Chapter 285: Another Challenger
"Phew, finally back at Balkrow…" Shye muttered with a slight smile on his face.
Since he managed to obtain a rather great harvest from the auction and escape the dastardly pursuer—leaving no traces—Shye was in a fantastic mood.
Somehow, the familiar sight of Balkrow's gates gave him a feeling of safety.
Perhaps due to his near-death experience with the misty arachne.
Utenburg City was the city nearest to Balkrow with a teleporter—only around two days away, hence, after traveling for…well…two days, he finally arrived at the aforementioned city, his current base of operations.
Since it was still early in the morning, and he had a great night's sleep at a nearby town last night, Shye was raring to take a few quests, rank up to platinum, and save a sizable amount of money.
It was a great time to start grinding, and so, he did.
Entering the city after showing his Balkrow token to the guards, Shye immediately headed toward his guild's branch headquarters.
After a short and quick twenty-minute walk, he finally arrived.
Again, he didn't know why but his guildmates seemed excited that he was back, there was probably some new, higher-ranked-than-Mason, rookie inside.
Well, his guess was correct.
Ignoring the excited gazes of his guildmates, Shye entered, prompting heads to turn his way.
"Boss! You're finally back!" A young woman's voice shot across the entire establishment, causing some of the people she considered friends to facepalm.
"Hey! Seira! Stop calling him boss! Aren't you embarrassed to call a rookie your boss when you've been an adventurer for a few years already?" reprimanded one of them.
"Hmmph! I don't care. Why would I be embarrassed to call him boss? I'm telling you, the boss is the real deal and you could consider yourself lucky if you make it into his party!" Seira boasted, proudly licking Shye's boots without a single ounce of shame.
She then stood up from her seat and enthusiastically walked towards Shye.
"Are we going on a quest today?" Seira asked with the countenance of an excited kid.
Witnessing her antics, Shye couldn't help but inwardly chuckle.
Seira was getting a little too into being his underling, no?
Well, this is good for him though—in terms of convenience, at least. Having someone you can trust to at least watch your back inside an adventurer zone was truly a huge help
"Yeah, we're going on lots of quests," Shye replied with a smile.
As Shye and Seira's friendly conversation unfolded in front of a quest board, a certain someone—a short young male adventurer with medium-length orange hair tied up in a ponytail, scholarly physique, and dashing facial features, stared daggers at Shye.
The guy was surrounded by a few of his underlings, seemingly gnashing their teeth in frustration at the sight.
"This bastard!! How dare he lay his hands on the boss' woman?!"
"What utter idiocy! Doesn't he see that a short, cute woman like Miss Seira would only be a perfect match for a sho–... v-valiant man like boss Chiizai?!"
"And the way she calls him! Are they into some sort of roleplay?!"
Hearing his underlings' words did little to calm Chiizai's raging heart.
If anything, they only served to fuel his hate and anger towards Shye.
'These little shits…' Chiizai seethed inwardly, briefly directing his intense glare at his foolish subordinates before returning it to Shye after a few seconds. 'Heh, no matter. Miss Seira will see who's the superior one in the rookie representative selection tournament less than five months from now…No need to rush.'
Chiizai, being a mage with high intelligence attributes, knew that there would be no point in trying to pick a fight with this so-called notorious rookie right now.
First, the guy was famous for challenging people to bet their adventurer licenses which he, a smart man, isn't willing to do.
Second, he would have the chance to fight the bastard, humiliate him, and capture Seira's heart in the rookie representative selection tournament so why should he rush things?
He didn't believe that the bastard would outgrow him, a naturally talented mage with an affinity for mana.
If not for him being a year younger than most participants, he was sure that he could've ranked higher than fourth in the recent rookie admission exam.
There was simply no doubt in his heart that he would outgrow all the rookies in his generation.
Well, not everyone was as patient as him though.
As Shye and Seira carefully chose their next quest, a tall and slender rookie with short hibiscus hair and dashing facial features enhanced by an arrowhead-shaped earring on his left earlobe, approached, oozing arrogance from every pore of his body as he looked condescendingly at Shye who was negligibly a bit shorter.
Judging by his looks, the individual seemed to be an archer.
The premium leather armor he wore along with his shortbow spoke volumes about his adventurer class.
"Heh, so you're the so-called super rookie everyone is talking about?" The hotshot said, prompting the guildsmen to turn their heads excitedly towards yet another spicy showdown between two rookies—one ranked sixth in the recent rookie admission exam and one mysteriously arrogant who got in through some form of connection.
Watching Shye, the notoriously arrogant rookie, fight was always a treat for the eyes, hence, the utter excitement.
Everyone waited for Shye's famously vicious retort, including the sixth-ranked rookie, Farhann Cupid.
Unfortunately, Farhann's arrogant remarks were…ignored, making the guy look extremely stupid as he posed haughtily behind Shye.
Naturally, after suffering such humiliation, the hotshot wasn't thrilled.
"You dare humiliate me?! Face me! Coward!" the frustrated rookie added.
"Hmm? Seira? Do you hear that?"
"Boss? Hear what?"
"A buzzing fly…"
"Oh, yes. Now that you mention it... I do believe I hear a fly buzzing around behind us..."
Hearing the short skit performed by the duo in front of the quest board, a few guildmates couldn't help but suppress their laughter, further increasing the hate and anger raging inside Farhann's heart.
"Y-YOU!! FIGHT ME! BACK YOUR ARROGANCE UP!"
After officially hearing the humiliated hotshot's challenge, Shye beamed, swiftly turning around and facing Farhann.
"Oh, so you just want a fight? Unfortunately, I'm not fond of entertaining people for free. However, I'll give a poor fly like you a discount. Let's have a 35,000 silver coin bet."
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