My job list is full of alien girls.

Chapter 91 Do you really enjoy crawling through sewers that much?

Da da da—

The long road through the forest slowly unfolds, and the dilapidated outline of Thornwood Village behind us gradually disappears into the vast forest. The wheels roll over fallen leaves and gravel, moving forward steadily.

The daylight was still bright, and the afternoon sun was rendered exceptionally soft by the perpetually thin gray mist of Misty City. From afar, one could see the flow of people coming and going under the city gate, with merchants, mercenaries, and travelers coming and going in an endless stream, and the noise could be heard from a great distance.

"Why are there so many people here all of a sudden?" Alina wondered in her consciousness space.

The city gates are completely different now than they used to be.

Large numbers of adventurers and itinerant vendors gathered on both sides of the main road into the city. The roadside was filled with simple stalls, and the shelves were piled high with crude weapons, cheap leather armor, exorcising herbs, and materials such as monster claws and scales that had just been dismantled, which they loudly hawked.

Even at this time, many small adventure groups were still rushing in and out of the city gates, carrying swords and weapons, each one racing against time, afraid of missing out on the high bounties from those monsters.

"Normally there are people selling goods along the way at this time of day—but there are definitely more people than usual today," Rhodes explained after glancing around.

"Wasn't it said that monsters were rampant and disasters were frequent?" Hearing this, Alina frowned. "Why are there more and more people?"

"Perhaps the benefits of the monsters' unrest outweigh the dangers, which has driven more people to Misty City—" Rhodes suddenly pondered, stroking his chin.

"However, wouldn't this indirectly boost the economic development of Mist City?"

Alina was speechless, realizing she couldn't understand his thought process, and didn't respond.

Of course, among the crowds were not only these jubilant merchants and adventurers, but also some ragged, fearful villagers with their families and simple belongings, hurrying into the city. They were probably refugees from the surrounding villages who had been affected by the disaster.

One side is restless, the other sorrowful; they coexist glaringly on the same road.

"Let's go to the Adventurers' Guild first." Milan glanced at the scene outside the window from inside the carriage, then called out to Rhodes and Don Quixote outside.

Rhodes nodded, signaling Don Quixote to slow down.

"Ritsu"

Don Quixote beside him steadily reined in the horse and slowly drove the carriage through the city gate, following the flow of people entering the city, heading straight for the Adventurers' Guild.

With monster bounties skyrocketing, the Adventurers' Guild's main hall was bustling with activity as countless adventurers gathered around the counter, handing over quests and exchanging bounties with their loot.

"Could this carriage be—?"

The Adventurers' Guild's receptionist immediately recognized Milan and her group, whom the vice president had specifically mentioned. Not daring to be negligent, she led them upstairs and sent someone to quickly inform them of their return.

As the group entered the private room, they found it already stocked with various desserts and snacks, and several bottles of jewel-like wines on the table.

"call----"

Just as Milan slumped into the sofa, before she could even reach for the drinks laid out on the table, the guild's vice president broke free from his busy work and appeared at the door of the private room.

"Lord Milan, and everyone else, you must be tired from your journey—uh?" Before he could finish his polite words, he heard a "pop."

The corks of all the bottles on the table popped off in mid-air, and the aroma of the mixed liquors instantly filled the entire room.

"Wait a minute, I'm a little thirsty."

Milan waved at him, picked up the bottle that looked most appealing, tilted her head back and gulped down more than half of it. The cool, mellow liquor slid down her throat, and her tense nerves, which had been running around for days, finally relaxed a little. She let out a long sigh of relief.

"Forehead----"

The polite words he was about to say were stuck in his throat. The vice president looked at the half-empty wine bottle with a pain in his heart, and then at Milan, whose expression had relaxed considerably. He was speechless for a moment.

Milan casually placed the empty wine bottle on the table and looked up at him.

The vice president quickly suppressed his surprise and cautiously inquired, "You all returned much faster than expected this time. Since you came in such a hurry, you must have obtained some clues?"

"Of course, and it's an important clue." Milan didn't elaborate further, succinctly recounting his experience.

Although she spoke very briefly and simply, the sheer volume of information still left the vice president speechless.

Before the stunned vice president could process the information, Milan quickly relayed her own thoughts: "Simply put, we suspect that the source of this monster disturbance is the loosening of the mysterious seal in the Misty Forest."

"It is currently known that an ancient mage family once existed in Misty City. Many years ago, they set up a seal here to suppress a powerful being, and were even cursed as a result, leading to their own decline and demise."

"The seal is now constantly loosening, and some kind of power is leaking out, polluting the entire forest and causing a large number of monsters to multiply. There have even been mutations, such as that two-headed ogre that knows magic."

"The recent attacks on various villages and the collective agitation of monsters should all stem from this. The ogres in the mines near Thornwood Village and the abnormalities on Lily are probably derivative disasters caused by the leakage of sealed power."

"Did you understand?"

Faced with Milan's rapid-fire speech and her serious, even terrifying, expression, the vice president, while marveling at the terrifying power of the mage's knowledge transmission, hurriedly replied, "Uh—I understand."

Although there is still a lot of information that needs to be sorted out, he has always been good at grasping the key points.

"In short, we still need to find clues about that mage family you mentioned earlier, right?"

"right."

"I see—"

The vice president maintained a polite and gentle demeanor on the surface, but inwardly he was starting to have doubts.

Milan, being an outsider from the Arcane Academy, had repeatedly requested the guild to access the ancient books and archives related to local ancient mages. Now, having just returned from the disaster-stricken village, she immediately threw out the excuse of a sealed and lost mage family, which perfectly matched her long-held desire to access the archived scrolls.

He secretly speculated that the Arcane Society had always coveted the magical heritage and treasures left behind by ancient mages in various places. This woman in front of him was clearly using the investigation into the source of the monster disturbance as a pretext to trick the guild into continuing to search for rare information for her, in order to use the guild to excavate the remnants of that mage family.

But he would never dare to say it out loud.

The Arcane Society has a deep foundation and is not something that a local adventurers' guild can easily offend. In addition, with the monster calamity escalating, the hidden dangers mentioned by the other party are indeed unavoidable. He could only suppress his doubts and adopt a cooperative and tactful attitude.

"So that's how it is. The clues have connected. It seems Lord Milan was indeed a prophet."

The vice president forced a gentle smile, his words laced with evasion, "Actually—when you requested the relevant information several times before, I already had someone search through all the archived information in the guild's archives—"

"But the existing archives contain no record of this ancient mage family you mentioned, nor have they found any record of any seal."

Milan raised an eyebrow, but surprisingly did not fly into a rage; instead, he seemed to have expected it.

After all, the "evil spirit" that possessed Lily earlier had already mentioned that the other party's family deliberately erased information to prevent their descendants from going astray and wanted to break the seal.

She didn't expect the vice president to find many clues.

Seeing that Milan showed no anger or reprimand, and appeared calm as if she had expected it, the vice president felt a sudden unease and began to suspect something.

Although Milan had only been in Misty City for a short time, he quickly realized how difficult this mage was to deal with.

Even if she hadn't done her job properly, she would have shown displeasure, given her personality. But today she was unusually calm. Could it be that she already had other connections and that her words just now were just a formality?

But he dared not delve into it and could only maintain a polite and courteous smile.

"Although we haven't found any clues about that mage family yet, if Lord Milan needs anything else, please let me know—I will do my best to get it for you."

"Sure, I need some better tools to study this."

Milan nodded slightly, and without any politeness, followed his pleasantries, casually taking out a large, dark red magic core from her pocket and placing it on the wooden table.

That was the core that remained after the two-headed ogre's corpse was burned.

As soon as the magic core landed on the table, the vice president immediately narrowed his eyes, sensing a vast and complex energy emanating from it.

"This is the magic core of that two-headed ogre. We suspect that its mutation is related to the power leaking from the seal, and it is a key research sample."

Milan turned to the side and gestured with his chin toward Rod, who was standing against the wall. "By the way, let our vice president take a look at the victim."

Upon hearing the sound, Rhodes turned slightly to the side, loosening the cloak that had been draped over his body, revealing the little girl who had been hidden in the shadows to the light.

Half of a child's soft, white face is paired with a wolf's face covered in gray fur, vertical pupils that gleam faintly, drooping animal ears, and a fluffy, soft gray tail hidden behind it, making it look both eerie and terrifying.

"Um?!"

The vice president's mind was preoccupied with clues about the ancient mage family and the underground seal. Milan had only casually mentioned rescuing a surviving child, and under the onslaught of information, he hadn't taken it to heart at all.

He never expected that under Rhodes's wide cloak was such a half-human, half-beast monster, and that he hadn't noticed it at all after it had been inside for so long.

When his gaze met Lily's wolf-like half of her face, he froze, and a thin layer of sweat suddenly broke out on his back.

The composed and smooth smile on his face froze instantly, and he could hardly hide the astonishment in his eyes.

Despite his best efforts to remain calm, he couldn't help but scrutinize Lily from top to bottom repeatedly.

His gaze fell on her canine teeth that blended seamlessly with her human face, and her wolf-like eyes that gleamed with an eerie light. His voice tightened slightly: "This...this child—could it also be caused by the leakage of that seal?"

Lily noticed his scrutinizing gaze, her whole body trembled slightly, and she hurriedly gripped the hem of Rhodes's clothes, quickly shrinking half of her body back into the side of Rhodes's cloak, refusing to show her face again.

Seeing that the vice president had completely abandoned his perfunctory and casual attitude and his expression was solemn and tense, a hint of satisfaction flashed in Milan's eyes, and she slowly nodded: "That's right, her name is Lily. She is the only survivor of the two-headed ogre experiment. She was haphazardly modified by the other party with that kind of power, which is why she became like this."

Seeing that the vice president had almost digested the information, she went straight to the point and stated her request: "Therefore, I need the guild to allocate a complete set of high-level alchemy equipment to be placed at my residence."

"Firstly, we need to analyze the power composition of this cursed magic core to find the source of the leaked power from the seal;"

"Secondly, we will refine purification potions to try to suppress and resolve the abnormality in Lily's body."

"This is a small matter; it shouldn't be a problem for the guild, right?"

The vice president snapped out of his daze, quickly suppressed his shock, and weighed the pros and cons in his mind.

With the magic core and the beast-like child right before him, it was enough to prove that Milan's claim about the seal's hidden dangers was not fabricated out of thin air. Any further evasion would only completely offend the Arcane Academy. He immediately agreed: "Leave the alchemy equipment and materials to me. I will arrange for craftsmen and supplies to be delivered to the mage tower today, without delaying Lord Milan's research progress."

"As for that mage family, although there are still no clues about this matter, it concerns the safety of the entire Misty Forest, and I will never let it go."

He patted his chest, striking a cooperative pose: "I'll arrange for people to go around the old shops and retired adventurers in the city to inquire about anything related to ancient mages, underground seals, rumors, manuscripts, and oral histories, and collect and organize them all."

"If you, Lord Milan, have any needs, just ask. I will do my best to help."

As soon as the vice president finished speaking, Milan glanced at the people beside her and said calmly, "Since the guild is cooperating so well, please feel free to speak your mind if you need anything. There's no need to hold back."

Don Quixote and Susanna didn't have many needs; they just wanted simple, minor repairs on their equipment.

The vice president took notes one by one, readily agreed, and turned to look at Rhodes, who remained silent.

"Is there anything you need, Hero?"

Milan raised his hand and gently nudged Rod's arm, his eyes conveying a message that he shouldn't be reserved and could ask for whatever he wanted.

After a moment of thought, Rhodes looked up at the vice president and said, "I want a complete map of the entire Misty City, as well as blueprints of the city's sewers."

Upon hearing this, Milan was taken aback and looked at him with some confusion.

Why doesn't this guy take the opportunity to ask for something in return, instead of thinking about the sewers?

Does this guy really enjoy crawling into that sewer?

"I was thinking," Rhodes explained, sensing Milan's confusion, "that since Misty City might have been built by that mage family—could a part of the seal be inside the city?"

Rhodes's guess was certainly not a whim.

Considering the impact of the leaked energy from the seal, whether it was the original goblin leader, Bill and Lily, the experimental subjects of the two-headed ogre, or the monster itself, it possessed terrifying vitality and regenerative ability, and could still fight even after suffering multiple fatal wounds.

Since Aphrodite had been circling around the city for the "resurrection spell," and even once indicated that she was just one step away from completing it.

That would mean that such energy inherently exists within the City of Lost Bridges, and may even have always been around them—

They just haven't discovered it yet.