MTLNOVEL Chapter 05: Adventurer Guild (2)_2
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In the corner, Andrew crossed his arms and asked softly, "That was a green dragon, you know that, right?"
"Of course," the guard commander nodded.
"Then why didn't you sign a contract with her? What has more combat power than a dragon? I think she could even destroy a country's army. Not only did you not contract with her, but you also stopped her from entering the adventurer hall?" Andrew spread his hands, "That's not in the adventurer guild's best interest, is it?"
The guard commander stared at Andrew, and after a moment of hesitation said awkwardly, "Sir, I don't think you are familiar with her."
"Why do you say that?" Andrew asked, puzzled.
"Uh... because what you just said sounds like you know nothing about her. In fact, we did contract with her. You're right, what has more combat power than a dragon? If anything, maybe only Angels, demons, liches, and Titan giants. Obviously, we can't hire these top-tier beings, and they wouldn't stoop to work as mercenaries."
"Then I'm even more confused. If so, why didn't you contract with her?"
"I just said, we did contract with her." Sneaking a glance at Christina in the distance, the guard commander lowered his voice and whispered, "But you have to understand, having powerful combat abilities and knowing how to use them are not entirely the same thing. If used incorrectly, the more powerful the strength, the more troublesome it becomes."
"Hmm... you mean she caused destruction?" Rubbing his chin, Andrew also glanced at Christina's direction, "I heard she set the employer's house on fire during a mission, and you downgraded her mercenary group's rating from three-star to two-star because of it. No offense, but is a house really worth that much that you'd give up a dragon for it?"
Upon hearing this, the guard commander laughed. Looking again at the bewildered Christina standing in the distance, he coughed twice and continued, "Sir, you probably haven't been here long, or maybe you haven't been a mercenary for long. Let me explain. First, the adventurer guild and the adventurer hall are two different organizations. There is only one adventurer guild in Linlopes, but there are eight adventurer halls. The adventurer guild is for all adventurers, managed by the adventurer committee, and it only provides a venue, existing to serve all adventurers. The adventurer hall, on the other hand, is a business with a boss and makes profits by taking commissions. And I..."
Pointing to himself, the guard commander continued, "I belong to the adventurer hall, not the adventurer guild. The adventurer hall has no authority to downgrade a mercenary group; only the adventurer guild can do that. So, the downgrade of the 'Rat and Dragon Mercenary Group' had nothing to do with us. Also, the incident of setting the employer's house on fire happened after we terminated the contract with her. Don't you really know what she did?"
Saying this, the guard commander looked seriously at Andrew.
Hesitating, Andrew asked softly, "Can you... tell me? You're right, I'm not that familiar with her. Can you tell me?"
Shrugging, the guard commander pulled Andrew a little to the side, turning his back to Christina, and whispered, "A noble lady broke off her family-arranged marriage to elope with some wild boy, so her father issued a task to find a powerful enough mercenary group to bring her back. Christina took the task, but just as she was about to succeed, she got persuaded! Persuaded! Do you understand what I'm saying? In my life, I've never heard of such nonsense! A mercenary group got persuaded by the enemy! She felt the noble lady and the wild boy were truly in love, so she injured the other mercenary groups who had taken the same task and let the two runaways escape! Do you think it's just a matter of not getting the commission? Our reputation was almost ruined!"
Andrew was dumbfounded.
"And," the guard commander continued to speak through gritted teeth, "she took on a task to transport some goods from one place to another, which should have been a very simple thing. After all, who would rob a dragon, right? We thought so too. But guess what? She got tricked into giving away the goods halfway. Yes, you heard it right, tricked, the other party didn't use force at all. They just played on her sympathy. The goods belonged to an important partner of ours, and we ended up compensating them twenty thousand gold coins."
"There are too many similar incidents. A merchant hired us to drive away some poor people occupying his land, another very simple task. We thought she just had to show up in dragon form and it would be solved. But you know what? She helped those poor people instead. It was originally just a bunch of poor people that any mercenary group could handle. Now there's a dragon there. Should we post a dragon-slaying mission? Honestly, working with her was a nightmare for us. She made us deeply understand that being an adventurer requires not only strength but also intelligence, sometimes even more so. Do you understand what I mean?"
Andrew gave a nervous smile and straightened up, looking towards Christina.
From a distance, Christina gave Andrew a sweet smile. Andrew smiled back at her.