The silhouettes seemed even more profound, exuding a calm and confident demeanor, a poise they had only ever felt from true "strong ones."
"Hmm." Medvedeva responded, her gaze lingering a moment longer on the valiant female companion beside Gauss.
"Did he really advance in profession?" Daphne blinked, her tone full of disbelief.
The past experiences of teaming up with Gauss felt as if they were just yesterday.
Under their watchful eyes, Gauss and his female teammate walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor.
The guards, clad in leather armor bearing the guild insignia, immediately straightened and placed a fist on their chest in a standard salute upon seeing the bronze badge on Gauss’s chest, respectfully making way.
The two ascended the stairs, their figures disappearing at the stairwell’s turn.
"He has indeed become a bronze-level adventurer." Levin’s voice was low, tinged with an indescribable complexity.
This scene brought the entire Night Owl Squad into a brief silence.
Even Doyle, who was just lost in fantasies of being a Sword Saint, suddenly drooped, losing his interest in daydreaming.
While he was indulging in unrealistic fantasies, his former companion had quietly and steadily ascended to higher steps, and this disparity left him somewhat glum.
The vertical distance of just ten meters between the top and bottom of the stairs might be an unbridgeable chasm that bottom adventurers could never cross in a lifetime.
Various emotions surged in everyone’s hearts.
Medvedeva looked very calm; in fact, she had long known that Gauss was not far from advancing in profession.
"Levin." Daphne softly suggested, "Should we... find an opportunity to wish Gauss well?"
"..."
"Or... forget it. Gauss is probably very busy now." Levin was silent for a moment, his eyes flickering. "And he has new teammates; it’s best not to disturb him."
"Yes... yes." Doyle hurriedly agreed.
"Well, I heard that just after advancing to bronze level, there indeed are many new things to handle." Oliver nodded in agreement.
In fact, there was something unsaid in everyone’s hearts—they were a bit reluctant to face the current Gauss, afraid he would see their stagnation and worried about seeing the possible alienation or condescension in his eyes.
Medvedeva took note of her teammates’ reactions.
Though she usually didn’t speak much, her mind was meticulous; she spent more time silently observing her teammates.
Seeing everyone else reject the idea of meeting Gauss to congratulate him, she didn’t say much more.
Though she actually wanted to say.
Gauss would most likely not be troubled by this.
But she could also understand this subtle sense of distance among her teammates.
I’ll choose a gift and have it sent to his hotel’s front desk, she silently decided in her heart.
...
"Gauss, what’s wrong?" Aaliyah keenly noticed the momentary hesitation in her partner’s steps and softly asked.
"It’s nothing."
"Let’s go submit the mission first." Gauss shook his head, pursed his lips slightly.
"Okay." Seeing Gauss unwilling to elaborate, Aaliyah tactfully refrained from asking further.
At this point, she hadn’t fully realized that in their duo, she was subconsciously deferring to Gauss’s opinions.
The two arrived at the counter in the second-floor mission hall.
Submitting the documents and badge, after a brief review and inspection, the commission was acknowledged as completed.
"Esteemed adventurers, this is the commission payment for this mission, 70 silver coins, please receive it."
The receptionist behind the counter respectfully pushed a heavy little money pouch forward.
"Thank you." Gauss accepted the pouch, his fingertips skillfully weighing it to verify the amount before putting it away, then said solemnly, "Additionally, we discovered some special intelligence during the mission, which needs to be reported to the guild."
"Special intelligence?" The receptionist’s expression turned serious. "Alright, I will notify the guild’s higher-ups for you."
Special intelligence certainly couldn’t be simply reported to a counter receptionist.
"Please, esteemed adventurers, follow me to the lounge to wait for a moment."
The two followed closely.
They waited quietly for a moment in the lounge.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
The crisp, rhythmic sound of heels striking the stone floor came from afar to near.
"Creak—"
The door was pushed open, and a pair of long, fair legs stepped over the threshold.
A beautiful woman entered, her fiery red hair swaying like burning flames with each step, and her tight robe outlined an impressive curve at the chest.
Upon entering the room and scanning around, her eyes finally locked onto Gauss.
"We meet again, Gauss." The red-haired sorceress Shirley curved her lips slightly in a familiar manner.
"Lady Shirley." Gauss nodded in greeting.
He should have anticipated that someone deemed "higher-up" to hear special intelligence was likely this sorceress he’d dealt with before.
"Have you teamed up?" Shirley’s gaze, tinged with curiosity, turned to Aaliyah, who sat quietly beside Gauss.
Apparently, she recognized the Druid as well.
"Yes."
"A caster and a Druid, huh... quite an interesting combination." Shirley raised an eyebrow.
Her mind raced with thoughts.
To be honest, this combination was somewhat unconventional. Typically, a caster partners with a warrior and a priest.
The classic warrior-caster-priest triangle is a gold configuration tested by time.
Even though she knew Gauss commanded a remarkable protective spell, as a caster, particularly at the beginning stages of lower levels, it was crucial to focus on long-range control and supplemental attack methods.
In such circumstances, having a solid frontline teammate who can create a safe casting environment is very important.
But... Shirley wasn’t one to impose her teachings on others, so after brief consideration, she didn’t say much.
"So, what intelligence did you both uncover?"
From his storage pouch, Gauss retrieved a cloth-wrapped scale.
He then began to describe to Shirley the final scene the two of them saw.
Since Gauss had a good memory, he described it in great detail, especially repeating verbatim the words the elderly Ratman said at the end.
After he provided the intelligence,
Shirley stared intently at the scale on the table and fell into a prolonged silence.
Then she lightly closed her eyes, seemingly searching her memory for any related intelligence about this matter.
After a long while, she slowly opened her eyes and shook her head.
"I apologize, I have no recollection of the name Vesperilia," Shirley admitted frankly. "I need to transfer this scale to a more specialized identification department for further analysis," she continued.
"However, I can indeed perceive a faint trace of evil divine power from it."
"According to the guild’s ’Evil Deities Threat Response Ordinance,’ this item meets the submission criteria for a Level-1 Unknown Evil Deity Relic. The standard initial reward offered by the guild for intelligence of this kind is—10 gold coins."
"10 gold coins!" Gauss’s eyes widened.
They had toiled to clean out the entire Ratman nest, laboring for a day, earning only 70 silver coins as commission.
And yet, this inconspicuous scale and a few lines of intelligence were worth 10 gold coins?
"Don’t scoff at the amount; this is just the base reward. If subsequent identifications increase the threat level of this relic or major follow-up discoveries arise based on this intelligence, the guild will award additional compensation in accordance with the regulations," Shirley assumed a misunderstanding and explained.
The rewards could continue to accumulate?
Gauss took a deep breath.
Could intelligence about evil deities be this lucrative?
He felt as though he had discovered a lucrative path.
The shadow of gloom cast by encountering the evil ceremony was calmed by the weighty power of gold coins.
Ah, gold and silver, nothing soothes the common heart like it!