In the end, this was how the situation concluded as the morning came.

“All’s good? Nothing’s left behind?”

Serein asked as she turned to her two companions who nodded back at her in reply.

“Good, I absolutely have no desire to see you punks here anymore, you better get out of my sight as soon as possible. ”

With crossed arms, Cevahir said so, and the two other humans were more nervous than the adventurer who seemed to be rather disappointed instead.

“Are you really not going to leave this place, Cevahir-min? Like… Ever?”

To which, that half-blood then eyed her sharply as he curtly responded,

“Mind your own business, little girl. We are not friends, you better stop crossing the line.”

That was indeed the truth. Serein, despite having Aiston’s knowledge by her side, had no reason to push her request to either of the three draconic members to join her on this… Pretty much an aimless journey.

Well, aimless might not be the the proper word to use here, however, she’s indeed still quite clueless about what she needed to do, and it was definitely necessary to go to a library or something to gain more knowledge about the Sirens and the possible Archaic Relic she’s about to hunt next.

‘I really don’t want to meet Arlia.’

—In the meantime, she’s also considering the idea of not being in the same boat as the MC of this novel.

She didn’t want to be dragged along in the inevitable MC’s shenanigans– she just wanted to survive her ill fate and live as she wished afterward, for goodness’ sake! What was she gonna do if she got involved in that–

Freedom to do as one wanted.

That actually cost a lot more than one could ever think of.

However, Min Suhyun had actually reached that point in her life before she was randomly dragged to this world and forced to restart all of the struggles she had endured in the past— just in a different, more fictitious format.

If she were to meet with the MC, then she must say goodbye to peaceful life as she knew that she would end up being a victim of the plot as she was ‘destined’ to be, or she’ll get entangled in the MC’s storyline and would have no other option but to follow as it might be the best way to survive the dangers that would follow her like a shadow.

Although all of this was a mere speculation as of now, she actually had reasons to be worried.

In all honesty, she was thinking of inviting Cevahir, Sam, and Pam along because they have a strong presence in each one of them, and she knew that people like this would usually draw trouble to themselves enough to be compared to an MC.

It’s been a proven case with the half-blood dragon anyway, so she wasn’t exactly wrong.

‘And since there are three of them–’

She was planning to connect the three of them with Arlia instead so she could blend in the background and be the least noticeable one. It would certainly make it easier for her to not stand out and thus smoother for her to yeet out of the damned rising crisis if ever the situation called.

—In any case, it seemed like she needed to scratch off that idea and make a more plausible plan as the three members of the draconic race, especially the silver-haired man, shattered her illusions of such a thing.

“Well, thank you for sheltering us during our stay, and above it all, thank you for your generosity in your hospitality, Cevahir-min, Sam-min.”

Back to her formal speech, Serein bowed to the two, followed by Cherry and Gil who each also thanked the half-blood dragon and the bluish-green wyrm since none of them saw Pam bid them goodbye— Sam had said that his younger brother was still sleepy as it was dusk indeed, his bedtime still.

“Sam-min, please pass my farewell to Pam-min, yeah?”

Serein said gently to the blue-eyed hatchling who easily nodded without wasting any words.

“Alright then, we’re leaving now. I hope that one day we’ll have the chance to meet again.”

“—Absolutely not.”

Serein almost chuckled at how petty that response was, but could not blame the silver-haired man. After all, she had been a bit disrespectful last night, in addition to all the chaos she brought along upon her wonderful arrival.

Either way, with one last bow, the three of them left the cave and just went on their way back to civilization. This time, with Gil being supported by Cherry and her lightweight magic while Serein took the vanguard position and guided them to the safest path out of the woodland—

It took them a while, yes. However, tracing back their path to the Kiraan Kingdom was truly the shortest way to leave this gigantic flytrap and its dangerous inhabitants.

That being said, neither of the three was expecting a freeloader to tag along with them on this trip.

“Are we there yet?”

An excited and familiar voice could be heard coming from Serein’s sling bag–

– Plop!

And in the very next second, they were greeted with the sight of that greenish-blue head popping out of the bag’s opening.

“Pam-min!” Cherry gasped in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

To which the young wyrm grinned before then answering her.

“Tricking! Scamming! Bamboozling!”

That green-eyed hatchling looked so proud of himself when he said that.

“You… What?”

Tricking who??

Serein’s eyes blinked in puzzlement, though her perplexity soon turned into bemusement at his next words.

“Don’t worry, brother is in this too!”

Opening the bag, Serein realized that he didn’t mean that in a literal way. So, this could only mean that Sam was also conspiring in this plan.

‘A plan against Cevahir-min?’

Maybe that’s the reason why the older wyrm was obnoxiously silent when they left earlier.

“Ah, I need to hide again now! I’ll be playing hide and seek until Ceva-chi finds me. See you later!”

And just like that, Pam retreated his head back to the bag before then making himself invisible– such a fascinating sight to his audience of three, especially Serein who had always been so biased toward reptiles.

“I’ll buy you snacks after this. Thank you, Pam-min~”

That adventurer whispered as she flapped the opening of her bag close once more, hiding the young hatchling perfectly after taking a handkerchief inside which was then used to wipe the black blood that was starting to come out of her nose again.

“…Um, Serein-shi?”

Gil, that one-legged knight, called out with discreet nervousness.

“Aren’t we going to get… Terminated by Cevahir-min for… Well… This?”

Which was exactly why Cherry’s mind was spiraling in anxiety at the moment.

That half-blood definitely would hunt them soon for abducting one of his little brothers—

“What do you mean? We did nothing, though?”

The corners of her mouth tugged upwards as her eyes sparkled.

“We didn’t do anything wrong, so why would Cevahir-min hound us?

Ah.

Finally picking up what their guide meant, Cherry held back her laughter.

“Right, so, where did you find this broker of yours again, Serein-shi?”

Pretends nothing happened.

That’s basically what she implied despite how her literal words already made sense to stand as their own.

And with that, the three of them simply continued on their merry way into the nearest village which was the starting point for Min Suhyun.

They even checked into the inn where Serein firstly arrived. Of course, Cherry’s hair and eye colors were now dyed brown once again so as not to attract any unnecessary commotion.

“You guys can stay here and have some rest. I won’t be long.”

Serein said to Cherry and Gil as she handed them her bag which had their special packages in it.

“I’m just going to get my antidote and purchase some snacks.”

She also planned to restock her weaponry and potions, though there’s no need to inform them of any details anyway. Since neither of the two voiced any complaints or asked her to buy anything else, Serein entrusted Pam, who’s still hiding in the bag, to the princess in disguise and her knight.

‘Thank goodness for Cherry’s presence.’

Serein was glad that she had a mage by her side on her way back. She’s not drenched this time, even without her raincoat.

‘Magic is so convenient.’

While ignoring the stares she’s receiving, that adventurer thought to herself how she wished that she could do magic as well, though given that she’s still having this soul illness latched onto her, it seemed to be impossible for her as for now as she was barely able to use weapons.

Trying to summon Mili unnaturally already cost her a lot of her own blood. She didn’t want to know what would happen to her if she was to take the other pill that would allow her to be a temporary mage.

– shhhhhh…

A soft breeze brushed past her at that moment, and Serein took that as Aiston agreeing with her, though she couldn’t hear the spirit talking.

‘Hmm, in any case—’

She’s here at last.

She was standing in the dark sketchy alleyway in the corner of the busy market. A place where everyone oddly avoided the rumors of deadly spirits that would kill them if they ever dared to step into the confined territory. Unless…

It was never a spirit, to begin with.

Instead, Serein was sure that those deaths were caused by curses or the side effects of things that ignorant people had purchased from the said mysterious broker.

Just like herself, who might end up dying in the pool of her own rotten blood had she failed to collect the cost of her antidote, which thankfully wasn’t the case.

The Brokers were a mischievous bunch. They didn’t care for the well-being of their customers at all…

..Not like they actually needed to.

They’d actually feel more accomplished if they were able to harvest these poor souls that from the way one had talked to her, previously, Serein felt like souls were some sort of exchangeable values in their own realm.

This was one of the first pieces of knowledge of this world that she paid the utmost attention to.

It seemed like some people who are related to the victims of these brokers also knew about this, but for some reason they kept this info shut, which made it hard for Serein to collect enough data on how to find these little gremlins in the first place.

‘Well, be that as it may.’

Serein hid the bag of the seeds from plain sight in case the broker she’s contacting would try to do funny business with her.

As this was a one-shot chance, Serein would have no other opportunity to buy her antidote if she made a mistake on this one. She absolutely didn’t want to see herself dying as a result of a stupid, careless mistake that she could easily avoid if she put enough effort into a simple task.

Calming herself with some deep breaths, Serein lowered her hood so that the broker wouldn’t be able to see her face clearly before opening her mouth to start this. She was determined to not make any mistakes.

“Mr. Broker, Ms. Broker, name your price and I shall sell my soul.” she chanted as a drop of her blood fell from the slightly trembling pricked finger of her right hand.

– shhhhhhhh- ziiinnnngggg

As her surroundings started to change, they became filled with something that looked like a smoke screen. A portal was soon created right before her eyes, revealing a small hooded creature who was not any taller than the adventurer’s own knees.

The mysterious being then replied to her bizarre call.

“Dear customer, know that I will not be held responsible for any damages or turmoils for I am but a humble messenger.”

And with that, this complicated transaction finally began.

—

Author Note: Heyya folks! Anemic Bunnicula here~! Here goes another update for the week + Art that you can check on the discussion channel. Hope you all would enjoy it, and I’ll see you again in the next chapter, Chao~!

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