Chapter 314: The Crystalgard City

Ravon stared at Daniel with a mix of frustration and anger. That bastard had just ruined his chance.

He seriously wanted to chop him into pieces and feed him to his dogs — but then Daniel’s cold eyes fell on him.

Feeling that gaze, Ravon’s body shivered slightly.

"My apologies, he’s my new bodyguard and takes his job a bit seriously," Serys intervened quickly when she saw the tension.

"I see... still, it seems like you’ve picked a pretty useless bodyguard. You might want to consider replacing him," Ravon muttered, clearly shaken.

Daniel completely ignored him and stood his ground without stepping back. The conversation continued for a few more minutes until Ravon finally said he had to leave.

After saying goodbye, he left — not before mentioning that he’d take care of their invitation by tonight. Though, it would be just one invitation, with Daniel entering as a companion.

"What a useless bastard," Daniel grunted after he was gone, dropping into a chair.

"Who the hell was that idiot?" Serys asked. She wasn’t too happy about the whole interaction either.

She had never in her life felt like she was losing brain cells just by talking to someone — until now.

How stupid could someone be to actually be that guy—Ravon? Now she understood why the real Celestina hated him so much.

The guy used every opportunity to flirt and clearly didn’t care about anything else. On top of that, he was obviously an extremely aggressive person.

Even from that short conversation, it was obvious his intentions weren’t pure. He clearly had other motives for getting close to the young lady of the Valenberg family.

Maybe he was trying to secure his position in his family? Or something along those lines. But it definitely wasn’t out of pure love.

"Elarion," Daniel muttered, and a shadow emerged from beneath his feet.

"Greetings, my lord," the Dark Elf knelt respectfully.

"What the hell is that?!" Serys jumped up in shock when she saw the creature appear.

Where the hell did it come from? As she looked closer, she could sense that this being had a peak B-rank aura. And how was something like this loyal to this guy?

’Is he a mancer? But how the hell is he so good with a sword then?’ Daniel was getting more and more mysterious.

"I want you to investigate that trash who was just here," Daniel said, completely ignoring her and speaking to Elarion.

Elarion nodded and vanished into the shadows.

"We’ll find out who this Ravon guy really is soon."

Serys returned to her chair and nodded. Clearly, she wasn’t going to say anything about the sudden monster appearance. Not like he could force her anyway.

"So... we’ve got nothing to do for the next two days. What now?" Daniel asked, glancing at her lazily.

"We could explore the city. Even though it’s under Valenberg control, there are plenty of well-known bandit groups here. I’m sure there’s stuff worth seeing. Also, there’s a specific place we have to visit — we’ve got business there," she said after thinking for a moment.

"Then let’s go." They both got up, informed the head butler, and left.

They walked slowly through the city streets, taking in the view. The architecture wasn’t that different from the Elthanor Empire — pretty much the same.

The only real difference was that the houses here were more colorful and the atmosphere felt lighter, which was kind of nice.

What was even more surprising was how happy and safe the people looked, despite the presence of bandit groups and Corruption Worshipers in the area.

That caught both of them off guard. How could a city like this still be so cheerful?

Well, maybe it was because the bandits treated this place like home — they didn’t want to destroy it.

As they walked, they grabbed some ice cream to try. It was thick with cream and fat — honestly, some of the best they’d ever tasted.

"Is there an Adventurer Guild here too?" Daniel asked as they passed a building with a familiar symbol.

The emblem of the Adventurer Guild.

"They’ve got branches all over the continent, so it’s not surprising they’re here too," Serys replied with a nod.

"One of the most interesting guilds I’ve seen," Daniel muttered.

The Adventurer Guild really was impressive in terms of structure — and probably had the largest membership base in the world.

They kept moving and eventually reached the place they’d been heading to — a location that didn’t seem like it should belong in this city at all.

"You said you were taking us somewhere interesting. Is this the place?" Daniel asked, looking down the dark street in front of them.

Weirdly, even though it was daytime, the entire street was still completely dark. It looked like a whole different city within the city.

"I’ve never been here before either. But Lana told us to come here and gather information — to make sure the weapon really will be in the auction," Serys sighed.

It was her first time in this city, but she had studied the map thoroughly — basically had it memorized.

It might’ve looked like they were rushing this operation without a solid plan, but that wasn’t the case.

They’d done a lot of planning and prep work to get ready.

Even though their informants said the weapon was definitely in the city, they still needed confirmation. The auction idea was mostly based on the documents they’d uncovered. But what if the weapon wasn’t in the auction? That would make all their effort pointless.

Besides that, she also needed to ask about the number of high-ranked members from the Golden Tooth Bandits in the area.

"When we go in, be careful and don’t cause trouble. Also, don’t ask about the weapon directly — and don’t question just anyone you see. I’m looking for a specific person," she told Daniel.

"A specific person? What do they look like?"

"Like a beggar. Actually, even worse than a regular beggar."

Daniel frowned... A beggar? They were buying info from a beggar?... the beggar intelligence Organization?