New Covenant City, Adventurers' Guild.
The clamor was like a heatwave, rolling between the thick wooden beams and pillars, thick with the sourness of ale and the acrid tang of tobacco.
Yet, the moment a certain figure pushed open the heavy oak doors, the wall of sound at the entrance suddenly died down.
He was wrapped in a dark gray mage robe that was washed out and heavily frayed at the elbows.
His oversized hood was pulled low, revealing only a few stray strands of black hair.
In his hand, he held a seemingly simple oak staff, its shaft polished to a warm, smooth sheen by years of use and the friction of his palm.
He walked silently across the hall.
Wherever he passed, the adventurers froze mid-drink, their conversations dissolving into hushed whispers.
He walked straight to the counter and, without a word, lifted a heavy burlap sack onto the surface.
The coarse fabric was stained a deep, near-black purple, emitting a faint, metallic stench of blood.
The opening of the sack was pulled back, exposing a hideous head to the dim, yellow light.
Its dark red skin was covered in coarse, calloused scales, and its hollow eye sockets still seemed to radiate a lingering ferocity.
The pair of massive, curved, scythe-like horns on its forehead made the air in the room instantly freeze.
“It's a High Scythe-Horned Demon,” a raspy voice from the corner struggled to break the silence.
“A B-rank commission. Ninety-five gold coins.”
“To take down a demon that usually requires an entire Silver-rank party... all by himself...”
Someone whispered in awe, their tone filled with utter disbelief.
“A self-taught wandering mage. A pity he doesn't know how to play the social game.”
An old adventurer in a cloak shook his head and commented.
“Hmph. He doesn't even have a Mage Tower certification. What's he so proud of?”
A young warrior in ornate armor curled his lip in disdain, though he kept his voice very low.
The gossip was intentionally loud, mingling with the smell of alcohol, carrying clear notes of jealousy and exclusion.
Yet, no one dared to actually step forward and provoke him.
The receptionist timidly pushed forward a coin purse, the gold coins clinking crisply inside.
“Your bounty, Mage Lin Gui.”
Her fingers trembled slightly, her head lowered, not daring to look him in the eye.
Lin Gui accepted it indifferently, tucking it into his robes without a second glance, completely ignoring the noise behind him.
He turned toward the bulletin board plastered with commissions, the hem of his robe sweeping in a cold, clean arc.
The path of magic—where every inch of progress had to be paved with gold. This was the most profound realization he had gained over the past ten years.
The tasks on the board were a bizarre mix.
Clearing out a rat's nest (1 gold), finding a lost cat (10 gold), tutoring a noble's child (30 gold), serving as a wall instructor (5 gold), subjugating demons (starting from 15 gold), escorting a noble to Caran City (3,000 gold)...
...They were almost entirely bounties posted by the wealthy and powerful, with barely any commissions from commoners.
The world had always been this way; money, power, and strength ruled supreme.
His gaze swept casually across the corner, suddenly freezing on a yellowed, curling piece of parchment.
It was pinned in the least noticeable spot, its edges already frayed.
【Carrier Pigeon】
No.: G-1024
Type: Transport
Rank: A-rank (Extremely Dangerous)
Content: Deliver 54 letters to Caran City.
Reward: 15 gold, 45 silver, 59 copper
Requirements: None
Note: We beg of you, esteemed adventurers, to help us. The senders of these letters are those who were separated during the Great Escape. We only hope our loved ones far away know we are alive, and not to worry.
Just then, a little boy in tattered clothes slipped in, dodging the rough gazes around him like a startled sparrow.
He stood on his tiptoes, painstakingly placing three worn copper coins, their patterns almost completely rubbed away, onto the edge of the counter.
Then, as if he had been burned, he yanked his hand back and quickly ran out.
The receptionist sighed softly, a trace of pity flashing in her eyes.
She practicedly pulled out the commission sheet and used a quill to modify the numbers.
The old paper on the bulletin board was replaced, its content unchanged.
Only the numbers in the reward column had shifted slightly: 15 gold, 45 silver, 62 copper.
“Has this commission... been up for a long time?”
Lin Gui's voice rang out abruptly, low and clear.
The receptionist gasped in surprise, nearly knocking over the inkwell in her hand.
The famously cold and aloof mage was taking the initiative to speak? This was scarcer than a demon horde sacking a city.
“Y-yes, Mage Lin Gui. It's been nearly five years.”
She stammered her reply.
“It started from fifteen coppers. Those people saved up a few copper coins every day, slowly adding to it until now...”
“The reward is decent for them, but this is an A-rank cross-city mission. Fifteen gold coins is far too little.”
Indeed, the other two A-rank transport commissions on the board offered bounties as high as thousands of gold coins.
Yet this Carrier Pigeon only offered fifteen gold coins...
Nowadays, the wilderness was teeming with monsters and demons.
On the southwestern frontier, the absolute minimum requirement to traverse the wilderness was to be a Transcendent.
Yet in New Covenant Town, the strongest individual was only at the Mid-tier High Rank.
To this day, no one had the strength to walk out of New Covenant Town... except Lin Gui.
His individual strength couldn't be considered exceptionally high—only Low-tier High Rank—but he was extremely adept at concealment magic.
Relying on concealment magic specifically developed for hiding, he had actually crossed numerous dangerous lands to reach the Magic City.
However, he had nearly lost his life on the return journey. Covered in wounds, it had taken him a full half-year of recovery before he could even stand.
His fingertips brushed across the rough paper, his gaze burning into that line in the note.
The handwriting was crooked and uneven, clearly written by different hands.
The receptionist did not know that Lin Gui had been keeping an eye on this commission all along, and he even remembered the faces of most of the clients.
Those commoners who would rush over every time they saved a few copper coins, their eyes filled with a humble, desperate hope.
“Sending word of safety...” His eyes dimmed.
Blazing, burning flames; heads hung high on city walls; the prominent, sharp noses of nobles...
At least they still had a chance to tell their families they were safe. But they would never have that chance again.
And... himself.
Clutching the parchment of the commission, Lin Gui fell into a conflict, his knuckles turning slightly white from his grip.
In the past, his strength had been insufficient; leaving the town was suicide.
Now that he had returned from the Magic City, his strength had broken through, and his mastery of concealment magic was even more profound.
Furthermore, the distance from New Covenant to Caran City wasn't far. He only needed to pass through the Black Demon Forest and the Augu Canyon to get there.
To reach the Magic City, he had traversed the Rotten Moss Swamp, the Crying Blood Hills, and the Skull-Crusher Pass.
Lethal miasma, lurking horrors, blood-soaked soil, and grounds littered with crushed bones and skulls...
Compared to those three forbidden zones, the Black Demon Forest and the Augu Canyon were nothing.
He wouldn't even need to seek out a “golden route” to bypass the territories of the most dangerous, powerful demons.
But if he accepted it, it meant working for practically nothing.
Fifteen gold coins was a fortune to commoners, but none of the gear, potions, and supplies needed to cross the wilderness were cheap.
No matter how he calculated it, this deal was a loss.
Having lived in this world for over ten years, he was no longer the soft-hearted do-gooder who couldn't bear to see tragedy happen around him.
Struggling to survive in the slums had taught him his first lesson: kindness is a poison that only harms oneself.
Good deeds backed by no power would ultimately drag oneself into the mire.
...He had seen too many instances where good intentions met with bad ends, and had even experienced it firsthand a few times.
Yet this time, he couldn't just turn away.
That line—“We only hope our loved ones far away know we are alive”—was like a thorn, piercing the softest part of his heart.
One grows tired of nagging while striving forward, only realizing its value after losing it.
He still remembered the impatience in his voice during his last phone call with his mother before transmigrating.
He didn't even have the chance to say “I'm doing well” anymore.
And... it could also be considered a small atonement for the sins he had committed against them.
Besides, it was just delivering letters. It wouldn't harm him, and it would only take three days to reach Caran City. It was just along the way.
Under the astonished gazes of the receptionist and the numerous adventurers, Lin Gui reached out and firmly tore down the commission that had hung there for ten years.
The paper let out a soft rip, as if some sort of shackle had been broken.
“This commission.”
His voice wasn't loud, but it was resolute, echoing clearly through the suddenly silenced hall.
“I'll take it.”
The moment the words left his mouth, a warm and ancient voice rang out in the depths of his mind:
【Though thousands of mountains age, a promise is worth ten thousand gold.】
【May the bonds across ten thousand miles never fade; may a single letter of peace carry our deepest thoughts.】
【Messenger System at your service. Let us light up all the isolated city-states together.】
At that moment, Lin Gui felt a frozen corner of his heart quietly crack open.
A long-lost warmth flowed out, making him feel almost unaccustomed to it.
Rate on N.U.
