Chapter 250: Suspicion
"Kill them all!"
Ellia and Vera slashed multiple beasts at once, while Auric and Katarina overwhelmed the beasts with their firepower.
Eva remained to protect Auric and Katarina, while Eric watched their rear.
Their movements were already in sync. That was because Auric was able to sense everything in time. Although he was slower than Lindwurm, he managed to sense every beast coming this whole time.
He gave orders to kill them depending on the number of beasts.
Auric nodded. "Good work, everyone. It looks like we’re able to finish our work here in less than a day."
"This place is small after all." Ellia nodded.
"Even though it’s small, it has a lot of artifacts." Katarina chuckled. "How many did we find again?"
"14 artifacts. Most of them were in a place that no one expected, though," answered Eric.
Vera scratched the back of her head. Normally, it would be a blessing to find one of them. She couldn’t refuse to use the artifacts anymore since they had plenty.
"Anyway, we should go back and return to the main ruins tomorrow. It’s better to spend our night in the facility than camping here." Auric clapped his hands.
"Sure. It’s about to go dark, so we need to hurry."
Before they left, Auric suddenly received a call from Arnie.
"Hello?"
"Student Auric. Are you at the hunting event right now?"
"Yes. Is there something wrong, sir?"
"Listen up. You need to be careful over there. The organization might stir up another problem."
"I know."
"No, you listen to me. Their target might not be everyone there. Their target might be you."
"Me? Why?" Auric frowned.
"I’m not entirely sure right now, but I speculate it’s because of your body. From the documents I’ve received from the safe house, there is an indication of a person that suffers from multiple elements. The case is not clear, so you may want to take a look at it.
"However, they might want your body to figure out how to deal with that person. This might be the primary reason why you became the target."
Auric frowned. "There’s such a person?"
"Yes. This is not about the poison. The issue is much more complex than that. I’ve asked some people, but they don’t know about the conditions. So, you, who have multiple elements in your body, might be the key to helping us deal with this person."
Auric thought for a moment. "Can you send me the document?"
"My people are processing it. I will send it to you after they send it to me. However, the information is not complete, so you might not be able to find anything."
"Do you know anything about this person? Is he a part of this?"
"I’m not entirely sure. The organization might have been founded because of this, or this person might have been recruited because of this condition. You know, there are plenty of techniques to gaslight or brainwash someone into joining your organization. Still, from what I’ve seen, the documents from that safe house are linked closely to this so-called Director."
"Is it?"
"Yes. I believe that Professor Schad is the direct subordinate of this Director or at least very close to him."
"I see. I’ll take a look at it later." Auric hung up and found the others looking at him.
"What’s wrong?"
"It’s nothing." Auric waved his hand. "It’s just my own problem, nothing for you to worry about."
They weren’t entirely convinced, but they couldn’t ask about it.
Arnie, on the other hand, noticed that Auric had been choosing his words carefully. No, it was more accurate to say that Auric had been trying to avoid speaking.
That was why Arnie sent him a text message.
"Send me a message about your situation at your discretion."
Auric avoided speaking because of Eva. Eva was someone he didn’t personally know. Even though the government had sent her, Chief Lucas was still trying to check her authenticity.
Until then, Auric couldn’t exactly trust her.
As soon as they reached their room, Auric asked, "So, Vera, do you want to evolve right now or later? I need to use one room as an evolution chamber. Don’t worry, I’ll clean it up right after."
"If you are going to use it as an evolution chamber, then you should use it first. We can relax a bit here. Use our room." Katarina pointed to the girl’s room.
Vera thought for a moment before agreeing. "Yes. I think doing it now is better."
"Sure. In that case, let me borrow this room first." Auric walked to the other room and sealed the door. ’Lindwurm.’
"Got it!" Lindwurm activated the store, turning this room into an evolution chamber. This way, he could remove the residual energy easily.
After Lindwurm was done, he exited the room. "If you evolve inside the ruins, the dense energy within the ruins might flow into your body. I have to work harder to ensure the balance, especially in a place where my power is restrained.
"Even in this kind of place, it’s actually going to be quite hard. Even though we’re not inside the ruins, the energy here is abundant, even though it isn’t as dense."
"I understand." Vera nodded. "I have two million credits. If that’s not enough, I will send you the rest later."
Auric looked confused before waving his hand. "You don’t have to worry about that. With the artifact, all I need to do is stop you when your energy reaches 100% and make sure that you remain stable during the entire process. According to the usual fee, you only need to pay me eighty thousand."
"What?" Vera was dumbfounded. "Isn’t that too cheap? Are you pitying me? The masters in the capital city would ask for at least three hundred thousand for a normal evolution. But in this situation, it won’t be strange for them to ask for a few times more."
"My price is fair. I am not a person from the capital city, and we’re not in the capital city, so I don’t charge you at that price. I will charge you my price at Thunderer City." Auric shook his head. "If you had come to me when I still ran my shop in the capital city, that would be the price. But here we are."
"Aren’t you glad that Auric is not blinded by money?" Ellia grinned, teasing Vera.
"Shut up." Vera glared at Ellia. "Then, the price for the artifacts."
Ellia stepped forward. "That’s what I’m about to bring up. Auric intends to submit a portion of the artifacts to get first place. The rest of the artifacts will be split up. He will get half, then the other half will be divided among the rest of us. So, each person will get 10%. That’s not negotiable.
"You wouldn’t be able to get so many artifacts without him. At the same time, without your help as a combatant, he won’t be able to explore this area so easily, meaning he wouldn’t be able to find as many artifacts.
"That’s why I think this is a fair split. Still, there is a problem with Katarina and Eva, who are rank 3 and rank 4 respectively."
"No, it’s fine for me." Katarina immediately rejected it. "I want to get first place, not the artifacts. I will only receive 10% so as to not get other people’s portions. My condition is the first place. If we can’t achieve it, I will ask for more portions."
"Me too. My job here is him." Eva pointed at Auric. "This feels like a bonus, so I’ll just accept it as a bonus. No need to increase my portion because you guys are much stronger than the average person."
Ellia nodded. "In that case, that’s good. You don’t have a problem with this, right, Vera?"
"I see. That makes me feel less guilty about using the artifact. You can take it from my share." She nodded.
"Am I also getting 10%? It sounds like more than I contribute," Eric asked.
Ellia raised one finger. "Yes, but you don’t need to feel guilty about it. You can think of it as an opportunity."
"Well, I don’t really need an artifact right now. Maybe two or three artifacts are enough for me. What if I want to submit the rest of my share so that I can get more contribution points?"
"Good question. We can talk about it later."
"Understood." Eric nodded.
"In that case, we’re done here. Go do your job." Ellia patted Auric on the shoulder.
"Yep. Thanks." Auric opened the door again. "Let’s go, Vera."
"Yes." Since she understood the distribution, she became excited because she could finally evolve her avatar into the adult form.
Before they started, Auric took this time to check his smartphone and sent a message to Arnie.
"I have five teammates. Two of them are Ellia and Eric, so you should know about them. The other person is Vera, who is also one of the targets of the organization. The fourth person is Katarina. I can trust her since she used to work for me when I visited Kallarnos University, but there was another person named Evangeline from Hadford University who approached our group and claimed to have joined the military.
"She said she was tasked to protect me, but the timing was so perfect that I couldn’t help but doubt her. She is a rank 4 human with a spear and shield. Her appearance..."
Auric sent all the details about Evangeline to Arnie. Since Arnie suspected that he was the target instead of causing mass panic, he could ask Arnie to also search for Eva’s information.
"Auric, what’s wrong?" Vera asked, wondering what had happened since Auric was glued to his phone.
"It’s nothing." Auric waved his hand and pointed to the bed. "Please sit down on the bed. Once you’re ready, you may begin. The moment you reach 100%, I will stop you, and you need to begin your evolution immediately."
"Got it." Vera nodded. "Still, thank you for accepting such a reckless request. You don’t even charge me that much."
"There are things I want to take advantage of. Still, when I do my main business, there won’t be such a thing." Auric waved his hand. "Let’s not worry about that and focus on your evolution."
"Yes." Vera received the artifact from Auric and closed her eyes, ready to absorb the energy from it.
Meanwhile, Arnie had given a reply.
"I’ve arrived at the hunting event, but you should have told me that the one in charge for this year’s event is Marcel Schenider. I might not be able to assist you inside, Student Auric.
"However, there is one plus side. It looks like he’s going to personally find the information about this Evangeline. If she really is from the military, her information should be in this database. This Evangeline... might be a spy who is going to pinpoint your location for the organization."
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