"Of course," the man said readily. "I'll take you to the Crimson Forest to see what it's like, it'll only cost 10 gold coins. If you want a Blood Pearl Fruit, one Blood Pearl Fruit costs 1000 gold coins, but if we don't find one, we won't charge you. By the way, we'll provide food and lodging, but we can't guarantee your safety."
That's what I meant...
Shi Tou resisted the urge to wipe his sweat and tried to speak calmly: "What if you take the money and run away?"
The man raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Young lady, is this your first time out? We in this line of work value our reputation above all else. Why would we do something like this? Besides, it's such a small amount, why would I lie to you?"
"Who said this is my first time out here!" Stone felt a little uneasy, but he didn't mince words: "I'm from the capital. The mercenary group that brought me here last time was untrustworthy!"
The man was stunned: "You're from the capital? Which mercenary group did you join? Why are they so untrustworthy? Did they just leave you here and abandon you?"
A barrage of questions made Stone even more uneasy. After thinking for a moment, she decided to continue with the story she had prepared: "I came from the capital, but I don't know the name of that mercenary group. I only remember that they were all men, oh, probably younger than you? They didn't abandon me here; they took me into the Crimson Forest. But then, the monsters came. They abandoned me and ran away. Later, I was rescued by an elf, and then I left the Crimson Forest."
"What?!" The man suddenly became extremely excited. He grabbed Shi Tou's shoulder: "Did you come here last year? Wasn't the mercenary group that brought you here called Eternal Night? Wasn't the leader only in his twenties? And there were five kids in the group, including you, right?"
Stone stared in disbelief. He was speechless for a moment.
"Lin Qi, what are you doing?" Another man walked over and pulled the man called Lin Qi away: "How can you be so rude to a girl?"
Stone raised an eyebrow, looking at the man who came later with amusement. Compared to the first man, he was considerably younger, appearing to be no more than twenty years old, but he gave off a very composed feeling.
"Young lady, can you tell me your name?" The young man walked up to the stone, squatted down, and looked at it at eye level.
As Shi Tou hesitated about what to say, a voice suddenly rang out not far from her.
"Serena!" Erniu ran towards her quickly: "Serena, please take me with you. Please."
Shi Tou was taken aback. Why hadn't she given up yet?
However, what she didn't see was that the young man's eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked at the stone with anticipation: "Serena? Your name is Serena? What's your last name?"
Stone pursed her lips. By now, she knew that those people seemed to have mistaken her for someone else, but she didn't care. Anyway, she wasn't expecting anything from them: "Beth. My name is Serena Beth."
The collective gasps startled Shi Tou, causing her to stumble back several steps. Could she have gotten incredibly lucky?
“Miss Bess, hello. My name is Lin Yao, and I am the vice-captain of the Starshine Mercenary Group.” The young man stood up and bowed solemnly to Stone. “At the same time, I am in charge of the Third Division, and they are my comrades.”
Stone's lips twitched: "Hello."
"Hello, it's an honor to meet Miss Beth. Also, I must tell you that the Eternal Night Mercenary Group, which abandoned you and your companions, has been punished. Except for those who did not come out of the Crimson Forest, the rest of them have left this world."
This time it was Stone's turn to gasp: "I...I don't blame them."
“Thank you for your magnanimity, but the Beth family cannot accept this.” Lin Yao said expressionlessly, “The Beth family signed a mercenary contract with the Eternal Night Mercenary Group to guarantee the safe return of the people. However, the Eternal Night Mercenary Group abandoned you and your companions in a moment of crisis, so they are a disgrace to the Mercenary Guild.”
“But didn’t that person just say they weren’t responsible for safety?” Stone said, pointing at the person from before.
"Lin Qi?" Lin Yao turned to look at him. "What happened?"
Lin Qi, of course, heard what Shi Tou had just said, and said helplessly, "Ten gold coins to take someone inside for a stroll, of course, without any guarantee of safety. You know, the security guarantee contract between the Beth family and the Eternal Night Mercenary Group is worth 300,000 gold coins!"
Well, Stone was speechless. True, asking someone to risk their life for 10 gold coins was a bit unreasonable: "But what if they really encountered a very dangerous magical beast? What if the mercenary group wasn't deliberately failing to bring them back safely?"
Lin Yao gave Shi Tou a deep look: "Was this the situation you encountered back then? If you really encountered an insurmountable monster, the Eternal Night Mercenary Group could have chosen to die before you."
Well, Stone's little face started to contort.
"By the way, Miss Bess, you didn't get the Blood Pearl Fruit last time. Are you going in again this time?" Lin Yao asked naturally, seemingly oblivious to Shi Tou's expression.
Shi Tou hesitated for a moment: "I...I'm a little scared. I just want to go back to the capital."
Lin Yao's expression suddenly turned strange, as if he had heard something absurd: "Scared? Going back to the capital?"
"What's wrong?" Stone blinked and asked innocently.
Lin Yao was immediately speechless.
Seeing that no one spoke up for a moment, Shi Tou had no choice but to speak again: "Can you take me back to the capital? Um, I don't have 300,000 gold coins, I'll give you... um, 10,000 gold coins, okay?"
Heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken, her heart was clenched in agony. Yes, she'd made up her mind: she would run away as soon as they reached the capital; she wasn't going to give these people so much money!
“Going to the capital doesn’t cost that much.” Lin Yao’s lips twitched. “If you want to go back to the capital, we’ll take care of your safety, provide food and lodging, and it’ll only cost 1,000 gold coins.”
So cheap?!
Stone stared wide-eyed, his face full of suspicion.
Lin Yao's lips twitched again. There was no way around it; the girl's expression was too obvious, so obvious that he began to doubt his own intelligence. She was just a sucker; why did you want such a low price?
“However, if you want to go to the Crimson Forest, we will guarantee your safety, but it will cost 100,000 gold coins.” Lin Yao had a look on his face that said, “You’re getting a bargain,” but Shi Tou didn’t care at all.
Erniu said that winter is actually safer than autumn. You know, she spent many days alone in the Crimson Forest in autumn and nothing happened to her, right? So, the Crimson Forest, at least on its outer edge, is definitely safe.
"No need, I'm a coward, I won't go in." Shi Tou refused decisively, not because she was a coward, but because she was worried about the money.
Lin Yao was speechless: "Alright, if you want to go back to the capital, come find us next spring, or tell us your current address and we'll come find you next year."
Shi Tou suddenly turned to look at Er Niu. She didn't even know the name of the place she lived in!
“At my home, No. 33 Tingyun Avenue.” Erniu looked at Lin Yao with longing: “Brother, take me in. I want to go to the Crimson Forest. I’m not afraid.”
Lin Yao looked at Er Niu with a helpless expression: "Shall I take you for a walk? Or do you want the Blood Pearl Fruit?"
"I just want to go to the Crimson Forest. I don't want the Blood Pearl Fruit. Brother, please take me in!" Erniu's voice was filled with longing. "I can chop wood, make a fire, and roast meat."
“I don’t need a cook.” Lin Yao was truly helpless. He turned to look at Shi Tou: “Ms. Serena Beth, No. 33 Tingyun Avenue, please wait patiently. We will definitely come to serve you next spring.”
After saying that, Lin Yao was about to leave when Shi Tou called out to him, "Wait!"
"You changed your mind?" Lin Yao turned around with a look of surprise. He knew that the scions of the Beth family couldn't be so spineless.
But what he didn't know was that, in Shi Tou's eyes, he appeared utterly materialistic. And Shi Tou began to doubt her judgment; was this man truly as composed as she had initially perceived?
"No, I don't want to go to the Crimson Forest! I just want to ask you, when are you coming to find me? Give me a specific date. That way, if you don't come by the appointed time, I can find someone else."
"How could that be! Our Starshine Mercenary Group is the most trustworthy. As for the specific time, there's no fixed time; we'll have to see how warm the weather gets. But don't worry, we'll definitely come to you!" Lin Yao suppressed his anger, his expression slightly distorted.
Stone once again silently mourned his poor judgment: "I'm not saying you're untrustworthy. You yourselves said the Crimson Forest is dangerous; that Eternal Night Mercenary Group almost got wiped out, didn't they? If you... you know... happen to me, I can't just keep waiting here for you, can I?"
The words had barely left her lips when not only Lin Yao and his companions, but even Er Niu wore a contorted expression. Seriously, girl, what you said was really unpleasant to hear!
How can you curse someone like that?!
-----
It's past midnight, time to give up on making pan-fried buns!
╭(╯^╰)╮
Chapter 106: The Master-Servant Contract and the Prophecy
After saying goodbye to the Starshine Mercenary Group members, whose faces were contorted with rage, Stone planned to wander around the area for a bit before heading back. Erniu followed behind Stone unhappily, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn't.
After picking through the items for a while, Stone finally couldn't take it anymore and decisively turned around: "What exactly do you want? I've already said that the Crimson Forest is dangerous, and I'm not going in."
Erniu hesitated and wouldn't speak, but she kept following behind Shitou. Shitou was almost going crazy. This child had seemed so cheerful before, why was she acting like a timid little wife now?
"Tell me, what exactly do you want? Is it because you don't have enough money to go to the Crimson Forest? Fine, if your grandma agrees, I'll lend you 10 gold coins." Stone had no choice but to reluctantly compromise. Come to think of it, since she was determined to go and die, why should she stop her?
"No, Serena, I... I wanted to go to the Crimson Forest..." After hesitating for a moment, Erniu gritted her teeth: "To find someone!"
Looking for someone?
Stone was bewildered: "Is anyone in the Crimson Forest? Who are you looking for?"
“I just want to find my dad and brother.” Erniu spoke frankly here, probably feeling that since she had already said it, the rest didn’t matter: “Last winter, my dad and brother went to the Crimson Forest, but they didn’t come out of there until this spring. I’m very worried about them, and I want to find them.”
Stone looked at Erniu with an even stranger expression: "They didn't come out this spring? That's been a long time, hasn't it? Do you think they're still in the Crimson Forest?"
Erniu bit her lip: "I believe they'll be fine!"
This doesn't seem to have anything to do with whether you believe it or not, right?
Stone refrained from saying anything that might upset the child. After thinking for a moment, she gently reminded him, "What do you think their chances of survival are? Or to put it another way, if they were still alive, what do you think are the odds of finding them if you went into the Crimson Forest to look for them?"
Erniu suddenly raised her head, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the stone: "Serena, I know my father and brother aren't dead, they must still be alive and well. Please. Let the Starshine Mercenary Group take me inside!"
"I can only promise you 10 gold coins, with your grandmother's consent." Stone felt that she had done more than enough for someone she hadn't known for very long.
But Erniu didn't think so. After hesitating for a while, she said, "I know that 10 gold coins can let me temporarily join the Starshine Mercenary Group. But I also know that doing so won't make them help me find people. Mercenary groups like theirs, with children in tow, usually go to places where there are more Blood Pearl Fruits."
"You want them to specifically find people for you?" Stone was dumbfounded. Even though she wasn't very familiar with this world, she could tell that the Starshine Mercenary Group was a top-tier mercenary group. Asking them to help find people wasn't impossible. But the price…
Shi Tou felt that she wasn't that great. Besides, it wasn't that she was cruel, but the truth was that Er Niu's father and brothers had little chance of survival.
“Serena, listen to me. My father is only 35 years old this year. He is a four-star Qi Master. My brother is only 17 years old, but he is a well-known genius in our town. He became a three-star Qi Master last year.” Erniu pulled Shitou and pleaded, “I don’t believe they are dead. I want to know about them.”
Shi Tou pondered for a moment. Logically speaking, if they were only on the outer edge, a four-star Dou Qi Master and a three-star Dou Qi Master shouldn't have gotten into trouble. However, things are unpredictable, and besides, no one can guarantee that they will stay obediently on the outer edge.
"Erniu, it's not that I don't want to help you, but you say your father and brother are still alive, do you have any proof? Don't tell me they're very powerful. I'm just asking you, if they're safe and sound, why haven't they come back yet?"
Erniu shuddered and said tremblingly, "Maybe they're held up by something? Dad and my brother told me they won't go into the inner area, they won't be in danger."
At this moment, Shi Tou suddenly remembered what Lin Yao had said earlier: "What if something unexpected happens? The Eternal Night Mercenary Group also has many skilled members, and they still got into trouble, didn't they?"
Erniu was stunned. Just because Shitou didn't know the situation here didn't mean she didn't. The Eternal Night Mercenary Group was one of the top mercenaries here, and unlike the Starry Night Mercenary Group, the Eternal Night Mercenary Group sent members to explore the Crimson Forest almost every year. It could be said that in Tingyun Town, the Eternal Night Mercenary Group was definitely the leading force.
However, even so, the Eternal Night Mercenary Group still encountered trouble.
“Serena, I know my request is unreasonable, but I truly know they are not dead. Serena, if you agree to help me find them, I am willing to sign a master-servant contract with you. You will be my master for the rest of my life. I am willing to give my entire life as the price. Please help me find my father and brother.”
Seeing Erniu's sincere expression, Shitou was speechless for a moment. She couldn't help but think of her mother from her past life. Perhaps if it were her, she would have done the same, right?
"Why are you so sure I can help you find your father and brother?" Stone was still a little confused. She didn't understand why Erniu was targeting her alone.
Erniu hesitated, looking troubled.
"Erniu, let me tell you, I don't lack servants. If you can't give me a satisfactory answer, then I'll pretend nothing happened today."
"No!" Erniu exclaimed anxiously, glancing around with her eyes and pulling the stone aside. "I can tell you, but you can't tell anyone else."
Shi Tou raised an eyebrow, admitting that Er Niu's words had piqued her curiosity: "Okay."
Erniu looked around cautiously, leaned closer to the stone, and whispered, "There's something I haven't told anyone, not even my dad or grandma. Actually, when I was very young, I discovered a very special ability in myself."
Taking a deep breath, Erniu closed her eyes and quickly said, "I can foresee the future."
?_?
The stone was instantly bewildered by the wind. What's this called? A prophet?