It did not take long for the person to come down with Miss Claire. Seeing him flamed the fires of jealousy even more. Why? His was devilishly handsome. His weird eyes gave him an even more devilish charm. With that, they came to a new conclusion. Gigolo. He probably, no, most definitely slept his way to the top. They were even more motivated to humiliate him.
Seeing him walking around with disdain and scorn written all over his face was the final nail. Three of the older low level approached him. That was when they heard it. The sickening crunch sound and the dying squeal. Everyone in the hall was horrified. Everyone except for Claire who had seen the whole thing. Having already witnessed Riggs' strength personally, she was about to stop the suicidal fools, but was stopped by the guild master who had appeared at some point behind her. They were hidden from the eyes of the adventurers.
Everyone now knew that the person was the genuine thing. The majority of those that felt aggrieved were now thanking their stars they were not the ones that went to provoke the monster. There was no way a low level would be able to easily crush the hand of a silver rank adventurer. Even if he was not truly platinum and was gold, they still did not dare to offend him. Even if he was just gold, so what? No one was dumb enough to test him lest they ended up in a similar state or worse.
Seeing Riggs walk out the hall after making his statement oddly made him feel reassured with leaving the safety of his daughters in his care. The kid was most certainly an oddball, but his heart was in the right place. Brand walked back to his office, humming a happy tune to himself.
…
After walking out the guild hall, I returned to my old man and threw his citizenship card at his face and left. I made sure to put some 'oomf' into it. The guild had the authority to provide one for new people or beastmen that entered the city. Usually, it was a long and tedious process. Those that entered the city gates were not usually citizens and would pay money each time they entered the city. It was only citizens that were not allowed to pay. The guild granting you the citizenship was a way of them vouching for one's validity.
"Hey handsome." I heard a familiar voice call me. Casting my eyes towards the direction, I saw leaning against the guild building, the big breasted Layla. Turned out she was waiting for me in front of the building but because I was so focused on throwing my old man's citizen card at his face, I did not notice her.
"So, what's up? Where are your mates?" I looked around but could not find the defective hero nor the one that reeked. She was smiling, but I could see the pain in her eyes. The pain she was so desperately trying to hide.
"Nothing really. Thought I'd hang with you a bit. Maybe show you the ropes as a new…" I shrugged at her suggestion. It did not matter to me. The more she spoke the more her voice fell until she fell silent. She kept staring at my chest making me wonder if I had forgotten to wear a shirt again. It couldn't be. I hadn't taken it off yet.
"You. You got platinum rank?!" Oh? That's what she was staring at? I looked down at the gold plating around her neck and smirked teasingly. Honestly, I felt she was very impressive to be gold ranked at her age. The rest of her party were all probably gold rank as well. It was understandable. They were the party of the defective hero after all. Defective or not, he still possessed the hero's aura which boosted his entire party's growth. Regardless, it would take a considerable amount of time before they were ready to take on the demon lord. Although I had not seen this world's demon lord yet, I knew from experience that they were not something the levels of the defective hero's party could handle at the moment. They would all die horrible deaths.
"Yeah." I puffed out my chest, "Are you jealous?" Interestingly, she laughed as if she was amused by my actions.
"Nope. If papa was the one that tested you then its accurate. Mmm? Who would have thought you were this strong. I guess I have a big strong man to lean on without worry." She leaned closer seductively, showcasing her large chest. I smirked at her. Unamused by her play, I resumed my interrupted walk.
Layla stood there with a dumbfounded face for a while before quickly catching up to me. I was not in the mood for her games. She walked by my side silently. It was an awkward silence which I could tell was getting to her. "I'm sorry." She suddenly broke the silence with an apology. I smiled at her which made her relieved for some reason.
"By the way, you didn't seem surprised by my words earlier." She had gotten over the awkwardness when she saw me smile. Looked like she was expecting a grand reaction. Hehe. Too bad I already knew.
"You look nothing like him. You probably took after your mother. I can tell she was a very beautiful woman." I continued without turning to look at her. Her true self really was beautiful. She was almost divine. I could only speculate about the identity of her mother.
…
Layla smiled sweetly to herself. Even if the person before her did not know what she truly looked like, she still felt happy when she was happily reminded of her mother. She turned quiet and followed Riggs.
Walking in the city, there were quite a few eyes that recognized her. The lecherous gazes of the filthy men and the condescending looks of some of the females. Layle had already gotten used to it so she ignored all of it. The issue was, for some reason the sneers from the old hags in the city had intensified. She turned to Riggs, wondering how all the weird attention they were getting to him. It was only then that she realized they were sneering at her because of him.
Riggs was walking with a bored look, yet that bored look seemed to make him radiate a kind of cute aura that urged one to bury his head in their bosoms to comfort him. Riggs looked like he finally noticed the stares and suddenly put on a prideful look with a puff of his chest to try and show off his plate. Layla chuckled at his actions.