Chapter 802 Allegiance
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Although Norman was obviously pleased by the turn of events, his expression didn't change much as he nodded. "That's alright, think it over carefully. Once you're ready, just let us know."
He extended his hand to pat the head of a certain 'little girl', only for some obstacles to get in his way, making him chuckle.
"I see that you're a very well-taken-care-of kid, huh?" Norman teased.
Emilia blushed shyly to avoid embarrassing the poor old guy. After all, he might become their direct superior in the future, even if it may not be for too long. There was no point in antagonizing him needlessly.
Unfortunately, her reaction only made the rest of her team more displeased with the middle-aged man.
They'd long since stopped caring about what Dolly or the crowd around them might think, and only wanted to escape from this 'pervert' before things got worse.
Even Danielle, who had some idea of what the middle-aged man in front of her might represent, was no different. "Our Emilia is a little delirious from being too tired, so let's talk later."
Norman nodded generously. "That's fine. Take good care of the little girl, don't make her cry."
Obviously, they'd already been doing it before ever meeting him, so all his words just sounded like those of an extreme hypocrite to Emilia's teammates.
The middle-aged man turned his warm gaze to Emilia. "Let uncle know if anyone bullies you, alright?"
In his opinion, it was only a matter of time before the 'Crimson Witches' joined them, and there was no need to rush them now. After all, while Danielle was much more 'mature' than Emilia, she was still a 'child' barely older than his own daughter. He knew very well that urging them repeatedly would only have negative effects.
Danielle added the middle-aged man as a 'friend' and led her team away under the greedy and envious gazes of the crowd, though no one dared to say a word.
Even if some of them weren't sure who exactly Norman was or what power he represented, it wasn't hard for them to guess that messing with someone he was 'protecting' right under the man's nose would have terrible consequences in reality.
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Emilia naturally had her reasons for siding with Norman, and while she couldn't share them directly with Danielle and the others, she didn't believe it would be particularly difficult for her to make them arrive at the right conclusions by themselves.
Unfortunately, that was only if they were willing to listen to her.
"How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers you don't know?"
The crimson-haired elf tilted her head in confusion. 'Did she, really?'
Cynthia coughed. "No, but… mortals don't have a particularly good memory. They sometimes mistake what they'd wanted to say with what they'd already said, especially as they get older."
Obviously, her partner's words didn't help Emilia much. The drill-haired girl in front of her was in her twenties, and normally shouldn't have such problems… right?
Danielle frowned. "Even if you forgot about it before, be more careful in the future!"
"Then—"
"No!" The drill-haired girl interrupted her sternly. "That Norman guy is nothing good, and you're not allowed to talk to him ever again!"
"But I—!"
"We usually indulge you, Emilia, but not this time! I don't want to hear a word about him from you, understand?" Danielle snorted coldly.
And to make matters worse, Nico, Robin, and even Sylvia nodded in agreement.
"That guy looks like a pervert, for sure."
"Right? He's probably a weirdo."
"He also gave me bad vibes."
Danielle gave Sylvia an 'appreciative' look for the first time, then patted Emilia's head with a caring and 'kind' smile. "This is for your own good."
The poor crimson-haired elf could only turn to stare at Crystal, who just shrugged helplessly.
"…?"
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Fortunately, despite her unwillingness to listen to Emilia's 'arguments', Danielle's decision on the matter was quite in line with Emilia's intentions.
'It seems like Danielle also realized how the situation is turning bad for 'rising stars' all over the world.' She sighed. 'It would have been great if we could've just remained 'neutral' and independent. But unfortunately, we would just end up becoming a juicy piece of meat surrounded by dozens of predators.'
Cynthia snorted. "She probably didn't think about it so carefully, and just got scared of that 'power show' earlier."
The middle-aged man they talked to had clearly made some changes in certain arrangements, and shortly after Emilia and her team exited the game, it became obvious that their 'office' was now under someone's 'care', whether they liked it or not.
In fact, Emilia could tell that the actual degree of monitoring and control hadn't really changed much. The same people who were watching over them before had now changed into a uniform and stopped 'pretending', though she wasn't sure of the purpose of such deliberate change.
Emilia sneered. 'It's not necessarily a bad thing. Our team is now popular enough to be one of the main 'seeded' squads of the government, which is much better than joining some random corporation.'
All the benefits and support aside, just the fact that they would no longer be bothered by 'recruiters' as much in the future was quite good. Not to mention, governments were usually quite 'inefficient' when compared to private entities in terms of exploiting their employees, which was good enough. Aside from those who were firmly on 'her' side, Emilia never expected anyone to help her achieve anything.
Without any worry about external matters, they could fully focus on conquering the dungeon from the next day onwards.
The only problem now was how the hero would take this news.
Emilia hummed thoughtfully. 'Well, he shouldn't mind too much. After all, I'm only supposed to be a part of his team in secret for now. Not to mention, I can't control how my team thinks or what Danielle decides to do.'
She'd even been scolded so badly because of that Norman guy. Too bad there wasn't any easy or obvious way for Emilia to prove her innocence. Or at least there wasn't one that wouldn't make the situation worse.
Cynthia chuckled. "Don't worry, that guy is probably too busy thinking about clearing the dungeon to pay attention to much else."
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