Chapter 3: The Mysterious Girl

  "As an apology, next time we meet, you can ride for as long as you want." Tavent lovingly patted Baster's head.

  "You seem to be her master, this cute little cat, don't bully her." The tall centaur said to Raymond with a mix of seriousness and envy.

  "Meow? Young master, did you hear that? They said I'm cute." Bastet immediately became lovely beyond measure.

  Is it cute? Raymond smiled wryly and shook his head. You still don't understand the nature of this silly cat.

  Unlike their rough appearance, this group of centaurs has a straightforward and generous personality, which makes people feel quite good. Adding to the fact that they are also beastmen, it reminds Ramon of his fellow beastmen in the northern wilderness.

  Elder Robard and mom, when can I see you again...

  "Now we should also leave, take care everyone."

  "Whatever the case, thank you again for your selfless help. Remember, if there's anything our Lovell Chamber of Commerce can repay you with in the future, don't hesitate to ask," Javier said to him.

  "Alright, I remember." Taven nodded in response, no longer as cold as he was just a moment before.

  Thanks to Bastet's relationship, the originally unfamiliar parties quickly drew closer together. It seems that although she often causes trouble, sometimes she can play an unexpectedly useful role.

  He took two steps and turned back: "Bailen is the guardian of that 'Mad King' Renard, although I don't know how you got involved with them, but be careful from now on. The current Orlate City has no order to speak of."

  Indeed, could the "master" in Belhren's mouth be none other than Reynard, the infamous mad prince of the Kingdom of Dirck? Raymond and Javier were shocked.

  After the centaurs left, Raymond turned to Lona who had been quietly standing by without saying a word and asked: "So, can you tell us now why you attacked Reynard's men?"

  "...But little did I know, after a moment of silence, Lona said: "Sorry, I have to go.""

  "What?" Bastard said: "Want to run after finishing?"

  "I know I owe you all a great deal." Lona bowed deeply: "Here, I offer my most sincere apologies."

  "Hey." Raymond couldn't help but say, "You've gotten us into such big trouble, this isn't something that can be solved with just an apology, you should know very well that those were Prince Dirk's men, right?"

  Lona nodded softly: "Yes, I'm very sorry..."

  "I knew apologizing would be useless, Young Master. I'll definitely teach this ignorant and arrogant little brat a lesson." Bastet huffed and rolled up her sleeves, heading towards the mountain.

  "Ow ow ow..."

  But it was Raymond who pulled the cat girl's ear and dragged her back: "Less of that, you're not qualified to talk about others?"

  "Young master, you promised Tavent that you wouldn't mistreat me." Bastet looked at him with pitiful eyes.

  Raymond's hand twisted again.

  "Oh no, I was wrong."

  "Shut up, Bastard," Raymond said. "At least you should tell us who you are or who sent you."

  Lona shook her head: "Sorry, I can't answer your question."

  As she spoke, she slowly took a deep breath, reached out and grasped the hilt of her sword: "I'm really sorry about what happened today, but I have to go. If you insist on stopping me..."

  Her meaning was clear: if Raymond insisted on asking questions, she would not hesitate to make enemies of everyone.

  "Bastard, you...!" Bastard's face turned red with rage again: "Now I can teach her a lesson, right?"

  "Never mind, Bastier, let her go."

  "Huh, why?"

  "No need for why," said Raymond. "If others don't want to say it, then don't force her."

  He followed him and said to Lona, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of being your enemy. It's just that we've received help from those centaurs for free, so let's consider what happened earlier as us helping you for free this time. Since you really don't want to say anything, then please go ahead."

  Lona's eyes showed gratitude, and she gave everyone a standard knightly salute: "I will never forget your kindness, and if I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely repay it."

  Having said that, Lona turned around and left directly.

  Looking at Lona's frail back, Raymond couldn't help but say: "This city really does have quite a few unusual girls."

  But he remembered the strange girl with a round bucket who was waiting outside Minister of Internal Affairs Brousse's mansion earlier.

  "Even if there's no one around, someone else's family is still considered."

  "No, you're just a weird cat."

  "Ugh... how could this be."

  "What did you say?" Javier asked strangely.

  "Ah, no, nothing." Raymond shook his head: "Just thought of someone else."

  "Mr. Javier," he said, "I took the liberty of letting that girl go. I hope you don't mind."

  Javier chuckled: "No way, if it weren't for Lord Raymond's protection this time, I might have died inexplicably in Orlate City. She dared to single-handedly oppose Prince Dilke, her background must not be simple, we really don't need to push too hard."

  "If that guy is really Prince Dirk, then we've gotten ourselves into quite a bit of trouble this time." Raymond said unintentionally.

  The most annoying thing is that this trouble was inexplicably brought upon me, and on the second day of arriving in Orlando, I encountered so many things, this trip will probably not be smooth sailing.

  "Yes." Javier also sighed: "However, strictly speaking, we are only accidentally involved and have nothing to do with their affairs. As long as we are careful, I believe that even a prince would not pay attention to us insignificant people all the time."

  As he spoke, his tone changed and he stroked his chin with a sly smile: "Besides, compared to the losses we suffered, this time's gains are not small either. We've established ties with the Gordan Grassland Alliance, and if we can sell their warhorses, fine wines, and rare minerals, it'll be a huge profit!"

  "So, so this business is profitable or loss, really can't say for sure. This adventure to Orlat City, indeed very worthwhile"

  Sometimes, Raymond really can't understand these businessmen. One moment they're about to lose their lives, the next moment they start calculating the benefits they can get, and they want money more than life itself. It can only be concluded that it's just their nature.

  He could only say: "It's not safe here, let's hurry back to the inn, and the soldier's injury needs to be treated as soon as possible."

  This time, Javier escaped by a hair's breadth, but most of the 10 soldiers he brought were injured, fortunately no one was killed.

  Javier suddenly clapped his hands: "Right, I almost forgot that there's an important banquet tonight, I have to hurry back and prepare for you."

  "Heavens, spare me!"

  "What? Prince Dirk? The centaur of the Gordun Plains Alliance? The mysterious girl?"

  When everyone returned to the inn and heard about their encounter that morning, Freddy exclaimed in shock.

  "Damn it, such important intelligence, I wasn't there on the spot." He said with a pained expression.

  "What the heck, are you looking for death there?" Harlot said with a face of incomprehension: "I'm the one who should be lucky, luckily I didn't follow him."

  Freddie looked at him with disdain: "How could you possibly understand, it's a great opportunity to gather intelligence. Just confirming that the Kingdom of Dirks and the Gordan Plains have deep-seated hatred is extremely valuable. Not to mention the girl's background, why did she attack Reynard's subordinates... damn, I really want to know."

  Soon, this intelligence madman entered working status.

  "We asked her, but she wouldn't say. The young master also doesn't allow anyone to force her to speak." said Bast with a somewhat depressed tone.

  "What?" Freddie stared at Raymond incredulously: "You actually let her go that easily?"

  "Uh..." Raymond glared at the talkative cat girl, while Bastet made a ghostly face.

  Raimon explained: "Lona's background is indeed not simple, but we have just fallen out with the Dirk people. I think it's not suitable to make another enemy, so let's do a personal favor and let her go."

  "Freddie said angrily: "What kind of talk is this? If she won't speak, you should arrest her, intimidate and bribe her, torture her if necessary, just to make her reveal the truth. If you can't do it yourself, just bring her here, I have ways to make her talk."

  "But you let such a good opportunity slip away! Perhaps we could have obtained extremely valuable inside information!" He almost shouted at Raymond.

  Although Raymond is the boss, Freddie, who has entered a paranoid state of intelligence, is very powerful at this time, and it's not an exaggeration to say that he doesn't recognize his relatives.

  Faced with Freddy's "below the top" move, Raymond was not annoyed. It was precisely because of this persistence that he could build a preliminary intelligence system for himself in a short period of time.

  At this time, Javier smiled and said: "Mr. Freddy, please don't be angry, if you want intelligence, there will be a better opportunity tonight."

  "What?"

  Javier pulled out the invitation he had obtained at great expense: "Tonight, there will be a dinner party for representatives of various countries at the residence of Prime Minister Gasparde, Duke Charles. We can have three people attend. So, I plan to invite you and Lord Raymond to go together."

  "Really?" Freddy exclaimed in surprise: "Great, why didn't you say that earlier."

  He muttered to himself: "Great, what a rare opportunity, tonight I will definitely remember everything I see..."

  At this time, the elf Xierneis shouted: "Hey, hey, wrong, why isn't there me?"

  Javier hesitated: "This... because there are only three places..."

  Hirune dissatisfied: "I'm an elf, how can I look at this gloomy guy and think he's more suitable?"

  "Freddie said coldly: "Do you know the etiquette of a banquet?"

  "Spirit's Fury: 'What? Are you mocking me for being raised by mercenaries or what?'"

  "Sorry, with a mouth like that, it's not for you."

  Hillnis: "I @#^——" followed by a string of obscene language.

  It was the first time Javier had seen this side of the elf's city life, and he was shocked with his eyes wide open.

  The dazed cat girl also joined in unwillingly: "Young master, why can't it be me? I don't talk dirty."

  "Shut up, don't make trouble for me!"

  A cat girl who can never get the situation straight, a boorish and unrefined spirit, a Hallo who is afraid of death, a Freddie with a poisonous tongue... my subordinates are indeed a group of people with distinct personalities.

  Just as things were getting out of hand, a commotion was heard outside the door: "Mr. Akerman, you can't come in here, please leave..."

  The words had barely fallen when the door was opened and a man strode into the room, followed by several anxious-looking inn servants. It was that scoundrel Akman.

  "Mr. Javier, we... he insisted..." The waiter said with a apologetic face, pointing at Akman.

  "Hehe, never mind, let him in." Javier waved his hand at them.

  The waiter had no choice but to retreat. Freddy, who was being scolded by Hillnis and was furious, coldly said: "What are you doing here again? We don't have any more money for you to make."

  "Hmm, that's not necessarily true." Akman still had the same old calm and collected demeanor as he pulled up a chair to sit down: "I heard you guys had a run-in with Dirk's people, huh?"

  "What?" Unexpectedly, this person's news was so well-informed that everyone who heard it was shocked. To think that it had only been an hour ago, and there were very few eyewitnesses.

  How did he know?

  "How did you know?" Freddie asked.

  Being well-informed also means having an extremely high ability to gather intelligence, which is absolutely a rare talent. At this time, Freddy looked at Akerman again, and his eyes could be described as shining brightly.

  Without realizing that he had been targeted by a terrible guy, Akman said with a smile: "I have some friends in the city defense team, and someone happened to encounter your battle with Dirks, so it reached my ears."

  He said with a puzzled face: "Aren't you here to make money? How did you offend the people of the Dir Kingdom?"

  Javier smiled wryly and said, "It's hard to say, anyway it was just a misunderstanding."

  Akerman nodded: "No wonder, I said why someone would be stupid enough to provoke 'Crazy Prince' Reinhard."

  People always mention this "Crazy Prince", Raymond couldn't help but ask: "Why is he called that?"

  "How could you not even know this?" Akman said in surprise.

  "He explained, 'That's because that guy acts extremely wildly and does whatever he wants without considering the consequences. However, if it were just that, it wouldn't be a big deal, it would just mean there's another crazy person in the royal family. But what's truly terrifying is that Rainard is very clever, he just tends to use some evil or unconventional methods to solve his own problems, which leads him to do many frightening things. People are afraid of him and that's how the name 'Crazy Prince' came about.'"