"Caila!"

Aurora rushed to the stage the moment she fell, picking her up and getting off the stage quickly.

"Claudia!"

Even before Aurora beckoned her, Claudia had come to her side and reached out to hold Caila's hand. A faint light enveloped the pink-haired girl's small body, and her pale complexion gradually regained its color. It took a long time before Claudia withdrew her hand and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry too much, Captain. Caila is just exhausted... She will wake up after a short rest."

"Well, thank you, Claudia."

Aurora carried Caila in her arms in the princess' carry, went straight to the second floor, and kicked open the door of Henrick's office again.

"!!!"

Henrick was still comfortably enjoying the freshly brewed black tea when suddenly the loud bang made him startled, and the black tea in his hand spilled all over the desk.

"Which bastard is kicking my door again!"

Henrick was about to get mad when he saw Aurora walking in with a girl in her arms and walking straight to the sofa beside him without even sparing him a single glance, laying Calia down gently on the sofa.

"It's you again, you wild girl! I've told you a few times not to kick the door! By the way, where did you abduct that beastfolk girl?"

"She is my companion, and I brought her here to participate in the mercenary qualification certification today."

"That's it." Henrick was silent for a while. "Lass, there is something that I don't know if I should say it or not?"

"Just say it if you want to say it, old man. Don't be such a fuss."

Aurora sat in front of him and grabbed the teapot on the table, unceremoniously pouring out one cup for herself.

"Including this girl, your mercenary's members are all beautiful girls, and your relationship with them seems not ordinary." Henrick picked up a rag beside him to wipe off the tea on the table, and after a while he lifted her head and finally spoke out his question. "Tell me honestly, do you want to build a mercenary group or a harem?!"

"Pffft!" Aurora spat out a mouthful of the hot tea she just sipped. After wiping out the tea stain from the corner of her mouth, she scowled, glaring at Henrick angrily. "What nonsense are you talking about, old man?! Am I that kind of person in your eyes? Besides, I'm a girl myself; how can I build a harem of women?"

"Hmmph!" The old man snorted lightly and sneered, "What about it? Basically, most of the mercenaries are all weirdos with peculiar quirks. It's not like I haven't seen a woman with women harem before."

Aurora squinted her eyes as if asking whether what he said was true, and even thinking about it for a split second.

Sure, Claudia and Flamme were a real stunner, and even though it was just a vague feeling, she was somewhat aware that she found women were generally more attractive than men in her eyes, and even more so the beauties around her. But could she really do that? Did she really deserve such an affection and love from someone else? After all she was...

Her eyes dimmed as she thought how alien a word "love" to her, after most of her live unloved by even the people who should be the closest to her, she found that word frightened her.

Sighing, she took a sip of her tea to wash away the complicated thought in her mind, placed the empty teacup on the desk and looked at Henrick calmly.

"Old man, I have always worked hard for the development of our mercenary group, I can assure you of this."

"I hope that true..." Henrick looked at her for a long time and finally sighed. After a sip of tea, his expression gradually turned solemn, "Is it true that the Raging Tempest Mercenary Group ambushed you last night?"

"Yes." Aurora nodded directly, "Old man, you won't say something to stop our conflict, and you will make an arrangement about it, will you?"

"You don't have the strength to stand against them now." Henrick's words almost acquiesced to Aurora's statement. "Also... we don't want anything to happen that will weaken the overall strength of our Mercenary Association at this time, do you understand?"

At this time?

Aurora caught the point of Henrick's words at once. Could it be that Henrick noticed something?

If she guessed correctly... Maybe she could take this opportunity to start implementing her plan. With that thought, the corners of Aurora's mouth couldn't help but rise slightly.

"What's with that gross smile?! It pisses me off!"

Henrick, who was still talking earnestly with Aurora, saw that the brat in front of him was actually giggling, and suddenly became angry.

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"I'm not laughing at you, old man."

"Then what are you laughing at?!"

Henrick slapped the table and glared at Aurora, unamused. He was clearly talking about a very serious matter! Shouldn't you maintain a bit of dignity and listen to him carefully?!

"I just thought of a happy thing." Aurora shrugged.

"And what's that?"

"There are more beautiful girls in my mercenary group now."

"Asshole!"

Henrick almost couldn't resist punching her in the face right now. How could there be such an unbridled girl in this world? If it weren't for her noble status as a baronnete, Henrick felt that he would have to beat her down hard to be calming down.

"Okay, I won't fool around anymore." Seeing that Henrick was about to explode, Aurora immediately changed the subject, saying, "You must've investigated about my situation before, and you must've heard that I'd been gravely injured before I met with Gard's mercenary group before, right?"

"It was indeed mentioned in Gard's report, so what do you want to say?" Henrick couldn't help but wonder why she suddenly brought up this matter.

"Umm… how to say it… my injury might be related to your recent troubles, old man." Aurora leaned forward, saying it in a hushed tone.

"This brat!"

Henrick suddenly felt a sense of dejavu, as if some bad memory had reappeared. Wasn't this how this sly brat cheated him for the first time!

"What trouble? I'm eating and sleeping well all this time!" Henrick resolutely denied.

"Oh, my? It seems that I made a mistake." Aurora leaned back and slumped lazily on the chair, her hands folded in the back in a carefree manner. "Just pretend that I didn't say anything then."

Seeing that Aurora was acting as if she didn't care at all, Henrick couldn't help but pull his hair in frustration. It was always like this. When she acted like this, it meant that she might know more than he'd expected.

Last time, it was the earl's daughter's strange illness that she easily solved when other people were basically helpless. Then what about this time? Could it be that what she encountered was really related to the so-called bad premonition that the honorable person sensed?

Henrick fell into silence, not knowing what the best course of action was. He had a nagging feeling that big things would happen if he ignored this girl, but at the same time, something troublesome would occur once he fell into this girl's palm.

"Tell me, what's going on."

Henrick heaved a long sigh before deciding to hear her out. Even if he basically threw himself into the pit that Aurora dug for him, it was more important to find out more about the situation that concerned the honorable person.

"Since you are so interested, old man, I won't hide it anymore." Aurora poured a cup of hot tea and narrowed the distance between her and Henrick. "The next thing I say is very important, it might concern the safety of our town!"

Henrick froze; his eyes were shaken slightly.

"Spill out! What's going on?"

"Actually, when I was passing by that day, I happened to come across two men in black robes conversing, saying that they were going to attack the caravans passing through our town. Old man, you should know what it would be like if the caravans were attacked."

Henrick's face suddenly became serious. The circulation of caravans in this town almost provided Brigitt City with nearly 15% of the annual tax revenue. If the caravans were attacked, the consequences would be disastrous.

"Could this be what that honorable person is worried about?" Henrick tapped his fingers on the table. If what Aurora said was true, then he had to act immediately. "Carry on."

"Later, when I was trying to find more about it, I was accidentally discovered by one of them. He immediately summoned a gigantic black snake and attacked me. Although I held on for a long time, I finally got caught due to exhaustion. The tail of the black snake slammed into my chest and flung me off, and before I lost consciousness, I seemed to vaguely hear them talking about setting an ambush in the south."

"Gigantic Black Snake... the south... setting up ambush?"

Henrick carefully figured out the key words in Aurora's words. After she said the specific things that happened and combined them with the information reported by Gard, many of the other parties were in line with each other.

Therefore, Aurora's words were extremely credible!

But what was the meaning of setting up an ambush in the south?

Henrick fell into deep thought, and by chance he glanced at the map of Rosewood Town hanging on the wall and understood it instantly.

"So, that's the case!"

He stood up and walked to the map. There was a small forest about half a day away from the south exit of Rosewood Town. The caravan's travel route was most likely going to pass through this forest.

Logically, the two black-robed men mentioned by Aurora chose this place as an ambush spot.

"Lass, do you still remember the approximate level of their strength?"

"Probably a two-ring summoners." Aurora frowned, pretending to struggle to remember.

"Two-ring summoners..." Henrick nodded and already had a plan in his mind, "I'll investigate it. If what you said is true, I will give credit to your mercenary group on behalf of the association after the matter is resolved."

"Well, that's great. I'll thank you, old man, for your generosity in advance." Aurora sat down and drank tea from her teacup in satisfaction.

It's all progressing according to the plan… Seeing that Henrick had already taken the bait, the corners of her mouth, hidden behind the teacup, were involuntarily raised.

About ten minutes later, a soft groan sounded in the room. Caila opened her eyes and sat up slowly. She looked blankly at the strange rooms around her, and finally her eyes fell on Aurora, who was drinking tea not far away.

"Masteeer~!"

Caila flew over and almost hung on Aurora's body.

"Master, I'm sorry, nyaa! I failed, nyaa..." Caila looked pitiful with tears in her eyes, completely different from when she was fighting Simi on the test stand.

"Pfft! Master????"

This time it was Henrick's turn to spit out the tea. His eyes widened, nearly popping out of their sockets.

Are you sure you're not really building a harem? This little girl even calls you "Master"! Are you sure you engage in a legal mercenary activity?!?

Aurora ignored Henrick's condemning gaze and stretched her hands to give Caila a pat on the head. Even if she couldn't pass the certification this time, Aurora couldn't blame her. After all, the negative buff from her "sickly" status was really terrible.

But in general, she was quite satisfied with her performance. The previous battle had confirmed her thoughts. Sure enough, Caila was more suitable as Glory's "trump card". The enemy would overlook her cute appearance as harmless, but because of that, they would die under her swords.

"Since Caila is awake, I won't bother you any longer, old man. I'll take my leave first." Aurora put down her teacup and walked out. Caila curtsied at Henrick and quickly followed.

"Oh, it's a pity..." Henrick sighed slightly. She was a polite and good girl, but it was just a pity that she was already in Aurora's clutch. "Forget it, let's settle this matter as soon as possible."

Henrick took out a piece of paper from the drawer, picked up a pen, and wrote the reward notice on it. He had to entrust a powerful mercenary group to help investigate and deal with this matter.

"Hehe..." Aurora, who was walking down the stairs, looked back in the direction of Henrick's office, and a strange smile appeared on the corner of her mouth again. "This time, I want to see how you welcome this great gift..."