Chapter 567: Cooperation and Familiar Faces

Rod pulled up his pants.

Not the slightest hint of embarrassment at having been caught in an awkward situation.

He swaggered out of the abandoned brick house.

Tally, meanwhile, walked behind him licking her lips, her face sweet with satisfaction.

Then she caught sight of the heroine Grey and the half-deer person following her.

Her beautiful eyes instantly went cold.

"Hero candidate?"

The succubus Young Lady knew her master had always been displeased with these types.

When her master was displeased, the taste of his essence carried that same displeasure.

She tasted it every day, so naturally she would share Rod's feelings.

Rod placed his hand on her shoulder.

He gently toyed with her soft, cool earlobe, signaling her to relax.

Rod recognized these two young ladies.

Someone had once tried to make a move on the magic ring industry, and after a bit of tailing, he ended up at the small nation of Kava by the super volcano.

Along the way, he got into a brawl with twenty-three fire spirit girls and wiped out a mind flayer hideout.

During that time, he had crossed swords once with this heroine Grey.

At the time, she was rescuing the victims of the volcanic ash disaster caused by the eruption in the nation of Kava.

He actually still had some impression of her.

That outing happened to be one where he hadn't brought the succubus along.

He had still used the Disguise Domain to conceal his appearance, so these two girls presumably didn't recognize him.

"Keep your hostility in check, Tally."

"Okay~ sigh, it's mainly that the 【Archduke Bloodline】 progress has been a bit fast lately~~"

She grinned, harboring thoughts of claiming credit.

The succubus's recent 【Growth Spirit】 stat points had been lucky, all successfully landing on this passive skill.

And over the past two months, she had indeed been diligent.

She had successfully reached the upper tier of seventh rank, with a brass spirit-measuring orb reading of 334 marks.

Quite a pleasing result.

"Good, good, good. Impressive."

"Hehehe~~"

Rod smiled.

He turned toward the heroine Grey and the half-deer person Kira, who were interrogating the tall man.

The half-deer person Kira hadn't taken part in it, and seeing Rod walk over,

she smiled gently and said, "Where are you hurt? Come here and let me heal you."

"Hurt?"

Rod was taken aback.

"Yes, my lord Grey just stopped me from going over earlier, saying you might have taken some injuries dealing with that troll, and that the lady beside you was bandaging you up just now."

She said with an innocent face.

Rod looked at the heroine Grey and saw her face cold and silent.

"Right, bandaging, but it's nothing serious. Thank you, lovely half-deer Young Lady."

"Aiya, it's nothing."

The half-deer person Kira's personality was as easily shy as Miss Xiao Ke's, a faint pink rising to her cheeks.

The two sides made brief introductions.

Both parties were straightforward people, no beating around the bush.

And there didn't seem to be any conflict between them.

They quickly learned each other's purposes.

Rod was blunt, stating plainly that he had a grudge against people from the Bahadur Academy of Magic.

Grey and Kira, on the other hand, were tracking down a source of contamination from chaotic energy from another dimension.

Rod felt a bit wistful.

Although he had clashed with them before while hiding his identity,

among all the 【Hero Candidates】 he had encountered, they might be the only pair actually doing proper work.

Rescuing disaster victims in the nation of Kava before, and now tracking down an other-dimensional disaster.

Rod thought for a moment, then asked:

"I saw in the newspaper that the half-deer Elder published the first 【Source of Calamity】 from the Hero Prophecy, someone named Ed Stevens, I think. Aren't you going to go find him?"

Kira shook her head: "No, we're not. My lord Grey and I both believe a hero should start from among the common people, and we never take part in big events like that."

"Very mature thinking, neither arrogant nor impatient. If anyone could become a true hero, I'd say it has to be you two."

Rod expressed surprise, then clapped his hands in praise.

"Hehe, not at all~~"

Grey turned her head to look at Rod.

Her features were cold and hard, with a touch of feminine softness, brimming with capable fierceness.

"Are you certain this group of mercenaries was hired by the Bahadur Academy of Magic?"

"Yes."

Kira said, "The Magic Academy has always maintained deep ties with the Extra-Dimensional Realm and the Chaos Energy, making them highly suspicious."

Having spoken, she saw her own Hero, my lord, nod.

Her eyes rolled, and she looked at Rod:

"Mr. Rod, why don't we simply travel together? Our targets happen to be the same!"

"Kira, you are hindering Mr. Rod."

Greta frowned and immediately rejected the idea.

But Kira held a different view.

If what Rod said was true—that this group of mercenaries was hired by the Bahadur Magic Academy—then the danger level of this mission would have to be raised significantly.

Bahadur was notorious for its vast wealth and arrogance.

Didn't she see that this was merely one of their mercenary squads, yet it possessed a Tier-7 Troll of the same rank as my lord Greta?

And since this Mr. Rod possessed the strength to shatter a Troll into pieces and shared the same objective, what reason was there not to join forces?

Kira clicked her tongue, her round, innocent eyes blinking.

She looked at Greta with full hope.

Greta pondered for a moment.

"..."

She had never met this man before.

For some reason, she felt an inexplicable familiarity; although her intuition told her that this man was likely not a bad person.

But the scene she had witnessed in the abandoned brick house just now...

Ahem, ahem.

She had always been unable to resist this fellow, Kira.

So she chose to nod:

"It depends on Mr. Rod's choice. Kira, be polite."

"Of course I can."

Rod smiled. "It is I who should be honored to travel with a powerful female hero and such a lovely Young Lady who is half-deer."

Rod was certainly willing to travel together.

The female hero Greta's reason for investigation was very legitimate; hitching a ride to blur the other party's vision was quite good!

The man before her was excessively handsome and sunny.

Being praised by such a man, Kira couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle softly.

"Mr. Rod's mouth is truly sweet."

Tally secretly leaned close to Rod's ear: "She is right; Master's mouth is sweet, and Tally loves to bite."

And so.

The four traveled together.

Rod held partial information on the approximate locations of the mercenary squads, so finding them was not too difficult.

The process was also very simple.

First, find them.

The female hero Greta would verify if they were infected by Chaos Energy.

If so, leave the bandit leader for interrogation and investigation.

As for the others...

Since they were all contaminated, leaving them would only be a disaster, so Rod simply began to kill.

As for those not infected...

Unfortunately.

After one night, those who had participated even slightly in the search for the dungeon entrance showed traces of contamination to varying degrees.

Although the degree was shallow and they could still perform normal search work.

Once they erupted, they would either become addicted to desire or be overcome by a great urge to kill.

Greta now confirmed that the Chaos Energy contamination was deliberately released by the Bahadur Magic Academy.

Simultaneously, from the interrogation, she learned that Bahadur had a temporary camp; it was just that people of their low status did not know the location.

However...

With a half-deer skilled in prophecy present, finding the location was such a trivial matter that it was hardly worth mentioning.

At dawn the next day.

Kira successfully found the approximate location of the camp within the River of Prophecy.

By the time the four arrived...

Rod was surprised to discover a familiar face in the camp.

—Seamus, the president of the Bahadur Image Society, who had once attempted to cause trouble in Shi Ying Town and the Ko Plains, and from whom Rod had stolen a sliver of the 【Domain of Disguise】.

(End of this chapter)