I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 123 The Mask of Deception
The sudden kiss sent the paladin's brain into a daze.

Their lips met, and the warm embrace gave the war-stricken girl a unique sense of security. This made her forget to refuse and completely immersed in the joy of surviving, even her waist tensed up unconsciously.

It took the girl a while to realize something was wrong.

This seems like something only couples can do.
Thinking of this, the paladin snorted, but before she could do anything, DuPont had already released her, catching his breath: "Calmed down?"

"Huh?" The paladin blinked blankly, not quite following DuPont's train of thought. "What do you mean?"

“Calm down and get to work. Clean up the spoils, burn these corpses. It’s getting hot now, and if we don’t do this, there could be an outbreak of infectious diseases.” DuPont patted her armor and helped her up. “These contract missions are really bizarre. We’ve been tricked today.”

"Huh??" Seeing DuPont's businesslike expression, Deva stood up, and only after seeing the human corpse did she realize what had happened: "What is this?"

“That goblin shaman you were talking about earlier.” DuPont said, taking off his spatial bag, rummaging around, and pulling out a silver mage badge: “Goodness, he’s a level 6 mage, and he actually came here to be a chieftain.”

Although Deva was inexperienced, she figured out the reason after seeing the scene: "You mean this guy used magic to disguise himself as a goblin?? Why would he do that? Does he like this smelly place?"

“Remember that ranger who brought us here? Actually, he wasn’t any better.” DuPont took out an arrow and showed off his pierced robe: “He probably conspired with this guy to lure adventurers to execute the contract, and then when the adventurers arrived, he worked with the monsters to kill them and steal their treasure.”

Hearing this, Deva's eyes widened in disbelief: "No way, how could there be such a bad person?"

"Do you remember what this young wanderer said when we went up the mountain? He said he was terrible at hunting and could only make a living by hunting. But he actually had a space bag containing the silver coins I gave him. You know, even the cheapest space bag costs 2500 gold. How could he possibly save up such an expensive luxury item by just hunting or taking on some guide missions?"

DuPont said, taking out a magical giant axe: "Does this look familiar? It seems to be the weapon of the barbarian we encountered during the conflict last week. He was most likely tricked into coming here to cooperate with this mage in leading this group of goblins and trolls to ambush and kill us. He died here without a trace, and it's probably hard to even find any information about him."

Hearing this, Deva recalled the previous details and felt a chill run down her spine. If DuPont hadn't noticed early on, and if the two of them hadn't been quite skilled, they probably would have been in real trouble today: "These ordinary magical items are only worth a few hundred gold, and ordinary space bags are only worth a little over 2000. Is it really worth killing someone for these things?"

DuPont was speechless upon hearing this. This girl, who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, had never seen a poor person before: "There have been many murders and robberies since ancient times. After all, not everyone is willing to do business honestly or take on missions to make money. You should have seen a lot of this when you were a guard."

“It’s true that some people will kill for a small conflict and a few silver coins, but these people are adventurers.” Deva kicked the mage’s still-warm corpse, who was still wearing magical equipment. “If we honestly take on quests like we did today, we could earn a thousand or eight hundred gold coins. Why do something like this against our conscience?”

"Not everyone has a conscience. Hunting monsters, especially creatures like trolls, is quite risky. Although most adventurers are skilled, they are not very effective against ambushes filled with malice. After all, the monsters are less intelligent, while their opponents are their own kind, which makes all the difference."

"However, these two guys are quite lucky. They actually have masks that can transform for 24 hours. Although they are a bit clumsy, they can still fool low-intelligence monsters like goblins and trolls. With their sudden defection, few people can defend against them. Fortunately, I had arranged for my magical pets to monitor the area early on. They discovered that this guy hadn't come down the mountain and had brought those trolls with him. They immediately realized something was wrong."

DuPont then removed the other man's robe. Although he had poked a hole in it, it could be repaired with money. (Merging Robe)
Quality: Rare

Attribute 1, Concealment: Increases stealth and stealth skills by 5 points when worn.

Attribute 2, Fusion: Increases your performance and intimidation skills by five points.

Value: 800 gold coins
Deception Mask
Quality: Cherish

Attribute 1, Deception: The wearer can change their appearance to resemble other creatures, with the effect of "Disguise". The caster's level is equal to the wearer's caster level, and creatures that were originally familiar or friendly can see the wearer's original appearance.

Attribute 2, Eloquence: Automatically grants the Eloquence skill upon wearing.

Wearing Requirements: Chaos Faction

Value: 3000 gold coins
Note: Apart from the mask's somewhat ugly design, this magical item is incredibly effective, but it might be difficult to deceive someone who is on guard.

"..." Deva sighed after hearing this: "So what do we do now?"

“The mission still needs to be done. After all, even without trolls, who pose a threat to ordinary people, we still need to eliminate them.” DuPont said, tossing out four troll heads: “Take these and hand them in when you get back. That way, no one will dare to ignore your prestige as the captain of the guard.”

Looking at the several ugly heads with clean cuts and burn marks, Deva looked disgusted, but then she looked at DuPont with some surprise: "Did you kill all of these?"

“With these guys on guard, killing them isn’t too difficult. This guy died the worst. He stepped on two bear traps and was half-crippled. He was also stomped on several times by his accomplices, and then I hit him with a fireball and he was half-dead.” DuPont said, pointing to the huge head on the ground. “Two fireball scrolls cost me 200 gold, and I almost used up all my spell slots. Luckily, I had two magical items for protection, otherwise it would have been really hard to defend myself.”

However, Deva was thinking about something else: "This swordsmanship is quite good, and this cut... So it really was you who did what happened in White Stone City before?"

“That’s right, those gangsters tried to steal my spatial bag. Were I supposed to just hand it over? It was a gift from the church.” DuPont readily admitted, “What, are you going to arrest me?”

“If you acted in self-defense, then there’s naturally no problem.” Deva thought for a moment, but was still a little unhappy: “But you could have told me then, why did you lie to me?”

(End of this chapter)