The Villainess was Loved

Chapter Sixteen: The Second Liar

“I got the lineup.”

I stilled at the familiar warm voice.

Its intonation indeed screamed the western lead.

“Oh, Wreigner!” Breca turned in my general direction; only her gaze seemed beyond me.

The scent of familiar cologne wrapped itself around me before warmth reached me.

“Oh, a new face?” he asked, but I did not turn to face him.

Perhaps it was the awkwardness I had before nobles creeping in…or that his sister spilt her cup’s contents on my garments not too long ago.

Or perhaps it is the already written history of his presence at my execution, shaking his head as though he had tried to educate me better but failed.

Bile rose in my throat.

Perhaps I should manage my breathing before my thoughts get too far ahead of me.

“What's the lineup?” Breca asked.

“Fine, ignore my curiosity to satisfy your own,” Wreigner said playfully, “Alright, the first one is an escort mission. Some Sage wants us to escort them to the dwarven town.”

“Ulbibil?”

“Yap.”

“Yikes, that’s quite the trip.” Breca frowned, “Next.”

“Quite the trip but… Ouuh~ a beauty!!” the second voice’s owner, a lighter tone as compared to Wreigner’s, planted his face before me, such that my cloaks’ shadow did not aid in anonymity.

But…that was the least of his worry.

He appeared before me so fast that my body reacted instantly by kicking his groin.

“What the hell!”

“Oh shit...I didn’t. I didn't expect you to impose on my private space, so instantly…my body reacted.” I excused

“Reacted? reacted? Reacting is taking a step back!!” he squealed with a tone much higher and…well, more pained than before.

“In other news….” Breca pressed, “What about that escort thing?”

“The pay is insane, around forty thousand gold.”

“Seriously?” she frowned, “There could be more to it than a simple escort.”

“I guess.” Wreigner said, “You okay, Ruben?”

“Am I okay? She kicked me in the nuts!”

Ruben’s hair was red, his gaze light green and face flushed.

I will not apologise beyond what I already have, so I might as well not make any excuses to emphasise my presence.

“So, what’s the next quest?” I asked, turning to face the person behind me, and indeed, it was the western male lead.

Wreigner Hyle.

Well, his older brother is still at war, his death not yet announced. Thus he still has yet to be recognised as the heir or participate in political games.

He doesn’t stand out yet.

“You…are?” Wreigner’s widened eyes narrowed, and a frown crossed his face.

Seconds later, after realising he held my gaze far beyond the levels of normalcy, he cleared his throat.

Perhaps he realised the futility of revealing my identity, that if he tried to out me, I would out him too, well, to whoever would listen anyway.

“The next is a collection quest by the alchemical academy.”

“Hmm, sounds dull.” Kat retorted.

“Helloo!! I’m in pain!!”

Ruben wailed, still, the conversation continued.

“Uh..” Wreigner began, but his gaze had been too glued on me for him to recall where he was on the list he read.

“Next one…” I smiled, “Wreigner, right?”

“Y-yes, Wreigner.” He acknowledged his name, “You are?”

“Just a part-time member,” I responded.

“I mean your name?”

“My name? Rose.” I shrugged.

“Your name is Rose?”

“Yap, R-O-S-E, nothing complicated,really. Do I look familiar to someone you know?”

A pain shot through my ear.

“Ow!”

“Will you behave?” Breca asked through gritted teeth, clearly on her last nerve at our tense dialogue.

“The last one that fits the D category is a merchant escort.” He continued, his gaze no longer holding mine.

In fact, it was as though he retreated into himself, to say the least. Where he was bubbly and playful with Ruben, he grew weary of me.

Does he think I wish to hurt him? That I want to ruin the careful facade created on his unsuspecting party members?

Maybe.

Yet we benefit more from each other’s silence, so I held my tongue.

“If we were to take the merchant escort mission, what would our destination be?” Breca asked.

“Baardiskali.”

“f**k, that will take…eight days? We don’t have that time. Is there no other quest?” Breca asked.

Wreigner’s gaze dropped to Rubens’, who was now calm, and after a long pause, he began.

“Well…”

“Well?” Breca pressed.

“Well, there are two other quests that…Ruben and I saw. Both relatively short and interesting…to say the least.”

“Well? Out with it?”

“Yeah, you are driving us crazy!” Kat insisted.

“One is based on Videba and the other Bleakfen tower.” Wreigner began, “The former concerns getting rid of a stronghold of bandits that terrorise the neighbouring village while the other involves a haunted house.”

“Okay, so we go for the ghost. What's the problem?” Breca questioned

“The quest is strictly D and above, and it is under Brackhill adventurer guild.”

The entire group groaned.

“What…what does that mean?”

“Brackhill is a literal murder guild, well, unofficially, I mean. Getting involved with them is just..not worth it.”

“I don’t get it? Do they kill you or what?”

“It’s a murder guild, d-do you not understand? We have mentioned the word murder, yet you would-?” Breca paused, scratched her head, then let out an exasperated sigh, “When a guild ‘reserves’ a jurisdiction, it means any adventurer that goes there can choose to collaborate with them or not; however, the victory over the area will be under the guild’s name. You still get the reward promised by the one who issued the quest. However, if it's Brackhill guild, aka murder guild, both pay and glory go to them. Plus, you might not even make it out alive.”

“So ‘murder’ from the guild title does not mean that ‘you’ kill people. It means ‘the guild’ does?”

“What-, how did…how did you even get that confused?”

I rolled my eyes.

“I mean…have you watched the gladiator matches in the capital amphitheatre? Or rather, imagine this, they can bully weak people into fighting each other to death. That’s what I mean...or meant.”

“Oh…then, they can do that, look, just know they are not…what most would call human.” She finished.

“Which is a weird definition to use in front of a beast person, but okay.” Kat chimed.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, humans are the creme of the earth. Huzzah!”

“Oh for…” Breca cleared her throat but said nothing more.

“So, we go for the bandit quest?” I shrugged.

“Bandits never listen. I mean, they are bandits. If we take the quest, we will have to kill about fifty to seventy people.” Breca paused, “Have you ever killed a person?”

I had not thought about it that way.

“Neither have I, and I don’t want to be forced to do so. So we generally stick to escort quests or monster ones.” She sighed. “So, what do you guys think? Should we stick this out and wait for the next draw?”

“We could…do the ghost one.” Alden, the mage, chirped.

“Did you not hear it was in Brackhill territory?”

“I did, I did but hear me out. There will be at least twenty-something adventurers with us because the quest popped up this morning. We don’t need the pay or glory, just the loot.” He argued, “It’s a tower right, meaning we can grab some jewellery, fabric, craft materials, spell books…you know, then dip while they handle the boss. I have two teleportation sheets for those who are terrible at stealth, and the rest can manoeuvre their way out. As for the level restriction: this is Brackhill we are talking about. They bait low-level adventurers, so I think the restriction is a mere formality. I doubt they will check.”

The group was silent, as though everyone was considering his words.

“I am fine with that,” Kat said.

“Same.” Wreigner nodded.

“Same here,” Ruben said.

The group turned to Breca and me.

“What do you think?” Breca asked, and I shrugged.

“I go where you go.”

“Reassuring. Gods but the one time I want to hear your opinion….” She said, rolling her eyes, then sighed, “Fine, in and out, ensure we stay conspicuous.”

“Alright, I am the group porter,” I announced with a smile as we began settling into the idea. “Is there something I am to have?”

Breca handed a small black bag to me.

“It is a spatial bag; it can fill up to five hundred kilograms.” She said, “Every monster or creature we hunt in the tower, you collect its carcass, loot and whatever else that seems valuable, understand?”

“Completely.”

The bag she handed resembled a jewellery pouch that could hold at most four earrings. Still, nobles…no, noblewomen have no need for such pouches.

Arguably the knights as well. While they dedicated a great percentage of their hunts to the empire, adventurers kept their loot.

Granted, knights were paid by the imperial powerhouses, while adventurers lived on a gig to gig basis.