The autumn air was crisp and clear, void of any clouds. I lay on my mother's lap, positioned under a cedar tree, as she gently corrected the disorder of my hair. "Pecco, come and see!" The man in front of me wore a refreshing smile, seemingly still full of vitality despite his age, much like a child. "But dad, we just climbed up the mountain and I'm so exhausted, I can’t take another step." "Then dad will help you." "Waaaah!" A pair of solid arms lift me up, gently placed over his shoulders. "Quick, look Pecco." He carried me over the slope in front and reached the mountain top. The view was breathtaking. The azure sky seems fractions away, and the vast, towering Piris mountains sprawled before us. Raging Reina river, in contrast, runs gently like a brook, making everything else seemed trivial. "Wow! Haha, it’s so high!" "Yup, wasn’t our climb worth it?" "Yes!" I happily hugged my father's neck and gazed into the distance. A feeling of fatigue was long forgotten. Far away, obscured by mountains, stood a massive city, its walls encircling countless homes, far exceeding our village. "Is that the sacred city of Prad?" "That's right, that's the capital of our demi-human kingdom, the sacred city of Prad." Father's expression went distant, as if absorbed in thoughts while gazing at the city of Prad. From the behind, mother's voice echoed, "Dinner's ready~!" "Alright, coming!" Acknowledging her call, father turned around, with me on his back, and began descending the slope. "After dinner, we will plant this sapling here. We will also bury our three treasures here. Are you ready with your 'treasure' Pecco?" "Yes, I am ready!" "What have you prepared, Pecco? Tell daddy." "Hehe, I won't tell you!" The basket opened with mother's delectable roast chestnut pie exuding a delicious aroma – Pecco’s favorite! "My, it smells incredible. We are truly blessed today. Look at Pecco, honey. She is drooling." "Happy birthday, Pecco…" The scene started fading as Pecco woke up from the bedside. The unfamiliar surroundings reminded her that she is in a human domain. … Noira was having a bad day. She rushed to the adventurers' guild to cancel the contract first thing in the morning. The gazes within the guild were, uncannily intrusive, filled with curiosity, confusion, indifference, and some focused on her thighs. Some were here to rejoice in the Sealion Mercenary Group's disgrace, given the adage that tall trees catch much wind. Noira, a mercenary, reluctantly handed over the cancellation fee to the reception—a rather awkward act in the public gaze. This was Noira's first task failure since joining the Sealion Mercenary Group six months ago. Once done, she quickly left the guild, driven by regret. She merely wanted to finish this godforsaken job, return home, and sleep for a few days. "Ohohoho~" Suddenly, a flashy blonde woman stepped in front of Noira, "What a surprise, Ms. Noira of Sealion Mercenary Group, it's been a while. What brings you here?" "Bessa, move," Noira responded coldly, "I'm not in the mood for bickering today." This princess-like girl named Bessa belonged to the Viper Mercenary Group from Herlan city, like Noira, she was the Vice-Leader. Bessa was the eldest daughter of Northwest's affluent Lawrence family. Despite the customary separate marriage to another affluent household, she chose the life of an adventurer, against her parent's will. Her impressive martial abilities and stunning beauty made her the pearl of Herlan city's mercenary world. Many men fell for her, and countless nobilities and promising young men tried to woo her.

In those years, Bessa could be said to have everything her way - until Noira descended from the sky like a divine soldier. Noira's talent and beauty were quite famous even in the capital city filled with hidden talents and distinguished characters. The news of her impending arrival in Herland City spread quickly upon its reception. In no time, the famous beauty of the capital became the center of discussion and interest among the men of Herland. And indeed, Noira did not disappoint.

One morning, Noira gracefully descended from her carriage, long legs as slender as willows swayed down. Her flame-like hair fluttered and her winy eyes sparkled with mirth. She greeted the onlooking men with a respectful nod. All the men present cheered enthusiastically, feeling that their overnight wait was well worth it. Unlike Bessa's always haughty and condescending attitude, Noira was mostly amiable to the men. Even those who tried to flirt were often met with her smiling face. When she was in good spirits, she would even respond to them with playful air kisses. This was precisely what mercenaries liked.

'What is this?' they thought, 'This is the manner of the capital people! Different from the backward Herland City, they are worldly and open-minded!' With her superior beauty and abilities compared to Bessa, Noira quickly became the most popular female adventurer in Herland City. In popularity, she overpowered Bessa, the men who once fell at Bessa's feet were now kneeling in front of Noira. Thus, Noira naturally became a thorn in Bessa's side.

"Oh, what's that in your hand? Let me see," Bessa suddenly snatched Noira's cancellation contract from her pocket. "Hmm.. 'In regards to the missions of the Seal Lions Mercenary Group, the Snow Leopard Capture Task, the guild has failed to complete the task in the set time. Thus, the contract is cancelled and a penalty of twenty gold coins is required'..." "Give it back!" If Noira's mood was bad before, it turned worse now.

Despite Bessa being one of the men's heated "dream lovers" in Herland City, despite the fact that Bessa held the position of vice-captain in one of the best mercenary groups just like herself, Noira found this gold-haired adventurer who always likes to pick on her nothing more than a fool. Yes, a real fool.

"Ah, so even the top-ranking Sea Lions Mercenary Group in Herland City can fail a mission, hehe," Bessa laughed smugly, ignoring Noira, "If I knew the Sea Lions Mercenary Group was so unreliable, I might as well have given this task to our Viper Mercenary Group."

For instance, if Bessa was smart enough, she could have whispered to her companion and laughed at Noira in private, but she definitely wouldn't choose to stand in front of Noira and light a match when Noira was already seething with anger.

"Swish!" Noira kicked the contract in Bessa's hand into two with her slender thighs. With the wind stirring her hair, Bessa was taken aback and flew back, she did not expect Noira to suddenly make a move. As Noira stomped her feet, a loud bang sounded in the adventurer guild hall.

A red phantom figure rushed at Bessa like lightning, and Noira's leg swept across Bessa. Bessa hastily put out her hand and put up her fighting spirit to resist but found that Noira's seemingly fierce leg didn't bear any physical power.

With just a light touch as if borrowing her force, her body gently jumped up and quickly twisted in mid-air. When Noira spun around to Bessa's front, one leg was already raised high, and her slender leg bloomed with dazzling fighting spirit which fiercely struck down with the sound of thunder and wind.

It turned out that the previous sweep was just a feint, and this downward strike was the real charged hit! Bessa let out an inward gasp, and a radiance spread out on her arm to resist with her full fighting spirit.

The adventurers present let out exclamations of surprise. The fighting spirit wrapped around Noira's foot was so thick that it nearly solidified!

Before this, none except the members of the Sea Lions Mercenary Group knew the level of this beautiful woman from the capital. People in the Sea Lions Mercenary Group kept mum about their Vice Captain's strength.

Until this moment, when Noira's fighting spirit shone in the Adventurer's Guild, everyone realized that Noira was already a strong warrior who had stepped into the middle stages. From the dazzling silver light on her leg, Noira was almost at the peak of the fifth-level warrior! She is just a step away from the sixth-level expert!Basha's strength at the peak of the third level was definitely not weak among the mercenaries in the City of Helan, but compared to Noira at this moment, she was completely outmatched.

Level three versus level five, a hasty defence against a fully charged blow, anyone in the scene can guess the result of their clash. They seemed to have already heard the sound of Basha's hand bones breaking in advance.

"Boom!" A loud noise came. The powerful shockwave engulfed the entire guild from all directions and everyone unavoidably extended their hands to block the powerful gust of wind.

All the tables in close proximity were overturned. Everywhere the shockwave hit, glasses of wine exploded one after another. The waiter carrying the glasses was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, beer pouring out everywhere.

It all happened too quickly, a lightning-quick match, start to end. Everyone was too late to prevent Noira's deadly blow.

But then again, who dared to oppose a fifth-level fighter?

Amid the smoke churned up by the explosive impact, nothing was clear and everyone was holding their breath.

After such a powerful blow, it wouldn't be surprising if the city's second-ranked female adventurer was already a goner.

As the smoke cleared, a tall and sturdy figure stood where Basha was, with a solid arm held high, blocking Noira's furious blow.

When the smoke dissipated, a handsome face was revealed. An angular, good-looking man.

"Miss Noira, please calm down." The handsome man said with a bitter smile.

"I thought you were no longer a gentleman." Noira lowered her leg and her narrow eyes were fixed on him.

"Basha is my deputy captain; I can't possibly leave her behind. If Basha gets hurt, I wouldn't be able to explain it to my troops. This old bunch really cares about her." The man shrugged and said.

"Hmph." Noira picked up the contract she had ripped in half from the ground and left without looking back with her fiery figure.

The man turned his head to look at Basha, who had flopped on the ground: "I warned you not to provoke Noira, now you have a taste of your own medicine."

"I, I just wanted to play a bit. I didn't know she was so serious..." Basha sat on the ground with a complaining voice and reddened eyes.

"Who plays with a joke by rubbing salt into someone's wound?"

The man extended his hand and gently helped Basha up. Basha looked at the ground grumpily.

He had known for a long time that Basha enjoyed confronting Noira.

Basha was a rising star in the world of adventurers while Noira was a seasoned veteran. Both were endowed with amazing talent and beauty and Basha, young and vigorous, couldn't help but see the veteran as a rival.

Verbal fights between them were common, Noira's attitude towards Basha was like a senior teasing a junior.

With Noira so experienced, Basha rarely got the upper hand and always ended up being played around by the senior.

Basha always sought opportunities to defeat Noira, so she jumped out anxiously this time when the Sea Lion Mercenary Group failed. However, she suddenly found herself in the line of fire.

"Don't be upset, Miss Noira actually showed mercy. That means she wasn't really angry at you." The man advised softly.

"There wasn't any mercy, I felt like she wanted to kill me just now..." Basha said dispiritedly.

The man clearly understood Basha's personality. He knew that Basha regarded Noira as an opponent, but she secretly admired and sought to befriend her. Yet for some reason, every time they met, Basha would find a way to provoke Noira.

If it was Chen Ai here right now, he would tell the man that this kind of personality was called "tsundere".

"That kick wasn't that heavy." The man twisted his wrist, seemingly judging the strength of Noira's blow just now.

Tears welled up in Basha's eyes, her pretty nose reddened, "You certainly wouldn't think it's heavy as you're a peak fifth-level fighter as well."

The man standing before her was the head of the Viper Mercenary Group, Captain Pedro.

"If it had been Noira's full-force blow, I couldn't have stopped it with a single hand. Considering the strength of the blow just now, even if it had directly hit you, you would have suffered only some superficial injuries at most. Noira probably held back at the last moment." Pedro gently ruffled Basha's hair.

"Really?" Basha secretly wiped her tears, and then felt a bit better.

Pedro turned to look at the direction Noira had left, "I wonder why Noira was in such a bad mood today. It's not uncommon to fail a mission, is it?"