Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 433 Disappearance, Association Commission

"Three-Legged Sea Dog" is one of the most popular taverns in the entire Barracuda Bay, attracting a large number of adventurers year-round.

Furthermore, the high mobility of adventurers makes this place an important location for intelligence gathering.

Not only the southern islands, but also major events that occur in the nearby provinces often accumulate here after a certain period of time.

As for its location, Suyu Bay, it is well-informed about all kinds of intelligence, big and small.

To put it bluntly, if the governor's wife loses a cat in the morning, by the afternoon there will probably be adventurers in the tavern stroking the cat's head and discussing how much reward they want.

As the owner of the Three-Legged Seal Tavern, Hera has paid particular attention to expanding her intelligence channels in recent years, making the most of the convenience of the tavern, a place with a high volume of people.

With such a commotion in the town, it was impossible for her not to have noticed.

Therefore, when Xia Nan asked Hera about his discovery on Cable Street, Hera showed no surprise whatsoever.

Without asking the two people at the counter for any information fee, she placed the glass she had just taken from the cabinet on the counter and took out a bottle of wine from the wine cabinet behind her that looked ordinary with only a label on the surface.

Pull out the cork and pour the wine.

"Crash..."

Like sunlight piercing through shallow seas, the pale green, clear liquor collided with the glass, splashing up snow-white foam.

A cool and refreshing aroma of wine gradually filled the air.

Hera pushed the glass filled with wine in front of the two of them, her eyebrows slightly raised.

“A baron.”

That's how she answered.

"To be precise, it was the baron's daughter who was possibly attacked yesterday, or some other special circumstance."

"The whereabouts are currently unknown. The Governor's Office is helping to search for him, and I have also received a related intelligence gathering mission. I expect the Adventurers' Guild will also have a commission available soon."

"A baron's daughter? In Fish Bay?" Xia Nan swirled the wine glass in his hand, his dark eyes reflecting the swaying, clear liquid.

Although "Baron" is almost at the bottom of the pyramid in the noble hierarchy of the Kingdom of Servia, for the vast majority of ordinary people living on this continent, he is still a great figure whom they are not even qualified to kiss, an incomparably noble "noble lord".

If the environment were placed in a desolate, uninhabited wilderness, there might be desperate criminals willing to take the risk for wealth.

But in the present-day Suyu Bay...

The groups of guards from the Governor's Mansion that Xia Nan saw on his way back were enough to prove the foolishness of such an action.

On the other hand, a baron without territory is really nothing in a major port city in the south of the kingdom, a stronghold of adventurers with an association located in Barracuda Bay.

After all, in most cases, if you can own a piece of land of your own, given the current level of transportation development and the speed of information dissemination, it means that you have become the "local emperor" in your own territory.

Aside from being slightly inferior in every aspect, the power they could enjoy in their territory was almost no different from that of a king.

However, barons like these who have titles but no actual land, when placed in a large city like Barcarolle, can only support themselves by holding official positions based on their noble status or by cooperating with businessmen, without the income from land.

To some extent, their income is far lower than that of wealthy businessmen, and they sometimes even go into debt to maintain a respectable image, falling into a rather precarious situation.

He's not exactly a big shot.

Of course, if it were really the case that a governor's daughter had gone missing, the entire saltwater area would probably be sealed off by now, with high-level professionals flying around patrolling.

It shouldn't have come to this, where they just sent some guards to question passersby.

"What exactly happened? Did the attackers take it?"

Xia Nan raised his glass and took a small sip.

"Tears of the Siren" doesn't have a high alcohol content, and its taste is more like a low-alcohol fruit wine.

It has a refreshing taste with a hint of crisp fruit aroma, and a sweet aftertaste on the tongue after swallowing.

Given Xia Nan's current physical condition, there is absolutely no possibility of him getting drunk from alcohol of this strength.

In fact, he now drinks this fruit wine as a beverage.

"Who knows?" Hera shrugged, her expression not particularly serious; clearly, the disappearance of a baron's daughter was not a big deal to her.

"I haven't received any ransom demands from the kidnappers yet, and the governor's office hasn't made any progress after half a morning."

"It might not have been a kidnapping at all. Perhaps the baron's daughter eloped with her sweetheart on her own initiative. After all, things like this have happened before."

Xia Nan nodded slightly and secretly noted down this information.

But his mind kept drifting back to the thugs he'd encountered at the salmon roe grocery store.

It shouldn't be that bad, right?
Although he found the other party's behavior increasingly suspicious, based on his observations, the cowardly appearance of those thugs suggested they were only capable of petty theft and other despicable acts, and were clearly not the kind of vicious criminals who would dare to attack nobles.

Xia Nan raised his glass again, took a sip, and turned to ask the halfling beside him for his opinion.

Looking at him, the short man was as always, holding a wine glass with both hands, adjusting the angle, seemingly completely oblivious to Xia Nan and Hera's chatter, and was intently studying the refraction of sunlight through the glass onto the crystal-clear wine.

Forget it...

Xia Nan withdrew his gaze, just about to ask Hera about the progress of the "Moonlit Feast" participation channels that had been introduced to him.

The tavern door to the side and rear was suddenly pushed open.

I subconsciously turned my head and saw a familiar tall figure.

A middle-aged woman with reddish-brown hair in a bun at the back of her head, wearing the uniform of an Adventurers' Guild staff member.

He looked like he had run all the way from the association, his hair sticking to his cheeks with sweat, panting heavily, his gray-blue eyes, like sea mist, scanning the tavern lobby as if searching for something.

His gaze met Xia Nan's, who was sitting at the bar.

The woman's eyes suddenly paused, and she forced a smile as she walked towards Xia Nan, panting.

"Mar?"

Feeling surprised, Xia Nan greeted the woman who was walking towards him.

This association staff member named "Mar" was the same person who greeted him when he first came to the Barracuda Bay Adventurers' Association.

Because of his overly enthusiastic and attentive behavior, Xia Nan had several collaborations with him afterward. The "Azure Blade" was consigned through him, and in a way, he was also Xia Nan's dedicated receptionist in Suckerfish Bay.

Right now, the other party has come to the Three-Legged Sea Dog Tavern to find him personally, so there are probably only two things to discuss.

1. The mysterious buyer of the [Tidal Surge Lure Pole] has finally returned to Barracuda Bay. She came to inform me that the transaction is about to take place.

2. Someone offered a price for the [Training Staff] that I consigned to the Adventurers' Guild, but I need to come in person to discuss it.

Just as Xia Nan had guessed, Mar came to the tavern specifically for the equipment he had consigned in the guild.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, Mr. Xia Nan." The lady with healthy, honey-colored skin and harmonious, pleasing features showed apology.

The movement was very natural; he wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.

"We just received a quote for the item you consigned with the association a couple of days ago, and the buyer happens to be an adventurer from Barracuda Bay."

"He seemed quite anxious, asking if we could reach a deal as soon as possible and hoping to meet with the seller in person."

"That's why I came to ask for your opinion."

“Of course!” Mar said enthusiastically, using the service language of a receptionist, showing that she was thinking of Xia Nan’s best interests. “If you don’t want to do business with the other party in person, you certainly don’t need to come out. We can handle the negotiations on our end.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Nan simply waved his hand.

He nodded to Alton and Hera beside him and drank the last bit of "Siren's Tears" in his glass.

"lead the way."

……

……

Although Xia Nan is not particularly short of money right now, his net worth of over two thousand gold coins is almost the highest he has ever been since he transmigrated to this world.

However, the anticipated future expenditures are a rather large figure.

The deposit for the two enchanted items hasn't even been paid yet, let alone the pirate ship's overhaul or the recruitment of sailors...

He certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity to make more money.

Based on his understanding of adventurers and guilds in this world, when the transaction process progresses to face-to-face negotiation, it means that the buyer is quite interested in the items you are selling and is willing to offer a relatively high price.

As long as normal communication is maintained during the meeting, a deal can be reached immediately, unlike with [Azure Blade] where it takes days and nights until the price stops rising.

【Practice Staff】Although it's just a white-grade item, it's still a spellcasting type of equipment, so it's more expensive than regular equipment.

Considering that the [Fishbone Snail] sold for nearly 300 gold at "Pearl Spinning", even if the [Practice Staff] doesn't have that kind of collectible value, it should definitely be worth over 200 gold.

It was absolutely worth it for Xia Nan to personally make the trip to the association to communicate with the buyers.

She was in a hurry on the way back, and compared to her enthusiastic manner when she arrived, she was much quieter and knew her place, focusing only on leading the way.

In fact, under normal circumstances, she doesn't need to come to the tavern in person; there are many other ways to deliver messages.

With his keen senses, Xia Nan could tell that the other person was genuinely panting and sweating.

However, the receptionist's actions and expressions during their conversation just now carried a subtle, performative quality.

It's a subtle, harmless trick.

Xia Nan didn't mind.

He knew that the other party's actions were essentially aimed at gaining his favor, strengthening his connection with the association, and deepening their relationship.

His intentions were not bad, and in practice, he did indeed greatly reduce wasted time and improve transaction efficiency because of Mar's enthusiastic actions.

It's a win-win situation.

They both knew what was going on, and Xia Nan wasn't so tactless as to point it out; she even thanked the other person a couple of times.

The tavern and the Adventurers' Guild were not too far apart, and it didn't take Xia Nan long to arrive at Silver Anchor Street in the Cormorant District.

Squeezing through the crowded entrance, the two entered the lobby through the entrance of the Fish Bay Association branch, which resembled a seaside reef.

It was as lively as ever.

Orcs, dwarves, elves, humans... all sorts of adventurers came and went, and as usual, many adventure teams were gathered around the quest board that occupied the entire wall.

Excuse me, could you please make way?

A tall male staff member in the association's uniform called out loudly to the adventurers who were pushing their way through.

Reaching the front of the crowd, I stood on tiptoe and slammed the newly submitted quest onto the task panel, making a crisp "smack" sound.

Xia Nan's gaze instinctively followed the direction of the sound, and his exceptional eyesight, a result of his superior physical abilities, allowed him to clearly see the commission paper that had just been posted on the task board, even though he was standing outside the crowd:
……

Task ID: 7236
[Type]: Bounty
【award】:
500 gold (for the person who provides accurate information);

Further leads can be discussed in person.

[Task Summary]:
Miss Ellie, daughter of Baron Faro from the White Cliffs District, was allegedly attacked by a group of thugs on the afternoon of November 8, 1020 (Arcane Calendar), and is currently missing.

For detailed information, please contact the association staff. Any adventurer who submits information about Miss Ellie or the whereabouts of the villains will receive a reward of 500 gold coins upon verification.

[Time Limit]: None

[Additional Information]: (Portrait of Miss Ellie)

……

Perhaps to ensure that as many adventurers as possible could see the quest, Baron Faro did not choose to register his quest on the first basement floor of the guild, even though the quest reward was already at the level of a professional-grade quest, but instead placed it directly in the lobby.

The disappearance of his daughter undoubtedly drove the baron to desperation, prompting him to pay a high price to commission adventurers to gather intelligence.

The reward of 500 gold for a single piece of accurate information drove the low-level adventurers who were watching closely below into a frenzy almost the instant the quest was posted on the quest wall.

The crowd gathered below fell silent for a moment, then suddenly erupted into a frenzy.

Those who were slow to react were still confirming the authenticity of the commission, while the slightly quicker ones had already called their teammates to rush to the front desk to obtain detailed information.

Xia Nan didn't take it seriously at first, just thinking that Hera was right after all, as the relevant request was posted on the association's task wall as soon as she finished speaking.

Until he saw the portrait of the baron's daughter that had been added to the commission.

"Wait! This is..."

The image on the portrait matched the face in his memory, and the titles "Baron" and "Miss Ellie" from the half-elf Selianaine resurfaced in his mind.

A strange expression suddenly appeared on Xia Nan's face.

The baron's daughter who went missing yesterday afternoon seems to be the same noblewoman he met at the "Pearl Spinning" tailor shop on the day he returned to Suckerfish Bay from Cliff Island.

I remember that she and her father were ordering a dress at the time, and I never expected that this would happen just a few days later.

"Mr. Xia Nan, over here!"

Nearby, the shouts from receptionist Mar brought Xia Nan back to her senses.

With the details of the commission memorized, he turned around and walked towards the entrance to the association's basement level.

(End of this chapter)