Chapter 178 - 177: Intelligence Exchange

Chapter 178: Chapter 177: Intelligence Exchange

"Art? My ass! Your Magic has no more Charm than your beard!" Brendan’s coarse voice echoed in the narrow corridor.

"Brendan, you—!" Fletcher, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, bristled instantly. "You can insult my Magic, but you can’t ignore my Charm! Besides, what beard? My face is as smooth as a petal in the morning dew!"

"He means your Magic is just like your beard—useless even when clean-shaven, just gets in the way." A cold voice came from behind Fletcher.

The group followed the sound and saw a black-haired man who had appeared silently in the shadows of the doorway. He leaned against the doorframe, his sharp eyes scanning Hayley’s party, lingering for an extra moment on Hughes.

"We obviously didn’t run into hundreds of Frogmen, but we did find some things out. If you want to know, come in and we’ll talk."

Ignoring the two still fiercely debating the philosophical question of "beards and Charm" in the corridor, Hayley’s party slipped sideways into the room.

"My name is Kane," he said, closing the door and shutting out the noise from outside. "The one out there is our captain, Fletcher. As you can see, he’s not quite right in the head. You can talk to me about the quest."

He paused, his gaze falling on Hayley once more.

"But before that, I’d like to know, what can you offer?"

Hayley was hesitating, wondering how to respond, when a voice suddenly rang in her mind, clear and calm.

’Ms. Hayley, let me talk to him.’

The sudden voice startled Hayley slightly, but she quickly realized whose it was.

Trusting in Hesia’s strength and judgment, she didn’t hesitate in the slightest, simply nodding at him.

Although this "Stone Crow Fanatics" team was a bit different from the image of a "strong team of Professionals" that Hesia had conjured up based on Old Nick’s and Hom’s descriptions, they at least didn’t seem like the type of team you couldn’t reason with.

Of course, they would seem even more normal if the blond man and the Dwarf with the pigtails would stop arguing.

But this black-haired man before him, Kane, was calm and rational—clearly the one who actually made the decisions for the team.

Hesia had already formulated a plan before coming upstairs.

Typically, information exchange between Adventurers is a two-way street. There has to be some give-and-take for it to be fair.

However, his party had not yet gone to explore the swamp area, so they naturally had no valuable information to offer.

But Hesia didn’t point this out to Hayley, their inexperienced captain. The reason was simple: any Adventurer with a brain wouldn’t pass up the chance to get on good terms with a team that had a Healer.

Earlier at the door, Hesia had been observing carefully.

Kane’s scanning gaze had eventually stopped on Mr. Hughes’s Priest Robe.

This precisely confirmed his judgment.

Besides, since the other party had already invited them in, it meant he had intended to share his information from the start.

Asking now was simply a way to gain more benefits for his own team under the principle of a "fair exchange."

From their previous encounter in the Gray Mist Forest, plus some inquiries along the way, Hesia had also learned that using healing spells took a great toll on Mr. Hughes.

If the other party demanded that Mr. Hughes provide unconditional healing whenever they were in danger, the risk to their own team would be too great.

If Hayley and Hughes were soft-hearted for a moment and agreed, they would be in a very passive position; but if they refused, they might part on unfriendly terms.

Hesia met Kane’s gaze. "Mr. Kane, hello. I’m Galen. From the looks of it, the scattered Adventurers will keep chipping away at the quest’s reward. Although the Frogmen travel in groups and aren’t easy to deal with, so the one hundred and fifty Golden Shields won’t be depleted that quickly, the sooner this is resolved, the more reward there is to be had. Especially since both our parties have traveled here from other places."

His tone shifted. "Shiya Town is located quite far north. If you delay here any longer, the roads might be frozen over by the time you head back."

"So, we were thinking, maybe we can cooperate. We’ll share any information we find from our scouting in a timely manner. Or, alternatively, whichever party ultimately completes the quest can give the other a portion of the reward as an information fee."

Hearing this, Hayley’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Although the idea of cooperation was the same as what she had been thinking, the angle of approach and the assertiveness with which Hesia presented it were completely different, allowing her to quickly grasp the pros and cons.

She watched him quietly without a word, but the admiration in her eyes grew a little stronger.

Kane was also taken aback for a moment. He then took a long, deep look at Hesia, as if re-evaluating this young man who, like his own captain, appeared to be a Mage.

"Information sharing is fine," he said after a moment’s thought, then looked at Hughes. "However, I hope that you can provide healing for my teammates when needed."

At the same time, Hesia had already communicated with Hughes, who was beside him, using the Communication Skill.

Mr. Hughes was clearly much more composed. His expression remained unchanged as he replied calmly in Hesia’s mind, ’Healing is not a problem.’

Hesia spoke again, adding a condition to their verbal agreement: "We can. However, Mr. Hughes is getting on in years, and casting healing spells consumes a lot of his Magic Power. So it must be when his Magic Power is ample."

"That’s a given." Kane nodded, no longer beating around the bush, and slowly began to explain.

"We arrived here a week ago. At that time, the merchant guild had already increased the quest reward. The next day, we eliminated some scattered Frogmen near the trade route. But just as you said, this place is full of Adventurers just looking to make a quick buck. We felt this was too inefficient, so we decided to cross the Shallow Lake to the east and take a look on the other side."

"The number of Frogmen over there was indeed higher than near the trade route. But the strange thing is, the Frogman Caves we found... we found three in total, and in each of these three caves, there were more than five adult Frogmen."

A thought struck Hesia, and he immediately asked, "You mean the Frogmen outside have no connection to the Frogmen in these caves? You’re questioning the source of the Frogmen because the ones in those three caves never left?"

A flash of surprise crossed Kane’s eyes. He hadn’t expected this seemingly young Mage to grasp the crux of the problem so quickly.

"You understand Frogman habits?"

Of course, Hesia wasn’t about to tell him that he had just crammed using his Personal Monster Quick Reference Manual, or that he had even patted the book’s spine before entering to make sure he hadn’t missed any key information.

He simply replied with a calm expression, "That’s right. I’ve been interested in the habits of Demons since I was young. Coincidentally, my teacher has an extensive collection of books on demonology."