In the hurry and burry life of people in a village, few people could be seen unloading a cart. One among those was a young lady who looked like a 20-year-old. She was working at a small mercenary guild, which takes on tasks like escorts and security duty in return for gold. It was not a place that could fulfil her ambitions, but it was also not a place from which she could get away.
She heard from an early age that she was the daughter of a rough cultivater. She was sold to this mercenary guild for a couple of silver. Even though she was practically a slave, she was treated just like any other member of the guild. As she grew up, she started to earn her pay and had a stable roof over her head. She eventually paid off the slave contract and became a full-fledged working guild member. Even though she knew that her talents in cultivation were average, she would put double the effort into her combat skills to compensate for it. However, being in a remote village and having limited resources led to a slowdown in her cultivation.
As she was wondering whether to move to the nearest city and search for a job as a martial artist, someone arrived from the capital to meet the head of the mercenary guild. He brought a lot of rations and cultivation resources with him as a sign of goodwill. Even though they were cultivators, most of them were at the apprentice warrior level and warrior level. Only one person, the guild master, was at the initial stages of the Master level. The amount of gold they earn is barely enough to sustain them; as such, these goods would be very helpful for them. As she and the others unloaded the cart, an old man with a noble Aura walked past her while giving a gentle smile. She was taken aback but resumed her work, not thinking much about it.
After the unloading was done...
"Hey, Khana, don't you think this is an opportunity for our Guild?" A Man sitting beside Khana said.
"What do you mean?"Khana asked.
"Considering most of us are at the Apprentice warrior level and many at the Warrior level, If these surplus resources are put to good use, at least half of us would be able to step into the warrior realm finally. Increasing our overall strength. Maybe those old folks stuck at the peak of the warrior realm may even break into the Master realm." He said excitedly.
It was a small guild consisting of around 90 members in total. Their strength is not even worth remembering. A basic cultivation pill was considered a precious item to these people, so Rue devised a plan to tempt them into handing over Khana's custody to him. This will also create a good impression in front on Khana.
As Khana was involved in a conversation, she was called by the guild master's attendant. As she went inside the guild master's office, she was surprised to see the old man from before.
"You called for me, Guild leader?" Khana asked.
"Khana, meet Mr Rue from the First Nobel house. He wishes to talk to you." said the Guild leader with a happy tone.
Khana was a bit surprised; why would a person from a noble family want to talk to her? There would be far stronger warriors if he wanted someone to escort him. A weird idea came into her mind as she was lost in thought. She once heard that some old nobles like to purchase women from a common background and use them as sex slaves. This thought brought her shivers.
Looking at Khana, who was sweating bullets, The Guild Leader said, "You don't have to worry, Khana, he is someone who knows your Mother."
Upon hearing that, Khana had a complicated expression. She had never once met her mother or anyone that knew her. Why is it that suddenly a nobleman is looking for her? But she also wanted to know about her mother. With complicated feelings, she looked at the guild master, who was nodding at her, signalling that everything was alright.
"Do you really know my mother?" Asked Khana to Rue, who was looking at her from his seat.
"Young lady, I will not lie to you. I do not know about your mother, and it was my master who gave me a picture and asked me to find the person in it. But unfortunately, we were not able to find that person. Instead, we got to know that you are her daughter in the process. So here I am." Replied Rue. He mixed some lies with some truth to make it more believable.
Khana was a bit disappointed to hear that. Even though she no longer cares for her mother's love, she still has hope that one day she might find her mother and ask her why she sold her away. "Did my mother have any debts that I need to clear? If so, then you are out of luck. As you can guess, I do not have any such funds." Said Khana in disappointment.
"Hahaha! Young lady, my master needs no gold. He has no grudges against your mother, either. So you need not worry." Replied Rue, laughing. He was satisfied by how rational the lady was thinking.
"If it is neither for gold nor grudges, why would anyone go through such efforts to find someone ?" Asked Khana straight forward.
"Lady, I do not know the exact reason, but my master greatly respects the person in this picture and wants to take you under his wings," Rue said while he showed it to Khana.
Khana was awestruck when she saw the battle goddess in that picture. She resembled herself a lot but was older. She could feel the pain the person In the picture is going through. After taking the picture and observing it for some time, a single teardrop came from her left eye as she concluded that the person in the picture most probably died in a battle.
"Young lady, I know this might be sudden for you. You can take your time to think over it; just write a letter to us when you are ready, and I will personally take you to meet my master." Said Rue with a soft tone. Even though Ang said to bring her at any cost, Rue wanted to give her time to think it over. Even though he knows what the answer is going to be.
Rue then left the guild, leaving the picture in Khana's hands.
"Leader, what do you think I should do?" Khana asked the guild leader with concern.
"I think there is nothing to fear. If it were a grudge, you would have been dead by now. It's most likely someone close to your mother. Moreover, you think we will let some random guy hurt a member of our guild?" Reassured the guild leader.
"And do not worry about being alone. He also offered us a contract to hire some of our members. So, they will be there to help you out if something happens." Added the guild leader.
Rue used This tactic to make Khana more compelled to visit the mansion. After that, he would use cultivation resources to lure her further.