On the brightside this is way faster than I could have expected to see the girls we're hunting down.
Literally just walking into the city only to see them immediately.
The tech of the capital also seemed to be of a higher standard than in the other city based on what I was seeing at the moment.
Bad part, though…
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<< A Public Bounty Advertised On This Scale May Make Things… Problematic. >>
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What she said.
Attached to the second floor of quite a few buildings, fairly evenly split apart, there were various news channels playing with suspiciously beautiful figures acting as the news anchors. What linked them aside from a lot of them having either horns, fangs or both… Was that each of them were openly displaying bounty posters for the lovers.
Fortunately it had a big fat "WANTED ALIVE: CONTACT WITH ANY INFORMATION" slapped on so boldly that it made it impossible to miss even if you only glanced at it. A definite positive as I often find myself wondering about the reading comprehension of humankind. Plus they also made sure the news anchors reminded their watchers & listeners after each segment of regularly scheduled programming.
Chances of this being a quick in and out had made things a lot more unlikely - if before we were on the backfoot then we were now basically out the running. We were no longer just competing with my bastard father or the demons… Now we were against the entire city as who would not jump at a free payday?
If anything, with the 1 Billion reward put up for valid information, I was even half tempted to leak information to the very woman who had smushed my eyeball.
Not that we really had any useful information.
"Ara~ ara~ what has got you lot all worked up~?" My mini-master broke myself as well as a bunch of my men who - upon a glance - appeared to be having very similar thoughts to me. "Its not like you didn't already know the demons had control over the media so you must have expected this, ri~g~ht~?"
Hearing that cold judgement in her voice brought a shiver down my spine.
Yes I should have expected it, why would they not utilise their greatest powers against us, but I can't be blamed for a small oversight like this. Who would have known that those demons would go all out straight away with their influence & money? It was only a reality warping wish granting orb we were after!
…
Okay I'm a big enough girl to admit when I may have done an oopsie.
"No matter, this doesn' change our goal, it only makes things a bit more complicated." I spoke out while trying to sound as confident as I could while having a mini panic attack. Not only had I underestimated out greatest threat but I also was likely to get my ass spanked by my teacher for being a dumbass.
Fortunately I must have been pretty good at my job as the tense shoulders of my soldiers appeared to relax (at least for now) so that was good. A rap on the window of the APC - at least as close to the window as I could reach - reminded them to get moving. Something they thankfully needed no more reminding of.
Heading through the streets it was hard to find a spot where you couldn't, at least passively, hear some form of device which meant another possible source of information for those demons.
It was concerning yet there was nothing I could do about it… At least publicly and openly.
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<< {software}.[B.I.T.C.H] Is Not Sure How Wise It Is To Test The Security Of The Demon's Various Media Networks Would Be >>
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A little probing wouldn't hurt, right?
We already had directions and thus a pretty good idea of where we were heading in order to arrive at the adventurers guild in this city. It also wasn't too far away from the gate, evidently nobody wanted to see adventurers dragging bloody carcasses half way through the city, so it didn't take us too long to arrive at a rather simplistic but grand building. On that noticeably only had glass windows above the first floor.
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<< No Doubt Due To Worries About Drunk Adventurers Becoming Rowdy Adventurers. >>
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Glass was far more common in this city than in our last so that sounded as sound a reason as any I could have suggested. Surprising considering how faulty this system of mine often seems. Still I will happily accept that reasoning while I "cautiously" watched the adventurers who kept their eyes on us in turn.
The average adventurer's delicacy could be clearly seen by just looking out towards the side of the front facing guild where there was a depot of sorts. There are a bunch of different adventurers, some with carts then others with spit & grit, carrying various bodies or piles of alchemic ingredients. Few of them actually treated their payday with grace; slinging it around while they waited for the bureaucracy to catch up to them.
When I say "cautiously" I obviously mean "pay attention to mildly so they don't try something stupid" as I had read enough posts to know this profession often catered to the rough types. Such types usually didn't take too kindly to rich folk entering their "territory". Truly like crass uncultured vermin who know little.
Fortunately nobody was outwardly dumb enough to challenge the obviously heavily geared knights with an unusual armoured vehicle.
The windows of the APC were blacked out, though, so they wouldn't be able to see the drivers with their meagre human vision. I also didn't feel comfortable letting some idiot test the APC's anti-theft measures so made a quick hand motion to the two inside. Soon heading toward the entrance of the guild with the confident gait that I only found all too natural by now.
Two of my power-armour wearing subordinates overtook me only to proceed to push open one door each so that I was free to enter the guild without touching a thing. There were some people hanging about the doorway and likely about to exit. Though, upon seeing us, they quickly backed away cautiously.
Entering revealed a setup for a business that any self respecting person (especially when the German empire had most of Europe under or boot) would instantly recognise. We were in a bear house. Of course there were other amenities outside the bear taps & tables; it was still an adventurers guild after all.
Still most of the traversable floor space was filled to the brim with long tables and simple cheap stools that had no ornamentation. Clearly purposefully produced to be easy as well as uncostly to change out. At the opposite side to the alcohol serving, though, there were cork boards all across the wall with a big letter above each one of them along with multiple different "columns".
With my superior eyesight (even one eye down) I could clearly make out that the columns were just the guild grouping together missions of a similar type.
For example resource gathering, monster hunting, bandit extermination and so on.
The letter at the top?
Shouldn't need to be really explained - it was obviously just the rank of the missions on said board.
Opposite the door, as well as where I was walking toward, were the adventurers guild clerks where everything from information to monster hearts were transferred into cash. It wasn't as intense as the general bar area but in a city like this there was always someone getting seen to. Of course our entry into the guild was not completely unnoticed.
So far a few people gave what they no doubt believed to be subtle glances towards us from the corner of their eyes or over their shoulders. Most, though, didn't even pretend not to care. Openly turning their chairs around without care of the loud screeching a few of them made.
Over all they were taking our presence very differently from one another; some looked upon with a very flattering level of awe while others undisguised hatred.
Some even appeared to fear us from the get go.
I suppose it is unsurprising to have those kinds of reactions considering we were knights. No matter the world it was the truth that knights, no matter how low on the totem pole, were nobles and also knew how to fight a hell of a lot better than your average thug. Adventurers come from all different walks of life so it was hardly surprising they had various thoughts about nobles as well as those stronger than them.
Jealousy, anger, respect, fear and so many other things were all possible. Perhaps multiple of them were possible all at the same time for these stinky weak humans? Those who clearly carried themselves with more experience even showed caution no matter what. They weren't even directly hostile but still cautious.
Eventually some idiots made a show of standing up abruptly near us - no doubt hoping we'd over react humorously however I didn't even turn to look at them. In fact the same was true for most of my posy except those nearest to them. Even that was just turning towards them in a manner that could be compared to an adult giving a child a glance when they were making a racket.
Obviously he didn't take well to that, not with his people laughing at him from the sounds of it, so he did the only thing people like that know how to do.
Escalate.
Abruptly throwing his chair aside with a growl before stomping past everyone else only to end up with a gun being abruptly pointed at his face.
"Approach the knight captain without permission and you'll receive a new hole through your head." A feminine voice exited from the helm as that man froze. He may not have understood exactly what a firearm is other than a literal arm on fire, let alone a piece of art like the REMR5, yet there was an instinctual fear that mortals seemed to feel when a weapon was pointed towards them.
At least he wasn't a complete amateur as he quickly froze up while a lesser warrior likely would have thrown away their self preservation due to arrogance. This action clearly put a lot of those who were already less than happy with us on edge. If they weren't already reaching for their weapon they were now.
I wasn't worried about them or even those who had already drawing their weapons, few things in this guild could even scratch out shiny white coats of paint, but I also didn't know how long we'd be in the city. As such I made the executive choice to help calm things a bit. "Ignore the fool - he isn't worth the ammo."
Even the usually petulant member of the squad knew to behave when on the clock so removed her gun from his head before saluting.
Meanwhile I hadn't stopped for a single second (not even turning back for cool points).
As a result I had arrived at the counter.
"I desire a meeting with the head of this local branch of the guild if you would not mind setting it up; I believe one of my men should have already delivered a message?" I inquired the man who was sitting in front of me. His rapidly blinking eyes told me that this may take a little bit.
Fortunately not everyone was as incompetent as the middle-aged man pushed his younger comrade out of the way while maintaining a professional smile. Not wasting any time as he spoke. "We can assure you that the guild has received your request and the master is waiting in his office at this moment; I just hope you don't mind if he is working at the moment."
"No need to be worried about that - I understand his job pressures and duties require a lot." Nodding to help soften the atmosphere. This time I didn't even need to bother faking a smile thanks to me not bothering to lift my faceplate today.
That seemed to visually calm him down as he rested a hand on his chest while letting out a sigh as he bowed ever so gently; likely not expecting I could hear. "Then allow me to guide you up."
Seeing no reason to refuse… I accepted.