Chapter 294 — Cedar Town

Cold wind poured into the room as the wooden door swung open and shut. A few mercenaries sitting near the entrance began cursing; others had their eyes fall on the cloaked figure. When the cloaked person sat down by the bar and pulled back the hood to reveal a beautiful elven face, a few whistles immediately came from every direction.

The beautiful elven huntress casually waved a hand backward, and several throwing knives precisely embedded themselves in the tabletop before each and every whistler. Then she beckoned, and all the knives, drawn by magic, returned to her hand.

An extraordinary being. Very high rank. In a bad mood.

Having confirmed these three elements, everyone in the tavern swiftly put themselves in their proper place. Those who were drinking kept drinking, those who were boasting kept boasting, those who were shaking in their boots began shaking in their boots—and everyone carried on in cheerful harmony, lively as ever.

Behind the bar, the tavern keeper merely watched it all with a cold eye. Only after the new customer had settled did he step forward and ask, "Beer again?"

This elf had come once before. Though only once, as a tavern keeper he had to remember a customer's face—especially when that customer was someone of considerable strength, all the more not to be ignored.

"Beer," the elven huntress said in a voice full of magnetism. Her blonde hair hung down on either side of her face, hiding part of her features, but her expression could still be seen to be somewhat gloomy. "I'll pay for the damaged tables."

"Don't worry about it—someone always ends up sticking a knife in them anyway," the tavern keeper said with a smile, pushing a large wooden mug filled with beer toward the huntress. "What, didn't get through the checkpoint?"

"Martial law," the huntress said, annoyed. "They've actually started demanding East Wolf Fort passes..."

The tavern keeper smiled. "The situation is tense, after all."

"But before, wasn't it enough to have mercenary papers or recent proof of employment to get through the checkpoint?" The huntress raised her eyelids. "Since when does it require an East Wolf Fort certificate?"

"This is a rule that's only just started," said the tavern keeper. He was not a mercenary or an adventurer, but in his line of work—especially running a tavern on the border, right next to East Wolf Fort—he had to keep well informed. "Word is that East Wolf Fort was attacked, so the imperial soldiers started sealing off the checkpoints..."

"Attacked?" The huntress's eyebrows shot up at once. "Are they at war with Ans, then?"

"Not that," answered not the tavern keeper but an adventurer sitting nearby. This adventurer seemed very friendly—or perhaps he simply wanted to get close—and he carried his mug over to the elf woman's side, wearing an "I know the inside story" expression as he said, "Word is it was attacked by some kind of human-shaped monster no one's ever seen before... East Wolf Fort took heavy losses, and the fortress wall even cracked. The general there issued the martial law order, and now every checkpoint along the whole border is strict..."

"A human-shaped monster!?" The elf woman finally showed an expression of surprise. "What exactly? Where did the monster come from?"

The adventurer who had come over to ingratiate himself had not expected that he would really succeed in arousing the interest of this beautiful elf who seemed so hard to deal with. He clumsily concealed his smugness and continued, wearing that "I know the inside story" expression: "They say it came out of the Dark Mountains, a monster that the Kingdom of Ansu turned loose... but some say it came from the wasteland of Gondor..."

"...Now we are in real trouble..."

The beautiful elf "female" hunter, Suojilin Frostleaf, realized that this time there was probably no way to bluff her way through by dressing as a woman...