Vasconcelos is a growing city that receives investment from many nobles throughout the Broteforge Empire. So, a situation with a demon could both attract more investment and also drive it away.
With this in mind, it was up to the Guild Master and the other investors to choose whether to suffer this risk or not, and one fact was already public: during the party celebrating the anniversary of the Vasconcelos Guild, thirteen people died, including a young nobleman named Jean Pollo.
In the three days following that gloomy night, the guild received floods of telegrams demanding an explanation, including one from the Pollo family.
While this disturbance gained ground in the discussions, those responsible for solving the problem were... busy, shall we say.
"Hey, hey! That's my room!" Ayumi shouted to Alexis, who was snooping around the mansion room by room.
"Oh! That room is spectacular!" The half-dragon exclaimed.
Ayumi's room was truly amazing. With a bed so large that a giant could sleep comfortably, and simple decorations mirrored throughout the room, the place looked ideal for getting a good night's sleep.
"I know, now we're leaving..." The blonde Elf said, pushing Alexis out.
"You had no problems when we shared a room in college~."
"Hehe! Back then you weren't so disorganized!" Ayumi replied, with a vein popping out of her forehead.
"I never saw my mother like that," Nathalia spoke to Luke. They were both watching the situation from a few feet away.
The Strogueher Mansion is huge, and the architecture can be a bit confusing. For this reason, the half-wolf always had trouble remembering where each thing was.
For this reason, he just memorized that on the second floor were the service areas, such as the kitchen, the pantry, the storage room, as well as a small library, the large dining room, some living rooms, and other things.
Since the second floor was more restricted and more personal to the Strogueher's, Luke didn't like to hang around there, but he knew that there were several bedrooms there, Ayumi's office, and a sauna room, among other spaces.
"Do you really need to snoop through every room?" Ayumi inquired Alexis, putting her hands on her waist.
"Yeah? I have to make sure I'm going to be safe here."
Soon after all the survivors were rescued that night, the S-Class and the half-wolf explained to the Matriarch what would happen next.
Alexis' current plan was simple. When the emissary arrived with the item, she would use it to try to locate where the demon fled to, although she doubted that anything Chris developed would actually work.
However, Luke still didn't understand why she had to wait for the emissary precisely at the Strogueher Mansion.
"Before I forget...where is Luke's room? He sleeps here, doesn't he?" She inquired, bringing her right index finger to her pink lips.
That question made Luke, Ayumi, and Nathalia blush.
"So, shall we get going? We need to go downtown." Understanding that the half-dragon just liked to tease the Matriarch, the half-wolf quickly diverted the subject.
In the end, he really needed to get to the city.
"May I go too?" Alexis inquired, hopelessly hoping that the pair would let her accompany them.
"Sure, you can come," Nathalia replied. Sometimes she could push the limits of innocence, so much so that she didn't even notice the half-wolf's fearful reaction.
Ayumi brought her hand to her forehead and snorted. "Huf... Yeah, you can go... At least you won't be tormenting me while you search all my rooms."
As soon as they left the mansion and started walking down the big dirt road that led into the town, Luke decided to get some things clear.
"Alexis, can you answer a few questions? I'm pretty confused about some things."
"Sure! Go ahead and ask!" She replied, confidently. She thought the half-wolf would ask about demons or her spectacular abilities.
"Why are you staying at the Mansion? I mean, it makes no difference to me, but it seems Ayumi didn't like the idea that much..."
The half-dragon immediately felt as if the weight of a monolith had fallen on her back. "Ehh... We can say that I've gone into a financial crisis recently..." She replied, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment.
"Financial crisis?" Luke and Nathalia inquired together.
"Yeah..."
"But I gave you a hundred gold coins for Luke's rescue and ten for the door we destroyed, and that wasn't even that long ago." Nathalia was in shock. How could anyone lose that much money so quickly?
Luke felt his soul leave his body as soon as he heard the exorbitant amount.
'A hundred coins would be the equivalent of one, two, three...' He began to do the math with the help of the fingers on his hand, however, he soon gave up knowing how long and how much work it would take for him to accumulate that amount.
"So, the hotel wasn't very cheap and the food wasn't either... Then, when I was walking through an alley near the main square, a hooded man stopped me."
"You were robbed!?" The Elf questioned, surprised that someone as strong as Alexis had been bullied in such a way.
"Actually, he offered me a chance to double my money twice over, and I ended up losing the bet..."
'Worse... She was baited...' Luke and Nathalia thought, disappointed.
After a few minutes of walking, they finally arrived in town. Luke needed to send the month's money to his friends and also needed to write a letter to inquire about how they were doing.
'I wonder how things are going over there... I bet they are bored with nothing to do.'
Since the half-wolf made Meredith, Zack, John, Ynosuke, and Matthew promise not to send anything or show up by surprise, they didn't.
Right at the entrance to the town, the trio of adventurers encountered a stumbling block. Monsters? Bandits? Trouble? No, actually the problem was Alexis, who spotted the 'Knor, Special Armor and Spears' store from afar.
"How much is this here?" she inquired, pointing to a large black ax with flaky details. The handle of the ax was over six feet long, and it sure looked like it was made for someone giant to carry.
"Sorry, I don't sell my items to...you know what you are." The hairy Elf who was cleaning the display case answered her, crossing her arms.
"Woman? Half-beast? Hot?" Alexis inquired, intimidating the blacksmith with her frightening aura, which made even experienced adventurers stop to observe the situation.
"No, come on... I meant you're poor." He replied, sounding more offended than intimidated.
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