By the second-floor railing, quite a few Gold Rank adventurers stood in small groups.
They were either leaning against pillars or holding wine glasses, their gazes fixed on the black-haired mage in the center of the first-floor hall.
Some shook their heads, some sneered, and some simply propped their feet up on the tables, waiting for the show to begin.
They had spent years in the transport network.
Who didn't know that the letter delivery commissions in Whitecliff City were monopolized by Hyena's Fang?
That group had nobles backing them; even the City Lord gave them some face.
An outsider High Rank mage, delivering letters for seven coppers?
If that wasn't seeking death, then what was?
Soon, heavy footsteps echoed from outside the guild's doors.
The crowd was roughly shoved aside as several ill-intentioned adventurers squeezed in.
Leading them was a burly bald man.
His face was a mass of bulging muscles, and he wore thick plate armor with a bared-tooth hyena's head carved into the chest.
Four men followed behind him, each broad-shouldered and thick-waisted with weapons hanging at their sides. Their gazes swept through the surroundings like sharp blades.
The commoners in line pulled back in terror. Some were nearly pushed over, yet they did not dare make a sound.
The bald man walked straight up to the black-haired mage and slammed his hand onto the table.
With a loud bang, the paper and pens jumped.
The Gold Rank adventurers on the second floor laughed.
"Here it comes, here it comes."
Someone pulled a few gold coins from their pocket and tossed them onto a table.
"I bet ten seconds before that mage is thrown out."
"Twenty seconds." Another person tossed a few gold coins onto the pile.
"Thirty seconds," a third person followed with a bet, though their tone was a bit uncertain. "After all, he is a mage. What if he runs fast?"
The person beside him sneered.
"Run? A Mid-tier Transcendent versus a High-tier High Rank—tell me, how is he going to run?"
"True."
A small pile of gold coins grew on the table.
Almost everyone bet on a time between ten and twenty seconds; not a single person went over a minute.
The difference in rank was right there, and on top of that, he was just a squishy mage.
If he were a warrior, he might have lasted a few more hits.
The female mage swayed her hips as she walked to the table and pulled ten gold coins from her bosom, placing them down gently.
She glanced toward the bald man causing trouble below.
A faint smile curled at the corners of her mouth.
"I bet he gets beaten to death."
The surrounding Gold Rank adventurers were stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.
Some followed her lead and bet on "death."
The payout was high, and the probability was indeed not small.
The reputation of those Hyena's Fang members in Whitecliff City was anything but good.
Relying on noble support, they had done plenty of dirty work over the years.
The year before last, an adventurer tried to compete with them for a commission and had their legs broken in the middle of the street.
Last year, an outside merchant got into a verbal spat with them and vanished the next day.
The guild had investigated, and the City Lord had investigated, but in the end, it always came to nothing.
So this time, there wouldn't be any surprises either.
The Gold Rank adventurers on the second floor leaned against the railing, waiting for the bloody scene to unfold.
No one intended to go down and warn him.
Some even hoped the commotion would escalate, preferably with a single punch blowing that guy's head apart.
It would add a bit of fun to these boring days.
However...
Their expressions soon froze.
Below, the bald man's expression suddenly changed.
The hand he had slammed onto the table hung suspended in the air, and the flesh on his face twitched.
Fear actually surfaced in eyes that usually looked down on everyone.
He was looking at the black-haired mage.
As if he were looking at something he shouldn't be seeing.
Then, something that no one expected happened.
The bald man pulled back his hand and took a step back with a fawning smile.
"A misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding."
His voice was dry and carried a placating tone.
"Please continue, Lord. You're busy; we won't disturb you any further."
He turned and left immediately, leading his four subordinates out with him.
His pace was so fast it was as if something were chasing him.
The rookie adventurers and elderly people below looked at each other, completely unaware of what had happened.
But since the other party had left, they quickly rejoined the queue.
Soon, the crowd surged forward again.
"Me! Me! Me!"
"Next!"
"Mage Boss, let me go first!"
Shouts rose one after another, and everything returned to the status quo.
But the exclusive Gold Rank floor on the second level was deathly silent.
Everyone stared blankly below at the black-haired mage, who was still looking down while performing registrations.
For a long time, no one spoke.
As veterans of the Adventurer's Guild...
They knew the reputation and methods of Hyena's Fang all too well.
Especially their leader, Cohen Bone-Crusher.
He was a ruthless character who had influence in both the legal and criminal worlds.
This was why they were so bewildered and silenced by what had just occurred.
The gold coins on the gambling table were ignored.
They all stared solemnly at the mage who was registering letters.
The tall warrior took the cigarette from his mouth and extinguished it against the railing.
He stared at the black-haired mage and muttered:
"Just what is this guy's background?"
He thought the Hyena's Fang members had recognized the other party's identity and were wary of the power behind him, thus not daring to strike.
But the black-haired mage's attire really didn't look like that of a person of high status.
A dusty mage robe and an ordinary oak staff—he looked perfectly natural standing among the rookie adventurers.
He wanted to ask the female mage beside him; as a fellow mage, she might have seen something.
But when he turned his head...
She was gone.
He blinked and scanned the area.
A colleague nearby gestured toward the ground floor with their chin.
Following that direction, he saw that the female mage had already walked downstairs at some point.
She was pushing through the crowd, heading toward the center of the hall.
Her eyes held an excitement he had never seen before.
...
The female mage pushed aside the rookie adventurers blocking her path, her steps growing faster and faster.
Others might not have noticed.
But she had seen it.
The Hyena's Fang members didn't know this black-haired mage at all.
They hadn't recognized his identity, nor were they wary of his background.
What made them terrified, wary, and scuttle away in disgrace was something else.
Right as Cohen slammed the table, the pen in front of the black-haired mage...
Floated up.
It wasn't picked up by a hand, it wasn't lifted by another object, and it wasn't bounced up by the vibration of the table.
It simply hovered in mid-air by itself, right in front of the bald man's eyes.
For a High Rank mage to make a pen float wasn't anything impressive in itself.
But the female mage knew that the Hyena's Fang members weren't afraid of the pen.
They were afraid of the thing that made the pen float.
Wind-element Novice Magic—Levitation.
Among those who lived in the transport network, no one was ignorant of what Levitation meant.
A mage capable of Levitation, even if they were just a High Rank, was someone every major transport team would fight to recruit.
No matter how arrogant Hyena's Fang was, they didn't dare challenge a transport team.
Never mind them—even the nobles behind them and the City Lord would have to tuck their tails and behave in front of a transport team.
The female mage's eyes were startlingly bright.
She stared at the black-haired mage who was still registering letters, as if she were looking at a glowing piece of gold.
A walking absolute gem.
Rate on N.U.
