Chapter 52: Invitation

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Invitation

"What are you grinning at like an idiot? Did you hit your head?" Pip’s large head suddenly popped up from the side.

"No," Lorin replied in exasperation. "Just thinking about something."

"About what?"

"I want to go to Frost Valley City."

Pip froze for a moment before sitting down cross-legged next to him. "Why the sudden urge to go there?" he asked curiously.

Lorin broke into a grin. Pulling a cloth out of nowhere, he began polishing the Longsword in his hand.

"To register. As an Official Warrior."

The shorty’s eyes immediately widened, and he nearly dropped the hammer in his hand. "Seriously?!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "Your Continuous Slash has already reached the Skilled level? It’s only been a few days!"

"Yeah, I had a breakthrough during the battle just now," Lorin nodded.

"That’s nice... Pip still hasn’t learned Frenzy yet." The shorty curled his lips in dismay.

"There should be other Barbarians in Frost Valley City. You can try starting with different Combat Skills then. Anyway, the evaluation doesn’t mandate that you have to learn Frenzy," Lorin suggested.

"You can do that?!"

"Have you really never thought about trying a different Combat Skill before?!" Lorin asked in surprise.

"Pip didn’t have money before..."

"..."

Right, the two of them were in the exact same boat.

Having overheard their conversation, Anya walked over from the side. "You’re going to Frost Valley City to register as an Official Professional?" she asked.

"Yeah," Lorin nodded.

"Congratulations. With your strength, you should have been one long ago."

She smiled faintly, then reached out and gently touched the wound on his forehead.

A warm, radiant light shone forth. The cut on Lorin’s forehead healed at a visible rate, and even the aches across his body eased significantly.

"Thank you."

"No, I should be the one thanking you."

Anya bowed to him solemnly. Looking into his eyes, she said earnestly, "Erin is my best friend. We grew up together. She... isn’t very good at saying nice things, but she truly doesn’t mean any harm."

"I know."

Ever since he saw her braving the freezing wind by the river to draw the Array, Lorin found it hard to stay mad at her. He had always been someone who cared about what people did, not what they said.

Anya nodded. Taking a silver-white metal badge from her belt, she handed it to Lorin.

"This is my personal token," she said. "In the future, if you run into any trouble, take this badge to any Divine Hall of the Dawn Lord, and they will do their utmost to help you."

"This..."

Lorin accepted the badge. He still wasn’t used to being thanked so seriously, especially coming from a Priest who could have any Divine Hall of the Dawn Lord help her.

"This is too valuable."

He genuinely didn’t feel he deserved such gratitude. After all, doing whatever he could to help his comrades in battle was just an ordinary thing for him.

"You saved my best friend’s life."

Anya looked at Lorin, her gentle eyes concealing an emotion she rarely showed in front of others. Even now, she still felt a deep, lingering sense of dread.

"If anything had happened to her, I wouldn’t know how to explain it to her father, nor would I know how to live with myself. So... thank you."

She bowed deeply to Lorin once again.

"You’re welcome."

Knowing it would be inappropriate to decline any further, Lorin finally accepted the badge.

"Uh... if you two are done talking, could you heal me a bit?" Rain limped over.

The Plate Armor on his left arm was dented, and his body was battered with nicks and gouges all over. Blood flowed from his head all the way down to his chin, making him look exceptionally miserable.

"Oh, oh! Sorry, sorry!"

Anya smiled apologetically and cast a Healing Skill on him as well.

"HISS... I’m alive again."

Rain wearily took off his Helmet. He reached out with his right hand, gently patted Lorin’s shoulder, and gave him a nod. "Thanks."

Before Lorin could even react, he immediately turned and walked away.

"Well..." Lorin was momentarily stunned.

"Rain doesn’t really like to talk. This is the first time I’ve ever seen him speak up voluntarily."

Anya gave him a peculiar look.

"Is he really a Warrior with social anxiety?" he mused.

Lorin twitched his lips. If he and Pip were included, the composition of this party could only be described as incredibly bizarre.

"Oh, right, there’s one more thing."

"Hmm?"

"We are also planning to head to Frost Valley City next. If possible, I’d like to hire you two for a while. What do you say?" Anya asked.

"Hire? What exactly does the job entail?" Lorin asked in confusion.

Anya glanced back at Erin and Rain before sitting down beside the two of them.

Leaning her head slightly, she whispered, "Actually, our trip north this time isn’t just to hunt the Rock-dwelling Salamander."

Lorin nodded. He had heard Nathan mention this before; the party was originally just passing through Shallow Beach Town.

"The Dawn Lord has many Divine Halls in the Northern Territory, but the one in Frost Valley City is among the more important ones. Every year before spring arrives, the major Divine Halls have to prepare for the Spring Festival, which includes blessings, almsgiving, and the routine sacrificial ceremonies.

"In previous years, the Frost Valley City’s Divine Hall handled everything on its own, but this year, Duke Kaspar specifically entrusted me to come over and take a look."

"Take a look?" Lorin asked with a frown.

"Why would a Duke care so much about a Divine Hall’s spring ceremony?" he wondered.

"They say it’s to assist with the preparations, but actually..."

Anya read between the lines of his question. She hesitated for a moment, weighing her words.

"Actually, he wants me to casually check on the situation in the border towns while I’m at it. After all, the Duke’s territory is in the south, separated from the border by the Gray Stone Ridge. With the waterway recently cut off by this Rock-dwelling Salamander, correspondence has been inconvenient."

"So preparing for the Spring Festival is just a front. The real goal is to inspect the border. Public security, civilian morale, and the local Lords’ loyalty are most likely all included in ’taking a look’..." Lorin understood what she meant.

He subsequently frowned and asked, "This sort of thing... isn’t exactly something you outsiders can easily do, right?"

He wondered how they could possibly hide this from Viscount Herman when even Nathan, the mayor of Shallow Beach Town, knew about it. Or perhaps Nathan was one of their people to begin with. Recalling how the trio had treated Nathan, Lorin formed a few guesses in his mind.

"That’s why we can’t make a big fuss about it," Anya smiled faintly. "On the surface, we are a Priest and her escorts here to prepare for the festival. Only in secret will we keep an eye out for the things that need monitoring.

"Under these circumstances, having someone who is familiar with the local area will save us a lot of time. I heard Nathan mention earlier that you came from Frost Valley City, right?"

"Yes."

Lorin had lived in the slums of Frost Valley City for nearly half a year. Carrying cargo during the day and scaling walls at night, he could indeed say he was extremely familiar with the area.

"We need a guide and an assistant."

Anya patted her waist, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t brought any money with her. She smiled awkwardly. Then, seeing the Red-haired Mage walking over while rubbing her arm, her eyes lit up.

"How about this? I’ll have Erin teach you casting. What do you think?"