The Guildmaster pretended nothing happened and he just cleared his throat before speaking again, "Soldier! Get me commander Javiar and be quick about it! Time is of the essence."
"Yes, sir!" The warrior in metal armor quickly responded, saluted, and left in a hurry.
After the soldier left, the alchemist Andimont found an excuse and also left.
The only ones left were Luna and her father. She was also preparing to leave when she turned around and asked, "Should I go and order a new table, father?"
The Guildmaster sighed and looked at the broken pieces of wood on the floor in shame and quietly said, "Thank you, dear. I would really appreciate that."
In the meantime, in the Serrell mansion, the news about the poison triggered a different reaction.
"You are telling me he just spat the poison out? After half an hour?"
"Yes my Lord…"
Lord Green Fang was once again doing the interrogation. This time, however, he was not raging, instead, he was weirdly calm. It was so unusual it sent chills down the spy's back.
Instead of drilling further for details, Lord Green Fang turned around, crossed his arms, and entered deep thought. It was the first time something like this happened. A person surviving his poison, and not once, but twice!
It made him feel nervous, even scared. He didn't know what was going on. He was always a cautious person and his poisons never left a trace after they were consumed. But now, if the poison was examined and confirmed it was the Purple Frog Saliva, he would be in trouble.
Many poisons had the same effect on the outside and victims oftentimes looked the same so it was difficult to figure out which poison was used, but if they found out it was his…
Green Fang knew nothing good could possibly come out of it, especially with the current Guildmaster watching over Geldern.
Thinking about his options, he quickly came to a decision, "We are leaving!"
He turned to his servant and ordered, "Contact commander Erovior and tell him to leave the city immediately. Tell him to meet me at our meeting place." With those words, he quickly walked to the door and out of the room.
Egott Serrell, as well as all everyone else in the room, was shocked at the sudden decision. He quickly ran after the Lord of poison.
"My Lord, What's going on? Why did you suddenly decide to leave?" he asked after he caught up.
Lord Green Fang spared him only a glance and said, "You better prepare for a search from the side of the Warrior's Guild. It would be in your interest if they don't find out about our cooperation here."
Egott opened his mouth and eyes wide in shock and just stood there. Lord Green Fang was already at the backdoor with his guards and he left without even turning back. The whole evacuation was quick and efficient.
***
After reporting to the Guild, Gerald went to find Sera and invite her to join him on the next mission. The only problem was, he didn't really know where she lived.
Luckily Geldern wasn't a big city and most people here knew each other, even if just barely. With a bit of asking around, he quickly found her. She was in a shop, buying a few more supplies and tools for combat.
She specialized in throwing weapons, and she usually preferred to use throwing knives. Gerald was, of course, of the opinion that a combat style based on throwing knives was quite lacking, but he didn't verbally judge her choice. Everybody had their own thing.
After a short chat, Gerald explained his plans, and Sera quickly agreed to accompany him. They chatted for a while longer, when they noticed a change happening in the city.
City guards, even those that weren't supposed to be patrolling right now, were walking around the city. Many patrols were systematically searching through the city. They weren't aggressive or anything like that, they were just calmly searching the homes of the citizen, after all, they also had the order to keep the commotion at the minimum.
They searched every single person and house, even workshops and stores. Gerald was shocked at first, but then he quickly figured out what might be going on.
"What's happening?" Sera asked from the side. She was confused and had no idea what was going on.
"Ah, commander Javiar is searching for enemy spies in the city, nothing mayor," a person near them spoke in a lazy voice. When they turned around to look, they noticed it was Kerius from the Iron Hawks.
"Oh, hey there," Gerald nodded as a greeting. He already figured it was something like that. From what he heard about the Guildmaster, he didn't seem like a person that would just ignore his people. That's why he even bothered reporting to the Warrior's Guild in the first place.
"How's Eneth?" Gerald casually asked. It was quite a while since he traded his Earth Bolt spell for the Unmoving Boulder Combat Art.
When Kerius heard that question his visage darkened and he helplessly sighed, "Ah, don't even mention it. He has been studying that spell of yours since the day we traded." He massaged his temples like he was getting a headache just thinking about it.
"He refused to take jobs with us for the last week. I'm starting to think I made a huge mistake giving him the book," Kerius complained. Then he looked at Gerald and asked, "What about you?"
Gerald lightly smiled and extended his arm while saying, "Unmoving Boulder." His skin immediately became hard as stone and tough as leather.
Kerius sucked in a breath of cold air and observed the changes. He even touched Gerald's arm to test the strength before forcing a wry smile, "You've already mastered it?"
Gerald shook his head and said, "I don't know if I mastered it or not, but it definitely isn't strong enough to protect against sharp weapons."
Kerius laughed when he heard that and said, "Well, yeah. It's not like it's a substitute for armor. It's just an augmentation of your defenses."
As they chatted the city guards came to them and demanded to search them and confirm their identity. None of the three had any complaints and the guards soon left to continue with their search elsewhere.
It was soon becoming evening so they soon split up and each went on their way. Gerald had to go and collect his armor so he left first. Kerius and Sera spoke a few words before they too said their goodbyes, split up, and went home.
Early the next day, Gerald put on his fancy new armor and went to the Warrior's Guild to see what was the job that would take him to the capital.
Sera came there soon after him and her eyes still had some sleepiness in them. She came closer and used Gerald's shoulder as a headrest as she yawned, "Good morning…"
"Tough night?"
Sera straightened her back and stretched her arms as she yawned again, "No… It's actually your fault. Why do we have to begin so early?"
Gerald took the paper with the job he wanted and brought it closer to read, saying, "Well, I didn't want to miss this opportunity, and it's a good thing we came early too," he showed the paper to Sera, "We need to hurry if we want to take it."
"Escort to the capital…early in the morning…gather near west gates?" She read it out loud and said, "I haven't even eaten yet."
Gerald hugged her over her shoulders and pulled her after him, laughing, "Let's see what's the situation first, I'm sure they will give us time to eat before we depart."
When they neared the Guild's front door, Gerald managed to catch a part of a conversation, "…managed to capture a few enemy spies. They tried to sneak out of Geldern during the night yesterday, and the Guildmaster personally came to oversee the interrogation…"
Gerald grinned on the inside, 'A few rats already fell… Good! The guards are really efficient, I have to say. I assume the rest of Blood Sun Viper already left Geldern, so I should have some peace and quiet for now.'
He laughed silently and a beautiful smile came to his face. It was a good start to a new day.