CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER 14: SCENIC VIEWS AND HIDDEN WORRIES_2

"They only had two people, it was shocking," Mr. Mani spread his hands helplessly, "You might wonder why we require a mercenary group to have five members to register, but they only have two. In fact, they do have five members, it’s just that Mr. Duru’s remaining three members are his middle finger, ring finger, and pinky."

The mercenaries below laughed again.

"Yes, that’s right. Mr. Duru charmed our staff into helping him cheat. However, we do not plan to punish them. Because they proved to us that a two-person mercenary group can be just as impressive. We have decided to abolish the regulation requiring five people to form a mercenary group and change it to two. After all, the adventurer guild exists not to constrain mercenaries, but to serve them. Perhaps someday, we might even change the standard to one person if someone can handle all tasks and advance to Level Six by themselves. You need to work harder."

The mercenaries laughed even louder.

"Mr. Mani is a humorous old man," Andrew whispered to Christina.

"He’s always been kind to me. He specially approved for me, Little Andy, Little Lynn, Little Jeff, and Little Henry to form a mercenary group. The reason was that the Linlopes adventurer guild does not discriminate against races, including rats. Of course, you are the best to me," Christina looked at Andrew with a dreamy smile.

Andrew gently raised his brows and turned away.

"Now, please welcome the leader of the Blood Elf and Dragon Mercenary Group, Miss Christina, to the stage to receive her Level Six Mercenary Group medal."

The entire audience applauded, including Bi’an the Sixth, their cooperation partner.

Under the fiery gaze of the mercenaries, Christina stepped onto the stage and received the Level Six Mercenary Group medal in front of everyone.

Christina’s tears streamed down uncontrollably.

This was a goal she had worked towards for six years but had never achieved, even once thinking she would never accomplish it.

Standing on the stage, she choked up, unable to speak, her eyes fixated on Andrew in the audience.

"Maybe our Miss Christina would like Mr. Duru to join her," Mr. Mani stepped back and made a ’please’ gesture.

The mercenaries applauded once again.

Andrew had no choice but to get up and walk onto the stage.

"Thank you, thank you for your applause. Thank you all for taking the time to attend this ceremony and witness this significant moment for the Blood Elf and Dragon Mercenary Group. From now on, our group will live under the same sky and guard this beautiful city with everyone here. We will have many cooperation opportunities, let’s have successful collaborations."

The applause below was even more enthusiastic.

A fitting speech finally brought the ceremony to a close.

After the ceremony, the leaders of several mercenary groups approached Andrew to get acquainted, but Andrew pushed the dazed Christina forward, "She is our leader; all matters of the Blood Elf and Dragon Mercenary Group are her decisions."

Thus the scene became somewhat awkward. The leaders had to grit their teeth and reintroduce themselves to Christina, who they had avoided earlier, and expressed their hopes for cooperation.

After all, many tasks require multiple people to complete. A two-person mercenary group means plenty of cooperation opportunities. Mercenaries are all about money; who would pass on that?

For his reputation, Bi’an the Sixth was also willing to make the ceremony grand. The news even hit the local tabloids’ headlines, heralding Christina and Andrew as legendary figures. Of course, due to Andrew’s strong objections, no portraits were published.

A whole day of bustling activity with flowers and applause finally came to an end.

*Honestly, this was unexpected for Andrew. Although his original goal was to develop the mercenary group, he did not anticipate it happening so quickly. Even when he devised a unique way to complete that escort mission, he didn’t foresee that completing an S-rank task in one-thirtieth of the time would add so many points, directly pushing the mercenary group to Level Six.*

*Is this a good thing?* *Frankly, Andrew was a bit worried. It was evident from his face.*

That night, Christina made a lavish dinner and for the first time sat with Andrew at the dinner table—or rather, for the first time accompanied him to dinner. It was a candlelight dinner, but maybe not what you think. They simply ate quietly, without saying a word.

*Christina constantly kept an eye on Andrew, but Andrew remained silent, lost in his thoughts.*

They kept eating until almost finished, when Andrew suddenly looked up, "I have a thought."

"What thought!" Christina immediately looked up, smiling. Her reaction speed startled Andrew, and it took him a moment to recover.

"I... I was thinking, why don’t we move to another city?"

"Another city?"

"Yes, this place is too small, it doesn’t have enough room for us to expand. In just over a month, we’re already a Level Six mercenary group. Next is Level Seven, but then there’s nothing more. It’s not that we can’t handle bigger tasks, but there aren’t any bigger tasks here. Do you understand what I mean?"

Christina stared blankly at Andrew.

"If we move to a larger city, we could become an eight, or even nine-level mercenary group. What do you think?"

"But..." Christina murmured, "Where should we go? The largest adventurer guild in Lunbak is in Linlopes."

"The largest?" Andrew was taken aback.

"Yes," Christina nodded, "I don’t know about other places, but the largest adventurer guild in Lunbak is the Linlopes adventurer guild."

Andrew fell silent, stroking his chin.

"Are you... thinking of leaving? You said you would help me, now we’re a Level Six mercenary group, are you going to leave?" Christina quietly asked.

Andrew blinked blankly, looking at Christina, and after a moment softly said, "No, I didn’t mean that. Let’s finish our meal."

Lowering his head, Andrew continued cutting his steak thoughtfully, raising his eyes to see Christina still staring at him, "What’s the matter? Aren’t you going to eat more?"

"Actually... no matter how much I eat, it’s only ’a little’ for me," Christina softly asked, "Have you forgotten I’m a dragon?"

"Alright." Andrew smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to respond.

...

At midnight, Andrew lay in bed, unable to sleep.

*Maybe I should leave immediately. They are Liches, after all, they can even summon ghosts to ask whatever they want. Even if I stay put, I might be discovered. Considering the entire Linlopes knows me now, it’s a huge mistake; I shouldn’t have gotten on stage.*

*If I slip up even a little, they will easily find me. Once I’m exposed, I’m done for; there’s no place to hide, and I can’t escape.*

In the early hours, Andrew quietly got up, packed lightly, took over a hundred gold coins from the drawer as pocket money, and quietly opened the door.

To his surprise, he saw Christina cuddled up with a blanket, sleeping at his door...

He quietly closed the door, carried his luggage back to his room, and sat on the bed in silence.

*Is this really a dragon? Such a senseless dragon... If she’s so worried, why did she fall asleep? Moreover, completely asleep? Do dragons sleep that soundly? What if I just run away?* *Would she still be able to maintain the Blood Elf and Dragon Mercenary Group?*

Helplessly.

After a while, Andrew put his luggage back, walked out, carried Christina back to her room.

Christina suddenly woke up, staring wide-eyed at Andrew.

Andrew spoke softly, "Go to sleep, I’m not leaving. I promised not to abandon you."

Christina drowsily fell asleep again, with a sweet smile.

"I’m taking a risk, just this once," Andrew mumbled to himself, then returned to his room.