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After a brief exchange, something shocking occurred.

The captain unsheathed his sword and strode toward the gruff-looking man.

"This parchment is fake! You\'re not a real mercenary, are you?" the captain bellowed.

"Damn it!" the gruff man cursed, ready to flee. But the captain closed the distance in a flash, his sword glinting under the sunlight.

When the light faded, a horrific sight appeared before everyone.

The gruff man was cleaved in two, dead before he hit the ground. The captain returned to his post with an unbothered look as a group swiftly removed the body.

Nox was stunned. He glanced at the others, including the coachman beside him, but none seemed as shocked as he was.

"I guess you\'re new around here?" the coachman remarked. "It happens all the time. There\'s always someone trying to sneak into the city with fake parchments, and when they get caught, they always try to run. But the only place they escape to is the afterlife."

\'Shit!\' Nox cried inwardly. The parchment in his hand was also fake.

Soon, the guards resumed their checks, and eventually, it was Nox\'s turn.

A tense few minutes later...

Phew! Nox exhaled in relief as the carriage rolled into the city. For a moment, he thought the guard had lingered too long on his parchment, and his heart had pounded wildly in his chest.

Several scenarios of battling the guards to escape had played in his head, but thankfully, it never came to that.

\'I guess those other guys\' parchments were super fake,\' Nox thought with a laugh as he silently took in the vast expanse of Coastal City. The roads were twice as wide as those in Frostburg and ten times wider than those in Cromwell Barony, crowded with luxurious carriages.

The buildings were also larger and taller, and the population seemed to have tripled...

\'And the cold.\' Nox shuddered, feeling as if someone had cranked the air conditioner to its highest setting.

The carriage came to a stop moments later in the city square, where several more carriages were parked.

"Unfortunately, as agreed, I won\'t be accompanying you back to Frostburg," Nox said as he jumped off the carriage, ready to depart.

The coachman felt a pang of regret as he watched Nox leave. The young Awakened had made a strong impression, and if possible, he would have liked to hire him for more journeys.

Unfortunately, the youth seemed like someone who had already made up his mind; the coachman felt no amount of convincing would work.

\'The fact that he told me to keep the money is even more puzzling,\' the coachman thought, a strange expression on his face. \'I\'m the one who hired him, but why do I feel like I\'ve been used?\'

The feeling was very strange.

Nox\'s next move was, of course, to find an inn. After all, he still had plenty of money from his bet with Master Parker.

\'Get an inn, then start searching for the beast,\' Nox thought. Though he could have asked Wendy for clues, he decided against it.

Wendy had already betrayed her classmates by revealing the location of the Elemental Beast. Besides, she needed the Elemental Crystal for her exams. Nox wouldn\'t quit because of her, but he would stop accepting her help. That way, he wouldn\'t feel selfish or indebted to her.

As he walked, shivering slightly, two familiar men suddenly appeared before him.

\'What are they doing here?\' Nox wondered, frowning. He recognized them as the same travelers who had boarded the carriage—the robust man standing over two meters tall.

What did they want? Nox recalled he hadn\'t offended them in any way; in fact, he hadn\'t even spoken to them, just made brief eye contact.

Had they discovered his goal and come to kill him? Nox wondered. It wasn\'t far-fetched; Wendy had warned him that those seeking the Elemental Crystal would do anything to get it.

He was ready to summon his dagger, which was becoming less and less durable due to all the fighting. The blue-haired youth, noticing this, quickly spoke with a smile.

"Kid, you\'re a mercenary, right?"

Nox hesitated. Were they not here to kill him?

"We mean no harm," the man continued, sensing Nox had been ready to summon his weapon. "After seeing your fighting skills, we decided to offer you a very lucrative deal."

"A very lucrative deal," he added, smiling as he emphasized the word \'lucrative.\'

Nox wanted to decline the deal without even hearing it, but for some reason, he decided to go along. "What deal?"

"You see, we have an important mission in this city, but we currently lack the manpower to complete it. We were thinking of hiring a few mercenaries to help us out, and we thought of you," the blue-haired youth said.

Nox raised an eyebrow. "What kind of mission?"

He already had an idea about the mission and was trying to calm his wildly beating heart. He needed to confirm it first.

The blue-haired man leaned in and whispered in Nox\'s ear: "Let\'s just say it\'s a high-risk, high-reward kind of job. We\'re willing to pay dozens of gold coins for the right people."

He then pulled back, his expression turning serious. "I\'ll tell you all about it, but first… would you like to become a temporary member of the Mavericks Guild?"

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**Author\'s Note:** I\'ve got a serious cold while writing this chapter, so I\'ll postpone the Power Stone Bonus Chapter for a bit, but knowing myself, I think I\'ll be fine again by tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who supports this book with their Golden Tickets, Power Stones, Gifts, and unlocking chapters. I really appreciate it...now I\'ll go and sleep.