玉蒲团之云雨山庄

"What!? The goblin king subjugation is over!?" A loud voice suddenly sounded from the counter. The voice sounded sincerely surprised and frustrated by the news that he seemed to just found out.

"Yeah, I have a friend that is a merchant and regularly goes the city of Arkansas to trade, you see. Yesterday, he told me that he finally could leave the city to sell his things after the restock since the goblin king\'s subjugation has ended," The bartender of the inn told him as he indifferently continue to wipe a glass on his hand.

"Guh... I should have not accepted the request at the empire and just accept the request at the Astellia Kingdom instead... Such an easy money and large bounty getting away so easily, I heard the rumors about the royalty of the Astellians are searching for great men as well... there goes my chance to become a noble..." The man drooped his shoulders and take a big gulp of the beer in his hand.

"It\'s all about luck. I heard that there are still teams being assembled to completely wipe out the remaining goblins from the perimeter to avoid the same uprising happening again. It should give a decent amount of reward as well, why not go for it?" (Bartender)

"I see... I guess I\'ll at least make some more money there, huh..." The man replied weakly.

Hearing the topic of the goblin subjugation drew Lyan\'s attention to the conversation, and he realized that the voice owned by the man that seems to be a mercenary is somehow familiar to him.

Lyan slightly tilted his head and stole a glance and widened his eyes when he saw the back of the person.

(Hm? He\'s the one that Griseda fought before!) (Lyan)

"Not to mention that I got severely cornered by an unbelievably strong woman. Damn, she was not even being serious when she fought me in that fight, I\'m literally on her mercy. Today seems to be my worst day for a few years..." The man\'s shoulders drooped even further.

"But that fight was really something, you know. It\'s been a while since I saw a fight at that level. You see, I\'ve seen a decent amount of battles between strong people, and you know what?" The bartender put down the clean glass and stared straight at the mercenary guy. The other drinking men seem to be also interested in the old bartender\'s story and sit closer to him.

"That woman, she\'s a beast. I\'ve had my share of goosebumps and shivering moments after looking at a strong men\'s eyes, but that woman\'s eyes are more than just frightening. It feels like her stare alone could paralyze and kill someone. More like, leaving that fight alive is something that you should be proud of, in my opinion," The bartender closed his eyes, picked up another glass, and continue his wipings.

"I see... Be proud, huh...? If that cloaked guy didn\'t intrude between our fight, I wonder if I would still be alive right now..." The man\'s shoulders slightly raised up as his curiosity about the cloaked man started to take over his mind.

"His voice sounds intelligent and confident, and he has a presence at least as strong as that ferocious woman. His body is quite big as he\'s tall, and judging from his rough-looking and big hands when he grabbed the woman, his body seems to be very well-trained. He should be very strong as well," The man calmly analyzed Lyan\'s strength just by that brief moment he saw him.

"Yeah. You\'re absolutely right. His ability to leave the place without any sound is also magnificent. Here, service from the house," The bartender put another beer in front of the smart mercenary\'s face. He seems to be enjoying the conversation with him.

"I would like to say that I have no difficulties with money, but it\'s not good to refuse a gift, isn\'t it? I\'ll gladly have it," The mercenary took the beer and took another big gulp from it.

(Hm~ Looks like you managed to leave quite the impression on him, master) (Lilith)

(And it seems the fight with Griselda had given him quite the damage towards his confidence) (Hestia)

(But after looking at the footage of his fight with Griselda that master showed us, he\'s actually quite capable. Especially his ability in battle calculation and decision-making. He\'s swift, and bold, but careful. He has a great talent as a commander) (Arturia)

"A commander... You\'re right. I could really imagine him being one," Lyan made a small smile, put down the empty mug together with the money, and left the inn.

"I\'ve changed my mind. Let\'s go straight and continue our journey to the north," (Lyan)

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---At a certain part of Astellia\'s southern forest---

"W-Who are you- Arggh!!" Following the man\'s groan of pain, several other groans coming from his comrades resounded throughout his surroundings. By the time he opened the door leading to the stairs above the basement, three unfamiliar figures appeared before him.

Their faces are beautiful for sure, but sensing their intense bloodlust is enough for him to know that they are not here to make friendly connections.

The man doesn\'t even given the chance to complete his question and has his body slashed. As he slowly fell to the ground, his eyes widened at the scene of his comrades getting easily killed one after another by the three girls without any difficulties.

The people protecting their current base are not weak people, they are hired for their strength to protect the place, while the weaklings are stationed at the other riskier places as sacrificial pawns. It\'s not that they are weak, rather, the girls before him are too strong.

"Looks like this guy is the last one. He\'s weak, he must be one of the merchants. Is he the manager of this place, I wonder?" Alice points the tip of her sword towards the neck of a fat and despicable-looking man wearing an attire befitting a corrupt merchant.

"Well, looking at his look alone is enough for us to know it, don\'t you think?" (Emilia)

"W-Where do you know this place from!?" The man that seems to be the manager of the place scowled as sweat runs all over his body, giving off a horrible stench.

"Why would we tell you, you big fat idiot? Ah, the little acid ant," Alice stopped her verbal abuse as she saw the big ant creeps on the wall above the fat slave merchant.

"Thank you, little one. Tell your friends that we are grateful as well. You can take all of the corpses as the reward for your queen and your friends," Alice gently pets the acid ant soldier. It\'s funny to see a girl like her petting a rather big ant. But for Alice, as a Valkyrie that had made a contract with Lyan, she could feel the connection between the acid ant and Lyan.

(It feels like we\'re close to each other when I touched it) (Alice)

As Alice was about to get absorbed by the feeling of the connection she felt, the door got opened and Surena came together with several girls that seems to be the \'products\' that is stored at the current base.

"They seem to be freshly picked recently as well. There are only three of them despite of the big size of the basement. After returning them home, we need to continue our journey. Little ones, we\'re going to need your help again," Surena shifted her face above.

As Emilia and Alice lift their head up, they saw the other acid ants crawling on the ceilings and the walls and giving a small nod to her.

After rescuing Lia, Lyan is about to return the Acid Ant Queen to the grimoire\'s space, and she sent her thoughts of wanting to let some of her soldiers and workers to help the Valkyries on their quest to increase her level and increase the number of food she could bring to the grimoire\'s space to become her nutrients for producing more workers and soldiers.

"They are incredible at scouting, have decent firepower, and high intellect that makes it easy to communicate with. It will be a great power force if their number increases even further in the future," (Emilia)

"And at that time, my man will be the strongest man in the world," Alice declared with a slightly excited tone while making a grin even though her eyes seems to be as emotionless as always.

"Your man, huh... And at that village, he must be having lots of fun with the widow and her daughter over there," (Emilia)

"Argh! Don\'t make me imagine things I don\'t want to! You brute woman!" Alice kicked Emilia\'s butt while complaining.

"Hey! That hurts!" (Emilia)

As the two of them started to brawl with each other, Surena made a clap, stealing the attention from everyone.

*Clap!*

"Now, now. I know that the both of you missed him already. That\'s why let\'s search thoroughly with the current leads we have from here and quickly return to him with whatever result we have. We can\'t let our master wait, after all," (Surena)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1), Fey Mammoth (Lv. 1), Arcane Retriever (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army