Blaze sat before a table full of delicacies until late into the night. Knowing better than to intrude, the guards had quietly slipped away, leaving their boss and the Blessed One some private space.
Soon, only Blaze remained in the tavern. Right after the last guard left, Herbie appeared as if on cue, sitting across from Blaze and raising her wine glass.
"You haven’t eaten a single bite. Even a Blessed One can’t ignore hunger. It seems you really have no way of taking that helmet off."
Herbie was still wearing the same suit from during the day, though she had untied her bowtie, revealing her beautiful collarbones. A slight, tipsy blush colored her pretty face.
"It looks like you maintain your body’s condition by absorbing Experience Value, and then use some method to eliminate the feeling of hunger. Perhaps you even use this method to erase all emotions that might hinder your combat. If that’s the case, maybe even mental interference Magic has no Effect on you."
"It seems the escort commission isn’t over yet." Blaze pushed the wine glass in front of him away, getting straight to the point.
"That’s right. Because we threw away all the cargo, we’ve been targeted by the Foreigners."
Hermes’ Travel Hat was the largest merchant guild on the continent. The fact that Herbie could sneak a terrifying Monster like a Black Beast Knight into the city, as well as make those stubborn Blacksmiths obediently comply, was enough to prove the guild’s immense influence.
Maintaining a friendly relationship with Hermes’ Travel Hat meant access to massive resources and intelligence.
Therefore, Foreigners paid special attention to Hermes’ Travel Hat. They would flock to them even for cheap escort rewards, and would even take the initiative to act as guards, following and protecting them all the way. Now that they discovered Hermes’ Travel Hat’s caravan had lost all its cargo and entered Balkan City in a sorry state, they would definitely keep a close eye on the guild, looking for any chance to grind favorability.
"Sigh... The usually useful Foreigners are particularly troublesome at a time like this. Their sense of smell rivals that of hounds." Herbie raised her glass, sighing in frustration.
"We were probably spotted by some Foreigner when we entered Balkan City. Rumors have already spread with them saying things like, ’Huh? Hermes’ Travel Hat’s caravan is completely out of cargo. Something must have happened! I’m going to solve this problem for Hermes’ Travel Hat free of charge!’ with a heavy emphasis on ’free of charge’."
Blaze had a different understanding of the Foreigners’ reactions. Possessing a Blessing himself, and having conversed with Foreigners like Flying Brick, he understood that Foreigners were actually looking for guidance within their Blessings—namely, quests.
The quests themselves wouldn’t yield any tangible rewards, but in the process of completing them, they would gain many benefits such as Experience Value, Skills, and Professions. The most valuable among these were the special quests that they actively sought out and triggered, which only they themselves knew about.
The most important part of actively triggering these special quests was finding anomalies that differed from the norm. Obviously, the Foreigners believed that Hermes’ Travel Hat, which had always been wealthy and never stingy when it came to caravan guards, losing its cargo was an anomaly. They were convinced that a highly valuable secret must be involved.
While there was indeed a secret, it was absolutely something the Foreigners could not be allowed to know.
"Couldn’t you just use the Goblin Tribe incident?" Blaze suggested.
"Ugh!" Herbie showed undisguised disgust. In the eyes of a large merchant guild like Hermes’ Travel Hat that frequently embarked on long treks, goblins were no different from cockroaches.
Weak and annoying, they occasionally formed troublesome swarms of Monsters. The materials harvested from them were completely worthless, and fighting them was just a waste of time and stamina.
Blaze could understand her reaction. Not long ago, he also completely failed to understand why Foreigners would willingly throw themselves into various dangers and troubles. But after becoming a Blessed One, he understood. The sense of transformation that came from acquiring Skills and Professions, as well as leveling up, was addictive.
For example, in the eyes of Ordinary People, getting continuously beaten by a rabbit Monster for over three hours was a rather idiotic thing to do. However, in the eyes of a Blessed One, it was a necessary condition to obtain the super-strong Skill, Absolute Defense.
Compared to that feeling, death was nothing at all, as they could undergo resurrection anyway.
"A Goblin Tribe is a low-probability group of Monsters. To Foreigners, low-probability Monsters are treasures. It’s probably akin to finding a silver mine in a Ghost-infested mountain that everyone else shuns," Blaze said, using a business analogy to help Herbie understand. True to her status as an Advanced partner of the guild, Herbie’s eyes lit up.
"That’s wonderful! I know exactly what to do now!"
That expression definitely didn’t just mean she knew what to do right this moment, but what she would do from now on. Blaze offered a silent prayer for the Foreigners, hoping they wouldn’t be reduced entirely to Herbie’s free labor force in the future.
Later, for a very long time, players noticed that the escorts of Hermes’ Travel Hat’s caravans were as leaky as sieves. They would constantly encounter attacks from Bandit Corps or Monsters from morning to night, resulting in lost cargo.
The players were more than happy to help out. The truth, however, was that Herbie had accepted a massive number of wanted commissions from the Kingdom, using the players to eliminate the wanted targets while she pocketed the price difference.
According to her, it was a win-win situation. By using this method, she rapidly accumulated performance metrics to climb the ranks within Hermes’ Travel Hat. Gaining a higher status meant she could use the corresponding authority to provide services for the Foreigners, who would also benefit as a result.
"Now, we just need to send Audrey to a safer place until the performance at the Epidaurus Theater ends."
"Is Balkan City not safe? It’s protected by the Royal Knight Order, not to mention the Bounty Hunters and those PKK-type Foreigners are around. The Foreigner assassins of Asasel shouldn’t dare to act rashly," Blaze said, puzzled.
"That’s only under normal circumstances. But if the premise is ’getting rewarded for every single kill,’ that bunch of assassins will not hesitate to commit murder right in the streets."
Herbie’s expression was gloomy. She didn’t look like a Merchant irritated that her business had been ruined, but rather someone filled with Anger over a friend’s unfortunate plight.
"She is a Blessed One. Even if she dies, she will undergo resurrection, so she will be killed over and over again. Even if she drops out of the performance, they will relentlessly hunt her down. The pursuit won’t stop until the performance at the Epidaurus Theater concludes."
Her tone sounded as if she had personally witnessed the terrifying scene of assassins pushing through the pain of being sliced into a thousand pieces just to plunge a dagger into Audrey’s chest with their dying breath.
"Foreigners will never understand the feeling of death. They have no true emotions, because they have no tears."
Blaze fell silent. He had always thought that Blessed Ones didn’t fear death, but looking at it now, the only ones who enjoyed the transformation of Power gained through death were the Foreigners.
And right now, he was much closer to being an existence known as a Foreigner.