It was just that Theia was likely to be disappointed.
Although Lin Gui was quite dissatisfied with the other party’s behavior of firing an arrow head-on earlier, he didn't want to dwell on it too much.
His only thought at the moment was to send the man away as quickly as possible.
With that in mind, Lin Gui quickly brought out all the remaining potions.
Cass did not stand on ceremony and took nearly half of the quantity.
Following that, he placed a heavy bag of gold coins on the table, which landed with a dull "thud."
Without a word, he gestured for Rosa and Maren to follow.
The three of them walked past Lin Gui and his group, bringing a gust of slightly chilled wind with them.
Just as they were passing by and about to step out the door—
Cass’s footsteps paused almost imperceptibly.
He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Eve’s face without a trace of obviousness.
That look was incredibly fast, yet it carried a sharp, scrutinizing intensity.
Eve looked up slightly, returning the gaze with an extremely faint smile.
The corners of her lips curved at an exact, measured angle.
However, there was not a hint of warmth in that smile; instead, it felt as if it were covered in a thin layer of ice.
It was calm, yet it made one’s heart turn cold.
Cass retracted his gaze and stayed no longer.
The wooden door opened and closed, and the silhouettes of the three people vanished completely into the gloom of the street outside.
Watching them leave, Roger, the proprietor of the Oak Barrel Inn who had been cowering behind the counter the whole time, finally let out a long breath.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and trotted over, his face plastered with a bitter smile full of apology:
“I’m sorry, so sorry to you all...”
“When that Master Demon Hunter arrived, he only asked if you were staying here.”
“I—I thought he was a friend of yours...”
He rubbed his hands together, his voice kept very low:
“Who knew he’d start trouble as soon as he arrived...”
Lin Gui could clearly see that Roger’s fingers were still trembling as he spoke.
That wasn’t ordinary nervousness; it was a kind of fear that had reached deep into his marrow.
He turned to the proprietor and asked directly,
“Do you know him?”
Roger’s face turned pale, and he reflexively glanced toward the door before lowering his voice even further, speaking almost in a whisper:
“I... I know him.”
“Master Cass... has been in the Bounty City for eight years.”
“There isn’t a person in the Bounty City who doesn’t know him.”
Roger’s voice dropped lower still, as if he were afraid of being overheard by something:
“He is one of the two remaining Legendaries in the city.”
“The other is Master Blackbeard, sent here from the Dwarven Royal City.”
Lin Gui looked thoughtful and continued to ask:
“Is he also here for the dwarven bounty?”
The proprietor shook his head hastily.
“No, unlike the other hunters.”
“He isn’t here for a bounty.”
He licked his dry lips and leaned in a bit closer:
“Actually, the reason this master came here is known to all the long-term residents in the city.”
“He came here to hunt down a...”
Roger paused, his voice barely audible:
“A white-haired, red-eyed... Demon King.”
Upon hearing the words "white-haired, red-eyed Demon King,"
Lin Gui and Theia were stunned at the same time.
The air seemed to freeze for an instant.
White hair... red eyes...
Elvia’s voice suddenly rang out in their minds—
It was what she had said back at the Royal Capital when mentioning the truth behind Knight Roger’s defection:
“Roger was saved by a white-haired, blood-eyed Demon King and went to Avalon.”
To their surprise, a piece of information they had once thought irrelevant had resurfaced at this moment.
Inside the room, the wooden door had been carefully locked.
Theia was the first to speak, her voice carrying an irrepressible tremor:
“That demon Cass is hunting... is the Demon King who saved Roger?”
Lin Gui nodded.
“That should be correct; the timing matches up.”
“The Demon King saved Roger and headed for Avalon.”
“Afterward, Cass chased him here and has stayed in the Bounty City for eight years.”
He paused, his tone becoming somber:
“This means...”
Eve finished the sentence softly:
“It means the Demon King has always been inside the wall.”
“And that Demon Hunter has a way of tracking his position.”
Lin Gui nodded again.
He took out the map and placed his fingertip on the mark for Avalon.
It was approximately two hundred kilometers from the Bounty City.
A tracking technique capable of precise positioning over such a distance...
The only thing Lin Gui could think of was advanced soul tracking.
However, Cass did not emit any strong magical fluctuations and did not seem like someone proficient in such arts.
Perhaps it was some secret technique unique to Demon Hunters.
Theia’s eyes lit up slightly, filled with excitement:
“Then can we cooperate with him?”
“If we follow him to track the Demon King, maybe we can find Avalon!”
Lin Gui shook his head, however.
“There’s no need.”
“The location of Avalon has already been determined by us.”
He looked at Theia, his tone calm yet serious:
“Moreover, Theia, don’t forget your current identity.”
“It’s only been a few months since you were promoted from a half-demon to a true member of the Demon Race.”
“And while the other party is a Traditionalist Demon Hunter, they are still famous for hunting the Demon Race.”
Hearing this, Theia’s shoulders slumped slightly as she complained wordlessly,
“Promoted? Only you would be happy about obtaining demon energy to be promoted to the Demon Race, Lin Gui.”
“As for me, I’d rather not have this 'promotion' at all...”
“When I was a half-demon, I was loathed by everyone at most.”
“Now... I’m afraid as soon as my demon energy is revealed, the campaign commissions to hunt me down will fill the guild’s announcement boards.”
Upon hearing this, the corners of Eve’s mouth curved into a light smile as she added softly,
“The bounty starts at a hundred thousand gold coins.”
Theia’s eyes lit up instantly.
She blinked and looked at Eve, her tone filled with surprise and eagerness:
“Is it really that high?”
Lin Gui shook his head as he listened from the side, saying speechlessly,
“Don't tell me... you actually want to claim your own bounty?”
Theia nodded vigorously, a cunning smile appearing on her face.
“Lin Gui, you can catch me to exchange for the money!”
The more she spoke, the more excited she became, her eyes sparkling:
“Once the bounty is in hand, you can just quietly sneak into the prison and take me away.”
“One cycle and a hundred thousand gold coins are in hand. It's a massive profit!”
“Then the funds for the guides at the selection meeting in a few days will be sorted!”
The funds for hiring a guide had indeed become a problem.
Lin Gui’s money had already bottomed out back in the Carter Royal Capital.
The gold coins he had obtained by trading supplies in Shield City had also been exhausted while building the flying vessel.
To build a top-tier flying vessel, he had chosen the best for all the materials.
This had caused the cost to skyrocket throughout the process,
reaching the point where the value of a single demi-artifact was starting to look insufficient.
Lin Gui was unwilling to owe favors because of this and had covered quite a bit of the price difference himself.
The result was that when he left Shield City, his newly filled wallet was completely empty.
When buying potions, he had even ended up owing Theia ten thousand gold coins.
Sitting by the table, Lin Gui rubbed the space between his brows and asked,
“Theia, how much money do you have left now?”
Hearing this, Theia’s eyes shifted.
She walked to a corner of the room, moved an inconspicuous wooden chest, and placed the box on the table before opening it.
Inside, it was packed full of glittering gold coins.
There were gold coins, silver coins, and even some copper coins.
Some were standard kingdom gold coins with edges worn shiny from use;
some had varying shapes and traces of seawater corrosion, clearly coming from undersea treasures;
and there was a small pile that was the commission rewards Lin Gui had shared with her earlier.
Theia poked at them with her finger, her eyes curving into crescents:
“What I’ve saved over the years is all here.”
“Plus the shares you gave me before, and what I salvaged from the sea...”
She tilted her head and did a quick calculation, her tone tinged with a small amount of pride:
“Approximately... a bit over twenty thousand gold coins?”
Rate on N.U.
