Jonathan led Sean out of the Mercenary Guild. For convenience, taverns were usually located on the streets near the guild.
Most of the people active here were mercenary squads…
Every group has its own specific social circle. For instance, nobles rarely ventured into these noisy places, and only mercenaries truly enjoyed this kind of unrestrained environment.
As Sean walked through the tavern, most of the news he overheard was about the southeastern region.
"Looks like there's been a lot of gossip about the Tacoma area lately."
The Tacoma area was the southeastern region. Since the largest city there was called Tacoma, some people directly used the city's name to refer to the whole area.
"Gossip isn't always false. Often, it's these rumors that lead to miracles," Jonathan said.
Indeed, mercenaries loved low-probability events.
Come to think of it, wasn't it the same for the archaeological team that came to Taylorian? They heard there was treasure in the town and came, only to find nothing!
But then again, if you never took a gamble, just going through the motions of accepting missions day in and day out would feel meaningless…
"Over here, Sir Sean," the man called out to him at the stairwell.
"Just call me Sean."
Whether among nobles or commoners, his name wasn't memorable. As long as he didn't run into anyone from the Sky-Covering Wings, he could go anywhere unnoticed.
Jonathan smiled and led him up to the outermost room on the upper floor…
The door was open, and voices could be heard inside.
"I've found the new member."
As they entered, four people in the room turned around simultaneously.
Three men and one woman…
Since it was the rainy season, almost everyone wore deep black coats. A man and a woman were chatting by the window, while the other two sat in the center. When they saw Jonathan return, they all looked at Sean.
"Let me introduce you. This is Sean. He wants to come with us to the southeastern region…"
"I only said I'd take a look at your team first," Sean retorted.
That was indeed what he had said. Somehow, it felt like he'd already joined once he got here.
Uh…
Sean's reply made Jonathan smile awkwardly.
"Oh, Mr. Sean?"
At that moment, a man sitting by the table, who looked like a melee fighter based on his gear, suddenly stood up. His equipment was similar to Sean's, mostly leather armor. If he was a melee fighter, he was probably an agility-type.
"May I ask what class Mr. Sean is?" The man's expression clearly showed [Displeased!].
Sean chuckled inwardly. These people were quite interesting.
He had only said he wanted to check out the team's composition, yet they'd already labeled him a member, and they got upset when he corrected them!
"Bounty hunter."
Upon hearing the class "bounty hunter," it was clear that all four people present were affected. Even the man and woman by the window turned around.
"Bounty hunter?! It's rare to encounter that class in Rietis. You'd only find a few in the west… That's exactly what we're missing." The man sitting on the other side also stood up.
He looked different from the other four. His figure was gaunt, and his originally brown hair was streaked with gray.
He gave off a frail vibe that clashed with the team's lively energy, but his stats were the highest.
[HP 7000/7000, MP 3500/3500, Neutral]
Order Level 7, the highest in the entire squad…
The rest were all Order Level 5 or just below 6, like Jonathan.
"Alfons, an alchemist from Sedea City." He extended his hand first as a gesture of goodwill.
"Master Fons," the man who had spoken earlier suddenly called out to him…
"It's fine. Everyone who wants to join a team wants to see its composition first. That's normal. Isn't that how we all came together?" Alfons's words let Sean know that these five people were also a temporary team.
"But I wonder, what level bounty hunter is Mr. Sean?"
The sudden question caught Sean off guard!
His mentor hadn't taught him this. So bounty hunters had levels too.
Sean pulled out a badge that shimmered like a silver coin from his pocket—the one he'd gotten from that unknown thief girl earlier.
Silver-white, engraved with the image of two mountains.
"Silver-level bounty hunter!"
He heard exclamations around him…
Huh?
Was that impressive?
"I didn't expect Mr. Sean to be a Silver-level bounty hunter." This time, not only Alfons but also Jonathan and the others showed expressions of [Amazement!].
This… was he a big shot?
Damn. Sean felt like he couldn't keep up the act. They actually thought he was a big shot.
Recalling what Freylia had said about bounty hunters, the essential difference between bounty hunters and mercenaries was that bounty hunters directly handled killings—in other words, they were specialized assassins.
Normally, bounty hunters shouldn't get involved in ordinary mercenary missions. But as Sean's understanding of the outside world grew, he realized nothing was absolute. Besides, with such a high reward for this mission, even many wizard organizations would want a piece of it.
Among the [Amazed!] gazes, only Alfons didn't seem as stirred.
"Mr. Sean, I've heard that Silver-level bounty hunters are top-tier hunters, trained through countless battles!"
Seeing the [Suspicious!] state on the other's face, Sean frowned.
How was he supposed to know that little thief girl had stolen a high-level bounty hunter badge? He was barely keeping up the act.
"I heard the Tacoma area has natural swamps. If we end up in a place like that, how would we escape?!" As he spoke, he took out a vial and poured its contents into a flowerpot on the table.
Instantly, the plant shot up as if hit with a catalyst.
What started as a few centimeters tall suddenly grew to half a meter, its branches expanding and sprouting thorns.
What was he doing?
Testing him?
Was he planning to fill the room with this thing and make Sean deal with it?
Damn!
He didn't even give him time to prepare.
For a moment, Sean could only think of cutting it down or burning it.
In his field of vision, the item the other had used appeared:
[Potion: Rapid Growth]
Above the plant, a [Growing~] status appeared, followed by a timer [2:59]… only three minutes.
Bang~
As the flowerpot shattered, the timer instantly dropped to [2:00]. That fast!
Under Sean's astonished gaze, the time kept draining rapidly. This was likely the duration of the potion's effect on growth, but as the environment changed, the time decreased faster.
It was like opening a window to let the wind in while lighting a fire—the original fixed time became variable due to environmental changes.
Environment…
Sean thought about what plants needed to grow.
Light? Air? Temperature? Soil?
Even powerful magic couldn't make plants sprout out of thin air in the sky. It had to follow some natural laws.
Sean smiled inwardly. So that's how it was.
He stepped forward and reached out to touch the rapidly growing plant. The plant immediately began to coil around his arm…
"I'm different from others. I don't go all-out at the first sign of danger… Danger comes in many forms—some to yourself, some to others… Seizing the right moment is more important than pointless fighting. So no matter how I fight, I value precision."
"Either stay silent, or strike to kill…"
Recalling Freylia's description of a bounty hunter's chaotic fighting style, he started spouting a bunch of lines he barely understood himself but thought sounded cool.
He reached into the soil…
[Absorb Moisture~]
If he drained the soil of moisture, the plant would lose its driving force for growth.
Plus, with the five of them crowding around, the sunlight was blocked!
Clearly, this alchemist had skill but lacked knowledge of the basics—why would he use such a stupid method to test him in a place like this?
He barely had to move. As the plant crawled onto the back of his hand, it withered and died from lack of "fuel."
It was like stretching, or draining a pool of water…
The plant grew wildly under the potion's effect, but it also frantically absorbed whatever nutrients it could. The initial three-minute timer represented the remaining nutrients.
But when the pot shattered and the soil loosened, the time plummeted. Then, the five of them crowding around blocked the sunlight, causing the time to jump even faster.
So all he had to do was cut off one link, and the plant, deprived of nutrients, withered away.
"So… strength doesn't matter. Everything in this world has a weakness." Sean smiled at the five of them.
"Amazing! Truly amazing!!"