Finally, we have reached Billgaw City and our escort Request with Ather is finally completed.

I cleared my throat, “So…I guess she’s officially part of our party now. Everyone, this is Ather, she’s a Comissar Off-Worlder. Ather, this is my party. From the left you have Katsuki, Odeta, Lisa, Delmare and Emilia.”

“Temporary party member,” Emilia quickly added after I gave the introduction.

She really wants to make sure everyone knows that Ather is only here temporarily huh…

Ather didn’t even comment nor did she acknowledge the other girls since she was busy sketching me instead.

Odeta tilted her head at me, “Is she going to follow us all the way to the Academy?”

I nodded, “That’s the plan, yes… I believe she wants to paint the Academy.”

Ather nodded, “That goes without saying. Actual floating islands in this World? Why would I miss something like that?”

That is true. I also want to go there to see the floating islands too.

My Amrap shrugged, “At least she knows how to fight. That’s good enough for me.”

Emilia raised her hand, “Just to be clear, since this escort mission has ended, you are no longer our client. Boss is the leader of this party, got it? She is the client now. That means no more bossing anyone around on your end!”

Ather continued to ignore her and continued sketching me instead.

I decided to change the topic, “Anyway… Err… I guess we should first turn in the Request to get the reward. Then we have to look for a Grey Walker to take us to Frostiminir Kingdom. If needed, we’ll also probably need to stay a night here so we’ll also need to find an inn. Shall we split up?”

Emilia raised her hand, “I can go and look for the Grey Walker. I’ll make sure they aren’t trying to scam us.”

Says the one who has been trying to scam Ather the last few days…

Odeta thumped her chest, “I’ll go with her, Sister Aster!”

Lisa beamed at me, “In that case, I’ll go with Delmare to look for a nice inn for us, Aster~ I’ll make sure to get one with nice facilities for us~”

I turned to the remaining two girls, “I guess that leaves Katsuki, Ather and myself to report to the Guild for the Request success and to add Ather as a party member.”

I figured that since Ather was going to join us anyway, we might as well add her to the party for now and remove her later if we decide to go our separate ways.

With the two girls following behind me, we went to the Guild branch located in this city.

Just saying, Ather never stopped sketching in her sketchbook the entire time we were walking…

We entered the city and the first thing I noticed was that the atmosphere here was a little bit different than the other Guild branches I have visited before.

Pretty much all the Guild branches I visited that had been packed with people were mostly loud and boisterous with people unwinding and mixing around. Of course there might also be a couple or four having sex somewhere in there as well…

But this Guild in particular, I felt a rather oppressive air wash over me immediately and the place was muted and quite hollow.

The Guild members had their heads lowered and pretty much all of them were hunched over as if they were afraid of having their face seen by someone.

And there was one particular group that was at the Guild counter that wasn’t acting that way so even I could tell that everyone was currently in this position because of that group.

By the looks of it, it was a group of girls who were currently standing in front of the Guild counter arguing with the Guild staff.

“What are you talking about?! This is clearly what the job asked for! Are you blind?!”

“That’s right! Is it because you don’t think a group of independent and strong females like ourselves can’t do something like this, you sexist pig?!”

“Call your manager here right now! I’m going to lodge a complaint against you and make sure you’re fired!”

“Typical misogynistic bastard! You can’t even get a real job and have to stand at a counter like this!”

I turned my gaze to Ather and she had the same look as I did.

I didn’t even need [Screened] to tell that this group of people were Off-Worlders… And I knew which specific type of people they were in our old World too…

Now I know why this whole place feels like a morgue…

The Guild staff was doing his best to calm the group down, “Ummm… Ladies… Please calm down… I’m just–“

“Who said you could call us ‘ladies’ so casually?!”

“Calm down?! We are calm!”

“You better watch your mouth! Who do you think you are?!”

Geez… I feel sorry for that guy…

He waved his hands in a placating gesture, “Umm… My apologies… But as I had said… These herbs that you brought back are not the right ones… So I cannot accept them… The Guild will purchase them from you but this does not count towards your Guild Request completion…”

“What?! What kind of excuse is this?! How dare you even suggest something like that?!”

“That’s right! How can you buy this from us and yet still not credit us for it?! Do you think we’re so easy to bully?!”

The Guild staff quickly shook his head, “That’s not it. Please, you need to understand, the Request that you’ve taken–“

“Understand?! You’re asking us to understand?! Are you saying that we are too stupid to understand or something?! Are you looking down on us that much?!”

“Get your manager here right now! We want to speak to your manager!!”

I decided to ignore that scene and went over to the counter that was furthest away from that group which was also manned by a male staff member.

“Umm… Hello there,” I greeted the guy.

He didn’t look up but he did return my greeting, “Hello… Welcome to Billgaw City’s Guild branch… How may we help you today?”

I slid the Request slip across the counter, “We’re here to report a Request completion and we’re here to receive the reward.”

He finally looked up to see the Request slip that I had placed on the counter and he very carefully took it from the counter to check it.

He paused for a moment before he peeked back at me to whisper in a barely audible voice, “Umm… Is… Is this your first time in this city?”

“I’ve been in this city before several years ago so no. But if you’re asking if I’m a party that’s based here, then the answer is–“

“Hey! You there! Can’t you see we’re talking over here?! Why are you being so disruptive over there?!”

I was interrupted by one of the women from that particular group shouting at me.

What the heck? I wasn’t even talking that loudly… That was just at a normal volume too… And I wasn’t talking to her either so what the heck is this person talking about?

Is this the reason why everyone in the Guild was being so quiet? Because these women would shout at them to shut up?

But that’s also one thing I don’t understand… Why is everyone so afraid of this group of women? I’m pretty sure that Mercenaries or even Dungeoneers would definitely pick a fight with them for the attitude they were showing.

I already know for a fact in this World, there actually is gender equality here where male would throw down with females without holding back, mostly because there’s magic here that will even the playing field in a fight.

I leaned over the counter and whispered to the Guild Staff, “Why is everyone just letting those women do whatever they want?”

The Guild staff lowered his head, “You… You’re not from around here so you don’t know… But even though those four are only E Ranked Mercenaries right now… They have the strength of an A ranked party as they had beaten several of them who had tried to fight them for that very reason… There is no one stronger than they are in this Guild branch… If you want my advice, just lower your head like everyone else and they will not pick a fight with you…”

Well, I guess their strength came from being Off-Worlders and choosing boons that granted them more power than a normal Mercenary in this World…

Since I’m only here for a day or two, I don’t want to get involved in this troublesome thing so I’ll just do as the Guild staff suggested and keep my head–

“I’m talking to you! Do you not hear me or are you deaf?!”

I turned just in time to see that one of the women had made her way towards me and was in the midst of reaching out to grab me.

But before she could, Katsuki had already moved in front of me and grabbed the woman’s wrist.

“Who gave you permission to touch my Mistress?”

Oh dear… Guess I’m going to get involved after all…

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