Redstone City, within the City Lord's office.
Nova was buried in a pile of documents, working overtime to handle official business.
After rescuing the Duke's daughter, Duke Alama had kept his word and truly handed over a city to them.
It was even a city situated on a major trade route with quite flourishing commerce.
Although they had only been granted management rights over the city rather than noble titles, it was still extremely generous compensation. Apart from the small fixed tribute they had to pay monthly, all surplus generated from managing the city could go straight into their own pockets.
This was much faster money than being adventurers and risking life and limb.
As for whether it was easy work or not?
If you asked Night Owl or Ivan, they'd definitely say it was easy.
But if you asked Nova, that might not be the case...
*Thud—*
Gal placed another stack of documents on the desk.
Nova looked up with dark circles under his eyes and asked, "What... what is this now?"
"Uh... complaints and reports from three foreign merchants about Night Owl," Gal answered while looking elsewhere.
"What kind of entrapment operation has she been running now?"
Gal nodded and subtly took a step back.
Nova's voice was trembling as he spoke—this was already burning rage. Ever since taking office as City Lord, his temper had been getting worse and worse...
Sure enough—
"What is she trying to accomplish?"
Nova grabbed the stack of complaints, quickly flipped through them, then slammed them to the floor.
"Does she really want to make merchant caravans take detours around us before she's satisfied!?
Gal, go call her over. Where is she now?"
"Probably on patrol..."
"You mean she's still doing this right now!? Go bring her to me immediately!"
Under Nova's urging, Gal jogged out of the office.
About twenty minutes later, Night Owl—dirty-faced and dressed as a beggar—was dragged in by Gal.
From the moment she entered, Nova stared at her intensely. If looks could kill, Night Owl would have died three times over by now.
"Night Owl, can you explain to me what you're doing with this getup?"
"Um... experiencing life?" Night Owl put on an innocent expression, watching Nova's veins bulge.
He picked up the stack of reports and threw them in front of her.
"Disguising yourself as a mentally impaired vagrant elf, deliberately luring foreign merchants into talking to you.
Then when they try to take you away, you reveal your identity and arrest them for a hefty fine?
Is this what a security officer should be doing?
This is clearly a honey trap!"
Night Owl shuffled behind Gal, sticking out her tongue. "If they didn't harbor ill intentions, nothing would happen, right? I'm eliminating potential threats!"
"Eliminating threats?
Do you know that thanks to your efforts, the number of merchants entering the city has decreased by twenty percent compared to previous years?
Do you think those merchants you've scammed will have good things to say about Redstone City after they leave?
Can't you just stay quiet?
Even if you followed Ivan's example and spent all day soaking in magical power, that would be helping me!"
"I'm not a magic-addicted idiot!
Besides, now that I'm a security officer, if I don't go after them, wouldn't being a security officer be pointless?"
"Then go after thieves! Why target foreign merchants?"
Night Owl pouted, swaying her body left and right, refusing to make eye contact with Nova.
She had the attitude of "say what you want, I'll do it again next time."
They had completed missions together and positions were assigned according to their agreement.
Although Nova was the captain, he had no authority to dismiss Night Owl.
But that didn't mean he wouldn't explode.
Gal quietly retreated to a corner—he could sense Nova had reached his limit.
"City Lord! There's a directive from the Supreme Council."
"Hah—hoo—" In front of outsiders, Nova quickly regained his composure and hurried to the communication crystal.
When Nova returned, Gal was sitting honestly in his chair.
Night Owl had changed back into her black bodysuit and was hanging upside down from the bookshelf, swaying back and forth.
Seeing Nova, she asked, "What's the big deal? They even used the communication crystal."
Long-distance communication consumed enormous amounts of magical power, so without important matters, they usually communicated by letter.
"They're requesting we escort Light Church priests to the capital, Oath City.
There's also a non-mandatory conscription for all of us."
"Tch, that reveals absolutely nothing," Night Owl complained. "They already called away so many Diamond-rank adventurers before, now they want to call us too, but won't explain why. All this secrecy can't be good news!"
"It's non-mandatory," Nova reminded her.
"So what do we do? Vote?" Night Owl asked.
Nova nodded. "Gal, go get Ivan."
Shortly after, a dazed Ivan was carried over by Gal.
Nova explained the situation to him. Ivan nodded as he listened, but Gal suspected he wasn't fully awake yet.
"I agree to go. If I stay here any longer, you'll all drive me insane." Nova cast the first vote in favor.
He was speaking the truth.
Ivan spent all day consuming magic crystals, constantly in a drunken stupor.
Night Owl caused trouble all day, purely making things worse.
Gal was an honest person with no bad habits.
Unfortunately, the half-dragon wasn't very bright and could only help run errands.
The heavy burden of handling city affairs fell entirely on Nova's shoulders alone—no wonder his temper was getting worse.
Now with this conscription, going out for a legitimate trip was exactly what he wanted.
As for possible danger?
What adventurer was afraid of that!
"Don't want to go!" Night Owl only wanted to uphold her justice in the city and had no interest in the kingdom's troubles.
"I'm fine either way." Gal abstained.
"Ivan?"
"Huh? Oh!" Suddenly called by name, Ivan seemed to wake up a bit. "Go, go, go, let's go then."
He immediately slumped back in his chair, making it hard not to wonder if he even understood what everyone was discussing.
But—
"Then with 2 to 1, we'll personally escort the priests.
Gal, you prepare the carriage and half a month's worth of food.
Night Owl, you prepare potions—prepare enough for our next dungeon expedition.
I'll handle finding someone to take over the City Lord duties."
"Yes."
"Yes—"
Night Owl vanished in a flash, while Gal first carried Ivan back.
The next day, beside two carriages.
"May the Lord of Light protect us. We entrust this journey to all of you."
Three priests bowed slightly, and Nova hurried forward to exchange pleasantries.
All three were Gold-rank priests from Redstone City's church—two women and one man.
Originally, there was also a Diamond-rank priest in the church, but he was too old.
So old that Nova suspected if he dared bring him along, the old man would dare die on the road.
So in the end, they let the elderly priest stay in the city. The communication hadn't specified anyone by name anyway, only saying to send Gold-rank and above priests from the city.
These three should be sufficient to fulfill the requirements.
After departure, Night Owl sat on top of the carriage responsible for surveillance, dangling her legs in the air as she asked:
"Captain, what do you think they want with both priests and adventurers?
Not long ago, they also transferred a batch of magical materials from the city.
What exactly are they planning?
They're not going to war with the demons, are they?
If so, I'm out."
Night Owl was an elf—if the situation went bad, she could indeed flee back to the Elven Forest at any time.
"How would I know?" Nova half-reclined in the carriage, enjoying the leisure time without having to process official documents. "But it's definitely not war. If it were war, they'd be mobilizing armies and grain supplies, not just magical materials, adventurers, and priests."
—
Two days later.
Night Owl: "There's a situation ahead. Tell the old man to stop sleeping and get up to scout!"
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