem consisted of two hands that held a giant coin with a variety of engravings in it.

There were trees, birds, mountains, seas, and every random thing that could be seen in the outside world.

"My dad told me to give this to you when I meet you. He said that any further instructions will be indicated in this letter."

Regis then carefully took the letter and opened it afterwards.

With Pandora and Killian beside him, they began reading the letter as if afraid that they would miss even a single detail.

However, as they read its contents, a myriad of expressions appeared on their faces.