"Hey! Are you two planning on getting a room or a adventurer’s plate?"
A gruff, gravelly voice barked from behind them.
"This isn’t a tavern for flirting! Move it!"
Maddy jumped slightly, snapping out of the awkward encounter. To her surprise, she realized she had been so focused on hiding her presence and dealing with the "charming" stranger that she hadn’t noticed the massive line she was standing in. People were packed in front of her and behind her; she had accidentally wandered into the Lane of Applicants for the Guild.
"Oh, uh... sorry!"
Maddy muttered, quickly trying to regain her ’invisible traveler’ persona. She stepped to the side and gestured for the young man to go ahead of her.
"You were here first, clearly. Please, go ahead. I’m in no rush."
The young man didn’t move. Instead, he bowed deeply, sweeping his hand toward the counter.
"I couldn’t possibly! In the Capital, we have standards. Ladies first, especially one as striking as yourself. I insist, please—after you."
Maddy gritted her teeth.
"This creep just won’t take a hint!"
She thought, her internal "annoyance ter" hitting the red zone. If she went first, he’d just be staring at her back the whole ti. If she stayed behind him, he’d keep turning around to talk.
"I said, go ahead," Maddy repeated, her smile becoming strained. "I prefer the view from the back."
"And I prefer the view from right here," he countered with a wink.
"MOVE YOUR ASSES!" The man behind them roared again. "If you don’t step up to that counter in three seconds, I’m going to kick you both into the street!"
Maddy didn’t wait for a third warning. She practically bolted forward to the next available spot in line, putting as much distance between herself and the young man as possible. She kept her back to him, staring straight ahead at the registrar’s desk, hoping the physical gap would act as a "do not disturb" sign.
It didn’t.
The man stepped right behind her, leaning in so close that she could sll his breath. He didn’t seem to care that she was ignoring him; he simply kept talking, his voice a persistent drone of self-praise that filled the space around her.
"So, there I was," he said, gesturing grandly with his hands. "No sword, no shield, just these two fists. A Hobgoblin, seven feet tall and slling like an old man, lunged at . I didn’t even get scareeed~. I just caught its club, shattered the wood with a single squeeze, and laid the beast out with a right hook!"
Maddy didn’t turn around. She didn’t even nod.
"A Hobgoblin? In a fistfight?"
Maddy scoffed internally. Through her Divine Eyes, the world looked different. She could see the flow of mana, the hidden weight of a person’s soul, and, most importantly, the glowing red line that appeared whenever soone spoke a blatant lie.
Just like a physical manifestation of a lie detector, the man was practically spitting red lines with every word he spoke.
As he stood behind her, he continued his endless stream of tall tales. Every word he spoke about his "heroic" past triggered a flicker of red lines in her vision. He claid to have wrestled alpha form monsters and outrun lightning, but her Divine Eyes saw through it all—it was nothing more than the static of a bored imagination.
Her attention shifted to a group of adventurers standing near a massive wooden board. They were inspecting a quest marked with a high level seal.
"Oozewell? Serves them right," one man laughed, pointing at the quest paper. "The Guild warned them years ago. Building a town on a mana spawning zone is just asking for it. It was pure stupidity. They got greedy for easy harvests, and now they are gone. That is the price you pay for being dumb."
His teammate adjusted his gauntlet, sneering at the paper.
"Exactly. Who builds a ho in a spawning zone? If you aren’t strong enough to guard your own walls, you don’t deserve the land. I bet they thought those slis would just let them farm in peace."
"Probably thought they were special," a third mber added, crossing his arms. "It is honestly embarrassing that the Guild even put up a reward for the cleanup. It is a waste of resources for a village that was dood the mont they laid the foundation."
The leader sighed, reaching out to tap the official seal on the docunt.
"Forget it, guys. Look at the requirent—S Rank only. Our party is strictly B Rank. We would just be wasting ti trying to sign up for a slaughter mission like this."
"S Rank restriction?" the second man grumbled, kicking the base of the board. "What a joke!"
"Whatever," the leader said, turning his back on the board with a dismissive wave. "Let’s find sothing that actually pays. Leaving a dead village for the elite to pick through is a waste of our afternoon."
The group walked away, they searched for easier, more profitable contracts, leaving the tragic reality of Oozewell behind them.
Maddy felt a cold, sharp spark of fury in her chest. She rembered Hoppy’s tears and the sll of the ruined village. These people spoke of death with such casual cruelty.
"Those arrogant idiots," a voice muttered.
Maddy blinked. The young man behind her was no longer smiling. His playboy persona had vanished, replaced by a look of genuine disgust. He glared at the retreating B Rank party, his hands clenched into fists.
"How dare they say that?" the young man whispered, loud enough for Maddy to hear. "Those people in Oozewell weren’t ’greedy.’ They were farrs and families. The Guild is the one that failed to protect them, yet these dumbasses bla the victims just to feel superior!"
Maddy turned her head slightly. For the first ti, she actually looked at him. The red line of lies was gone. Every word he just spoke was clear, white, and honest.
He noticed her gaze and gave a small, sad shrug.
"I know I talk a lot of trash, but seeing people kick those who are already down? That actually makes my blood boil."
Maddy stayed silent, but she didn’t turn away this ti. She finally listened. There was a flicker of sothing human in him that she hadn’t expected.
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