After a few short seconds of rest, the dragon knight regained his strength and stood up steadily.
Was the two going to fight again? No, not at all. The assassin took a few steps back; the sharpness of his black blade had vanished, returning it to its original blunt, large weapon.
It seems the assassins have abandoned their plan for tonight.
The dragon knight had no intention of giving chase, because his mission tonight was simply to protect the person in the Adventurers' Guild, and the outcome was a matter outside of his mission.
The silver moon in the night sky was covered by moving dark clouds. The eyes, affected by the sudden and fleeting white light, hadn't had time to adjust to the darkness that followed. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the assassin created mysterious phantom runes around himself, then transformed into a wisp of black smoke, merging with the night before dissipating into its depths.
Late at night, at the Adventurers' Guild.
"Client, please explain why you hired three of us, and then hired others?" the swordsman asked Snowva, pointing at the dragon knight.
“You know perfectly well that missions from different adventurer teams are not allowed to overlap.” Another female member also expressed her dissatisfaction, even though defeat was an undeniable fact facing the three of them.
"No overlapping of quests"—this is an unwritten rule among adventurers. Why this rule? It's simple: if someone interferes in a quest, disputes over the bounty's distribution will inevitably arise. If it's a team completing the quest, the bounty can be distributed according to a weighted distribution agreed upon within the team. But if a stranger tries to get a share of the bounty…
Nowadays, the so-called adventurers on the continent of Valentino are almost all bounty hunters, with money taking precedence over everything else. All the young people who have just joined the guild and are full of dreams of adventure will be honed into "money hunters" by money.
The elderly Snova was already used to such reckless adventurers, and he calmly sipped his tea.
"Gentlemen, please don't misunderstand." It wasn't the dragon knight Seris who spoke, but rather the one who had been silent all along. His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to penetrate the guild's interior and exterior.
"Your missions, adventurers, are to 'prevent assassins from infiltrating the guild to carry out assassinations,' while mine is to 'protect Snow.' In other words, when your forces are breached by the enemy, it will be my turn to act."
"But we hadn't lost yet..." the swordsman continued, trying to salvage the situation. He probably wanted some compensation from his client despite the defeat.
“We could see all three of your actions clearly from the rooftop.”
Philsa entered, bathed in the lamplight. His assistant, Shirley, followed behind. He smiled slightly and bowed deeply.
"And who are you?" the archer among the three asked bluntly.
“We—are not adventurers, including the dragon knight Seris,” Philsa clarified, drawing a clear line between himself and them. He continued, “Through this battle, your hearts, blinded by the pursuit of victory and profit, have been laid bare. You have truly ‘disregarded’ the lives of your clients; your goal has become ‘to defeat the enemy before you,’ and thus you have devoted all your efforts to dealing with them, not to protecting the clients in the guild behind you. From a certain moment on, your actions have gone astray. Sir, that is my opinion.”
"Oh, thank you for your hard work, Mr. Proctor. Uh, and Ms. Proctor's assistant, too. Mr. Dragon Knight, what's your opinion?"
"I only have one question. Was that assassin really hired by you to be the opponent of the various adventurers in this evaluation?"
"A keen eye," Mr. Snova exclaimed briefly, then explained, "This is a 'real-world' test, and as the name suggests, everything is real. Adventurers, please don't look at me with anger; I haven't deceived you. I simply haven't told you the truth about the evaluation."
It's easy to imagine that without Seris, they would have long since perished under the assassin's blade. The adventurer was speechless. Defeat was an undeniable fact.
"So you didn't lose, but rather—none of the three of you passed the guild's practical assessment this time."
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