With Igneel’s speed, it took Lin Fan no time at all to arrive in Flowing Water City.
This was the city that the Lin Family was based in.
It didn’t mean that they controlled the city as the City Lord, but their power in this city and the surrounding area was even greater than that of the City Lord.
So it could be said that they were the hidden rulers of the city.
But this was a city just like any other and it wasn’t as if they would stop people from entering.
With his identity as a high ranking mercenary, it was easy for Lin Fan to enter the town without arousing any suspicion. He even received respect from the guards at the gate when they saw his mercenary license.
After entering the town, he couldn’t help being surprised by how prosperous this place was.
It seemed even more prosperous than Heavenly Tree City which was supposed to be the capital of this province.
There were people walking around with happy smiles on their faces, living perfectly fine lives.
Judging by the clothes they wore, the goods being sold, and how happy everyone was, it seemed that Flowing Water City was a very well managed place.
This was completely different from how he imagined this place to be.
But when Lin Fan thought about it, he realized that this was nothing more than his own prejudice.
He had thought that the Lin Family was a family filled with villains, so he didn’t have a good impression of the city that they controlled. However, if the Lin Family really was like that, then how would they be able to remain in control of this city?
If the Lin Family ran this place into the ground, there was no way that they would be as big as they were.
So they would take care of their own interests and their own territory, while doing terrible things to other people.
They were the kinds of people that would do whatever they wanted as long as they could benefit from it.
Instead of thinking of them as incompetent, he should think of them as a proper large family.
This was Lin Fan’s mistake because of the prejudice he had against the Lin Family.
He was just glad that he was able to correct himself before he went down the wrong path. If he had charged into the Lin Family with this bias, then he might have put himself in a dangerous position.
This was also his pride at becoming stronger going to his head.
He thought that there was nothing left in the Mu Empire that could threaten him.
Even the sects were scared of his Love Sect, so there was no need to mention the large families.
But no matter what, he should never look down on his enemies.
He should face them with everything that he has, that was the path of certain victory.
So instead of heading to the Lin Family right away like he planned, Lin Fan started wandering around the city.
As he walked around, there were things that dropped out of his sleeve just like when he had been in Heavenly Tree City. These things quickly scurried off after falling from his sleeve, not leaving a single trace behind.
After walking around for a bit, Lin Fan found an inn in one of the business streets that seemed rather clean.
To his surprise, he found that the prices weren’t as high as other places. In fact, the prices were almost half of what it would have been in other cities.
Yet, the service was definitely much better than even the inn that he stayed in Heavenly Tree City.
That was an inn that was right by the Governor Manor, so it should be considered one of best in Heavenly Tree City. Yet this random inn in Flowing Water City was better than that inn.
This really opened his eyes.
The Lin Family…really was good at managing their territory and generating wealth for their people. But he also knew that this was all to reap the rewards later, so it could be said that this was all done for themselves.
The reason why he picked this inn was because it was near the Mercenary Guild.
After realizing his mistake, Lin Fan knew that he had to prepare himself before dealing with the Lin Family.
So before that, he would need to gather information on the Lin Family before making his move.
During that time, he would start taking missions at the Mercenary Guild to justify his visit.
…
The next morning, Lin Fan walked into the Mercenary Guild and found that it was the same as every other Mercenary Guild that he had visited.
There were people sitting at the bar drinking, there were people taking missions, and there were people handing in spirit beasts to be butchered.
No matter which Mercenary Guild branch he visited, it would always be the same.
He just walked over to the mission board and casually picked out one of the missions.
This was a D Rank mission, one that wasn’t considered hard for someone who had a B Rank card like him.
He just brought this mission over to the counter to register, but before he could…an incident happened.
There was a girl who had been talking to the receptionist and based on the look on her face, it didn’t seem like it was going well. But of course, that wasn’t Lin Fan’s problem at all.
He went to the other receptionist to register the mission, but then he heard the girl suddenly raise her voice.
“I have to take this mission, my mother’s life depends on it!”
He couldn’t help turning over to see what was happening and he was surprised to see that the girl had already jumped over the counter and was grabbing the receptionist.
There were others looking in that direction, but they didn’t stop her. Instead, they looked like they were sympathizing with her.
Even the receptionist didn’t call the guards even though she could have since the girl was acting this way.
The receptionist just said, “Please, Xiao Zi, you know that I can’t do this. The Mercenary Guild has its rules and I can’t break them just to help you.” Then she bit her lip and said, “Even if I approve of this, you should know how dangerous that place is. It’s not a place that you can go to that easily…”
Even though the receptionist said this, the girl still didn’t let go as she begged her to let her take this mission.
I just stared at them for a bit before turning back to handle my own matters.
Though I felt sorry for the girl, that didn’t mean that I would go to her rescue.
I couldn’t save everyone in this world and I was here to take care of my own business, I couldn’t get caught up in the business of other people.
So I pulled out my mercenary license and wanted to register this mission with the other receptionist.
But before I could, the girl suddenly turned in my direction.
Her eyes were on the mercenary license that was in my hand, specifically it was on the B that was on it.
After a momentary pause, she suddenly let go of the receptionist and came over to grab my foot to say, “Please help me!”
I couldn’t help being taken aback when I saw her do this, but I wanted to pull my foot away. But when I tried to pull it away, I found that she had a firm grasp of it and I couldn’t pull it away unless I wanted to hurt her.
At this point, everyone’s attention had turned to me and it wouldn’t be a good thing for me if I hurt her.
So I could only say with a sigh, “Please let me go.”
But the girl shook her head and said, “No, please listen to what I have to say.”
I looked down at her and saw that she was looking at me with tearful eyes while still holding my leg.
If someone didn’t know what was happening, they would have thought that I was bullying this girl.
At the same time, because of the commotion that she was making, everyone had turned to look at me instead.
Even the receptionist who had been helping this girl turned to look at me with a concerned look.
I just gave a sigh and said, “Then can you at least tell me what you want instead of crying and hugging my leg like this?”
The girl was surprised that I was so direct about this, but she gave a nod and said, “Please, help me take this mission. I really need to go to the Roaming Mist Forest to find medicine for my mother, but I can’t go unless I have a C Rank mission that clears me to enter it. I can see that you’re a B Ranker, so you’re someone that can take this mission. I won’t ask you to go, I just need your help to enter the Roaming Mist Forest.”
I shook my head and said, “What benefit is there for me? Why would I do something like that? Besides, if you’re too weak to take it on your own, how likely are you to finish this mission? Wouldn’t that mean that I would either have to accept the failure and pay the fine or go with you? I’m not free enough to do something like that.”
In the face of this logic, the girl really didn’t have anything to say…
So she took a deep breath as if she made up her mind and said, “I’ll give you my body if you help me.”
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