She removed her hood and mask, revealing a charming and radiant face.
Taking out an exquisite pocket watch from her bosom, she handed it to the young girl sitting restlessly, constantly rubbing her hands.
"Here, your necklace. Check if there’s anything wrong with it?"
The young girl took the pendant, examined it repeatedly, and after confirming it was fine, she breathed a long sigh of relief and held it tightly to her chest.
"Yes, this is it, thank you, Miss Ying. It’s the only thing my mother left me, if it went missing, I really wouldn’t know what to do." Tears glistened in her eyes, her voice choked with emotion.
It was an unassuming copper pendant, yet familial love had imbued it with special meaning.
The woman known as "Ying" merely waved her hand casually, walked to the table, and poured herself and the other a glass of water.
"Alright, keep it safe. Be more careful next time, those ’three-handed ones’ love to target people like you who look easy to rob."
She drank a large gulp of water before continuing.
"I’ve looked into it, the one who stole your stuff should be a pickpocket who’s a regular partner of that ’Old Pipe’ black market shop, working randomly on the streets. It wasn’t intentional to target you, just stay away from there in the future and you should be fine."
"Okay, I understand, Miss Ying."
After the girl in coarse clothes left and the door closed behind her.
In the small room where she was alone, another mature female voice sounded.
"You’ve helped another little girl, that’s nice. A mother’s keepsake is a very valuable thing indeed."
"Hmm." The woman in the black robe nodded absentmindedly.
Following her gaze to the ground.
Only to see that at her feet, the shadow seemed to have a life of its own, slowly squirming.
That mature voice was transmitted from the shadow at her feet.
"What are you thinking about?"
The shadow, like a familiar old friend, immediately sensed her unusualness and asked with concern.
Moreover, it detached from the floor, reaching up to pat her calf.
If its existence was naturally born from the shadow, indeed, there was no closer pair in this world than it and her.
"I..." The black-robed woman frowned slightly, her tone suddenly a bit bewildered.
"Is it the man you met at the alley corner just now?" The shadow’s tone suddenly turned teasing. "Have you taken a liking to him? It’s actually not impossible, after all, that guy is quite handsome. If you two get together, I’ll get to feast my eyes too."
"Behave yourself, my shadow, or I’ll lock you up tomorrow."
"I was wrong, Little Ying." The shadow pleaded for mercy helplessly. "So what happened back there when you were a bit distracted on your way back?"
"I feel like he looks familiar, like I’ve seen him somewhere before." The black-robed woman unconsciously tapped her finger on the armrest of the chair, trying hard to search her memory.
"That’s all?" The shadow expressed confusion. "Maybe you just saw him around town or somewhere else before, I saw he was also a Professional, he probably travels around a lot too."
"No, it’s not that simple, I feel like I’ve seen that face in another, more important place, but I can’t quite recall it at the moment..."
The shadow under her feet spread its hands.
"If you can’t remember, just leave it be. It’s probably not something important anyway. Get some rest early, tomorrow we still need to go out to gather information."
....
In the deep night, Gauss walked out of the marketplace.
He actually didn’t encounter any unexpected situations in the marketplace.
After browsing several shops, he really did manage to buy a lump of material for casting Clay Magic.
Though the price was a tad expensive, costing him 7 Gold Coins.
Luckily, the size was decent, about the size of an adult human.
After absorbing and merging this clay, the Clay Goblin should receive further enhancement.
As for the commission over at the Adventurer’s Guild, he didn’t intend to retract it, letting it hang there. After all, such casting materials were always welcome.
The more clay there was, not only could it slightly boost individual combat power, but it could also increase the number generated simultaneously, which was very useful in daily commissions or other battles for clearing small monsters.
It could also assist him in some simple repetitive tasks.
The night wind, carrying a chill, dispersed the lingering buzz of the marketplace, and stepping out of the alley, Gauss looked up at the moon half-hidden by clouds, striding toward the inn.
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
Gauss lived a simple and diligent life these past few days, as if he had returned to the days of being a Bottom Adventurer, working conscientiously.
Eat, fight, sleep.
The goblin settlements around Forest Crown Town suffered as a result.
"Total monsters killed: 3611"
Relying purely on the monster count from commission tasks, it should only be about four hundred, the extra hundred or so were acquired from his wild hunts.
His outstanding observational skills always allowed him to find traces in the wild.
Following those traces, it didn’t take him long to find the monster groups entrenched in desolate areas.
And then he would clean them up in passing, even if they weren’t the bounty hunt targets.
This high-efficiency, high-frequency clearing also caught the attention of the Forest Crown Town Adventurer’s Guild and other adventurers.
Although several hundred monsters might not seem like much.
But clearing that number in just a few days, during a peaceful period without large-scale conflicts, was a terrifying amount.
About a hundred a day, meaning thirty or forty thousand a year.
Even though it’s actually impossible to keep that pace up, having a kill count of three or four thousand a year is already quite impressive.