The Discarded Son's Skill Market

However, he suddenly heard a voice. It was soft, yet powerful.

"You lowly slave, how dare you attack our glorious wall? You will die for your arrogance!"

The cursed ogre slave’s body convulsed under powerful blows that began to beat him to a pulp, followed by that brutal electric shock.

Without realizing it, he had approached that wall.

Zaid and Valia were still hiding there, but the fortress wall’s mechanisms were protecting them. Not even the hunters who had just arrived noticed them; Zaid caught his breath, and after seeing that his elders were already dealing with that creature, he ran off in the opposite direction.

Valia then flew him back to the entrance of the fortress, and since everyone was busy, they didn’t notice when he returned... or so he thought.

As he made his way back to camp and was about to enter his tent, a slightly cold but sweet voice caught him off guard from behind.

"Where were you?" Alice asked.

Zaid froze, but reacted quickly and turned to look at her. "I was in the bathroom," he smiled.

"Are there restrooms by the main gate?" she asked.

Zaid smiled slightly, looking embarrassed. "The guard’s restroom?" he replied, though he unconsciously answered with a question.

Alice realized he was lying precisely because of that. "Did you leave the fortress?"

"Why would you think I’d do something as dangerous as that?" Zaid looked astonished, as if to say he couldn’t believe she thought he was suicidal.

However, Alice’s response was cold: "You’re covered in blood. Your clothes are in tatters. Your hair is covered in monster slime and smells awful; not to mention your injuries... Tell me, is that enough?"

Zaid immediately looked himself over and realized that everything she said was true.

’Damn, I didn’t realize...’

He hung his head in shame. He didn’t know what to say.

He thought she’d be angry at him for lying, but on the contrary, Alice ran to him and hugged him, with tears in her eyes.

"Are you crazy?" she asked him.

He didn’t understand her reaction. "A-aren’t you mad?"

She then reacted again, pulling away slightly. "H-huh? O-o-of course I am!" she exclaimed, but her worried expression, the tears in her eyes, her earlier reaction, and her recent blush all told him otherwise.

However, she didn’t know what to say; it wasn’t as if she understood why she had reacted that way. She just felt a deep fear when she woke up to the tremors and he wasn’t there; when she saw the higher-level hunters going to kill a powerful beast, she felt even more afraid and thought that perhaps Zaid had made some serious mistake.

Fear had taken hold of her, but before she could go report him missing, he appeared before her. She felt relieved, but angry. She felt like crying out of relief at seeing him alive, but she also wanted to beat him to a pulp... she couldn’t do the latter because she felt sorry for him in that state.

She turned away, trying to avoid making eye contact with Zaid. "I-I’m going to hit you later! I’m going to take a shower because you got me dirty!" she exclaimed and walked away with quick, nervous steps—but also heavy ones. Her mind was a chaos of conflicting emotions.

Zaid watched the whole scene unfold and smiled slightly.

Suddenly, a drop of monster slime fell on his nose, and he unconsciously sniffed it...

"Ugh..." The smell was so strong he almost threw up. He covered his nose and ran off to the bathroom...

---

The next morning.

"I hope everything goes well for you, Khan. If you hurry and pedal hard, I’m sure you’ll make it to the Temple before nightfall," Carl shouted, waving goodbye with a smile.

Across the road, Mr. Shoaff, his son, and his guards were fuming. They were so angry that they’d spent the entire morning venting their frustration, smashing things in retaliation for what they’d been put through the night before. But they didn’t say a word and just pretended it was their hobby in front of Carl; they weren’t idiots, and they didn’t want any trouble with such a powerful man.

Khan said goodbye to Carl and the others.

The cars sped along the long highway. They encountered a few minor incidents involving small beasts, but these were quickly resolved.

Later, about 12 hours after they left the fortress, they caught a glimpse of the high walls of the Temple of the Seventh Night, rising above a hill. Surrounding it, three walled villages fed it with their mystical energy.

The small caravan drove on until it pulled up in the first of the three villages—the only one connected to the highway.

Once inside the town walls, Shoaff, his son, and his guards resumed their usual arrogance.

"Your rooms have been reserved at the Rain Hotel." Shoaff tossed each of them a set of keys; some of the keys rolled across the floor because the guy had terrible aim.

"You’ll be staying there during this time. At night, you don’t need to worry about protecting the caravan’s belongings, since they’ll be under the watch of my guards. But throughout the morning, you’ll be in charge."

There weren’t enough keys for everyone to stay in separate rooms because some of the rooms were doubles.

"Excuse me, Mr. Shoaff." A C-Rank man with a platinum rank badge hanging around his neck stepped forward to speak. "When are we leaving?" he asked, seemingly nervous.

Shoaff looked at him, unflappable. "That’s already been announced; you can see it on your devices. However, there may be changes if the situation warrants it and we end up leaving later."

"Changes? But..."

"Why so many questions? I thought we discussed this before we left. Long-distance missions can involve changes along the way. Anyway, go to your rooms. For visitors, it’s best not to go out at night; we’re busy making preparations for the Seventh Night." Shoaff didn’t give the Rank C man time to react, as he left with his son and his guards.

"All right, Kevin. We don’t have anything to do in the Capital, do we?" One of his friends patted him on the shoulder. "We might as well spend a nice vacation here while we’re at it. Even though they’ll probably kick us out on the Seventh Night, at least we can witness that historic moment."

Kevin frowned but didn’t reply.

Khan took each and every one of them to their rooms at the Rain Hotel, which was surprisingly better than expected.

Among those who ended up sharing a room were Alice and Zaid, whom Mr. Shoaff mistook for a couple in love...

’I don’t dislike you so much now, you arrogant old man.’ Zaid laughed when he found out...

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