Perhaps it was the improved version of the Alert Spell that made Vier lose her presence as a creature, or maybe it was the magical particles dancing around her body.
The culprit that disturbed her rest, that bright-tailed raccoon squirrel, unprecedentedly moved its short limbs and hopped next to Vier.
The small figure on the ground was reflected in her amber-like crystal-clear eyes. She subconsciously reached out her hand, fingertips gently stroking the little creature’s head.
Feeling the furry, delicate sensation coming from her fingertip, she suddenly recalled her previous encounter at the adventurer association, rembering that sharp silhouette.
Vier’s breath suddenly halted, her heart seed to be clenched by a cold hand.
"Bright-tailed raccoon squirrel..."
Her lips moved unconsciously muttering, thoughts quietly flowing.
This little creature with its bright fur was not considered well-known among ordinary people and only occasionally appeared on the market.
But ever since, five years later, at a noble banquet in a certain big city, the Duchess wore a stole made of bright-tailed raccoon squirrel fur.
Clothing made from its fur quickly beca the ultimate ornant symbolizing status and luxury sweeping high society.
A group nad "Golden Wheat Comrce" sensed a business opportunity.
They wove stories about how "bright-tailed raccoon squirrel fur brings luck and protection," secretly raising the prices;
At the sa ti, they made paths through the forest with fire oil and steel axes, bringing trained falcons and blow darts coated with paralysis poison.
Hunting these innocent little creatures, no bigger than the palm of a hand, on a large scale but highly valuable.
Driven by greed, even a baron who refused to sell his ancestral woodland, along with his family castle and relatives and servants, were consud by fire on a deep night.
In response, the Golden Wheat Comrce quickly bought the woodland at a low price, only claiming the baron caused the accident by himself, unrelated to them.
But soon, this organization, which briefly monopolized the raccoon squirrel fur trade with bloody ans, attracted real predators due to their violent and ruthless acts against roadblockers and the huge hidden profits in the fur.
——The Anvil Brotherhood.
A colossal entity consisting of assassins and wanderers, hidden under shadows, with a sphere of influence encompassing dozens of big cities.
A chilling assassination and eradication was quickly concluded in a week.
The Golden Wheat Comrce beca history, its accumulated wealth divided among peers and nobles, and the raccoon squirrel business naturally taken over by a public organization under the control of the Brotherhood.
Vier gazed at the little creature in her palm, casting innocent glances at her, deeply imprinted in the depths of her mind, distant mories suddenly turning clear.
"The Anvil Brotherhood," a behemoth gathering a vast number of professionals with interests and iron ans.
Its downfall stemd rely from a trivial "entertainnt."
Two wanderers, having just completed a delivery mission, bringing a cart full of squirrel fur along with a whole group of young girls abducted from various villages, intending to sell them to the underground black market.
On the way back, planned to find so "fun" in a nearby small town.
They unintentionally provoked that being and had their heads sliced off on the spot.
The Anvil Brotherhood naturally would not let such a malignant act targeting Brotherhood mbers happen within their territory.
Thus... The Anvil Brotherhood lurking deep in the night ushered in their dawn.
To this day, Vier still rembers that night when she, following her ntor, ca to the Anvil Brotherhood headquarters.
Representing shadows and death, symbolizing glory, the organization banner cherished most by the Brotherhood mbers, lay in broken tatters, like a rag on a tavern table, quietly in the corner.
Fragnts of flesh mixed with viscera, severed limbs soaked in thick blood, scattered throughout the room, as if the air itself were congealed with a blood hue.
And that ambitious leader of the organization, dreaming of developing the Brotherhood into the most powerful underground force on the Aifala Continent, had already completed the transcendent transformation.
Also on that night, with all the mbers in the headquarters, was piled into a towering tomb of bodies with heads.
Only that day did Vier, for the first ti, learn from her ntor the na of this being:
——"On of Death" Xia Nan.
The finger stroking the squirrel’s head exerted force unwittingly, a prick of pain followed from the fingertip.
A shallow red figure flickered before her eyes, the bright-tailed raccoon squirrel, stimulated, squeaked and vanished into the depths of the grass.
On Vier’s finger, there was now an extra small bleeding scar.
"Damn!" Recalling once again the black-haired young man sitting across the table in the association’s eting room, her face froze abruptly, turning ugly.
"It was just an ordinary commission, why would I encounter such an existence?"
"Moreover..."
Vier lowered her head, the shadow under her bangs making her expression look uncertain.
In mory, this notorious Big Shot should only make his debut in an adventure mission three years later, right?
Calculating the ti, the other party should have just started not long ago, far from a professional.
But now, it was clear he already had the qualification to set foot on the Association’s second floor.
This also implied the other party not only reached professional level but also completed the Association’s promotion mission.
Moreover... In the second-floor eting room, fearing arousing his suspicion, Vier didn’t dare fully unleash her spiritual thought for careful perception.
But just in those brief dozen minutes spent in the sa room with him, she had already clearly sensed the refined montum emanating from him.
Far heavier than that of a newcor just turning into a professional.
Like a senior who has explored the professional path for many years.
"Why?"
Vier’s doubts almost overflowed from her heart.
"Why so fast?"
"Could it be the chain reaction I brought about?"
"No! Impossible!"
"It’s only been a few years since I returned, and just morizing spells anew, exploring intelligence, and ditating to enhance spiritual power in the city took up a lot of ti, and the distance to River Valley Town is very far."
"It’s impossible to affect here!"
"Then why?"
Vier was baffled, the uncontrolled, unfamiliar events altering future mories made her heart feel vaguely uneasy.
At the sa ti, deep inside, an unrestrainable touch of relief arose.
Luckily, she had seen Xia Nan’s appearance at different tis on many underground organization’s bounty orders, knew his looks, and roughly knew he hailed from Pan Yun Province.
Only then, the mont she stepped into the eting room, did she perceive his identity.
Otherwise, if she had inadvertently offended him due to her attitude or so other reason.
She wouldn’t want her head chopped off and stacked on a tomb of bodies.
Thinking back now, her behavior at that ti, compared to when the two first t, seed overly enthusiastic, a bit abrupt.
"Will it make Xia Nan suspicious?"
Vier worriedly thought.
But anyway, she indeed bought the resonating relic from him at a price far above the market average.
Even proactively offered a purification service, solving the Beastification Curse trouble for him.
Having done this much, leaving aside whether she could leave a good impression, it shouldn’t lead to his dissatisfaction, right?
"Not necessarily..." Rembering Xia Nan’s reputation among the professionals in her mory, she wasn’t sure.
"Forget it, anyway, I’ve safely left the eting room, just be careful in the future, avoid contact."
There is no conflict or connection between Xia Nan himself and Vier’s mission, there’s no need to curry favor just because of his future Big Shot identity.
Moreover, given his notorious reputation in her mory... it’s better to stay a bit away cautiously.
Although puzzled by Xia Nan’s growth speed far exceeding mory.
But ti is pressing now, she doesn’t want, nor dare, to explore the change closely.
"Should be almost there, right?"
Clearing miscellaneous thoughts from her mind, Vier stood up, gazing forward to the dense forest, estimating the distance to her destination in her heart.
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