Walking out of the adventurer guild, Andrew suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Christina turned around and looked at him. "What’s wrong?"
Andrew casually said, "I just remembered I have a friend here. I need to go meet him."
"Then..." Christina hesitated and asked, "Should we go together?"
"No, my friend doesn’t really like meeting strangers," Andrew shook his head and said. "You know, powerful people always have some strange quirks. Why don’t you head back home and wait for me? I’ll be back soon."
"Do you know the way? Do you need me to take you there?"
"It’s okay, I can find it myself."
"But earlier, you didn’t even know the way."
"Uh... I know it now. Just learned it. I’ll be back in no time." Andrew smiled as he spoke, wearing an expression that brooked no argument.
After much hesitation, Christina could only nod. "Alright. I’ll wait for you at home."
"Go ahead." Andrew waved her off.
Christina walked away, taking a step and looking back every three steps, her gaze filled with reliance.
Andrew smiled, watching her leave.
Once she’d walked a bit farther away, Christina suddenly ran back. "Why don’t I just go with you? I can wait outside and not go in."
Andrew had no choice but to patiently explain, "If my friend finds out I brought someone to meet him, he’ll get angry."
"Then I can hide and make sure he doesn’t notice."
"He’ll definitely notice."
Christina raised one finger. "I can stay a hundred meters away from you!"
Andrew looked at her with a blank expression.
Christina raised two fingers. "Two hundred meters?"
Andrew continued to look at her blankly.
The two stood there in a deadlock.
After a while, seeing that Andrew wasn’t going to change his mind, Christina finally lowered her head in defeat. Looking despondent, she turned and began walking back alone, still glancing back every few steps. The girl, who had been all smiles just moments ago, now looked as if she were about to cry.
Andrew felt helpless, taking a deep breath and shouting after her, "Go back and prepare lunch while you wait for me. It takes you a long time to cook, so if you start now, it’ll be just right when I get back. I’ll be back soon."
"Alright..." Christina nodded, "I’ll wait for you at home."
After all the back-and-forth, Christina finally disappeared from Andrew’s sight. Only then did Andrew let out a sigh of relief. "What’s up with her? I’m just stepping out for a bit, and she’s acting like I’m going off to die."
Shaking his head, he glanced back at the adventurer guild.
Andrew had a friend in Linlopes?
What a joke. If Christina hadn’t brought it up, he wouldn’t even have known this place’s name. Having friends here? Yeah, right.
"Since she can’t take care of it, I’ll handle it myself. There are plenty of ways to do this, but it’s best not to stir up trouble. If someone gets offended, it’ll be hard to move around here in the future. Plus, I need to rebuild her messed-up reputation."
Walking back into the adventurer guild, Andrew headed straight to the same adventurer hall as before and found the Guard Commander he’d spoken to earlier.
Spreading his hands, Andrew said to him, "I’ve already sent her away."
"Thank the heavens." The Guard Commander let out a deep breath of relief.
"No, I should be thanking you. If you hadn’t told me, I would’ve been completely in the dark about her situation. All I knew was that she was a dragon, and I’d figured having her around would make the mission easier." Hooking an arm around the Guard Commander’s shoulder, Andrew wore a friendly grin as he asked, "So, what should I do now? I mean, I’d like to register a mercenary group and sign a contract with your guild."
"Sign a contract with us? But we usually only sign with mercenary groups that have some achievements under their belt. At least a third-tier mercenary group." The Guard Commander thought for a moment before adding, "Maybe you could take on a speed-run mission."
"Speed-run mission?" Andrew frowned curiously. "What’s that supposed to mean?"
The Guard Commander patiently explained, "It’s a type of mission that multiple groups can accept at the same time, where only the one who completes it first gets the reward. Large mercenary groups usually don’t like these missions since there’s always a risk of unexpected setbacks. So, our speed-run missions are open to unaffiliated mercenary groups."
Andrew slowly narrowed his eyes, pondering.
The Guard Commander hurriedly continued, "Sir, you’re a Blood Elf, and I fully trust in your abilities. But we only sign with third-tier groups, at minimum—it’s the rules. We broke the rules once before, for Christina, and as you know, it didn’t end well. So now, even if a dragon showed up, we wouldn’t make exceptions. That said, with your strength, leveling up your group’s rank should be very quick—maybe ten speed-run tasks at most. For some tasks, even one would suffice."
"Alright, let’s do a speed-run mission." Andrew patted the Guard Commander on the shoulder and started forward.
"Wait, sir!" the Guard Commander quickly called out.
Andrew stopped mid-stride.
"Sir, you need to register your mercenary group first. That’s on the top floor, at the adventurer service center. We can’t do it here."
"Got it, thanks for the heads-up." Andrew pivoted mid-step, smiling as he passed by the Guard Commander.
If they suspected he was colluding with Christina to complete missions for her, it would’ve been a dead end.
Hmm... Maybe not completely. He could always switch to another adventurer hall. The guards elsewhere wouldn’t recognize him, after all. But if they issued a bulletin or something, then he’d be screwed. Better to keep things simple.