Chương 14: The countdown to Chapter 14 ended early.

Shortly after the humans and dragons in the dungeon became addicted to reading and learned skills.

Several tens of kilometers away.

Inside Phoenix, at the entrance of the famous tavern and inn, "Sleepy Treant".

Jostein Green, the captain of the Starsword and a warrior, is helping his teammate, the mage William Dulles, pack his luggage.

After working for a while, he looked up and said to William, who was feeding the horses radishes:

"Are you really not considering staying?"

"I know you've always wanted to go home, but I've also heard that the Empire is in chaos right now, with orcs, liches, and vampires, and nine princes and princesses vying for the throne..."

"Instead of stepping into that vortex, why not stay in Phoenix? With you and me joining forces, the future is absolutely limitless!"

William carefully put away the radish, his eyes narrowed slightly, and a fox-like smile appeared on his handsome face as he replied:

"Jostan, stop with the disgusting pleasantries. You and I both know that at this point, our team is bound to disband."

Upon hearing this, Jostan's expression turned slightly cold, and he subconsciously recalled his experiences along the way...

Several days ago.

After the poet Richard was killed, the remaining four members of the Starsword Squad successfully returned to Phoenix.

But on the eve of their entry into the city, the thieves in the group and most of their bag of treasure, far exceeding their rightful share, quietly disappeared.

The next morning, the remaining three quickly searched the surrounding area and found only some scattered gold coins and suspicious bloodstains.

Finally, Jostein, as the captain, concluded that the thief's greed led him to betray the group, and that he encountered bandits during his escape, ultimately receiving his just deserts.

however.

All three of them knew in their hearts that there were other possibilities.

For example, the thief did indeed betray the thief, but he wasn't the only one who betrayed him; there was another person who betrayed him a second time, killing the thief and taking the stolen treasure for himself.

With such doubts, the atmosphere in the team became increasingly tense and strange.

Ultimately, none of the people in the group were good people to begin with, and they lacked trust in each other—otherwise, they wouldn't have abandoned Richard so readily.

However, out of respect for each other's power, they were able to maintain a facade of harmony.

But the sudden acquisition of treasure and the disappearance of the thieves completely shattered this illusion.

Thus, the disbandment of the Starlight Swords was a foregone conclusion.

After entering the city and dividing the spoils, Reverend Bill Benjamin, a believer in the goddess of wealth, was the first to leave the group. He then plunged into the temple of the goddess of wealth and has not come out since.

And then, there's William today.

He was originally the second son of a minor nobleman in the empire. Because he was not qualified to inherit the family business and did not want to enter the temple to recite scriptures at a young age, he came to Phoenix City to become an adventurer.

Now that his strength has increased considerably and he has acquired a large amount of treasure, he took the opportunity to suggest leaving the group and going home to take a look.

present.

He then said to Jostein:

"There's no way I can stay, and I'm sure you don't want me to stay either."

"As for the chaos in my hometown, ha, that was never a problem. You see, chaos is both a danger and a stepping stone..."

"In any case, let's part ways here!"

William chuckled and patted Jost on the shoulder, then used his mage's hand to load the remaining baggage onto the horse's back before leading it away.

Watching the mage's retreating figure, Jostein let out a cold laugh.

"Stop pretending to be so open and honest. You're the one who's the most hypocritical."

"You and Richard were the ones who advised everyone not to touch the Red Dragon's treasure, but after you got the treasure, you wanted the most. Heh, I bet you were the one who killed most of them."

"It's good that you're gone; it saves me the trouble of scheming against you anymore."

Jostein rubbed his hands together and returned to the tavern.

He ordered a glass of ale and, while drinking it, began to dream about his future.

With such a large sum of money, there are so many things he can do.

Buy high-end equipment!

Recruit powerful followers!

Then we can form a small mercenary group. Even though it's small, it's still much better than a small team of adventurers from the bottom of the world with only a few people!

At that time, he will be able to completely shed his status as an unknown nobody!

Haha!

Just thinking about it makes me incredibly excited!

"Jostein?"

Just as Jostein was lost in his fantasy, a voice suddenly interrupted him.

He turned around and saw it was Andy, the fat owner of the tavern, and asked:

"What's up, old Andy?"

The latter said, "I'd like to inquire about the poet who joined your group, the one with the surname Targaryen. How is he doing?"

Jostein frowned slightly and replied casually:

"That guy, he was so scared during the battle that he peed his pants and abandoned the team to run away. We never found him again... I guess you could say his fate is unknown."

Jostein launched into a well-practiced accusation—this was what he had been saying to everyone who had come to question Richard lately.

He didn't see anything wrong with it at all.

After all, in his view, it was nothing more than a weakling, most likely already a piece of the dragon's teeth, so why should he pay any more attention to it?

Could it be that that guy is still alive and coming back to settle scores with him?

joke!

"……well."

After hearing Jostein's words, Andy couldn't help but show a sad expression.

For low-level adventurers, being unsure of their fate is tantamount to being dead.

Pity.

What a wonderful young man.

Speaking of which, he still owes me nineteen copper coins, how come... sigh.

Andy lowered his head and went back behind the counter, muttering about Richard's situation.

at the same time.

In the underground city.

Richard himself, who was being muttered to, was experiencing a wonderful dream.

In his dream, an elven sister dressed in plain white was teaching him how to play music, and she asked him to close his eyes and whispered in his ear, using beautiful notes to help him fully experience the sacred words of creation.

According to the oral traditions of bards, the entire world was "sung" by the primordial gods, and that song was the so-called sacred word of creation. The reason why bards could unleash magic was because their voices could evoke an echo of this sacred word of creation.

In the past, Richard did not quite agree with this view.

But now, listening to the elf sister's ASMR... no, I mean the elf sister's sacred music, he's starting to believe that the Word of Creation is real.

This music is so beautiful, what miracle can't it create?

Richard grinned, completely absorbed in the moment.

After a while, the dream ended.

The elf sister vanished into thin air, and his consciousness returned to the dark, damp, and cold underground city.

"... Uh, I kind of don't want to wake up."

Richard scratched his head.

Everything that just happened was the result of him using the Dream Teaching Card to learn the Requiem.

To be honest, the effect was indeed powerful.

In just two nights, he not only gained partial mastery of the extremely difficult magical melody, but also gained a deeper understanding of the source of the bard's power.

He began to look forward to the third dream, which would be the final teaching lesson.

By this time tomorrow, he should be able to learn the Requiem, right?

Richard was overjoyed to realize that he was just one step away from success.

He hummed a song as he nibbled on the last piece of jerky, finding it tasted much more delicious.

"You seem pretty relaxed~" Just then, a clear female voice, as melodious as a nightingale's, entered my ears.

Richard turned his head and found a young girl standing outside the blacksmith's shop!

She had fair skin and delicate features. She wore a sexy black and red mini skirt and leather boots, and her hair, as dazzling as flames, was tied back, making her unforgettable at first glance.

Her appearance is so beautiful that if one had to point out a flaw, it would probably be that she is too petite and has a flat chest at such a young age, making it hard to tell her from the front to the back.

However, for Richard, a time-traveler who had seen countless films, this small stature, coupled with the other party's disdainful expression and arrogant posture with his hands on his hips, actually had a unique charm...

wrong!

Why do you care about her appearance?

At this moment, shouldn't the most important thing to consider be why such a girl would appear in front of us?

Wait, could it be that...

Richard realized something, and a look of horror flashed in his eyes.

The girl opposite him seemed to enjoy the change in his gaze, and a smile curved her lips as she said:

"So you finally realize who I am? That's right, standing before you is none other than the great Red Dragon Zoya!"

"Transfiguration is much simpler than I imagined. I learned it a day early and then came to find you."

"Now... little bug, are you ready to die?"