Chapter 100: Chapter 100

The carriage convoy slowly approached Silverstream City. From up close, this city appeared far more tidy and beautiful than when viewed from a distance.

The city gate was constructed with impressive grandeur and sturdiness, while the surrounding city walls stood a full ten meters high. If Roland Town had possessed such walls, far fewer young women would have been abducted by goblins.

A continuous stream of people came and went—merchant caravans, plainly dressed commoners, and of course, adventurers clad in armor and bearing weapons.

Compared to Roland Town, both the civilians and adventurers here seemed to have better spirits. Even though Silverstream City was also adjacent to Roland Forest and faced the same problem of goblin infestations, one rarely saw people starving to the point of looking sallow and emaciated, lying by the roadside.

Clearly, the excellent governance here wasn't just empty boasting but actual fact.

This made Lin Mo, who had grown accustomed to Roland Town's various tragedies and had once thought this was how the entire world was, feel somewhat unaccustomed to it.

With just a two-day carriage ride between them, the difference could be so vast!

"Gentlemen, we'll need to conduct routine inspections when entering the city."

Upon reaching the city gate, the guard's tone was quite polite. This wasn't entirely because they were adventurers—even when dealing with commoners passing by, their attitude could definitely be considered courteous.

Unlike Lin Mo who was alone, Alden and the others had families to support and needed to quickly settle their loved ones.

The team probably wouldn't rush to accept missions immediately either, so during these few days, Lin Mo planned to venture out alone first, take on some simple tasks to boost his mission count, and incidentally practice leveling up his two spells.

"Lin Mo, where are you planning to stay?"

Just as he was thinking about these matters, Ellie suddenly spoke up from beside him.

Lin Mo pointed at himself, "Probably find an inn to stay temporarily."

For someone like Alden with a family, of course they couldn't bring their entire household to stay at an inn. They'd most likely find a long-term rental first, or simply purchase a property.

This certainly wasn't cheap, especially in a city like Silverstream rather than a town or village.

But for veteran adventurers like Alden, the price of several dozen gold coins wasn't completely unaffordable.

For Lin Mo, however, there was no such necessity.

Mainly because having to clean and such himself was troublesome, unlike inns where the establishment would naturally help with tidying, cleaning, and changing bed linens.

Before having a family, staying at inns was more comfortable, and the prices weren't that expensive either.

Lin Mo remembered that in Roland Town, basic monthly rent only cost 2 silver coins, though that was for rather modest inns.

Now that he had money, while he shouldn't be extravagant, staying at a slightly better inn was certainly manageable.

"Then let's stay together! It'll be more convenient for communication too!"

Ellie finally revealed her true intentions, stating her purpose.

Lin Mo didn't really have a reason to refuse, though Lena looked somewhat hesitant.

The cat girl lowered her head. Compared to adventurers with considerable income, her financial situation was quite strained.

Her total savings amounted to only a few silver coins—she truly couldn't afford to stay at an inn, and could only manage to afford a cheaper long-term rental in a commoner's house.

"Oh, about this child..."

Flora suddenly interjected from the side: "She was previously a front desk receptionist at the Adventurers' Association, right?"

Lena straightened her posture, head still lowered, answering very stiffly.

"That's perfect. Later we'll first go to the Association, input your team's information into this branch's records, and incidentally help arrange work for this child."

Lena's eyes immediately lit up. Actually, she had been worrying about this problem the entire journey. While she absolutely refused to stay in Roland Town and lose her only two friends, once arriving here, how would she survive without work?

"Don't worry, I'm very familiar with the branch head here."

As she spoke, Flora pulled out a small silver badge from her person.

Lin Mo glanced at it—he certainly recognized this badge. It resembled his adventurer identification badge, though his was black, representing Black Iron rank.

Flora's, however, was silver, representing Silver rank adventurer, which indeed matched her strength.

Around 3 PM, team members who had settled their families gathered in the Association hall. Alden took out the team token and handed it to the front desk staff to input all team members' information together.

"Where is your branch head?"

Flora asked directly.

The front desk staff glanced at the silver identification badge pinned to her chest and hurriedly replied: "The branch head is currently resting on the 12th floor of the Association."

Unlike Roland Town's Association, Silverstream City's Adventurers' Association was clearly more luxurious, with a full 12 floors.

"Let's go, we'll go meet the branch head."

As she spoke, Flora walked toward the nearby staircase.

Alden and team members followed closely behind, though Lin Mo felt somewhat restrained.

This was his first time going to other floors of the Association.

Having heard that the Association sold things quite expensively, he had never previously visited the second or third floors.

With Flora leading the way, they proceeded unobstructed all the way to the branch head's office on the 12th floor.

Flora didn't beat around the bush at all—without even knocking, she directly pushed the door open and entered.

The old man inside immediately panicked, hurriedly stuffing something on the desk into a drawer before looking up at the newcomers, then showing a surprised expression.

"Isn't this little Flora?"

He stood up, greeting them with a cheerful laugh: "It's been three or four years, hasn't it? What brings you here so suddenly?"

"Because of some matters..."

Flora shook her head, "It's hard to explain briefly, I'll tell you later."

As she spoke, she walked to the desk and directly opened the drawer, pulling out the book the branch head had hidden inside: "Speaking of which, you really haven't changed at all."

Lin Mo glanced—the book cover featured a slender elf girl, clearly not looking like any proper literature.

One could only say, the old man's body might be aged but his heart remained young—his mindset was quite youthful.

The branch head immediately looked embarrassed, tugging at his snow-white beard: "Just a personal hobby, can't you leave me some dignity?"

"Alright, alright, we have other friends here too. Hello everyone, I'm Vic, branch head of Silverstream City's Adventurers' Association."

As he spoke, he quickly changed the subject.

"Hello Branch Head Vic."

Unlike Flora, Lin Mo and the others still had to show some respect to this branch head.

After all, to become branch head of a city's Association, regardless of anything else, his strength wouldn't be weak—at least an elite-level professional, possibly even approaching transcendent.

"I came this time because I have a small favor to ask."

Flora walked over to Lena, who had become completely tense, and patted her shoulder: "This little one was originally a front desk receptionist at Roland Town's Adventurers' Association. Due to some circumstances, she came here with us—please help arrange work for her."

Vic looked at Lena upon hearing this, his expression not turning unpleasant, still maintaining a kindly smile: "A half-orc, perfect! Our Association's original half-orc front desk staff resigned for personal reasons. If this young lady wants to come, of course she's welcome. However, even though little Flora introduced you, your work must be performed properly and not delay adventurers' time."

"Don't worry, this child will be fine."

Flora had previously posted missions with Lena, so she knew that although she could be shy and nervous at times, her professional skills were quite proficient.

"If there are no problems, then come to work tomorrow? For salary, the daily base pay can be 1 silver coin. As for additional commissions, that will depend on your own efforts."

Lena was instantly shocked, her eyes widening enormously.

Back in Roland Town, the daily base pay was only 10 copper coins—one-tenth of 1 silver coin!

"Normally it's 30 copper coins, but our branch Association provides some subsidies for half-orc staff, so it's 60 copper coins. Plus, since little Flora introduced you, we'll give you a bit more preferential treatment. These are all fine, as long as you work diligently."

Clearly, Silverstream City's Adventurers' Association was much wealthier than Roland Town's. Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Roland Town's Association branch head was actually a good person too, including previously issuing the village rescue order, which he had published and carried out conscientiously, even arranging carriages to help.

But compared to here, Roland Town Adventurers' Association's income was too limited. The money for those rescue orders had been meticulously saved bit by bit from usual operations, truly without any surplus to consider the receptionists' feelings.

And besides the rather special Lena, because of mission commissions, the actual income of Roland Town Association's front desk staff wasn't actually low.

"Oh, Branch Head, wasn't Bella's original work also..."

Rick reminded from among the group.

"As for her, let her rest for now."

Alden shook his head, glaring fiercely at Solan.

No matter how closely he watched and guarded, there were no walls in the world that didn't leak. Although he felt that kid Solan was somewhat unreliable, helplessly Bella just liked him, leaving him, as a father, quite helpless.

Bella wasn't young anymore either. Having reached a new place, there was no need to forcefully squeeze into competition. In another year or two, it would be about time for marriage and children.

Flora and Branch Head Vic chatted a few more sentences, then everyone left the Association.

As evening approached, they simply went together to a restaurant Flora recommended for a group meal.

The restaurant's dishes were quite good, much more refined than Roland Town's eateries, though the taste didn't differ significantly. Fortunately, the prices were only less than double, still somewhat acceptable.

After the meal, everyone went their separate ways. Lin Mo, Ellie, and Lena found a relatively good inn to stay at together, with daily accommodation costing 50 copper coins. However, the rooms were quite large, and twin rooms were available, so Ellie and Lena shared one room. Averaged out, the daily expense was 25 copper coins each, which wasn't too heavy a burden for Lena.