"Boss, what kind of thing are you?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Buling immediately covered her mouth as if she had made a mistake and hurriedly explained:
"No no no, don't misunderstand. I didn't mean you're a thing—ah no, you are a thing."
"I'm going to relay what you just said to Shorekeeper later."
"Don't, Boss!"
Buling quickly bowed with both hands toward Noah:
"Last time I barged into Shorekeeper Boss's flower room and got reassigned to Septimont to closely observe the high tide period."
"If you report me again, I'll be reassigned to closely observe Threnodians."
"So that's how it is."
After hearing Buling's answer, Noah immediately showed a mischievous smile:
"Buling, you don't want to be reassigned to closely observe Threnodians, right?"
"Ah... ah... Boss, what are you going to do?" Buling's heart skipped a beat.
"I want you to stay right here. Anywhere else is fine, but don't go to the Sanguiis Hunting Grounds. It might be dangerous inside."
...
Windtide Cliff was located to the south of Septimont City. It was a steep cliff separated by a sea inlet that served as a natural barrier, facing the Sanguiis Hunting Grounds across the water.
"Welcome to join the hunting team."
Augusta looked at the three people behind Noah. One was the gladiatorial tournament champion Lupa, and the other was Avidius, who was most favored by the Elder Council. It was understandable for these two to participate in the hunt.
However... who was this excessively beautiful blonde girl?
"This is Cartethyia. Her strength is very powerful. Little Cartethyia, this is the Ephor of Septimont, Augusta."
With Noah's introduction, Cartethyia proactively extended her hand toward Augusta:
"Hello, Ephor Augusta. I am Cartethyia, from Ragunna."
Someone from Ragunna? It was rare for people from Ragunna to participate in Septimont's hunts. However, as long as they were willing to contribute to Septimont, they were friends of Septimont.
Thinking of this, Augusta extended her hand and shook Cartethyia's:
"Hello."
On the opposite shore, the distant sound of horns came from Tetragon Temple. Augusta turned around and faced all the lined-up gladiators:
"Warriors, the hunting horns are calling us to set off. Show your courage. The path of glory will unfold beneath the feet of the brave!"
Her powerful words fell into everyone's ears. The crowd shouted in unison:
"May Septimont be great once again!"
Countless heavily armed gladiators stepped forward. Amid the clanging of weapons, they leaped from Windtide Cliff, descending through the howling wind, only to be steadily caught by griffins and flown toward the Sanguiis Hunting Grounds on the opposite side.
"Teacher, I'll head out first." Lupa said goodbye and left first, followed by Avidius and then Augusta.
Watching more and more people mount the griffins, Noah immediately felt the urge and urged Cartethyia:
"Little Cartethyia, let's go up too."
"Okay!"
Cartethyia agreed. She secretly calculated her steps and leaped off Windtide Cliff almost side by side with Noah.
Amid beast roars, the two figures were steadily caught by the same griffin. Riding the high winds in the sky, they crossed the sea strait and flew toward the opposite shore.
Plan successful! Cartethyia, who had smoothly sat in front of Noah, raised the corners of her mouth. However, she immediately spoke to divert Noah's attention:
"Ah, my butt hurts."
Her soft golden long hair was blown onto Noah's face, carrying a unique body fragrance.
He shifted his body back slightly, but the griffin was only so big. No matter how much he moved, he couldn't go far. He could only respond awkwardly:
"Mm... this saddle is indeed a bit hard."
Ahead, Augusta and the others were far in the lead. Suddenly, several black tidal waves shot up from the ground, heading straight for Augusta's position. A blue one-horned dragon revealed its true form from the Dark Tide.
Seeing this, Cartethyia's gaze sharpened. She was about to take action.
"No."
Noah pressed down on Cartethyia's shoulder, signaling her not to act rashly.
Sure enough, Augusta leaped down from the griffin, swung her heavy sword, and forcibly blocked the Erode Spine Dragon's attack. A blue arrow then accurately struck the Erode Spine Dragon, forcing it to retreat.
"The arrow came right on time, Iuno."
"Augusta, I've been waiting for you all for a long time. You're finally here."
Iuno put away her Moonbow and walked unhurriedly to stand in front of Augusta. She looked around:
"Eh, where's Noah?"
"He's behind us."
Augusta casually pointed backward. Sure enough, Noah and Cartethyia were lightly landing.
"Laureate, why couldn't we take action just now?"
"That Erode Spine Dragon just now plays a very important role in this hunt, so we can't kill it now. Killing it would ruin Augusta's plan."
"Oh~ I didn't know there was such knowledge involved."
Seeing Cartethyia nod obediently, Noah continued:
"For this hunt, we should first focus on hiding our strength and not alert the enemy."
"Understood! Little Cartethyia obeys!"
Cartethyia placed her fist on her chest in a serious posture. Combined with her delicate face that carried a faint smile, she looked both playful and obedient.
In the original plot, Augusta and Rover planned to use this Erode Spine Dragon to lure out the final enemy of the Dark Tide — The False Sovereign.
The plan had originally succeeded. When The False Sovereign appeared, they only needed Iuno to shoot the anchoring arrow to pin down the big fake guy, then work together to kill it.
In the original plot, when Iuno shot the anchoring arrow, it was crushed by The False Sovereign, allowing the big fake guy to barely escape with its life.
Now that it was Noah, if he shot an arrow, the Overlord-class False Sovereign would die on the spot if it dared to catch it.
The sound of howling horns rang out again. This time it was the signal to regroup.
The numerous gladiators regrouped briefly and headed toward Augusta's direction. As the entire team advanced toward the Hunter's Den, they eased the tension through casual conversation:
"Did you hear? About Avidius and the Elder Council..."
"I didn't expect Augusta to let Avidius join the hunt so openly."
"It seems Elder Falco put in a lot of effort for this. But compared to that, I'm more curious about those two outsiders behind us."
"They look like they're just sightseeing. Don't tell me they're treating this dangerous Hunting Grounds like some tourist attraction?"
"I do have an impression of the guy. He seems to be the blogger called Phaethon on Quick Tone who often posts videos from an ordinary person's perspective encountering Tacet Discords."
"Videos and such could all be staged. Looking at his fair and tender skin, if he encounters a powerful Tacet Discord later, he'd better not wet his pants in fear."
At this point, the gladiators ahead burst into humorous laughter, easing the heavy mood that had come with arriving at the Hunting Grounds.
Behind the open Hunter's Den stood a rather spectacular giant stone statue temple — the residence of the Priestesses, Tetragon Temple.
The gladiators either observed the surrounding environment or looked up at the temple. They crossed the historic wooden bridge, or used their peripheral vision to glance at the blue-haired genius Priestess standing at the edge of the bridge, dressed lightly and playing with her hair.
They only dared to observe with their peripheral vision. No one dared to provoke this genius Priestess who acted freely and willfully.
However, this Priestess seemed to be waiting for someone?
"Why are you looking at me?" Noah met Iuno's gaze.
"Who's looking at you?"
Iuno withdrew her gaze and thought to herself.
This time, the future she saw from Noah was him stomping his foot and turning to leave.
Interesting. She wanted to see who could make Noah so angry that he stomped his foot. But before that, she should talk about the main matter first.
"Augusta was called away by the Elder Council for a meeting. Also, do you see that Tetragon Temple over there?"
"I see it."
"That is quite a spectacular place." Mentioning Tetragon Temple, Iuno spoke with pride:
"Congratulations. If you want to go in and take a look, you just need to mention my name. Not just anyone is qualified to step into Tetragon Temple. So, enjoy this privilege."
After saying this, she thought the other party would feel happy about this gesture of goodwill, or at least pretend to be calm. But none of that happened. The other party only looked confused:
"Why would I go in there?"
"There's... never mind. Why should I explain this? If you don't want to go, then don't."
"Laureate." Cartethyia naturally stood beside Noah. She glanced at Iuno unintentionally, then looked away. Pointing toward Tetragon Temple, she said:
"I want to go take a look there."
"Alright, we'll go later." Noah turned to Iuno:
"Just mention your name, right?"
"You——"
Iuno's almond eyes widened.
Didn't he say he didn't want to go? Why did he suddenly want to go just because another girl said something casually?
And this girl was so beautiful!
He wanted to take another girl to Tetragon Temple and even mention her name.
Originally, Iuno had wanted to show goodwill to Noah by welcoming him to the Hunting Grounds and had even planned to proactively lead him to see Tetragon Temple based on the prophecy.
But after this turn of events, Iuno somehow felt like the victim of NTR.
Unfortunately, she couldn't take back what she had already said.
"Hmph—— That's right."
Iuno snorted lightly. She no longer felt like talking and stomped her foot, turning to leave.
Cartethyia watched Iuno's "crushing defeat" back and felt secretly pleased.
Appraisal complete. This blue-haired girl had nothing but beauty and nice feet. No competitiveness at all.
With Noah, you had to play straight and farm favorability. As for tsundere?
Tsundere had long been outdated.
...