“Do you know about these bulletin boards made of butter paper?” (Juxi’s voice)
“I know. It’s my profession, after all. Hmm… it says here: a bounty of thirty thousand taels of silver.”
“A bonus of thirty thousand? Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Juxi pouted, looking a little disappointed. “You’re just as obsessed with money as the rumors say. If you succeed, you can even marry the princess. It doesn’t say so explicitly, but this is obviously an invitation to find a husband. And it isn’t aimed only at our Tiandao Academy and you Western exorcists anymore.”
“So this is why you said you could help me?”
“That’s right!”
Juxi was certain that this girl was the person she had been looking for. That was why she had learned a thing or two about this notice from the Western Empire.
“Then I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in the princess.” The girl set down the notice and spoke calmly.
But Juxi still didn’t seem willing to give up. She placed her hands on her knees and sat perfectly still, as if searching for an opening in the girl’s defenses.
Only after a long while did Juxi slowly open her mouth. “As an exorcist, thirty thousand pieces of silver… Wait, they’re gold coins? Even better! Who wouldn’t be tempted by that?”
“…What are you talking about? Besides, what kind of era do you think this is?” The girl froze for a moment before suddenly realizing what Juxi meant. With a sigh, she continued, “What a terrifying age! Who would’ve thought, a hundred years ago, that the Heavy Demonic Scourge would invade our homeland? Even if someone had said it while drunk, nobody would’ve imagined that such a strange phenomenon could appear—mutated species! They wander everywhere from time to time, killing defenseless humans for no reason! And we exorcists have to go from house to house, offering our services to hunt them down. But you know, these terrifying monsters only come out at night… Friend, are you allowed to drink alcohol in your line of work?”
“Drink? You mean the raw produce from your—roar, roar, of course.”
“Great. Then how about we go to that place?”
She and the girl exchanged a smile, then high-fived.
“Come on, let’s go to the Capital tavern and talk things over!” Seeing that the girl made no move, Juxi performed a very gentlemanly Western gesture and said, “Don’t worry. Ladies first.”
“Mm… Huh?”
The girl stood there in a daze for quite some time before realizing that something was wrong. What exactly had Juxi just said?
But none of that mattered now. The more important matter was the mutated species. Until they were dealt with, there would be no chance of collecting that bounty.
The girl might not have been thinking along those lines, but she was certainly drooling over those conditions.
The waiter brought over the beer, cold and topped with a thick layer of foam.
“This era is amazing. Even in a foreign land, I can still drink the beer I’ve missed for so long. If only there were some wine…”
“Two glasses of wine!”
So Juxi instructed the waiter to bring them two glasses of wine as well, adding for good measure that wine was available here too. Otherwise, they might end up with some ridiculous incident involving outrageously expensive wine…
The girl took a big gulp of beer first, then muttered, “I’ve been having more and more nightmares lately. The mountains of Hallilan are crawling with mutated species. The only thing that used to howl in the forest was wolves. But now? Vampires, mutants, and things only the gods know what else have scared the wolves into hiding in their caves, where they only dare come out to hunt during the day!”
“Is that so…” Juxi shook her head sadly and asked, “Are Hallilan’s soldiers really only that capable?”
“Mm. Our country was founded by nothing more than a wealthy merchant. If even the cities can’t do anything about those creatures, then the villages stand even less of a chance. Who knows how many villagers have been carried off from Bell Village and Hades Town? And vicious diseases no one had ever even heard of before keep appearing one after another. Now we have this on top of everything else!” As she spoke, the girl spread the sheepskin she carried with her across the table, her mood growing especially heavy.
“It’s no wonder people like you are needed.”
“The palace’s proclamation…” Juxi raised her head and asked, “Do you know the details, exorcist of Hallilan?”
The girl calmly leaned back against the chair, placing both hands over her stomach.
“You want the details? I know them, and my source is extremely reliable!”
“I’d be glad to hear them. Whose word did you get them from?”
“Uh, do you really want to hear this?”
“Mm!”
Juxi nodded firmly. Now all that remained was to see how the girl would react. However, the girl didn’t seem willing to tell Juxi.
“Suit yourself, then. Listen—” After taking a sip of the wine that had just arrived, she lowered her voice and said to Juxi, “Our merciful, kind, and breathtakingly beautiful…”
“…Get to the point!”
“Uh, fine. It’s our last leader in Hallilan—the princess, Nilia. Her abilities are truly extraordinary. She’s been leading us in resisting the attacks of the mutated species all this time. Who knows how long Hallilan could hold out after the old king passed away? She had many people hide inside the castle. We rebuilt it to be extremely sturdy and extremely tall, but…”
The girl had far too much to say, and by the end, she was even starting to choke up. The one thing she wanted most right now was to return to her homeland as soon as possible. She also hoped that a sorcerer from the Central Plains could find the most effective cure for the corpse poison.
